Natalie and Minato once again sat in a comfortable silence. The pair, without so much as a peep of word to the other, secretly appericates each other presence.

'I'm so glad that we got passed that. I didn't know how much longer it would have lasted if neither one of us said anything.' The blonde inwardly assumed as he kept his gaze locked in on the woman.

'Who would have thought that he felt that way?' The green eyed solider judges while she blankly stares at her now empty cup.

"Excuse me," A feminine voice quickly catches the pair's ears.

They cast their gaze toward the door to see a maid present with an iron cast kettle that dangles from one of her hands.

"Would you two like some more tea?" The woman was politely inquiring while silently gesturing to the black kettle in her hand.

"Yes, we would." The young man cordially replies for the both of them.

His answer prompts the maid to circle around the table to pour the hot liquid in both of their cups.

"Thank you." Natalie quietly thanks the maid, who cheerfully smiles at the two. The maid immediately withdraws from the couple.

The raven haired woman chose to slowly consume her tea this time. She completely down the first drink out of frustration that was solely directed at Minato.

'How could I let myself become so visibly upset…in front of him?' The solider inwardly demands while she studies the inside of her cup.

His obsidian eyes tediously notes the sudden changes in his companion's facial expression after he sips from his cup. 'I wonder what's bothering her now?'

"I don't mean to bring up the past but I think we should have a friendly spar…" He suggests as he allows his voice to trail off.

Her green eyes sight flew upward from her cup to her rival's face and determined, 'He must be serious…he would've twitched his left eyebrow if he had lied to me.'

A small smile stretches across her face while her bangs cover her eyes. "It seems as if you are rather serious about your request."

"Why wouldn't I be serious about fighting you?" The blonde boldly poses as he patiently waits for her answer.

The knight merely sits and waits for her verbal answer even though he already knows her response.

The raven haired woman casts her gaze toward him with the same smile across her face before she speaks, "So, what are we waiting for then?"

0000

Princess Mai felt a peculiar vibe that emitted from the soldiers, who were stationed throughout the castle every time she passed by them.

'So what the Avatar told me was correct then.' The princess mentally concluded with her eyes closed and her arms folded underneath her chest.

'This is really troublesome…' She asserted once she veered around the corner and once again one of the solider issued her a weird look.

'I need to find a way to get in contact with the Trogs.' Mai conceives as she utilizes her tour as a means to find hidden locations throughout the castle.

'I wonder what could have had tipped them off?' The princess was wondering while placing her hand underneath her chin.

She then attempted to recall all of the times from she had contacted the Trogs in secrecy. She would always make it a point to scan her surroundings before she calls them.

'So when…when was it?' Mai dwells further on the problem at hand.

0000

Aikka was casually watching his napping wife before brushing a stray strand of her hair from in front of her eyes.

He was watching her sleeping soundly as her chest rising and falling as if it was following the steady beat of a drum.

A wide grin always appears on his face whenever his eyes lay on her huge round belly, 'So I have three more on the way…'

The restless king could not help but observe his surroundings, 'If I hadn't met Eva…the castle would feel so lonely, especially without the twins reeking havoc everywhere they go.'

'I wouldn't have someone to welcome me home every time when I got back from a trip.'

'No smiling face to cheer me up from sadness and no gentle spirit to take care of me when I am sick nor my best friend.'

The Noursaian feel Eva slightly shifts underneath his hold on her, "So how long have you been staring at me in my sleep?"

The grin remains present on her face with her eyes close when her husband responds, "Ever since you fell asleep, dear."

"Are you having one of your moments again?" She whispers her inquiry.

The young woman was thoroughly surprised that his wife knew what his current thoughts were, "How did you know?"

The raven haired woman with crimson tips merely wears a small smile on her face, as she explains, "Your heartbeat really slows down from a regular normal pace. It's as if you were taking long drawn out breaths."

'See what I mean…' He weighed to himself as his previous thoughts about his wife were proven accurate.

"Aikka..." The queen calls out to her husband. "Yes, what is it dear?"

The pregnant woman maintains the same smile on her face before she proclaims, "I love you."

Aikka's heart was suddenly overwhelmed with joy since the simple phrase made him forget about what had been bothering him so much.

"I love you too." The king repeats the phrase while he gently tights his hold on her.

0000

Jordan proceeds to pursue the pair down the mountainside and realizes that their backs were now toward him.

The servant maintained his sights on the house in the distance while a child was securely tucked underneath his arm.

"I am sorry to tell you this. Your parents are dead, Lady…Natalie." The servant morosely reveals to the little girl.

The little girl did not appear to immediately respond to what her servant had just told her. 'So this is where it all started for Natalie?'

He noted that Natalie black hair was short and styled in two pigtails as the rest of her hair frames her face. Her green eyes look devoid of life since he could barely see her retinas.

"My lady, are you alright?" Her servant nervously inquires before he promptly guides her to a flatbed shape rock in order for her sit down on.

'Why won't she answer me?' The older man inwardly wonders since he receives no signals or any sudden movement from the child.

The raven haired girl repeats the same action from earlier and decides to remain silent with her eyes downcast toward the ground.

