The thought of Yami naked on the other side of the rock wall had Charlotte's imagination running wild. Coupled with the heat of the water, and a mere whiff of Mereoleona's sake, the thought made her shut down. She had tried, she really had, to keep her composure, to keep her cool, but nothing seemed to help when she thought about that man.

She woke to find Sol trying her best to cool her down, thinking it was the heat from the water which had done her in. But nothing the young woman did helped matters any. Her imagination was in overdrive and she couldn't do anything to stop it. Besides, she thought, it's not like he left much up to the imagination anyway. She felt warmth rush to her cheeks as she pictured him once again, dressed in his festival gear. She had no idea how any sane person could dress themselves like that and go out in public.

Like he qualifies as sane, she thought.

Still the thought of it made her heart race and her hands tremble.

"I'm fine, Sol." She waved off the younger woman as she sat up. "Just got a little dizzy is all." She slipped back into the water.

"Maybe you should take a break, Sis?"

"No, no. I'm fine." She could never explain what had really happened, not to Sol. She knew the younger woman liked her, was attracted to her. She didn't want to hurt the girl, but neither did she want to string her along. She had to admit it to herself. She only had eyes for a man she could never have. She sighed before dipping her head under the water. She wondered if the other woman, the one in his squad, was really his ideal. She had to know more about her, this Vanessa. At just the thought of her name, Charlotte felt the sickening stir of jealousy. She wondered how desperate she would sound if she started asking questions about her. Information gathering had never been her strong suit. She had far more skill on the battlefield than in the interrogation room. A woman's got to do what a woman's got to do, she told herself. She took a deep breath, steeling herself. She slid over to the only Black Bull on her side of the volcano.

"You're Nozel's little sister, right? Noelle, was it?" She asked the silver haired young woman. Noelle nodded her head. She seemed intimidated by the sudden interest. "I saw how the treated you at the award ceremony. I'm sorry your brothers and sister are such jerks."

"It's fine. I'm used to it by now."

"Still, it's not right for them to treat you the way they do."

Charlotte felt like a hypocrite. She knew her father and mother held a strong disgust with commoners and peasants, and anyone with weak magic. Growing up, she had developed the same dislike and had treated those beneath her like garbage. Of course, there were plenty of times when she had treated those who were technically her equal in status like they were beneath her, but she did so out of fear of the curse laid upon her as a child. As far as she knew, her parents and grandmother were the only ones who knew how and why the curse had been broken. When her mother and father found out who had stolen their daughter's heart, they had been none too pleased. For all intents and purposes, they disowned her. She had been allowed to keep her name, and she knew she would still have her inheritance as she was the only heir, but she no longer spoke to them. Everyone was happier now. At least she was happier. She didn't care how they were.

"Sometimes I think I deserve it." Noelle said softly.

"No one deserves to be treated like they are worthless." Charlotte smiled at the young woman. "Besides, I'm sure you did your fair share to help your squad rack in all the stars you earned."

Noelle grinned.

"My control has been getting better."

"Was that the problem? Why Nozel didn't want you on his team with the rest of your siblings?"

Charlotte had often wished for siblings to play with as a child. But seeing how the Silva siblings treated their own, she realized siblings can come with their own slew of problems.

"One of many, but yes." The young woman sighed and thought quietly for a moment. After her cousin's pep talk and encouragement, Noelle felt more open, more trusting. She had often longed for someone she could talk to, someone who would listen. Even her squad mates had not been able to fulfill her need. But for some reason, she felt the Blue Rose captain would not dismiss her outright. Something about the older woman told her she could open up.

"Sometimes it feels like my magical power is its own person, has its own will. Sometimes I feel like I'm a vessel for it, and nothing more. Sometimes it listens to me; sometimes it doesn't."

Charlotte considered Noelle for a long moment.

"Not everyone is born with the same ability to control magic, just as people are born with different affinities or power. Sometimes it's easy to lose control. Too easy."

"You say that like you have experience with it." The younger girl looked at her with wide hopeful eyes. Charlotte smiled.

"Well, yeah. I lost control of my power once. I almost destroyed an entire town before I was stopped."

"What happened? Why did you lose control?"

"My family had been cursed. My parents never told me why we had been cursed, only that the curse would trigger when I turned eighteen."

"A curse?"

"Yes. The curse would trigger a cage of time that would trap the entire town. We were to be stuck in that moment for all eternity, unless someone could dispel the curse."

"So then what happened?" Noelle leaned slightly forward, eager to hear the tale.

"I've... I haven't talked about this in so long." Charlotte muttered before launching into the story. "I had just finished a mission and had been given leave time to go home and visit my family for my birthday. There was a lull in the fighting with the Diamond Kingdom, so we Magic Knights were doing smaller missions after over a year of large scale battles. So we were on a sort of rotation with the missions, and I was able to extend my stay with my family. I was so happy to get to see them. I hadn't been able to spend much time with them since I had joined the Magic Knights two or so years earlier. My parents had planned a huge party, confident I had been able to beat the curse. After all, I was living up to everything they had dreamed would be possible for me, and then some."

"Go on." Noelle leaned forward with interest, and Charlotte noticed she had attracted the attention of some of the other women in the spring. She glanced around and noticed Sol harassing another young woman. She sighed in relief, grateful her subordinate was not around to hear her deepest secret.

