Well, the resolution to the mystery. Lets see how you guys feel about it~~

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"Who are you?"

Steel's words flowed through the air and into the two girl's ears. Mary frowned at Steel. "What are talking about Scout Steel? I must say, that is a rather rude question to ask me."

"Zip it." Steel cut her off, making her eyes widen at his rudeness, "I've been noticing the little things between the two of you, how every time you both disappear, Maria's personality seems to shift, and the way you address me scout. I agreed with Lady Mary last night that we would call each other by our first names, yet you seem to have forgotten." She moved his gaze back and forth between the two of them, "Now, tell me what's going on or I'm taking you girls back to the tower. I won't put up with trickery and lies, not anymore."

Mary glared at Steel, "How dare you accuse a lady such as me of lying! I've never been so insulted before in my life! Take this punishment!"

A fiery aura surrounded Mary as she summoned a fireball in each hand. She threw them at Steel, shooting them like baseballs through the air with her mind. Steel activated Elemental Shield and blocked both fireballs, wincing as his mana decreased by 110.

"If that's how you’re going to be, I'll have to unmask you myself!" Steel brought his shield out and Charged Mary with his shield held outward. His instinct skill activated, warning him just in time to jump backwards to avoid another fireball, this time from Maria.

Maria had a hard look on her face, but her eyes were very conflicted. "Okay, let’s calm down here. Lady Mary, please forgive this insolent fool for his words. Steel, behave yourself! Don't you know you just insulted the second strongest mage in Rostwood?"

Steel glowered a moment, then looked thoughtful. He turned and bowed deeply to Mary, "Please forgive this young fool who acts before he thinks. I am unworthy to even kiss the tip of your shoe." A stealthy hand wave behind his back activated Charm again.

Mary frowned, "I see you recognize your mistake. See to it you never make it again."

"Lady, if you would allow me to show my position by kissing your shoe, this servant would be most satisfied." Steel continued, oozing as much charm as he could muster. Mary smiled at him, obviously thinking he was truthful with his words.

"Of course scout. Come, you may satisfy your regret." She held out her foot to him. Steel got on his knees and approached her slowly, his head looking at the ground. Just as he reached her, he made eye contact with Maria, who was very confused by his actions. He stuck his tongue out at her, making her eyes widen in realization.

"Mary, don't let him touch you!"

It was too late. Steel surged forward and knocked the unsuspecting Mary to the ground. He wrapped his body around her and held tightly.

"Unhand me your fool! Do you hear me, you'll die!" Mary protested a hint of fear in her voice.

Steel smiled evilly, "I doubt that Lady Mary, I doubt that very much."

The seconds past, and Steel felt no pain. Maria had fallen to her knees, a defeated look on her face. Mary merely looked sad. Steel released her and got up.

"The geas did not activate. I ask you again, who are you?"

The Mary sighed and straightened up into a sitting position. "Well, you really are a lot more cunning than you look, huh Steel." She gave him a cheesy smile, "Well, it was fun while it lasted anyway." She morphed in front of him into a ball of light, which floated over to Maria, "Sorry Mary, I didn't think he had the guile to do that. I failed your orders."

Steel crossed his arms, "As I thought, you really are Mary."

Maria smiled tearfully at Steel, and her body melted away into the more beautiful and regal form of Mary. "I'm sorry Steel, I really am sorry."

Steel stomped the ground angrily, "Why Mary, why! Why did you lie to me? Did you not trust me? Did you think I was unworthy to know your real face?"

She shook her head quickly, "No, no! I. . . I just. . ." She blubbered, but couldn't finish as her crying peaked. She pulled her knees to her chest and hugged them, the tears falling quickly now.

"You had no right Mary, no right at all! Did you not think this was important! What if something bad happened to us, huh? What if I had to choose between the two of you in a life or death situation! I would have let her die to save you, but the geas would burn me and you would die too! You lied to me! You spied on me, used your disguise to get secrets from me, and used me to get you out of the wall, out of Rostwood! Was any of it true? Were you at all truthful with me AT ALL?"

Mary continued to cry, the shake of her head the only indication she had heard him. Steel was furious with her. He had actually started to feel some for her, for a person who didn't really exist in the world. The fact that she had played as two different people meant she didn't trust him enough to open up to him.

He gazed scornfully at her and opened his mouth to berate her some more, but stopped when he felt a pull on his shirt. He looked down into the face of Echo, who beckoned him to come closer. Reigning in his anger for the moment, he knelt down to listen.

'Smack'

Echo slapped him, much harder than Steel expected him to be able to do. Steel blinked and looked down at the slave, who was very angry. He hit Steel again, then again, before Steel finally caught his hand. "Echo, what is it? Why are you hitting me?" he asked confused.