'So this is Natalie's childhood…' The Avatar ultimately concludes once he speedily covers the distance between the younger version of Natalie.

The golden entity soon squats so that he was face-to-face with the green eyed girl. He slowly reaches out one of his hands to her and softly voices, "Hey there…"

Natalie wearily casts her gaze upward and sees a bright figure with the outline of a human being.

'Are you an angel?'

The young man simply shakes his head and verbalizes, "No, I am not. I am the Avatar my dear, but you can call me Jordan. It's nice to meet you…"

'It's nice to meet you too. My name is Natalie.' He listens to her inner thoughts after she returns her sights to the nearby rocky terrain.

The intergalactic dignitary wears a small smile on his face and concludes, 'She's much more cooperative now than she is later on in her life.'

"You know, a smile would look so much cuter on you than a frown." The Avatar suggests to her, which earns a blush from the little girl because of the compliment.

'Thank you.' Her answer comes a couple of seconds later.

"Care to tell me why you have such a serious look on your face, young lady?" The golden entity questions the raven haired tot.

'I've lost my parents to a fire.' The green eyed child conveys with a sense of sadness in her tone.

"I am sorry for your loss. Is there anything that you feel like doing right now?" Jordan inquires about her interests.

'I am not in the mood for playing games at the moment.' The girl expresses in a tone of irritability.

The Avatar merely shrinks underneath little Natalie's stare, 'She's still scary for someone this young. The bad thing is...it gets worse once she is older.'

It was then that he decided to approach the emotionally wounded child in a different manner than he previously did.

"Can you promise me something then?" The golden entity suddenly inquires as he feels his plan unfoldd from a dream to reality.

"Never forget me and continue to live." He was advising her while placing a kiss on her forehead, causing a yellow light to appear upon contact.

The servant heard a loud thump befor he realized that Natalie now laid her head against the rock instead of being upright.

'What's that on her forehead?' The servant wondered upon observations of a small circle of golden light around her forehead that materializes in a crown that encircles her head.

"Whose there?!" He randomly shouts his question to no one in particular. His sights tediously observe his surroundings to see that no one was around.

The servant's attention immediately returns to Natalie once he feels her stir within his grasp. The golden crown merely shatters in to tiny shards of light.

'I wonder where that crown could have came from?' The servant inwardly posed with curiosity on their mind.

0000

Minato led the way for Natalie since he was familiar with the layout because he trained under Master Canaan.

'I wonder how much he has grown in his fighting prowess?' She curiously wonders as she repeatedly places one foot in front of the other.

Her anxiousness to fight the blonde constantly grew with every step she took behind him.

The raven haired beauty suddenly felt a heavy pressure being applied to her forehead, which caused her to unintentionally pause in her stride.

'What's this feeling?' The green eyed solider asked herself as she physically touched where the pressure seemed to be applied.

"Yo Natalie, are you alright?" He inqusitively inquires, which causes her to break out of her thoughts.

"Yeah, I'm fine." She quickly comments.

The young woman silently thought that it was extremely strange that she could not shake the odd sensation at the moment.

"Good," The man tells her, "I didn't want you to be scared before we even start our match."

'Arrogant idiot!' The solider mentally screams to herself while she mentally shakes her fist angrily at him.

"You sure seem confident in your current abilities to beat me in a match, especially to even taunt me with that threat."

The blonde wears a small smile on his face once he peeks over his shoulder again. He sensed that she planned to give one hundred percent in their battle.

'Good. I wouldn't want it any other way.' The knight deems before he focuses his attention to what was in front of him.

Her green eyes solider studies her hand and observes it shakes until she has the urge to touch her forehead again.

'Something isn't right with me…but what could it be?' She conceived when Master Canaan's voice could be heard.

"Are you two leaving already?" His question sounded as if he did not want the pair to leave just yet.

Minato halted while Natalie hung back a little off to the side, "Oh no, not right now Master Canaan. I was just curious to see if we could borrow a sparring area."

He raise an eyebrow at the blonde that was in front of him before his gaze lands on her. "Is that true Natalie?"

Not trusting her voice at the moment, she was nodding her head to show that she was agreeing with the idea of having a match.

"Would you mind if I invited my class to speculate the spar?" Canaan seriously demands of them and offers an explaination as to why, "After all, we are progressing to the stage of using a sword soon."

The young man faces her, watches for expression and grins with his eyes closed, "Why not? It makes it all the more interesting…"

Canaan nods his head before he summons one of his maids, "Have the children meet me in the weaponry room and provide these two with swords."

"Yes, Master Canaan." The maid replies before she bows out of their sights and disappears within the hallways.

"I would show you the way but I have to pick up my class. I'm sure that the maids will have the swords already waiting for you two once you get there."

"Minato, you do know exactly where I am talking about don't you?"

"I know exactly where to go…" The blonde coyly mentions to his former master. The knight proceeds to guide the raven haired woman pass him.

'This should be interesting…I wonder who would win between the two?' Canaan inwardly wondered as he watched the pair's backs.

2222

Author's Note:

12.11.16 Major editing revision

06.26.17 Major cleaning edits