Raten helped her off the ground in a sensual way. She could see the desire in his eyes and smiled. She wrapped her arms around him and the tree put them in the branches outside her room. She took his hand and led him in. He caressed her from behind and kissed her neck.
********
Sil held her naked body against his with his arms tightly wrapped around her.
They talked for a while about small things, she fed him blueberries she had grown that the branches brought up for her and he really enjoyed them.
"What's our favorite color?"
Sil chuckled, "well, it's red but I'm wondering if it should be switched to black," as he picked up the top of her outfit that Raten removed the burden of her wearing.
She chuckled, biting her lip. "Those two bikini outfits really are comfortable. The first one, though, the chains were perfect to fight in. This one, felt like there were obstructions. The chains got in the way of one of my moves. I was surprised."
"Yes, but you won't be fighting in those because they would show too much flesh to the person you are fighting."
"I need to find a sparing outfit you will approve of. I will try the last one I bought on Wednesday. It's black as well. But you're fine with me wearing them for you? Should I buy something red?"
"How about I buy you something?"
"You can't. The monster will find out about it. Can't he see what you spend your money on? Can't he get the receipts?"
Sil frowned, not wanting to think of such things. "Let's not talk of him. I have you here right now. I just want to be with you."
Lana leaned in slightly and gave him a kiss which turned into a brief passionate one.
"Can I ask you a question?"
Sil nodded.
"What is your happiest memory growing up?"
Sil thought about it for a bit. "I'd have to say when Raten, Vorden and I were at the Temple and we played together. The others were mean to us. We were different from them. So we played and joked and had a lot of fun. What about you?"
She looked away from him for a moment then answered, not looking at him. "When I finally got Dobin awake and the trees helped us escape and we got that 3-day reprieve from that place. But my happiest moments ever are these times I spend in your arms. I feel safe, like the world outside doesn't exist. I never thought such a feeling was possible"
Even though Sil heard what she said about being safe with him and it made him happy, her story was still ringing in his ears. Happiest moment… And it sounded like a nightmare. He wanted to get some abilities and go there and burn the place down. Instead, he settled for going back into his mind, to his corner, his knees in his chest and he rocked back and forth.
She hadn't even realized she had been holding her breath and she exhaled. "I'm sorry, I ruined the mood…" as she noticed at some point in her answer, Sil had switched out and Vorden was back. She started picking up her uniform and getting dressed. "Thank you for letting me borrow them," refusing to look Vorden in the eyes.
As she was standing up, "Lana," she slowly lifted her head to look at him as he had gotten dressed even faster. "I'm sorry. I'm just trying to keep the secret, keep everyone safe. The Little One likes you."
"His name is Sil," she said firmly.
Vorden shook his head in a "whatever" type of motion, "he's asked me to protect you as well. He already has me protecting Quinn and this just makes it a bit harder."
She rolled er eyes, "I'm not looking for protection. I'm looking for someone I can talk to and maybe get rid of these nightmares. I thought since Sil was traumatized, he would be the perfect person, we could talk together and work out our issues. I felt safe with him. I've never felt like that before. I guess I don't give him the same feeling." She looked down again.
"Lana, it's not that. He has a temper. I don't think he wants you to see it. Despite the things you say and do together, he still has the emotional maturity of someone much younger."
"I think I just want to go back to my room and lay down."
Vorden looked at her, "do you mind if I walk with you? I'm heading that way myself."
She shrugged and they walked together in silence.
************
There were not many trees on the military campus itself. There were a lot of buildings and scattered manicured trees which means there was not much to them.
What Lana didn't know because the trees were unable to tell her was Duff worked for Pucket. His job was to watch her and learn about her ability. Even record as much as he could. Duff was in her homeroom class as well but she didn't talk to her classmates much, keeping to the people she already knew.
As part of her learning process, she had copious notes. She kept them secure on her at all times so getting them was too difficult but watching her write with cameras was not so difficult with miniaturized technology. The trees just thought they were insects.
The cameras had only recently been used so they have only discovered what she's working on, not what she already knew. They have seen her do things but not with a clear explanation of how it worked. The camera just needed to keep being used. If only her damned bag was not insect-proof, they could have gotten the books out and scanned them that way. Instead, they had to do it the hard way, watching her with the books and watching her to see if they could blackmail her and force her to talk. The thought running through Duff's head was, could this blond be used to get to her?
**************
Upon returning to the dorms, she took Logan his sandwich. She told him about when the second-years tried to trap her. It had taken her a long time to decide to do so but in the long run, she was hoping he could provide some kind of assistance. He simply nodded at what she had said.
******************
Later that night, Logan decided to investigate her file and try to find Pucket's file as well. What he found was several videos which had Lana with a blond boy he had never seen before sparring and her sparring with a female. Then the other videos of the notebook Lana was writing in. Logan didn't like this idea so he traced who uploaded these videos and looked at their file next after deleting the video footage and inserting footage that was all static.
"I can't have my sandwich maker being used in some way."
*******************
The next morning in homeroom, she asked the question: "Nis, if we want to spar with eachother using all of our abilities, is there a teacher or a class that would watch us do that? My team and I think it would help us better than just using Power Fighter. The game has some limitations."
The teacher nodded, "I agree but you learn unit cohesion in second year. First year is individual skills and basics. Second year is soul weapon and teamwork."
"What if we want to work on it early? I truly think it may help us grow as individuals as well as a team."
The teacher looked around the room, "Does anyone else feel the same way?"
Several hands went up. In total, 4 groups were interested in this type of activity.
He looked aback at Lana, "I'll see what I can do."
Lana smiled. It was the best she could hope for at this time.
Now she just needed to work up the courage to go to Beast Weapons class after lunch.