Vanessa's childhood and her years in Vesuvia before the plague

Chapter seven

Asra received the invitation and packed his bag before leaving for the palace. When he got there he was greeted by Julian.

"Hey Asra! I'm glad you could make it. I'll take you to see the mermaid" Julian exclaimed.

"Of course, what do you need me to do and what is their name?" Asra asked.

"Her name is Vanessa and I just need you to gain her trust. She is sick as she got an infection from a wound she has and she won't eat because she doesn't trust me. It would be great if you could get her to eat something" Julian explained as he led the way to the guest room Vanessa was in.

"Alright but how did she get that wound?" Asra asked.

"Well Lucio got handsy with her. She tried to get away from him but he scratched her arm with his prosthetic claws and she didn't trust me to treat her wound so she got an infection from it" Julian explained.

"I'm not surprised, typical Lucio! He doesn't know how to control himself! Well if she got an infection, she's bound to be weak- I'll try and get her to eat the best I can. Or else her health would be at risk," Asra responded as they began to approach the guest room. Before his eyes was Vanessa who looked extremely fatigued, slumped against the tub while staring aimlessly at the ceiling with melancholy.

"This is Vanessa. Quick warning, she can be feisty and may not be ok with you so just try and not spook her or whatever. Also she can't understand our language but she can understand Mer and Nevivon. If you need me just call and I'll be here" Julian said, leaving to go to his lab.

"Alright, thanks Julian" Asra said slowly entering the room, 'Hey, Vanessa! I'm Asra, a magician. I got called here to help you,' Asra said, stopping a short distance from the bath.

Vanessa jumped slightly and turned to look at Asra.

'H-hi what are you here to help me with?' Vanessa asked shakily as she didn't like the male's presence in the room.

'Don't worry I'm not going to hurt you' Asra whispered assuringly while kneeling beside the bathtub, 'I heard you've been going through quite a lot recently. Especially after being taken to a place you don't even know. I just want to let you know nobody here in this town will hurt you- I promise'

Vanessa rolled her eyes while trembling ' Oh really! Then why did that tall blonde haired man scratch me! He's far from being a nice guy, now I'm weak because of him. I just want to go, let me go!'

'Hey, I would let you go but I can't. You are too weak to survive in the ocean by yourself so until you heal up enough  I have to keep you here. Also the tall blonde haired man is the Count and he wanted you here for a reason so unfortunately you have to stay here. I'm sorry' Asra apologised softly to the trembling mermaid.

Vanessa just nodded while she curled up and hugged her tail, starting to shiver a lot more now. Asra took notice of this and started to think of what he could do to help Vanessa when Faust decided to slither out of his bag and over to Vanessa. Faust curled up on Vanessa's tail and asked "friend ok?"

Vanessa jumped slightly at the sight of the snake as she had never seen anything like it before. 'Asra, where did you find an eel that can live on land?' she mentioned with curiosity about Faust. Vanessa turned her head to look at Asra as she held her hand out to Faust. Faust softly bleped at Vanessa's hand.

Asra chuckled lightly at the mermaid's question, 'Faust is a snake and now that I think about it, snakes are just land eels. She came to me when I was a child and I've had her since. She is my familiar, did you have a familiar back home?' Asra explained.

While stroking Faust who was slithering around her arm, she stifled with a hint of sadness in her voice, 'I do... I mean I did. His name was Mischief, he was a manta ray familiar,'

Intrigued by Vanessa's opening up to him more, Asra questioned, 'Wow, a manta ray! I've never seen a species like that before in Vesuvia. Do you and Mischief have a close bond?'

'Definitely!' the mermaid remarked as a slither of happiness sparked in her face when reminded of her familiar, 'He's pretty mischievous hence the name but he always cares for me like a true companion. I found him during my loneliest times- he was just a baby! Our bond grew from there I guess,'. Sadness masked Vanessa's expressions before she mumbled, 'I miss him'.

Sympathy clouded Asra's vision as he felt bad for the mermaid who was the definition of isolated. Shuffling closer to Vanessa and meeting her magenta eyes, he smiled comfortingly.

'It's okay Vanessa,' Asra ensured, 'You know, familiars can never leave their owners. Faust will never fail to find me, no matter what situation I'm in. That's the same with Mischief,'.

'Well, I guess that's true now I think about it. When I was captured the first time by those pirates, I managed to escape and almost succeeded. However, when one of them dragged me out of the sea- I think I remember Mischief's shadow under the water,' Vanessa expressed inquisitively as she traced back to the distant memory.

'Are you sure? The pirates surely put you to sleep afterwards...maybe you just dreamt that?' Asra muttered with hesitation.

' No I'm sure of it!' Vanessa cried with elation while frantically splashing her tail upon the water, droplets dispersing in the air. 'He must have followed me here! I need to find him! I need to see him!'.

Laughing while wiping the splashed water off his face, Asra chortled, 'Okay, okay! Calm down, Vanessa! Don't forget he's an aquatic creature like yourself so he can't really go on land. However, I'm sure he's waiting for you somewhere in the docks where the pirate ship disembarked. I promise I'll bring him to you,'

'Bring him to me?' Vanessa exclaimed, 'How's that going to work Asra? That's not poss-'.

'Shhh,' Asra hushed gently, while grinning enchantingly, 'Like I said I'm a magician, you just have to wait and see. However, I can only do that if you do a favour for me,'.

Vanessa excitedly glees, 'Of course whatever it takes! Tell me, what do I have to do?'.

'Can you please eat? For Mischief... please!' Asra pleaded with puppy dog eyes. Becoming amused by the friendly magician, she giggled while nodding eagerly.

After finishing feeding Vanessa who was now sleeping, Asra walked out of the guest room feeling smug. Hearing the distant mutters of Julian nearby his lab, Asra followed to find the Doctor and his mentor, Nazali, discussing the steps to take with Vanessa. Catching sight of the smirking Asra, Julian glared at him with disbelief.

"No way! Did you do it?"' Julian cried with expectation. Before he could say anything else, Asra held up an empty golden plate like a victorious trophy. Joy erupted within the lab with Julian cackling in surprise and Nazali applauding with please.

"I told you! You can always count on Asra for anything!" Nazali laughed happily.

Skipping to him eagerly, Julian acquisitively asked "How did you do it?"

Complacency engraved in his eyes, Asra grinned, "Well, I guess it was all with the power of words you could say..."

Julian playfully nudged Asra's shoulder and impatiently remarked, 'Okay, way to toot your own horn! Get to the point! How?"

"Thank Faust! She managed to distract Vanessa. She began to get intrigued and started to open up. We then had a conversation about familiars and she told me she has one,'

"She has a familiar?!" Julian exclaimed with appeal.

"Yeah, his name is Mischief. He's a manta ray!'", Asra revealed as the two doctors gasped in delight, "I was surprised as well. She really misses him however she strongly believes she saw Mischief following the ship when the pirates captured her. Maybe we could go to the dock they anchored at and see if he's waiting there...". Without even stopping to think, Julian rapidly grabbed his satchel and threw Asra's bag back to the magician.

"Let's go! We don't have enough time, once I get her trust in any way I can- then I can teach her the Vesuvian lifestyle easily. It's only up from here!" Julian riveted with anticipation. Promptly, both of them set off to go to the docks in aim to find Mischief.