Maria did not bother to put on new clothes after waking up the next morning. She stumbled to the door and found Elaine standing beside it, hands behind her back. The beast avoided her master's gaze until her name was spoken.
"I'm, sorry." Maria's voice was a whisper. Elaine batted her eyes. "You need not apologise for anything, my beloved master. I only pray that you managed to leave some of your grief behind." Her master clenched her hand at her chest, it was her turn to avoid the gaze. "I don't know. Where's Sin, she, she should be here."
Elaine staid in place as Maria began to look around. "My great sister commanded me to guard you, the last thing she said to me was that she would go into the basement to 'train'." Elaine ran a hand across her shoulder. "My beloved master, would you allow me to abandon my post? Tetra has not left the library yet, it is beginning to concern me." Maria did not look back as she walked down the stairs. "You can, make sure she is okay."
After a minute in the basement Maria was regretting to not have brought Elaine along. It was a labyrinth, coated in pure white. All doors were identical, none had signs of any kind. Some lead straight to rooms, some to other corridors, and some lead nowhere, with only more wall right beyond it.
She was about to panic as she realised that she had forgotten the way back, when she heard a low thud, coming from her left. Maria began to follow the sound as it grew louder and louder, until she reached the final room.
She was stepping into carnage. The room lacked any furniture, it was an empty square with a massive pillar in the middle, made out of a solid metal.
The walls, ground and ceiling were covered and dripping in black blood, countless weapons were stuck firmly into the pillar; swords, daggers, spears. And in front of it stood Sin, striking the metal with her bare hands. Every strike was strong enough to break her hands, every time the beast gave it just enough time to grow back together before she struck again.
The door fell shut behind her, and only then did Sin look back. They were both silent, unable to find the right words, until Maria had to sneeze, wincing as she felt every muscle in her body flare up with pain. The sight pushed Sin into action, she quickly stepped to her master's side. "It is much too cold down here for you to walk around wearing so little, my master. Please, we should leave."
With Sin the walk back took not even a tenth of the time Maria had spent wandering in search. Back above ground they returned to Maria's chamber, where Sin helped her master shower and getting dressed, this time in a similar summer dress, dyed a darker cyan. Both the skirt and shoulders were heavy with frills, and the sight of herself in the mirror managed to charm a weak smile on Maria's face.
On their way back down Maria stumbled in her heels, caught by Sin at the last moment. For the rest of the stairs she held her master's hand, much to Maria's embarrassment. On their way through the halls a maid approached them with a letter, handing it to Sin who opened it and began reading. A wide smile spread across her face. Maria stepped on her tip-toes to peek, and immedeately reached out for the letter. "Elizabeth is writing to you?!"
Sin gave the letter to her master, unable to hold back a low chuckle. "Not to me, but it is my duty to aid you, no? I think you will enjoy the conten-"
"There's going to be a ball!" Maria had devoured the letter with her eyes, and finished before Sin could end her sentence. Her hand was trembling, she had to clench her fingers tightly to not drop the paper.
"A ball, and she invited me to it, and she called me darling yesterday and, there's going to be all sorts of important people, and I'll need to hold a speech, right? Important people do that and, I'm going to be the most important person in the room, next to Elizabeth of course, oh god, what if I, what if I asked her if I could call her something cute as well, if we're alone with each other, oh god maybe I could call her Eli and-"
Her words deteriorated into squealing, which first stopped when Sin laid a hand on her shoulder. "My master, my master. Please. May I explain?" In their wandering they had reached the study, next by the library. Maria sat down behind the desk, her knees were wobbly. Sin sat down on top of the desk by her master's left.
"You were very perceptive already, this ball will be a large event. Most of the gentry and nobility do not yet know of the connection between you and lady Elizabeth. Rumors are spreading, I am sure, but not loud enough. After all, one would have to be suicidal to insinuate that the Merlayne would make peace with Len-Fey. Unless it were true."
