[Notice: You have been summoned as Oru's chosen to attend a coven of the Zimir. The coven will start in three weeks. You will be teleported to the location at that time.]

 

Rain stared at the message for a long moment. What exactly were the Zimir? What would this coven be like? She had no information. She could still hear Blondy telling her that as long as Rain did her best to learn and made the best decisions she could with the information she had, then she wouldn’t need to regret anything. So, having no information worried her. 

 

Where would she even start looking for details on the Zimir? Would Ms. Hope know anything? 

 

If Oru was involved, then this coven would include people and things far more powerful than her. What would she even be expected to do there? She couldn’t fight, and she didn’t know enough to make a plan. 

 

Rain looked back at the part of the message that told her how long she had left. It was already starting to countdown.

 

She stood up and started pacing back and forth to help herself think. If the Zimir were connected to Oru, then it was unlikely there would be anything about them in the parts of the Mid Ring Library that Rain had access to. That left Rain with one other option. The shaft. 

 

She had avoided going back there after she brought her corruption down because it seemed like her corruption wanted her to explore that place, which felt like a good reason to avoid it. But it might be the only place with the information Rain needed to ensure that whatever happened in three weeks was the best outcome possible. 

 

Decision made, Rain marched towards her bedroom door but then paused. Was she really going to go off on her own again? She wasn’t alone anymore; she had her siblings now. They were always good to her and had never shared one of her secrets. Rain didn’t want to carry this secret alone. She had been thinking of explaining everything to them for a while now, but this new development finally pushed her over the edge. It was time to show them the library. 

 

She would keep them out of the shaft and make sure they read nothing, but she wanted them to be a part of her life. She wanted to be able to talk to them about anything and everything that happened to her. 

 

With her mind made up, Rain continued pacing, bouncing as she got more and more excited to share with her family. Would they think it was cool? Would she be able to tell them about the hard things she did and get more hugs? 

 

That thought had her basically vibrating as she waited until finally, the door opened.

 

Sunrise entered the room dressed in her maid outfit and looking absolutely adorable. Rain had a quick moment of panic when she realized that this new outfit already looked a little small on Sunrise. Was she already outgrowing it! Not good, Ise had already grown two inches, surpassing Rain's own height. 

 

Rain rushed over to her sister and gave her a big hug. Ise happily returned it, and the two of them swayed back and forth a bit as they enjoyed each other's warmth. It didn’t matter how many times Rain did this; hugging her siblings always made her happy. 

 

She wasn’t alone.

 

Still, the rocking back and forth was kind of hard since Rain was standing on her toes. It was the only way to make sure she wasn’t shorter than Ise. Though by this point, she was only barely the same height even while doing this. 

 

Please be done growing.

 

“Are you doing anything important right now?” Rain asked.

 

“Yep, I’m getting a hug!”

 

“Besides that.” Rain tried to sound annoyed at the answer, but the effect was probably ruined by how she was rubbing her cheek against Ise’s to maximize physical contact. 

 

Sunrise giggled, a sound Rain loved to hear.

 

“Nope, I just finished doing the laundry. Do you wanna play!”

 

Rain did wanna play, but not right now. 

 

“Maybe later, there’s something I want to show you and Lucus.”

 

“Does Lucus have to be here too?” Sunrise pouted.

 

“Ya, it's important.” Rain said, letting go of her sister and stepping back. It took extra effort not to wobble on her toes. She really needed to figure out a better solution for this problem. 

 

“Fine, I saw the jerk reading in the library. Do you want to go talk to him?”

 

Rain hesitated for a moment. She didn’t like walking through the manor more than she had to. The servants' glares and whispers were bad, but the truth was that Rain was still angry at them. None of the servants had bothered to help her when she was sick. Instead, Sunrise was forced to do everything by herself with some help from Lucus. 

 

When Lucus had summoned the family doctor - after a lot of begging Lord and Lady Estom - the man had barely entered the room before pronouncing Rain possessed, leaving and refusing to return. That forced Sunrise - being the best sister ever - to somehow learn a remedy for fever and prepare it for Rain. She had even stayed by Rain’s bedside nonstop until Lucus found out and forced her to take shifts with him so she could sleep. The end result was that Sunrise had been overworked for those weeks, and that was not okay with Rain. 

 

Rain didn’t know how much time she would need to find what she was looking for in the shaft, so they needed to do this first so she could get started, even if that meant dealing with the servants.

 

“Ya, let's go.” 

 

Sunrise grabbed Rain’s hand, her left hand, and the two of them made for the door. Rain tried not to let it show how uncomfortable it made her for people to touch or even look at that hand. It had never healed right, leaving the ring, middle, and pinky fingers crooked and gnarled. They were ugly, and Rain didn’t want her siblings to think of her that way.

 

Still not wanting to draw attention to it, Rain didn’t say anything and simply followed her sister out the door and towards the library.

 

The trip was short, but it was even more uncomfortable than usual. Not because the servants were cold, but because they were the opposite. 

 

“It's good to see you, mistress Raina.”

 

“A lovely afternoon, mistress Raina.”

 

“Mistress Raina, do you need anything?”

 

Why were they being nice today? Rain could see that none of them meant any of the good things they said to her, but they were all doing it today for some reason. Something must have happened.

 

“Sis, do you know what's going on?” Rain whispered to Sunrise.

 

“I have no idea why these worthless pieces of filth are acting this way, but they should all go die.”

 

Sunrise could be scary sometimes. Not because she said things like that but because she could say them under her breath while smiling innocently at the people she was talking about. She would even sometimes call out friendly greetings to the other servants, who all seemed to dote on her. If only they knew how much she hated them.

 

Eventually, they made it to the library, which was mercifully empty of everyone except Lucus, sitting at a table reading a book with his eyebrows scrunched.

 

“Hi, Lucus!” Rain said, waiving at him with a smile.

 

“Hi, weirdo. Hi, crazy. What do you two want?”

 

“I never said hi to you, jerk, and I don’t want anything to do with you.”

 

Rain could see that the first part was true, but the second was a lie. It warmed Rain's heart to see that even if those two constantly fought, their barbs were becoming more false by the day. 

 

“I actually wanted to share something with the two of you. Do you have a moment?”