AN: Urgh... Where did the time go? Creating new chapters is so much harder than revising old ones... Anyway, as always, Reviewer Replies!

AnimeMyWorld: I'm very glad you're still enjoying, and yes, Jerry did fuck her quite thoroughly. Don't worry though, there will be more Jerry x Mira.

Reptil: I'm very glad you're enjoying, and yes, I hate that guy too.

Bahiagmc: I'm very glad you're enjoying, and in answer to your question, no. That thing you which would upset you enough to make you drop the story isn't happening. I had intended to address that this chapter, but I couldn't think of exactly how I wanted that scene to go and I ran out of time. Maybe next chapter (^_^)

iKuroto: As of Chapter 15, Erza hasn't seen what Jerry can really do at 100% because she was out cold for most of her session with Master Precht for reasons that'll be revealed later. If asked for her opinion on the same fight after the scrap with Ajeel and Wall, she'd likely have a very different opinion but still be trying very hard to keep Jerry from picking a fight with Laxus because she's acutely aware that there's a very good chance that one of them would not be walking away from it alive.

And now, on with the show!

Chapter 25: Revelations

…

…

The next day was fairly calm, the biggest thing out of the ordinary the following morning was how helpful Natsu was being. He helped pack up all the tents and was quiet and polite and it wasn't his usual raucous grin but a small and polite one. It did not go unnoticed, but it did go uncommented on. That said, everyone was quietly wondering what had gotten into him. I even heard a far more rattled than she let on Erza wonder if maybe all he'd ever needed was a proper time out.

It was significant enough that once we started flying, Levy and Miguel up front with me to help navigate, Levy gently elbowed me and nudged me telepathically. I tilted my head in acknowledgement and opened the line.

Do you have any idea what's going on with Natsu? She asked, I've known him for ten years and the only times I've seen him this quiet are when he's sleeping and in the god awful moment when he found out about Lisanna. He… he looks almost as destroyed as he did when he found out about that, and he's acting like ELFMAN used to… I… you were up with him before that monster attacked us, did something happen?

I glanced over at her and exhaled before turning back to the front as I explained, We had a… HEATED discussion about his recent misbehavior. I think being in the timeout box Erza stuffed him in gave him time to think that he'd normally never give himself and made him start to realize just exactly how bad he's fucked things up for himself. I made sure he understood the rest of it. I know it's something none of us want, but if Gramps finds out about that thing with the Phosphor-mites and Natsu can't turn things around before we make it home, then…

Levy sucked in a sharp breath and I saw her pale slightly out the corner of my eye, Gramps would throw him out, and there's nothing any of us could do to keep him from finding out about it…Even if I wiped our memories with Archive, Gramps knows more about Memory Magic than anyone I've ever… wait a minute… She actually put her hands to the sides of her head as a horrified look spread across her face.

I gave her a look, Everything okay?

Levy was quiet for almost five minutes and then she flushed crimson and shouted, "MEST GRYDER YOU IDIOTIC SON OF A BITCH!" I was far from the only one who jumped, and then Levy twisted in her seat to lean over the back, "Erza! Natsu! Come here! Mest messed with our heads!"

Erza and Natsu despite clearly not knowing who the hell this 'Mest Gryder' person was, both leaned forward to Levy's outstretched hands immediately. Judging from the way they both sucked in sharp furious breaths a moment later, whatever this Mest person did was pretty damn offensive.

"Anything I should know about?" I asked dryly.

"One of our Guildmates erased himself from the entire Guild's memories," Levy explained angrily, "I've seen him since then, he's working for the Rune Knights now under a false name. I don't know if he's trying to infiltrate them to act as a spy for some reason or what, but what I do know is that I'm going to slap the ever living shit out of him next time I see him for messing with our memories and making us forget a friend!"

"Gramps won't be mad if I punch him over this right?" Natsu asked, clearly exercising every shred of self-control he had to not shout and erupt into flames.

"Does…was he just sick of us?" Erza asked shakily, "Why would he abandon us? Fairy Tail has no need to infiltrate the Council, we're not criminals… why would he do this? Being from an accredited guild like Fairy Tail would be a huge boost to his resume if he just wanted to be a Rune Knight… What… was it something we did? Why…"

"Stop that Erza," Levy told her sharply, "Mest is an idiot that's why, and a stubborn, know-it-all, self-sacrificing one at that. If he took into his head that the Guild needed an ear in the Council, you know as well as I do there'd be jack all squat anyone could do to talk him out of it." She sighed, "The dumbass probably erased his own memories too to keep the act up. I wonder if Master knows…Surely he has to right?"

