There and Back again

GA1: Sorry for this taking so long. Chapters may come slowly for a while. Both of us now work, and I only have two days off. School is going to be a problem for the next few weeks, due to projects that have to be done. SO for give me for my slowness.

SD: Also, if this story has been 'updated' but no new chapter has been added it is because we… or well I am slowly going back and editing now…as I have been forced. cries

GA1: So stay with us and enjoy this Dilandau filled chapter.

Disclaimer: If we owned Escaflowne we would not be writing this, so there is no point in suing us. The money we earn is already spoken for in the form of bills, things that you must pay when you are older. Though, we do how ever own the plot changes and our respective characters:

Spirit Dancer: Aiko, Shiva

Glass Angel1: Ayane, Fira, Merlin, the Providence Children, Caim and any other character that I must create for the production of this story.

All rights reserved

Summary:

Not just an ordinary retelling of Escaflowne. Two girl's wish away their lives of family abuse, only to find their wish answered. Destiny plays its hands hard as these two friends find themselves caught up in a war of a world they barely know, only to be torn apart along the way. Will they be able to overcome their trouble pasts, and save this new world for its own destruction? Or will their pasts become its means of destruction?

Category: Action/Adventure/Romance

xVxVxVxVx; same place different point of view

xXxXxXxXx ;scene change

italic; vision

XoX ; Flashback

Chpt. 18 Learning

He whistled as he worked his way down the dark corridor. It was far too early in the morning for normal activity, so most of those aboard the Vione were still sleeping. That didn't mean much to him; no… he was off to cause more chaos before any of the other slayers could stop him. Well, except for Miguel. He wasn't being very fun since he got them into trouble. Viole turned the corner, as he brushed his hair back. That didn't matter much, today was the last day he would be in control of meal making. After today, it would go to the new 'chef'. Dilandau-sama had deemed that the Mysticer would be put to work, and not be allowed the comfort of being able to sit around. So, today would be her first lesson in cooking, and then the normal chef would take over in teaching her. She would be in charge of making the meals of the Elite's and of Dilandau-sama himself. And then there was the thing that she would be in charge of cleaning. Not only Dilandau-sama's room, but all of the Elite's as well. This meant, no more house cleaning for any of the Dragonslayers ever again!

Stopping in front on the door, Viole punched the combination into the lock pad. The metal door slid open, welcoming him into the dark room. He walked though without hesitation, hand grazing the light disc on the side of the door. The blue lights barely illuminated the room; he wasn't planning on waking the princess that soon. Her bag had been removed from the room; Dilandau had ordered that all of her things be take out. Shesta was probably the one that did it, but that didn't matter. He had gotten up way before any of the others so that he would have the privilege of getting her up. The first thing he did though before heading to the bed, was walking quietly to the closet. Which was kind of hard given metal tipped boots echo on marble floors, but with years of practice it was possible. Sliding the well furnished left door open, his hands slid over the different fabrics within until he found his target. Everyone had a uniform on this ship, from high ranking officers, to the lowly servant. This also went with the new 'maid' as well. Though the woman had lucked out, she hadn't been issued a regular uniform, instead Dilandau had designed one and had it made. Closing it again, he turned his attention to the bathroom. Turning on the lights again, low, he set the uniform down neatly on the countertops before walking over to the bath tub. At least he could be nice and allow her to bathe before putting her to work, thus another reason he had for getting up so early. With the hot water soon running in the large tub he sort of skipped stepped out of the bathroom to his final target. The bed.

Pulling back the curtains that surrounding the bed, he looked down at the sleeping Ayane. The smile at flashed over his face would have sent the other slayers off. The gods had to have been smiling down on him today. The black blankets had been kicked off during the night, leaving her uncovered. To make it even better, for woman slept in nothing more… then her underwear. Her creamy pale skin stood out against the black sheets, her head rested against the pillows, beneath it hair falling around her head. He could see the small bruises that merited her face; there was also one around her slim neck that caught his eyes. The black bra was a good touch; it made her seem to stand out better on the bed. He had won that bet too. The girl didn't just have a good rack; she had one hell of a rack. Viole didn't get to look any farther then that when he found that in the hand hanging over the side of the bed held a small black teddy bear, which held a red ribbon around its neck. She groaned softly as she rolled on her side, so that her back was to him. Viole snatched up the small bear as her hand let go of it, letting it fall to the floor. The curious little thing felt like silk in his hands, though the small sad looking face was slightly startling. Here was a girl that he had seen (well from what he had seen anyways) with nothing more then a smile on her face, so what was up with the bear?

