"What if he starts asking questions? Do I answer them like I would have before? I don't want to do anything that could make him not believe me or something." Piper said softly as she finished setting the tray then before she even picked it up she waved her hand above it and her eyes narrowed as she picked up the plate of pancakes. "Who made these pancakes?" she asked as she turned to the other maids with hard eyes. Thanks to her having magic powers she could easily tell which of the dishes was poisoned or not and the pancakes were the only things that she knew were poisoned.

Lazarus listened to her questions and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Use your own discretion, Piper. You know him better than all of us. Including me." He said softly to her as he watched her wave her hand above the tray of food meant for Kazura. The maids looked up at Piper and then one of the cooks as she started to move towards the pantry. Lazarus motioned to the guard to go question that woman before she started to make a run for it. He looked at the other maids. "Check the batter, Piper. You might end up being Kazura's personal chef." His steel blue eyes went to her as he went to summon more guards.

Piper nodded a bit before she went over to the work area and did the same thing to the batter then turned with the bole and threw it all away, even the bole and the spoon. "Was there any other tools used in this? A beater?" she asked before walking over to the stove and picked up the pan and through it away as well, even though the poison was in the food whatever touched that type of poison couldn't be trusted... it was too much of a risk. She then looked over to Lazuros and blushed a bit shaking her head. "I was never the best with easily burned foods like pancakes and other fluffy foods... but I can easily track out poisons and items of the sort." she said before looking at the top cabnent and grabbed a stool getting up there and grabbing down three things of poison and lethal items that could easily kill anyone. "Who else knew about these? Don't lie because I can tell when people are lying too." she asked as she got down knowing that someone had to know something about it.

The second watched her throw away the batter spoons and the pan that was used to cook the pancakes. He was surprised though as she found all the poison in the kitchen cupboards and scowled at the kitchen staff. More cooks and maids ran leaving only four maids and a cook in the kitchen. They looked at Piper with amazement and fear in their eyes. Kazura was a bit unpopular with other demon lords but the amount of people he could not trust was staggering. "You better learn, Piper. Kazura's life and memory are in your hands now." He said as more guards ran into the kitchen and in the direction of the fleeing demons. "Please, search the kitchen. I need to inform Kazura of this."

"Of course... I'll do anything to help Kazura, but I'll try not to load him down with anything until I know that he'll be okay." Piper said softly then started to look around though only found one other place where there was poison and that was under one of the lower cabnents but she didn't touch it yet. "Which one of those cooks or maids can use magic?" She asked looking at Lazarus since there was a spell that she wasn't familiar with... it could cause anyone who tried to touch the poison to be poisoned.

Lazarus looked at Piper and nodded as he heard her. "Magic...I was not aware that any of the maids could. Perhaps we need to screen our servants better." He said to himself as he looked at Piper. "Why do you ask?" The second asked as he looked at her.

Kazura started to stir upstairs later than normal for him. That lullaby had knocked him out and allowed him to get the sleep that he needed. The ice lord pulled on a robe and moved towards the bathroom to make sure he was awake and clean when Piper arrived.

"I can't break whatever spell is around the poisons down here... and they're some heavy duty ones too. I don't deal with shields that well... I'm more of a healer." Piper said softly before standing straight and looked around. "If I could see those workers again I could easily tell who can use magic though." she said softly then looked up at the ceiling. "Well I suppose I should take Kazura his breakfast." Piper said softly as she grabbed the tray then paused and quickly whipped up some pancakes and soon headed up the stairs to Kazura's room knocking softly.

The second listened to her as she spoke and nodded. "I understand. I will arrange that for you. " He said to her as she left to tend to Kazura. Lazarus went to see how many of the maids were caught and to make sure that they were not killed, yet.

Kazura heard the knocking on his door and pulled on a robe before walking over to the door and opening it. He saw Piper and smiled a bit as he moved out of her way so she could enter. "Good Morning. How are you today?" The ice lord asked her as he shut the door behind her.

"Good morning my lord." Piper said softly before entering and setting the tray down before opening the lid so he could see what he was having. "I am fairly well... however I found that well over half of your kitchen staff was trying to kill you or knew that someone else was trying to kill you... from what I can tell Lazuros is going to question them now about the poison." she said softly and respectfully after giving a slight bow after she had set down the tray.