"But… I just… why?" Erza choked out and I felt my rage meter jump. Or maybe it was Natsu's and I was catching the overflow through my telepathy? Either way, I decided then and there that if Natsu wasn't allowed to knock this Mest guy's block off, I one hundred percent would. Reasons be damned, he made Erza cry.

I turned the front row of seats around and gently tugged Erza into a hug that Natsu and Levy quickly joined in on as I pulsed out a wave of calming and Sense of Security and Gajeel laid a tentative hand on Erza's back to administer soothing pats. Being someone Erza trusted enough to use as her shoulder to cry on made me very happy, but that does not change that seeing Erza crying made me very upset.

I couldn't help but smirk though as Serena whispered to Elric in the back row of seats, "Oh my gosh they are so freaking adorable together…"

"Fairy Tail is a super tight knit group," Lucy agreed, "It's part of what I love about them. When my father tried to force me to give up being a guild wizard and marry some business person I'd never met, Erza, Jerry, Gray, Juvia, Natsu, Happy, and a lot of our friends from Lamia Scale all went back home with me to back me up. They're the first people aside from my spirits that have had my back since Mom died," she admitted quietly.

I actually felt the mental double take from Serena it was so hard, although she kept her voice level as she asked, "Spirits? That's right! You summoned Cancer last night! You're a Celestial Wizard aren't you?!"

Lucy had a double take of her own, "Yeah! Are you?!"

"I… I was…" Serena forced out through gritted teeth, "My keys were taken from me a few weeks back, and even if I got them back... I'm not sure I can reform the contracts anymore. I don't think I can," She admitted a little shakily before taking a deep breath to steady herself, "That's why I was so excited when I found out you all were heading for Mattachu, I was hoping there might be something there that could help me get them back since that's where the keys were made."

"That's awful!" Lucy exclaimed, "What happened?! How… why can you not reform the contracts?"

Serena gave her a look. I wasn't sure, but was that, pity in her gaze? "You have no idea how rare and powerful Celestial Wizards actually are, do you?" She sighed, "I'm sure you know well enough, but the twelve Zodiacs are all immensely powerful, in the hands of a sufficiently powerful wizard, a single Zodiac spirit is strong enough to bring down entire wizard guilds alone. Even in the hands of a rank amateur they're strong enough to take down entire squads of wizards, and they can withstand damage no human can, pop home and come back good as new. Beyond that, the Celestial Realm runs on a different clock than Earthland, and that time distortion means that Celestial Wizardry is at the heart of basically all theories of time magic that don't involve tapping into the powers of an ancient deity. Celestial Spirits are the closest thing to guardian angels it's possible for a human to call upon."

Judging by her expression and the shock in her mind, Lucy didn't know any of that either.

"There's a very dangerous dark wizard," Serena continued, "Her name is Angel, and she's one of the only six members of the Dark Guild known as the Oracion Seis. She's a Celestial Wizard who hunts other Celestial Wizards for their keys, and she's one of those wizards sufficiently powerful that when she summons a Zodiac she can bring down an entire guild in short order. She's beaten and killed even experienced and powerful Celestial Wizards for their keys, and by all accounts, did it easily. In that sense, I suppose I'm lucky to have gotten away with my life," she declared quietly, "I don't know what happened, but I can feel it. Something's… broken. Even if I reclaim my keys, I won't be able to reclaim my contracts."

"That's awful!" Lucy exclaimed, "What could even do that?!"

"I don't know," Serena muttered, "But if you ever see Angel… Lucy, Jerry, you two have to run okay? Angel would kill either of you for your keys. Between the two of you, you've got half the Zodiac. She'd tear through an entire town without batting an eye to get at either of you."

I thought for a moment and swapped a glance with Levy, "Does she know any kind of magic other than Celestial?"

Serena looked up at us, "I don't think so, why?"

"Then she might have a bit of trouble with that," I declared with a small crooked grin, "Unless the spirits like her enough to overlook her immorality, she probably can't use them anymore."

Serena sat forward, her eyes wide as I could tell I had every last single shred of her attention, "Why?"

