She had wanted to go somewhere interesting, where not everyone would be wondering who she was and the knights wondering what to do but to simply sit somewhere and feel like she belonged, which was a very difficult thing to do in Baska. It was a lovely day, which was a good thing, she had bumped into windy and rainy days the last couple of times that she went outside and it had annoyed her as well. Her mood today was definitely better although when she bumped into familiar faces she was always happy to see them.

She didn't know how she got here but she couldn't sleep well, there had been a lot of kicking and turning and eyes opening and closing again before she had given up. Which had made her sit upright and look if Kon was around, he was asleep and she didn't notice this time if there were any nightmares, he seemed to leave her alone from time to time. So she tiptoed out of the bedroom and changed into a loose fitting blouse, some pair of green trousers, her sneakers before getting back in the room, writing a note that she was out for a walk. She grabbed her blue backpack, her leather jacket and was followed by her companions who had woken up the moment she opened the bathroom door.

And now she was here, in the tennis club, she was sitting on some sort of platform terrace overlooking the courts where barely anyone was at the moment but it was nice to see some people tennis fanatically this morning, she only sat there sipping tea with a bit of honey and well she had been trying to eat a sandwich but it made her nauseous so she had an apple in little parts now, this condition of being pregnant sure made it difficult to pick whatever she liked considering food but she would hold on and it was already two-third through the due date, she could do this.

 

Alice was looking at Hecate and Jupiter and trying to finish her sandwich all the while trying to read the magazine that she had picked up from inside. The wind was making it a little difficult, having moments as if she was handling two children at the same time, she wasn't sure how to imagine when there would be third. She noticed shortly that Jupiter was getting up, and stared at something with a harsh look in his eyes. Thank god he wasn't simply throwing around lightning because she wouldn't be sure how to stop that at this point. Their first meeting was him electrocuting her, also the same day she figured out about the little peach. She wondered for a second how to work out a name because that's something she kept pushing away from her but that was because she didn't know what to do for a name considering Kon his family, who she had barely met only Aleksandr and that had been a while ago. Besides he had said he didn't want to use names from his family and she had pushed it away because they would have four months to go.. change that into three now.

In the corner of her own eye she spotted someone waving and she couldn't help but immediately turn to look at the person, she doubt the message would be for her but apparently it seemed to be like it was. She narrowed her eyes but quickly recognized the person and a grin spread across her face, "Alisa, hi!" She called out to make sure that her well friend did hear her. Perhaps not the best thing to do but she was enthusiastic to see her friend. She wondered if she should head down because Alisa was clearly dressed up as if she would play a round of tennis. She didn't feel like eating much more anyway so she took the stairs on the side of the terrace and headed down closer to the court so she wouldn't have to scream much more, "How are you?" she said softer when they were closer to each other, still having a fence and netting separating them so the tennis balls wouldn't be able to get to the terrace.

 

While she headed down the stairs, she was of course followed by Hecate and Jupiter and for the first time she noticed that Jupiter wasn't so hesitant. Perhaps it was still the fence, but she could walk around and get to the point where there was nothing sepearating her and Alisa so she could talk without difficulty. Jupiter still seemed to be in his calm demeanor and Hecate was as curious as always. When she met up with Alisa, she immediately asked how she was doing to which she got the reply; just waking up. She couldn't help but raise an eyebrow and look her up and down, "You look rather awake for a just waking up." she said with a chuckle and she looked towards the open courts that Alisa nodded at, was there someone waiting for her there? Was she holding her up. "Oh I actually came here to watch some matches. I don't have any racket or clothing to use to play tennis." her blouse wouldn't be much of a problem, her jeans however wouldn't be so comfortable but apart from; it would be dirty if she had no change of outfit after playing tennis, "I didn't know that you could simply play here. Don't you have to hire a court and the like?"

She was rather curious to know if she was able to, she remembered vaguely how fast Alisa was and she was sure she wouldn't be able to catch up but a friendly play would always be nice. On one hand she now made the assumption that no one was waiting on Alisa, maybe that's why she was spinning with the racket and looking around, she perhaps was looking for an oponent? "Are you waiting for someone specific or can I be the one you are now looking for? I wouldn't mind to try, but I have to say it's been a very long time ago that I played tennis." If Alisa would say that she was not waiting for someone, she was still with the issue of her clothing but if she could lend something here that would make it easier, if she would fit of course and she wouldn't mind. Tennis couldn't harm her much right?