He walked over to his breakfast table that was set up so he had a view of his region. Kazura looked at Piper as she set the tray down before him. "Is that so? How were able to find that out?" His eyes went to her as he sat down and looked at the meal she had set before him. "I owe you a great deal of gratitude." The ice lord said as he smiled at her. "Is there anything I can do for you?"

"I'm a wicken... I can use a special power to sense if food is good or not and if it has something harmful in it I can easily sense that and tell what it is." Piper said softly then was a bit surprised and thought a bit and had the slightest of blushes wondering if being close to him could help him remember. "There's only one thing I can think of right now my lord... it may sound a little odd but we used to be very close and... if you wouldn't mind could I give you a hug?" she asked remembering that before he didn't like many people hugging him... children were always different but even women... she was one of the only people... well adults that he cared to let really close like that.

(hope that's okay I'll change it if not)

His eyes stayed on her as she explained her powers to him. "Those are very useful powers to have, Piper." Kazura's eyes widened a bit in shock at her request and stood up from the table and walked over to her. The ice lord looked at her with his cold eyes before sighing slightly and opened his arms to her. "Since you saved my life...this is the least I can do for you." A slight tinge of blush on his cheeks as he waited for her to embrace him.

Piper hesitated for a moment before hugging him and just melted. She had missed the feeling of being close to him so much... his scent... the odd way that he felt both warm and cold at the same time. She missed him so much... and being this close to him. She held back the urge to cry though for it really hurt to know that he wasn't completely the same... though maybe this might bring back some memories since from what she could tell he only ever really hugged her... and on occasion when they were on missions small children that came up for a hug but that was different.

Kazura watched her hesitate but soon felt her against his warm/cold skin. His eyes went to her as she hugged him and placed his hand on her back and head. The sensation felt familiar as he blushed looking down at her. "Do not cry, Piper." He said softly to her as he felt compelled to soothe her. This sensation of holding her felt so good and so right. Why? Why did it feel right? The ice lord slowly moved his hands back to her shoulders and closed his eyes. "Did we hug before?"

"I'm not..." Piper said then thought about how most couldn't even tell when she was upset.. but he always could. "Yes... we did hug... quite often actually." She said softly then loosened her arms a bit if he wanted to pull away.

He smiled a bit at her comment and placed his hand on her head. "Whatever you say." The lord said a bit softly as he looked at her. His arms wrapped back around her as he blushed a bit more. "I see. Forgive me for being forward. But this sensation is familiar and soothing." Kazura said in a soft whisper as he closed his eyes. It would be awkward if someone would see them like this but he felt like this is what he wanted, too.

"You don't have to apologize." Piper said softly then just laid her head on his chest for a few minutes before she remembered the food. "Why don't you eat? I can stay close to you as long as you want me to but for right now I think your food is starting to get cold." she said softly not really wanting to move but knew that the food wouldn't taste near as good if it was cold.

His eyes stayed closed as he felt her head on his chest and held her a bit tighter. When she mentioned his food, Kazura nodded a bit and slowly let go of her. "I'm glad that Lazarus brought you to me. " The ice lord said before touching her cheek lightly as he waited for her to release him. "While I eat...please tell me what you know of my past."

"Do you want me to tell you everything? No matter how odd it may sound?" Piper asked having smiled when he said he was glad she was with him then let go of him and gently sat down close to where she thought he would be sitting.

"What do you mean by that?" Kazura asked her as she sat down to his left. He took his seat and looked at her as he sipped his orange juice. The lord looked at her a bit confused at what she could know about him. His eyes on hers as he ignored his cold breakfast and kept his focus on her.

