After thirty minutes of digging through the chest, I find a few things that I think would look somewhat decent with my new appearance. I didn't know I had a plain white dress, but it should look good enough to my maids. I also have a plain black dress, and a few more ranging from brown to green.

I'm not confident that anything with some sort of pattern or a brighter color would be safe, so I went with the simplest things I could find. They all look fine in my opinion, but I have learned that my fashion sense is lacking when compared to my maids. I rarely ever choose something they find good, but most of my choices are at least acceptable.

Turning back to the ice mirror with the white dress in my hands, I hold it up before me. My favorite color has always been white. And gold, now that I think about it. It's strange how those are my new hair and eye colors, but I'm happy it's not some other combination.

My only worry about this dress is that it would make me look too white. It perfectly matches my hair in shade, and I find it to be the best out of my choices, but it definitely looks a bit excessive. Nalu is completely white though, so I don't see why I can't be.

I'll still try on all the other dresses though, just to see how they look. I only have seven selected, including the one I'm holding, so it shouldn't take too long. I'm tempted to just skip it and go looking for food, but I'll probably regret that decision later.

Turning back to the chest, I decide to just get it over with, and grab a new dress. This one is a rich brown color, reminding me of tree bark. I walk back around Nalu, and stare at myself in the mirror. After a second I start getting dressed, before looking at myself again.

Standing in the mirror is a young girl, with smooth flowing hair, and beautiful golden eyes. I honestly seem to be more than human. My appearance just doesn't seem natural, or realistic. Maybe I'm still thinking of this as Earth, but I can't really believe that I'm looking at myself.

I can't deny that the image moves when I do though, and the hair on my head is definitely the same. I can already tell that I'm going to be beautiful when I'm older, and I'm not sure how much I like that. I already stand out enough with the strange colorations, and standing out is something I don't want.

I've never been much of a people person, and now everyone who sees me will easily be able to remember me. I know I'd be able to remember 'that beautiful girl with white hair and gold eyes with a similarly colored giant fox with her.' We will definitely stand out in a crowd. Great.

There's nothing I can do about it though. I'll just worry about the things that matter now then, like the choice I have to make about what dress to wear. I honestly have no idea if my maids would like this better than the white one, so I start stripping again.

Nalu is curiously watching me from where I left him on the floor, as I return to the chest. He seems content to stay there, and I realize that he probably doesn't know why I'm constantly changing into and out of my dresses, as I start gathering the ones I haven't tried on into my arms. I'd rather not have to keep walking to and from the chest every time I decide to try the next one.

I drop the dresses in a pile once I'm standing in front of the mirror again, then reach down to grab one. I stand back up holding the only black dress I could find in the chest. I'm not sure if this one would be a better choice either. I really am bad when it comes to fashion. I guess it didn't really matter in my previous life. No one would care what I wore. I'm a noble now though, and I must look like a proper lady. Anything less than that means I lose a few hours of my free time.

 

I spend the next hour switching between the different dresses, before eventually deciding to just go with the white one and hope it's good enough. I like how it makes me look, and it seems to represent something when I look at myself standing next to Nalu. There is no meaning to my choice to wear all white though, I just like the color.

Nalu hasn't said anything about it either, so I assume he doesn't care. I don't spend much time thinking about it, instead turning towards the door. I finally have clean clothes, so next is food.

"Do you want food, Nalu? I'm not actually sure if I'll be allowed to give you anything." I start, before realizing that most people will just see Nalu as an animal. I hope they won't care what food he eats, as I don't want to make him eat things a human wouldn't. Even if he probably wouldn't care.

"Food sounds good." Nalu responds, standing up. He follows me to the door, and out into the hall. There is usually food prepared in the main dining room around this time, so that's the direction I head in.

We move down to the second floor of the western hallway, then start walking towards the entrance wing. We turn into the southern hallway after a while, then move on to the entrance hall's upper landing. The dining room is on the first floor, so we make our way down the stairs.

Turning to the left, I move to open a side door. It leads to a small corridor which connects to the main dining room after a few turns. I haven't seen anyone else since before I left earlier, which is odd, but my maids should be in the dining room at the moment, so I can ask them when we get there.

