I led my team, my foreman and Litura to my office, swinging open the front doors to my home, immediately turning left to the large open room with the stone desk, the hole I made has been hastily patched up with a lighter colour of the stone. I plonked myself onto my chair, watching as six people filled into the room with my hands rested on the table in front of me.

"Miss Shiro, I apologize for my... outburst, but you need to see it from my eyes. I have known Sandra had a significant other she had been very secretive about, but to learn she was dating the woman tasked with ERASING-" I took a shaky breath to keep myself under control."-me from history. Of course, I was going to overreact, so care to tell me how-" I gestured to the two standing next to each other."-This happened?"

They looked at each other, silently deciding who would tell their story. Sandra stepped a single. tiny. step forward. She took a deep shaky breath, her hand clutching Litura's, before looking me right in the eye with defiance. A look I have never managed to rouse from her in the months she has worked under me.

"Remember when the previously assigned Schnee representative fled this office with his tail between his legs?" Sandra said in an authoritative tone, knowing full well I remember that day like it was yesterday. At my nod, she continued. "On that day you swore to never let another member of the SDC ever step foot in this quarry. A week later Litura was assigned as the new quarry representative, She sent you a letter to inform you of the change and you recognised her signature as the same signature that signed your death certificate on behalf of the SDC."

I glared at her with a bored expression."Where is this going, Sandra?"

Sandra took a breath while she was constructing her story. "Remember when Litura asked if she could inspect the quarry and you just laughed her ear off?"

"Yea, What of it?" I asked, annoyance spreading across my face.

"Let's just say she managed to reach out to me. She told me she wasn't like the rest of the SDC and..."-She scratched at the base of one of her snow-white ears, causing it to twitch adorably-"I chose to believe her. I told her she could do her weekly inspections while you were at the academy and I'd cover for her. Gradually we grew close, and before you know it, watching the sunset after a hard days work turned into a coffee here and a shared lunch there. I asked her out a month ago and we've been dating since." Sandra released a long shaky breath as Litura stepped closer to her, tightening her grip on Sandra's hand while idly running her fingers down Sandra's back. They shared a look as if they were the only ones in the room, staring wistfully at each other.

The awkward tension was broken when I lightly cleared my throat, drawing both their attention to me. I simply swirled a single starscape to indicate one of them have to continue, resting my head in the soft scales of my other palm.

Litura took the final step to stand next to the taller woman, dropping her arm from Sandra's back to her hip and pulling my worker flush against her.

"Miss Quirian, as you have no doubt heard on my tongue, I am not an atlesian. So let me share with you my story so we may resolve this petty feud we have."

My only reaction was a simple shrug, the couple somehow managing to pull each other more flush. I took the brief moment to look over at my teammates, who have made themselves comfortable, using Lance's large cross-legged figure as an improvised bean bag. The sight of Rán nestled atop Medusa, who in turn was stretched across Lance's thighs, making me giggle. "Damn, I love these idiots." I thought to myself.

I was roused from my thoughts when Litura cleared her throat.

"To make a long story short, I was born in a village outside of Mistral, the village was destroyed by Grimm when I was young and my family relocated to Mistral itself. In Mistral we lived at the higher end of the lower sector, my mother ran a tea shop while my father farmed the tea she used, we didn't have much but we were contented, I studied at a business academy to hopefully become the entrepreneur my parents were not. Much like the huntress academies the business school sends you out on internships to gain practical experience. My internship sent me to be the PA of a Schee Company representative in Mistral, She was so impressed by my work ethic she paid the rest of my tuition and gave high praise to her superiors when I applied for a secretary position. I worked under the previous quarry rep, who instructed me to sign off on the certificates in your incident report as he'd ask me to do all his other paperwork-" She took a slow, steady breath."-Sadly signing death certificates was a regular thing in the office, seemingly every two days or so an accident happened that resulted in loss of life."

Litura took Sandra's hand and held it in front of them in a pose that made it look like they were dancing, staying still for a moment of reverence.

She dropped their hands down before continuing. "When he returned one day, red-faced and heaving, I knew he stuffed up. Days later he didn't come in, then later that week his superior came in and offered me his job, I lit up that day. A cushy job in Atlas, great pay and many other benefits, it was the day I always dreamed of."

She let go of Sandra, who reluctantly stepped back a bit, and stepped closer. She rested her hands on my desk, gloved palms upward in a confusing display. "I was genuinely shocked to find out you still lived when I was assigned to the quarry, and your policy made it difficult to patch things up. So as a symbol of me asking for peace. If you would allow me, rest your hands in mine." She looked at me expectantly. I looked over at Sandra, who simply nodded at me, and hesitantly laid my small nebulae in her hands.

I saw the slightest glint of disgust in her eye, probably her bodies unwilling reaction to my cold, scaled skin wich she no doubt felt through her gloves. In an instant, I was overwhelmed by memories that were not my own, seeing Grimm overwhelm a village while I was bouncing up and down on someone's shoulder, I looked down and saw my hands bleeding profusely, skin slightly charred before my vision went white. I was ripped from the strange vision back to my office, looking down at the gloved hands holding onto mine.

I looked at Litura for an explanation, all she did was to pull her hands from her gloves. Red, scarred skin going up to her mid-fore-arm, clashing horrendously with her pale white skin. "I just shared with you my best-kept secret, I hope this clears any Ill will between us." She smiled brightly, awaiting my answer.

"In all honesty, I liked you better when you dropped that faux Atlesian accent." I teased with a smile.

AN*

Thank you for reading this Chapter, sorry my upload schedule is so erratic, I really do try.

*Edit

Made slight adjustments for better reading.