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On the sixth day of our interaction, Lydia and I got a day off. Or, to be more precise, my husband ordered me to rest, with Mireia’s supporting vote.
Turns out, unlike in a normal marriage, it is possible in a three-way relationship to find yourself outvoted.
“He’s right, after all,” Mireia observed as we met for lunch, after I groused about it. “You’ve been squeezing a trip to the hospital into your schedule every day.”
“And why are you saying that in second person?” I asked. “You’ve gone there with me every day!”
“The only other ‘work’ I have is my etiquette lessons with Lady Benedetta and my dance lessons, My Lady,” she answered coolly. “You, on the other hand, are wedging your trips to the hospital in between all your work as Acting Duchess. We’re nothing alike, I think.”
I probably should mention we were having this conversation in the bath. Or rather, I was in the bath. Benedetta had rescheduled my Water time to the time after finishing all my meetings in the morning and taking lunch, which I had been using for the past week for hospital visits.
The truth was, I was done with those visits. The medical corps was now rearranging matters so that the patients who would most benefit from either Mir’s or my help would be sent here to the Castle instead. However, when reviewing the arrangements, my husband had stepped in and inserted a day off for me into the plan. The first patients would now arrive tomorrow.
Mir was seated on a chair nearby. I had invited her to join me, but she simply sniffed, “If a human being stayed in the tub as much as you do, she’d shrivel up like a prune!”
She said that, but I knew if she was allowed to be one of the ones bathing me instead of joining me as one of the ones being bathed, she’d have jumped into the bath in a heartbeat. Although she would be back out by now, like the maids were. The actual washing part was done.
Syl and a chambermaid were standing by, to attend to any needs I had, while Genette and the other chambermaid were bustling around in the next room, finding things to do nearby so they would be close at hand when I finished soaking.
As for myself, I was now reviewing papers, while Mir organized them for me. I have finally learned why Mother always did this. There isn’t enough time in the day to review everything and fit in our bathtub time! And if I skipped my baths but messed up the Water coating technique while dressed in the finery the maids clothe me in here, I would feel really bad for causing them trouble.
Well, I could easily review the papers during the times at night when the mortals are sleeping, since I need far less sleep, but it troubles the mortals for some reason. At least, if I do it, they worry I’m shorting myself of sleep. So I spend my time on nights that I don’t sleep practicing the magic Lydia’s been teaching me, slipping out to fly around the castle grounds or getting my sword swings in.
I would go out and fly around the countryside, but I promised my husband I would stay on Castle grounds.
Which leads to this scene. As a means to fit in all the reading I have to do during the day, I multitask my soaking time.
Mir’s cool, mature attitude as she handed me the papers to review brought a strange image to my mind, a memory of this same girl as a bouncy, happy airhead. The picture did seem to fit her, but I could not, for my life, remember when I had ever seen her like that. The only memories I could clearly place were all of this much more mature version.
Lydia mused, <Perhaps you shouldn’t dwell on it. The goddess has warned me that we should not try to recover your missing memories yet.>
<Was that one of those memories?> I wondered. I couldn’t help being curious about it, right?
<I have no idea,> she confessed. <They have purposefully kept me from learning the memories of the other lifetimes, including yours, so that I don’t leak them to you. I only know the parts from your lifetime that you already remember. But it stands to reason that, if you became acquainted with her during the time of your missing memories, any unexplained memories of her would be from that time. >
<Oh.> I was disappointed. It doesn’t matter that the goddess says it’s dangerous. I would like to at least remember the parts that aren’t part of the problem.
Does that mean that bouncy, peppy Mir was a real thing? I would like that, if it were true. She always gets a trace of this haunted, guilty look whenever she sees my husband by my side and she thinks I don’t see her. She seems like she would be more natural as a cheerful girl. Or at the very least, one not haunted by guilt that I absolutely don’t want her to feel.
“My Lady? Are you done reading that?” she wondered.
“Hm? Oh, yes,” I answered and handed the latest report back.
That’s when Shindzha’s voice suddenly echoed in my head.
<Beware, Mistress! Incoming on your southeast!>
It’s fortunate that I wasn’t holding the paper anymore when it happened. I might have dropped it in the water.
In the same moment, the blood drained from Mireia’s face. She had heard the words as well. Her head whipped around, clearly trying to remember which direction was southeast.
“Relax, Mireia!” I told her sharply. “Shindzha is nowhere near here!”
Behind her, Syl and Ena were growing confused, but I had to stay focused on the suddenly panicked Mir.
“But she said Mistress!” she protested.
“She was definitely addressing Hiléa,” I declared. I knew it was so, for a fact. I could feel it, because the being she was addressing was pictured in her mind as she called out, and it was definitely the tiny otherworld girl.
What I didn’t know was why it had hit Mireia so hard. She was wound tight, like my soldiers back in the war, the first time they experienced a bombardment. Her eyes were full of adrenaline and my vampire-strength ears could literally hear her heart hammering.