"O well…" Viole said lowly, as he pulled the blanket back up around the sleeping girl. Just another thing to add to the list. Closing the curtain again around the bed, Viole walked back over to the bathroom. Better to check and make sure the water pipes were still working. One could never trust Guimel's handy work for long. There was a groan from the bed, and the sound of someone shifting around in sheets. Viole didn't turn around as he knelt down by the bath, and hung his hand under the running water to check the temperature before pushing the plug down to keep the warm water in. There was a soft patter of bare feet on the marble floor that came to a stop somewhere behind him. Slightly smiling to himself, as he pushed down the small plug, Viole stood up, drying his hand on his slacks, and turned around. Well, its only universal, not everyone is at there best when they first wake up. Her hair was in a mess, and steel gray eyes seemed unfocused. The dark blue bath robe hung loosely around her, given that it wasn't tied around her waist, and it fell slightly over one shoulder that was leaning against the door frame. "Good morning princess!"

"……?" The questioning look was the only answer that he received as she looked from him to the bath and back to him. He just waved his hand in the air to dismiss the look as he 'trotted' passes her, smiling.

"Bathe, and dress quickly, princess we have a lot of work to do before the Vione comes to life!" Ayane turned and watched him from the doorway as Viole sat down on one of the chairs around the table. He waved his hand at her again, with another smile to match, only to have her eyes narrow at him before she went through the door. It slide shut behind her, and a few seconds later there was a small click as the door locked.

xVxVxVxVx

The hot water washed over her tired and ragged body. How long she had been soaking in the hot water, was not on her mind at the moment. Her hand slid lightly over her throat before jerking away for a stinging sensation started up from the touch. Great, just what she needed, another set of bruises from the 'need of anger management classes' Aiko. Dunking her head under the hot water again, to wash out the conditioner that had been left in her hair, and the face wash, Ayane went about her task of dragging her sorry hide out of the water. One foot kicked the plug out so that the water could drain out, as she took down one of the black towels from the small hanger near the tub. It felt soft against her bare skin as she dried herself down before stepping out of the tub. Was it her, or had someone gone a good length in getting her a lot of good things? Discarding the thought as she stepped out of the tub, Ayane turned her attention to getting dressed. When she had gotten up, the first thing she had noted missing was her bag, and then the running water. So she had been stripped of her things? Well wouldn't be the first thing she would have guess would go, should have unpacked her underwear though.

From the looks of it, the thing she was to wear being white, and the fact her underwear was….black… one could see the problem developing here. Sighing, she grabbed the white dress part, and slipped it over her head. It was sleeveless, and hugged her upper body pretty tightly. Someone must have misjudged her sizes or had planed on this. Problem was, black bra showed straight through. The skirt loosened around her waist though, at least that was a good thing, and it fell all the way to the floor covering her feet. At least this thing came with two parts. Ayane eyed the second part, made of a black fabric that shimmered a bit, and was lined with a gold color on the ends, except for the sleeves. Pulling it around her arms, she found little problem at first, but towards the end of the sleeves, they become a little too tight for her arm to pass through. The problem was the same with the other, but she dismissed it as she worked on clipping the front together with the small clips before looking up at her reflection in the mirror. The collar rose up around her neck, covering the nasty bruises. The base of it was lined in the gold fabric that fell down the front to cover up where the jacket split in the front to make it look as if it was one piece all together. A little after her waist it split again and fell of around her hips and down the back, so that the front was exposed to be the white dress, but the back was covered by the black jacket she wore. The sleeves puffed slightly in a pentagon pattern right after her shoulders down to her elbows and then tightened again before loosening slightly once more into a small belled ends, so that if she closed her hands into small fist that they would be hidden. It was nice, really it was just……

"I look like a nun….." Ayane sighed at her own reflection before grabbing a hairbrush and black hair tie out of the small basket sitting on the counter. Well, she might as well look the whole part. Brushing her hair up into her hair to make it look like she was going to make a high ponytail, she manipulated her wet hair into a tight bun. "Well time to get on with the day." She placed the towel back on the hock before unlocking the door and stepping back out into the bedroom. Well she must not have been in the shower long, for the boy did not look bored. He took to his feet, shoulder length brown hair brushing over his eyes as he looked at her.

