What do you mean here for me? Anna and my siblings began to fuss over me but I ignored them. 

     “Apparently your parents were summoned to the capitol. These men were supposed to take advantage of the decrease in guards to break in and abduct you.”

     Why? I am just a baby, I haven’t done anything to betray that fact. Plus I've never even met anyone outside of my family. Did someone see Tani? 

     “The staff is trying to figure that out. They captured several of the intruders. Someone gave them the blueprints for the mansion but they got a little lost,” she said with a mischievous grin.  

     What did you do? I knew that look. I’ll have to talk with her more later but she probably saved my life.

     “I just added something to the existing defenses. It was a confusion spell that flipped their left and right sense of direction.” What she said got me thinking. My thoughts were broken when Anna handed me to Lia. She stood and went to the door, Tani following her over. After a hushed conversation through the still-closed door, she sat back down on her chair.

     “Anna, what's happening?” Lia asked in a soft quavering voice. 

     “We’re having a sleepover in Lilli’s room,” Anna said in a calm even tone. Lilli and Andi seemed a little doubtful but took her words in stride. Their light became disrupted by worry.

     “Anna I'm scared,” Lia said

     “Don’t worry I’ll protect you girls,” Andi said thumping himself on the chest.

     “There’s nothing to worry about kids. We are just going to spend the night with Lilli,” she said trying to reassure them. “Look at Lilli. She is all alone in her pen.” Anna, you traitor!!!

     “Awww look she's so cute,” Lia said in the tone used to describe animals and small kids. “Lilli? Do you want to dress up?” Great, I'm going to be turned into a dress-up doll. Thanks Anna…

     "Bah,” I say excitedly. Though it kills me a little inside. A baby wouldn’t really understand her anyway. This is my fate, I should be glad I'm at least still me, even if that ‘me’ is stuck inside a baby. Anna opens a door that I didn’t even know existed and we went into an attached room. It was also covered in a barrier. My two siblings looked around the room and Lia’s face began to light up. Definitely not a good sign of things to come for me.

     “There's so many,” Lia said excitedly.

     “Girls and their clothes,” Andi said though I could tell he was also excited.

     Not you too… Tani also had a mischievous grin. 

     “You’re going to be so adorable,” she said. Her voice tinged with joy. I facepalmed, which apparently the others thought was cute. After another squee session from my family and Tani, I was stripped of my sleeper. Thus my personal hell began. They spent hours, HOURS, dressing me up. And Tani wasn't helping at all, she essentially joined in. Although I could see the clothes people were wearing it took time for my sight to adjust.

     They were changing my outfits faster than I could actually see. After I told Tani about that she started drawing what I looked like. And I’ll admit if I was not the baby in this situation I would have joined in. I was a pretty adorable baby, I just wish I was an adult. At some point, my baby body decided it was time to sleep. I was in my mind palace again. So with nothing else to do and having not done my exercises, I worked in there until it went dark and I lost consciousness. 

*****

     I woke up the next morning a little late. Anna was sleeping in her chair which couldn’t have been comfortable. Lia and Andi were still in my room and were sleeping on the floor. Tani however was nowhere to be seen. That made me a little worried, but the barrier was still active. As usual, I woke up messy, another thing I hated about being a baby. Normally I wouldn't act my age but without Tani by my side, I didn’t want to deal with it. I started to cry, waking everyone up.

     “Lilli what's wrong!!” Lia said jumping up. Her light was disordered with fear, sorry Lia. seeing me in my crib still she smiled and her light settled into its normal flow.

     “It would appear she needs a change,” Anna said picking me up. She took me to the changing station and got me cleaned up. She handed me off to Lia who began to feed me. Before too long there was another coded knock at the door and Anna went to answer. The exchange was brief and she quickly returned to us. 

     “Let's go get breakfast,” Anna said to my siblings. She tapped the intercom controller thing and the barrier disappeared. Lia handed me to Anna then the four of us began to walk the halls. The moment we left my room a few people went inside carrying something magical. Anna kept a vigilant watch her light was sharp and focused.

     We were being shadowed by a few men who were dressed as butlers. Probably a security detail. Tani still hadn’t appeared which was beginning to worry me. We went into a large room. I didn't know exactly what was in there but it appeared to be a dining room as there were a few people seated at what was probably a table. 

     Anna put me into a sort of baby chair and fastened a small strap across my waist. It was far from comfortable, but it wasn’t really uncomfortable. I was really beginning to miss Tani, she still hadn’t returned. I guess something showed because Anna picked me back up after she ate and started trying to soothe me. But I was already not feeling well, and now Tani was missing. 