Opening the door, I see a deserted hallway. I didn't expect to find anyone there though, so I'm not surprised. I head down the hall with Nalu, turning right at the end. We turn left into a new hall halfway through the second, then turn left again once we reach the end of that one.

After a few meters of walking, I stop, turning to a door on my right. This door leads directly into the main dining hall, so I open it. Stepping into the room I see three people, my maids. They are standing a few meters away, looking down at the large banquet table running through the center of the room.

I notice that the auras of my maids are much harder to see through than those of the small lifeforms I've seen so far. The energies that form their auras are much different from mine and Nalu's. Ruza, Gen, and Zruna, have pink, yellow, and green energy respectively. It doesn't seem to match their appearance at all, though it does match their personality. Pink and yellow seem like a more happy energy, and green is also happy, just less excitable, and more calm. Their energies are just as unique to them as mine is to me, but it somehow seems more common, as if most people have this type of energy, just not the exact energy itself.

I haven't been within three meters of another human since before I was able to sense energy, so I have no way to confirm this, but I have a feeling that I'm right. I'll find out eventually though, so there's no point in worrying about it now.

The room itself is large, being about eight meters wide, and twenty long. There are windows along the far wall, which are each three meters tall, and one and a half wide. The windows are spaced evenly about a meter apart, and span the entire twenty meters.

The room is usually lit by sunlight, and I've always found it to be beautiful the few times I've been in here at sunrise. It would be more beautiful if there wasn't a large stone wall blocking most of the surrounding scenery, but I can't really complain about that. The wall is there for a reason.

Gen is the first to notice the door opening. She looks over her shoulder, before freezing. The other two notice her sudden silence, and look up. They follow her line of sight, then similarly freeze.

I stare at them for a second, wondering why they look so shocked. They saw Nalu when he first came to the manor, so the only other thing could be my hair and eyes. I didn't show nearly this strong of a reaction when I found out, and I'm still not used to magic.

"What?" I ask confused, hoping to get them to start working again. They look like I just showed them that I have a pet god. Yes, that's the only thing I can think of that would shock me as much as they seem to be, at the moment.

"Zuren?" Ruza asks quietly, though I can hear her fine. The way she said it makes it sound like she's questioning my identity, not trying to get my attention so she can ask an actual question.

"Y-your... It shouldn't be possible..." Zruna continues, just as quietly. My what shouldn't be possible? This is just getting more confusing as I listen. I don't see how I managed to do something so impossible.

"You haven't even gone to the ceremony yet... how could you already have such strong affinity?" Ruza mumbles, her body shaking slightly. She seems to be trying not to panic, while Gen is still frozen, and Zruna looks to be just noticing something extremely confusing.

"What affinity does white represent? And how does she have a second, stronger one?" Zruna asks, as she turns to Ruza. Gen is still standing motionless between them, staring at me blankly.

"She hasn't had her awakening yet, she shouldn't have any affinity..." Ruza responds shakily. I'm starting to get concerned at this point, but I have no idea what to do. It seems that my sudden appearance change holds some meaning I don't know about, and is supposed to be impossible before some ceremony I haven't heard about.

"Even the high priests of the church only have platinum blonde hair... only Vanzula herself has hair of light." Zruna says, her face somehow becoming even more confused.

"But what element is it? Even ice is tinted blue..." Ruza mumbles. Ice? What does that have to do with my hair color? Does it represent something? I keep staring at them quietly, as they continue.

"I... don't know." Zruna mutters after a small pause. She seems to be slightly detached at the moment, as if she isn't actually registering the things that are happening.

"What's wrong?" I tilt my head at them confusedly, pouting slightly. I've gotten better at acting my age as the years have gone by, but I'm still in no way 'normal' for a five year old.

Ruza and Zruna both move their gazes to my face, their expressions strange, troubled. It's as if there is some problem, but they have no way to fix it. I'm not sure what that problem could be, but apparently it has something to do with my hair, eyes, and some ceremony about awakening something.

"... everything..." Zruna responds after a while. I just blink at her, then look over at Nalu. He has been standing at my side since I walked through the door, his head about level with mine. He notices me looking at him and moves his gaze from the three in front of us. I can easily tell that he also has no idea what the problem is, just by seeing his eyes.