"Looks quiet nice on you, princess." He smiled at her. "Though it is missing something…" There was a puzzled frown on his face as he studied her; Ayane frowned slightly as well, for this was all that he had placed in there for her to put on. With a snap of his fingers, the item in question come to his mind as he walked over the dresser and pulled something out of the top drawer. As he walked back to her, Ayane could see that it was made of the small black fabric as the jacket she wore, but she could not tell what it was. He studied her for a moment before tosses his hand through her wet hair for a second to drawl out her bangs that fall unevenly over her eyes. Smiling with satisfaction, he took the thing in his hand and put it up over her head. It fell down passed her neck, all the way to her waist. "There, now you are in uniform… Come on then, time to get to work!" He tossed her a pair of white slipper like shoes before going to the door. There was no need for her to look in a mirror to see what she looked like now. For she was pretty damn sure that he had just finished the 'nun' look for her.

"Great… lovely…" She murmured to herself as she slipped on the two shoes and ran after him.

xXxXxXxXx

"Right now, this here is the-" Viole was saying as he pointed things out to her on the small map in her hands. It was hand made so some of the lines were a bit hard to read. Halfway down the hall from her door the boy had introduced himself in full, Viole Radgar of the old country Baelmark, tactics officer for the Dragonslayers. Well not really tactics officer he had told her, sort of laughing, more like he did maps. He admitted that the poorly done on in her hands was one of his, he had tried to make a good one for her last night, but his roommate was throwing a fit over having the light on so late that he was forced to rush it. He had also told her what her jobs would be as long as they were stationed on this floating fortress. She would cook the meals for the Elite, which consisted of six growing and quiet hungry young men, along with their commander, who had a very odd appetite at times. One top of that, Ayane would have the chore of cleaning. First one her list, would be Dilandau-sama's (Viole also told her that was how she was to address him at ALL times, no matter what) room, and then she would tend to the Dragonslayers. This way, she would only have to fight with one body (Dilandau-sama's) to clean the first room, and had the others would clear out by the time that she got to it, then six of them. One of his arms where lightly wrapped around her shoulders as he pointed things out on the map. He was alright, somewhat childish, but, Ayane had deemed that was alright as long as his arm didn't move anywhere else. "Think you can remember all that?"

"I probably can, Viole-san." She smiled at him, his eyes laughed at her as he let go of her, and half skipped to the door in front of them. The small curl of hair behind his eye sprang around a bit.

"Viole-san, eh? Don't sound that bad…" He punched in some random numbers onto the small pad lock, a set of numbers that had been written on the back of her little map. Without a thought, he turned on the lights of the small room to reveal the little kitchen. It would have been an interesting little site too, like her room, if it wasn't for the mountain of dirty dishes. There was a large ice box to her left as she stepped in, to her right was a counter top, fire lit stove, down on the end of open counter space between them, was a fire kennel oven. There was wood piled at the far in for both it and the stove, in the center was a large wooden island, covered in unclean dishes, food scrapes, and different kinds of odds. There was a thin frown on her face as she studied this mess; there was also trash on the floor, dishes piled to the ceiling in the large sink. The little kitchen was completely and utterly…..unsanitary. "Sorry about the mess, I haven't had the time to clean it up."

"I noticed, Viole-san……" She stressed the title slightly, thinking whether or not he was worth the title at the moment. He had told her that for the past two weeks he had been in charge of cooking, it was clear that he had not been cleaning during that time period. Ayane slightly wondered if those poor boys had seen this place, would they still be eating the meals this one served. The boy wheeled around on his heels, and smiled at her.

"Right, we've got seven meals to cook, that includes mine, mind you, and then you can get to cleaning up with mess!" Ayane frown deepened as she walked into the room. The door slide shut behind her as she walked up next to him, studying the room a little more. "Right… now we can always start wi-"

"Viole-san, I'm in charge of all the meals right?" Ayane asked, the tone in her voice cut off the happy go getting Viole, who looking at her with slight surprise at it. He looked down at the young woman next to her, whose eyes were narrowed at the mess before her.

