Getting Old

The next while was fairly routine. Each day, Annie woke a little less rested than she'd like, but she always found more than enough energy once she was awake. She cleaned, she cooked, and she gardened. There were a few special jobs that she and Lilin tended to, such as the occasional special cleanup when there was an accident or assisting Deuce in the library, but aside from that, there wasn't much of note. Each day, Annie tried to get a little closer to Lilin, and each day Lilin pushed back.

From Lilin's perspective, the week or so that followed Ten's recruitment was nigh unbearable. Ten wasn't the type she could push around and mock because she was better at the job than Lilin was. The feelings of supremacy were fading, and that only made Ten's constant yammering all the more unbearable. Humming, talking, asking questions, it was like working with a child- all while knowing that the stupid kid was the best at your job and constantly called you "Dear" in the most irritating tone of voice! Every last bit of fun that Lilin could find was slowly drained away. Lilin was barely tolerating the situation.

So when Annie approached Lilin with a small handful of what looked tiny nuts, Lilin nearly slapped it away.

"Lilin, dear," Annie said, "the flowers finally dried! Would you like to plant the seeds?"

"Flowers?" Lilin replied in confusion. "What flowers?"

"Do you remember the flowers I picked up from the barrier weeding? It was my first day here?"

"You actually kept those? I thought you were joking."

"No," Annie replied, raising an eyebrow. "They're beautiful, why would I have been joking about wanting to plant more of them?"

Lilin scowled. "Because they're useless? What the hell do they do for me? Do they make fruit? Can I eat them? What about potion brewing?"

"Well, I wouldn't know, I've never grown them!" Annie retorted in a spritely tone. "Would you like to try?"

Lilin scoffed, grabbing the handful of seeds for herself. "Whatever. I'll grow them if it shuts you up, but don't get the wrong idea. I'm doing this to show you how stupid it is."

Annie grinned, her plan working nicely. "That's fine by me, dear! Just make sure to take good care of them."

"Sure, whatever, just shut up!"

Interrupting their argument was an entirely new sound to Annie's ears. Metal boots hitting the carefully polished and cleaned floors. Lilin and Annie both looked over and saw a man in full armor but no helmet. He had a massive, spike-toothed grin on his face as his burning orange hair cascaded behind him. His absurdly long hair matched the absurdly big sword he carried at his hip. Annie hadn't the slightest clue how he kept that by his hip, but its tip occasionally touched and scuffed the floor as he walked. Her trained and youthful eyes could easily see the scratch marks he left on the otherwise perfect floor.

"Ah, so that's the roaring beast I heard," the man said in a rough, smug tone. "I see you haven't changed much, Second."

"For fuck's sake," Lilin groaned, "Call me Lilin."

"It's so strange how you refuse to go by neither your title nor your real name," the man replied, "it makes me wonder what's so wrong with you. If you'd like, I could-"

Lilin interrupted him loudly. "Nevermind, don't call me anything."

The man sighed and turned to look at Annie, who instinctively tensed up. She wasn't sure why or how, but she could sense the danger lurking behind this man's wicked grin. The fear in her posture only made his grin wider, one hand subconsciously drifting closer to the massive sword on his hip.

"A new hire," he said, "something happen to the old one?"

"Why does it matter to you?" Lilin retorted.

"Oh, I wish I had been here to hurt her myself," he replied in a genuinely disappointed tone, "I do so love discarding people like her. Did she fight back? Perhaps if she didn't, I wouldn't mind."

Annie cleared her throat, getting the attention of both the man and Lilin. She hesitates a moment, seeing a look of surprise on Lilin's face and a look of glee on the man's.
"Excuse me, sir, you're scuffing the floor. Please, don't allow your sword to drag, and try to step more lightly."