     I may have acted like a baby. Which I guess I was after all. For the first time in my life, well this life at least, I cried and fussed. Somehow it really did make me feel better. Though crying for so long made me really tired so I ended up napping. I don’t know how long I napped but when I woke up Lia and Andi were talking with Anna. Tani was still missing, it had to be at least a few hours now as they were talking about having dinner soon. To try and distract myself I practiced my sigils. I couldn’t cast any magic because Tani hasn’t told me exactly how yet. 

     There was definitely some order or language to them. I hadn’t quite begun to try and decipher them yet, however. I was hoping to learn more Sigils before I started working on that. Anna noticed I was awake and had Andi feed me. Once I had finished Lia took me into the bathroom and gave me a bath. I had forgotten how boring and lonely this was. Tani had given me an escape from being trapped as an infant. Goddess how I missed her. I really hoped nothing bad had happened.

     I started crying again, I am such a mess. I should be able to handle this better. Lia finished my bath and dressed me back up. Then she put me in my crib and I fell asleep again. I tried to distract myself again by sorting my life in my Mind Palace. It helped a little, but sorting through my memories made me sad. 

     I had spent so much of my life dedicated to my work. Don't get me wrong I really did enjoy it but it wasn't my choice. I mean I chose my field of study but that was it. And even then I was limited by my parents. They told me I had to choose between S.T.E.M or business. I always enjoyed learning so I picked research. 

     Once I did my future was planned until I turned eighteen. And even then I wasn’t truly free of my family. My workplace was decided for me, my parents tried to arrange a marriage. Like seriously who even does that any more? I'm not even sure that I like men, I sure as hell never had time for anything more than a childish crush. Sorting was fine until I came to my tenth birthday, these memories really aren't in any kind of order are they?

     Goddess, I hated that birthday. That was the day I stopped loving my Father. My cursor hovered over the bad memories folder when I decided to play the video.

     “Happy birthday to me,” I said blowing out my candle. 

     “Happy birthday Miss,” said Stephan my personal butler. 

     “Thank you Stephan,” I said. I liked him, he was present at all my birthdays and was more of a dad than my father.

     My Father walked into the room, which was already unusual. But behind him was a pair of police officers.

     “Father, what brings you here today?” I asked giving him a curtsy. Goddess, I hated having to do that. 

     “This is the man, please escort him from the premises,” Father said. The police officers nodded and asked Stephan to accompany them.

     “Father, what is going on?” I asked though I already knew he would ignore me.

     “It is ok Clarissa, I knew this was going to come eventually. Take care my precious little Clarissa,” he said stroking my cheek before being escorted away.

     “Father, why is Stephan going away?” I ask, pulling his pants. My eyes were filled with tears.

     He gave me a dismissive wave, but when I wouldn’t let go he shook me off and said. “That man was stealing from me. He’s lucky there’s not enough credible evidence else he’d never see the light of day again. Forget him, we’ll get you a new servant,” He said then walked away. There’s no way Stephan would have done that. 

     The video ended with me crying again. I later found out that Stephan was framed by someone else. She was jealous of his position, he stayed with me in the mansion while she was relegated to the servant's quarters. Why is it dark in here already? I guess watching videos of my past life uses more Ether than normal. I sorted as much as I could until my ether fully drained. Right before I passed out I wished I could tell time somehow. 

*****

     I was miserable, and everyone knew it. Tani was still missing, it's been a week and she hasn't returned. I had been throwing myself into my Mind Palace any time I was asleep. When I am woken up while in there I don't just snap awake thankfully. But I do hear whoever is trying to wake me. I do feel bad for my family, and I love them a lot but Tani has a special place in my heart. I was probably in love with her though I wouldn’t tell her that. I'm not ready for the teasing.

     It was morning, today was Lia’s birthday. Then in a week, it was Andi’s, then fourteen days after that was mine. It was going to be a busy month. I found a tooth, my first one. Which explained the occasional soreness. That soreness was now actual pain. I hated it, I understood why babies cried about it. Anna spotted the tooth a day ago and had gotten me something to teeth on, which actually helped. Though pacifiers didn't exist yet, I might have to introduce them. 

     I had just finished eating and was put into my pen when something made my heart skip a beat.

     “Hello, my precious little Lilli I missed you,” Tani said as she threw herself against my face in a hug.