"Probably a very large part of the reason this Angel person was able to kill Leo and Aries's previous holder is because Leo was actively fighting her and draining her magic away to nothing," Levy explained, "He came through the gate on his own and maintained his presence in the human world for months to keep her from summoning and abusing Aries or any of the other spirits she had. She went on a job even without her magic, and that's where she ran into Angel and died, which was seen by the Celestial Spirit King as Leo's fault, so he exiled Leo from the Celestial Realm."

"After that, while he waited to die, Leo joined Fairy Tail as the wizard Loke," I explained, "But a few months ago, when I got hold of Virgo's key, Virgo explained to us what happened. Needless to say, hearing that Leo got punished for protecting his family didn't sit well with us at all. We ah… kinda made enough of a stink over it that the Celestial Spirit King came down and heard us out."

"After we pointed out that the law Leo had broken basically established that the grounds for breaking a contract was breach of human decency, such as what Leo and Aries's previous contractor did when she attempted to force Aries to stay in the human world for three days to torture her, which could very well have killed her and therefore constituted attempted murder on top of being just flat out torture," Levy explained, "It basically meant that Leo and Aries's contracts should have been voided well before Leo had to step in, and therefore Leo did nothing wrong. So Leo was acquitted in full and now he's contracted to Jerry."

"With that being the case, if the Celestial Spirit King decided to reevaluate all the contracts and their holders, then unless the Spirits she'd taken were willing to stick up for her, this Angel person probably lost all her contracts right then and there for being a mass murderer," I mused, "I wonder if the keys were scattered, given to someone else, or just rendered dormant?"

A glow and sound like a clock chime heralded Leo's arrival and I scooched over to make room for him as he appeared between me and Levy sporting a massive shiner that he was holding an ice pack over, "Hey, sorry for not coming to help with the manticore last night, was in Crocus on a date with Aries so I didn't know you were in trouble. There's a great little cafe over there. You should take Mira some time, she'd love it. Virgo kicked my ass over it when I got home. I'd forgotten how hard she hits. My bad bro," he apologized as he glanced over at me.

I nodded, "Is Aries at least as cute as any of the ladies on this card right now?"

Leo glanced around, paused on Serena for what felt like a significant second and then, "Yeah, and she's probably the Zodiac member I'm closest with."

I nodded, "You're forgiven."

Leo exhaled, "Thanks. Ah," he glanced over at me, "Sagittarius is wondering when you're going to form your contract with him by the way, he's worried you're not going to for some reason since normally contracts are formed pretty quickly after a key is acquired. Virgo and I told him you've just been busy, but I'm sure he'd appreciate it if you'd go ahead and make it official."

A quick mental check told me that it was indeed Friday so I could do that, "That sounds like an excellent thing to do today."

Leo nodded, took a breath and then, "In answer to your question, the keys Angel stole have been confiscated and redistributed to another young Celestial Wizard in Fiore. It's actually Angel's completely innocent little sister, and thus the only person we're certain Angel would never hurt. All of the spirits who've met her say she's sweetest little cinnamon roll of a kid they've ever met, so we're not expecting any trouble."

"It wouldn't do Angel any good to steal more keys anyway," he added, "You're right Jerry, the Celestial Spirit King has banned her from forging any new contracts, and the entire Zodiac has been given the go ahead to come through on our own power to prevent anyone like that from holding a Celestial Spirit contract ever again. Angel is very lucky we didn't drop in to… oh how did Sagittarius put it… express our extreme displeasure at her killing our previous contractors. I don't think she quite realizes how much that hurts us, but from what the others have told me, it sounds like she wasn't very good to her Spirits anyway. As for what happened to you Miss," he inclined his head to Serena, "I'm sorry, but I have to recommend you look into learning a different kind of magic. What Angel did is something that can't be taken back or undone."

Serena was ghostly pale and shaking lightly, her hands clenching and unclenching on the hem of her skirt as she tried not to cry (and failed), "I… I see. Thank you, Leo, for… for explaining. I'm… glad my spirits are with someone who needs them. If… if it's not too much to ask, please, tell them I'm sorry I… I'm so sorry…please take care of Yukino…"

Leo nodded, "Of course. Well, do try to stay out of trouble, and don't worry, Angel wouldn't stand a chance against Jerry or Lucy even if she did learn a new magic. Now if you'll all excuse me, Aries is waiting for me and I'd about bet that Virgo wasn't done yelling at me yet…"

He vanished in a burst of golden light and Lucy gave Serena a hug, "That's terrible. Who's Yukino?"

