Today was the first morning of the new year, 148 in the local count which began with the founding of the Kren Republic. There would be no breakfast served in any of the halls today nor for the next four days. The only warm meal would be the New Year's Dinner in the courtyard tonight. Having been told this, I had stored five cabbage heads in my room. But someone had left a basket of greens and vegetable pies on my doorstep when I returned from my morning ritual of watching the sunrise from behind the stable. Today I would not touch the cabbages.

While I was deciding which pies to eat first, there was a knock at the door. Count Radel was standing there, also with a basket in his hand. "Happy New Year, Countess Kiara. What a wonderful morning."

"Happy New Year," I said lamely. "Er, please, coming closer."

That must have been some bad slip of the tongue as the count blushed strongly. He held out the basket. "Here, my New Year's present."

"Oh, sorry, thank you." Damn, nobody had told me about this tradition. Well, that explained the basket outside my door. But from whom? Kendrick? Anyway, manners! "Please, coming closer room."

He smiled, still blushing, entered and looked around. Then his expression changed to surprised. Well, not much to see in my tiny room, no furniture except the rolled aside blankets, a table, bare walls, and a single window. But he did not comment. Instead, "Oh, you are very popular." From our conversations, he could see my lack of understanding. "I mean, lots of friends. You received already presents."

I smiled. "Not worry. Not knowing who." Then I put his basket on the table. "Can I looking?"

"Please!"

I put the basket on my table next to the larger one. There was a jar in the middle.

He explained. "This is Tarrek, a black jam made from berries, spices and mountain roots. No meat. A speciality of Karenburg."

"It smelling good. Very good. I must going Karenburg any day."

"Any time." He was pleased.

Next were some buns and at the bottom was a small box. Inside was a piece of paper with a lot of small handwriting. I could only make out two words, one was Kiara. And under the paper was a small, thick gold ring with a gap. He did not?

"This is an earring," he explained.

I was not sure I could wear it. But at least it did not require a piercing. "What you writing? Reading only Kiara."

He blushed. "Oh, what a pleasant surprise your arrival has been. And congratulations on your elevation. And that you can always call on me if you need help. But please, read it yourself. No cheating!"

I lowered down on my forelegs to get my head at level with his and hugged him strongly. He smelled very nice, he certainly had washed this morning. "Thank you, you good. Yes, only I reading."

After standing still for a few moments, he hugged me back. "Well, I had no idea what to get you. And I was afraid you wouldn't get even a basket. What a fool I was, I should," he rambled.

"Shsh, Thank you. I still hugged him, his face hot, so hard he was blushing. I slowly released the hug.

"I sorry, giving you anything." I was ashamed. "Not only poem." The last word in Earth.

"Give me a bigger basket next year," he smiled.

Okay, the witty Count Radel. I laughed. With all those cakes and buns on the table, I had become really hungry. "Please, eating breakfast with I."

As there was no chair in my room, he stood next to the table. I could have offered him to sit on my back while I lay sideways. I would not have minded, Freya had been riding me for days. But after the hug, I did not want to send out more signals. While I was still thinking about it, the count took one of my buns and gave me one of his. "Happy New Year, Countess Kiara."

"Happy New Year, Count Radel." The bun had a vegetable filling, with cabbage and onions and a black spicy cream, the tarrek. I liked it, it was a bit like chutney. A look in the basket showed that buns came in all shapes and sizes. "You cooking?"

"Yes," he confirmed my suspicion, "I made the buns, lots of them, with the help of Jacob, my servant. He is from a village near here and he just left this morning. I can't cook very well, I'm best at roasting them at the fire."

They were toasted evenly with no burns, I would give him that. But compared to the pies in the other basket, it was clear that the latter had been made in the castle kitchen by professionals, uniform in size and browner on two sides, where they had all been toasted at once and then turned at once. I tried one of the pies next. The filling was carrots and onions with some familiar spices. This basket had either come straight from the kitchen or Kendrick had asked his ladyfriend to make it for me. A mystery worth solving.

"I liking tarrek buns good," I smiled at the count and liked my lips. Uh, didn't he know? I stretched out my tongue. "Bah!"

He blushed, grinned and then retreated a little.

