So yesterday i used an old thread to post chapter 6 I hope most of you haven't skipped it due to this, I failed a little in the first part of this chapter so if anyone could give me an idea or two to make it better it'd be appreciated.
Thanks for reading I hope you'll enjoy chapter seven.
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During the last month of fall my parents rarely allowed me to leave the house, having overcome the punishment I'd previously received I was a bit shocked by this development.f
At home I would still follow the same basic routine of waking up before dawn and sparring in the garden, afterwards I would eat breakfast accompanied by Sam.
After that however I was now forced to take classes of etiquette from Sam, how to walk and talk what fork to use wasn’t included thankfully there's still only one fork, spoon, and knife.
The worst part was how to be "lady-like" standing, sitting, walking, running all of it would be done with a straight back and proper form.
High heels sadly do exist in this world and we spent the majority of a week just having me walk in them, not once was I allowed to sit down.
For over ten hours a day I'd wear my new shoes and walk around balancing books on my head, after I was deemed sufficiently competent by Sam the true horror began.
Wearing flat shoes Sam taught me to dance, sadly she was the only one wearing flats.
Right foot back, left foot back, right foot forwards, left foot match each step was simple at first but, gradually increasing in speed it became difficult to keep up.
Only half a month into this and I was already starting to break, how on earth can people wear these things!?
Starting the third week I was blindsided by a new dance, this time around the steps were numerous times harder.
Without being told the steps I was forced to react to Sam's movements alone, at this point she was moving rather slowly compared to the day before so it wasn’t too hard.
After the first couple of minutes she started moving faster with every repetition, suddenly in the middle of it she switched her movements.
As though dodging by a hairs breath I kept her from connecting with my leg, if she withdrew from within my space I quickly followed her back.
Finally after about ten minutes I was forced to give in, stepping backwards when I should set forwards we pulled away from one another.
Falling down I was heavily panting trying to catch my breath I laid down from my now sitting position, looking up Sam came over and stood above me.
"Not bad but you weren’t supposed to step back in multiple places, instead you should have simply lifted the front of your foot resting on your heel."
Again and again we practiced with her teaching me to respond to another's movements, by the end of the month I could probably fight in heels not that I'd exactly want to.
On the day of my tenth birthday Sam came in before I'd even woken up to start the bath, going through my morning training I spent most of the day in the garden.
Before I'd even gotten to finish what I'd planned for my day Sam came and dragged me from the yard, throwing my into the bath she washed me and pulled out a new dress for me to put on.
The dress was a layered the bottom was plain and strapless extending all the way to my ankles, the top layer of the dress was finely designed thin lace.
(I figured something like this would look fairly nice on a ten year old [but longer] when older she'll get a more bold and daring style)
Although magic could simplify the process such an item would still take an enormous amount of time compared to other garments, after putting it on Sam sat me down and for the first time made up my hair.
After brushing for about ten minutes she put down her hairbrush and began to braid my hair, equally working on each side she'd have me hold the other.
When she'd finished the braids flowed over the sides of my head connecting in the back and turning down following the rest of my hair, shortly after finishing Sam left and my mother came in.
Dressed in a long black dress it flowed over the curves of her body showing off her feminine charm, looking at my petite mother I realized what first caught my father's attention.
Although she looks sexy and beautiful I sadly feel no attraction towards her seeing as she is my mother, Sam on the other hand was a different story..
Heading downstairs the two of us were met by my father, dressed in a suit he looked rather handsome had it not been for the fact that he isn't a bowtie person..
"Why now don’t you look handsome." Pulling at my father's jacket she slipped her hands around his tie and in one quick motion slipped it off his neck, holding the now untied bowtie she walked towards the door before handing it to Sam.
"Good choice Madam."
"Thank you Mother"
With both of our comments my father stopped himself from whatever it seemed like he wanted to say, waving my hand he came towards me.
"You look much better now Daddy," Saying that I undid the top button of his shirt once again improving his overall appearance.
Leaving the house we walked through the city heading towards the largest house in the city, Bernard manor although at this point it looks more like a castle having been expanded yearly since their arrival.
Walking into the building we were stopped by guards at the gate, "Halt, Please state your names and reason for entering."
Looking towards Mom Dad seemed to be out of his element, "Elementalist Aura Grace, husband Magnus Grace, and our daughter the birthday girl Azura Grace here to see Mr. Bernard."
The second the word elementalist came out of her mouth the guards expression and demeanor changed, for normal people even if the average citizen is intermediate or advanced in the face of an empress they stand no chance.
Even an expert, master, or king would pale at the thought of offending an empress, depending on her level even another empress wouldn’t willingly offend her.
Rushing inside the building the guard returned shortly after with two men close behind, further back I could make out another figure trying not to be noticed.
"Welcome to Bernard manor, my apologies for the guards manners."
"Thank you but it's no problem really, after all you've been kind enough to provide a suitable location for our daughters coming of age."
