Winter Wonderland [Closed]

It wasn't easy to describe the long journey Serenity had been on. It was supposed to be a quick five day trip to a village within the country, but it turned into a month long adventure to Zakat. She was easily guided to leaving Arcadia to help a woman in need, arrived, and did as she was asked. In the process, she made three new friends, one of them being the Emperor of Zakat, the Emperor's (assumed) girlfriend, and the Emperor's sister. What could beat meeting so many important people? There wasn't much, but Serenity only wanted to get home. That was it. As she made it back to Colburn after a long, long time of walking back through Arcadia to get home, she noticed things were a bit different. A month had passed, so it was understandable that the weather took a bit of a turn. It was lightly snowing as she walked, the sidewalks were salted so she did not slip, though she was still careful because of her naturally clumsy behavior. It was about an hour before Alain would normally get home from work, so she didn't feel the need to rush home and took her time walking back.

After a few minutes, she finally made it to the house, but was stopped. She wasn't stopped by another person or an animal, no. She was stopped by an obstacle she did not ever expect. "Is there really a six foot tall wall of snow blocking the house?" she thought. Her eyes fluttered a bit in shock as she attempted to peek over the top, only to see more snow in her face. She was too short. She looked to the left and more snow. She looked to the right and more snow. There was only one way, that she thought, she could go and that was forward. With a determined sticking-out-your-tongue expression, she stepped forward and began attempting to push the snow from her path. She made it a little under a foot in and slipped. She caught herself once and continued digging until a Serenity-sized path was created for her. Unfortunately, snow was her enemy right now and it wasn't one she could purify. She slipped again and fell. As if it would help stop her fall, she reached out to grab snow. Of course, the snow was too soft to help catch her, so she continued her tumble.

"Ow..." she whined a bit and then glared up at the sides of the snow wall she had created around her as she fell into it. Not thinking of what she was doing, she hit the side of the wall. She went to turn over when she heard a little ruffle. Looking up, she saw the snow falling toward her. "Eep!!" she squeaked as snow from both sides collapsed in on her entire body. She tried to move, but couldn't. How was snow holding her down!? She was so weak! Feeling more pathetic than before, she began squirming around, but nothing  helped. In fact, she felt more snow piling onto her. The only thing she could tell was revealed was a single leg. Defeated, she laid there in wait. After some time passed her by and she was beyond freezing, Serenity heard someone coming. She wiggled her leg around to get attention, hoping that it wasn't some animal or something. "Alain!" she called out, but her voice was quite muffled. She felt weight lifting from her body and helped out by pushing snow off of her.

"This is what you get for not coming back when you said you would." Serenity looked up to see Alain standing there. He came over and crouched near her and she pushed up a smile, though her teeth were chattering and her body was shivering. "A-Alain... I-I'm really cold..." was all she said before she squirmed around, trying to push herself out of the snow. The moment she'd get out, she'd stand up and shake herself like a dog. Still freezing in this weather, Serenity would sort of dive into Alain and hold onto him. "Too cold. Too cold. Way, way too cold." she said, her body shaking from the freezing temperatures, "H-How... d-do we get i-inside?" she looked back toward the snow and then back up to him. She did wonder why this hadn't been shoveled out at this point. How could it get this bad? How was he able to get out of the house? "H-Have you been locked out of the h-house because of the snow, Alain?" she said in a very worried tone before he could answer her previous question.

"Yes, I have been sleeping in my office for the past two weeks." Serenity gasped, her eyes widening at him when he said that. "I'm kidding. No, no I have not been locked out of my house. The side-door is pretty much always clear of snow even when it's like this. The trees back there keep it from piling up like it does here." Her expression softened in relief, but then hardened to a glare. "D-Don't do that! I'd f-feel bad if you were out here that long..." Serenity glanced off toward the snow and then back to him. Her shivering wasn't letting up. She had been stuck for at least twenty minutes in the snow. The fact that she didn't have hypothermia was pretty surprising, but relieving as well. "Wait... really?" she blinked a couple times when she realized what he had said about the side door. She was lead along to the side and tilted her head when she saw that he was right. Looking up to the trees above, she noticed they did have an awful lot of snow on them and smiled widely.