How stupidly childish. Change of subject. "Sorry. What doing on New Year?"

"Usually? Travel home to arrive latest on the evening of the first day. Then cooking for the New Year Dinner and the following days. After that, going around and giving presents. And then feast in the evening. Second day: Join a procession or watch a spectacle or whatever is happening where you are. Then enjoy the time off and travel back to arrive here on the fifth."

"And Count Radel doing?"

"Honestly, first visiting the countess." He blushed. "Later, Dame Grendel, when the important nobles have already visited and no one will look at the content of my basket. Because I have no good presents. And finally, some polite visits in the afternoon to some of the old barons. All the other nice people had already left."

"I needing Freya, Tarik and Larina presents."

He pointed to the large basket and to his. "You can regift."

"I thinking," I started and then stopped. Beggar countess, I had no choice. I could not cook anything quickly. In fact, I wasn't sure I could cook anything without modern kitchen equipment and ingredients.

"Ok, I will giving present. Later going Dame Grendel with you?"

"Yes, let's go together. Early afternoon?"

I nodded.

* * *

I went to the stable, but no Kendrick, no grooms. However, Larina was there.

"Happy New Year, Larina."

"Happy New Year, Countess Kiara. Oh, for me?" I had Count Radel's small basket with me.

"Yes."

She took the basket. Of course, it was mostly empty, just one pie, one bun and one cabbage. "Sorry, I not knowing giving presents today."

"I'm even more sorry. I am afraid of stairs. I only tried it once. Not well. So no cooking for me and no presents. Thank you!"

Oh, it had not occurred to me that Larina was confined to the ground floor. I felt bad for every time that I had complained about the spiral staircases. "Sorry."

"No, thank you. Come here." She kissed my cheeks. "The biggest present was my treatment. I think I have recovered quite a bit."

"Not green, yes."

"And I have kept my food since yesterday. So I can enjoy your gift. I can even attend the banquet tonight."

"Good."

"Actually, how about some training?"

"Later. Freya's present. And Tarik."

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

"Can you give me something for Tarik? Or can we go to him together?"

"Spiral staircase 4th round?"

Larina's head sank. "I forgot. Can you bring him down and we'll give it to him here?"

"Yes." Why not?

"Can I having basket? Only one basket."

"Oh, yes. And it is 'have'."

The different conjugations in Kren were really challenging. "Have," I repeated, but I was pretty sure that for the next situation, I would default to -ing, the only form for all genders and whatever. Who made a language with 17 conjugations?

"Basket?"

"Um, sorry." She took the pie and bun and started to eat. "Maybe I'll think of a better gift while you're away."

"Good. Thank you." And with that, I went back to my room to refill the basket and then to look for Freya. She was not with the healers, so I left her present on her bunk.

Next was Tarik. His staircase was now free of loose plaster. Even the spiders seemed to have surrendered to my tail; or, more prosaically, they had probably died because removing their webs too often meant they died of starvation, not catching enough prey.

When I knocked on his door, the emissary opened and walked out. "Happy New Year, Countess Kiara of Earth and Litra."

"Happy New Year, Emissary of Nurnsipall."

The emissary made an unhappy face. Obviously, I had mispronounced it again. But he never corrected me.

Since I was blocking the entire width of the stairs, I squeezed past him into Tarik's room and closed the door with my hind paw. "Happy New Year, Mage Tarik."

"Happy New Year," he said tiredly.

I looked at him.

"The emissary is tiresome. It sounds like he wants to study soul magic. But he has no idea how real magic works. It's like talking to a child who once had read about magic in a book. So why does he bother?"

"I writing also child."

"But you have talent. Most people never write. You can write well, you can even write letters that I don't know. That, too, is like magic."

I blushed. "Thank you. Uh, Larina and I presents. But Larina no climbing stairs. Tarik coming down?"

"Oh yes, of course. Actually, I am impressed by how easily you can climb stairs."

"Stairs easier than trees. You makinged me squirrel. Squirrel going stairs no problem." I wagged my tail and put out my strongest smile. "Let's going Larina, please."

* * *

Tarik had to wait behind the stable.

In my room, Larina and I put two pies in the basket from my large stash, one for each of us. She had woven a band with a green and white diamond pattern from the ribbons she had worn at the race. I was impressed. The pies were placed on the band. It looked very arty.