"Um, yes?"

"Good…." Her hand went up and pulled down on his left ear. "I will cook the meals, and while I am doing that, you will clean this mess. Understood, Viole-SAN?" Viole gulped at the look Ayane was giving him under her long eye lashes.

"Yes ma'am!"

xXxXxXxXx

"Rise and shine little slayers!" A vibrate, and cheerful voice seeped through the door into the dark room. The room echoed with the tired groan of his bunkmate below as he turned in his bed. Shesta cursed as he drew his pillow up over his head. It was far too early in the morning to have to listen to Viole's chipper voice, let along die from his cooking. There was a loud monotonous curse, and something hit the wall with a BAM. Sounded like the boy got his first victim, Gatty grumbled something as he shifted in his bed, no doubtfully pulling the blankets up around his head. Curling up in a ball, Shesta could hear the next set of victims as Viole went about attacking them to get them up. Sometimes one would wish that Dilandau-sama would allow them to have locks on their doors.

"O fearless leaders! UP, UP!" The door was thrown open and light filled the room. Viole's silhouette figure stood in the doorway. Well, at least a set of locks on his and Gatty's door.

"Go away Viole…." Gatty growled as he threw his pillow at him, Viole just hit the lights as it hit him in the leg and fell to the floor.

"O, come on now, and I worked so hard to make sure you all got hot breakfasts…"

"You mean hot poison?" Shesta yawned as he sat up on his top buck. This was how each room was, a set of bunk beds, one dresser, a closet, two chairs and a lone desk to be split. Sure, it wasn't anything spectacular, but it was an improvement over what the lower ranks had. Here it was two to a room, second string had four to a room, and third? Well it was all of them to one big room. Though the bedrooms weren't meant for having large group events, there was a large room that connected the three bedrooms together. Viole had disappeared from their doorway, as the two made their ways out of bed and trotted out into the common room in nothing more then their boxers and tank tops. At least the aroma of the food didn't smell too horrible. Miguel was sitting on the floor with his back against the large couch, and legs stretched out under the low coffee table before him, dressed in nothing but blue boxers. Dallet and Guimel were sitting around him on the couch; unlike him, both were half dressed. At least the two had fallen asleep mostly dressed again. Each of them had a small wooden bowl in their hands filled with white, fluffy rice. On the table was a larger wooden bowl with the rest of the rice, spread out around it was six different plates, filled with similar foods. There was sausage, bacon, eggs, crab, and some sort of biscuit looking thing. The three around the couch had already claimed their plates and were working on inhaling it. Still half awake and staring at the food the two of them sat down on the floor on the other side on the table.

"What on Gaea?" Gatty murmured as Viole handed him and Shesta there bowls of hot rice.

"Like I said, hot breakfast…… I worked so hard on it so be happy."

"I had no idea you could cook this…" Shesta whispered as he poked his sausage with his chop sticks.

"Makings three of us…" Dallet eyed the smiling Viole who sat down on the chair at one eat, serving himself a large helping of rice. "Why didn't you make something like this before?"

"Ya! This is the first descent thing we've had to eat in days!" Guimel said with a mouth full of rice. Dallet hit him on the back of his head.

"Where are your manners?"

"O you guys flatter me!" Viole chirped.

"Would you all stop, he didn't make this…" Miguel narrowed his eyes at his partner before taking another mouthful of rice. "Our little Healer made it…"

"Miguel! You're no fun…" There was a pout in his voice as Viole ate his own rice.

"At least we know she is a good cook..." Guimel picked up another sausage. "So, what did she make you do Viole?"

"O! I stood over should making sure tha-"

"Made him clean the mess most likely…" Miguel yawned as he finished the last of his rice, and eggs. Placing the bowl on the table he stood up, ignoring the glares for Viole. "I'm getting a shower before the other strings get up…… On the training floor right, Shesta?"

