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

Chapter ten

It was the next morning and Asra excitedly bolted up towards the guest room. Asra walked into the room and saw Vanessa playing with Mischief. Asra walked over to her and asked 'hey how are you doing?'
'I'm okay I guess' Vanessa mumbled while looking outside the window at the azureus sky above and the fiery sun shining over the clouds.
'What are you looking at?'Asra asked Vanessa.
'The day looks so beautiful and I just wish I could feel the breeze' Vanessa said, sighing softly with desire.
'Well if you want...I can take you to my shop and show you a bit of Vesuvia?' Asra suggested.
'Yeah that would be nice' Vanessa said keenly.
'So would you be alright turning into a human?' Asra questioned calmly. With slight hesitation, Vanessa thought for a while and then smiled.
'Okay, as long as I'm out of this room- I'll do it! Could you lift me out of this bath and dry me with a towel? Once I'm fully dry, I can turn into a human,' Vanessa requested.
With excitement, Asra exclaimed, 'Of course!' before lifting her out, placing her on the floor and began to dry her tail with a few towels. Suddenly, her lilac scaled tail began to fade away to reveal her legs in which Vanessa began to stretch them. Asra stood in awe, completely shocked by the transformation.
Squinting as she stretched her feet, Vanessa whined 'It's been a long time since I've used my legs. Could you help me up?'. Promptly, Asra pulled Vanessa up however the mermaid began to stagger- having been a while since she walked. With the help of Asra, Vanessa began to manage to walk with some support yet she still had to get used to the unfamiliarity of it. Soon after, Asra commanded the servants to get Vanessa something to wear in which they returned with an elegant indigo coloured gown, detailed with sapphire gemstones. A perfect fit on Vanessa, she twirled around majestically- almost stumbling but caught by Asra's hand.
'Vanessa, you look beautiful!' Asra chimed with admiration of the look.
Blushing, Vanessa giggled, 'Thanks, we better go now shouldn't we?'. As they were about to leave, a distant screech bellowed from behind. It was Mischief.
'How could I forget?' Vanessa stated while hopping towards the manta ray and picking him out of the bath. She began to thoroughly dry him with the spare towels on the floor.
'Vanessa what are you doi-' Asra uttered however stopped in amazement; her familiar began to turn into a raven with a long beak and lucious jet black feathers.
Croaking with pleasure, Mischief effortlessly hopped onto Vanessa's shoulder.
'Shall we go now?' Vanessa casually muttered to the awestruck Asra who broke down into laughter. Finally, they left the guest room to commence their journey into the outside world.

Lucio sees Vanessa walking down the hallway. "Vanessa, you can walk?!" Lucio asked, amazed.
"Yeah I can, why wouldn't I? You think I can't do anything, don't you?" Vanessa said as if it was a normal thing for her to be walking.
"No, I never meant it like that... I was just surprised that's all," Lucio said.
Vanessa started to laugh. "I was just joking, Lucio," she said.
"Oh right, well anyway you look really pretty in that dress" Lucio complimented Vanessa.
"Thanks..." Vanessa said not sure what to say to Lucio as she doesn't normally receive compliments.
Asra interjected, saying to Vanessa while tugging on her arm, 'Come on now, lets go,'
Vanessa nodded and left with Asra. As the two left the palace, Lucio couldn't help but feel an unignorable flutter in his stomach. Pacing around in the hallway, the Count kept replaying in his mind of Vanessa- walking around with such beauty.
"Am I in love?" Lucio pondered with perplexion as he felt foreign to this feeling, " I thought she was some old sea creature but... she has potential and she's gifted with enchanting qualities!". Scratching his head with irritation, Lucio mused "I can't hold this feeling anymore. I need to express my feeling to her!". Instantly, Lucio sprinted to the library in which he began to scribble a meaningful and romantic sonnet. Standing in the middle of the study as if it was a stage, Lucio recited it with articulation:

My dearest Vanessa what to say to thee? Your eyes oh your violet eyes. I wrack my brain trying to figure out what to compare them to but they are incomparable. I shall try and compare them to crystals but that does your eyes no justice my dear. Oh that dress My Ness you looked like a goddess from the sea. Was it fate we met or something else? Well either way I'm glad we met...

Nadia walked into the library as Lucio was finishing off reciting the sonnet. "Lucio who are you talking to and what are you talking about?" Nadia asked standing in the doorway of the library.
Lucio jumped slightly "Nadia, what are you doing here?" he asked, sounding nervous.
"Well I heard your voice and was wondering what you were doing," Nadia said.
"Oh right," Lucio said, folding the paper that had the sonnet on it and put it in his pocket.
"What's that?" Nadia asked ,curious.
"Nothing, it's nothing" Lucio answered, sounding very suspicious.
"It doesn't seem like nothing considering you won't show me it and you're acting suspicious" Nadia said.
"I'm not acting suspicious," Lucio said.
"Yes you are," Nadia said walking over to him and taking the paper out of his pocket and started to read it. "You love Vanessa don't you?"
"No i- yes I do and I know she won't love me back because of what I did to her," Lucio said, flopping into a chair.
"Well... I can help you gain her trust. If you want to confess your love, she has to trust you or else she will just push you away and it will come to nothing," Nadia said.
"But what about our marriage?" Lucio asked.
"Lucio,if you put poison in my coffee I would drink it" Nadia said, sounding serious.
"Oh right... if you did that to me, I would drink it too I guess" Lucio said, "so how do you propose I gain her trust?"
"Well we have all day, let's plan it out now" Nadia said, sitting down at the table.