A few days later Liana was wandering around the Clan again, having the week off from training since the spars. She had no idea where Liz was, and Lillian was busy with her duties as chief.
(Rose) "Liana!"
Liana turned at the sound of Rose's voice. Rose walked up to her, a small figure following behind her.
(Liana) "Rose?"
Rose smirked and the figure revealed herself. Liana remembered instantly who it was, not being able to forget the red-haired girl that had gotten her head patted by Lillian.
(Liana) "And you're Elena, right?"
Elena nodded. Liana turned her attention back to Rose, a quizzical look on her face.
(Rose) "Oh right! I was looking for you. Lillian told me to inform you that you'll have an additional day off, due to her needing to settle some matters."
Liana raised an eyebrow, not looking forward to the extra day of break. Yes, training was torturous, but at least she had something to do. She felt like she was dying of boredom wandering around the clan she had pretty much memorized the outlay of already, as well as being able to confidently identify at least a hundred of the villagers. And although she would deny it, she actually enjoyed the training, to a certain degree.
(Liana) "Can't she have someone else train us, like Liz when she isn't around?"
Rose laughed at the look on Liana's face.
(Rose) "Well, I don't think Liz would be too pleased about it. When Lil isn't around, I'm the one who trains her. And let's just say that some of the exercises might be worse than what Lillian assigns."
(Liana's thoughts) 'Well that explains why Liz seems so afraid of her. Maybe…?'
Liana sighed as she said,
(Liana) "Honestly, if it's just for one day, I don't see the harm."
(Rose's thoughts) 'She's exactly like Lillian. A huge battle-freak.'
(Elena) "Then why don't you spar with me? Lex promised me I could spar with one of you soon. Otherwise I have to spar with her…"
She broke off, shuddering at the thought of sparring with Lillian. Liana noticed Rose had the same reaction, but what she was focused on wasn't their reactions.
(Liana) "…Lex?"
Elena's eyes widened in realisation. Rose didn't have much of a reaction, other than saying softly,
(Rose) "If you wish to discuss this more, I suggest you do it somewhere private."
Elena sighed but led them to a small building Liana had seen many times, but never found out what was inside. When they got inside, Liana realised it was actually just a small house that had a different appearance on the outside.
(Liana) "Is this your house?"
Elena nodded lightly before leading them to a small sitting room.
(Elena) "This is the place chief assigned me to when I told her I didn't want to stay with her anymore."
Liana raised an eyebrow.
(Elena) "When she first brought me back here, she put me in her house, so that she could keep an eye on me. I never left the room except to train and she would send food directly to my room."
She laughed softly with little to no humour in it as she said,
(Elena) "Not because she didn't trust me or anything, rather it was the fact that I was much smaller and younger than I am now, and I didn't trust anybody other than her. I'd never let her sister see me until a few days ago."
(Liana) "How did she… find you?"
Liana's eyes widened slightly as Elena smiled sadly, being able to sense her hidden emotions as well.
(Liana) "You don't… have to tell me if you don't want to."
Rose smiled as she said,
(Rose) "If you're not comfortable with telling us, or Lil has told you not to tell anyone, you don't need to say anything."
Elena shook her head.
(Elena) "I'm willing to tell you, but she said if I wanted to tell anyone I'd have to tell her first."
Liana nodded.
(Liana) "That's okay. We can just wait and find out another time."
Elena smiled, but Liana knew that it was just a smile to attempt to assure them. Contemplating in her mind a little, Liana came to a decision and spoke.
(Liana) "You don't have to put up an act around us, Elena. I'm sure Rose understands, and I have a skill similar to Liz's, which you probably already know?"
She finished with a question as she wasn't sure whether it was one of the things that were publicly known. Elena looked surprised for a moment, then nodded and dropped the smile. Rose didn't have any reaction except the corners of her lips tilting upwards slightly. Elena's expression made her look a few years older once she dropped her smile. A serious look on her face, a dangerous glint in her eyes. A look Rose and Liana recognized to be one of those that have seen battle, actual life or death situations before.
(Liana's thoughts) 'Just how much has this girl gone through?'
Liana only hoped it wasn't what had happened to Lillian and Emily. Rose broke the not uncomfortable, but not quite comfortable silence by asking in a playful voice,
(Rose) "How are you finding our Clan? Liz told me of your reaction when you found out Lil was the Chief. I wish I had been there to see your expression, honestly."
Liana blushed lightly as she replied,
(Liana) "The Clan is amazing. They're really much more friendly than what I had expected of the biggest Clan but seeing as I didn't even know much about your Clan before this that's to be expected."
She frowned.
(Liana) "And as for the other one, how was I supposed to know? She didn't even hint at it! Well actually there were one or two clues but I only recognized them after I found out she was the Chief."
Rose chuckled at Liana's fierce defensiveness. A second later both Liana and Rose turn at the sound of a soft giggle. Elena's eyes sparkled as she tried to hide her amusement. Both Liana and Rose's hearts melted at the sight. Even though they'd only known Elena for such a short while, with the way she acts, it's really easy to forget that she's only a nine-year-old. Liana smiled gently and asked,
(Liana) "Why, do you have something to add?"
She said it in a slightly teasing way, but not enough to make Elena shy.
(Elena) "Not really. But I have seen the way she acts around people to intentionally make people not suspect her of controlling as much power as she does. It can get quite annoying and confusing at times."
Liana and Rose chuckled softly at the look on Elena's face.
(Lillian) "I hear you three are talking about me?"
With widened eyes and tensed muscles both Elena and Rose shoot to their feet at the sound of Lillian's voice. Lillian walked through the door with an amused look on her face.
(Liana's thoughts) 'Wait. She walked THROUGH the door!?'
