A/N: Hi guys! sorry for the wait! Thank you to the few people who read this story! Its so much fun to write! Anyway, hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own ToA characters, just my OC's.

Armina sat down next to Guy, glancing at him as she did so with a short hello. She couldn't remember ever being offered a seat at the table while the Fabre's ate dinner, so she couldn't help the feeling of slight awkwardness that was stirring in her.

"Hey, Armina." Guy smiled in greeting, before glancing at Jade and Lissa-the latter of which had just taken a seat happily between him and a still annoyed Luke. "Malkuth soldiers?"

"It's a long story." Armina told him, not really wanting to get into the whole thing now.

Luke's visibly perked up at this. "Huh? Malkuth?" He glanced from Lissa to Jade, surprised. "You guys are from Malkuth? The king actually let you into the city? Awesome! I've never met anyone from Malkuth before!" He grinned excited, before looking at Jade. "Sheesh, you're pale. Don't you have any sun out there?"

Jade adjusted his glasses, amused. "Oh no, it's the moon all year long. It can be rather depressing, really."

Armina shot him a glare. "Don't tease him, Colonel."

Noticing how Lissa was still looking around happily, Guy turned to her with a smile. "You're a lot different from the other soldiers I've met."

The Major nodded, still grinning. "Yeah I get that a lot. So you're Guy, right? You're not so bad yourself! But I still prefer Luke." She turned to redhead and winked giggling, causing him to raise his eyebrow and scoot over a little, farther from her.

Jason chuckled and leaned over to his niece. "This is gonna be interesting, don't you think?"

Jade sighed, knowing all too well of the Major's behavior. "You'll have to excuse her. She hasn't had her medications today so she's a little loopy."

Lissa turned to him glaring and stuck out her tongue. "Oh shut it old man!"

"Old?" Armina said with a raised eyebrow. "The Colonel's not even forty."

Jason laughed at this. "Heck, if he's old Van and I are ancient!" He paused, turning to the Commandant. "You are older than Jade, right?"

"Not by much." Van responded with a small smile. It was clear he found this whole conversation amusing.

"Huh." Jason studied the other's face. "You look kinda old though. Maybe it's the beard." He turned to Luke with an amused look. "Whaddaya think? Van with no beard?"

Luke laughed, imagining his mentor shaven. "He'd look ridiculous!"

"Definitely." Armina added calmly, as Van looked both amused and annoyed at the conversation topic.

"You'd look pretty funny too, Jason." Guy pointed out.

Jason rubbed his goatee and grinned. "I like having this. It makes me feel fuzzy."

The Duke chuckled. "It seems everyone's very lively."

"Oh, we've barely begun." Jade smiled. "Wait until Vasilisa has some sugar, it's frightening. Then again..." He glanced at Armina with a smirk. "Do your servants bring wine?"

Susanne nodded with a smile. "With the meal, yes."

Armina shot him a glare, seeing his amused look. "I don't drink, Colonel."

"Not anymore, anyway." He replied, as the Captain grimaced.

"I was under the impression that drink was light, the whole thing was an accident."

"Armina got drunk?" Luke asked, laughing again. "Now that I'd love to see."

Lissa had been off in her own little world, trying to think of ways to get Luke alone, when she realized they had mentioned wine. "Ooh wine? Great I'll take some!"

Jade chuckled, both from Armina's annoyance at having her drunken night brought up and his niece thinking she'd actually be allowed alcohol. "As amusing as that would be, I have to say no."

"Aww come on! I've only got..." She paused, counting on her fingers. "4 more years 'til I'm 21!"

Susanne smiled at the young girl. "I'm sorry Vasilisa. Luke isn't having any either, if that makes you feel any better."

The Major thought for a moment, before grinning. "Oh yes that's awesome! Then when everyone is drunk, I'll kidnap him and we'll run away together!"

Instantly the Duke and Lady, Van, Guy, and the White Knights stiffened. This was obviously noticeable, and Lissa glanced around confused.

