[SpringsSong]

Alana blinked as she said, "Well, actually... no, I wouldn't mind it at all." She walked in and set her shawl down on the bed as she looked around.  "This room... I must say, it looks much like a room I had imagined for myself when I found out that Mother intended to renovate our little corner of the Fire-Forests of Nori from whence I hail.  Unfortunately, that was before my mother had her next four kits, and my brother was transformed into a Fallen Luhna.  All plans to renovate were put on hold, and it was only on desperate plea that Mother let me enroll in this class, Professor." She shook her head as she looked at the tea bags that were set aside.

"Earl gray... I must admit, that is rather one of my favorites." She said as she took a polite sniff at the bag to determine its flavor.

[15.3]

[SpringsSong]

"Earl gray is one of my favorites as well.  I prefer it over most other teas, actually." Lloyd said.  After a moment, he cleared his throat.  "Alana... I feel it necessary to tell you to address me as Lloyd when out of the tutoring sessions.  After all, you shall soon be my assistant, and colleagues must always address each other by their first names.  After all, I have no last name to refer to you by, so I call you Alana." Lloyd said as he walked in, sitting down at the small table in the bay window, overlooking the caverns.

"They're magnificent, aren't they?" he asked as he took the teapot and poured some hot water into a teacup before placing a teabag in it.  "That's why I chose this particular spot, out of all of Evelon: none other have such a magnificent, almost undisturbed view as these caverns.  None can take away from the beauty of this place by being here, like with the Dead Coast or with Jawan... or even Idalani!  Granted, the place is beautiful, but... too many people go there for my tastes--at least, for me to make my home there." He said.  "I go vacationing there--but only vacationing.  I would not live there."

[2.4]

[SpringsSong]

Alana listened for a moment before she came and sat down.  "Very well, Prof... I mean, Lloyd." She said, blushing slightly as she said the name.  It lingered for a moment on her lips, but then, she shook herself free of her fantasies.  "I, too, find the Caverns most fascinating--the Akail that live within them, the Hunters that originated from them, everything." She said as she took a tea bag and placed it in some water that she poured.

"I can understand not wanting to live in Idalani.  I have some friends who go camping there often, and they've said, each time, something bizarre happens to them.  Maybe that's because they are Re'klettan gods, and Re'klet is the realm that my trainer came from; strange occurances seem to always find the Gods and Goddesses of their realm." She said.  "Idalani seems to be a portal for them.. Idalani and Roraldi."

[15.4]

[SpringsSong]

Lloyd nodded as he listened to this quietly, taking a few polite sips of tea in between quiet murmurs.  At last, he spoke again.  "I find Idalani to be a relazing place to take a little hiatus, yes, but I would not want to spend my life there.  Too many couples... how do you say, 'hook up' there.  Whether or not they last is another manner entirely." He said.

"Maybe we could have a few lessons within the Caverns themselves.  After all, sometimes I tire of this library.  Although it is spacious, it is always fun to go elsewhere from time to time when giving lessons.  After all, it is just as educational to teach you about the realm that I live in as the music theory and music you shall learn." Lloyd continued to say, setting down the now-empty teacup.

[3.0]

[SpringsSong]

"That would be simply delightful, Lloyd." Alana said, smiling as she took another sip of her own tea.  "I've heard so many things about the Caverns, and I want to see for myself if any of them are true." She said, setting the teacup down just as there was a knock on the door.  When it opened, there was a simple Kuhna there that said, "I've brought Miss Alana's possessions.  Her mother had them transported to the front door just two minutes ago." He disappeared almost as instantly as he had appeared.

Alana tilted her head.  "What on Evelon...?"

[16.0]

[SpringsSong]

Llyod was equally as confused as Alana as he tried to examine the Kuhna that brought the luggage up.  However, he had vanished before he had gotten the chance to actually examine him.  After a moment, he said, "I do not believe that Kuhna works for me, nor knows me..."

After another moment, he shook his head again.  "Nevertheless, I am delighted that your mother knows a Mage or two.  Apparently it can be quite helpful to know them, as they can teleport things." He said, marveling over the three chests of possessions Lanikai had sent to Alana.

[3.1]

[SpringsSong]

Alana dragged the first of the trunks into the guest room with some difficulty.  "Jeeze... it's like she knew that I was serious when I told her that this would be long-term..." she said as she finally managed to get the first trunk in.  When she opened it, she was relieved to find some more dresses in there.  She took them out and laid them on her bed, smoothing each one out.  "Yes... my summer gowns, my evening ones... Mother obviously thinks that there might be social events." She said as she turned to see the second chest.  It was not as heavy, but Alana was delighted at the contents within it--at least, for a few moments.

"Pictures of my family!" Alana said, smiling as she placed the picture of herself with Lani on the little bedside table, along with the one of her holding her younger half-sister, Kiana.  There was also the two pictures of herself, her mom, and Usake together--one before and one after his kidnapping--but the last one, she flung on the ground in anguish.

