Dia yawned, stretching as she began taking off her uniform.

“You seem in a rush.” The voice was teasing, but Dia could only really roll her eyes, her fellow nurse was rushing to remove her own uniform just as quickly.

“If I don’t, Rick will start making dinner. What about you? Date?”

“Oof, that’s rough.” The shirt was practically thrown into the wooden locker. “And yes, got my own little date.”

“Is he handsome?”

“SHE is.” There was a waggle of brows.

Dia whistled. “Prestigious little skank. From the academy?”

The fellow nurse preened, shoulders squared and chin raised. “You know it!”

They both shared a quiet look, Dia only raising a brow.

“You know the rules.”

She rolled her eyes, of course it would come to that. “Fiiine, I’ll cover your cleaning rounds tomorrow. Now out with it.”

Her companion lowered her voice to a whisper. “There’s apparently going to be a bunch of women coming to the city. It’s been whispered about here and there, a bunch.”

“Oh, so she’s looking to use you to get into Miss Alice’s good graces?”

There was a pause, brown eyes widened. “What? Who? You know who’s coming?”

“They were in my village, I took care of them.” Now it was Dia’s turn to eyebrow waggle. “And if you want more details, you’re going to have to cover my cleaning duties for two weeks. That includes the green floor.”

The hesitation was apparent, and understandable. Green Floor was where the nastier operations took place, and it was the worst place to be for anyone with a sense of smell. “I-uh, why would I need such a thing?” There was a nervous laughter, but Dia knew she’d caught her.

“Ok then.” There was no immediate response, Dia just grinned. “Think about it, though if you take too long, I might bump the price. See you tomorrow!”

Not waiting for an answer, Dia put on her street clothes and hurried on out of the medicen, waving goodbye to the other girls as she made sure to break into a good jog back home.

Mentally she estimated Rick must have still been finishing up the afternoon class. The thought of him working still made Dia’s stomach churn, she had to reassure herself that eventually they’d earn enough he could just take things as a hobby and not out of a necessity. Dia’s lips thinned at the consideration of Monica, a girl like that could be earning a lot of coin as a knight, even if she definitely did not have the discipline for it, the strength should be more than plenty to compensate for such.

But that was a hope for later, for now she should probably start looking into some of the slum girls. Maybe she’d be able to snag one and put her on Rick’s sights. The purchase cost would be affordable if she was from the slums, all that mattered was the drive and brains.

Fighting back from wanting to sigh again, Dia redoubled her pace instead.

She felt Monica’s aura oppressing the whole damn district shortly after she passed the guard post. That Dia had to smirk at, if there was one good thing about the over-zealous cat was that her very presence cowed the worst dregs of the city into keeping their head down.

Lots less work in the medicen for everyone if there’s less brawls and muggings.

A quick peek at the aura, Monica was moving out of the house and that was a clear sign the class had ended. It meant she was right on time. She slowed down as she reached the door, she combed her fingers through her hair and smoothed her clothes, using her key to unlock the door.

“I’m ho-.” Dia hesitated, looking at the woman standing in the room. “-me?”

It was a beautiful woman, with flawless porcelain skin and sky-blue hair. Her hair had been tightly braided and her neck was shown to be devoid of a collar. Every sense within Dia told her this was a human, she couldn’t detect the faintest flicker of elemental energy.

Yet Rick stood behind the table, tense. Not the tension of someone under a threat but the tension she’d only ever seen him show when alone with an unknown maiden.

“Oh, hey Dia. Welcome home.”

Rick didn’t hesitate to walk around the table and past the blue-haired woman, drawing Dia into a tight hug. His finger pinched her shoulder blade, and Dia knew something was wrong. But what?

“This is Kiara, an… acquaintance of Tomas.”

Light brown eyes and an impossibly sharp gaze locked onto Dia. The air of superiority oozed out of the lady just like every other human woman. Dia's first reaction was to start a bow, but Rick’s hand on her shoulder stopped her.