"Um...did I say something wrong?"

She noticed Luke's annoyed sigh, as Armina spoke. "Yes, actually. So anyway Madame Fabre, I will have to decline the wine with tonight's meal."

As Lissa still glanced at everyone confused, Susanne smiled. "Oh, of course. It will pay to have someone completely clear headed tonight." It was obvious she'd noticed the Captain's warning look. It wasn't like they wanted to talk about the events of seven years ago anyway. She turned to Jade. "Will you be having any tonight?"

"Oh, just a little. I prefer not to have anything fogging my senses if I can help it."

Armina glanced over at her uncle, who smiled slightly and surreptitiously put his hand in his pocket and fiddled with something. She raised her eyebrow at him curiously, but his only response was to raise a finger to his mouth and wink. She watched him for a moment, before and leaning back in her chair, amused. 'Well, this should be interesting. I haven't seen Jason spike a drink since I graduated the military academy.'

Luke leaned on the table, looking bored from all this talking. "So why are you two here anyway? You're from Malkuth, right?"

Lissa grinned, happy at another chance to speak to the young redhead. "That's right! We're here on official business for the emperor! I wasn't really too happy about coming along with Jade, but I guess something good came out of coming here!"

"Yeah and what's that?" Luke asked confused.

She leaned closer to him. "I got to meet you!" This caused the boy to blush slightly and move away from her as Guy tried to hide his grin.

Van smiled amused, before turning to Jade. "So what kind of official business did you come on? I'm assuming its nothing bad, seeing as how the king didn't have you arrested upon your arrival."

Jade watched him for a moment before responding. "I'll wait for the trouble to be cleared up before I make my business here public, if you don't mind."

Van shrugged at this. "Understandable." He glanced over at Luke and Lissa again, to which the former was still trying to move away from the latter. "Made a new friend?"

"N-no way!" Luke exclaimed flustered. It was clear he wasn't used to girls being like this. "Back off, you creep!

Armina watched this amused. "I cannot tell if you're embarrassed or angry, Master Luke."

"Oh shut up!" he snapped.

Guy chuckled. "Careful Luke, don't want to offend the soldiers."

The Captain nodded solemnly. "Oh yes, 'Jade the Necromancer' might be unhappy if you offend..." She paused for a moment, thinking of something before grinning. "'Lissa the Dragon'."

Lissa-who was leaning closer to Luke still, turned to Armina grinning. "'Lissa the Dragon'...? I like it!"

Jade closed his eyes and shrugged in his normal way. "Oh by all means, offend her as much as you'd like."

"How rude Jade!" Lissa exclaimed. "What kind of uncle are you?!"

"He's your uncle?" Guy asked shocked.

"Well technically no... He raised me since I was 8 and he was close with my dad."

"Yes and unfortunately I got stuck with baby sitting." Jade added with an annoyed sigh, ignoring the blonde stick her tongue out at him.

Susanne glanced at the younger girl curiously. "So, if you live with Colonel Curtiss... then your parents are...?"

Lissa nodded with a small smile. "Yep. Dead. My mom died when I was about 3, she was really sick. Or so I've been told. And my dad died when I was 8, during battle."

"Ah, you mentioned that earlier." Armina said, before chuckling. "We do have something in common, forced to live with annoying uncles."

Jason crossed his arms. "Annoying? Me? Well I never."

"Really, never? Odd, I would have thought you heard it quite a lot." His niece said seriously.

Guy laughed, seeing his annoyed face. "Don't try to play cute with Armina, she'll rip you apart."

"Don't I know it." The older man grinned, glancing up as the servants began entering with the food. Lissa's stomach grumbled as she watched the food being placed on the table. She hadn't realized how hungry she was until just then.

"Man that smells good. I'm starving!" Luke grinned as he watched the food as well.

"Work hard today?" Armina asked him, waving away a servant offering wine.

