Yanga was slightly taken aback when Adrianna ignored her and Kenai, and instead spoke to Lenny, but as soon as she remembered that Lenny was her classmate in the Wizard Academy, she gave a nervous chortle and said, "Oh! I completely forgot. Lenney was in the same class as you."

Lenny blushed slightly out of embarrassment. Their group had always ridiculed Adrianna or sometimes even went against her in the Academy but Adrianna always showed her intelligence and patience in dealing with them. She replied softly, "I am good, Adrianna."

​​

Adrianna noticed that Lenny hadn't reduced at all. She was as chubby as she was way back in the academy. Wearing a knee length green chiffon dress that was covering her arms fully, she was looking just like any other student. In a way Adrianna envied her. She thought what a carefree life this girl must be leading. She looked at her with interest and said, "It is nice to meet you after a long time. Please enjoy the party."

Lenny bowed again. This was her cue to leave from there. "Thanks," she said and left.

Adrianna's cold gaze shifted to Kenai. "It is a pleasure to meet you Kenai," she said with a gentleness that was unnatural. "I have heard that you were the top student in your batch."

"Yes," he replied proudly with his chin held up.

"Well, in that case I am sure that this test would be a breeze for you," Adrianna encouraged.

"Yes, of course! No one can create spells like me," he said.

"Is he trying to challenge you, Adri?" Dmitri said mentally with a frown, anger visible in his twitched lips.

Adrianna chuckled at Dmitri. "Who knows?" she answered.

"Then please have your lunch and proceed to the gardens in the south of the palace. We have made a small arrangement for your evaluation," she said with a wide grin.

"Sure," replied Kenai as if Adrianna had thrown down the gauntlet at him and as if it was an abomination to call her his Queen.

Yanga was very excited. "Thank you for giving this opportunity, my Queen."

"It was necessary," Adrianna replied with nonchalance.

The mother and son duo took their leave from there and went to mingle with the crowd. Yanga was so excited that she went around chirping to everyone how the Queen had asked Kenai to appear for the test in the south gardens of the palace. She went on to say that Adrianna was seriously considering Kenai to become the next Military General. Inside she was all the more enthusiastic to see Kenai defeating Adrianna. She knew that he could easily do so. At the same time Kenai had proceeded to eat his lunch. Lenny stood next to him and said, "Are you sure you can take her down?"

"Lenny, what do you mean? She is nothing in front of the pure-blood wizards," he replied with a clenched jaw looking down at his sister.

"She is a cunning witch, Kenai. You never know what would be her next move. She can easily delve into cells." Lenny was genuinely concerned.

"Every wizard or witch is taught to get into cells and then they are also taught how to shut down or block the cells," Kenai scolded her. "So don't teach me. I can take care of myself. You should take care of the task I have assigned to you."

Lenny bit her lip. She continued to have her lunch. She hated the assignment he had given her but she was bound.

While Adrianna was talking to other members of the ministry, she saw a familiar face poking out from the back. Adrianna gave a huge smile and called the girl in front, "Nefasky! Come here in the front."

Everyone turned around to look at the girl. Nefasky's face flushed slightly. She gave a wide smile and walked slowly in the front.

"How are you doing?" Adrianna asked warmly as she rose from her chair to hug her.

Nefasky hugged her back warmly and said, "I am fine. Mother is… disturbed… She didn't know that this could happen."

"I understand. I will visit her as soon as possible," replied Adrianna rubbing her back. "What about you? Have you recovered fully?" She asked removing herself from her embrace.

"Yes, I have. The doctors say that my skull has cracked slightly but it is okay. I will survive for as long as I stay healthy," Nefasky said with a nervous smile very softly so that no one else could hear. Her illness was still a secret.

Adrianna smiled back. "Please have your lunch and proceed to the south gardens. There is something you should witness."

"Yes, I have heard about it," said Nefasky with a glint in her eyes.

Adrianna nodded and Nefasky left after bowing to her.

Nefasky spotted Lenny and automatically her feet went in her direction. She couldn't believe that she would meet her batch mate in the party. She was feeling so proud of Adrianna already and now Lenny was a big surprise.

"How are you, Lenny?" asked Nefasky, making Lenny jump.

Lenny's eyes bulged. "Nefasky," she exclaimed. She kept her plate on the nearest table and hugged Nefasky. The two friends were meeting after so long that both were teary for a while. Lenny held Nefasky's shoulders and looked at her from head to toe. "You look nice!"

Nefasky chuckled and said, "You too!"

"Come, have lunch with me and we will talk," Lenny offered and picked her plate.

Something caught Nefasky's eye when Lenny picked up her plate again. "That's a weird tattoo," she pointed at Lenny's wrist. An inverted trident came into view on her wrist as her sleeve pulled up slightly. "Since when have you shown interests in tattoos?" Nefasky raised her eyebrows and chuckled with surprise at her chubby, sensitive friend who was scared of slightest of the injuries. She remembered how Lenny had passed out in the Northern Mountains when the red foxes had attacked their group from all the sides.

Lenny covered her tattoo quickly and shirked the remark, "Ah! It's nothing. Something that took my fancy. But I swear it was painful getting it etched on my skin." The two laughed.

"What does it mean?" Nefasky questioned eating her oyster in hollandaise sauce.

"It's nothing really. I just liked the design while walking down the mall one day and sat down to get it inked."

"You shouldn't have. That design is cringe-worthy," Nefasky remarked honestly.

Lenny took a deep breath and didn't say anything.

Seeing her reticence, Nefasky said, "You know it has been so long since we have all met because of all the wars that I would love to sit again and chat about old times." "And Adrianna has really emerged as a strong woman. I didn't know of her capabilities. Now when I think of it in retrospect, I feel that she had outdone herself brilliantly and that we were a bunch of jealous kids."

Lenny rubbed her nose. She pursed her lips and nodded. "Yeah, maybe…"

Nefasky looked at Lenny for a second. She sounded iffy. She immediately remembered that her brother was about to go into a test with Adrianna. Her lips were pressed in a thin smile. "I wish Kenai all the best," she said gently.

"Thanks," Lenny replied. It was an awkward situation. The two of them continued to eat their food in silence only interrupting it with small comments from here and there.

When the lunch was over, the main hall looked empty with only a few people remaining. Adrianna and Dmitri had left before the guests. Most of them had already gone to the south gardens.