"It has been well-trained, under my personal supervision. No effort was spared to ensure that its service will prove satisfactory," Zyriko's father declared. His face twisted into his usual sneer of triumph---all shall cower before the greatness of Zyzz!---but Zyriko knew him well-enough to detect nerves beneath the facade. Which meant that, in his father's mind, although he had high hopes for whatever his scheme was, he wasn't yet certain of the outcome. An important clue as to what in the world his father's scheme could possibly be.

<Inform me at once if there are any disappointments,> the Patriarch added 'secretly,' unaware that his son passed every mental word to Suri, subtly embedded within the flows of the spell that shielded Her mind. <Wake me, if necessary.>

The girl whom the Patriarch was referring to, and pacing behind, had been selected to serve as the Keyic Heiress' lead Zyzz attendant for the duration of Her visit, Her shadow and primary point of access to Zyzz hospitality. That was a standard enough setup for a distinguished guest you wanted to impress, but the introduction was usually more matter-of-fact, not such a dramatic affair.

Zyriko sorely hoped this would be the last of his father's surprises.

The unfortunate attendant had been been made to wait in the antechamber beyond the entry hall, alone in the center of the room, kneeling with her forehead pressed to the crimson rug, hands tucked beneath her shoulders. She had stayed in that same pose ever since they entered, following the introduction nonsense, and hadn't so much as twitched the whole time. Inset into the wall behind her and the Patriarch were the grand doors leading to the palace ballroom, while a series of smaller doors on the left and right walls led to various wings of the palace, including one for their destination, the wing housing thermal springs. Crimson Zyzz banners hung in the spaces between, over polished obsidian paneling.

She was projecting the same simulated awe and reverence that every child in the Zyzz domain learned as a matter of survival, along with an ascended form of stage fright that threatened to eat her alive. Indeed, this was a performance where the actress' world really would end if she flubbed a line or stumbled. At this proximity, Zyriko's father couldn't possibly have failed to detect her terror, but he would find it desirable, a motivating fear of failure. So, helping to soothe her nerves directly was not an option. All Zyriko could do was aid her own clearly experienced effort at self-hypnotizing into a half-dissociated trance, limited by the need to conceal that his spell was more than a simple probe.

Whether she was ready or not, the time came. The Patriarch made another show of giving orders with red magic, and the attendant smoothly raised her face from the crimson carpet, sitting back on her calves while keeping her eyes lowered, staring just past her knees. Zyriko blinked in astonishment, which was fine, because he was clearly supposed to be astonished.

"Oh?" Suri murmured aloud.

<Is that too little?> She asked hurriedly. <Should I admire her beauty? Ask if her hair is natural?>

Fair questions, but Zyriko needed to think. 

The girl was maybe fifteen---extraordinarily young, to be assigned such a critical role---but that wasn't what had him confused. Suri had mentioned her hair for a reason: solid crimson so vivid it could plausibly be mana-coloring, except she had no pool at all. The color was an imperfect match for her crimson-over-black attendant robes, implying that it was most likely, amazingly, her own natural shade. Either way, it was wrapped around a vertical obsidian needle at the back of her head, which was part of a set along with obsidian earrings, necklace, and bracelets.

That much they had been able to see from the beginning, and it was all weird enough, but rising upright had revealed lips painted crimson with a patch of obsidian on the lower middle, crimson and obsidian paint on her eyelids, groomed brows, manicured nails painted in the same colors, and a complexion that no mortal could maintain without resources, a team, and a daily regimen. A power-marked red Heiress-to-be attending her own investiture wouldn't be wearing an attendant's livery, and her obsidian jewelry would surely have rubies in it, but otherwise? 

Utterly, profoundly bizarre. Zyriko's parents were the exact opposite of the type to want an extraordinary non-mage around, doubly not the type to go to great lengths in proving that the most extraordinary beauty of the Zyzz domain wasn't a Zyzz.

This was no willing favorite reveling in special treatment. There was no trace of vanity, no self-importance, not even a tinge of bashful pride. Fear, and survival. She would a million times over prefer to be one of the anonymous attendants handling luggage, and they all agreed with her. 