"She's…" Serena choked lightly on a sob, "She's Angel's little sister, which… which I shouldn't be surprised by given how much they look alike, but I swear she's the sweetest little girl in Fiore. She wouldn't hurt a fly… they couldn't have picked anyone better if they'd tried!" she bawled as she turned to cry into Lucy's shoulder, "I'm so happy for her but this SUCKS!"

We all tried to comfort her, but we weren't very successful. How does one comfort a person who's just lost an entire chunk of their identity?

…

…

The savannah turned to marsh and by sunset we had spotted the next major milestone of our journey. "There it is," Miguel told us with no small amount of dread in his voice, "The Cliffs of the Dawn and the jungle of K'iche. This was…one of the most nerve wracking parts of the journey." He took a deep breath, "We're looking for a waterfall, once the sun finishes going down it'll be easy to spot. It's the tail end of the Duat river, which we'll be having to sail up, but I strongly recommend we get a good night's rest before going in there."

The jungle was atop a large cliff which cut across the horizon as far as the eye could see in both directions, and it was an abnormally dark green, with everything below the foliage being just flat out black. "Why is it so dark?" I asked as the name 'Duat' stirred a sense of dread in me.

"It's the land of night," Miguel answered, "Beneath the jungle's canopy, not a single shred of light has shone in countless centuries. Or at least that's what the legends say," he mused, "Point of fact, there are several luminescent species of animals which live in there. What makes it nerve wracking is the ones that aren't, and are very good at moving very quietly. Nothing so fearsome as the manticore we encountered, but certainly troublesome in the dark. Since we'll be sailing up the river as that's the only clear route to the other side, we'll be in the same water as the luminescent fish which are eaten by… well I'm not entirely sure what they were, but they capsized our boat easily and bit it in half to get at our lanterns, so they seem to think light equals food."

"So, why will it be easier to spot when the sun goes down?" I asked curiously.

Miguel sat back and laughed lightly, "Ohhh… just wait. Trust me, we're in for a treat."

I swapped a glance with Levy and then shot a look over my shoulder at the others, but apparently there was about to be something very worth seeing, so we decided to wait. As the sun settled on the horizon and began to sink beneath it, Miguel pointed to the cliffs below as the shadows grew long and darkness began to dominate the sky, "And three… two… one!"

At first, I thought a massive line of fire had ignited at the base of the cliffs. Then it raced upward, forming what seemed to be a wall of flame rising from the earth, a great crack of light blazing boldly crimson, purple, gold and orange against the encroaching night that had swallowed the land below. It was utterly breathtaking. It wasn't flame, just magnificently glowing stone, but it was the most spectacular natural light show I'd ever seen.

"Magnificent isn't it?" Miguel asked gleefully, "The Cliffs of Dawn! Oh, and there's the Kukulkan Falls! Take us down, we can camp there for the night!" He pointed and as we followed his gaze, we were rewarded with the sight of a massive network of water falls, tumbling down the rocks and shining as brilliantly as the midday sun although not so intensely, like a great web of splashing light coalescing in a beautiful pool at the bottom. If there were any natural light show that exceeded the Cliffs of Dawn, it would be the Kukulkan falls.

I brought us down and landed us on a large dry slab of purple glowing stone at the foot of one of the falls in the middle of the great network. "The water's magically warm at all times of the year," Miguel explained excitedly, "It's as warm as a good hot bath and has a marvelous cleansing effect. I felt as good as new despite the long journey here! There are lots of shallow pools just deep enough to lounge in, and deeper ones that you could easily swim around in, and for anyone who's been missing showers, the falls over there by that red outcropping are gentle enough to shower in."

I knelt and gently set a hand on the stone, exhaling as an odd sense of comfort washed over me, "Stone's warm too." I looked up and realizing something was amiss, "Where'd the girls go?"

Natsu pointed towards the crimson outcrop Miguel had pointed out, "Over there."

I turned and saw Levy throw up Solid Script Screens around the area, "Huh. Guess they're, Gajeel what are you doing?"

Gajeel was quietly sneaking his way up a nearby spire with a big grin. He looked back at me and shushed me with a barely audible, "Gihi!" before scurrying the rest of the way up.

