Lark groaned as he placed his head on the table not caring that the side of his face was touching the cool wood. Really, it was helping deal with the explosive headache that was preventing him from even opening his eyes.

He felt familiar shadows tower over him before hearing the scraping of chairs.

“Give us a breakfast spread for two with the smoked fish, a pot of warm water, a pot of ginger tea and a spicy bowl of bean sprout soup with lots of chillies,” said Sorin.

There was some shuffling and footsteps receding from the table, most likely the waiter walking away.

“Good morning!” suddenly exclaimed Altair with a resounding slap on Lark’s back.

“Aiiish! I fuckin’ hate you right now,” mumbled the barely audible soldier.

Altair laughed while Sorin only smirked and shook his head. One would think that for soldiers they would know better, but no one could beat some of them when it came to drinking.

“Why is Boss even having that much food this early? Makes me nauseous just thinking about it.” Lark commented while attempting to sit up.

“The ginger tea and hangover soup are for you, you clown. Some of us didn’t have to be carried to our rooms last night.”

Altair couldn’t help but chuckle again while answering as the water and tea arrived.

“Young Master, I’ve made sure everyone sent their uniforms to be pressed for the ceremony tomorrow. The manager said they’d be finished in about two hours.”

“You should’ve let them suffer at the last minute so I can make them do more training and manual labour after we go back,” said Sorin.

“Oh, spare us, great Captain,” said another familiar voice.

Two young women were walking into the dining area which was relatively quiet since it was early in the morning. Even if some of them had raging hangovers, waking up early had become a habit.

“If even an encounter with a fae can’t make Captain a bit nicer, then nothing can,” she continued as they sat down at another table close-by. The other woman giggled while Lark sat up straighter as if he hadn’t been dying a few moments before.

Sorin assumed that they must have spotted him at some point in the evening with the mysterious doctor.

“Wait, why didn’t I know about this?” asked Lark.

“You say this as if there are a lot of things you actually know,” casually said Altair as he poured some water.

The young women couldn’t help but laugh at the comment and Lark’s face. Sorin was just glad that they had managed to keep most of their humour especially through the last few months.

He acknowledged that it wasn’t an easy path they had embarked on but that didn’t mean he wanted them to be hardened by it to the point that they couldn’t enjoy the little things. It was too early for that.

****

“Princess, we’re almost done, just relax,” insisted Lili.

Two other maids including Lili were also busy trying to finish the ends of the last few braids. Getting her hair done always took hours so of course by the end of it, Kamaria became fidgety.

It was almost the afternoon, and she hadn’t managed to get anything done except bath and have a light morning meal. The rest of the time was spent on her hair.

“It’s not even that much of a special occasion,” she mumbled.

Raisa came in with a tray of snacks as Kamaria was almost done. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief as they finished, and the two maids left the room. Lili applied some oil through the hair and stood back to observe the work in satisfaction. Any other styling would have to wait for later.

She was happily tying the bow of the silk scarf when there came a soft knock at the main door which Raisa went over to answer.

“Head Steward Kavi…”

Not expecting the emperor’s head steward, Kamaria made her way from the bedroom to hear about the situation. When she arrived at her parlour, there stood the Steward Kavi and a few guards, one of whom carried a wooden box.

Her two attendants stood with their heads lowered. They were in the presence of one of the emperor’s closest people, besides him being a steward and therefore their senior as young attendants.

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“We have a delivery for the Princess,” he said with a slight smile.

“A delivery?” asked Kamaria as she stepped a bit closer.

“Indeed, your Highness.”

Steward Kavi was, the emperor’s right-hand man and he was running such errands? Whenever anyone had to accept something from the emperor, an edict was issued where all parties would bow to receive it making this “delivery” seemed strange.

The man gestured to the box and another guard stepped forward to open it. Kamaria moved even closer, and her eyes lit up as she saw the contents of the box. The steward hid his smile behind his hand with the surety that the young woman was satisfied.

“If there is nothing else, I will send a good word to his Majesty.”

“Oh, yes of course. Thank you, Steward Kavi, please let his Majesty know that this Princess appreciates the gift. It’s beyond perfect,” she said softly as if still awed.

The box was handed to Raisa before they made their way out of the residence.