Cold anxiety trickled down Zyriko's spine. This was too anomalous. He was missing something, failing to anticipate some callous agenda, and that was dangerous. His father had been giddy. Giddy over having found a non-mage who looked like the power-marked daughter he didn't have!? The father Zyriko knew would have her mutilated for daring to be born with genes that taunted him, not invest into making....

Expensive, obedient eye candy. A rare find trained to serve as his daughter-in-law's shadow. Ah.

More than anything else, the Zyzz Patriarch couldn't stand feeling inferior to his peers. The smallest wound to the prestige of his lineage would eat at him, and fester, until eventually it grew all-consuming. Everything was a competition. Everything.

<Neither, what You're doing is perfect,> Zyriko concluded. <She's the best answer my father could find to Villacqui. He's hoping You will want to keep her, take her back north when we leave. A pretty pet all the way from Zyzz to follow You around and gush about how perfect You are.>

As it turned out, the Zyzz Patriarch's plan had succeeded in delighting his guest, but for reasons he could never imagine.

<...I can get more.> Suppressing a grin with sheer force of will, Suri started scheming, while subtly, but not too subtly, admiring Her present.

"Now, I have kept you from our springs too long!" the Patriarch announced, encouraged. "In the meantime, rest assured, I shall personally ensure that no detail is overlooked."

He indicated the bustling mass of attendants in the background, then strode with purpose toward the entry hall. 

The attendant left behind rose smoothly to her feet, pushing through both the grip of terror and physical deadness in her legs from extended kneeling. She bowed low, then with a practiced precision that testified to countless drills, made a graceful point-turn toward the correct door and glided toward it at a measured pace with the same balance beam, toe-before-heel gait that Villacqui still couldn't help but fall into. 

<Without a pool, she can never compare to Villacqui, and he knows it,> Suri resumed, as a detachment of Keyic honor guards and attendants encircled them. <Not even close. I'll hint that I'm impressed, with this 'sample,' and curious to see more. Even letting Me pick a girl from every village wouldn't be close to Villacqui's value, but I think that would be pushing it. Zyzz literally can't afford to match her. So, I can find a few plausible favorites, and their families. A set of Zyzz handmaidens worthy of Me. Should be doable, if I play it right.>

Zyriko hesitated before replying to his wife. It was painful to need to squash Her hopes.

<My father...He would be too ashamed to do this if he hadn't talked himself into the idea that they're comparable. So...he must be thinking that her beauty and coloring are signs that she's on the verge of manifesting red divinity. And...>

<White commands a disproportionate premium, but red is rarest by far,> Suri finished, deflating internally. <He's convinced himself that I may be able to draw it out, like ascending Nyrkatess but at a lesser tier, so Zyzz in the end is at least on par with Tvokess.>

She mulled it over while staring at their guide's back. Every step identical. Same flex of the ankle, same length of the stride, same muffled roll from toe to heel.

<'Tens of thousands of little faces,'> the Blue Goddess whispered silently, surging with resolve and discipline. <I will spend lives to purchase more because I must, but I will not gamble, neither with their lives nor hers. My goal was nothing lost, and nothing gained but time. Anything more is a bonus. I can get one for free without gambling. One is more than none. None is more than negative ten thousand. Fill everyone in, please.>

More a statement to Herself than to him. Zyriko sent a mental hug, and did as She'd asked.

They reached the door to a chamber housing thermal springs without their guide ever saying a word or taking a single imprecise step. Two identical steps past the door, she executed another precise turn in place, wordlessly dropped to both knees, and pressed her forehead to the crimson rug underfoot. Then she rose back to sit on her calves, as before, waiting in motionless silence with eyes on her own knees.

"The Keyic Heiress is pleased, and offers praise," announced the Keyic attendant in front, once the miniature procession halted. "Our Heiress prefers to call Her favored attendants by name, and wishes to know what name She should speak to call you?"

The attendant pressed her forehead to the rug in acknowledgment, then rose back to her calves. Zyriko suspected she was mostly stalling for time to compose herself and review her words before speaking.

"This humble servant, is blessed with joy, beyond words, to learn that the most illustrious Keyic Heiress is pleased," she forced out, voice trembling much more than her steps had. Speaking through nerves clearly hadn't been the primary focus of all those drills. "This one is awed, to be favored, with divine praise. It offers a humble reply: If the most divine, of all goddesses, is pleased to speak 'red girl,' then it will come, without fail, until it lives no more, for its life has no other purpose."