 

Alice her eyes followed the neon green ball as it fell from Alisa her hand and bounced back up to Alisa her hand and for a second the red head thought that it was a shame that the raven haired beauty was waiting for someone else. Little did she know yet. Jupiter never kept his eyes away from the tennis ball but Hecate was more interested in Alisa, who she walked towards as soon as they meet up on the other side of the fence. Which is where Alice mentioned Alisa being very much away for a just waking up and where Alisa told her that a morning workout was a miracle, something she had never thought or worked on. Perhaps she should do that as well, the only question was if she would be able to wake up in the morning, early morning, to do something.. perhaps there was a second question: to do what?

Her last question was how it worked to play tennis for this tennis club and Alisa simply explained to her that you could hire rackets and the neon green balls and that you have to stay at the hotel to be able to use it. Which made her look over her shoulder and nod, "So I assume you are staying over there?" She wasn't, she stayed at an inn, not far from here together with Konstantin. She might give it a try but would it be okay with the clothing that she was wearing? If she was able to fight in clothing, the movement and everything wasn't much different, it was even less bloody considering things.

That's when she asked Alisa if she was actually waiting on someone and the smile that appeared on the mage her face made Alice immediately smile as well, She wasn't entirely sure if she was able to do anything, like she said, it had been a long time since she had played tennis, perhaps in the orphanage, but of course she couldn't remember. She knew the rules a bit, that's why she had made the assumption. But it was nice to know that Alisa was thinking the same and Alice shook her head in a happy gesture and took the racket that Alisa was offering her, which made her follow the Blue Pegasus mage with her companions close by, although they couldn't join the court. "How did you end up in Baska?" She asked curiously for last time they met in Era before the whole shebang stared in Hargeon, where they both would have been present as they talked about it in Era. Not that Alice had any idea what the consequences had been.

She walked to the other side of the court and placed her feet in a stance to have balance but also to be fast, Alisa would serve and Alice would see how it goes but it should be fun first of all.

This explained why Alisa was able to use the tennis court, she stayed in this hotel. Alice simply nodded and gave another smile, "Oh well, why not?!" She giggled a bit, again she wondered how she used to play tennis as she could vaguely remember it, the way it worked. Missing her memory was still quite an issue, she had put the whole search for answers off as she had thought that meeting Lacie would give all the answers, but she still didn't remember anything between the age of eight and eighteen. Something else must have happened.

Because of her curiousity she asked Alisa how she ended up in Baska, which was an easy answer; she came to find work. The times she met Alisa, twice and briefly was also about preparing for other work, such as fighting a demon and training for the fight with Grimoire Heart that she was very aware about. She had volunteerd to go to Hargeon because of Alisa as one of the reasons; her friends in Blue Pegasus. She shook her head with Alisa her counter question, "No unfortunately. I am here on a break, not much work for me at the moment." Which was partly a lie and came with consequences as to why, "I got quite the injury in Hargeon so I need to take things slow." which wasn't a lie, her legs were quite alright and the walking around from Magnolia to here had been quite a journey which had made her tired enough and surely she had felt that but well the little peach didn't work wonders in that case as well.

She quickly felt quiet when Alisa threw the ball up in an angle ready to smash it to Alice her side. Her golden eyes took in the ball and the way Alisa held her racquet, she didn't want to miss the first hit already. She had no idea how many times Alisa would play tennis, simply because she definitely looked ready for a player and here she couldn't even remember when was the last time. She had to act quickly as she was standing at the back line, which was normal with tennis games, she wasn't the fastest but the court thank god wasn't that big compared to other distances that she had run and she quickly stepped forward to the point where she would be able to make a swing with her right hand to hit the ball to send it back over the net towards Alisa. She hit it upwards so it would come quite to the back but she was convinced it would stay within the lines.

She didn't exactly lie but it didn't feel good to not be honest about not telling Alisa everything, especially when the beautiful black haired woman thanked her for defending her home, "I can't say it was a pleasure but I didn't mind doing it. The injury is fine now, it's just a lot of pressure on my legs and..." she trailed off, she needed to say this positively and not for only information or the fact that she wasn't happy about it because that wasn't true. "Apart from that." she grinned because well if she thought about it in this way and the way Kon reacted now about the little peach made her indeed a bit happy, "I have a break from work because I'm expecting a little baby soon." She seriously hoped that Alisa would react positive, she wasn't sure if she could handle the negative reaction. Besides even though she was not part of the Rune Knights anymore, only in name because she needed to hide her identity, she still couldn't believe the council wouldn't hunt her down for telling people.