After the door was unlocked, Serenity stepped inside into a semi-warm house. Compared to the cold of being buried under a few feet of snow, this was heaven. Still, she'd need to warm up. Nothing had changed since she left, which made her happy. Feeling something tug at her shoulders, she smiled back to Alain as he took her jacket for her. "Thank you." she said happily, "I'm so glad to be home!!!" With that last sentence, she waved her arms rapidly, like a child hyped up for something they had just received. Once she stopped, she took in a deep breath and just relaxed. Her first destination was going to be the kitchen, but Alain had other plans. As she started walking toward it, she was stopped, turned around, and gently pushed over to the warmth of a newly lit fire. Blinking a couple times, she sat down on the blanket that was set out for her and held her hands out toward the warmth of the fire. "So tell me, what kept you away for so long? Your note says five days... it's been a little more than five days." ... Oh he asked for it. And here came the long and hyped up story of Serenity's journey.

Upon hearing that question, Serenity turned toward him with a normal expression. At least it was normal at first, but then her smile slowly grew, almost in a creepy fashion. When her smile was a full, her eyes lit up with happiness and shined quite childishly, but oh so very cute. "You will never believe me! But I'm gonna tell you anyway! I went to the village and did what I normally do, right? I helped the people with C.A.E., but then something happened! I was on my way back and a bear attacked me! Yep, a big bear! I had to run and run, but I wasn't getting away. I wasn't paying attention to where I was going and suddenly wooosh! I fell and rolled down this long hill and hurt my ankle. I was lucky though, because Solon came and helped me back to the village. Of course, after that these jerks decided they were going to try and take me somewhere and you know... do bad things, but Solon saved me from them too and got stabbed in the process." For that moment, Serenity's expression saddened when thinking about how Solon got hurt; It was her fault and that made her feel pretty darn bag about the situation..

"Oh, oh, oh, but that's not even the most amazing part. After I was done at the village and could walk home, right before I got to the house, this woman approached me and said that someone in Zakat needed my help." Serenity said that and smiled even wider because she liked what that meant, "Yep, I went all the way to Zakat to help... Guess, guess, guess!!" Serenity waited excitedly for a moment to see if he'd guess, but then spoke out a few seconds later, "The Emperor! The Emperor of Zakat needed my help. When I got there, I found out that her sister, and yes the Emperor is a woman, but her sister was..." Serenity stopped and pointed seriously at him, "You have to promise and swear that you will never ever, ever, ever, ever, ever tell anyone anything about what I am going to tell you. It's not my business to tell, but I trust you and since I live with you, I refuse to keep any secrets, but this is one I may have to unless you swear!" Serenity looked at him very seriously, waiting to hear his reply before she'd continue on talking about what happened. It wasn't exactly her story to tell.

"Er... fine, I won't tell anyone, I promise."

Serenity's eyes lit up again. As he walked over and handed her the mug, she adjusted to sitting with her legs together and off to the side, the way women usually sit in skirts. She pat the blanket next to her so he'd sit down close and took in the nice aroma of the hot cocoa. She placed the mug to her lips and slowly took in a sip until she randomly decided to take a large gulp. She leaned away as she swallowed and set the mug down where it wouldn't be hit or spilled. Sitting normally, she winced a little and placed her hands on her cheeks. "Oww... hot, hot, hot..." she whined a little, but soon the heat died down and she was feeling much warmer than before, "Ah... So what was I saying?" She glanced off for a moment and then remembered. A big smile returned to her face and she clapped her hands together. "Right! The Emperor has a sister... And I wouldn't be shocked if you've heard of her; she doesn't have the best of reputations... Have you ever heard of Eira von Zarkonheinz?"