"Yup..." Viole continued to glare at him as he disappeared out in the dark hall. The other slayers tried not to laugh; this scene was something that they were not unfamiliar with. They all did it once in a while to Viole, when it was too early for them to take his perkiness.

xXxXxXxXx

The walk from the kitchen to where Dilandau-sama's room wasn't very far, and thus wasn't every eventful. On the small tray in her hands that Ayane was carrying, held the bowl of oatmeal, topped with strawberries and sugar, along with a smaller bowl of a small fruit salad, and to drink, a small glass of red wine. It was almost a well rounded breakfast, Viole had explained it her that Dilandau-sama wasn't a really big fan of meats. His diet consisted of mainly fruits, vegetables, and wheat. Every now and then he would eat fish but that was about it. So to make sure that Dilandau-sama would eat red meats (because, as Viole had said in a "Folken like voice", there are some proteins that Dilandau-sama need that were only found in red meats) it was hidden in his meals. Today's, the oatmeal had small amounts of grounded sausage in it. Carefully rebalancing the tray in her hands, Ayane punched in the combination into the pad lock so that the door would slide open. The morning light danced in through the red curtains that fell over the two large doors. They looked to lead outside somewhere, but she didn't take to her curiosity to look just yet. The door slide shut behind her as she stepped in but the light was enough for her to see where she was going. A few steps away was a small table, about the same sizes as hers. Placing the small tray on it, she set the meal out onto the table.

Quietly tip toeing; Ayane stepped over to the small bed. It wasn't a queen size, or a twin, it was more like somewhere between. It was covered in red satin sheets that were twisted around the small frame beneath them. Well, it was only right, yes? The boy had seen her quiet on the naked side, now here; the boy was for the good part of it naked. If it wasn't for the flimsy part of blood red boxers, he would be. Whitish silver hair was scattered about the bed, for he was curled up around the lone pillow that had remain on the bed. The red satin blanket was wrapped around one of his legs. The look on his face was…angelic. Ayane frowned slightly looking at him before leaving the bed side, and made her way to the curtains. Each time she had seen him before, there had always been a crazed look, or chaotic smile on his face. But, to have him look like that sleeping was something she would never have guessed on. But in sleep, all masks disappear. Pulling back the red curtains, the morning light shined over her face, for the first time in a while she could see the sky from above, morning sun peaking over the sea. They were still near the ocean? The doors lead out onto a balcony and for sure if she stepped out on it she would be able to see Austria. There was a moan from the bed, as Dilandau-sama rolled over, away from the light.

"Time to arise, milord, the day begins a new." Ayane said softly, an almost whisper. His head popped up a bit, lazy and tired red eyes studied her for a moment before his head fell back down onto the bed.

"Seven more hours…" Was the sleepy response as the young man pulled the pillow over his head. Sighing, Ayane walked over to the bed, being nice wasn't going to work, then, plan B.

"Milord! Get up!" Ayane yanked the pillow out from under his hand, making his face bask in the morning light. The pair of oval ruby red eyes looked at her for a moment before he sat up in bed.

"I'm up…Sheesh…" Dilandau yawned, as he slipped out of bed, and headed straight for the food on the table. Sighing again, Ayane went about her tasks, running down the list of chores she did at home since Viole didn't give her the pacifies: Making the bed, picking up clothes, sweeping the floor, and picking up dishes, that was about all she could do at this point. Wiping stuff down would have to be tomorrow's chore since she didn't bring the stuff with her for it. Pulling the sheets back up on the bed properly and placing the two discarded pillows back on was about the only things she had to do with the bed. As she turned around to look at the rest of the room to see what need to be done, her gray eyes settled back down on the silver hair young man. There in his hands where a set of small dark stained chop sticks. He was in the process of eating some of the oatmeal, a task that Ayane had always had trouble doing, with ease, his eyes studying the small piece of paper he was reading. His face had kept the angelic look, well mostly; the chaotic one that was normally there hadn't appeared yet. But that wasn't the thing that confused her anymore. For the past two countries she had been in, they had use eating utensils (fork, knife, and the spook), and even when she was on the Vione the first time she ate with those. Yet here, this young man was using chop sticks! As if feeling her eyes on him, Dilandau looked at her for a moment. "Is there something wrong?"

"N-no... Milord" Ayane caught herself; she wasn't quiet use to using these titles just yet. His eye drawl arched up a bit while he folded his chop sticks and placed them down on the table. "It's just, since I've been here, I haven't seen anyone use chop sticks until now."