Piper looked into Kazura's eyes searchingly for a moment before she looked down thinking. "I've actually known you for almost 90 years... at least I believe it's been that long... it could have been longer. You save me when I was a child and a war and great fire had destroyed my home town... I was the only one to survive. After that I stayed with you and when I got older we started to explore different areas... more dangerous areas. We had been hearing for years about a rare artifact that could stop a humans internal clock and turn their whole being to ice... but it came with a harsh cost. We searched and searched but couldn't find it for the longest time... then the war came up and we were fighting... we protected each other but I was wounded badly during the fight. I was able to walk and such but we could only got far enough to find a cave to take shelter in...
a woman was there and it was very cold in the cave despite how hot it was that day. She offered to heal me and I ended up passing out... after that she came to live with us... but she knew something. one day I over heard her thinking out loud while she was in her room two doors down from this one... I told you what I heard... we finally knew where the artifact was... we could have as much money as we would ever need.
At that time all we had on our minds... well... was each other... we were talking about getting engaged at the time... if we could get ahold of the artifact we could pay for a nice big wedding... and would have enough that if we had kids their grand kids would never have to worry about money." she paused a slight smile for a split second on her lips before it vanished again and was replaced with a dark sad look.
"We went back to the cave not knowing that none of that would ever come true... we searched and searched until we finally found something... a stunning pure silver pendent with an ice blue gem in the center of it..." she paused looking at him but more at the pendent hanging around his neck.
"We were so excited we didn't even think... I was so foolish.... I ran up and grabbed the pendent without checking for traps. It made my whole body go cold and then something hit me hard... I still don't know what happened after that... I was in a coma for the next three months... when I awoke I was in a different room... you were sitting there but you looked different to me... your skin had started to grow pale and your hair had a bit of a different shine to it... and when you looked at me you had a really odd look in your eyes. When we talked after that you were slowly starting to forget things and your ice powers became destructive... the woman was still there as well... and she tried whatever she could to keep me away.
"At one point when I touched you I got frostbite that covered my whole hand and lower arm... you just kept forgetting and distancing yourself more and more until you finally started to ask my name every time you saw me... it would bring back memories for a moment then as soon as we were done talking you had forgotten again... then that woman told me to leave... somehow she had convinced you that you loved her and she would kill me if I didn't leave.... I killed her instantly... you weren't in the room and I had left by the time you found her... you didn't even asked who did it you just told the guards to take me and lock me in the dungeon... that was ten years ago I believe..." she explained what had happened though as she got closer to the end you could tell she was starting to have trouble telling him what had happened... it still hurt to think about really... she wasn't upset at him... he didn't remember her at that time... he didn't even know she had done it... he had just been so upset.

(.... DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMMMMMMMMMMMMMMNN NNNNNNNNN!!! O.O that's the longest post I've done in awhile... in a LONG while XD )

He noticed how she looked at him expectantly before telling him the long story of their acquittance. Listening, some memories were shown to him from her story. A child that looked like her smiling up at him, her laying down somewhere as her stomach bled, them holding hands in the garden, then he saw a dead woman on the floor. His head throbbed a bit as he looked at the amulet he wore around his neck. The ice lord grabbed it and tried to remove it. Kazura tossed it away and looked at Piper with a bit of discomfort. "I will trust your story......but we still can not act like we were. I want to remember more before we get any closer." He said as he pushed away his cold breakfast as he sipped his orange juice. "Please, tell no one else of what has happened today."

"Of course... I know it's quite a bit to take in... but to be honest I'm really just happy seeing you and knowing that you're okay." Piper said softly with a nod then looked at his cold meal. "Would you like me to get you a fresh plate?" she asked softly as she stood then looked over at the pendent and walked over to it hesitantly putting her hand out but once her fingers were about an inch away they started to turn red like they would if she didn't have gloves on in the cold. She pulled her hand back quickly and gripped it with the other one. She couldn't understand why it did that... it didn't seem to burn Kazura... why did it hurt her? She sighed and stood looking back at Kazura to see what he wanted her to do.

Kazura looked at Piper as she spoke and looked at his cold food. "No, thank you. I'm not really hungry." He watched her walk over to the pendent and noticed how it turned her hand red. "The pendent is for ice demons only. If anyone else tries to touch it, they die from frost bite." The ice lord said as he walked over to her before picking up the pendent and put it in a box near his bed. "It would be wise not to try and touch it anymore." His voice soft as he touched her hands, lightly.

"Oh... well that explains why I had been out for so long when we came back... I had grabbed the pendant at that time." Piper said softly then looked at their hands but couldn't help wishing that he already had his memories back so things could just go back to normal. "if... is there anything else you need before I go and see if anyone needs help?" she asked softly really not wanting to leave him bu knew for right now it would be odd for him until he could remember.