That night, I load up on earth mana, intending to heal the last of the burns on my right hand before the party. Even so, I end up waking up Emily a few times because I can't stop rolling around in my sleep. I can't say if it's related to my nightmares or not though. I feel like facing up to all of my past pain and trauma should help with the nightmares, but so far, it just feels like it's changing them somehow, in a way that's hard to remember when I wake up the next morning.

"Sorry, Emily..." I apologize while rubbing my eyes. They still feel a bit tender. "I don't know what's with me sleeping lately."

"It's fine, Aria," she waves me off sleepily, yawning into a hand. "Com'ere, lemme do your hair..."

"Ah, actually, Irene will probably wash me when I get to Eryk's house, so I don't think you need to today."

"Oh," she tilts her head a bit. "Guess that makes sense."

While I slide off her bed, I keep my voice down. "So, what are you doing today?"

"Dunno, probably just hanging..." She stifles another yawn before shaking herself a little more awake. "Probably hanging out with Andy and the others. We don't get days off like this very often, you know?" she whispers back.

"Mm." That should be changing a bit with the new caretakers though, I think. I reach under my bed, grabbing my basket with the metal disks in it, and start using them to rebalance my mana. I start off by converting everything to start fresh. I generate some of each type, except air, because they're generally helpful. About half, maybe three quarters of a unit each. From there, I double the lightning since the intuition could be most useful, but I decide to leave the water alone.

I usually carry more, so I won't be able to hear nearly as well as normal, but if there are tons of people and it gets really loud, that might be a good thing.

Also, I really don't want to start crying in the middle of the party.

Once I'm done, I stay crouched on our floor, cleaner than I've almost ever seen it thanks to the caretakers, and consider the disks for a moment. They're too big and bulky, and a few of them have holes punched through from when I got hit with those arrows. And the nuvrite ones are going to stop working any day now. It's getting too cold out and they're going to stop carrying mana. I'll have to heat them up somehow any time I want to use one.

Trying to push those thoughts away, I remind myself that Eryk should be getting me some alba, whenever he has a chance to do that... I wonder if he forgot, with everything else that's been going on? I should ask him about that...

"Aria?"

"Huh?"

When I look up, Emily is waving from the edge of her bed with an amused smile. "Looked like you were lost in your own world for a bit."

I smile back and push the basket under my bed, then dump more bandages across it all. "There, I'm ready." I stand up, and we head downstairs.

----------------------------------------

It's just Marrianne in the morning, all the other caretakers have the holiday off. After my usual routine of sitting with Emily until Marrianne finishes making my breakfast, we share an extra long hug, then she sends me on my way, a little after first bell. I walk quickly to get to Eryk's house, but my stupid short legs still make it take a while. As I expected, Irene chases me to the bathroom the moment I step foot in Eryk's house.

Selena helps wash me like usual, and it doesn't even take all that long since I'm getting a lot more comfortable in the water than I used to be. She's getting through my outbursts better too. After my bath, I look down at the discarded bandages and test my hand a few times. It still stings a bit, but nothing serious, and the visible marks are gone too, thanks to the extra earth mana last night.

Good, I don't need any bandages for once, just in time for the big party.

I step into the changing room next to the bathroom, and Irene joins Selena, opening up the big standing wooden closet she calls a wardrobe. It's full of bunch of clothing, including dresses for me. She pulls out the yellow dress hanging inside and holds it up for me to look at briefly.

Wow, it's so much smaller than it was before. And... bigger at the same time, sort of. It looks like all the extra fabric was pulled up and sewn and reattached all over, so it's all poofy and has big sections of extra fabric hanging off the back and sides. It actually reminds me of the noble dress I wore once, at least a little bit. The biggest change has to be the color though. It's not just yellow anymore, it looks like whole sections of the extra fabric were dyed red too, so there are bold, swooping strokes of red across the otherwise bright yellow dress. It looks really nice.

I stand still, holding my arms up and letting Irene and Selena pull the dress over me. They spend some time plucking at it and straightening it out, ensuring it fits right everywhere. I smile a little. Jannette did a really good job, it's just right and feels really nice and comfy the way it hugs my skin. And the fabric is so nice and soft to the touch. No wonder why is was so ridiculously expensive...

