OCTOBER 31

"Is there something you would like to ask?" Dominic asked, turning to the girl in annoyance, "you've been staring at me for the past few minutes like I'm some art pieces you're inspecting."

The girl stiffened and darted her eyes away, avoiding eye contact with Dominic. She could still remember earlier when those crystals in his eyes had captivated her and disabled her legs completely. Just remembering the feeling of having no power over your body and being so paralyzed and demeaned with one look left goosebumps on her skin. It was something that had already etched its way into her brain.

"N-nothing," she stuttered, pretending to use the broom in her hand then tripping over a box on the floor and dropping it.

"Ah…" she mumbled, her face bright red as she bent down to pick it up.

"Hahaha," Dominic chuckled watching her fumble around nervously. His laugh ceased to a stop and his gaze hardened, "but seriously, what is it? I hate it when I know somebody has something to say but doesn't speak their mind."

Silence blanketed the tent for a few seconds. The tension was especially notable when there were only two people present in the tent.

"I-" The girl locked eyes with Dominic accidentally, flinching from how precisely targeted it was at her, "nothing."

Dominic sighed, placing down the paper he was inspecting before his interaction with the girl.

He put his hand on the table and stared at the girl, "First of all, names. I can't keep saying 'you' when I want to address you."

"Ah.. my name's Desilva," the girl replied hesitantly, "Desilva Milti."

"...Desilva.." Dominic muttered repeating the name with a stern face which then broke into a smile, "I like your name, I'm Dominic." He reached out his hand.

Desilva stared at his hand and then back to him. "Dominic?"

"Hmm," Dominic grinned, releasing a charming smile, "why?"

"Nothing.." Desilva smiled awkwardly and shook his hand, "you must have a thing for shaking hands… it's the second time you've done that to me."

"Ah…" Dominic muttered then giggled mischievously and scratched his golden mane, "my bad..hehe… it's the only thing that feels… official? Except for all that paperwork and the war my troop just went through."

"Haha," Desilva laughed sadly, "I would love to relate, but my village never joined a fight that was serious enough to be a war. We would just sit still and get run over."

"Ouch," Dominic winced, "I guess medic help won't be the only thing you might need help with."

"Yup…" Desilva sighed, "after the 5th attack, we just… gave up on fighting back. We were weak with no backup to help us and barely any supplies to even arm our people to fight with."

"Hmm.." Dominic commented as an indicator that he was listening.

"Though I was only a few years old, I can still remember it clearly even though it's a bit blurry," Desilva mumbled, " Something happened and then there was this huge war in which we were abandoned by the kingdom we had an alliance with and ended up losing. After there were a series of attacks where we were robbed of people and food, then left to die off."

"This alliance is something you'll really need," Dominic replied after a moment of thought.

"Yes, but this isn't our first time," a voice interrupted, "having an alliance with a kingdom I mean. The first one ended in ruins and I'm not about to let another alliance that will ruin us to happen."

Dominic and Desilva turned to the entrance of the tent. There an old woman stood, staring at Dominic harshly. Her black hair was tied up in a tight bun and streaks of white placed randomly in her hair, accompanied her black hair in its bun. She was dressed simply in a plain formless dress and a walking cane beside her that held her up. The simplicity in her presence was something Dominic wasn't used to seeing, but the somewhat youthful face of the old woman helped put a drizzle of elegance in her aura.

"MOTHER!" Desilva yelled gleefully.