"As soon as I set foot in the town square, BAM! Briars start to explode from the ground." She gesticulated like mad, adding effect to the story. "They surround me, stretching me horizontal and binding my hands and feet. I can't reach my grimoire, I can't move, I can barely speak from the pain of them cutting into me. I can still turn my head and I see them reaching out, further and further. Snaking down the streets, catching other people, breaking windows and toppling structures. I started to feel time slowing down. I try to call out to them, to command them to stop, but I can't. Like you said, it was like the power had a mind of its own. I can hear screams, terrified screams echoing down the streets as my briars pack the area and blot out the sky."

"So how did it stop? How did you regain control?"

"I couldn't get it to stop. Someone had to break the curse."

"Who? How?"

Charlotte took a deep breath, wondering just how much she should tell this eager young woman.

"The way to dispel the curse was to have my heart stolen."

"What? Not literally."

Charlotte laughed.

"No, not literally, of course. I had to fall in love, unexpectedly." She leaned close to the young royal, her voice a whisper. "Now you can't tell anyone, but right as all of this was happening, a young man came along and I did just that."

"Who was it?"

Charlotte blushed.

"Now that is a secret."

The younger girl seemed a little sad, though Charlotte could not tell if it was because she didn't get to find out the name of the curse breaker or if it was something else.

"I don't think that will work for me. I'm not cursed." Noelle said. "Though sometimes it feels like I am."

"It was terrifying." She admitted.

"What?"

"When I lost control. It was terrifying for me. Knowing all those people would be trapped, and it would be my fault. If it had just been me, I guess I wouldn't have been so scared, but to know I wasn't strong enough to protect them? It was the scariest moment of my life. It's a feeling I hope to never repeat."

Noelle was quiet for a moment, though Charlotte could feel the girl's eyes on her as she contemplated what was said.

"When I, when I lost control, really lost control, it terrified me too. I've never had control to begin with, not really, but it was... it was like nothing I had ever experienced. I thought I was going to die." Noelle's voice grew quiet. "I thought I deserved to die. That my siblings were right."

The girl waved her hands through the water, scooping it up in them and letting it drain away between the fingers.

"Asta saved me." Noelle's voice was tiny, small.

Charlotte watched as Noelle's cheeks colored suddenly. The look on the young woman's face reminded her of how she felt the day Yami cut through the thorns and told her she should trust others a little more."

"Noelle, do you like Asta?"

"What? No. How could I like someone like him? He's crude, idiotic, reckless, muscle-brained, and a commoner!"

Charlotte sighed and closed her eyes. Every argument coming out of Noelle's mouth were arguments she had told herself over and over whenever she thought of Yami.

"But he also has the biggest heart you've ever seen, doesn't he?"

Noelle stopped spewing the reasons she shouldn't like Asta and looked at the older woman. Charlotte had a small smile on her face.

"Yeah, I guess. He always talks about protecting people. Protecting everyone. He thinks it's his job."

"Isn't it? As Magic Knights are we not tasked with doing so?"

"I, I guess. He's just so serious about it all the time. He's, he's made me serious about it too." The color returned to Noelle's cheeks as she sunk further into the water. "I, I guess I do. Ugh! How can I like him?" she cried out in exasperation. The conversation she had with Kahono rushed back to her and now made perfect sense through this new lens.

Charlotte chuckled, wondering how many times she had asked herself the same thing.

"How did you know?' Noelle asked at last. "That I liked Asta? How did you know when I didn't know myself?"

Charlotte smiled.

"Well. You remind me a lot of myself, and Asta... I see a lot of the one who stole my heart in him. I didn't know for sure, but if history is any indication, I figured there was a chance."

"So, um." Noelle shifted in the water, making it ripple around her. "Who was it?"

"I told you, that's a secret."

Charlotte had sworn she would carry that secret to the grave, but looking in the earnest eyes of the young woman who was just starting to get her footing made her itch to throw away her vow. She quickly changed the subject.

"How have you been fitting in with the Black Bulls? I imagine it was difficult at first?"

"I kept wondering if I should really be there, but it wasn't their fault. I, I was the one making it difficult. I kept looking down on them when they were all just trying to help me." She smiled. "But it feels more real now, more like a family than my own family."

Charlotte nodded her head.

"I understand."

"You do?"

"My parents have some very strong opinions about those they considered beneath them. I'm not proud to say it, but for a long time I also held those beliefs."

"Did joining the Magic Knights change them?"

Charlotte chewed on her lip.

"Somewhat. But I was so intent on breaking the curse myself I, well, I closed myself off, shut everyone out-noble and commoner alike. But the man who broke the curse, he... he opened my eyes."

"You keep bringing him up. I'm dying to know who it is."

Charlotte took a deep breath. She wanted to tell her, she wanted someone else to know. She felt her insides were going to explode with the knowledge, and had felt that way for years whenever she thought about him.

"I'm glad that you've found a good place for you, Noelle."

"They aren't all bad. They're weird, but not bad people. Even if half of them are commoners."

"Tell me about them. We captains don't often get a chance to learn about those on other squads, and given the sudden jump in status, I'm curious about how and why. What's the formula? Or is it just luck?"

A/N: So this sort of went off the rails of what I had initially meant it to be. But I think both Noelle and Charlotte needed someone to confide in a bit. And they have some parallels to their stories which I wanted to explore I guess. Needed to build some trust between the two before Charlotte could get the info on Vanessa.