Once I'm fully dressed, they give me some time to look at myself in the mirror. "Wow..." I mumble. I never took the time to really look at myself when I was staying here before. I was all bandaged up anyway. Now though, I actually have the time and attention to really look at myself, for pretty much the first time ever.

I stare. Am I... actually pretty...? The ruffled yellow and red dress falls a little below my knees, about the same length as my hair, and it swishes around my legs whenever I move. Irene even has me in small black shoes, instead of the brownish gray ones I always wear. They feel a little funny, stiffer and not quite as comfortable, but I think they fit my feet a little better. The others feel like they've started getting a bit tighter than they used to be.

Matched with the yellow dress, I think I actually look good. And the quality of these clothes... divant class, easily. Is it really alright for me to be dressed this well and look this nice? Well, I'm pretty sure I'm supposed to impress all the people at the party, so it's certainly going to help...

Stepping closer to the mirror, I stare at my own face. I've never gotten to really look at it before. It's... pretty round, actually. Not like a circle, but nowhere near as tall and drawn out as some other people, like Irene. Her face is a lot more narrow and pointy in the cheeks compared to mine. Selena a little less so...

Pushing my shiny white hair out of my face, I see my skin is definitely on the paler side than most people, with no marks or scars or anything, despite all of my past injuries. All thanks to my mana... No freckles either, unlike some people I've seen.

Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

Peering closely, I see that my eyes are pretty big and round. Or maybe that's just the way I'm staring... They're pretty light brown too, with a little yellowish hue I think, compared to most people who have a warmer, wood-like color.

Well, except for Selena. I glance her way, and she perks up a little, but I don't want to stare or anything. I wonder why her eyes are so bright blue?

Turning my attention forward again, there are a couple things I really don't enjoy about my appearance. First, I'm still pretty thin, even with all the food I've been eating. Then of course, there's my height. I want to be taller... And there's also... my age. No matter how I look at my reflection, I look four or five years old. It's no wonder I have to explain it to everyone...

But despite those things, overall, I actually like how I look. I don't know why that surprises me, but it kind of does. My hand comes up, a finger tracing lightly over the reflection of my rounded cheek. Seeing myself like this, I want to know what I look like with my mark. See why everyone thinks I look like a kitsu. Of course, that won't work with Irene and Selena here, so I drop my hand and put the thought from my mind. Maybe another time.

----------------------------------------

When we head back to the front of the house, Eryk is standing in the foyer with Kristene. "Aria," he smiles, "the dress came out great." I know he knows how much it cost, but he doesn't even look worried about it. He just bends over to pat me on the head.

Soon after, people start to show up. One look at them tells me who they are. More servants? "Kathy did mention sending servants to help..." I mumble. They're dressed a lot like Eryk's servants, except their suit trim and dress frills are different colors. Actually, when I look a little closer, I see that Irene has blue frills. The new servants though... some have green, and others have yellow. Are they not all from Kathy's house?

While I'm wondering about that, Kristene waves them all forward, toward Eryk, and I finally notice Selena isn't here anymore. I guess she disappeared into the back of the house again?

"Good to see you, Marston, Bria." Eryk directs his greeting to two particular servants. The man gives a salute to show respect, while the woman clasps her hands to her chest, and they both lower their heads respectfully. Of course I notice that he wears green, while she's in yellow.

The gestures are copied by the rest of the servants as Marston speaks up. "It is our pleasure, Master Eryk." Bria simply nods along.

While the servants raise their heads, Eryk turns his polite smile to one particular servant and asks, "And Zole, what brings you here?" That's when I realize his clothing is trimmed in red, different from the rest of the servants.

Clearly fighting a grin, the tall man shrugs a little. "Master Bonnie was worried about you having enough help."

"Oh? She didn't say she would be attending."

"She will not be," Zole shakes his head slightly. "She has another party to attend, but decided to do a little meddling anyway."

With a sigh, Eryk copies the taller man's slow head shake. "Why am I not surprised? Well, thanks for the help anyway. Give her my regards when you return."

"Of course," Zole makes another show of respect, then Eryk looks over the gathered servants. At a quick count, there are eight of them. That really should help a lot.