She waited. She truly wanted to see whether he had heard that name before. She had only heard rumors about the woman and none of them came with a positive connotation. "She did a lot of bad things; she killed quite a lot of people." Serenity said and her head was lowered again, "But she's a nice person. She didn't mean to do any of those things. Something was in her... I don't understand what it was, but it... darkened her heart, it corrupted her, forcing her to do things she wouldn't have normally done and twisting her mind from love and peace and into hatred and violence... That's why I was gone... I used my powers to remove that corruption... and she's back to normal again." Serenity picked up the mug and took another large drink. Ignoring the heat, she swallowed and enjoyed the warm feeling going into her stomach. This was warming her up pretty well. "I can't believe someone would do that to someone so nice... Eira didn't deserve that. No one would, but especially not her."

Serenity would stay silent for a few moments. She had a lot on her mind because of what happened back in Zakat. If he hadn't asked her what happened, she likely would have held onto the information for a while, at least until she'd calm her mind enough and then talk when she was ready. "Mmm... I missed being here." Serenity couldn't do anything but describe this place as her home, even if she was usually out in the forest. Something about being here just felt right, she could only hope that a certain someone felt the same way. "Me being here isn't a burden, is it?" Serenity was trying to change the subject. The other one was someone else's secret, so she shouldn't have said anything at all, but Serenity would have felt horrible for lying to Alain when he opened up his home to her. "So... what have you been doing while I was gone? Is work keeping you pretty busy?" She took another drink of the hot cocoa, this time only a sip since she felt warm enough to not down a lot of it.

Part of her wished Alain had said no. "I have heard that name, but I honestly thought that was just a story people told at campfires to scare others... to think she's actually real is a little scary." was his reply. This still made her feel bad; Eira was not a bad person. "There's nothing to be scared of... not anymore." she explained and then went on with her explanation. "That's certainly not a magic I've heard of, so I don't know what could have done that. I mean, it could be a mind-control magic but those have major time limits... and aren't really something that corrupts one's heart..." Serenity narrowed her eyes. "It's not a magic I've heard of either... I may not be a specialist on the subject, but I know for a fact that it wasn't a disease..." Serenity said, assuming the only thing she could mess with were diseases. She had no idea that she was able to actually cleanse magics, until now. She smiled and looked to her hands, "I guess I've learned something new about my powers..."

"Once the college is re-opened, I'll go back and look in the archives to see if there's anything like that." Serenity nodded. It sounded good to her. Hopefully he'd be able to dig something up on what had taken Eira over like that. If so, she'd have to report it to the Emperor too. Still, she wished it hadn't happened to Eira of all people. Why couldn't it have happened to someone mean?! "Bad things happen to good people. But the reverse doesn't happen. So the fact you were able to cure her is a good thing." Serenity nodded again, pushing up a small smile as his words made her feel better. "Yes, that's very good." she said softly, taking a sip of hot cocoa. Again, she felt so much at home being here, but wondered if it really was okay that she was sorta taking over his house, kinda, not really, but still. "If you were a burden, I would have left you in the snow." And he didn't leave her in the snow, so apparently she wasn't a burden to him! That made her feel a bit better. And of course, she had to ask how he was doing, it wasn't fair to just tell her story.

"Let's see, I had to break up two fights... and I was chosen to be a monitor for final exams for the graduating class of Sorcerers. Oh there was one thing that happened..." Serenity tilted her head to the side as she took the final drink of her hot cocoa, glad to finish it before it had the chance to cool. She watched him pick up something and looked at him suspiciously. "What's that?" she asked, but the paper was held up. The first thing she saw was a very... very good picture of Alain. She smiled widely. "I got another picture in the weekly paper." There was something about his smile at that moment. She wasn't able to place it, but he looked so handsome. "And the best part is, this time it's not for being at Rydian. Nope, this is from a report about Colburn as a whole and its reputation in Arcadia. Look out, you're living with a celebrity now." Something about it caught her attention more than usual; there was a very different look in her eyes, one that was likely noticed easily, but she couldn't make it go away. "You look wonderful." and there was a new tone there. It was soft, sweet, and hinted at a little something more than admiration.

