It is a quiet walk home with Blizzie asleep in my bag. He must be worn out as he is sleeping like a rock. Not having him commenting gives me time alone in my head, a thing that I have never enjoyed that much. I was always one of those people that had to have noise going.

I eventually make it back home and have the strong desire to just collapse face first into my bed and not move again until morning. I do know, however that isn't something Aria would do. Instead I walk into my room and see Poppy reading in a big soft and plush chair in the corner of my room. Has that always been there?

"Hi! You are home a bit late today aren't you?" she asks. I flick my eyes up to the bars above Poppy's head and see no change in the suspicion bar. "I'm glad! It means that you are really trying to impress this boy. I suppose it also means that you trust me at least a little. You know, to help with planning the party? Being your lady's maid means that I know you best, so they ask my opinion on things. It's kind of nice!" Poppy says, beaming from ear to ear. "Poppy the Aria expert!" she shouts, throwing her hands up above her head, book flying out of them and landing with a thud upon the flood.

"Haha, if anyone is an expert on me it truly is you." I say, and I can tell that she loves the compliment.

"So, what were you and your new fella doing?"

"He isn't my new fella Poppy, he is just an attractive man that I am spending my time working on a project with. And he is only one of many possible suitors." I remind her.

"You can tell me all about your progress while we eat. Let me go make us some dinner." she says and heads out of the room. I wonder what she is making? So far everything that I have had to eat in this world has been tasty so I am not worried. I'm sure dinner will taste as good as everything else.

While Poppy is away, I decide to pull the diary back out and look through it a little bit. Maybe I can find last year's birthday party entry? I flip through the pages until I find the entry I am looking for.

I had my birthday today. It was another very large party full of people who hate me. They just show up as a display of status. Also, for the food. If there is one thing, I can complement it's the food served at my parties.

The theme of the year was "Glistening". How is that even a theme? Everything was decorated in silvers and gold. There were also crushed gems sprinkled over the decorations to make them shine. I also had to dress to match the theme. I wore a ruby red and back dress. The black part of the dress had gem dust rubbed into it. At least I looked stunning.

Men pretended to flirt with me again this year. They brought me drinks, or a food item and made very casual small talk. They would smile at me or touch me on the shoulder when the king looked at us. As soon as the king looked away, they would walk away, rubbing the hand that they had touched me with on their pants as though it was contaminated. They just want to be considered for the responsibility of being my husband. They want the money and status and nothing else. I despise them all. Utterly loathe.

I danced with multiple people including my old friend Jason. There were moments that he almost seemed happy to be spending time with me. Whenever there was almost a smile or warmth I see it crushed. Why does he hate me so much? Why can't there be any joy between us? What happened? Does he honestly also believe that I bully Iris. Why? He used to know me so well.

Irick also decided to dance with me. I guess he must have felt like it was his responsibility. I never asked him to do that though. He bruised my hands by squeezing them so hard. He refused to look at me the entire time. The only thing that he said the entire dance was "At least you are a good dancer".

After Irick's dance I was saved by Bennett. He stole the my next couple of dances and talked to me. We walked around together commenting on everyone's clothing and the music. We eventually ended up on a balcony outside. He apologized to me about how everyone has been treating me. He promised that next year won't be as bad. I love him but we both know that is not a promise that he can make.

Poppy had a nice time though at least. She is a beautiful young woman and many men trip over their feet to get a dance with her. You could hear her laugh ringing out across the room. That makes me happy at least. I want Poppy to find a nice young man and settle down. She deserves to have her own life as well.

I suppose that is all I will write for tonight. I really do hope that next year will be better. I can't imagine how it could be any worse.

Well at least now I kind of know what to be expecting from this party. At least there is good food. I really hope that I have the knowledge and muscle memory to be able to dance. If I am a good dancer that means that I need to be able to dance flawlessly. I have always enjoyed dancing though I never had much time to learn or practice.

I stash the diary back into its hiding place and lay on the bed. I feel a weight come onto the bed with me. I feel Blizzie's weight settle in next to me. "Aria okay?" he asks,

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

"Yes, I am just a little tired." I tell him.

"Me too." Blizzie says and yawns as if to punctuate his words.

"Haven't you already been sleeping?" I ask him.

"Yes. Sleeping makes me sleepy." Blizzie tells me. Ah. Cat logic.

I reach out to Blizzie and he walks over and lays on my chest. We lay this way together until Poppy comes back into the room.

"Why hello there sleepyhead!" she says to me. "Got our dinner here." she tells me. "You must be pretty tired to be crashing like this lately."

"I have been. But I must admit that being this busy feels nice. I like the feeling of accomplishment when I am making progress on a project."

I glance at the bar above her head to see if that was something that was okay for me to say. I see her affection bar move up the smallest bit and her suspicion bar flickers for a moment before staying the same. Perhaps she isn't sure if that is a very Aria thing to say or not.

I catch Poppy up on my progress while we eat. She confirms to me that all of these are good representations of the elements.

"You better make my element the cutest. It better be the most adorable bird that I have ever seen. If not, I shall have to think of some clever revenge. Oh, I know. I shall make your next soup so hot that you will be breathing fire!" Poppy tells me.

"No worries, Poppy. It will be the most adorable bird you have ever seen." I tell her.