Entering into the building we passed by the persons hiding place without the adults noticing his presence, watching behind me I could see them still following.
Jumping from shadow to shadow the figure was able to maintain a set distance between us, becoming slightly irritated I stepped off to the side.
Using magic I pulled the shadow's themselves up from the floor and wrapped them around myself like a cloak, so long as I stand in the dark I'd be completely invisible even well moving.
Once they'd passed by me I quickly reached out grabbing their shoulder, surprised they turned around tripping over their own feet they landed right on top of me.
Laying trapped on the ground I could finally get a good look at the pursuer, "Jaco~!?"
Covering my mouth he cut me off before whispering next to my ear "Shhh, please stay quiet I'm supposed to be studying for another half hour."
"Then let me up before they notice I'm missing and come find you." Finally noticing our situation he blushed then quickly pushed himself off the ground, extending his hand to help me up.
Taking his hand I looked down examining my dress for damage, besides getting a little dirty and a tear at the bottom it seemed fine.
Lifting up the damaged area I began to use 'tailoring' to fix the dress when Magnus came and found us, giving the same explanation Jacob begged my father not to let anyone know.
Seeing me fixing my dress he raised an eyebrow but remained quiet, sending Jacob off he waited for me to fix the damage and we headed back to mother and Mr. Bernard.
Arriving at the end of the hall we entered a large ballroom set up with tables spaced evenly around the room, multiple chandeliers hung from the ceiling carrying hundreds of candles.
Sitting down around a table by the door Aura and Magnus conversed with Mr. Bernard, roughly ten minutes later Mrs. Bernard joined us at the table.
Looking at them together they were a matching pair, wearing a light green dress with short brown hair and eye to match Mrs. Bernard sat beside Mr. Bernard.
Mr. Bernard was wearing a black suit with green accents but like my father he had a distinct lack of tie, with brown hair and green eyes he went perfectly with his wife.
Together with Mrs. Bernard was her youngest son also dressed up for the occasion, as a familiar face I couldn’t help but slightly smile it was Nathan!
Ignoring his mother he ran over and pulled out the chair next to my own, "Big sister Azura!" Seeing this Mrs. Bernard smiled.
"So this is the bid sister you've been raving on about for the last year" Hearing this Nathan calmed down trying to his blushing face, he reminds me of a younger Anthony.
The next person to arrive was another Bernard, Jacob walked in having changed since the last time I saw him.
Now dressed like his father and brother he looked somewhat handsome whereas before he'd just looked mischievous, seeing Nathan his eyes slightly narrowed before returning to their natural position.
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"Milady may I have this seat?" Slowly dragging my eye over his body I looked him up and down from head to toe and back again, curling the corner of my mouth I nodded.
"Don't you have a fiance Mr. Bernard? Are you sure she'd be okay with you being so friendly with another girl?" This time my smile turned into a full out grin before I noticed his somber face.
"Amelia died last year it happened shortly before I met you actually, we were hunting creatures together in the forest when she suddenly fell behind."
"By the time I'd noticed and turned around her body had already reverted to her original form, the claw marks told me quite clearly she was dead."
Looking up at him I couldn’t really control my voice but I somehow managed to squeak out a few words, "I'm sorry"
Changing to a large grin I finally noticed the atmosphere at the rest of the table was lively as ever, looking at everyone I could see they all but ignored the fact that she'd died.
"No I'm sorry for tricking you like that, I never thought you'd be such a girl considering how we met." Letting out a hearty laugh he pulled out the chair and sat down beside me, now surrounded by the Bernard boys I started to feel slightly trapped.
Giving my mother a pleading look she just smiled back at me, father on the other hand looked as though he wanted to kill the two but that would be rude as he was just a guest.
Finally reaching a population of five thousand the city had been renamed Bernard city, all military affairs had already been paid for and managed by the Bernard's for years so in essence they'd already ruled the city.
Even my father wouldn’t readily fight against an army of men and woman just because two boys like his daughter, mother on the other hand could easily wipe out an army if she really cared to.
Thankfully I was freed shortly after Jacob arrived came a flood of people, any noble in the area with a son or daughter within two years of my own had appeared.
Knowing none of these people I made sure to memorize their names and face while greeting them for later on, everyone here was most likely trying to gain my mother's favor rather than caring about me.
Most likely the gathering of people my mother could bring together was the reason why our hosts had opened their home for my party, looking over at Jacob there could be another reason.
Evidence of that was how they'd not once talked to me but always focused on my mother, even my father was almost completely ignored.
After an hour of greetings I was freed to associate myself with the children, the first to approach was Jacob asking for my first dance.
I readily declined making my way across the room towards Selena who'd also been invited as my friend, "Excuse me may I have this dance?"
During the last day of dance lessons I'd asked Sam to let me try the male role instead, after some difficulty she finally agreed.
A look of surprise quickly changed into a smile as she offered me her hand, "Yes, yes you may."