With a confident grin, Eryk speaks. "Alright everyone, you know the drill. Irene will be supervising. Get everything ready, first guests are expected to start arriving by the fifth bell." He claps his hands together and says, "Let's get to it." Immediately, the servants all move off to the side, and Irene begins directing them all around, pointing here and there as they all quickly begin to disperse.

"Ok, Aria. They'll deal with the preparations, come to my study." His study? That's the room connected the main parlor, right? I've never been in there because it's always locked. Immediately perking up, I follow him into the next room. Just next to the fireplace I knocked myself out on one time, there's the door. Eryk pulls a key from inside his jacket, and unlocks it, then holds to door open so I can follow in behind him.

As soon as I'm inside, I look all around. It's really dim though, the only light comes from a candle Eryk is holding. I didn't notice him grab it on the way. If I remember right, this room should be on the front wall of the house. It doesn't have a window for light though, which seems pretty weird. So instead, he has to go around, lighting a number of candles he has set in little holders mounted on the walls.

Soon enough, it's much brighter, and I can get a better look around. What I see is stunning. I stare around as Eryk leaves to replace the candle in the other room. Besides the mounted candles, the walls are completely covered with book cases, some containing books or papers, but others containing whole piles of rocks and metal ingots. Some of this stuff is really valuable, isn't it?

Taking a couple steps into the room, I see that he has a big desk in here, up against the far wall, with a big, heavy looking wooden chair, polished to a shine. Another glance around and I see a second chair. Not as fancy, but still heavy and impressive looking. Moving a little closer, I go up on my toes, and see that he has a few small piles of paperwork stacked up on his desk, but most of it is cleared, leaving the dark, shiny wood free for whatever else he uses his desk for. Maybe reading all these books he has...

That's the best impression I can get of the room in the few moments it takes for Eryk to return, carefully closing the door behind him. He waves me over to the second seat off to the side, then settles into his own, turning it away from his desk so we can talk.

I follow his lead and gently hop up into the high seat of the chair, careful not to do anything that might mess up my dress. I even make sure to shift the hanging parts off the back so I don't accidentally sit on them. Once I'm safely in place, I turn my attention to Eryk. Let's see what his plan is...

----------------------------------------

Eryk grabs a thin sheet of wood and a pen from his desk. "Let's start with the basics. There are five refineries in Brenton." As he speaks, he writes, pen scribbling rapidly over the surface of the wood. "So, we have four competitors to worry about."

He holds out the sheet of wood for me to read off as he recites them. "Hard Rock Refining, Avery Refining, Surefired Metals, and Lord's Refining. Generally speaking, Surefired Metals and Lord's Refining work with higher class clients, divants and the nobility, so they wouldn't normally be worth considering," he shrugs lightly.

"However, our star metals are going to change that," and taps a finger on the wood as he makes his point. "I've invited the owners to the party today, but I'm not sure whether Laslo will show up. He runs Lord's Refining and mostly works with the nobility, so he might think my party is beneath him. We'll have to see when the time comes. The other three should be here though."

I nod slowly as I look over the short list of names repeatedly. I never would have thought there are this many refineries in the city. So these are the other businesses he has to compete against... After a brief pause, Eryk launches into an explanation of the owners he invited, and I listen carefully so I'll know them when I see them.

Once he's covered that, Eryk expands the topic. "The next main players we'll be seeing today are the heads of a number of prominent smithing companies..." There are way more of them, and it makes me extra aware that I don't have my normal water mana. But I do my best to remember them anyway.

"For the last group-" Wait, there's still more?! "-there are supposed to be a few members of the guild coming to keep an eye on things, since the heads of so many companies will be here." I start to sweat nervously. I... I feel like I was underestimating things before. When everyone said it's going to be a big party, they meant it. This is going to be huge, isn't it...? "Aria?"

"S-sorry," I wave my hands nervously. "I don't think I realized just how big this party was going to be before..."

Eryk chuckles. "I'm expecting about a hundred attendees."

"A-" I stammer, "A hundred? That many?" Eryk's house is pretty big, but I can't imagine that many people fitting inside!

"Anyway," he redirects the conversation like he isn't worried about that at all. "Here's the plan..."