She could only look at him from the corner of her eye. But when in doubt, follow your owner’s lead.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, miss Kiara.”

There was a subtle twitch of brows, a hidden sign of annoyance, no doubt at the insult of not being treated as a human woman should be. But it was quickly obscured behind a brilliant smile. “I assure you the pleasure is all mine. I was talking with your owner over some potential deals, would you mind preparing something to drink for us?”

That was certainly typical human woman behavior. Dia almost nodded.

But Rick’s hand remained tightly on her shoulder. His heartbeat was fast, blood pressure high.

“And I’d been about to show you the door.”

That was about as shocking to Dia as it had been to the blue haired woman. Wide eyes and rapid blinking followed. “Have I done something wrong?”

“You’ve been trying to use your powers on me.”

This time there was a scowl. “I can assure you it was merely the curse. I had hoped we could-.”

“Dia, if there’s such a thing as a cursed person, would they have control over the energy?”

She startled. “Certainly not.”

“Then that means you’re a maiden.”

Dia looked from Rick to Kiara, and tried to make sense. Was she a maiden? She couldn’t feel anything, the energy was feeble and-.

And suddenly it was not. The power suddenly struck out in every direction like a raging fire. Its very presence was hot and heavy, making everything feel like it was sweltering in an inferno.

Dia’s hand shot out and shoved Rick behind herself, taking a step back.

“Oh please, if I wanted to fight, you wouldn’t be able to slow me down.”

The brown eyes shimmered and turned gold. Kiara did not move from her spot but Dia could tell it wasn’t a bluff.

“Jesus, thank fuck.”

Both maidens hesitated, glancing at Rick as he let out a long sigh of… relief?

“Sir?”

“At least now that the cards are on the table, could you tell me what this whole thing is about? You’re not really cursed, right?”

“I…” The blue haired woman faltered, the pressure died out somewhat, her eyes turning from Rick to Dia and back. She appeared to determine the nurse didn’t pose enough of a threat, and relaxed her shoulders marginally. “Yes, I’m not cursed. I seek to bond you.”

“Why?”

“I’ve got my reasons.” There was a slight shrug, she crossed her arms. “I can’t say this is going how I expected it to.”

“That’s nice, how about we try this again tomorrow?” Rick clapped once. “I don’t want a fight to break out, and if you stick around, things will get ugly.”

Dia glanced at Rick, then at the maiden pretending to be a human, their gazes met, and Dia squirmed, if this became a fight, her only choice would be to buy him time to get away… however few seconds that would mean. “Sir…”

“Not you. Monica.”

It was only then that Dia realized the pressure from Monica’s aura was gone. The realization seemed to come to Kiara at the same time. The blue-haired maiden’s eyes traversed the room until they fixed onto a specific shadow, one that was darker than the others.

Monica emerged from it, blue eyes and a severe snarl on her lips.

“Monica.”

Rick’s word didn’t stop the feline from growling, but she did move to stand between himself and the blue-haired stranger. Dia immediately felt a wash of relief over her, with her here, she could drag Rick off and make sure he stayed alive.

“It seems I underestimated you, again.”

Kiara did not seem put off, she dropped her aura and let out a short laugh.

“I will take you on that offer, Rick, I will be back tomorrow.”

The next instant, she was gone.

Dia recognized the teleportation spell for what it was, and quickly moved to remove any possible traces of the lingering energy. She’d heard how practitioners could potentially return to the same spot if the energy wasn’t disrupted properly and she definitely did not want that maiden having an easy time coming back.

“Sir, I-.”

Her words stopped as Rick grabbed her arm, he gave her a reassuring squeeze. “Let’s sit down, think things through.”

She bit her lip. Her owner’s word was law, that was reassuring, she obeyed, taking the chair and looking at Rick, waiting for his words.

“I think we should hear her out.”

Suddenly, she wasn’t so sure anymore.