"There is no need to be anxious," Suri interjected, and the attendant immediately prostrated herself. "You please Me greatly. You are worthy. Stand with pride and raise your eyes, as any other of My worthy attendants. It is the Keyic custom, for those who are worthy, and you are worthy."

Years of being conditioned to follow Zyzz customs dueled with years of being conditioned to obey direct orders without delay, especially from this particular guest. After four heartbeats of hesitation, the latter conditioning won a partial victory. The attendant stood, but raised her eyes only insofar as she was looking at the ground a little further away from herself.

"Better," Suri praised. "You have pleased Me again. It would please Me most of all if you had a proper name. Do you have one?"

Amidst her fluster and confusion, the attendant's true name leaked from her mind.

<Cindershine,> Zyriko passed along. <She doesn't want to share it.>

<I see. Still, I refuse to call her 'red girl.' I'll need to-->

"Cindershine," the attendant blurted, apparently having decided that there was no other option. "It is sorry that this lowly name is too long and silly to be good. 'Red girl' is short."

<She doesn't mind her name,> Zyriko clarified. <She minds anyone around here using it.>

"True, true, 'red girl' is short," Suri replied aloud. "But it is dull and ordinary, so it doesn't fit you. If you don't think your name is good, you shall need a special one, just for Us. Special...beautiful...and red...but not too long...'Pyra,' then. That shall be My special name for you."

'Pyra' subtly wobbled with relief. 

"Above My ear, in My hair, there is a beautiful red flower," Suri continued. "It would please Me, Pyra, if you looked at it."

Clear and unambiguous instructions. For the first time since they had seen her, 'Pyra' raised her eyes from the ground and looked in Suri's general direction. She swallowed, but stared straight at the flower.

"Finally! It is such a waste for eyes as beautiful as yours to stare at the ground!" Suri praised, then pointed to the flower with Her Own painted nail. "This kind of flower is called pyra. Such a vivid red, and so very beautiful. I treasure My special pyra flowers. Yes, I think Pyra will be a good name for you."

Overwhelmed by a cocktail of confusion, anxiety, hope, relief, not-so-simulated awe, and a second helping of confusion, Pyra collapsed to her knees and pressed her forehead to the ground once again. 

"This one is awed to be blessed with a name that so pleases the most illustrious Keyic Heiress," she replied, the smoothest she had yet spoken. "It will know it is called when it hears 'Pyra.'" 

"She will know I am speaking to her," Suri corrected. "Not 'it.' That is the Keyic custom, Pyra, for those who are worthy, and you are worthy. Let anyone who disagrees explain themselves to Me. Now rise, and let Me see your eyes again."

There were no heartbeats of hesitation this time, though 'Pyra' still swallowed when her eyes reached her namesake flower, and her confusion redoubled. The Blue Goddess looked neither fake nor evil. Neither did Her husband, for that matter.

"Very good! You keep pleasing Me!" Suri praised again. "Now, My husband tells Me that these chambers are like My homeland, hot and humid. I am curious, is it true? Have you been inside?"

"Most divine goddess, Pyra has never been inside. The most illustrious Zyzz Heir knows best."

"Attendants may not enter?"

"Attendants enter only to clean, when the chamber will be vacant."

"And you are not permitted to do anything that might damage your hands?"

The attendant bowed in answer. "Pyra is awed by the divine wisdom of the greatest of all goddesses. Pyra must not ruin its hands, because Pyra's purpose is to serve the Keyic Heiress. B-but if the most illustrious Keyic Heiress wishes Pyra to clean, then Pyra will clean."

"Her hands. It is the Keyic custom," Suri reiterated. "I wish for you to accompany Me inside, but not to clean or to do anything else that might hurt you. Is that clear?"

Pyra bowed again. "The will of the most divine goddess is clear. Pyra will follow, but will not clean or do anything that might harm...herself."

"Good. Very good. When you follow Keyic customs, you please Me greatly. So, wait here, dear husband, and no peeking. I need to have Pyra try some Keyic styles, and see how deep her potential truly goes."