Luke nodded happily, grinning. "Yeah! Master Van taught me a whole bunch of new stuff!" He paused, an annoyed look crossing his features. "Not that I'll ever be able to use it anyway..."

The Duke sighed, obviously used to this conversation. "Luke we've been over this a thousand times."

"Yeah, yeah I know. Its for my own safety." He muttered, still annoyed as he started cutting his food.

Jade reached out and put a hand over Lissa's glass, just as servant was about to pour wine into it. "None for her, thank you, just water."

This of course earned a pout and glare from the girl as the servant poured her water. "Why do you have to be so alert to stuff?"

"Its my job." Jade smiled amused, as Lissa huffed and turned away.

She didn't stay mad for long though, as she had just realized what Luke had said. She glanced at him before looking at the Duke. "So why's Luke not allowed to leave here? I mean...the city can't be that dangerous, can it? It looked like people were pretty happy and safe. There were plenty of knights around."

Hearing this, Armina grimaced. 'Lissa, you're on thin ice here...'

Susanne glanced at the Duke, seeming unsure how to respond. "We're just...concerned, is all."

Luke though, looked like he agreed with the blonde. "Yeah, she has a point. The knights are always out, why can't I go around?"

Not sure what to say to his son, the Duke glanced at Armina for help. She of course knew what to do immediately.

"Well, Luke, if you're that bored you can train with me tomorrow. You have been asking for awhile, and Van has business in Daath so you'll be without a teacher for some time." She offered. Hopefully that would take his mind off going outside.

Apparently it worked, before he suddenly grinned. "Seriously? Awesome! I've never even see you draw a sword before, this is gonna be so fun!"

"Just remember to be careful, Luke." Van warned. "You're unused to fighting anyone other than Guy and I."

The boy waved him off, unconcerned. "Yeah yeah, it's just practice."

Armina smiled awkwardly and turned to Lissa, who was still confused. "The Duke has his reasons." She said quietly, while Luke was distracted by the talk of fighting.

Lissa watched the older girl for a moment, before glancing at Jade who merely shrugged. It was only because she'd known him so long that she could tell he knew something. However, she decided to ignore it for the time being, and focus her attention back on the cute boy sitting next to her. "Ooh if you're training Luke can I help?"

The Duke watched her warily, glancing at his wife. "I don't know if that's such a good idea..."

Luke smirked, obviously finding this amusing. "You wouldn't be much of a training partner. I mean you don't even have a weapon on you so how do you expect to fight?"

"Maybe I just use my fists. Did you ever think of that? Huh?" Lissa asked him.

He thought about this a moment, before shaking his head. "Nah you don't look strong enough."

Van smiled at his student's words. "You're forgetting what I taught you Luke. Looks don't always mean anything. Also, Lissa here is a Major, meaning she's quite strong."

Said girl nodded, grinning proudly. "And I do have a weapon on me thank you very much. You just can't see it."

"Huh? Where?" Luke stared at her for a moment then shrugged, assuming she was talking about a knife or something.

Armina smiled, watching this exchange. "This is one of our paranoid moments, Lissa. You can probably understand why neither I nor the Duke would feel comfortable with you battling Master Luke."

"Still so suspicious." Jade smirked.

"I'm suspicious of everybody, and I only met Lissa today. Besides…" She glanced at him pointedly. "I haven't been given much reason to trust Malkuth soldiers." This earned her an amused look, which she pointedly ignored.

"Aw, but I wanted to fight her!" Luke whined. "Come on, she's just a girl-I'll be fine!"

Armina raised an eyebrow. "Girl's can't fight, then?"

Luke waved her off, seeing what she was getting at. "You don't count as a girl, Armina."

Hearing that, the Captain looked equal parts amused and insulted, while Guy nearly chocked on his drink. This was definitely turning out to be a memorable dinner, that was for sure.

A/N: Well hope you liked it! I couldn't really decide where to stop, but figured this was a good point. Please review and I'll try to get the next one out soon!