Taking her hand in mine I placed my other hand on her waist, looking her straight in the eyes caused her to slightly blush well we started to dance.
Moving quickly I gave her little time to react to my movements; left foot forwards, right foot together, right foot back, left foot together, left foot side, right foot together, right foot back, etc
Moving faster and faster our 'dance' turned into a battle of concentration, easily avoiding the other dancers at first slowly the number started to decline.
Soon even the adults came to notice the two of us and stopped dancing, within two minutes of us dancing the floor had cleared.
Taking my last step I heard a snap as my heel broke causing me to fall pushing Selena down with me, landing on top of her I couldn’t help but start laughing shortly she joined me.
Laying beside each other laughing on the ground we slowly started to notice our surroundings, the surrounding crowd having seen what happened were also laughing with us.
From that point on the attention in the room shifted towards the two of us, like his son Mr. Bernard was the first to approach.
"Excuse me Azura but may I ask, are the two of you at the advanced level?" Exchanging a glance with Selena we both slightly smiled, this time I let her answer.
"I'm only at the second level of the advanced tier, Azura on the other hand seems to have only reached the first level." Nodding my head I confirmed her assumptions, Selena had after all always been slightly stronger than me.
Offering his hand Mr. Bernard helped Selena up off the ground whereas Jacob materialized beside him to offer me his hand, once again accepting his help up I laughed. "This seems to be becoming a habit."
Raising his eyebrow at the comment Mr. Bernard kept quiet and headed back towards the crowd of nobles, Jacob on the other hand hung around to once again ask for a dance I accepted on one condition.
"What's your condition?"
"You have to get me new shoes, I can't exactly dance with a broken heel now can I?" He let out a small laugh telling me he was relieved I hadn't asked the impossible of him, I guess being twelve he's had two years of this life and already been turned down by a girl or two.
After replacing my shoe I spent the night switching between dance partners, after Jacob came; Lucas, Ethan, Jayden, and Logan.
Each of them had parents with equal or more influence and power as Mr. Bernard, Jayden especially due to my parentage he and his father had traveled nearly a month from their kingdom to try and win favor with the empress Aura and her daughter.
Logan was the son of a high priest of the primeval church, although they're the primeval church they still don't know the methods to become a god just that a primeval exists not even knowing his name.
The only one who was closer to my level was Ethan, since he's the son of a dragon knight his family gained prestige.
Lucas and Logan were brothers and grandsons of a magical academy's founder and headmaster, both of them were proficient in magic like their grandfather.
Had Selena not been here I would have been lost in a sea of nobility, thankfully nobody was able to complain that she was my dance partner for every second dance.
After our initial performance they knew Selena's ability and since she's a girl they didn’t feel threatened at all, using their influence the boys held all others at bay not even giving them the chance to ask for a dance.
After hours of dancing the number of people slowly began to trickle down and I announced I was done, heading towards a table spread out with food I quickly filled a plate with anything that looked tasty.
Walking towards an empty table with my desert covered plate I was joined by Selena, "Oh those look yummy, mind if I try?"
"I think I should have enough for both of us" Sharing a smile we sat down, shortly after Jacob once again appeared asking for the seat next to me only to find Ethan already there.
Looking around the table he could see Jayden, Lucas, and Logan who'd all been declined the spot, Jayden settled for beside Selena whereas Lucas and Logan fought over who'd be next to Ethan and who next to Jayden.
Arriving late to the party Jacob's face slightly turned a pink color before he sat down on the opposite side of the table, enjoying a cupcake I listened to their conversation.
Mostly talking politics Selena and me found ourselves outside of our element so we kept quiet, after listening it seems Oakheart isn't within any kingdom and thus had no king and was classified as a pioneer village.
Jayden announced how his father wished to take over the area resulting in Jacob smashing his hands against the table, "My father and I won't let you take over the territory we've been working toward!"
Hearing this Jayden was slack jawed, however Jacob on the other side of the table was using both hands to cover his mouth.
Having said something he shouldn't have Jacob quickly found an excuse to leave having to 'put my little brother to bed.'
Jayden fixing his expression became a mask of indifference as he excused himself needing to check in with his father, wishing Selena and me goodnight he walked off to find the King.
With the atmosphere as it was Lucas and Logan left to find their father as well leaving us alone with Ethan, looking delighted at the development Ethan wasn't really following the political debate either.
Finishing off my cupcake I stood up excusing myself to Ethan, "I'm sorry it's been lovely meeting you, but I should probably check in with my parents as well."
Leaving together with me Selena gave no reason for leaving simply matching my pace as I walked away, returning to my parents we left the building and stopped only once to drop Selena off at her home.
Reaching our house I immediately climbed up the stairs and headed directly towards my room, closing the door I stripped off the dress threw on a night gown and crawled into bed.
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I find that the end of my chapters always happen to be either going to sleep or having passed out, hopefully this is okay with most people but I'll hopefully find another way to end off soon..
Chapter 8: A period of development