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Echo pointed at Mary. "Echo, she betrayed me, she lied to me. She's just like those others. . ."

Echo hit him again, than pointed at Mary. Steel gazed at her, watching as she cried and cried. Slowly, his anger began to fade away. She wasn't laughing at him, she hadn't run away from him, and she hadn't launched fireballs everywhere. She was upset, but she was taking his abuse and letting it flow into her. Yes, he had been abusing her verbally, ha had made her cry. A girl was crying because of him.

He sighed, scratching his head at her. 'This must be what Eric was talking about.' He thought, 'She may have lied to me about herself, but it's not like I was ever completely truthful to her. I just lashed out in anger because of a simple lie from a girl whose been locked up her entire life. Guess the darkness within really is a potent thing.' He smiled at Echo and rubbed his head, "Thank you Echo, you helped me regain myself." Echo nodded, than pointed at Mary again.

"Right, right, I'll fix this mess." Steel got up and walked over to Mary. He sat down beside her waited. Eventually, her blubbering decreased and she looked over, sniffling, at Steel. He sighed.

"I'm sorry I yelled at you. I won't forgive your lies, but you had your reasons, right? I'll wait for you to explain things when you are ready." Sobbing anew, Mary threw herself around Steel and cried into his shoulder. Steel patted her back, "its okay, its okay now." He waited for the pain, but none came from her touch. He looked down to see a thin light separating her skin from him. He turned and raised an eyebrow at the orb of light.

"What? You are helping her, not hurting her. I can help prevent it for a little while, enough to let you comfort her." The orb wobbled. Steel nodded his thanks, and resumed patting the crying girl. They stayed like that for a long time, and she fell asleep in his arms.

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Steel got out the tents he had bought before. Mary was sleeping on a bedroll, so he was setting up the tent over her to ensure her good sleep. Apparently, he had earned the "Camping" skill from this, which he generally ignored due to its irrelevance. Echo was putting sticks into a fire in the middle, and the orb of light was hovering around the place after lighting the fire.

Steel finished with the tent and lay down next to the fire. He watched the flames burn as the sun slowly set in the distance, admiring the colors as it crackled and burned. He looked up at the orb floating above his head. "So, what are you really?"

It giggled and bounced, "Why, I am a noble fire elemental of course. I am Mistress Mary's special familiar and help her when she needs it, nice ta meet cha. Oh, and you can call me Whisper."

"Are you sure? Because I have to say, you look more like a light elemental than a fire elemental in all honesty." Steel said bluntly. The orb turned red, "It's not my fault I'm like this you know! When Mary realized she couldn't hide anymore, her grief stopped the mana transfer I needed to maintain a physical form, and I reverted back to this basic spirit form. If we were in my home dimension, you'd be dazzled by my elegance."

"So, you can become physical?"

Whisper wobbled back and forth, "To an extent, I can interact decently with everything non-living except for water. I feel a lot warmer than a normal person, though, and I can't replicate certain things like the geas. It's mainly a mix of her disguising magic and me taking a general form."

Steel looked back at the tent, "Tell, me how much mana was she using to keep this facade up?"

"You wouldn't believe me even if I told you." She said, "However, she had to use a good bit to summon me, which reduced her regeneration by 50%, than she had to keep two disguise spells up at the same time, and then she had to teach you skills by using more mana. Suffice to say, she's pretty exhausted."

Steel inclined his head toward the tent. His gaze sought to pierce it, to gaze into Mary's face and ask her, "why?". "Whisper, would she have been in trouble in an emergency situation?"

The orb nodded, or bounced up and down, "I could protect her, but her own power to fight would have been a little lower than you had she kept it up. Still, she'll have a small backlash for a while after using so much mana for so long." He shook his head in disbelief.

"Whisper, can you explain the situation to me. Why would she risk so much for this lie? Why would she lie to me about herself at all?"

The orb performed an infinity sign in the air, "I can't tell you everything, it's not my right or job to explain her to you. I can tell you that she enjoyed being Maria a lot more than being Mary. Even when she was by herself, she would become Maria just to meet people at the receptionist counter."

Steel believed her, because every time Mary had been Maria, she had always been so excited and happy, as if a load had been taken off her shoulders. "Well, hopefully she feels a lot better tomorrow. That way, she'll have fun during the raid and the quest."

The orb planted itself in the fire and let out a pink glow, "Well, as long as you help her through her feelings, I'm sure she will. She wasn't kidding about looking forward to the dungeon raid, or doing her first quest. Ahh, what a nice fire."

Steel chuckled, than got up to set up the other two tents. Tomorrow was a new day, and he needed to be well-rested to hear Mary's story. He hadn't made up his mind to forgive her yet, but he did owe it to her to listen to her reasons. After all, she had taught him magic after all, and she had been a good teacher. Only time would tell how she would be when she woke up.