“Carbuncles are known for being incredibly powerful after all. It’d make sense he’d know far more about light magic then others. Seeing as he was born from it, and is one with it. Honestly Astoria wished to contract one, but she just wasn’t compatible. Why I still don’t know,” Asran said with a shrug.

"I don't think he would have accepted if I wasn't interesting to him... It genuinely surprised him when I thanked him and offered him a deal." She said, thinking back to that moment. "And also immensly grateful. What he did for us today deserves repayment, and if all it takes to repay him is allowing him to reside in this plane with me I will consider it a bargain."

She looked down at him, seeing his knowing red eyes staring up at her. "It is strange having him in my mind, though. He probably knows me better than I know myself already."

“Well having your body being controlled by someone else is invasive. Let alone being at that someone’s mercy. So of course it was surprised it was thanked. Most people would tell it to get the hell out of them. I know I have, and I’ve even developed a way of devouring them. So that way I cannot be possessed for very long,” Asran said.

"Well the experience wasn't pleasant, but there was a very good reason for it." She said looking back at him. She took one last bite of food, then pushed her empty plate to the side. "I don't want to do it again, but for certain reasons I would."

She supposed since she was used to giving other people control in one way or another that it hadn't bothered her as much as it would have others. She should probably work on her attitide towards that, but it wasn't a priority.

"I just hope we can get a few days of rest now, and that you are allowed to fully recover before anything else happens." She yawned as if to accent the point that she was exhausted.

ASran smiled “I’d assume not, especially since being a prisoner in your own body could be considered a form of hell.” He then looked to the carbuncle familiar, “but, you were also quite lucky they. Were so nice as well. There are also a few that are well, lets just say they’re complete assholes.”

When Ayrie yawned he did as well, and then stretched a little bit. “Guess this means I should take you home.” Even though he seriously wanted to stay home, and sleep. Sleep maybe till the next day, perhaps. He wasn’t sure, all he knew was that he was absolutely exhausted.

"So he's told me." She said, "He's been very adamant that another of his kind may not have accepted so quickly." She stretched her arms and stood up, then almost immediately sat back down, her side flaring slightly with pain.

"I'd almost rather crash on your sofa, I'm so tired I'm not sure I can make it outside." She said.

Asran wanted Ayrie to sleep, but he didn’t know if he felt comfortable with her sleeping here. It was his home after all, would it be moving to quickly? He rubbed at his chin softly. “Alright, ill let you stay in the guest room.”

"That's even better than a couch. I'll call a cab and get out of your hair before you even know I'm here." She said, sensing his doubts about her staying the night. "I'm not one to try to overstay my welcome, usually. I'm just so tired."

She yawned again and waited for him to show her where to stay.

Asran got up, and lead Ayrie upstairs to one of the spare bedrooms he had. It had a hand carved antique dresser, a small closet with a had carved sliddijg door, and a rustic scenery painting hanging on the wall in a bronze frame. The bed was a king sized bed. It was designed to fit people of all sizes. Including those that had trouble keeping human form. “This is my guest room, please make yourself comfortable. Hopefully it’s to your liking,” he said.

"It's more than adequate. I'm no lady, used to living in grand castles or manors. Aside from the temples your home is probably the nicest building I've ever been in." Ayrie paused for a moment, and bit her lip in thought before standing on her tip toes and planting a kiss on his cheek.

"Goodnight. And thanks." She said with a smile, then turned towards the bed.

Asran froze when his cheek was kissed he was stunned. Why did Ayrie kiss his cheek? Why was his heart racing, and wouldn’t stop. He slowly backed out of the room, and cleared his throat trying to regain control of his vocal chords. “Good night, Ayrie.” He then turned closing the door behind him.

She heard the uncertainty in his voice and smiled. It was exactly the reaction she was hoping for, though she wouldn't have been upset had he... Nope. She wouldn't go there. They needed more time to get to know each other before she started getting her hopes up for that to happen.

She lay down on the massive bed and fell asleep very quickly, and this time there were no dreams of past lives or traumas. Just deep peaceful sleep.