Lillian chuckled softly at their reactions but outright laughed when she saw the shocked look on Liana's face.
(Lillian) "Sorry, I was too lazy to open the door."
Liana shook her head in disbelief though the shocked look on her face was almost faded. Elena and Rose were still standing at attention, until Lillian spoke again.
(Lillian) "You two can relax. I actually came here to see if Elena wanted to spar, but I found the three of you all talking."
Elena and Rose relaxed their postures, but still remained on their feet. Sighing softly, Lillian sat down beside Liana, gesturing for the other two to sit as well. Liana once again marvelled at the training Lillian's elites have gone through as Elena and Rose sat down at exactly the same time.
(Liana's thoughts) 'Even Father's guards weren't so well synchronized.'
It then occurred to her that Rose didn't seem to know Elena as well.
(Liana's thoughts) 'If they were trained separately, how do they still move at exactly the same time?'
She turned to look at Lillian and realised that all three of them were looking at her.
(Liana) "Sorry, I spaced out for a moment. What is it?"
Lillian chuckled softly and said,
(Lillian) "Lena and Rose tell me you wanted to ask something?"
Liana raised an eyebrow, trying to figure out what she was talking about.
(Liana) "Oh!"
She had wanted to ask how Lillian found Elena but was worried whether or not it was a sensitive subject. Rose decided to help her out and spoke.
(Rose) "She had asked earlier how you found Elena, but Elena said that she had to check with you first."
Lillian's face showed a slightly surprised expression, but Liana sensed that she had already expected this question.
(Lillian) "How I found Lena… It's a pretty complicated story."
Her eyes searched Elena's face as she spoke. Liana realised that Lillian was concerned for Elena's state of mind. There were some fluctuations, but Elena's emotions were really stable, probably much more than what Lillian expected, judging by how concerned she was.
(Elena) "You can tell them. It was a long time ago."
Lillian slightly raised her right eyebrow as she asked,
(Lillian) "You're sure?"
Elena nodded slowly.
(Elena) "If you trust them, I trust them too."
Lillian nodded in response, trying to think of how to start. The other three stayed silent and let her gather her thoughts.
(Lillian) "Rose, there are still some things I have not told you about as of yet, but with this story, some things will be revealed."
Rose shrugged lightly.
(Rose) "You only tell me what is necessary, and I understand that."
Lillian smiled and started.
(Lillian) "Five years ago, I wanted to see whether I could visit my cousin in the Vayithen Empire on one of my trips out. As I was crossing the border though, I noticed a small figure darting towards me. I caught it in my arms and I noticed it was a small girl. Her clothes, if you could call what she was wearing clothes, were torn in many places, from her running through the woods, but I noticed it was also from something else. Her small fragile body was covered in bruises and wounds. She looked terrified of me and tried to run away, but her body couldn't take it anymore and she collapsed."
Lillian had a sad look on her face, which Rose and Liana's eyes were wide, glancing at Elena once in a while. The whole while, Liana was monitoring Elena's emotions. If she detected that Elena wouldn't be able to take it anymore, she would ask Lillian to stop.
(Lillian) "I took her back to an inn in the Sunlight Warriors Tribe, where I healed her wounds and waited for her to wake up. When she finally opened her eyes again two days later, when her eyes opened and she took in her surroundings, she shot up in her bed, ready to bolt. It took me a whole day to get her to trust me enough to tell me her name. Another for her to tell me what had happened."
Lillian closed her eyes and took a breath.
(Lillian) "I'm just glad nothing worse happened to her. But I knew that I wouldn't be able to visit Kristen anymore. Instead, I rescued the others she told me about. The ones I was in time to save."
She shook her head, not wanting to go too deep into it. Liana's face was getting paler and paler by the second as Lillian remembered what had happened. Eventually it got too much and Liana cut the connection, almost in tears at what she had seen. She was glad that her previous hope was actually true, even if her feelings about the whole thing were mixed.
(Liana's thoughts) 'How did she handle it? I can barely handle it now, and she was ten when this all happened.'
(Lillian) "I brought her back with me, having relocated the others, she refused to leave my side. When I brought her back, I hid her from everyone else, giving her a room inside the house Liz and I are staying in. I put wards around it so that no one would be able to detect her staying there."
She paused, a small smile on her face as she remembered the happier events of that period.
(Lillian) "Two days into staying at the house, she asked me to train her. She was only four, and her body was weak from malnourishment. I rejected her and told her to wait a while and recover, and after that if she still wanted to train, she could ask me again."
She released a breath, laughing slightly.
(Lillian) "She waited a week and asked me again. Then the next week, until two months after. I gave her the same response until it had been two months since I brought her back. I finally conceded and trained her. Her potential was so high it far surpassed Liz's."
She turned to face Liana.
(Lillian) "It can even match yours."
Shaking her head again, Lillian finished,
(Lillian) "Eventually I gave her the Elite crest, moving her here, since she said she didn't want to keep staying in my sisters' house."
(Rose) "Just how powerful is Elena?"
Liana noticed that even though Rose was curious, she repressed her questions and instead asked something else less… sensitive, so to speak.
Lillian laughed and said,
(Lillian) "You can always spar her and find out. Although, a fair warning: She'll win without a doubt."
Liana had never seen Rose fight, but by the look on Rose's face and the absolutely shocked emotion she felt from her, she supposed Rose was pretty powerful. Which means that Elena is even more so. And there was the fact that Rose had said that she was the one in charge of training Liz when Lillian wasn't free.
(Rose) "Yeah… if it's just going to end up like sparring with you, I think I'll decline, thank you very much."
The other three girls all laughed, though Elena was a little more reserved. Liana realised something but decided to wait until later on to ask Lillian about it.