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nLani's body started to grow and fill out, but not significantly. She was now beautiful, but she looked barely eighteen, and it was hard to believe that she was Nushi's older sister.

nI could see why she kept herself in the body of an old woman. I was sure that she must have had trouble with all the villagers with a cute face like hers.

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"See, this is what I look like, a child. No one respects me like this! They either try talking to me like I am a child, or they ignore what I say, and then I have to punish them!

" Lani said as I still held her hands, but I could feel her starting to shake.

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"I understand, but I think that you look beautiful like this, and I wished you didn't need to transform like this. I will still treat you the same no matter how you look, but you need to start treating me as an equal then. Mex has given me his position of Lord of this area, and while I may not be as strong as your father, I can still hold my own if you hadn't noticed,

" I said with a grin, and Lani rolled her eyes.

nI let go of her hands, then stood back up, and turned to the table. I started to stack the papers so I could get a better look at the map.

nThe papers were notes, and invoices, so I made sure to not mix them up. There was nothing more annoying than having someone mess up things you had been working on.

nI was going to ask her what she wanted me to do with them, but I stopped myself. Lani seemed like the type to think that I was upset about it, no matter how I said it, and she would end up getting angry.

nIt was better for me to just feel my way around, and there weren't too many different types of documents. I was able to sort them out quite quickly, but I could really read anything; I just knew that they looked like bills or receipts.

nAs I did this, Lani stood up and stood beside me, barely coming up to my shoulder. She watched what I was doing curiously, but she wasn't making any effort to stop me.

nAt one point, she even leaned into me, but I ignored it, not wanting to make a mention of it. If I were to say anything, I was sure that she would react poorly, so I just continued with my sorting.

nOnce I had the papers into their stacks, notes, bills, and receipts, I turned my head to look down at Lani. She was resting her head against me, and part of me just wanted to be quiet and keep her like that, but we had things to do.

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"Where would you like me to put these stacks so we can look at the map better?

" I asked, and the question startled Lani, and she jumped back from me just as I thought in surprise.

nAs she did, Lani collided with the chair and started to fall backward. I dove forward, giving up my own balance, and pulled her out of the way of the chair to save her from getting seriously hurt.

nI turned in the air and then crashed to the ground with Lani on top of me. Both of our faces were a hair's breadth apart now, and I was staring into Lani's beautiful turquoise blue eyes, but she jumped off me in a panic again but didn't trip over anything this time.

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"What are you doing?! Why did you grab me like that?! Are you trying to have your way with me?! Were Lidy and my sister not enough for you?!

" Lani barked, and she changed back into the old woman's body again.

nI sighed and got back up on my feet, and glared at her.

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"I was trying to keep you from getting hurt! You were the one leaning against me and then jumped back into the chair that you would have fallen on!

" I growled as I dusted myself off.

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"I am… a Demon… Why do you care if I get hurt? I wouldn't be hurt by something like that!

" Lani said in a confused voice, but I shook my head.

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"If a woman fell onto a chair like that from the place that I came from, she would get seriously hurt. I didn't see you as a Demon at that moment; all I saw was a girl that was about to get hurt,

" I said and then turned back to the map.

nI should have known better about her; I had just mentioned our high strength, but I couldn't help my body's reactions. Even with my mind cranked up from my Water Totem, my natural instincts to help a person kicked in and overrode everything.

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"You are strange, and I don't know if I should trust you. I want to know why you just didn't put all of my papers into a stack, or even just pushed them off the table? You didn't have to do that, and I wouldn't have said anything if you did, so I don't get it. Why sort them?

" Lani asked, and I answered her as I looked over the different threat markers and the recorded average strike times.

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"It would have been rude for me to do either of those things. I was going to ask you what you wanted to be done with them, but I assumed that you would have thought I was upset about them. So, instead, I figured that I would clean them up, and when you came over and got close to me without saying anything, I assumed what I was doing was right,

" I explained, but that didn't satisfy Lani.

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"That is not answering my question. Rude is what men do; everyone I have met has been the same! They are all rude and inconsiderate, and they all act the same and want the same thing!

" Lani said, getting visibly angry, and I finally turned from the table to look back into her still sparkling turquoise eyes.

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"I did it because I wanted to, and I didn't want to make a mess. Maybe all the men you have met are like that, but this is the first time that you have ever met me, and I am not from this ** hole. Maybe just give me the benefit of the doubt before you start lumping me up with everyone else. I decided to stay here and help out because I wanted to, not because your father ordered me, or even asked me, so I can leave at any point if you want,

" I growled, getting tired of getting labeled with the Status Quo for men in this world.

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