I sighed, "Whether Levy's into him or not, the big lug's gonna get himself skewered if Erza catches hi…Miguel, what are you doing?"

Miguel looked up from where he was crouched down in the water stuffing something into his pockets, "The stones glow at night just the same no matter how far you take them. I want to show them to Jean when I get home. I had some really good ones before I got lost, had to sell them in port for passage back towards home. Want to see if I can find another pink and purple one, those are her favorite colors."

I blinked at him and then a very good idea raced through my mind, "Oi Miguel, help me find little ones. You can make her wedding ring out of these and the gold we're gonna bring back."

Gajeel slid back down the stone he was perched on top of, "Great idea." He immediately made a sifting pan and started sifting about in the water, "Hey Natsu, what's Shrimp's favorite color?"

"Orange," Natsu replied, "Does anyone see any pink ones? I think Lucy likes pink."

"Isn't it a little too soon for you two to be thinking about rings?" I asked dryly, "Especially you Natsu."

"Necklace," Gajeel replied, "Or maybe a headband, Shrimp seems to like those. And I want some new cufflinks, buttons…I could really pimp out a suit with these ya know?"

"I owe Lucy an apology," Natsu declared quietly, "I'm no good with words, and I'm not sure she'd want to hear them right now anyway, but I know she wears earrings, so I thought a new pair might be a good...it's not a full apology, I know that, but it's a start. I want to give Erza a red pair as well, and some orange for Levy since they came on this quest to help me out."

Gajeel and I blinked at him in shock, swapped a glance and started keeping an eye out for those colors as well. Well, I had been looking for pink anyway since that was Mira's favorite color. I hadn't had that idea just for Miguel's sake.

Since Natsu brought it up though, I started hunting for some red and more specifically a nice wine red if I could possibly spot any. Red for Erza and wine red for Cana. Let's see… what colors for Lucy and Serena… Gold? They're both Celestial wizards, gold's a good color for them…but would it hurt Serena to be reminded of it? Hmm… if only I could find a good deep blue to match her eyes…

I glanced up towards the top of the cliff and blinked as I saw that there was a midnight blue streak at the top, just almost the same shade as Mira and Serena's eyes. I grinned and pointed to it, "Hey guys, anybody need any blue?"

"I believe this purple will be to my beloved Belle's taste," Elric declared, holding up chunk of translucent glowing purple stone which could've passed for a fist sized amethyst that most jewelers would've wet themselves over if it wasn't glowing, "It is her favorite color."

"I'll take some," Gajeel nodded after seeing what I was pointing at, "It's not the same as Shrimp's hair, but it's still a really good color."

"Uh, can I get some too?" Natsu asked, "I don't know what I'll use it for but it looks like it's…" He trailed off and, "Yeah, just um…I'd like some too."

"Me too!" Miguel declared happily.

I gave him a sad glance knowing exactly where his mind had gone, I guess Lisanna had the same color eyes as Mira, "I'll grab a big piece that we can make as many little chunks of as we need."

By the time I finished breaking loose a two hundred pound boulder of Dawn Stone and carrying it back down, Natsu and Gajeel had gotten a fire going in an iron cooking pit that Gajeel had made with his magic and were cooking fish that Happy had been off catching from the pools while the rest of us hunted for the right colored stones. I couldn't help but note as I landed the nervous glance Elric shot off towards the spring where the girls were bathing.

"Is everything alright Elric?" I asked. Serena had mentioned Elric had crazy good hearing, maybe he'd heard something?

"It would appear that Miss Serena's hair dye has washed out," Elric admitted after a moment, "I do not know if she will reapply it, but we had dyed it when we were fleeing the country in case Angel decided to come after Miss Serena to finish the job."

I blinked and then nodded, "Well, I'm excited to see how she'll look with her natural color. The dark hair's great on her, but I'd love to see what she looks like without the dye." Then I remembered what I'd decided to do earlier and stood up, "Before I forget again…" I stood and pulled out my three Gate Keys, selecting the only one I hadn't used yet, "OPEN! GATE OF THE ARCHER, SAGITTARIUS!"

There was a flash of golden light and the sound of a clock chime, and a moment later with the neigh of a horse and a cry of "HOWDY DOODY!" appeared… a very strange fellow. He had dark hair and an austere face, he was wearing a green vest, and leggings and boots… all of that was rather normal. He was carrying a silver short bow, and had a large quiver of red feathered arrows on his back, again, not too unexpected.