She took the basket and we went through the stable and out of the back door.

"Happy New Year, Mage Tarik. Here are our presents for you." Larina said while I gave him the basket.

"Happy New Year, Countess Kiara and Centaur Larina. You look much better today."

"Oh yes, I feel so good." She hugged the mage. "I will do anything for you. Whenever you need a horse, please choose me as your mount."

The mage blushed but then looked serious. "I think I will be restricted to the castle for some time. I still hope to be allowed a full soul transfer to give you a full soul."

"Dear mage, you have already done so much for me. Drinking the soul fragments is not too bad. Other centaurs have it much worse. I think many have already died."

I swallowed. "Please, no sad for New Year."

They looked at me. Then Larina had an idea. "How about we go into town? Mage Tarik, saddle me up!"

"Today?" he asked. "No, I'm not sure."

I saw how much Larina wanted to. "Countess Kiara saying good. Let's go! Larina's present!"

"Yes, let's go." Larina almost dragged the mage inside, to the rack with the saddles. She had lost quite a bit of weight and had to adjust the straps a lot. Still, she finished quickly. I took the basket back to my room while Tarik ate the pies. His breakfast.

Soon we were all in the yard.

It turned out that Tarik had little experience of riding. I even helped him into the saddle. On the other hand, the lack of experience was good for riding a centaur: he would not try to force Larina in any direction, nor would he miss the reins.

* * *

The guard at the gate just wished us a Happy New Year and let us pass without further comment. He did not care about the mage on Larina’s back at all.

Tarik rode on Larina. Nevertheless, went slowly because Larina was still recovering. I could see how hard she was working. I think it had been a long time since she had been ridden. The last time when we had been in town, she had had even trouble returning without a rider.

But she did not ask for a rest, and we reached the bottom of the castle road in one go. Only then did she stop.

I gently set Tarik down. "Let's go slowly, town is busy."

Larina needed another minute. But then we walked through the not at all busy, actually, the deserted streets of Krenburg. There was a flurry of activity in and outside the houses, where people were preparing for the New Year's dinner and putting up decorations. Many doors had wreaths of flowers. There were also bushes with long grass hanging upside down in the windows.

Soon the children spotted me and came running. "Lady Kiara, Happy New Year!" they shouted. And demanded a ride, which Larina and I were happy to give. They paid us with dried berries and little buns. Most of the children wanted to ride on me. So I always had three or four on my back, while Larina usually had just one of the older children. On the upside, this was not straining her too much. And they never stayed long, because it was lunchtime and they had to (and wanted to) help with the New Year preparations. Only riding the countess was more exciting, and maybe a centaur as a consolation prize.

We walked to the marketplace. But it was empty too, no stalls, not even the pigs. We slowly returned to the foot of the castle hill, laden with sweets from the children. Most of them were buns filled with carrots and raisins or other dried berries, the local tradition for Krenburg at New Year. Larina had made a makeshift bag out of her shawl and it was filled to the brim, even though we had eaten a lot of them.

On the way up, Tarik walked beside us because Larina needed her hands for the sweets. Which was a bit of a lie, of course, but the mage didn't need to know.

At the castle, she put our haul in the big basket in my room. I said goodbye to her and Tarik to do another check on Freya.

This time I was lucky. She was lying in her bunk, "Happy New Year!"

She opened one eye and jumped to her feet. "Kiara, uh, Lady, uh, Happy New Year."

"You sleepinged?"

"Did you sleep, and yes, I am tired, not many healers stayed."

Indeed, the room was almost empty, only the senior healer and another even older healer were sitting on a bench.

"So much work. But I am learning so much. I think by now I could actually help the people of Litra."

"Here, sweets from the city." I gave her one. "For riding children." I grinned.

"I wish I was," she grinned. Then she lay down and yawned.

"See you tonight!"

"See you."

I went to the others. "Happy New Year, Senior Healer Yutan. Having sweet."

"Happy New Year, Countess Kiara. May the new year be as successful as the last."

It took a while to process. "Er, no many also good. Uh, less change is good."

"You want less change? I can see that. Anyway, thanks for the sweets."