She couldn't look away until she realized that she had been staring for quite some time. Forcing her eyes in another direction, she turned toward the fire and stared at it. "What was that?" she asked herself, trying to keep a straight face. Her heart was racing, so she placed a hand over her chest, unaware that it might give off a few more hints than she already had. Taking in a deep breath, Serenity closed her eyes, held the breath for a moment, and then slowly let it out, relaxing a bit. "I think I'm warm enough now." she said and stood up. She stepped over to the couch and sat down, leaning back against it. "Do you have any plans for today, Alain?" Serenity asked kindly as she slid her shoes off her feet and set them off to the side so neither of them would trip. Wiggling her toes a little, she smiled and looked toward him, "It's been a long time since I've been with someone on a snowy day, so I'm not sure what I should be doing. Have you eaten? I can cook dinner, if you would like?"

Well he didn't have to be so conceited about it. She was being very kind and honest about it, and he had to pop a joke! Hmph! Oh well. it only made her smile more. "Well, I didn't really have any plans today. Probably just relax and take a nice, long, relaxing bath... but since you're here, I think we can do something else. Since I don't think the tub could hold the two of us." Serenity raised an eyebrow at him. "Yeah..." she said with a mischievous smirk, "We could fit." She had to keep up with him some how! Any time he threw her an opening, she was going to do her best to throw it right back at him; it was the only way she could keep up with his wit. That's why she purposely made it sound like she'd be okay with sharing a bath. It seemed though, that neither of them had plans. It was only half day at work for him, dinner wasn't for a while, and neither of them seemed to have any idea of what to do. The last time she felt like this was when she was at the village with Solon...

Serenity closed her eyes and decided to lay across the couch since he chose his chair. Laying her head back on the arm, she looked over to him and blinked. "I've seen every part of you..." she said casually, yet so bluntly at the same time, "Yet, I'm not sure how much I know about you... I can't remember a lot of that night, you know, the night we met?" She turned her head upwards and looked toward the ceiling. Taking in a deep breath, she laid her hands across her stomach and lowered closed her eyes. "It's a shame to have had such a fun night and not remember all of it." Serenity said, sounding slightly disappointed, "Though I am very upset with him, I am glad Carl showed up that day. Thanks to him, I don't have to be alone anymore." It's a little silly to have a full blown stalker that attacks and threatens to kill you and all you can say is that you are "very upset" with him. Most people would have been extremely angry, if not worse, but not Serenity. She was almost too nice.

"Alain..." Serenity sat up and smiled toward him, "You wanna go out and play in the snow?" And her child-like playfulness was back. Her momentary lapse of innocence that seemed to show a more womanly or mature side of her was once again gone. She wanted to have fun and neither of them had anything to do. "I bet I can defeat you in a snow ball fight easily. I betcha, I betcha." She was doing her best to make it sound like a challenge, trying to push him into accepting so the two of them could go outside and have a little fun. "As long as you promise not to let six feet of snow bury me again..." she said as if that was his fault, "... we can go outside and have some fun. That is... if you're not one of those boring people that stay inside all day doing nothing..." Serenity gave him the dullest look at that point, wondering whether he would actually accept her obvious taunt and go outside with her.

The responses! She could think of so many at this point, but she felt the rest would backfire, like they usually did, so she chose one that she thought might help her win just one of these wit battles. "Well, this is your home and you've allowed me to live here, so..." Serenity pushed up a sweet smile, "If taking a bath with me is what you want, I'll oblige." It's possible for that to backfire just as much. What if he said okay? What if he asked for that at this minute?! She wouldn't be able to counter that! This was a mistake! Why did she always make the mistakes in the wit battles?! It wasn't fair, she never gets to win! "But if you do that, I'm wearing a swim suit!" she quickly added before any terms may have been set, though Alain never seemed like the type of man to ask her to that. If she ever felt like he was the type of man to ask her to do something like that, she would come to the conclusion that she is currently living in the wrong house and would likely move out within the next day or so.

