There’s a large circular room, about twenty meters in diameter. Sun enters through the roof, and at its center, a large tree, Aquamarine in color, like if it were made of a single, large, pure precious Aquamarine stone. At the tree’s feet, there is a woman of slender and voluptuous figure, wearing a single white dress, arms, shoulders and neck open, tending to the tree, bucket in hand, giving it water and humming along the way.

Suddenly, a high-pitched sound reaches the woman’s ears. Raising her eyes, she sees how, from the branches of the tree, a new Aquamarine fruit suddenly grows up, to the size of two fists put together.

Another one?… What is it happening out there?

The sound of a heavy door moving fills the room. From the shadows, a large door enters into the reach of the light and the voice of an old man can be heard “My Lady.”

“Are they here?”

“Yes.”

“Good. I have already finished tending to the Lord Tree, so lets go.”

The woman stands up and exits the room, followed by the old man. Outside of the room, a woman wearing a maid outfit is waiting. The woman in white gives her the bucket “take it away and close the door.”

“Yes, my Lady.”

Even if the room with the Lord Tree is full of light, this isn’t the case with the rest of the mansion. The woman walks fast through corridors and some rooms, everything under an almost constant dusk. The sound of her steps making echo in the hallways.

“William.”

“Yes, My Lady?”

“After this briefing call Ray in. This month is about to finish and I want to hear what his findings are. I also need him to pick another Beheader from the barracks and bring this newbie to me.”

“Did it happen again, My Lady?”

“It did. Another Beheader was killed just moments ago. His or her Aquamarine fruit has just appeared back on the Lord tree.”

“It is the fifth one this week, My Lady.”

“And since the last time I spoke to Ray, only one have been found.” The woman says. Stopping for a moment, she looks at the floor, and adds “What am I missing, William?”

“Maybe after hearing what Ray has to say you will see the situation more clearly, My Lady.”

“I hope so, William. I hope so.” She says as she starts walking again.

After some turns and some corridors, they get to a door where two maids are at both sides of the door.

“This is important, so don’t let anyone else enter.”

“Yes, my Lady.”

“Lets go, William.”

“Yes, my Lady.”

The Lady of the house opens the door, and enters into a large rectangular room, divided by a large cloth made of silk at the middle into two squares. The Lady sits at the center of the square at her side, over a large floor level chair with many cushions, while William stays by the door. At the other side, three people are present: A petite girl wearing a single simple sky blue gown to the knee and a leather belt to the waist, a tall brown skinned woman wearing leather pants and a white, loose shirt, and a slender girl with blond wavy hair wearing a sleeveless white gown to the knee and an open dark blue shirt.

“Good morning everyone.”

“Good morning, my Lady” can be heard from the three girls.

“Is the room safe, William?”

“It is, Lady Aquamarine.”

A smile it is drawn on Lady Aquamarine face “Good.” Looking at the girls, she says “You can come to me now.”

Tomoe then proceeds to cross the silk, crawling through the middle, all the way into Lady Aquamarine open arms.

“Hi mom.” She says as she sinks into Lady Aquamarine arms.

“Glad to see you safe” answers Lady Aquamarine with a smile.

A giggle can be heard from the other side. Amelia had her right hand covering her mouth.

While caressing Tomoe’s head, Lady Aquamarine says “Well, let’s get right to business and hear it: What happened yesterday at night?”

The tall brown skinned girl raises her hand and says “Excuse me, my Lady, but I wasn’t there last night. Is it alright that I’m here to hear this information?”

“Usually no, Priscilla, but the matter at hand has turned… more troublesome that I initially expected.”

“If I may: How so, my Lady?”

“Well, it has gone from a… closed particular incident, to something that could affect the entire city, all of us.”

Priscilla raises both eyebrows, and is about to speak, but Lady Aquamarine catches her and speaks first “Mind that this is me making some conclusions, the information that we are managing right now is scarce. The painting that it paints is quite grim, but I feel we are seeing the corner of the painting instead of the entire canvas.”

“Then, my Lady, why I’m here?” Priscilla then says.

“Because I might be right, and if this is the case, I want every one of the my Beheaders to be ready.” Looking at Tomoe, she then says “But that is enough of that. Let me hear what you have to report of what happened last night. Amelia?”

“It will be my pleasure… if only I knew more of what happened, my Lady.”

Raising an eyebrow, Lady Aquamarine asks “How so?”

“Well… Let’s say Tomoe is the more knowledgeable of this incident this time around…”

Taking Tomoe’s cheeks and raising her face, she says “Care to start, sweetheart?”