I turn back to Zruna, tilting my head. She doesn't elaborate though, even after a few seconds of staring at her. She doesn't even seem to see me, just staring straight through me, and everything else in the world. I didn't think it was possible to become this distracted by your thoughts in the middle of a conversation.

After a few more seconds, Ruza turns to Zruna, then looks back to me. Her gaze returns to Zruna, and she opens her mouth, but doesn't manage to say anything for another few seconds.

"What affinity does gold mean...?" She asks uncertainly, her voice quiet. I'm starting to get slightly annoyed at them ignoring me, but I'm still more confused than anything.

"Uhh... I, um, something?" Zruna replies in perfect whatever-this-language-is. Okay, maybe I'm a little more than slightly annoyed. It's less that they're ignoring me, and more that they're ignoring me while I have no idea what they're talking about.

"Does this happen often?" Nalu asks curiously. He is obviously finding this amusing, even if he's just as confused as I am. I'd find it funny too, if I wasn't the one who has to actually talk to them. Even with the annoyance, I still find their reactions slightly amusing.

I have no idea how I'm supposed to answer him though, as I doubt I wouldn't seem weird responding to a question that no one else heard. Especially if that response was directed at an animal. The three maids don't look like they would notice, but I'd rather not give them more strange occurrences to think about if I can help it.

And then I realize, feeling stupid for not thinking about it sooner, that I should be able to talk into Nalu's mind too. I see no reason why it would be a one way connection. Now that I think about it, Nalu has responded to my emotions a few times since I started being able to sense his. Now I really feel stupid.

I focus on the connection I can feel between us, attempting to understand it. It feels like a part of me, as if it has always been there, and seems as natural as having a mind in the first place. Following the connection, my mind seems to stretch, and expand, without actually changing. It's sort of as if I'm just now noticing that I have a body part that I didn't know about before, but has always been there.

My mind, or at least my conscious understanding of it, is different now. It's a strange, shocking, and unique experience, while also being pleasant, liberating, and completely normal. I feel as if I have just regained something lost, lost before I even had it, and I'm not even able to be confused at the strangeness of it all.

After the change finishes, I realize that I can fully feel Nalu's mind. It's as if all of his thoughts are my own, but distinctly not. The difference is obvious, but at the same time non-existent. It's confusingly unconfusing, and I don't care about that fact. His mind is so open to me, trusting of me, and it only takes a moment to realize that mine is the same to him. I understand the connection as I understand my own thoughts, then stop thinking about it. It is unimportant. There is no point in thinking about something like this. There just isn't.

I feel peaceful now, as if answers are meaningless, and worries pointless. I also feel happy, to know I have such a close friend. He's not even a friend at this point, he's much more than that. I only now realize that I truly trust him as much as I trust myself, as if he is just another part of me, just not.

I have no words to explain it, but thinking that I went thirty seven years without having Nalu with me makes me want to break down sobbing. To think that I went five years living close enough to him that we could meet in the nearby forest... makes it so much worse.

I don't though, as it only takes a second before I'm happily thinking about how I have him now, and how that is the only thing that matters. Moving back to my original goal of talking to Nalu, I form a thought in my head, then think it. And then, Nalu thinks it.

"No, they are being really strange right now." I hear my voice resound in Nalu's mind as clearly as his does in mine. The only difference is that this time it's his mind. Even if I am basically thinking his thoughts without them actually being mine.

I know that Nalu accepts my response, and that he is still enjoying watching the maids' reactions, regardless. I focus back on the maids, realizing that not even a second has passed since Zruna's response. It feels like it has been hours since I tried to use the mental link, but I guess I was just overwhelmed by all the sensations.

"Oh... yeah.." Ruza states. I'm too happy to be annoyed now, and I have no idea why. All I can feel right now is a peaceful, and pleasant, calmness. An airy carefreeness. It probably has something to do with my connection to Nalu, but that doesn't matter.

"What are we supposed to do? What does this mean?" Zruna asks, seeming to have put in the effort required to speak a proper sentence. She also looks a bit calmer now, but in no way is she calm.

"We could, uh... we... um..  Ah! We shou-"

"She's a genius." Gen says, cutting Ruza off. Ruza's mouth snaps shut, and both her and Zruna turn to Gen. They seem to have forgotten that she was standing right between them.