"Umm…" He pushed the chair underneath the table as he stood up. That was about all he said to her as he walked towards the bathroom. The door slide close behind him, and a few minutes later she could hear the rushing water. Taking in a deep breath, Ayane turned her mind back to its work. She was a servant now, a prisoner of war, and besides, she was use to the silent, 'you don't exist' treatment

xXxXxXxXx

She was done and gone before he got out of the shower, which was a good thing. Now Ayane could go about the rest of her work. Once going back to the kitchen to dispose and clean Dilandau-sama's set of dishes, she grabbed more cleaning supplies and went to the Elites' rooms following Viole's map. It wasn't that hard to find, down a few twists and turns in the corridor from her room and she found it. The rooms would be empty, which meant easy cleaning without six boys being in the way. Punching in yet another set of codes into the small pad lock, the door open to reveal what she figure she would find; a disaster zone of a commons room. There was clothing and stuff tossed about the room, on the small dark stained wooden coffee table was the morning dishes and left over food from this morning. She had until three in the afternoon to clean this, Viole had told her, the slayers would be eating lunch in the cafeteria since they were training most of the day. The time it seemed she was going to need. Setting down her cleaning stuff she went about to explore the area a bit. The commons room had a couch, two chairs, a coffee table, a decorative rug beneath them, and a small fire place. The furniture was turned to face the small fire place that was on the same wall as the door out into the hall. There where three doors behind them, each seemed to have a small plate on each door. Walking towards the one to the far left she could see the two names on the plate: Miguel Lavariel, Tactics officer; Viole Radgar, Tactics officer. The door slide open, to reveal yet again another mess. If Viole couldn't kept a kitchen clean, it was clear he couldn't kept his room clean. At least one bunk wasn't covered in junk. There was a small journal, with papers that hung out of it on the desk. Sighing, Ayane was about to look at the other rooms when the sound of flutter wings caught her attention. Popping her head to look into the room again, she found a small green bird in a cage.

"O, how cute…" Right prefect set of words to describe the thing as it turned its head and looked at her. Two little betty eyes blinded at her before chirping…. The word 'shit' over and over again. Frowning she watched as the bird flew around in its cage, clearly someone had spent a lot of time working on the bird's vocabulary. Sighing at the fact teenaged boys will be…well teenaged boys, Ayane walked to the room straight across from this one to look up at the name plate: Dallet Granville, fourth mate; Guimel Drachveld, third mate. There was a slight pen marking under that last name on the plate that Ayane could barely read, Sheep head. Sighing, Ayane opened the door to this room. Well it wasn't that bad, defiantly not like the first one. There was clothing scattered around a bit, paper work here and there, and a sketch book with art material around it on the floor. A small flute lay on the floor with music sheets beneath it, an ink quail and ink bottle near by. Satisfied with the improvement over the last room, Ayane turned her attention to the last. There where two more names to this one as well; Shesta Eleding, First in-command; Gatty Ethelgar, Second in-command. The door slid open for her with easy to revealing the cleanest out of the three bedrooms. Clothing were folded on the bunk beds, those on the floor were few. Papers on the table were neat, and on the far wall was a small painting. Walking towards it closer, she could make out the a young woman, long white hair falling out of her hat as she looked down at the flowers in her hand. Well, for the most part, Ayane couldn't make out the face, for her eyes were hidden beneath shadows. Though what caught her eye was the small signature in the corner. The only letters she could make out where D for the first part of the name and A for the second name. Her hand touched the paintings slightly, for it seemed like a sad memory put on tanned animal hide.

"Well, its time to work…." She said to no one particular as she turned away from it. "Let's being then!"

xXxXxXxXx

The room was sparkling by the time she had finished, all four rooms. The Dragonslayers were walking it the commons room as she was finishing with the two tactic officers' room. There wasn't much commotion at first as the two to walk in first headed for the room in the middle. Ayane watched who went were, the two to the middle would be either Gatty or Shesta, the two who went crossed from her would be either Dallet or Guimel, and the two to walk into the room would be Miguel and Viole. The little bird fluttered in its cage as she folded the last bit of clean clothing and placed them in there respectable places. At last she was finished, now all she had to do was cook the dinners, get them to their places and she could go back to her own room to sleep! Viole plopped himself down on the couch, and groaned as he kicked his boots off his feet. None of the boys had noticed that she was still in the room, so this gave her time to study them. The brownish red head walked in and glared at Viole, this one she knew from the last time she was here. It was Miguel. The shorter blond was Shesta, that had been the one she had healed, and the taller blond would be Gatty. They were laughing about something as one of the boys from the room to cross from the one she was in, popped his head out his hair reminded her of a mushroom kind of. Viole called him 'sheep head' making him Guimel. That left the brown hair one that had hair to his shoulders, he had to be Dallet.