The tennis game was already intense after her first hit, with the smash high over the net and to the exact opposite corner, she tried to reach but she had not expected it and missed, first point for Alisa. She should be more centered in her own field so she would be able to reach every corner rather fast. She picked up the ball albeit with a little difficulty because of the hidden baby bump and walked back to the point where she would stand to serve. Which she did by throwing the ball up and slamming the racket as hard as she could against the ball to get it to the other side of the field.

Alice felt a bit embarrassed still about telling that she was pregnant but the reaction that Alisa gave her was a happy one and brought a smile on her face. "Thank you." she couldn't help but squeal a bit but in a good way. When Alisa asked if there was a name already she couldn't help but blush, "Ah no, we can't seem to figure it out. But we still have three months." She looked at her tummy for a second before she needed to work on the idea of getting a racket and start the tennis game with Alisa.

As she had served and moved this time to the middle of the field, expecting Alisa to do the same move but keeping an open mind, she remained where she was standing but jumped up to slam the ball back to the other side of the net, but also cut it short so it would immediately drop to the ground behind the net. When she landed she made sure to get closer to the net because if Alisa would be able to hit it, which Alice expected she would be able to only slam it closerly over the net probably because of the little amount of space. She couldn't help but suddenly have a question pop up in her mind, so while she focused on the ball and the rest of the game, she couldn't help but speak up, "What was the result of the attack in Hargeon? No one told me, after I got a month hospitalized and wasn't able to see anyone." which definitely brought her mood down, not even about talking about the attack but mainly the way the council had treated her.

"Ah.." Alice looked at her barely existing baby bump, "Well I was glad that it happened this way, the Rune Knights council wasn't all to happy when their lieutenant would be out of the routine for a while." But she didn't say anything about the Holy Knights, it still came to the same point, she also didn't lie, the Rune Knights had been angry at her for the whole ordeal, or so she believed. But Midas had been clear that it had not been his problem and that the Holy Knights were a secret. She didn't like to keep it a secret but if it was for the greater good, she would be able to.

She asked what was going on as she slammed the ball back to Alisa her side, which the beautiful mage managed to hit back to her, which went up into a high loop and she had to take steps backwards to catch it, which she quickly ran and jumped up, to hit back, but sanding with her back towards Alisa, she actually stood with her back towards the other side of the field, because of a sudden turn, "Snowflake?" She said surprised as Alisa had spoken, why did she not.. tell? Where they not really friends? She decided not to say anything about it, "What a tough role that must be." it would definitely not fit her, but hence that was why she had been fine with being a lieutenant. She turned around, not sure if the ball would have hit the right part of the court and so on. Phantom Lord's master though, interesting.

She shouldn't say more, bath mouthing about the Rune Knights was still something she couldn't do. Perhaps it was a whole set up and was it a lie, it had been an awful experience that much was true. Yet she didn't want to think too much about it so she decided to leave it be and simply let the whole idea falter. She was a Holy Knight now and Midas had said it was okay. Perhaps this whole talk came to an end yet Alice wanted to say something. Having met Alisa only a couple of times, but considering her already a friend and quite dear to Alice, she had to say this now, before the match would start, "Something else, I'm getting married in March and I hope you would want to come to the wedding. It will be held in Orchidia but not much yet is figured out." She blushed again because it felt so stupid to invite someone to your wedding, when you barely knew anything about the wedding. All they knew it was that they would held it in the manor in Orchidia. Would she push Alisa too much by asking her to come to her wedding? Would the Blue Pagasus mage accept even if she didn't want to come?

~

Alice had hit the ball in a rather odd way and quickly turned around to return to the middle of the field so she could follow the ball as Alisa managed to slam it back, she first had the intention to let it go, hoping it would miss the line and be out, but since she was too afraid to miss that point again, she simply hit it back to the part immediately opposite her on the other side of the field. She liked how they seemed to match at this point, but she kept walking on the edge, there was going to be a second point for Alisa and it was coming rather soon, she was afraid. "Yes, I met Snow in Magnolia a couple of times and about a month ago here in Baska. We were send on a quest together." Which always seemed to happen when she bumped into Snowflake. She had only not told her at that point that she was the Guildmaster but well in all fairness; she would probably have done the same. It didn't change who Snow was anyway. "I also invited her to the wedding."

