I sigh again as I can feel eyes on me. I know it is the young girl, as it has been the last ten times I’ve turned around this morning.

“At least she is running and hiding from you now,” Shiva laughs.

“She still does whenever I turn around,” I sigh, as I continue to prepare breakfast.

“You sound so disappointed,” Shiva teases, “Did you want her to call you makata?”

“It is somewhat… lonely.”

“I wouldn’t worry about it too much,” she says soothingly, “She particularly loves your cooking, and will warm up to you soon enough.”

“So are you ready for today?” Leyla asks from behind me.

“I would rather that you let me see the dress,” I sigh.

“Don’t worry Alice and I worked on it, so I’m certain it will look beautiful on you,” she confidently assures me.

“I suppose,” I sigh yet again.

“Do you want to come with us?” Leyla asks, “It might be boring though.”

“Can I?” a quiet voice asks in return. I turn slightly and look out of the corner of my eye I see Leyla is kneeling down in front of Fiona.

“Of course you can if you want,” Leyla tells her and Fiona looks in my direction before quickly looking away, “Don’t worry about her, she may look cold but she is actually usually nice… well just don’t take after her habits okay.”

“Why does it seem like you sisters keep offering me backhanded compliments recently?” I ask and look behind me.

“I wouldn’t worry about it too much,” she smiles at me.

I sigh and Shiva giggles, “So what does the schedule look like today?”

“After breakfast we will go meet with Alice, and then she said that she is going to have a friend do your makeup and help you get dressed while we set up,” Leyla picks Fiona up.

“It feels like I have the hard job,” I complain, “And who is this ‘Friend’?”

“I’m not sure,” she responds as I turn back to the range, “Alice just described her as a friend.”

“There is no helping it I suppose,” I shrug, “Go set the table.”

“Of course,” she happily responds, “Do you want to help me?”

I don’t hear a response from Fiona but I don’t feel a gaze on my back anymore either so I assume she went with Leyla.

“If you are that concerned about it why don’t you play with her sometimes?” Shiva asks me.

“Play what?” I ask in exasperation, “The only things I remember from that age are not games that I would want her to learn.”

“I suppose that is true,” Shiva says sounding apologetic.

"She is also to young to manipulate a Ginbow board, and she doesn't show any interest in chess either."

“What is the matter?” the question ends up surprising me causing me to jump. I twist and Iris is standing there and she shakes her head, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to sneak up on you.”

“It is fine,” I rest my hand on my chest, and I ask “What was that though?”

“You looked a little sad from behind, so I was wondering if something was bothering you,” she smiles gently to me.

“It isn’t anything,” I sigh and shrug my shoulders while turning back around.

“Hmm?” she hums before she quickly moves behind me and starts to gently rub my shoulders, “Don’t worry about it too much by yourself, okay?”

“Like I said it is fine,” I tell her “And why are you doing this more often?”

“Rubbing your shoulders?” she sounds perplexed and I nod my head to her, “Because I told you I would and it seems to make you happy.”

“A-am I really that simple?” I feel my image slipping as the thought hits me.

“Of course,” Shiva laughs at me.

“So where is Melodiana this morning?” Iris asks as she continues to rub my shoulders.

“She mentioned something about training with Markus."

“They have been spending quite a bit of time together recently,” she notes.

“Have they?” I yawn.

“Indeed they have. Do you think she is interested in him?”

“I wouldn’t know I’m not her.”

“But you know more about how other races act right?”

“Is it really a major issue if she is?”

“No,” she laughs, “I was just making small talk.”

“More like making gossip,” I sigh to myself.

“More importantly making gossip with you,” Shiva snickers to herself.

“What is it like to be in love?” Iris asks me out of the blue.

“Where did that come from?” I restrain myself from arguing that I wouldn't know.

“I’m interested ta hear your answer as well,” Leyla interrupts us.

“Why are you all asking me about love? Aren’t I the youngest of us?” My restraint fails me and I feel a headache starting.

“Because weren’t you caught kissing on the street?”

“What about that tailor?”

The sisters ask in unison, although one of them sounds strangely irritated, and I complain, “I thought we were past this.”

 

I look around us as we walk down the street to the meeting location.

“Guard posts have increased again,” I mention as we pass another set of ten heading towards the outer wall.

“It is rather commendable that they send them out to the nearby villages to deter raids,” Shiva praises them.

“I’m concerned that they are spreading themselves to thin,” I shrug, “This is the type of opportunity that I would be able to take advantage of.”

“Perhaps,” Shiva says in agreement and then laughs, “But then again you never had to infiltrate a city that had its own sanctioned enforcers.”

“Indeed, I suppose that means the work load is going to increase when we get back to it.” I turn and look at Leyla following beside me with Fiona up in her arms, “So has the increase in pace reached your class yet?” I see my breath in front of me and I pull my cloak around me tighter while resisting the urge to shiver.

“For all that is decent, buy a new cloak already,” Shiva complains, and then sighs “at least you aren’t actively whining about it today.” I decide that it would be best to ignore her as I wait for Leyla’s response.

