Naria had been sitting there for almost an hour, and her rear was getting sore. Luckily she was able to cut her swimsuit so that her tail was not tucked into her clothes. It helped that she wasn't sitting on her tail, but she still was hurting from it. She got up and walked around the pool, keeping an eye on the kids inside the pool. It was free swim time, and it was the time that they let in the general public in as well. This tested her heightened senses and attention span. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted Antoine Jordan. She started paying more attention to him than the others. Antoine came over to her.

"Hey, pretty lady," he said. "How are you feeling?"

"Better, thanks to you. Where were you?"

"I just came from the dining hall. I had the munchies. So I grabbed a Snickers bar from the machines."

"Mmm. Snickers bars are good." Naria loved chocolate, Snickers bars in particular. She loved that combination of chocolate, caramel, peanuts and that fluffy stuff in the middle. Whenever she wanted to spoil herself, she bought a Snickers bar.

"Well, I came to practice my diving. Is that okay?"

"I don't see why not," she said. "It's all little kids and they're all in the shallow end."

He winked at her and he made his way to the diving board.

That Antoine is so hot. No wonder I love him.

She watched as he climbed the ladder, and he made it to the top. He gave her a thumbs-up as he stood there, trying to gain composure.

 When he was ready, he rushed forward, bounced on the end of the diving board and launched himself into the air. What followed totally horrified Naria beyond words.

As she and the children watched, Antoine screamed in pain as he hurtled to the water below.  He landed with a large SPLASH. Instinctively, she dove into the water. The time in the water seemed to play in slow motion.

She swam lower and lower, and picked Antoine off the pool floor. She struggled with all her might to bring she and Antoine to the surface. She brought him to the side and pushed him onto the deck. She hoisted herself out of the water, and immediately began to do the things she spent so much time practicing.

She checked to see if he was breathing, and he was not. She began cardiopulmonary resuscitation, and the children looked on, scared.

"Come on, man! Antoine, don't do this to me!"

She took a few breaths, and began chest compressions again.

"Not in front of the children, Antoine! Pull through!"

Reminded of Lord Folken's death, she began to cry at the same time.

Come on, Antoine! I'm not going to lose two men in my lifetime!

A brave boy came up to her and spoke.

"Miss Kitty-Lady, should I get a grown-up?"

"Go get the bald man in the room with the computer in it!"

"Okay. Will he be alright, Miss Kitty-Lady?"
"Please go!"

"Okay!"

The boy left, and she began taking breaths again.

Naria tried not to swear and cuss in front of the children.

She began chest compressions, and all of a sudden his body became alive, and he began coughing up water. He seemed a little confused, but when he looked into Naria's eyes, he sat up and hugged her.

"I almost lost you, like Folken—" Naria said.

He pulled back, and he kissed her.

The kids complained about 'cooties' but the couple didn't care. Naria had saved the man she loved from the very same entity that claimed Lord Folken: Death.

They had broke off just as the supervisor rushed in.

"Is everything alright?"

"It was just a huge cramp while diving. I took a nasty fall and swallowed quite a lot of water. But your lifeguard saved my life. It may be her job, but she deserves a heck of a lot more than just a pat on the back."

"I'll see that she gets rewarded. Meanwhile, I'm going to call an ambulance to get you checked out."

"Thank you so much," he said. "I see my scholarship isn't going to waste."

The supervisor left.

"What did you mean, 'I almost lost you, like Folken?'"

"What I'm about to say is going to sound unbelievable."

"Okay. What is it?"

"I'm from another world."

"Huh?"

"See? I knew you wouldn't understand."

"But how is that possible?"

"A young girl was transported to our world of Gaea. She played a key role in a war between the Zaibach Empire and the three rebellious kingdoms of Fanelia, Asturia, and Freid."

"Because of her, your side won?"

"We lost. We were part of the Zaibach Empire, servants of a young military strategist/swordsman. That man was my first love, Lord Folken.  Eriya was in love with him as well. We both served him as if we loved him more than life itself, but we failed to protect him from his brother, Lord Van. He died on his brother's sword, and we lost him forever. After that, we did not want to live. We thought about what you Earth-people call suicide. But the young girl offered to bring us back to Earth. We figured we had nothing to lose, so we went with her. And that's how we ended up here."

"But how did you become servants? You're too good for that!"

"My people were attacked when Eriya and I were young. The enemy's mission was to capture, annihilate, and destroy. We decided it would be better to die than to be sold into slavery. So my sister and I jumped off a great height. We should've died, but guess who caught us?"

"Folken?"

"Right on. And we promised to serve him ever since, because we owed our lives to him. Soon that respect for our lord became love, and all of a sudden, we're finding ourselves in a love triangle."

"I guess he was pretty hot, then."

"Oh, yeah. He really commanded attention in a room. You couldn't stop staring at the man."

"I hope you don't think that I'm going to replace him."

"Oh, no. You never could. But I love you in a certain way. One that allows me to love you as much as I loved him."

Naria put her hand to her mouth and gasped, as if she said something wrong.

"What is it, Naria?"

"I can't believe it. I just said I love you as much as I loved Folken! I think I may have gotten over his death! Do you know what this means?"

"What?"

"The healing process is over! I think my mood has gone back to normal!"

Naria hugged her love close to her, content and happy.