And then came the challenge. "Are you kidding? Don't you know what those five trophies and placards are? It was for Rydian's annual staff snowball tournament. All the staff gets together once a year and Rydian's courtyards are turned into a warzone. It's amazing, honestly. It's going to be on the re-opening for next semester, you should come and cheer me on." Well, shit. Did he seriously have to actually get super competitive in this aspect? She wanted him to want to beat her, but it wasn't fair that he actually competed in that way before! Oh well, she had issued the challenge, she was going to keep it up. There was no point in backing down now! "Fine then." she stood up and pointed down at him, "If you win, you get something. If I win, you have to..." She stopped for a moment to think and looked around the house, but there was nothing she could make him do; she liked doing the chores. "I know!" she said with a big smile when she thought of it, placing her hands behind her back, "You'll have to tell me your deepest darkest secret."

"But if you still think you can defeat me..." he said, coming to grab her arm. She didn't even flinch; she was that confident in her abilities in snow ball fights! He dragged her outside after allowing her to put on her shoes and a warm jacket. What had she gotten herself into? "We'll just have to see if you can beat the champion." he said and she smirked. "I'm gonna beat you! Now for the rules! There is only one rule, no powers. None! Beyond that... anything goes!" she said happily and then darted out into the snow, hurrying around to the front where that large pile of snow had buried her once before. She immediately dove behind a pile of snow, peeking around to see where he would be coming from as she gathered snow within the palm of her hand and waited for the right moment to strike.

Serenity wasn't exactly expecting him to get on the roof. She wasn't a get the advantage on the other person type player. She wanted fun, not actual competition, so when she was forced to dodge the snow falling from the tree, she did not run. Instead, she jumped onto the other side of the tree and waited. She looked up to make sure there wasn't a snow covered branch above her and was pleased to see there wasn't. She slowly peeked onto the other side of the tree to see where Alain was and spotted him, but only right as a snow ball threatened to hit her face. She quickly moved back behind the tree, looked around, and then darted away toward the other side of the house. If he was going to use the house as a weapon, then so would she. As she ran though, she noticed him flying through the air. She stopped in her tracks, turned toward him, and watched in shock as he ever so gracefully jumped from the roof. She watched him, mouth agape, and then closed it while trying not to laugh when he fell into a snow pile.

"Hehe." she snickered, covering her mouth. Picking up a ball of snow, she threw it at him as he raised his head to look at her. It was sorta supposed to be a "that's what you get" moment. He wanted to be all smart and tactical and fancy and now look at him. He was face first in a pile of snow and she was still all clean; talk about irony. Frankly, Serenity thought it was adorable, though that's not something she'd ever say to him. He was too much of a man to call adorable, but still. She picked up another ball of snow and tossed it at him before hurrying around the side of the house, only to stop and peek around to see what he was doing again. If he climbed to the roof, she'd stuff snow down his pants.

Serenity wasn't the best at making snowballs. It wasn't something she did too often. So, when it softly hit his face and sorta fell apart, it was expected. It's not like she wanted to hurt him anyway. This was for fun! Though, when it did hit him, she couldn't help but giggle like a child before hurrying around the corner. She kept her snowball ready in her mitten covered hand and waited for him to come around the corner. She waited for some sort of strategic display, but was surprised to see him just charging at her. She blinked a few times in shock and dodged to the side when he threw the first one. Seeing as he kept running and throwing a couple more, Serenity found herself holding her head and running in circles, screaming like a dork as she was being 'attacked'. "Ahhh!!" she stopped when she felt no more snowballs flying passed or hitting her and looked toward him. He didn't have anymore snowballs in his hand, but she was too caught off guard to think correctly and throw her own. She began running away from him, but her small stature created a problem. She was having a hard time moving through the snow easily.

