Articia glared at Nikki raising her head off the chair and decided
to get up and looked out a nearby window of the mansion's hall,
"So what made you decide to come back then?" she said in a crisp
clear tone.
Nikki growled at the young lady at the window, being unsympathetic
as if she knew nothing,
"You didn't hear how bad Apollo treated me then? Not wanting me to
see my father, not wanting me to leave…I was a prisoner Articia…"
"I'm sorry Nikki," she empathised, a tear running down her cheek and
then wiped it away and shook her head, "Well lets just say that HE
will be glad to have you here, not that I will, or anyone else for
that matter." She exclaimed turning round and heading up the
stairway.
"Is my room ready?" Nikki asked as she watched her intently.
Articia turned on the stair she was on with a look of horror on her
face,
"What do I look like?! You're maid? Certainly not! Go see for
yourself, if you need me I'll be about, not that I'll help." She
whined and turned back on the stair and headed into the lift.
Nikki was then left in the hall on a chair with a bag she had
brought with her. She stood up and sorted her top of a sky blue and
her skirt of the same colour, he heels clicking sharply and she
walked around the hall. She turned a little to the chairs and waves
her hand in a closing gesture and both vanished. Her heels echoed a
lot round the hall the sound bouncing off the walls as she looked to
her father's throne touching the arms of it, looking at the
intricate designs and, sensing something behind it the used her
power to see what it was. In her mind she saw a garden and the way
to open in, she say her father's had on her head using a little
magic and a gesture again. Nikki copied this gesture and the throne
split in two like a doorway and she walked through looking out onto
a vast garden with a cave and a waterfall up ahead. The girl sighed,
"I'm home…"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Artek sat in the large chair as a dragon and looked upon Diamond and
Jace, her next opponent. She stood there with Glacialis by her side
ready to fight.
"And now" Artek thundered, "the next challenge, Diamond Lockheart
from Ultisphere, against Jace Lightwind from Crayne in Ultisphere."
The king nodded and held his claw up,
"Let the battle….commence" and with a dropping claw that was it…