What was quite unexpected was the great big horse head he was wearing as a hat. Seriously, a horse costume, with his face sticking out of the neck and now that I got a better look at him his cuffs were hooves. "A pleasure to finally meet you Mr. Jerry!" Sagittarius greeted me happily with a salute, "Leo, Virgo and even Taurus have all spoken quite highly of you!"

I nodded, "I'm certainly pleased to hear it, and pleased to meet you Sagittarius. I do apologize for taking so long to call you down to formalize the contract, things have been quite hectic these last few weeks. Leo and Virgo told me you prefer to be off on Sunday and Monday in reverence for Apoolo and Artemis, are there any other particular stipulations you wish to have in the contract?"

Sagittarius shook his head, "Not at all, although I would like to request that if you ever have any baby sitting jobs or require a tutor, please feel free to call me." He smiled broadly, "I do sincerely love to teach, and working with children is an absolute joy!"

I smiled, "I'd expect no less from the great teacher Ch-mph?" I asked in confusion as Sagittarius shot forward to clamp a hand over my mouth.

"Ah, please forgive me," Sagittarius grimaced, "But I must ask that you not use my old name. The same goes for the other Celestial Spirits, calling us by our original identities can cause us to revert to those identities, and we've grown a lot over the centuries. We were very different beings back then. None of us really want to go back as we're not sure we could come back to being who we are now if we did, and especially with some of the others, it would invoke a tremendous strain on our wizard which, especially with the likes of Leo, Taurus and Virgo, could easily render our wizard helpless or even kill them. It's something we'd never do except in an absolute emergency, and even thinking about who we were is dangerous. So please, let's not mention who I was, okay?"

I nodded and he pulled his hand back, "Very well Sagittarius, I'll make sure not to mention any previous identities around Celestial Spirits. When I eventually have children, I'll make sure you get to be their tutor. I know I won't find a finer one."

Sagittarius gave me an excited salute, "Right! Do you have need of any services while I'm here?"

I thought for a moment, "Do you know the way to Mattachu from here? If so, and if I take you high up into the air, can you shoot down markers for us that will last until we pass them on the way to Mattachu? Miguel has told us of the river we'd have to sail up to get through the jungle, and I'd greatly prefer to fly over rather than go through. The name of that river…" I shook my head, "I can't put my finger on why but it unsettles me. If you can help us find our way, that'll make things far easier."

Sagittarius nodded with a broad smile, "I can't guide you all the way through the mountains, but once you reach the pass, your only remaining obstacle will be the Spires of Forgotten Memory, through which you must navigate blindfolded. With your Telekinetic sense, that shouldn't be too hard for you."

"Is there any reason we can't fly over those?" I asked.

"Not unless you mind having to fight your way through the feathered serpents that nest above those spires," Sagittarius declared dryly, "I should warn you now, they're immune to light and fire magics, and even if they weren't creatures sacred to Lord Apollo, even I can't shoot fast and accurately enough to stop the swarm that would descend upon you if you tried to fly above the mists. You would be far better advised to go on foot."

I grimaced, "Yeah, that's a good reason." I dropped one of my cards to the ground and grew it to the size of a large carpet, "Well then, shall we?"

A moment later we flew high into the sky, and once we had settled at a steady altitude over two thousand feet above the jungle canopy where I could actually see the mountains beyond, Sagittarius drew and nocked an arrow, and a moment later let fly. The arrow left a shining trail behind it, showing the way to exactly where it had landed. I made note of the ridge with Archive and turned to thank Sagittarius. He nodded with a smile and shook my hand, "The star trail will last until dawn, but from what Virgo and Leo have told me, now that you've seen where you're going you won't need it, right?"

I nodded, "Nevertheless it's a tremendous help, I can't thank you enough Sagittarius."

"Until next time, Tally hoooo!" he cheered in farewell as he vanished in golden light.

I flew back down to our campsite and found the girls had left the spring. I landed and gave Serena a gentle kiss on the cheek, "You look beautiful."

She smiled and settled into my shoulder, "Thanks."

I meant it too, I'd only ever met one other woman with naturally snow white hair that wasn't a result of old age, and Serena looked just as gorgeous as Mira. The little cowlick forming a sort of halo over her head was hella cute too.