It was a right before daybreak when Kaede woke up. She yawned while stretching her arms out. "Nyu." Kaede said as she looked around the room. She saw blood on the sheets that she was laying on and shouted "NYU!"

The loud sound woke Sting up from the chair as he rushed over to her side. He saw the fear in her eyes and noticed that her face looked pale.

"Kaede, what's wrong?! You look like you've seen a ghost."

"N-nyu nyu." Kaede said scared out of her mind and confused at to why the sheets were all bloods stained. She then jumped on Sting giving him a hug. She wanted comfort, because she was scared and didn't understand what was going on around her.

"Kaede?" Sting said as he felt Kaede shake in fear. He didn't understand what was going on either, but he knew that he needed to calm her down.

He gently released her from the death hug, she's given him and sat her down on the bed again. "Kaede there's no reason to be afraid. Remember, I helped heal you. There was an iron ball sucked in your side and it was coated with poison. So I had to do something to help you."

"Nyu?" Kaede was confused as to what he was talking about. She didn't understand a word he was saying.

"How is it that you only say, Nyu? You were speaking clearly when I first saw you."

"Nyu?"

"Kaede, do you remember anything?" Sting asked and Kaede shook her head while not saying anything. Actually, she couldn't say anything besides that one word. Sting looked at her sadly thinking 'She must've lost her memories.'

Sting saw Kaede get up out of the bed with no problem at all until she tripped over her own feet. She sat up off the ground with tears dripping down her cheeks. She then began crying loudly.

Sting knelt down on the ground and helped Kaede up off the floor and patted her head. "Stop crying now." He said comforting her.

She eventually stopped crying and gave him another hug. "Nyu!"

Sting was surprised by the sudden hug and kindly waited until she stopped hugging him before walking away.

"Nyu?" She said confused as to why he was leaving. She didn't want him to leave. She wanted him to stay with her. She was new to this world and it was scaring her.

"Nyu!" Kaede yelled up to him and clutched his arm. Sting looked back and saw that it was Kaede hanging on to him.

"Kaede?" He asked her. He saw her shivering in fear and felt that she didn't want to be left alone. He smiled at her before saying "Fine, you can follow me."

"Nyu!" Kaede said happily following Sting into his study where he remembered to work on the letter to the Council.

Sting sat down in his chair while Kaede looked curiously around the room. He sighed, looked at his halfway written letter before picking up the pencil and wrote some more.

Kaede however, continued wandering until she locked her eyes on a bookshelf. She walked up to it and looked at all the books. She couldn't read the titles or anything like that, but she noticed one certain book on the top shelf that she couldn't reach.

"N-nyu." Kaede said, trying to reach it while standing on the tips of her toes as well. However, when she did, she accidentally knocked all the books off the shelf and they landed on top of her burying her in a pile of books.

Sting heard the noise and dropped the pencil while snapping his head up. He saw that the books had fallen and Kaede was under them. He rushed out of his chair and towards the books that Kaede was buried in. He quickly pulled her out of the pile.

"Kaede, are you alright?!" He asked worriedly.

Kaede started crying again, but before the tears got too much he put a hand on her head causing her to immediately calm down. It seems that Sting putting a hand on her head calms her down.

"What book did you want to read?" He asked her.

"Nyu!" she said, pointing to the picture book that was in the pile. It had a picture of a dragon and a human. It was also Sting's favorite book as a child.

"So you want to read, The Dragon's Child." Sting said, picking up the book and handed it to Kaede. She jerked it out of his hands and sat down on the floor. She opened the book at stared at the pictured in awe.

"Nyu." she said, flipping through pages. Sting smiled at her knowing that she was occupied with the book. He sighed as he then looked at the pile of books on the floor.

"This is going to be a pain to clean up by myself." The books on the entire shelves were on the floor and he had to put them back.

When Sting began putting the books on the shelves he heard a noise and looked to see that the door to his study was open. He thought Kaede might've gotten out, but looked to see that she was still on the floor flipping through pages.

The one who opened the door was Yukino, the white haired Celestial Wizard. She looked at all the books on the floor and Sting. Her eyes widened at all the books that were on the floor. She started to help him pick them up, but then noticed a girl on the floor reading a picture book.

"Sting." Yukino said, getting getting his attention.

He turned his head towards her and said "Yes, Yukino." he was irritated at all the books he had to clean up.

"Who's that girl?"

"Oh, Kaede? She's a girl I saved last night while I was working late. She was severely hurt so I tended to her wounds." He answered.

"I see. How hurt was she?"

"She had a huge poisoned spiked iron ball in her side and was bleeding severely. I had to get her to the infirmary quickly and remove the ball also draining the poison out. That's why her dress is torn up too."

"Then why is she perfectly fine now"

"I don't know. She suddenly healed."

"Was it healing magic?" Yukino asked.

"I don't think so. I didn't see any glow or hear her chant any spell to make the wound go away." Sting answered.

"Let me take a look at her." Yukino said, walking up to Kaede.

Kaede heard footsteps coming towards her and looked up from the book she was browsing through. "Nyu?" Kaede asked, confused as to who this girl is. She was also a little frightened of the stranger as well.