She had to think quickly or this was over! "Ahhh!!" she yelled her battle cry, knowing he was catching up, and suddenly turned towards him. This was where her height was going to be an advantage to her! She didn't attack, well, kinda. She did attack, but it was by whipping her arms around his waist and clinging to him. "Gotcha!" she said as if she had claimed victory and looked up to him with one eye closed and her tongue sticking out of her mouth, all as if it was hard to cling to him. Well, it might of been. If he wasn't expecting the sudden turn-and-hug attack, he could have ran right into her and knocked them both over. All Serenity knew was that she was not letting go of him any time soon. "Victory will be mine!" she'd say as she looked around, planning to pull snow in on him.

He tried shaking her grip and she held tighter. He tried vibrating and she just laughed, it almost tickled. He even tried running and just ended up dragging her petite form through the snow. They were both laughing. This was so much fun. She did not expect him to be such a difficult opponent! And then everything changed with the sound of an approaching voice, one that Alain seemed to recognize. He froze and Serenity looked worriedly up to him. "Serenity, we need to stop playing right now." he said, using his hands to pry her off. "Huh?" Serenity replied in confusion, her tone almost heartbroken. She was having so much fun, so why must they stop? She could tell by how strong his own grip was and his tone of voice that he was serious. The game was over. Part of her wanted to joke a little and say he forfeit the game, but something told her not to. She stood up fully as she was removed from his waist and began dusting herself off. She didn't notice the man and woman coming around the corner, though she probably should have been paying a little more attention since Alain had obviously switched up.

"Well, look who has a friend." Serenity froze this time. Is this what Alain seemed to be so worried about? They didn't seem to be bad people. Serenity half stood behind Alain, sort of peeking out from the side to watch him converse with the woman taller than she and the man taller than he. It didn't take long for Serenity to realize exactly who these two people were. The woman looked like someone Serenity would like to have a nice conversation with, while the man looked like someone who would find her "cute" and pat her on the top of her head like a child. At least that is what she got the feeling of when she looked at the two of them. "Catching you off-guard has always been our specialty."

So they did this often huh? Alain's parents sure were funny. They probably always caught him off guard just to pick on their son. This brought up a question for Serenity, was Alain a Momma's boy or a chip off the old block? She would have to find this out. The game was officially over in her mind when she realized that they were being introduced. Alain stepped to the side and motioned toward the two, so Serenity cheerfully stepped forward and held out her hand. "Hello to you both. I'm Serenity Verdant." she said as politely as she possibly could, "Would you guys like to come inside and rest? I'll take your coats, if you like. Alain can get the fire blazing again and put on some tea. Of course, only if you'd like."

Serenity was trying her best to be a good host. She was acting polite, sweet, and welcoming. Her mind didn't even move to the fact that she shouldn't treat them as guests. The moment Magnus took her hand, his grip showed her one thing: he didn't want her here. She had never had a man squeeze her hand so tightly. If she had less control, she would have winced at the feeling. She was thankful when the handshake ended. No matter how gentle the shake was, the grip was what haunted her thoughts. Of course, receiving a hug from Alain's mother made it much better. She gratefully returned the short embrace and nodded as cheerfully as she could in agreement to heading inside for tea. "Thank you for the offer, but I will take my own and my wife's coat. It is my house, and I don't want to feel like a guest in it." Serenity was taken aback by this. "But... I wasn't..." she mumbled a bit as the two walked off. She lowered her head a bit, feeling like she should barricade herself in a room or just stay outside once tea is served. A few seconds in and she had already offended Alain's father...