The man's grin was now going from ear to ear, Lilin's face now showing hints of fear. Instead of replying immediately, the man started to walk closer. His footsteps were more careful now, but didn't scuff the floor any less, as if a mocking gesture of false compliance. Then, he suddenly drew his sword. The metal didn't ring like it did in the movies, it hardly made any noise despite the absolutely staggering length of the blade. As he drew it, the sword was revealed to look nothing like what Annie had expected. The sheathe was in the shape of a long but well-made blade, while the true blade hidden underneath was a dark, jagged mess that looked almost more like a lightning bolt than a straight-edged sword. He held the tip up, pointing it at Annie. Despite the nearly two meter gap, the edge of the sword was maybe a foot away from Annie's chin.

"Well," the man purred, "Perhaps you're right. It's quite uncouth. However, it is equally rude to not kneel before a superior, is it not? Instead of demanding I be more careful, offer to take my sword and boots for me, slave."

Annie glared at the man, determined not to play his game.
"Well, dear," she replied in a steely voice, "I would be more than happy to. Next time, though, call us at the entrance instead of marching all the way to us. This is quite a lot of work for us. Surely, somebody as grand as you shouldn't need to-"

Annie's attempt at a rebuttal was cut short by a loud metal clang. She blinked at the loud sound, and that was all the time she needed to miss the action. In front of her, she saw Lilin guarding against the jagged sword with both hands, seemingly using her hands to block it. The blade had been swung faster than Annie could see, and Lilin had moved to intercept it just as fast.

It was aimed for Annie's ribcage.

"Oh, fuck you," Lilin growled as she strained to hold the blade back.

The man laughed, retracting the sword. "Goodness, Second, I didn't realize you had a soft spot for the new hire! Any of your other failures, you would have gladly let me cut down. What makes this one so different?"

"This one," Lilin responded with venom, "just happens to be useful. She works hard, she works right. And the King himself asked that we work together. Now, Tristan, leave us alone. We'll clean up your damned mess."

"Tristan," another man's voice echoed from down the hall, "stop mucking around, we have a report to do. You can say hi to your little maid friends another time."

Tristan grimaced, sheathing his sword. He took a breath as if to speak, but turned and left without another word. As he did, Lilin turned to Annie with fire in her eyes.

"What the hell were you trying to pull?!" she shouted. "That's fucking Tristan!! You know, the guy known for cutting down villages? The Demon King's favorite maniac? How the fuck did you not know that?! Or did you just say that shit just to test if you could dodge a swing?!?"

Annie couldn't reply, too stunned to speak.

"Well?!? What is it?! Because if that had hit you, and you had died?! I wouldn't have cared for a second! Maybe I should have let it hit you, because then at least I'd get to watch him get chewed the fuck out for killing a servant!"

Annie slowly took a shuddering breath.

"You... Actually protected me?"

Lilin paused, then stepped back, then blushed.
"Well, what the fuck was I supposed to do!? I-It's, like, hard to react to that! I didn't even know if it was aimed at you or me, so I just... Blocked it."

"Show me your hand."

"What?" Lilin replied, stunned.

"Show me your hand, dear." Annie replied.

Lilin scoffed, opening her hands. Out of her right hand spilled the seeds she had just picked up, and dripping from her right hand was a trickle of blood. She was surprised by both.

"The seeds," she said as she looked down. "Wait, shit, did those not get cut?!"

Annie didn't care about whether or not the seeds got cut open. She quickly moved to Lilin's hand and held it in hers, then opened her Core for just a split second. She felt mana flow out, immediately finding the wound in Lilin's hand and flowing towards it. However, this time, Annie could feel her body notably weaken when the mana flowed out from her.

"Woah, what the hell," Lilin said, quickly jerking her hand away as she noticed what Annie was doing. "You did NOT just use your Core for me, bastard!"

"What's so wrong with that?" Annie asked.

"The hell do you mean what's wrong with that?!" Lilin replied. "Ugh, look, there's way too much going on right now to explain that. Let me bandage my damned hand while you clean this mess, then we can go to my room and talk a bit. Remember to use that special polish from the closets to get the scratch marks out, Ten."

With that, Lilin walked away from the scene as quickly as she could. This was a lot of explaining she'd have to do, and unfortunately she couldn't just ignore all the questions Ten would have this time.