"Wow, she cleaned the rooms pretty good." Viole smiled, for the first time in a while could see his reflection off the table.

"And I would appreciate if you put your shoes in your room Viole-san." All the boys jumped to her voice as she walked out of her 'hiding place'.

"Viole-san? What did you tell her Viole?" Miguel growled at his partner who only waved his hands free hand to dismiss the growl, as he picked up his shoes.

"Nothing, she's been calling me that all morning so there!" Viole stuck his tongue out at him before walking to there room to put his shoes up. Ayane just laid her cleaning rags into the small bucket as he came out again with his green bird. "Princess did you meet my pet?"

"O lord, Viole get ride of that bird before it embarrasses us!" Guimel groaned as he sat down in one of the chairs, sweat from practice soaked his tank top.

"Dian is a good bird, so you all stop being so mean…"

"Viole the only word she can say is 'shit'…."

"Is not, Shesta! She can say more then that!" Ayane stood up watching as the boys quelled with each other. Odd, they were all from different families, yet here they all seemed to be brothers. The small bird fluttered away from Viole as he shook his fists at Dallet, the poor boy seemed to be the day's target, but didn't seem unused to it. The bird, Dian, flew towards her and landed on her shoulder. Ayane stroked the bird's chest before kissing it on the head.

"Take that back Dallet! Or else!"

"Or else what?"

"Or else-"

"Ye be as gods!" the bird's voice cut them all off as she chirped. "Ye be as Gods! Ye be as gods!" Ayane's laugh followed as she looked at Viole and winked.

"Taught her something else, I had the time..." Four jaws were almost on the floor, Miguel was just looking at her funny, and Viole looked ready to hit the ceiling in excitement.

"I've tried everything to teach her something different!" Dian fluttered off her shoulder and back to her master.

"Anyways, I'm done for the day; are there any requests for dinner?" The bird's new vocabulary was soon forgotten at the mention of dinner. Once dropped jaws were now clear grins. "I take that as a yes?"

"Oni-lun!" Four voices shouted together, Viole laughed at it as he walked back into his room, Miguel slumped down in his chair. She blinked at the name; clearly the boys wanted it for dinner.

"Oni-lun for everyone then?" She was answered by nods. "Alright, Oni-lun it is! I will be back with your dinners later…" With that, she walked back out into the dark corridor. There was commotion behind her as the boy's conversations flared up, someone was yelling at Viole, and someone was calling Guimel 'Sheep head'. Sighing, Ayane hit her head against the wall. Why couldn't I have asked them from a choice of things? Oni-lun? They might have well asked me for the moon.

Lady Ayane…" Ayane stood up and look at the redhead standing next to her. The door farther down the hall from them was half open, voices of the others still carried out.

"Yes Miguel-san?" A little blush on his face, not that she could really see it, the hall was kind of on the dark side. He scratched the back of his head for a moment not looking at her.

"The Strategoes's study should have a nation mixed cookbook somewhere. I have to use it ever now and then when I get stuck with cooking duty." He turned to walk back to the room. "It should be under Chivial dishes."

xXxXxXxXx

Paper work, on top of paper work. How life seemed to evolve around, well, paper work. Folken sighed as he placed the folder back down on the table. One would think that after a while the generals would get bored of sending him all of this. The more stuff he had to sign the more they had to write, the more he had to read, and so on. Where was Dilandau when you need the morning time distraction from it? Leaning back in the chair, he looked outside of the opened balcony doors. One could enjoy the smells of the sea in the evening, except for one use to trees. They would only be in Asturia for a few more days. The four generals were gathering in Palace air space for the attack. Which luckily no one knew about quiet yet, Van had left too early and even through he was heading for Fried he did not know Zaibach's plans. The Heavens Knight, Allen Schezar, had been put under 'arrest'; King Aston had said that the man might try to warn the Duke. This little time before the whole war was to break out was time he planned to use to do something NOT dealing with this whole damn thing. But someone had the idea to send him all this evilly deemed paper work last night. Sighing again as birds fluttered by the balcony, Folken turned back to working when a low typing came at the door. The first person to come to mind was Dilandau. But, since when did he knock before entering?