Her attention was caught when Alain set his hand on her shoulder. She turned back to him and pushed up an obviously forced smile before walking around and back into the house. She smiled weakly toward Alain as he took her coat, "Thank you." Her eyes caught a glimmer of white in his hair and was tempted to brush it out, but with the presence of his parents, she chose otherwise. "You have snow in your hair still..." she pointed in it's direction. She stood there silently as Alain offered the master bedroom to his parents, which she completely agreed with. "I'll put on the tea now and return shortly. Please excuse me." she said quickly, bowing to them with the demeanor of a maid and tried making her way out of the room as quickly as possible. As she rounded the corner though, she heard the words Alain's mother spoke and almost tripped over her own feet. Luckily, she was able to catch herself and just glanced back toward the room, but was around the corner, so she wasn't seen by any of them. "H-hey now, it's not like that." Alain replied. Serenity could tell how awkward he felt by the tone in his voice.

Serenity sighed at it. She wasn't sure how she was supposed to be reacting to all of this. His mother seemed so nice, but his father actually bothered her a bit. "She's just a friend who needed a place to stay." Serenity closed her eyes, feeling slightly disappointed for reasons she didn't understand, and continued off. She was not disappointed by the denial of grandchildren at all; it was the 'just a friend' line that stung just enough to make her question her own feelings toward Alain. Serenity set up the tea and looked through the cabinets for something she could cook. On a night like this, with it being so cold, something like stew would be delicious, but what if they don't like stew? Should she ask them? She stayed lost in thought about what she could cook until either interrupted by someone else or by the tea finishing. Once finished, she set four cups, the kettle, and different ingredients (i.e sugar, lemon, and honey) on a tray and began her way back out to the kitchen. "The tea is ready. It's hot, so if you'd like it cooled, I can get some ice for you." she said with another forced smile as she walked over toward the others.

Serenity set the tray down on the table, making sure it was closer to his parents than to herself. Sitting on her knees, she poured the tea quietly, letting them talk. Once the tea was poured and she had a chance to speak, she'd politely bring attention back to her. "Excuse me..." she said with a light smile, "Once dinner is to be made, I was wondering if you guys would enjoy a stew. If so, I should probably get started on it soon to make sure it's cooked well... If there is anything else you'd like, I'd certainly try to oblige." Serenity was acting very different for one reason. She didn't want to be kicked out of this house. She was going to be kind and respect them no matter what, but she already felt unwelcome and they had only been here five minutes. If they didn't like her that fast, she had no idea how they'd react to her being a clumsy fool. She was especially focused, moving with grace, but (to anyone who knew her) noticeabley more concentrated and focused then normal. She didn't want to mess up.

"Again, the offer is appreciated, but I do not need ice."

At this point, Serenity was quite thankful that Alain seemed so much different from his Father. Magnus was so stern that almost every time he spoke up, Serenity felt as if she was going to flinch, startled by his tone. She was able to fight it enough that it wasn't noticeable, but it still happened. Before Serenity could start pouring the tea, Magnus reached forward and grabbed the kettle from the tray and did it for her. "Mm..." a small quiet whimper left Serenity as she watched the tea being poured. Once everyone had their cups, she took up her own and sat there on the floor, still sitting on her knees, and took a quiet sip. She kept her head lowered, not wanting to meet Magnus' eyes again.

"This tea..." Serenity flinched again, waiting for them to be upset at what she had made, "...is quite good." Serenity's eyes lit up. She looked toward Magnus with a happy smile and then took another sip of her tea. "Yes it is. Where did you learn to brew such good tea?" Helena spoke up and Serenity felt her heart warm. She did something right! They liked it. "O-Oh... Well, I have to be very careful with the things I eat and drink, you see..." she began, speaking quite shyly, "...so I mix my own. It's a few herbs that I had to be very picky with. I grew them myself in a garden I had before I came here."

