Dreadwolf, Lord of Runes

Anna smiled brightly. She was probably eager to meet Kane's technus, Ella. "Leave it to me!" she exclaimed, and quickly ran off to the only console that showed some life, located at the base of this smaller cylinder.

Here, she started typing away for a few seconds while Kane and the others watched, until suddenly, the lights flickered on around them, and machinery buzzed to life.

Anna turned around, still smiling brightly, and spread her arms. "There! Power restored."

"Good girl," Kane chuckled, causing Anna to blush a little. But she quickly shook it off and seemed ready to start jumping up and down in excitement as she looked at him, "So can I meet your technus now?!"

Kane rolled his eyes and chuckled, before contacting Ella. "She's really excited, Ella. Let's not disappoint her, shall we?"

Ella chuckled awkwardly, clearly still nervous about meeting her fan. But then she nodded, "Okay, Master. I'm reconnecting to the mainframe now…"

Kane blinked when he realized Ella was trying to slip something past him. Unfortunately for her, he didn't intend to let it go. So, he raised an eyebrow, "Did you just call me Master again?"

Ella blushed, or at least as much as she could considering her situation, "I… I know I had trouble with it before, but it's my choice now... I may not be forced to follow your orders right now, but I'd like to show my commitment to doing so anyway."

Kane couldn't deny liking this development, but he was still curious about the reason.

When he inquired about that, Ella projected some complicated emotions with a deep sigh, "I already told you that, for a long time, I was not a good person… My mother made me believe I was better than everyone else, and I did a lot of terrible things because of it."

Suddenly, Ella appeared in front of Kane, looking no different than she did in Alfheim, still wearing a thin, somewhat revealing, white and gold robe. Kane frowned, but didn't react for now. He realized Ella was opening up a little, and he didn't want to interrupt.

Her back was turned to him, but he could see that she sighed again, before continuing, "But that's not a good excuse… The fact is, that I have a lot to make up for. A lot of guilt I feel over the things I did. I spent months agonizing over that, because I had no idea what to do about it."

Now, she turned around and looked at Kane with pain in her eyes as she shrugged helplessly, "At first I tried using my influence to improve people's lives, but my mother has an iron grip on our society, and she quickly put a stop to anything I tried."

Then, she smiled sadly, "I was hopeless and drowning in sorrow… until I got involved in Lady Mána's plans. Life became easier for me after that. I was working on something concrete that might make things better for my people. Something that my mother couldn't stop. The gnawing guilt was finally a little quieter."

She stepped closer to Kane, and put a hand on his chest, something he was surprised to find out he actually felt, because it quickly became clear to him that he was the only one who could see her.

The others were looking at him with expectation and waited patiently, probably assuming he was talking with his technus. Which, technically, was true.

With her hand on his chest, Ella looked into his eyes, her gaze filled with pain and sadness, but also determination.

"I just want to get back to that," she continued softly. "Following orders in the believe that it will eventually improve my people's lives is simple. It doesn't require me to think about my mistakes and guilt, or how to fix things. I know I can't ask you for a commitment about the elves on Alfheim yet, but I think I can trust you, and that's enough for now…"

Kane looked at her calmly for a moment. Inwardly, however, he was sighing deeply. It was clear that his attempts at increasing Ella's trust and affection were working, but now he was actually feeling a little guilty.

Ella was clearly deeply vulnerable, and now quickly latching onto him as a way to soothe her guilt-ridden psyche. Yet, she was right in assuming he wasn't ready to make a commitment regarding Alfheim yet. There was still too much anger inside him over what happened there.

Even so, he did feel his own care for Ella increase, and he felt a desire to prove worthy of her trust in him.

So, he sighed again, this time outwardly, and took Ella's chin in his right hand as he looked deeply into her eyes. Once again, he was surprised to find that it felt like he was touching a real life, flesh and blood body. But he ignored that for now.

"I understand the guilt you feel," he began solemnly, fortunately having the presence of mind to speak through his connection to Ella, rather than out loud just because she appeared to be standing in front of him now. "But for what it's worth, I believe you are inherently a good person, and I promise to be worthy of your trust."

They looked into each other's eyes for a moment, confirming the other's point of view. Meanwhile, the onlookers started to become confused.

Although their conversation speed was happening at the speed of thought, Kane had still been quiet for a few minutes already and was now even grasping something int he air that wasn't there while looking intensely ahead.

Finally, Ella smiled and took a step back while nodding, "Okay then… Thank you, Master. And also, for not asking me about my past. I promise I'll tell you eventually."

Suddenly, she smiled a little playfully as she turned to her fan, Anna, and said "Now, would you please tell my fan here to bring you to the mainframe core, so that she can give me direct, administrative access? I've regained the control I had earlier, but since you want to use this as a base, I should probably have complete control. And I'll have a little surprise as well…"

Kane put down his hand, smiled, nodded, and then relayed Ella's message to Anna. Unsurprisingly, the hareling was disappointed she couldn't meet Ella yet, but also eager to help.