"Who is it?"

"Ayane, Milord!" Well this was new, first time in a while someone had called him that. There was either something wrong, or well, yeah there was probably always be something wrong if Dilandau was in charge of watching her. Folken picked up the small wine glass on the table.

"Enter…"The door slid open, and she stepped in quickly, Folken nearly chocked on the sip of wine. Dilandau defiantly had a twisted since of humor, if he was going for the 'I'm innocent' look he defiantly hit it. Next time, he shouldn't let the boy create uniforms. It was bad enough with the idea of her walking around the Vione, even if on the top floors. Dilandau didn't need to add THAT to the problem.

"Umm… Ummm.."

"Is there something the matter Miss Ayane?" The girl looked down on the floor at her feet for a moment.

"Need a cook book…" The words were a bit to low for him, all Folken could get was 'cook' and 'book'. Dilandau made her the cook? Now this was going to be interesting, and no doubtfully Miguel sent her up here. At least one of the slayers had some thinking that the two worlds were a bit different.

"Bookshelf to your left: third shelf, fifth book in from the right." The girl moved quickly and pulled the battered thing down of the shelf with ease. As quickly as she came in, she moved to leave the room with a quick bow of thanks. "Ayane…" Girl stopped at the door, one foot in the other out of the room. She turned around to look at him black, blue tipped bangs fell over her eyes. The rest of her hair had to be hidden underneath that thing on her head. A shame really, the oddly colored hair seemed to be one of the most interesting things about her.

"Yes, Milord?"

"Would you mind coming back here when you are done? There are a few things I would like to talk to you about." Ayane's eyes narrowed at him for a moment. Another interesting thing about her, sweet and nice as she could act her eyes always seemed to be calculating things. She was a planner, quiet different from Dilandau.

"Of course Milord…" She turned to walk out again.

"Ayane?"

"Yes Milord?"

"You don't have to call me that... Folken is fine..."

"As you wish, Folken-sama." The door slid close behind her, leaving him once again alone with the evil paper work. With a small chuckle, he picked up the small wine glass again. Different as the two seemed, the two had one thing in common. They were both very stubborn.

xXxXxXxXx

"Ok, now I let it simmer for thirty minutes…" Ayane sighed as she stood up, and looked at the pot on the stove. This was kind of fun cooking this way, electric cooking was too easy. This here made cooking a little more fun, especially now that she was learning some different kinds of foods. Well she had thirty minutes to herself, the kitchen was clean she had been doing that along the way. So what could she do now? Sighing she looked back to the book, and began to flip through it. Things seemed a little strange today. Ayane had learned a lot, well not what she was planning. Viole was the joker, and Miguel kept him in line, he also wrote poems. Guimel was an architect, and maybe even a good artist. Dallet played instruments and wrote music (it was amazing what you found when you cleaned other peoples' rooms), and Shesta and Gatty, well those two were a little different. There weren't a whole lot of personal items in their rooms, most of it had been things issued to them (this Ayane had figured out because all of them had it), and what there was, she couldn't figure out who went to what. There had been a small wooden flute, but no music, there had been a small silver fish mounted to a small board. The date covered below it she couldn't really understand. And last of all there was that painting on the wall.

Thought it couldn't have been from either of them, the name began with a D, and the last an A. Dilandau himself had been somewhat of a mystery himself. She hadn't learned much about him like she did the others. He was quite well kept, to himself that was. And last of all there was Folken, not much she learned about him today. Well that was probably because she was too afraid to talk to him. Too many questions, too many lost pieces to the puzzle. This world was so full of puzzles, well, Ayane sighed as she flipped another page in the book. She wasn't here to solve them all, right now; she was working on just two. Fanelia sweet cakes, her hand landed on the page and stop. Well if there was one way to start a conversation, it was through a man's stomach!

GA1: dead to the world

SD: A I've killed her!

Aiko: No you haven't.. She is just asleep from the lack off coffee…

SD: O.o You're right…

Edited: 12/29/06