A few of the servants had already started whispering when they saw the steward headed towards Kamaria’s residence, but they kept their heads lowered as he and the guards walked in the hallway.

Left alone, the girls looked at each other and then hurriedly made their way to a table to place the box so they could open it again.

The emperor took her request and turned it into something she hadn’t expected. What was this extravagance she was suddenly being showered with?

“Princess…” whispered Lili as if speaking too loudly would make the crown disappear.

“Princess could build a treasury around this.”

Kamaria suddenly laughed at Raisa’s comment, breaking the near divine atmosphere.

“A treasury with a few small tiaras and some hairpins? I don’t think that’s how a treasury works.”

While it was true that she was an imperial, she didn’t own as many valuables as people thought.

The closet was certainly not two floors with jewels to match every occasion, but she shared a small section of her mother’s treasury for her few official head-dresses. Every day accessories were kept in the owner’s personal dressing room.

It was good this way; this would be the single most valuable accessory she owned, and no one could do anything about it since it was her only request for her birthday, not even the empress.

“That’s it, my Lady has to wear this tomorrow!” suddenly said Raisa.

Kamaria’s eyes almost popped out at the very thought of it. It was good enough that she owned such a thing.

“Don’t be ridiculous, surely I’d want to be struck by the Empress’s lightning,” she whispered.

The other two laughed at the thought of empress possibly being a sorcerer but they knew better. She didn’t have to be a sorcerer with the power that she and her family had.

“Besides, I don’t think I’d have anything to wear that would suit this headpiece.”

An abrupt loud knock sounded at the door. The rhythm didn’t belong to any of her maids. The girls glanced at each other. Was this speaking about the devil only for the devil appear?

They came to find that it was a different empress paying them a visit. She was followed by a few maids carrying things as she came into the room. Was it a special visitor’s day or what? Usually when her mother wanted to see her, she would send for her but this one of the few times she came unannounced.

Kamaria quickly recovered from her shock and curtseyed when her mother stopped her halfway through.

“Stop, stop, otherwise I’ll feel like a stranger. It’s just us anyway,” the older woman insisted, and Kamaria gently nodded.

It didn’t take long for tea and snacks to be set up for them in the parlour. A big box sat in the corner that Kamaria curiously glanced at from time to time.

“How are your studies going?” asked her mother.

“My studies? Oh, nothing new or exciting has happened lately.”

Despite the situation, Consort Johari never compromised when it came to her daughter’s studies.

The princesses could have had all the etiquette lessons in the world but there was nothing more powerful than mastering a skill that could sustain oneself even without the power of the palace.

This was one of the reasons she let her daughter spend so much time with Prince Yerlan’s family. It was difficult for her as a mother but necessary for her child’s future.

“Your mentor is not messing around too much is he?”

“Well, if we had to consider him a mentor…Anyway, he’s just lazy as usual. I’ve taken over more of his everyday work with patients.”

Kamaria considered that her mentor was not only lazy but could be considered the laziest thing since the history of the word.

Unless there was something extraordinarily complicated about the medical case or there was an exorbitant amount of money involved, he almost never took interest. Her mother chuckled knowing full well about the man’s personality.

“That’s fine then, I don’t think you’ll pick up any of Senior’s bad habits now if you haven’t after this long. In case you’ll be at the Academy next year, the imperial physicians are much closer if you need help with anything.”

Kamaria hadn’t thought about what she would be studying or if she would be formally entering the Academy at all in the coming year. Was there any need for the Academy when she was already ahead of the students in terms of theoretical and practical knowledge?

She grew into the profession due to her mother personally instructing her since childhood and then having her mentor take over. Since she already had the official qualification, attending classes would mostly be for social experience.

Besides if it was medical knowledge, her mother had more of that than most of the imperial physicians combined. Asking them for help would be merely for the reason of stroking their egos to maintain a good social and political relationship.

Consort Johari could sense the hesitation from her daughter, so she changed the subject.

“Okay, enough about the serious stuff. There’s a throne room ceremony tomorrow so we should be getting ready for that. Come, let’s choose a few henna patterns for you.”

“Mother…”

She smiled at the exasperation in her daughter’s voice. At least she had the opportunity to see little bits of this childish attitude.

However, she still felt that their relationship was still a bit distant even after all these years and now her daughter had grown up to the point of being considered an adult in society.

Where had the years gone?