Two held still as the fingers and comb worked together to bind her unruly hair into an assemblage of order. Despite the passing of weeks, she could stop the way her stomach turned at Abery’s closeness. She’d never liked having her hair done and at present the act felt disquietingly intimate.

But needs must and her servant and teacher had both insisted she do ‘something’ with her hair. A good brush and tie apparently didn’t count in noble school.

She sighed and sought another avenue to turn her thoughts before the incessant tugging spurred her to stupidity. Rather than her morning jaunts with Igni, her mind supplied a stressful topic.

Namely, the enrollment she was currently preparing for. In a few hours, she’d begone from this place. She opened her eyes to craft one more memory.

The dawn sun illuminated the sky of cold blues and warm peach dashed with shades of orange. Yet the land remained in dark shades. The city was a thing of silhouette.

The shadows of tall manors consumed most of her view, but they couldn’t hide the rising mass of the city centre where most of the residents reside. Tenements, old stone houses and everything between were blended into a quiet mountain. Dotted with motes of mixed electric and oil light from early risers.

And somewhere inviable from her vantage but clear in her thoughts lie the slums. A place of towering castles left to rot and the forgotten people that sheltered in the abandoned place.

But it was empty now. All the people left in pursuit of opportunity or forced out to make space for the governor’s design. Like she had.

She sighed.

“Is something wrong Miss Two?” A slight hitch in his motions and the taste of worry informed her of his concern. She might have added his hesitant tone to that abasement if he didn’t always sound hesitant.

When combined with the large mouse ears amid his brown hair and his small stature, it made analogies to his bestial ancestors’ less glamorous features quite tempting.

She didn’t reply immediately. There was no use deriving him for something so petty. He’d be serving her throughout her stay at the academy providing all the help he could. But, venerability always came like pulling a tooth.

“The idea’s sinking in. I’ve never left Spes Nova, but now I am and I don’t when if ever I’ll be back.” I’ve always hated it, but the thought hurts. She managed most of the words.

“Don’t worry Ma’sm, there’s always break.” His voice bubbled with excitement. He filled the air with worry and joy and so many other little treasures. It built to a scent she could only identify as adventure.

She wished she could feel the same.

“Rhevier’s made it clear I need to ascend the ranks quickly if I want any hope. I doubt I’ll have time.” She kept her tone light and free of judgment but still tasted a sting of shame that accompanied her words.

“Oh, I’m sorry Ma’am.” An anxious beat passed. “Um, I’m almost done do you want to see how you look?” his voice bubbled again. Though she scented far more worry than joy in the mix.

“Sure,” she accepted the offer.

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In nary a minute Abery finished and stepped to her side, a large mirror in hand.

A stranger stared back at her.

A young woman clad in a light blue robe, accent with sandy yellows. They sat with a relaxed but firm posture. Hands neatly folded in lap. Back straight even as her shoulders slopped comfortably. Their short black hair was tied into lacks and buddied by blue cloth into a tail and ran through with a pale yellow needle.

The hues clashed yet complimented their dark brown skin. Green scales dotted their face and neck and explosion of colour in the sedate shades.

Yet that was not what stole her attention. It was the set of their brow, the sharp line of their lip. The cold focus in their eyes, how bled imperious apathy.

Those amber eyes were beautiful. They were hers.

Small and thin but a month of good meals had removed the worrisome edge. A petite princess rather than starved thief.

She blinked and marvelled at the way confusion and unease softened her stern visage.

“What do you think.” He smiled brightly. Literately oozing nervous pride for her to taste.

She offered him an appellative smile, noting how the simple gesture remade the reflection. “You did good work.”

He wilted. “Thanks, Ma’am, but do you like it?”

She winced internally. A lie supplied itself. She’d widen her smile add a touch of wry mirth and ‘Of course, I’m just not used to giving compliments’ followed by an apology. Simple and elegant it’d get her off the mess that might follow.

She opened her mouth but a sting stopped the words. She remembered many such conversational aids she’d used. How it hurt when people so easily turned away from her worries.

She sighed and began the difficult process of being honest. Of the numerous and miraculous paths emotional essence allowed. She never expected her burgeoning magic to guilt trip her self-destructive behaviour.

“I think I look nice? This is the first time in a long time I’ve liked how my scales look.” She said and was surprised by the weight that eased. Yet it made her conscious of the burdens she still held. “But when I look at that mirror it reminds me how much I’ve changed and I don’t know if I did it for me. I wear these clothes to impress and blend with the crowd I’ll soon join. Form how I sit to how I walk. I do it because need to but it’s all other people, for other people. People I don’t even like. And the worst thing.” She turned from the mirror and Abery, unwilling to see her own expression. “Daisy would be so proud.”

The thought of her erstwhile mother figure sent further waves through her. She hadn’t intended to share most of that. Serves her right for speaking without a plan.

“Sorry Two,” he leaked such genuine sadness it hurt to imbibe. “I was too exited for our departure. I didn’t know what you were going through, if you ever need someone to talk to I’ll listen.” His voice rose and quivered as usual but beneath the undulation notes determination rang clear. It dissolved replaced by a more hesitant almost teasing but no less sincere note. “And Igni is coming with his brother. I’m sure he’d be happy to listen.”

That brought a smile to her face. “Igni would be happy to help anyone.”

Abery nodded happily. “True, Yesterday she went to visit an orphanage. He made their month.”

Amusement joined back joy to beat back her worries to some other day.

“What was he doing at an orphanage.”

Abery put down the mirror. “I think he’s trying to learn more about people. He’s been going all sorts of places. Maybe angels don’t have orphanages.”

It was an intriguing thought and reminder that despite all her talks with Igni she didn’t know how he or angels in general were raised. Rhevier told her no one knew anything about angelic childhood. Igni and his brother were the youngest example of their species and both were around her age.

“How do you know what he’s up to,” she asked in her usual even tone, careful to refrain from excess curiosity.

“Gossip Ma’am. My family work all over the city and we share stories.”

“Anything about me?.” She stripped her tone of suspicion, but drank deeply of the air to scent any hints of deceit.

Abery carried on apparently heedless of her concern. “We don’t talk about our employers, but there are some rumors about you, But its’ mostly been the angels and the academy’s arrival.”

She relaxed marginally then tensed. Another thought crossed her mind she tried to dismiss it but a stab of pain dissuaded her. She couldn’t quite place where the ache spurring her action came from. Only it carried a vague longing.

Sighing she ignored Abery’s concerned glance. She swallowed her pride and anything in her voice that might betray her. “What’s the gossip on Igni.”

He smiled and she knew that somehow he’d caught her.