Emiri nodded, confirming Jaakuna's suspicions. She looked at herself in the mirror, frowning slightly. "[b]This house was built by great-great grandfather, or so I have been told. This was where my mother's family lived for a very long time. The illness that Karolina has...it runs in my family and has claimed most of them. And so Karolina and my mother lived here, taking care of my grandmother until the illness claimed her, too. My mother worked in the army as a blacksmith while Karolina was a nurse. That was where she met my father. The two married and had me, and they lived here. One day, the Emperor was walking through the city--he was an amorous man, very kind and fair to all the people of his country. To see him on the streets was common, much like how those little girls approached Nadeline as if she was just another person. However, someone took advantage of this and tried to kill the Emperor. My father saved him that day, and that was how my mother offered me to his son. That was also how Karolina and Lorenzo first met.

"My father was promoted, but it meant he was home less and less. You already know how my mother was...and I hardly saw Papa anymore after that. One day, she told me we were going to live at the castle. I was still young, and I didn't want to leave. I begged her to let me stay, I didn't care if I was alone, this was the place I knew as home. I somehow managed to lock myself in this house and no matter what she tried, my mother could not get me out or get in. It had been about a week before Papa came but he couldn't coax me out, either. Finally, they had to resort to tricking me to get out: they told me to go to my mother;s jewelry box, and said I could have my grandmother's necklace. That necklace is a priceless thing that, of course, a child should not have. Once I opened the door, the two rushed in and got me. I was so mad. We packed our things and left to live at the castle after that.

"Every once in a while, when I couldn't handle Mama's lessons, I'd always run back here. But of course, it was locked, so I'd just wait outside for Papa to come get me. Eventually, I got older and stopped running. But once in a while I'd visit the house anyway. I felt like...like we abandoned everything. All the happy times had happened here, Mama and Papa were both around smiling and I didn't feel the way I did when I was in the castle. Around the holidays, when Papa came to visit, I told him exactly how I felt. So that was when he told me to go visit the house anytime I pleased, that he would leave the door unlocked. I could sit there all day if I needed to, but specifically, I had to come and look at myself in this mirror. He told me this was a very special mirror that Mama made a long time ago. If you could look at yourself in this mirror and remember all the good times without crying, it would give you courage.[/b]"

She placed her hand on the mirror, letting out a small sigh. She turned to Jaakuna, grasping the necklace. "[b]I think...I think he wanted me to come here again. Or, I don't know. It's complicated.[/b]" She said, looking at the key in her hand. 

--------------

As he felt something hit him, Grant nearly spilled out his water. From the damage dealt of the kick as well as the angle, not to mention the look on the woman's face, he deduced that Savayna had kicked him. What the hell was up with everyone hitting him today? Was she not satisfied with sucker punching him? Apparently not, because now she was glaring at him. Great, he had managed to piss her off (again) without actually doing anything (again). He couldn't help but glare right back at her. She was really, really starting to get on his nerves, and he didn't appreciate being her punching bag, either.

Nadeline couldn't help but not believe Savayna for even a second. What was wrong with her? After taking a moment to process, it hit her. Holy crap. She had to bite her tongue not to laugh out loud. No, no way, she couldn't like Grant, this morning she knocked him out with a punch! Oh, this was too good. She watched as Grant and Savayna glared at one another. They were totally killing the mood. She looked directly at Grant, coughing slightly. His golden eyes caught her 'stop acting like you have a stick up your ass' look, and he got more irritated. She then batted her eyelashes at Wesley, changing her expression and body language on a dime. Her giggle told him that she accepted his compliment with pride. After a moment, however, Grant regained his composure. He decided to copy Wesley, though he didn't exactly have the man's smoothness. "[b]You look nice tonight.[/b]" He said quietly to Savayna.