"A lot more than she says, I bet."

"Yeah. Maybe it's just weird next to how sensei is, but she really didn't tell us much, did she?"

"She's definitely hiding things."

"We just gotta find out what, then."

"Might be easier said than done. She's tricky."

"Yeah. Gonna be an investigation."

"It'd be a bit easier if Professor Curtis wasn't watching..."

"She might be able to help - I'm not sure she actually likes Dante that much - but I bet now we know the way we can come up here on our own sometimes, especially when she has experiments she wants to do."

"Yeah. It'll be a project."

"Probably gonna take the whole time we're apprentices."

"It'll be something to do!"

"Around all the other things we have to do!" she says, laughing and snuggling into her blankets.

"Idle hands, and all that."

"Apparently everyone who complained about me not behaving should've just bribed me with books instead of yelling at me."

"You need a non-traditional approach."

"Yeah. I'm a very non-traditional person, after all."

"I think it's time for some non-traditional sleep now."

She giggles.

"Fine, El. Goodnight."

"Goodnight, Lion."

Heeeee.

Best sister.

She falls asleep with a big grin on her face.

The next few months pass very similarly, though they make rapid improvements in their knowledge and skill base. Akira doesn't accompany them on most of their visits to Dante's, especially if they've simply expressed an interest in her library. Still, Akira continues seeming leery of her old teacher. It quickly becomes apparent all the animals that Dante keeps are chimeras, all of them masterfully crafted, and Dante cautions them not to gossip about the chimeras but is fully willing to explain the alchemy that went into them.

Dante is polite and a good host and shows interest in their educations - especially in El's. She dances with ease (and evident amusement) around their probes into her past and knowledge base, but drops hints here or there that she indeed knows quite a bit more than she's shared with anyone - Akira included.

"Your potential is quite impressive," she says one day, when Bellona has wandered off elsewhere in the mansion. "It's been many, many years since I've seen children as bright as the two of you."

"There's not a lot that's common about us."

"Indeed not. Brilliant minds and brilliant ambitions alike, and no chains to hold you down."

"You're flattering me."

"Is that what I'm doing?"