"You should be careful with her. She gets scared easily." Sting said, putting another book on the shelf.

"I see." Yukino said, kneeling down on the floor in front of Kaede. "So your name's, Kaede."

"Nyu." Kaede said, nodding her head confirming to Yukino that her name was definitely Kaede. She put the book down as she was done reading it.

Kaede's stomach suddenly rumbled as she said "Nyuuuu." It seemed that she was hungry.

Yukino laughed as she heard the sound of Kaede's hungry stomach. "Looks like someone's hungry."

Kaede looked at Yukino with pleading eyes as she wanted to get something to eat. She didn't know where to get the food though.

"Would you like to get something to eat with me?" Yukino asked Kaede.

"Nyu" Kaede said, nodding her head in agreement.

"Sting, you come along too. You can finish putting those books back up later." Yukino said as Sting put the last book on the shelf including the one Kaede had just finished reading.

Sting walked over towards where Yukino and Kaede were and the three headed out of the study towards the Guild Hall where they could eat their food.

Kaede happily followed Sting and Yukino while skipping towards the Guild Hall. When they arrived, Kaede ran over to one of the many tables and sat down in a chair waiting for her food to come. However, it didn't come immediately like she thought it would. "Nyu." she said as she laid her head on the table.

Sting looked at Kaede and laughed, making Kaede turn her head towards him. "You need to wait for the food to cook before you eat."

"Nyu" Kaede said, nodding her head in agreement. Sting sat beside Kaede as Yukino headed into the Guild's kitchen to fix breakfast.

"So can you say anything other than, Nyu?" He asked her wanting a conversation.

"Nyu?" Kaede replied in confusion.

"I guess not." Sting sighed out as he waited for the food. He then put his gaze back upon Kaede and looked at the white protrusions coming out of her skull.

'What are those?' he thought as he lifted his hand and brought it towards her head.

Kaede looked at him curiously not knowing what he was going to do. That was when she felt him touch one of her horns.

"Horns? They're hard." He said, stating the obvious as he continued rubbing it. Sting let her horn go, letting his hand drop to his side.

"Breakfast's ready!" Yukino shouted as she brought the plates to the table. Each plate had the same thing, which were three pancakes each, scrambled eggs, and two pieces of bacon.

"This looks good Yukino!" Sting said, picking up a knife and fork before digging in. Yukino sat down at the table and ate her food quietly.

Kaede however, didn't know how to eat the food so she simply just picked up the pancake with syrup already on top of it with her hands. Taking a bite of it her eyes sparkled with delight. "Nyu!" she said as she continued eating it at a fast pace. By the time she was done with her pancakes her face and hands were all covered in sticky syrup.

Sting and Yukino happened to see what Kaede was doing, but it was too late to stop her from becoming a sticky mess. They gasped as Sting got a napkin and began cleaning her face and fingers.

"I can't believe you got this all over you." He said while finishing up wiping her face. He then picked up the fork and cut up a piece of his pancake before saying "Look, this is how you eat it." he began to take a bite of his food from his fork, but stopped when he saw her looking at the piece of food with wide eyes. She opened her mouth as she expected him to put the food in her mouth.

"Fine." Sting said, letting Kaede take a bite of his pancake. Her mouth reached the pancake as she took a bite.

"Nyu." She said in delight chewing the food before eventually swallowing. She watched as Sting and Yukino took a bite of bacon with their hands so she did the same.

When the meat hit her taste buds Kaede dug in for more. She then watched as they took a bite of egg with a fork so she simply did the same. She just mimicked whatever Yukino and Sting were doing.

Yukino looked over at Kaede impressed that she was eating somewhat civilized. However, she was eating at a pace that only one certain Dragon Slayer would eat. "She reminds me of Natsu." Yukino said, looking at Kaede eating.

"Yes, but she is a relative of his." Sting replied to Yukino.

"How do you know that?" Yukino asked.

"The pink hair should give it away and the appetite too as well."

"I see. Well, they do have a lot of common with each other. Maybe she's his sister?" Yukino asked.

"Maybe." Sting got up from his spot saying "I need to continue to work on the letter to the Council. Can you make sure that Kaede won't distract me, Yukino?" he asked.

"Sure." Yukino said as she saw Kaede rub her stomach satisfied that she was full. Yukino stood up grabbing the empty plates as she carried them into the kitchen, putting the dishes into the sink to be washed later. However, she wasn't paying attention to what Kaede was doing and thought that she was right behind her. When she heard no noise, she looked behind to see that Kaede was gone.

"Oh dear." Yukino said worried that she might hurt herself. 'She's still new here and has a mind of a toddler. She might get lost or worse hurt herself in this Guild.' So Yukino simply just walked around looking for Kaede.

When she saw no sight of her, she figured that she might be in Sting's study so she simply walked towards there. She knocked on the door and a simple "Come in." was heard. So Yukino came in with a worried look on her face.

"What do you need, Yukino?" Sting asked, seeing the worried look she was giving.

"It's Kaede. She's missing."