Silver Wolf broke the silence with a grunt, his annoyance evident in his words: "I won’t team up with a traitor." Aselia’s heart shattered at his words but she stayed quiet.

"I understand your apprehensions but she needs monitoring and only you can do that, as the senior hunter I am counting on you, Silver," Aldridge was desperate to put her with someone who could handle her in case she tried to pull something again.

The word ’traitor’ echoed in Aselia’s mind and every time they branded her with this term, she found herself hurt. Lost in her thoughts she was jolted to the present when Silver fumed at her with these words: 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

"I will end your wretched life if you ever tried to betray me," the creases on his forehead increased as his hauntingly beautiful eyes narrowed at her.

"I have no intention of betraying you unless you decide to hurt Xiran, then I will show you no mercy as well. That I have made abundantly clear to everyone here," Aselia remained composed in front of his threats. As he gritted his teeth and said:

"Why don’t you leave here and go live with him, we don’t need the likes of you."

"That’s the thing, sadly you do." Not for a second her resolve dissolved or she diverted her eyes from his.

"That’s enough, both of you," Aldridge thundered from his seat, tired of their bickering. "I want both of you to get along, and train together for a few days so I can send you on missions. I can’t have two of my best hunters just sitting idle. And, Silver you have all the authority to order White Falcon and she has to obey your every command."

"Yes, Sir!" they replied in unison before taking their leave.

Once outside Silver seethed at Aselia: "I train daily at 5 am sharp, I expect you to be there in the Training Hall tomorrow, on time. Failed to do so I will grant severe punishments, you are no longer my equal but my inferior."

"I will be there," Aselia held her head high, showing she wasn’t intimidated by him.

"We will see," he paused and then said before walking away: "I am highly disappointed in you, I expected better from my student. Every time I see your face I feel like I have betrayed my organization."

Aselia has known Silver for a long time, he had even helped her train, but now the man was filled with so much animosity for her.

This was hurting her and all those emotions she had tried to bury began to resurface. She didn’t know what to do, she knew she couldn’t speak to Xiran about it, he worried too much. Yurian was on a mission so she remembered Dr. Sumeria and decided to visit her.

Walking vigilantly she headed for her office and knocked. "Come in," her sweet voice summoned her in. Opening the door Aselia reluctantly stepped inside and meekly said:

"Hello!"

"Falcon, my dear. Please come and have a seat." The woman in the white coat was delighted to see her as she placed aside the reports she had been going through and offered Aselia a hearty smile.

Aselia smiled back and sat down on the chair beside her.

"What brought you here today?" Dr. Sumeria inquired softly.

"I...umm, really don’t know," she replied apprehensively.

"Let’s go inside the other room and have a cup of coffee and we can chat in a relaxed mood. What do you say?" The good doctor offered and Aselia nodded.

The older woman led the elven hunter to another room. Opening the door Aselia observed the room was brightly lit with light blue and white lights which were fixed in the ceiling. A comfy-looking light brown leather sofa laid in the center of the room with fluffy cushions on it in various colours.

"Have a seat," the doctor offered. There was a wooden table in front of the sofa and a mahogany rocking wooden chair opposite the table.

The walls were painted teal and emerald in shade and a large fish aquarium lay at the right side of the room. Orange, white, blue and silver coloured fish swam in the tank with various plants adorning it. A tiny blue cabinet occupied one corner of the room with an electric kettle perched on it.

Aselia automatically felt relaxed as she comfortably settled down on the sofa and picked up a cushion to place on her lap. Dr. Sumeria turned on the electric kettle and began to take out mugs, milk, coffee, cookies and sugar from the cabinet.

While the coffee was being prepared Aselia observed the fish swimming without a care in their tank and she couldn’t help but feel jealous of their carefree life. Dr. Sumeria placed a plate full of chocolate cookies in front of Aselia and said:

"I am sure you love cookies as much as any girl does," Aselia couldn’t help but giggle before picking up a cookie and munching on it.

Dr. Sumeria brought the coffee mugs and inquired from Aselia about milk and sugar.

"Some milk and one spoon of sugar, please." Dr. Sumeria added the ingredients and handed the white coffee mug with the word ’believe’ on it to Aselia. She took her coffee mug and settled on the rocking chair beside Aselia.

"Now tell me whatever you feel like, remember I will not judge you like others, nor will I make you feel uncomfortable at any moment and whatever you will say will remain between us."

She smiled genuinely at Aselia who in turn mustered up some courage to talk about her feelings. This was hard for her, as she was trained to never reveal her inner battles.

"I am struggling Doctor on so many fronts, I feel drained, I feel like a traitor living here, I feel judged and I question my life choices every day," Aselia began to unravel the knots in her brain and speak up.

"Call me Sumeria and why do you feel this way?" Doctor Sumeria instructed while placing her mug down and taking a cookie.

"I thought confessing my love for Xiran will make the situation easier but life is much more complicated when you dangle between people you care about who tend to be mortal enemies," Aselia replied with a sigh and took a sip of her coffee. Her heart thudded as she thought about him.

"Do you regret confessing your love to him?"

"No, I don’t. I....miss him," Aselia’s ears turned red as Xiran’s face flashed in front of her but she continued:

"I can’t be with him, not until I fulfill another mission. Besides he worries so much that I don’t feel comfortable sharing everything with him, I don’t want to hide stuff from him but I have no choice."

"I understand, the solution to this is you need to talk to him and tell him that you want to solve your own problems, and he should become your listening ear instead of a lending hand, so you can share everything without worrying."

Aselia felt her heart ease down a bit at this suggestion. She knew she wouldn’t be able to tell him everything but if he promised to not go berserk, she could at least share some of the things that were bothering her.

"I will try that," Aselia smiled and took a sip of her delicious coffee.

"Anything else you will like to share?" Doctor Sumeria continued to ask her in a kind voice.

"I thought, I don’t know how to put it..." Aselia trailed off as she stared at her coffee, trying to form the words.

"Everyone’s behaviour is affecting you?" Dr. Sumeria put in.

"Yes," Aselia replied in a small voice.

"It’s natural to feel that way, you have spent more than half of your life here, you grew up with them. Of course, their taunts and rebuttal will hurt you. It will pass, it will take time but it will pass," the older woman reassured her and Aselia nodded in return.

"Anything else bothering you?"

"The guilt gnaws at my consciousness, Xiran killed my comrades, and yet I can’t hate him. What type of person am I? I feel like I am a horrible monster." Aselia clutched the warm mug tightly, trying to calm her raging emotions.

"My dear you are not a monster, you can’t control whom you fall in love with. When someone cares deeply for you, you tend to overlook their flaws. He killed a few of your comrades but you have killed hundreds of his kind. Didn’t you tear his world apart?" It was true, after everything, he didn’t cease to love her. They weren’t innocent instead they were guilty but still perfect for each other.

"I did, never understood why he loves me so much," Aselia placed the empty mug on the table and sighed again.

"His heart saw the goodness in you, that’s why. Cherish his love not push him away," Dr. Sumeria instructed while placing her mug down as well.

"I will try," Aselia still had reservations, she didn’t feel herself deserving of his love and it will take her time to come to terms with it.

"Anything else you would like to add my dear?"

"I think I have enough to ponder for now, can I trouble you again someday?" Aselia asked while getting up.

"Of course my dear, my doors are always open. Feel free to come here whenever you are having a hard time and don’t pay much heed to the words of others. Let yourself heal."

Dr. Sumeria approached her and gave her a warm hug and Aselia experienced herself falling into a tranquil state.