Lyss waits patiently beside Kyma for a few moments before speaking. "Do you want me to show you where the room is?"

Kyma nods, her face slightly red with her nerves and embarrassment. "Please."

Lyss waves her hand to usher Kyma inside the building, and waits for Kyma to step inside before she steps into the the building behind her. Once inside, Lyss leads Kyma through the surprising maze of rooms inside the building. Some rooms are small enough for only a couple people, some are large enough for around thirty. Some of those large rooms are full and some are empty, and all of the smaller rooms are empty, except one. Kyma sees movement inside the tiny room as Lyss leads her towards it, so there must be someone inside. Of course, Lyss steps inside the room first, and Kyma waits for Lyss to wave Kyma inside. She does so, and Kyma finally steps inside to see Lyss staring at a woman, who is seemingly standing both in the middle of the room and in a corner. In the moment it takes for Kyma to analyze her features, Kyma gets the distinct impression that the woman looks similar to Alai.

"Are you Kyma's teacher, Sera?"

Sera nods at her. "Yes. I assume this is Kyma?"

Kyma waves. "Hi."

Sera lets out a short laugh. "Hello. Welcome to our shores, Kyma."

"Thank you."

Sera nods, smiling, and turns towards Lyss. "You may go now, Crownguard Lyss."

Lyss shakes her head. "With all due respect, Surfaceteacher Sera, I am the Princess' personal Crownguard. I have been ordered to guard the Princess. That means that I cannot leave the Princess unsupervised."

Kyma is starting to get the impression that Lyss doesn't like Sera much and vice versa as Sera speaks. "Well, she won't be unsupervised. I'm her teacher, I will be supervising her."

Lyss scoffs. "Let me rephrase that. I cannot leave her unless she is supervised by a Crownguard."

Sera sighs, shaking her head. "She'll be fine, Lyss."

Lyss crosses her arms, glaring at Sera. "Would you leave a young Queen Lahira to be unsupervised by a Crownguard?"

Sera's reply is hesitant as she attempts to find another answer, but she finally voices the truth, defeated. "No, I wouldn't. I would be horrified if she was."

"Why is Kyma any different?"

Sera tries again to thwart Lyss' efforts to remain close to Kyma. "Because she isn't likely to be attacked! She's new to our culture, and thus harmless! No one is going to try to harm her!"

Lyss opens her mouth to reply, but Kyma cuts her off to reply to Sera instead. "Do you know what I went through before this?"

Sera reels back, surprised by the slight change in topic. "No?"

"I was kidnapped, experimented on, and tortured. Alai helped me escape, along with my friends, but he is still out there. As much as I would like to deny it, he will probably come for me. So yes, it is unlikely that a merrow will try to hurt me based off of what I know, but it is very likely that he will come. So I need Lyss to be here, watching me, no matter how much I might dislike having someone guarding me all the time."

Sera hangs her head, defeated. "Very well, Princess." She catches Kyma eying her with a curious expression. "What is it, Princess?"

"You're related to Alai, aren't you?"

Sera looks taken aback by this. "I . . . yes. I'm Alai's mother."

Kyma nods. "Okay. Now before this lesson actually starts, why do you guys not like each other?"

Lyss groans. "This again, Kyma."

Kyma whirls around to face her. "Yes. You get to start. Why do you think she doesn't like you?"

Lyss sighs. "You think Alai's dislike for me was bad? Sera's is ten times worse."

Kyma turns to look at Sera. "Why don't you like her?"

"She broke Ronan's heart, and I don't believe that she has actually become nice again. She's still a cow, just a deceptive one."

Lyss crosses her arms angrily and huffs. "How many times must I say this! I pushed Roan away because I didn't want to hurt him, and I was a cow because I needed a shield from my own pain."

Kyma throws her hand up between them. "Lyss, why don't you like her? Besides her grudge against you."

"She's the deceptive cow. She acts nice, but then she turns around and goes around being a barracuda and a cow."

Sera gasps, and Kyma sighs, running her hand down her face in exasperation. "Okay, so it's a mutual dislike. Can you at least try to work it out and be civil towards each other? She can't teach well if she's distracted by her dislike for you."

They both sigh and nod before speaking in unison. "Very well, Kyma."

Kyma smiles. "Good. Shall we begin?"
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Well there was some drama in that chapter. Didn't expect to be writing any of that. The lesson was supposed to start instead. But . . . *shrugs* The book writes itself, I'm just the tool it uses to put itself out there for others to see. What do you guys think will happen next? Tell me your thoughts!

Happy reading, and I'll see you next chapter!

~Goddess of Fate, signing out.