"We thank the gods, and continue with our lives. This is a blessing, but it is currently unimportant. We should just be happy that the Eztrinzi line has gained such a talent." Gen continues, smiling at me. Apparently she has finally started working again.

"Oh, yes. That sounds fine." Zruna says blankly, seeming to have just realized that that's a possibility.

"...-ould do that..." Ruza finishes absentmindedly, staring off into space. They are still basically ignoring me, but they should stop soon. They seem to be mostly over whatever it is they were so panicked about.

"I don't think we're ever going to get them to answer me. So, let's go look for food?" I ask Nalu, while still looking at the three maids. They all seem to be in deep contemplation, so I doubt they'll care if we walk away.

"I want food." Nalu agrees, and I feel that he's very expectant, more about the amount of food than its quality. I stop paying attention to his mind, and I no longer know his thoughts. They are still there, and all it takes is a moment to go back to them, but I don't actually know what has thinking without trying to. It's sort of like just not paying attention to the noise around you. You don't hear someone ask you a question if they were already talking to someone else and you didn't see them turn to you.

Nalu is always thinking, so his thoughts are basically background noise. I have no reason to know every thought he thinks anyway, he'd tell me if it was important. More importantly though, there should be food around here somewhere. I can't smell it from here, so it's not in the room. It's probably in one of the kitchens at the far side of the room, which is about fourteen meters away.

I hum at Nalu, without actually humming, then turn right, and start walking along the wall of the room. Nalu follows me silently, and we reach the wall after a while. My maids are still standing where we left them, unresponsive, so I open the nearest side door. The main dining room is connected to a kitchen almost as large as it is through the southern wall, and that kitchen is connected to three more. Just in case we have a lot of guests, I assume.

Stepping through the door, I find that the kitchen is filled with busy people preparing food. The kitchen itself is as wide as the dining room, eight meters, and the far wall is sixteen meters away. The eastern and western walls, to my right and left, are lined with counters and magic cooking devices. I'm not quite sure how they work, but they resemble stoves and ovens, so I'll just call them that. They create fire with magic, and you use that fire to cook things.

The floor is made up of simple white tiles, and the walls are similarly white. I'm not sure what material the walls are, but I know it isn't wood. The counter tops are a thick black marble, with the storage compartments within them being a simple silver metal. The ovens and stoves are similarly silver, and there is another line of them running down the center of the room. The middle line is completely silver, and there are gaps along it for the staff to move from one side of the room to the other.

The moment I opened the door, I was hit with a blast of different scents. I stopped being surprised that I can't smell anything through the doors after the first few times this happened, and Nalu doesn't seem bothered by it either.

Walking into the room, we follow the right wall for a few meters. After a few seconds, one of the chefs notices us, and looks down at me. He raise an eyebrow when he sees me, then just shrugs. He does the exact same when he sees Nalu, before looking back to the pot he was stirring.

"Can I help you young miss? You don't usually come into the kitchens." The man asks kindly, as he tends to the food. He is a middle aged man, and I've seen him a few times. I don't really know him though, but that is reasonable. There are a few thousand different servants on the property at any one time, so it's unreasonable that I would have even met them all, let alone actually know them.

His energy is actually sky blue, another color that feels average, and gives the impression that he is a kind, and caring, man. I can't see through his aura either, even though it seems a bit weaker than those of my three maids, but maybe it's because I'm not trying. I have no reason to know what's behind his aura.

"I broke my maids, so now I need to come find food myself." I say, looking up at him. My head barely reaches the counter tops, so I can't see over them, but I can smell the food he's currently making. It's nearly done, and it's one I feel like eating at the moment.

The food in the pot is this worlds version of mashed potatoes. The potatoes themselves have purple skin, and the insides are tinted slightly brown in comparison to the potatoes I remember eating. They taste like buttered potatoes with a hint of something in them, that makes them taste slightly spicy. It's a very small difference though, so they are still potatoes, just a bit unique.

"You broke your maids? That's a problem." The chef says amusedly, smiling slightly. "You should try not to do that in the future, maids are much better when they work."

"I knowww." I whine, pouting. "It's not my fault they broke though, they're just bad at not breaking."

The man chuckles slightly at that. "Well, let's get you some food then, while we wait for them to be fixed. What would you like?" He turns to me, still stirring the pot with one hand.