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Sin folded her hands in her lap, the sun shining through the windows onto her. "You will be the first Len-Fey in generations to stand openly in front of the nobility of the country. To present to them that the rightful queen has come to take what she is owed by rightful lineage. A proper showing there could be as useful to us as twelve victorious campaigns. It is good that lady Elizabeth gave us a week's notice. Ample time to prepare."
Maria was fidgeting with the frills of her dress, staring up at her servant, her breath relaxing slowly. "Preparing, yes but, how and, what?" Sin slid down the desk and took her master's hand. "To carry yourself like royalty, of course. Proper etiquette, manners when addressing those of rank, we will have to write a speech for you, and I am sure you would wish to dance with lady Elizabeth without stepping on her fee-"
Maria was on her feet, staring at Sin with a determination the beast had not yet seen with her master. "Please, teach me how to dance!"
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The library had been turned into a chaotic system, understandable only by a single mind, Tetra's. Books laid about, sorted only by whatever track her mind was in. She had dark rings under her eyes, moving around at a sluggish pace as she recited incantation after incantation. She could create blades of light, freeze the air around her, cover her hands in flames, levitate, but she did not rest.
"You are being reckless, dear sister." Elaine stood at the sidelines, her arms crossed. Tetra looked at her with a frown. "I am the weakest of us, sister. I need to be able to do what I was made for." She continued to pace, a book hovered near her face, the pages flipping at the flick of her fingers.
"You are not giving yourself time, dear sister. You are driving your body to ruin." Tetra clenched her hands to fists. "I am a beast, sister! I need no sleep, no food, no water. We cannot ruin our bodies, do not be ridiculous."
Elaine tapped the ground with her foot. "That is true, we beasts need none of these things. But you are forgetting that you are not yet fully one of us." Tetra's pacing ground to a halt. "You are still shackled by your humanity. Otherwise the trick of that shaman would not have worked on you. You were afraid, weren't you?"
Tetra did not turn to face Elaine, she staid frozen in place. "You may have been reborn, your Lore may be rewritten, but you have not yet overcome your humanity, dear sister. Your mind and body still remember your old life, and driving them beyond what they thinks they can achieve will not help you. They need time to grow accustomed to the lack of their limits." Tetra's hands reached up to her hat, she pulled the brim over her ears.
"Is what I am saying that hurtful, dear sister?" Elaine stepped away from the shelf she had been leaning against, and approached Tetra.
"How can you pretend that you are not hurting too?!" Tetra turned abruptly, her face contorted, her white scales glittering in the light. "We let our master get mangled, and we couldn't stop it! You at least got to try, I couldn't even pretend to do anything, I just stared, I just looked, too scared to do anything! We became what we are to serve, we gave up everything, and now our master, our dear master."
Threads dragged Tetra on her knees, and the sound echoed through the room as Elaine slapped her across the face.
"Do not suppose that I am not weeping, sister." Elaine's voice was a serpent's hissing. "Do not suppose that anyone could hold my beloved master more dearly. I am her shield, I broke, I could not fulfill my duties as my very light was about to be extinguished from this worthless world. And how much more worthless would I be if I now shut myself in, repeating meaningless tasks to make myself feel better? Do you wish to become stronger? Then I will help you." she let go of Tetra, and crossed her arms again.
"With our master's permission we will go below and we will fight. And I will weather your attacks, and tear you apart, over and over until you grow stronger from it. That is the only way to prepare yourself for the battles ahead. Not by reciting things for eternity, locked away from the battlefields." Her threads were gliding through the air as she spoke, the light breaking and reflecting across the metal.
"What do you say, dear sister?" Tetra's face was red, the outline of Elaine's handprint showing across her cheek. "I ask that you forgive me, sister." Tetra spoke quietly, batting her eyes. "I will gladly train with you, if our master is willing to let us."
Elaine clapped her hands and turned on the spot, wandering off to the exit. "Good. I will ask my beloved master right away, and you will return to your chamber and await my return. I will not go easy on you, so prepare yourself as good as you can. And if it makes you feel any better."
The small beast had already opened the door as she gave Tetra one more look. "The first time you lose your limbs is always the worst. Trust me, you will get used to it."
She stepped out, and the door closed behind her.