Tomoe nods, as she starts to recount the happenings of last night. A couple of times Lady Aquamarine stopped Tomoe and asked some questions before letting her continue, and regarding the fire tamers, she asked question after question before letting Tomoe continue.

Before the recount finished, Lady Aquamarine stops Tomoe once more and then looks towards Amelia, and asks “Amelia, I’m sorry that I have to ask this to you, but I have a bad feeling about this.”

“What is it, my Lady?”

“You… you weren’t there with Tomoe, right?”

Amelia makes silence as she tries to evade Lady Aquamarine’s sight, but Lady Aquamarine just says “Your silence is deafening. Thank you.”

With a really marked frown between her eyebrows, she turns to Tomoe, who already has sit up and sunk between her shoulders. Raising her right hand, Lady Aquamarine releases a large quantity of blue Aura, infuses her entire arm with it which causes a slight tremble on the room, and with a swing, she brings it down against Tomoe’s face, stopping just moments before the slap connects.

In its place, Lady Aquamarine instead caresses Tomoe’s left cheek while saying “Until when are you going to keep with the foolishness?” with her voice clearly cracking. She opens once more her mouth, but words don’t come out right away. After thinking for a moment, she says instead “You surely like to make your mother worry.”

Tomoe only whispers “Mom… I’m sorry” without being able to make eye contact.

“You said that last time, yet here we are again… You are no longer a child Tomoe. You wanted to be a Beheader, and now you are, so well, take responsibility for your choice, not only for those you put at risk, but… also for yourself.”

Tomoe silently nods.

Turning to Amelia, she says “Amelia, dear… thank you.”

“Don’t worry, my Lady, I’ll cover her back even if you didn’t ask me to.”

“She’s not the only one.” Priscilla interjects.

Lady Aquamarine chuckles, softening her expression, and then says “What a bunch of good friends you have, sweetheart.”

Tomoe only nods.

A sound of knocking from Lady Aquamarine’s side can be heard, and after making a gesture of silence to the three girls, Lady Aquamarine nods to William, and he opens the door just a bit. Some exchange happens, and the door is soon after closed again.

“What is it, William?” Lady Aquamarine asks.

“My Lady… Daisy is here.”

Lady Aquamarine felt a chill go through her entire back and forehead, and her breathing turned more deep.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

“She, here, when the month is ending and the Styx is about to visit our shores once again….”

“Does that means…” Amelia speaks this time.

“It only means one thing.” Priscilla says.

“Girls… It seems we will have a couple of completely occupied days ahead of us. Let’s end the meeting here… After all, you already have to be at another place.”

Looking at Tomoe, she puts both of her hands this time around on her cheeks, and says “Take care of yourself, sweetheart, don’t make me worry… and don’t make me find a reason to kick you out of the Beheader Corps either. After all, you worked really hard to enter.”

“I won’t, mom, don’t worry.” Tomoe replies, as she crosses back to the other side. Priscilla opens the door on their side, and then the three of them say goodbye to Lady Aquamarine.

“Goodbye girls, take care.” She says, as gives a single wave of hand at them.

Once the door is closed, Lady Aquamarine stands up and says to William “Well, let’s get going too.”

“Yes, my Lady.” William says as he opens the door on their side.

Lady Aquamarine exits through the door she entered, followed by William. Other many corridors, and some squeak of the wooden floor there and there, and she gets to the living room that connects to a garden, where a tall woman, of ivory skin, fine features, yellow eyes and straight black hair, is waiting for her. She’s wearing a brown coat, and under it a single sky blue dress with flower ornaments, of the same type than Lady Aquamarine’s, with a belt to her waist and sandals. The coat is bulky, and it comes with a hood that she has on right now.

“Daisy.”

“Hi there, my Lady.”

“You here, is it what I’m expecting?”

“I fear so” says the tall woman.

Lady Aquamarine lifts a hand to her face, while with the other she crosses it. A deep breath, followed by the shoulders being relaxed.

“Please Daisy, lets sit, and take the coat off, you must be having a hard time with it.”

“Thanks my Lady.”

Both girls go to the round wooden table, and before sitting, Daisy takes her coat off, showing her unnatural appearance: she is a woman, with the ears of a fox, and with nine tails coming off of her back, about the level of the hips.

Lady Aquamarine sits, and crosses her legs.

“Ever since becoming a priest and gaining these, I truly struggle with these days full of heat. I don’t know how the animals with this much fur and more can survive them so easily.”

“Don’t worry, I already ordered some tea. You can stay here for the morning, until the midday goes by.”

“Thanks my Lady.”

“We have known each other since a long time ago, I told you you can drop the ‘my Lady’ thing with me.”