“Yes and no,” She nods her head with a small smile after a moment, “The foundry workers have increased production, and artificers have received more orders but we can only complete them so fast if we want a good quality.”

“That makes sense,” I nod my head, “Any botched work would have to be redone taking even more time.”

“Exactly,” She agrees, “Of course there are some customers that think that you can rush the job by just throwing extra money at us, not that I mind extra money mind you, but it won’t change my working speed.”

“A result of an artisan’s pride perhaps,” Shiva cuts in, “I wonder what kind of dress they made for you.”

“I wonder about that as well,” I sigh to myself and look out of the corner of my eye at Fiona. She is eating a meat bun while she looks around.

“Maybe you should take her to play with Talia,” Shiva suggests, “She might enjoy having a playmate her age, at least I think they are about the same age.”

“That might be possible, and I believe so,” I agree.

“Left up here,” Leyla says indicating a modestly sized house up ahead.

As we approach the gate I catch a glimpse of a curtain closing on the second floor and I remember that Alice and Elsie both live here and I sigh at the thought as we approach a beautifully crafted iron gate that gives the illusion of being covered in butterflies.

“Worried about Elsie?” Leyla asks and I nod my head, “Ya might be saprised.”

“Care to explain?” I ask as we pass through the gate.

“She is still unhappy with ya,” Leyla laughs, “But she respects ya at the same time, after the incident with the ghoul and all, and Alice has scolded her as well.”

“I see,” I respond as she reaches up and grabs the knocker on the door and she clangs it twice.

“What is the relationship between those two?” I curiously look around while we wait.

“Alice was adopted when she was about ten, and they were raised as siblings,” Leyla nods her head and then gets a small crooked smile and says, “Though sometimes I wonder.”

“You wonder?” I raise an eyebrow as Shiva immediately focuses on the conversation.

“Indeed,” she replies with the same smile but doesn’t say anything else

“That’s no fun,” Shiva complains.

“And what do you want me to do about it?” I ask, and she just sighs lightly.

After a moment the door opens and Alice greets us with a smile, “Welcome to our home.” She then stands to the side indicating for us to enter.

“We’re here,” Leyla announces as she carries Fiona in. I follow and nod my head to Alice and after I have passed I hear the door close behind me. Leyla sets Fiona back on the floor, and hangs hers and Fiona’s cloak on a rack standing near the entry way.I take mine off and Leyla reaches out, takes it, hangs it up as well, and I nod her my thanks.

I take a quick look around the small room. It is decorated with beautiful paintings ranging from Fey floating in the air to small paintings of the wilderness.

“I think that one is nearby,” I mention while looking at a small glade with a brook in it, “I believe I passed though it when I was searching for the Heartroot.”

“We will be working up in the sun room,” Alice softly instructs us, “I will lead Lily to the preparation room, so you can go ahead and begin setting up.”

“Of course,” Leyla nods her head before she looks down to Fiona, “Want to go see where Alice painted some of these?”

“If we can,” Fiona responds shyly.

“Of course we can,” Leyla tells her as she leads her off to one of the doors, “It is where we will be spending most of today anyway.”

As the door shuts behind them I turn to Alice who smiles lightly, “She is quite cute. If you will follow me this way I will lead you to where you are going to be getting ready.”

I nod my head and as I follow her matching her gentle pace, “These are very lovely paintings.”

“Several of them were gifts from my students,” she explains while opening a door near the back of the room leading down a long hall with windows on the right and doors on the left. In between the doors there are more paintings and some tapestries as well. “Also I want to thank you for agreeing to be her model; I know it was short notice with Iris getting pulled into training today, even Elsie couldn’t manage to get her out of it. Apparently it would have seemed like she was playing favorites if she did,” she sighs.

“And it isn’t considered playing favorites when you assist Leyla?” I smile at her.

“The Artificers are the smallest class that you can apply to,” She explains, “So the more experienced members are allowed to choose who they take on as their disciples from those that apply to them. So it was quite easy to secure Leyla under my care.”

“Is that an abuse of power?” Shiva whispers her suspicions.

“It probably is,” I laugh lightly, “But I’m not going to be the one to tell her that.”

“I’m quite jealous,” she looks off to the side as she leads me down the hall, “Any Undine would jump at the chance of contracting with a Royal Spirit.”

I look at her in shock, “I didn’t realize that you were able to tell her strength by just being nearby.”

“All Undine can,” She laughs slightly, “It is said that we were born of the Spirits when they walked the world.”

“How interesting,” I nod my head, “Honestly I haven’t spent much time around any Undine villages, so it’s the first I’ve heard about it.”

“I’m not too surprised,” she replies, “I’ve heard that you were raised in a coven, and the lands that they usually occupy are less than hospitable to my people.”

“I suppose that a desert would indeed pose an issue to an amphibious race.”

“Though that coven is rather surrounded by water,” Shiva yawns.

“All of the sulfur would probably cause issues for them though,” I catch myself mid yawn.