Perhaps it had to do with her amnesia, having no childhood friends and only remembering Lacie, who definitely didn't get an invitation. Apart from that she considered Alisa a friend, definitely after trying to fight off a demon in Era and well the ice skating had been very pleasant. "Thank you." She said as Alisa said that she would stop by, of course there will be official wedding invitations.. wouldn't there be? She wondered about it, there was so much too do and it was four months away.. it felt like too much stress for the knight but she would swallow that stress at the moment and worry about it at another time and place.

When Alisa asked who the lucky one was, she couldn't help but blush. In a good way, she was definitely not ashamed of the whole ordeal and she liked Kon a lot, "I don't know if you met him again but he was with the battle against that demon as well. His magic back fired.. that had made me freak out a bit but yeah his name is Konstantin." She looked up at Alisa wondering indeed if they had met before. She couldn't hide the smile from her face. She was getting quite excited by the whole ordeal.

~

As she already got a bit tired, she stared at the ball that she had tried to hit back but missed again.. Thank god she learnt how to be able to deal with losing. She was sure that Alisa her speed and also strength was a better match than her own including her own circumstances, but most important: she had fun. While thinking that she couldn't help but chuckle as she let Jupiter get the ball. "We always seem to do sports. Is it running around demons, ice skating or now tennis. It is a very interesting way of seeing each other again." Jupiter carefully brought the ball to Alisa as it was her turn to serve. He would make very sure not to drool on the ball as well as to move away as quickly as he handed it over to be save outside the tennis court.

She would stand at the corner where she would have to stand according to the rules of the tennis game and gave a short chuckle when Alisa did the same about the amount of quest, "Perhaps she invests all her time in her boyfriend." and being guilldmaster of course.

The red head tried to get the blush away from her face and simply smiled still, "It goes a lot better now." she tried to recover the sort of damage she did by telling about his.. backfiring magic, which actually wasn't really the whole case but the answers to that problem still had not showed up yet and she didn't want to think too much about it because that would make her sad. "Thank you," she did say when Alisa mentioned that she would be very happy and she would believe so as well. She didn't even doubt it, she just didn't want to consider that they wouldn't find answer to the magic issue that Kon had at the moment.

~

As she had not believed the pregnancy would have any effect on her just yet, of course crossing the whole country made her tired, but who wouldn't get tired even if they were not carrying a baby. But her clothing didn't work well, the small baby bump and simply the whole heavy feeling that she had. But she tried not to give up in this tennis match, even though she lost a second point by not being fast enough. "It is nice. I would prefer this over running around as well. But the job of a knight sometimes have me running around to every other place." But that would change now as she had to believe Kon and Midas on that, as the baby would be born, she could work around Orchidia or they would be able to take the child with them and she liked that idea, as long as it was safe of course. She should not daydream too much about that right now, not yet anyway.

Alice would position herself but the tennis game seemed to be off for a second. Making her hunch down for a second to catch her breath, having Jupiter and Hecate jump in as well, she looked up at Alisa and her companion, Lumen, she had seen the candle like creature indeed in Era months ago. Alice stood up and out of curiousity walked towards Alisa, "I have never seen a plant like that before?" Or were it two different ones? Jupiter followed her closely, curiously looking at what Lumen was holding.

[/quote]

Alisa mentioned that it was not that different from a travelling mage and perhaps it was not, perhaps it easier considering the rules that were placed on her, or well had been. She was done with those now as a Holy Knight, it sure brought a lot more ease around. She didn't plan to say anything about this out loud, she simply smiled and nodded, she didn't want to complain about the Rune Knights. She did to Kon and that was enough for now. She couldn't help but chuckle when Alisa mentioned that it felt like a daily workout, "Says the girl that comes here in the early morning to tennis after she just woke up." she couldn't help but laugh about, "It helps though to keep healthy."

The thing was though that the companion from Alisa had brought some strange weeds and Alice looked at them, she had noticed that Jupiter was just as curious about them but that Hecate stayed near her. Perhaps Jupiter was just interested in Lumen, though she couldn't imagine knowing her companion. She agreed with Alisa that strange herbs were not very nice to suddenly eat, even though most creatures would know if it was poison or not, she rather had Jupiter not eat anything. She had no time and energy to actually bring him to a vet in case needed, she obviously would because he meant a lot to her but she rather prevented it.

She had just looked at Hecate when Lumen had dropped something and she noticed too late that Jupiter was smelling it and quickly ate it, she took the few steps towards him, "Don't do that! Come on, spit it out." But something strange happened, she could feel a vibe of magical energy surround him and he only looked at her. "Oh no, what's going to happen?"