"Food!" I happily shout, smiling brightly. I really don't care what he gives me, as I haven't eaten all day. Potatoes sound good though, so I'm hoping he decides on those.

"Alright then, food it is." He says, then opens a nearby cabinet. "And what about your friend over there?" He asks after a moment, looking back at me.

I look back at Nalu for a moment, then return my gaze to the chef. "The same thing." I smile happily, as I look at him. Can foxes eat potatoes? That's a strange question. He should be fine, even if normal foxes can't eat them. I can guarantee that he is in no way 'normal' for a fox.

the chef just nods at me, before removing two large bowls from the cabinet. He sets them on the counter, before also grabbing a large spoon. I'm not sure if plastic is a thing in this world, as most of the cooking utensils I've seen so far have been made of silver metal. I'm not sure if it's actual silver though, but it's definitely not iron or steel. Would it be easier to make plastic, or silver paint?

Guess I'll probably never know. I doubt either of them exist though, but I won't know until I'm able to actually see the rest of the world. I watch as the chef starts filling the bowls with potatoes, he casually fills the bowls until they can't hold any more, then hands them to me. The potatoes in this bowl probably take up more space than my head, and I smile happily when I realize that. I should be fine eating more than this, another thing that is strange about my life.

"Thank you." I nod politely at the chef, just as a noble lady should, then turn around and walk past Nalu. I can hear the chef chuckling behind me as we walk back towards the dining room.

Stepping into the dining room, I see that the maids haven't moved since I last saw them. It has only been a few minutes, but I had thought they would be fine by now. I guess whatever happened to me when I first brought Nalu into my room holds some significance towards my future.

That's the future though. Right now, I need to eat my potatoes. I'm not sure if Nalu should try sitting in a chair, so I just set his bowl on the floor by the table. I then grab a spoon from said table, and move to sit on the floor with him. 

Nalu immediately starts licking at the potatoes curiously, and is soon laying on the floor, as he attempts to bite into them. It works better than I expected it to, and Nalu seems to be enjoying it, so I turn my attention to my own bowl.

 

Eventually, I hear the maids start mumbling confusedly about what happened to me. We are almost finished eating at this point, about ten minutes after we started, so I'm a bit surprised they just noticed my absence. Either they don't know they've been standing there for nearly twenty minutes now, or they somehow expected a five year old to wait patiently for that long without moving.

I'm going to go with the first one. We actually manage to finish before one of the maids find us, and that's only because I stand up. They have just been standing in place, looking around the room, for the last thirty seconds.

"Oh.. Zuren." Is all Zruna says, before looking to the other two. What could possibly be this shocking? I know for a fact that I didn't tell them that I have a pet god. Or even a normal pet with godlike power.

"Are you still broken?" I ask innocently, tilting my head. Nalu walks up beside me after a moment, his head also tilted. We probably look like two adorably confused children at the moment, but I can't really see us from an outside perspective. Nalu is definitely adorable though, I'm just not sure about myself.

"Huh...?" All three of them ask, staring at me blankly. They apparently don't have any idea why I just asked them that.

"I guess not." I say to my self, while also answering their 'question'. I'll have to try to get answers from them tomorrow, it's already dark outside. I'm still exhausted from earlier, even if I don't look it. Nalu is the same too, we both really need some sleep.

I turn to the left, then walk towards the nearest side door that leads into a hallway. There are only three of those in the main dining room, one on each end of the western wall, and another on the northern wall. The one I'm walking to is on the southern side of the western wall.

The three maids don't react until me and Nalu are too far away to hear them, so I'm not sure how long it took them. Me and Nalu turn right, then left, and follow the path we took to get here back to my room. We don't run into anyone on the way there, and step into my room after a few minutes.

I close the door after Nalu walks past me, and yawn. Nalu similarly yawns, and jumps onto my bed ahead of me. I follow him over, and climb up as he collapses onto his side. Once I'm on the bed, I crawl over to Nalu, and collapse into him.

"We sleep now." I mumble pointlessly. It's really convenient to be able to talk into someone's mind, he can actually hear me with my face buried in his fur.

I don't get a response from Nalu, other than a sense that he agrees with me, so I just relax into him. I have been stressing my mind for the entire day, so it isn't hard to fall asleep. Tomorrow we will probably be doing the same thing again. That should be fun.