Serenity brought up the idea of dinner and stew seemed to be something everyone was interested in. As Serenity went to stand, so did Helena. "Let me help you. Both of them can eat, so it might be good to have a second set of hands." Helena said, causing Serenity to blink a few times. She didn't remember if she ever had anyone, excluding her mother years ago, ever help her cook. Part of her wanted to say no, but something told her that'd be a bad idea; that something was sitting in the head-of-household chair. "O-Oh, Alright. Are you sure you wouldn't like to keep resting and catch up with Alain?" she asked as they walked off.

Serenity was a little nervous about being alone in the kitchen with Alain's mother. What if she said something stupid or offensive? Helena didn't seem anywhere near as offended at Serenity's presence as Magnus, but that didn't make the worry any less. "I usually make a double batch to have enough left over for a couple of days, so I think they'll still be enough with that recipe." Serenity picked up a large sack of potatoes. It was pretty heavy, so while doing this, she unknowingly stuck out her tongue while straining to walk it over to the counter. She set them down next to the sink and placed a potato peeler next to it. "Is there anything in specfic you would like to help with?"

Serenity was quiet most of the time, often giving quick smiles and allowing a chuckle here and there, but mostly she was just quiet. She was cooking, so those who understood her love of cooking wouldn't expect her to talk anyways. She just did her best not to seem rude when pinching in the spices and ingredients. One thing she did make sure she would complete was the meet. She removed as much of the fat from the meet as she could. She didn't like the feeling of meat and then suddenly biting into a slippery bunch of squish. She often compared the feeling to slime, so she made sure her meat rarely to never had fat on it. Many people did like having it there, but never really missed it when it wasn't. For a while, the two of them had small conversation, nothing in particular and usually just a 'can you pass me the' requests and comments on the other's knife technique, but Serenity's demeanor caught Helena's eye.

"If you're worried about Magnus..." Serenity froze when his name was mentioned, but then continued slicing into the final piece of meet before tossing it into a large pot on the stove. "If he'll drink your tea, he'll eat your food." Serenity didn't know what to say. She loved it when people enjoyed her food, but would prefer it if he actually wanted her around. He seemed not to, so Serenity felt bad for being here. Even though it had been said before, she sort of forgot that this wasn't just Alain's house, it was his parents. Serenity became very interested in listening to Helena's story. She kept glancing over to her to make sure that Helena knew she was listening. Thirty nine years married is a long time. "That's beautiful..." Serenity said with a small smile.

"I'm glad you didn't give up on him. I kind of like having Alain around." Serenity decided to make her own little joke, even showing a cheerful smile as she said it. "Even if my son doesn't know it yet, you'll be a great wife someday." Helena said as Serenity put the lid over the top of the pot. It would need to boil for at least an hour, which should be the perfect time for dinner. "I... don't think Alain thinks of me that way." Serenity said, her head slightly lowered as if she was disappointed, "And even if he did, I'm not sure I'd know what to do. He's very kind, a true gentleman, generous, and he's sort of a hero to me... If it weren't for him, I'd not be here today. I've just... never had anyone care for me in that way." Setting the knives and other things they used to prepare the stew in the kitchen sink, she turned back toward Helena and leaned back against the counter, her hands back on it.

"How do you know when you care enough about someone to get to that step?" Serenity asked quite innocently, her gaze to the kitchen floor, "I know I feel something toward Alain, but I can't tell whether it's just appreciation, admiration, gratitude, friendship... Maybe it's all of them?" Serenity took in a deep breath and let it out in a relaxed sigh. "Either way, I feel your son deserves someone a lot better than me. The only thing I've got going for me is cooking... I'm not smart. I'm clumsy. I can't fight or anything... I don't have any tale-..." Serenity suddenly smacked her hands to her cheeks and shook her head rapidly. "Oh my goodness, I am so sorry! I got carried away. I shouldn't be talking about this. W-Would you like to go back in to the livingroom with the men? It's going to take a while for the food to be done cooking through." Serenity practically tried to rush out of the kitchen, her face as red as a tomato when thinking about everything she just spouted. How could she have said all of that so casually!?