“Calm down!” I ordered, grabbing her wrist. “She was warning Hiléa and somehow broadcast it to all of us.”
Was my understanding of what had happened knowledge leaking from my missing memories? Or had it somehow arrived with the warning itself? I didn’t know. I only knew for certain that a Servant with a strong enough mind could perform such a feat. It was nothing I ever learned from Aunt Elianora, but it was engraved in my soul as a fact, somehow.
I looked at Syl and ordered, “Gather up all the papers. And, Ena, tell Genette that I’m getting out now.”
“Yes, My Lady,” the maids both responded, and carried out their orders.
I stood, letting the water drain off my body as I reached out with my other hand to rest on Mireia’s cheek while staring her in the eyes. She was still flustered, but she was breathing evenly now. I prayed a small, silent prayer that the rest of the Servants had not been struck so hard. It was possible, from what I understand. It seems Mireia’s bond with me is a bit different than the others, due to some sort of training she’s had, but it’s supposed to be weaker, not stronger.
After the maids dried me while shooting each other worried looks, I only let them put a bathrobe on me, because I didn’t want to spend the significant time that daytime clothing requires. As soon as I was able, I joined Mireia, seated at the tea table in my sitting room with a cup of chamomile that Aira had quickly prepared.
I received one as well as I took a seat across from her and composed my own worried thoughts. What had prompted such a forceful alarm? What was going on, deep in the Kasarene Highlands?
It had very quickly become habit to block out the flow of mana in my pathways, as my Servants used my capacity for their spells. I essentially don’t notice it at all, anymore. But now I realized I was feeling quite a lot. Alarming amounts, actually.
Mireia set her cup down and pulled in a deep breath, then asked, “Aira, do you have my wand?”
Aira produced it from the pocket of her apron while stating, “Of course, My Lady.”
Mireia still had two weeks to go before we were to announce her concubinage, but she was at last no longer protesting the honorific that she technically didn’t rate, yet.
My maids had quietly spread throughout the Castle the story that Lady Tiana asked Prince Roderick to take her dear friend Mireia as a concubine. Of course, the rumor that Mireia often slept in my bed had long since made the rounds as well, so nobody was so impolite as to question why a newlywed wife would request such a thing. She could no longer pretend that it might not happen, when she was now known as my mistress rather than his. I did feel a tiny bit guilty about having done that to her, but not much. I wanted her to enjoy her happy time with him without having to endure backbiting whispers in the shadows.
Mireia held the willow wand up, lightly held in her fingertips, and intoned, “Afar, away, be fleet / Spoken words fly quickly / Find your partner swiftly / [Pairing Light]!”
Her Light spell gathered into a globe hovering about the table, similar visually to a [Fairy Light] spell, but from the other end we could hear shouts and noises.
“My Lady, it’s not a good time!” Lady Ceria’s voice called out from the other side.
“What’s going on?” I demanded.
“Sorry! I’ll call later!” she yelled, her voice receding as if she was running from the globe on the other end.
The globe popped out of existence. The mana flow that the spell needed from the ‘partner’ of this two-mage spell had stopped.
Mireia blinked, her brow bunched up in a worried bundle as she looked up at me.
“Should I try again?”
“No,” I answered without hesitation. “That was clearly the sound of a battle.”
I drummed my fingers, that weird habit I had acquired when I woke up without my memories.
“More tea, My Lady?” Aira asked, sounding worried as well. It helped me notice that I was visibly fretting. She had chosen chamomile for its calming properties and clearly felt I needed it. No doubt, she realized it when I drained the teacup without any awareness that I was doing so.
“No…” I began, then twisted my lip, nodded and stated, “Yes, I would be obliged.”
I tried to sip my second cup more elegantly.
“I wish we could know what was happening out there,” I muttered.
“Um… it seems you can,” Mireia stated. “Or rather, you should do it right away.”
Her words were right out of the blue. I looked over at her, confused, and saw she was biting her lower lip.
“An oracle?” I guessed. She pressed her lips together and nodded.
The maids with us knew she was a priestess, and were aware she had divine powers. Even so, their eyes filled with superstitious awe.
Mir licked her lip, then stated, “You seem to have a means to do it. The goddess says to listen to your inner self. I don’t know what she means by that.”
<I do,> Lydia stated. <That’s a cipher that refers to me. It’s a silly pun, but I suppose it’s an accurate description.>
I stared down at my teacup, gathering my thoughts before asking, <Do you have some idea what she expects from you?>
<Well, of course, she expects me to teach you something, since that’s all I can do,> my prior life incarnation replied. <But only one of the techniques which they prepared me to teach you has any application in this situation, and I’m afraid that technique is quite difficult. You should probably return to bed for this. It’s going to take quite a lot of concentration on your part.>