Asran went to bed, and had one of the best nights sleep he’d had in an incredibly long time. Even despite the fact he was incredibly uncomfortable with the fact that Ayrie had just kissed him. The fact that he had no idea if they were moving too quickly or not. He’d need to slow them down, as clearly Ayrie was going to make it difficult.

Over the next couple months since Asran’s curse was broken, and everything was going great. Asran had managed to move the priests into a nice retirement home. He’d not heard of any incidents at the prison since Symphony became Ayrie’s familiar. Nadia, and he were still at odds as she’d lied to him for so long. While Wrath had returned home, and had informed the others that his curse was gone. Asran had even managed to go on one of his missions to save children that were being harmed.

He’d put together an entire operation consisting of a massive team of 300 black ops casters trained in warfare, and healers. They went to a string of coal, and salt mines affiliated with the church. Where the children were trapped working in deplorable conditions that often saw them dead before their very first payday. Those that did make it only saw a small amount of money for their troubles. Once they got the children they were taken to awaiting trucks where healers were equipped with medicine, food, and water. The trucks would then take the children to a waiting camp where they were taken care of. Before they were strong enough for the journey to the city.

That operation Free Cannary took them an entire month and a half to complete before Asran could return home. People were crowding around Asran as he rode in on a motorcycle. He had a dirty bandana around his neck, and goggles. A open flannel shirt over a dirty white tank top. He had combat boots, and dirty war torn jeans. His chin had a great deal of stubble and his white hair was grey due to dirt.

Ayrie slept peacefully that night, and most nights afterwards. Asran had taken off on a mission to rescue children from the mines, putting whatever relationship had been budding between them on hold. She didn't mind, much.

During the day she took confessions and gave final rights to prisoners, most of which were murderers and rapists, few were pedophiles as most of them weren't given the option to confess. She found that Symphony helped to maintain order during her meetings, but moreso it was her newfound confidence that kept the prisoners from threatening her.

She had moved to a nicer, but smaller, flat on the same street as the main temple, and they had converted the spare room into a practice room. Markus and Nadia had warded it themselves, and when inside no sound, magic or even thought could escape.

At night she trained with Symphony, Markus and Nadia, learning how to control her power. Symphony claimed she was well on her way to becoming the most powerful Light the world had yet to see, though she was too humble to agree with him. As far as defense she was becoming much harder to harm or catch, and offense was coming naturally to her, though she was reluctant to harm anything that wasn't directly harming her. Even Wrath had come to help once before she left, though she suspected it was more to let out a little frustration than it was to help her. She was in the middle of training when Symphony broke off the session abruptly.

'He's back.' was all the little Fennec had to say for Ayrie to shoot up and bolt out the door. How Symphony had known was beyond her, though he was friendly and even sometimes fatherly towards her, he was still very mysterious with the limits of his power.

She knew Asran wouldn't be able to see her any time soon, as there were likely thousands of things he needed to attend to after such a long absence. Nonetheless, she wanted him to see her waving from the sidelines as he passed. She let her power glow through her skin, just enough to give her a pretty aura, then picked a flower from her blooming lily and sent it towards him with the tiniest bit of power behind it.

'Send a message when you can meet.' Piped the tiny light wisp inside it. 'Would love to see you. No rush.'

Asran was glad to see so many people so happy to greet him. Though he was waiting for something in particular. He listened to the flowers message, and gave some serious thought as to when he’d be free. But, he honestly couldn’t think of one so just kept the flower close to him. He went to the city hall to file the paperwork on the kids that were taken in. Along with putting more funding into the orphanage now that well over five times the amount of children there then they had previously.

When that was finally done he went home. “God it feels good to be home,” he said. Then set the flower in a crystal vase filled with water.

Soon a black and blue lotus blossom that could fill ones palm found it’s way to Ayrie. ’Hey, I’m at home right now. I just gotta take a shower, and then I’ll be free the rest of the day. If you could can you pick ups some of Chan’s before getting here? I really don’t feel like eating my cooking right now, too much effort’ sang the lotus ’I’d really like their noodle soup with all the different meats in it. Mmm, I swear besides dreams of you I had dreams of that. Or a combination of the two... Don’t ask in what way.... Also don’t think about it. Uuuuuh... Fuck how do you delete one of these? ...So tired... AH NO! GET BACK Here!’

