Sunlights gently scattered across my shut eyelids, piercing with their golden rays in such a way that forced a long groan from my lips. The end of which resulted in me rolling over to my opposite side, pulling the covering blankets up in vain to try and block out the light.

  Despite my desperate attempts to return to slumber the intense sunlight still found its way into my eyes. Eventually a knock even came to my door, stirring me awake slowly as the timid voice of Panna called out.

  “Miss Kirin? It’s almost midday now…” Panna was still as shy as ever, barely raising her voice high enough to be heard.

  “I know…” I called back in a still sleep-addled voice. “Are any of them here yet?” I asked, desperately hoping to hear a “No.”

  “No one has arrived yet—Though I think they'll be here soon.” Panna answered quickly, finally stirring me awake.

  “Alright, alright… I'm up now.” With a heavy sigh I sat up, setting the layers of blankets to the side while my legs found their way to the edge of the bed.

  Panna helped herself into the room at this point. I wasn't surprised to see her in the maid's uniform, not after the duel with Kendrick at least.

  “Ugh… How much has changed in just three days?” I wondered to myself with a slight grunt. Both a lot and not a lot had managed to happen in three days—Mostly because I spent the majority of those three days resting—But even still, much had managed to change already.

  “Are you alright Miss Kirin?” Panna asked as she made her way to my bedside.

  “Yeah—Fine… Just thinking.” I answered with a shake of my head.

  We were currently in a mansion, one which Tulip had said was used for political envoys inside of the core districts of the capital city, Arcadia. The mansion itself was far too much, but it was required as far as Tulip was concerned—Even if I hadn’t officially been given the title of Empyrean yet.

  That was the big thing that still hadn’t happened. Tulip’s father, King Archimedes Berini, had been thus far “Too busy” to hold even a mock ceremony.

  “Well, could you sit in the chair so I can fix your hair please?” Panna asked with a warm smile, finally bringing my gaze towards her.

  Her pink hair was quite well kept now, she’d taken to that quite quickly. While she was still on the thinner side of things, I had no doubt she would fill out far more than I ever would. Soft pink colors surrounded her, each glowing mote framed her sort of like a magical aura—Though it existed on what I could only describe as a different layer of the world than mana did. Her colors gave off an impression of care, anxiety and fringes of respect that were slowly building.

  “Of course.” With a start I pushed myself off of the bed, taking a few steps across the room before seating myself in a comfortable, plush chair. I flicked my head back, shifting until I was in a position for Panna to work on my hair.

  Panna stepped up and took a comb, gently brushing the sleep-made knots from my hair.

  “You’re sure you still like this?” I asked, casting my eyes up as far as they could go to look at Panna.

  “Of course I do,” Panna answered with a smile. “You saved me from the mines. You clearly care about me too, since you keep asking me this question every day.” She added with a slight “tut” sound.

  “Because I’m still just worried you were forced into this somehow.” I practically whined in my own defense, my back growing slack as I deflated.

  “Well I wasn’t, alright?” Panna said, shaking her head softly. “Now sit still so that I can finish, please?” She asked with a softer tone.

  “Alright…” I sighed out, forcing my body to remain still while Panna worked.

  I could still see the motes of colors emanating from Panna from my angle, each one was a distraction. Each one I saw from every person I saw kept begging one question; What are they?

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  Sure, I’d inferred a little from them already—I knew I was sensing people’s emotions… somehow, but I didn’t quite understand how. I wanted to ask Carmine about it, but I hadn’t seen her since the end of the duel.

  “Maybe she’ll be here today…” I mumbled slightly.

  “What was that?” Panna asked quickly.

  “Oh—Nothing, just thinking aloud,” I answered, pausing for a beat before elaborating. “Do you know if Carmine is going to be here today?” I asked.

  “Hmm…” Panna trailed off, thinking for a moment before she could answer. “Miss Tulip and Sir Daedrik are going to be here for sure. I am not certain about Miss Carmine however…” Panna offered after a few moments of silence, her voice growing timid by the end.

  “Alright…” I nodded slightly. “I’ll just have to make sure to find her when I can—I really need to talk with her.”

  Silence filled the room after that. After all, there really wasn’t much to talk about most mornings between us. Especially not when I’d spent three days doing almost nothing but eating and sleeping while my body recovered from being forced through embodiment far too many times in a single day.

  By the time I stood up, Akemi had decided to finally make herself known. The small Kitsune, well and fully buried underneath a pile of blankets, pulled her way out and let out a quick sneeze. Her trio of tails shifted around slightly, her gaze landing on me before she slid her paws forwards and laid back down.

  “I swear… You’ve been even lazier than me these last few days.” I said at the Kitsune, faux disappointment filling my voice even as I smiled. Akemi let out a snort, her soft voice reaching my mind even as she did.

  “You.” She spoke simply, letting only a single word pass through with confusing intent laying behind it.

  Shaking my head in turned, asking Panna quickly:

  “When should they start getting here?”

  “I would say half an hour at most. Let's get you dressed, yes?” Panna ushered me quickly towards a closet even as she spoke.

  Once I was walking towards it on my own Panna moved ahead me. She quickly set to work, opening the drawers of brand new clothing to pick something out I would actually wear.

  “I still can't believe how many sets of clothes they just gave to me.” I grumbled, still feeling unsettled by it.

  When we had first been put into the mansion it had taken no more than a few hours for over a dozen new sets of clothes to be sent over. Each one followed a similar style—And I was fairly certain thanks to the material that they had been preemptively ordered by Carmine.

  Each outfit was made out of three pieces: A pair of grey pants, an incredibly soft white undershirt and a choice of a long or short sleeved top. The top itself is where the detailing had been put to work.

  The right breast of the top bore a symbol like that of my insignia—A great stormcloud framed by bolts of lightning—Colored with a series of blacks and purples. The stitching of the jacket was made of the same purples and blacks, almost making the stitches themselves look like lightning bolts.

  “Short or long sleeved today?” Panna asked, casting her gaze back towards me.

  “Long,” I said, pausing for a heartbeat. “And before you even try, I'm dressing myself.” With my statement made Panna stepped back, offering a slight bow.

  “I'll be just outside if you need.”As Panna spoke she moved towards the exit, the door clicking shut just behind her.

  “Can't anything just stay normal for more than a few months…” I groaned out once Panna left. Panna was wonderful, but even having a maid felt weird to me—I honestly just wanted to go back already, but I knew there wasn't any hope of that happening.

  “Sad?” Akemi asked, her amethyst eyes boring into me as I started changing.

  “No… I think I'm just overwhelmed. Doubly so when you add the fact that I know things will only get worse from here,” I answered her as I pulled the buttons of the top together over my chest. “But, I'm sure I'll manage.” Once I was finished I turned to the nearby mirror, smiling lightly with what I saw.

  I was still short, only standing around five foot two, maybe five foot three if I squinted now. But long gone were the days of my emaciated look. While I had a long way to go before I could be considered to have a “womanly” build, my chest being quite low while the rest of my body lacked most of the defining curves—I was at least happy to see how I looked. Thin, but not quite skinny.

  Panna had done my hair in a similar way to Tulip, letting the longer strands fall over my back while the shorter ones framed my face. This both helped my naturally softer features and made my blood-red eyes stand out that much more. When added together with the grays, blacks and purples of my outfits I looked… Well, I looked like a mage. In a sense, I was as far away from being an emaciated, malnourished prisoner in a mine as I could just about get now.

  “Well… let's go and see what all has been happening.”

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