"She had to pack that one..."

[16.1]

[SpringsSong]

Lloyd looked in surprise at the picture Alana had flung to the ground so voraciously.  Amid the shattered glass was a picture of a Spirit Kuhna and a Common Kuhna, both in anthro form, hugging and smiling.  He looked from the picture to Alana and back.  Finally, he asked, "This was your... your, ah...?"

He paused here, as if he were trying to not spark a fire.  The last thing he wanted was for her to get sore over a picture that her mother obviously had missed the memo on not packing.

[3.2]

[SpringsSong]

"He was my former fiancée, and a monster to boot." Alana said simply, waving her paw and scooping up the pieces of glass so that no one would step on them.  "When I was young, I had fallen in love with him, but after a while, he began to change.  After all, he believed his rightful name to be Prince Re'elkiin, even though his mother had given up her title of 'Princess' long ago.  He tried to talk me into agreeing to murder his mother.  I, of course, valiantly refused.  I said to him, 'I would not lay a cruel hand on your mother if my own life depended on it!', and of course, he rebuked me."

She took the picture and glass and uttered a word that made them both vanish.  "Of course, when he found out that I had bourne four children to one man and another four to another, he decided that he wanted me back--solely as a concubine.  He went as far as trying to murder my third breeding partner, to whom I bore my ninth, tenth, eleventh, and twelfth kits.  However, he himself was murdered by a vampire."

She chuckled.  "I'd given up on true love after Re'elkiin.  When I found out that he was dead, I was happy.  After all, he had nearly killed me." She said.

[16.2]

[SpringsSong]

Lloyd listened as Alana swept up the pieces of glass.  When she finished her tale, he put a kind hand on her shoulder.  "I can understand why you were happy to find out about his passing.  If I were in your shoes, I would have been happy as well." He said.  It took him a moment to realize that he had placed his hand on her shoulder.  When he did realize this, though, he drew it back and said, "I'll, ah... help you with the other chest, if you'd like."

[3.3]

[SpringsSong]

"I've gotten used to thinking of him has gone..." Alana whispered quietly as she looked up at him, her face going red as she realized that Lloyd's hand was on her shoulder.  When he removed it, however, she felt something within her call out, as though she had actually felt like having his hand on her shoulder just... felt right.  She had never had that feeling with Re'elkiin, and now it was starting to catch up with her as she nodded.  "That would definitely be... helpful." She said quietly as she walked over to the other chest, grabbing one set of handles.

"Let me ask you a question, Lloyd--and I understand if you wish not to answer it.  Have you... ever been in love with someone?" she asked.

[16.3]

[SpringsSong]

Lloyd did a double-take as Alana inquired.  What is love?  I know that Shakespeare once said, "If music be the food of love, play on!", but what is love?  How does one know when one is in love?  There are no Gods that shoot arrows through one's chest, or Goddesses that tie your heart in her ribbons here.  How does one know? he asked himself.

Finally, he shook his head and walked over to where the other chest was.  "To be honest, Alana... I have not.  I hardly think that being in love with one's art form counts as the type of love you mean." He said.  But... if it feels like this, to be unsure of what to say around you, then I think I am in love...

He hardly noticed that his face had gone completely red with blush.

[3.4]

[SpringsSong]

Alana looked up to notice that Lloyd's face was red.  She had to lower her own head because she could tell that, if she did not, that her own face would soon turn as red as his.  "It's perfectly all right if you don't know.  To be honest, I do not know what it means to truly be in love.  I know what it is to be infatuated, but not... in love." She said.

With this, she picked up her end of the chest; this chest was the heaviest of the three, she could tell--what on earth had Lani put in it?

[16.4]

[SpringsSong]

Lloyd also picked up his end of the chest and began to walk backwards into the room, looking over his shoulder from time to time to make sure that he was not about to run into anything.  "I think here will do." Lloyd said as he put the chest down.  After a moment, he opened the lid carefully, to help Alana with whatever was inside it.  When he opened the chest, though, he was shocked.

"Glass sculptures!" he exclaimed in surprise.  He lifted one carefully out of the chest, marvelling at its beauty.  It looked to be two Kuhnas, both in anthro form, one male and one female, moments from kissing; locked in an embrace.

"Where did you get these...?" he asked.

[4.0]

[SpringsSong]

Alana blushed.  "My mother made them.  I suppose I should tell you that she is a Mage.  She just... hasn't told many people about it.  True, she's told me, but I am her eldest daughter.  She has entrusted me with many secrets that not even her dear mate knows.  She made these for me... in hopes that I could one day share them, and my heart, with my own true love." She said as she picked up one of the smaller ones, one that her mother had made to mirror her, using some of her Light magic.

"They certainly are beautiful, no?" she asked, smiling as she set them around the room carefully.

[17.0]