The lotus flower drifted in through the open balcony door, and Symphony batted it down to the floor just as Ayrie stood to catch it.

"Oh come now, give it here." She said, reaching down and snatching it from beneath his paw. She listened to the message and giggled, feeling warmth spread through her at his words. 'He dreamed of me?'

Symphony snorted and curled up on the sofa, clearly not interested in going with her. 'Snoozefest. I don't need to see the two of you mooning at each other while you pretend you don't want to move too fast.' he said in his raspy, somewhat annoyed, mind voice.

"Grump. You can stay then." She said, then went to freshen up herself, putting the only slightly rumpled flower in a bowl of water on her dining table.

She put on a nice pair of flowy black pants that almost looked like a skirt, and a dark blue blouse that fit itself to her almost like a second layer of skin. The blue made her eyes pop, and her hair almost looked darker. She braided her hair over her shoulder and tied a blue ribbon into it, then slipped on some heels and made her way to Chan's.

Not long after she was at Asran's door, knocking and waiting with a bag of food and a bottle of wine. Remembering what Astoria had done, she had gone to the temple and asked for a bottle sealed with magic by one of his priests. She did not need him thinking she was up to something the first night he was home.

Asran opened the door for Ayrie he was wearing a pair of black slacks, and salmon pink skin tight shirt which hugged him in all the right places. There was fresh bandages over his left arm, and hand. He smiled down at Ayrie, and let her in.

“Hi, thanks for coming. I’m sorry about the message. That... was an accident. I was, and am really tired. Getting those kids was hard especially the last one. There was a large amount of fortification around it, and they knew we were coming so had the kids hidden in the deepest part of the mine. I even hadn’t to stop the mine from collapsing when the foreman decided to blow it up,” he said.

Ayrie smiled brightly when he opened the door, excited to see him. Noticing the bandages she frowned, and when he explained how hard it had been her frown deepened.

"That bad, huh?" She sighed, setting the food and wine on a table. "I'm glad you were able to get them out, and make it back with them safely. I know you gave that foreman what he deserved, but I wish I could have thrown a few punches at least."

Her eyes flared as she thought about the conditions the children had been in, conditions that the church had allowed the mines to keep them in just for the sake of profit. She looked back at Asran and shook her head with a smile, wanting to move on to a brighter subject.

"I'm glad your message was so scrambled though, it showed a side of you I hadn't seen in a while." They hadn't spent much time alone since the night she kissed his cheek, though they had spent time together before he left. They had gotten quite close as friends, but nothing had happened to take them further. "If I'm being honest, I missed it. Though, I suppose that means I like it when you're exhausted, so that's probably not good..."

She stopped speaking before she could babble herself into a corner she didn't want to be in, and looked away blushing. 'Why am I so nervous?'

Asran blushed almost the same shade of pink as his shirt. Then let out a soft chuckle he smiled brightly as hearing her voice after so long was really nice. He truly had missed her, and the way she teased him. Hell he even missed the curves of her body. Soon he could resist gently pulling her into him to hold her in his arms. "Sorry, but you mind staying like this for a moment? I really did miss you Ayrie," he said. Then gently leaned his head to rest ontop of Ayrie's. She smelled like sea foam, and lavender a warm welcoming smell that he'd missed while in the arid mountains.

Her eyes widened when he pulled her close, but she relaxed into him easily letting out a sigh. She had been wanting to be close to him for a long time, and it felt good. His skin still had a light water smell from his shower, and his shirt was soft against her cheek.

"No, I don't mind." She wrapped her arms around his waist and lightly squeezed. "It feels nice, and I missed you, too."

She sent a thought tendril to Symphony that she probably wouldn't be home until late, and then lightly sealed the bond between them so he couldn't eavesdrop. The little devil could 'hear' her wherever she was in the city, though they had never been separated by more than a few miles since their connection was made. If he was in trouble, or more likely if she was, either of them could break the seal she placed and communicate an emergency.

She let the hug go on for some time, but her stomach grumbled loudly and made her giggle. She pulled away only slightly, her hands still on his waist, and looked up at him. "I think that might cause an issue if we don't address it soon."