He introduced me to the other healer, who was the previous senior healer but had retired two years ago. Mana burnout. He still came occasionally to teach the younger healers. And today he came for the feast as he had no living relatives.

* * *

Next to the Healer's Room was the easy route to Count Radel's residence. I had five sweet buns and some raisins in my basket, so I went and knocked. He opened the door himself; his servant had left this morning for his own family, of course. Well, the busy morning had made me forget.

I showed him my haul. He had prepared four smaller baskets, each containing a bun and a yellow letter. That was the traditional colour of the New Year's greetings, yellow like the summer sun and the growing wheat. Very poetic, I wanted to be able to write a poem too. But before I needed to speak well enough.

The first visit was to Dame Grendel in the palace at the last courtyard. An old servant opened the palace door and went for her. I took the opportunity to have another look in the mirror. While my lower shoulders had bulged and my forelegs seemed heavier, the rest looked familiar. Well, showing my midriff and a little cleavage certainly help to distract from the sails on my head.

"Happy New Year, Countess Kiara of Earth and Litra and Happy New Year, Count Radel."

Apparently, Dame Grendel was also a master of the stealth approach technique which I knew from her staff. "Happy New Year, Dame Grendel," we both said in unison.

"Huh, good to know you had someone to talk to," she said, without clearly indicating what that meant. "So what's in the basket?"

"Handmade tarrek buns," the count said.

"Sweet buns from Krenburg."

She took one. "Oh, I like them. Rather rough, and with blueberries instead of raisins. Good idea, not too sweet."

"Er, children givinged me. Not I makinged."

She winked. "I thought not. Is there something similar where you come from?"

"Not some, more sweet. In my world, yes, cookinged. Here, fur not is good with fire. No cooking here. But wanting learning in winter."

"You should, my dear, you should. I suppose Count Radel will teach you?"

I nodded. "No, Count Radel teaching politics. I not knowing nothing."

"Count Radel, please tell me you have taught her something other than your strange ideas?"

"Dear Dame Grendel, I have not even spoken of them. No need, she has even bolder ones."

Dame Grendel laughed. "Oh, two even kindred spirits. I fear for the Kren Republic. Wait for the revolution until I am dead."

I was completely confused. I could guess a quarter of the words, but it made no sense to me. "Count Radel telling about Karenburg and neighbours. Difficult."

Count Radel was only slightly offended. "Dear Dame, rest assured, I have no intention of"

"Dear Count, I know. Forgive the old dame for her spleen. Frankly, as much as Countess Kiara shook up Krenburg in twenty days, anything seems possible in twenty years. Now there is even a soul mage here in Krenburg. I would never have thought it possible and would have shivered about that horror. Soul mages belong to old tomes of ancient times past. And then a very young friendly guy appears. You are lucky to be young, embrace the change. You will turn old fast enough. Only old people like me fear it."

I got about the last sentence and thought of a fitting reply. "Dear dame, I not wanting fear."

"Dear Countess, no, I am not afraid of you. You are a sweet person, even if there is so much of you. Vice-Administrator's making you a lady was not just for you. He wanted to send a message to the old royals. Especially after the disaster with Prince Pellic."

Ah, the one who had tormented Freya's mother. So we were back in the realm of politics.

"Dame Grendel, you see about this much better than I. I'm the oldest son of a dependent domain. And Countess Kiara was not bestowed with Litra by Vice-Administrator. Dame Grendel, as much as I would like to see the royals demoted, you overestimate our capabilities in this."

"We shall see. This year, mark my words!"

"Sorry, Dame Grendel, there is the next visitor." The old servant had suddenly materialised beside her.

Dame Grendel took another sweet and gave it to the servant to keep. "Sorry, Countess and Count. Let's continue our conversation at the banquet. Take care."

"Take care." No sooner had we started to bow than she was gone. No problem, we saw ourselves out.

"What she sayinged of politics and of I?" I asked.

"No idea," said the count. "I have no idea how these should be connected." Then he stopped and looked at me very seriously. "Please, try not to be played. I mean, do what you think. Not what they tell you to think. Do you understand?"

"Yes, I understanding." Even if I did not.

"I wish I could mindspeak," the count sighed.