"What material are you planning to make them out of?" Poppy asks me. The curiosity is clear on her face.

"Well, I am actually planning to make two different versions of each totem. I plan on making tiny stuffed animals of them and also carvings. I will then let Alex decide what he prefers. This does mean that I need to create the correct water proofing potion." I tell her.

"Oh, sounds like fun! You will have to tell me what your failed potions do." she says and lets out a small high-pitched laugh. It sounds like a mixture between the tinkling of bells and the cackling of a hyena.

"I'll let you know if anything fun happens." I assure her.

We finish our meal and Poppy helps me get ready for bed.

"I'll wake you early for a bath and breakfast. I know how you get when you are working on a project." Poppy tells me.

"Thanks Poppy." I tell her.

She makes her way out of my room and turns off the light. I wonder what Alias and I will be speaking about tonight. Will he show up in my dreams every time I fall asleep? Do I want him to? Well at least for a while it will be nice to be able to speak with him. What better way do I have to learn about this world? With that last thought I fall asleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I look around to see what my dreams will bring me. As I look around, I notice something that puts me slightly on edge. I feel the same that I do when I speak with Alias, but he is nowhere to be seen. Also I am not in our shared dreaming area. Instead I find myself standing in my old bedroom. Elia's bedroom.

I walk around the familiar setting and notice that things are not completely as I left them. Why is that? Is that because it is a dream? It doesn't feel like a dream though. I look down as I feel something brush against my legs. I look down and see Blizzie.

"Blizzie!" I hear a voice say. I turn my attention to the speaker and see my old body. Elia was calling for Blizzie.

I make eye contact with my past self. This isn't quite a dream so who is in my body.

"How do you know Blizzie?" I ask her. I turn my back slightly on her as I walk over to go pet my little Snow Bunny.

"He was my cat in my prior life. How do you know sweet Snowy?" she asks me.

"She was my bunny in my past life. Before I got body swapped with you it seems." I say. I give Snowy one last pet and go to sit on the bed to talk. "Does that sounds right to you?" I ask her.

"I don't know what happened. The day turned into night and there was an oppressive feeling in the air. Life had already been a daily struggle up to that point. The way that I was treated, feeling like I wasn't able to trust anyone. It was to the point that I was wishing that I had died with my mom." she says. She grabs my, or I guess now her, streaming chair and pulls it in front of me so that we are looking at each other eye to eye.

"When the sky freaked out and I felt like a part of the world was ripped away I wished fervently that I was ripped away with it. It seems something out there heard the cry of my heart because the next thing I knew I was waking up here, in this unfamiliar bed and in an unfamiliar world."

"That sounds like it must have been terrifying," I tell her. I then go about telling her how I found myself in her world and in her body, as well as my experiences up to this point.

"I'm glad to hear that you are able to access my memories as well. I don't know what I would have done had I not been able to access your memories." Elia tells me.

"At least you aren't dying every time you make a mistake." I tell her and groan. Me meet each other's eyes and smile.

"I'm sorry that I ripped you away from your world." Elia tells me.

"I understand why you did it. And no worries. I resented my life and where I ended up. The only thing that I am sad about leaving behind is Snowy." I tell her.

"I promise that I will take good care of her. I see that you have Blizzie showing up with you. I suppose that means that he has accepted being your new familiar?" she asks.

"Blizzie love both Aria's!" Blizzie says, walking between the two of us and nuzzling our legs.

"I wonder why we were able to switch bodies. I know that Alias tried to give me an explanation, but it didn't make the most sense. And I can't help but feel that something important is being left out." I tell her.

"I am wondering about that as well. The only thing that I can think of is us being twin souls. You know, we are the same person, the same soul essentially, but we have different lives in different worlds."

"How does that work?" I ask her.

"I don't know. It was a subject that was touched on when I was reading up on magic in the library. Not everyone has one. It is actually extremely rare."

"It would make more sense if everyone had a counterpart out there somewhere." I tell her.

"Since when does magic make any sense?" she asks me.

"Right. My new world works off of a soft magic system. Ugh." I tell her, flopping back onto the bed and staring up at the ceiling. Elia gets off of her chair and joins me, also laying down and staring up at the ceiling.

"At least that world has magic. It feels strange to not have access to any magic. I suppose it is worth the trade to be out of my old life though. Do you think that we will ever have to switch back?" she asks me.

"Do you want to switch back?" I ask her, afraid of what she would say.

"No. I'll miss the magic, but if we can visit like this and I can see Blizzie, then no. I do not want to go back to your world. I feel like I get to start over here. I actually like this streamer thing. And you have no one in your life aside from those that watch your streams. I have your memories and watched all of your past streams so I am doing all of your mannerisms correctly. I'll get to make all new friends and build a life where there are no chains on me." she says.

I never thought about my life by those terms. I only saw the pain, the way that my life was ruined. The way that I had to give up everything that I had worked so hard for. I did think it was fun to be a streamer sure, but I also had so much resentment for what I had lost that I couldn't even enjoy it the way that I wanted to.

"Do you want to come back?" she asks me.

"I don't know. And I won't really know until all of the dying stops. I know that Alias is working on a training program for me, but nothing beats learning from the real thing. Teach me how to live your old life."