“I remember well, but you know, the tease kinda never gets old” answer Daisy with a smile.

A silence then gets hold of the place. William knocks on the door, delivers directly the tea to the table, and then excuses himself.

The wind enters through the garden. This is one of the few rooms in the Aquamarine mansion that has access to the light of the sun, and an area that is open to the exterior.

Lady Aquamarine looks at her tea. Takes it to her mouth and takes a sip.

“So… It is Polsen, right?”

“It is indeed. Tomorrow he will appear, and you know what that means.”

“Yes, with him, many Cinders will come too out of the waters of the Styx sea,” she takes another sip, then continues “as if him alone isn’t enough danger.”

“If Cinders only where capable of thought” says Daisy, sighing while taking a sip of her own tea.

“That would be fantastic” adds Lady Aquamarine “but I can’t see myself talking with walking corpses about reason.”

“Too many have already stubbornly tried…” says Daisy.

Lady Aquamarine hasn’t stopped moving her legs even after crossing them, catching Daisy’s attention as she sees the dress constantly moving.

“What’s the matter, my Lady?”

“Uh? What do you mean?”

Daisy points towards the dancing legs “I doubt you want to dance while sitting.”

“Uh?” casting her eyes down, she realizes that even now her legs are still moving.

“Every time something has bothered you beyond normal, your legs start moving without control, my Lady.”

Lady Aquamarine doesn’t answer.

“Come on, talk to me. You know you don’t have to keep everything to yourself. Don’t be stubborn.”

Lady Aquamarine takes a deep breath, and replies “It is… just, you see, this morning… just this morning, another Beheader died.”

Daisy opened wide her eyes “How many have been this last week?”

“Five, with this one. I already called Ray in to hear his findings. And now, we have fire tamers here too… Why? This country’ states has been in a cold war since all the way back then. Our borders are closed, there shouldn’t be any fire tamers here. And with Polsen on the horizon…” Lady Aquamarine says, while biting her lower lip “I… I just don’t know…”

Hearing this, Daisy puts down her tea. Hunching forward, she reaches for Lady Aquamarine’s hand that is on the table. Grabbing it with both her hands, she says “I know that our fearless Lady will make the correct decisions. I’ll be here to support you in whatever you choose, as always.”

Meeting Daisy eyes, a snort escapes Lady Aquamarine, followed with a smile. Raising her hand to massage her eyes, she adds “Thanks. All these strange events really unsettle me, but I’m not going to let them get the best of me… I’ll protect everyone to the best of my abilities.”

Lowering her eyes again, Daisy sees how Lady Aquamarine legs have stopped moving. Smiling, Daisy regains her posture, picks her tea, and finishes it.

After finishing the tea, she asks “So… fire tamers… are you sure it wasn’t some spice induced Aura effect?”

“I have heard the descriptions. It fits, there’s no mistake.”

“That’s is worrisome.”

“It is.”

“It could be nothing though. Maybe Ruby State fell and the remains have been moving around the country.”

“I know, but… ” answer Lady Aquamarine “I can’t stop feeling bothered by it.”

“Well, then why not follow you gut then? If it isn’t nothing, then nothing is. There is enough time to prepare for Polsen tomorrow, and I have already put all the priests in the cathedral in motion, so there’s only the Beheaders left to start the preparations.”

“Trusty as always I see” Lady Aquamarine says.

“You can count on it” answers Daisy with a smug on her face. Then, she adds “I’ll laid myself back here in the couch until midday goes by.”

“Feel free to feel at home.”

“Will do” says Daisy, as she drops herself on the couch alongside the garden’s entrance and exclaims “ahhh, the wind sure feels nice” as another breeze comes in.

Lady Aquamarine lets escape a little chuckle at this image, something that she has seen many, many times before with the years.

“William, please enter.”

“Yes, my Lady?” answers the butler as he crosses the door.

“Two things: one, send word to the five heads of the Beheader Corps, we need to prepare, Polsen is coming, and he isn’t alone.”

“Will do, my Lady. And the other one?”

“Call in Sophia, I need to give a direct task myself.”

“Consider it done, my Lady.”

“Good” says Lady Aquamarine. She starts getting up, and walks to the door, but before leaving, she adds “I’ll busy for a while Daisy, so until tomorrow, bye.”

Looking straight at her eyes, Daisy says “The late Lord Aquamarine would be proud.”

At these words, Lady Aquamarine raises both eyebrows and opens wide her eyes, but it is unable to reply. Only a slight smile is drawn in her face.

“Take good care of yourself” Daisy adds, with a drowsy voice.

Regaining her soft expression, Lady Aquamarine answers “Will do” as she goes out of the room.