Anemone followed close behind Ranun as they walked from the front gate of his estate up the hill to his mansion. The gravel path was thin but outlined with beautiful petals blossoming through the green moonlight. The yard beyond was large, extending over small, bouncing hills to the outer walls.
She felt so lost, so out of place. It’d been only an hour or so with her new name. It fit; she knew it did. That wasn’t what troubled her, however. It was this man who had given her her name. Ranun Spring, the King of Soucrest. He seemed friendly and caring and all. But…
Could she really go around and call this stranger her father? It wasn’t like he seemed so thrilled about the idea himself. The king appeared, if anything, guilty, like he had a responsibility to care for her.
It didn’t feel genuine to her.
Yet she followed him, for she had nowhere else to go. Anemone didn’t have a choice but to accept his home as her own. At least for now. Ranun made the arrangement feel… temporary like it wasn’t a forever thing. He also said that he could help her search for her real parents.
They reached the top of the hill, and the large, blocky mansion appeared before her. Orange walls with massive windows covering a third of the structure on her right, bending around the corner to cover half the wall on that side. Lights shone on inside, glistening out from both lamps and chandeliers. The richness of it all, the lights bleeding into the glass, it reminded Anemone of Aidan’s Palace in Ryuso. Grand in size, decorative in lanterns that reflected nicely over the painted walls and floors.
Ranun turned to Anemone, smiled slightly, then held open a door for her to enter through.
Hardwood floors, slightly reflective of their images as they entered. A narrow arch held the door, leading into a large, spacious area with the windowed walls to the right. A lady with blond hair sat on a couch inside and read from a miniature book small enough to fit in her palm. She turned from the leather couch, looking pleased to see Ranun before her look turned to surprise as she noticed Anemone.
“Who is this?” She asked, standing up, putting the book into the pocket stitched into the side of her dress. As she approached, she walked elegantly up to Ranun, embracing him in a hug. Her eyes then fell to Anemone.
Her eyes weren’t hostile, despite the confusion in her voice. The lady even smiled, her cheek lifting high enough to push her blond hair away from her eyes.
“This is Anemone,” Ranun said, planting a hand on Anemone’s head. “She’s… sort of our daughter now.”
She frowned for a moment. “Our daughter?”
“She’s sort of… an exchange student,” Ranun said, flushing. He looked embarrassed, but more so by the lady’s glare than by Anemone. “She never had a family, so I offered her ours.”
“And you didn’t think to discuss this with me?”
“It actually happened out of the blue…” Ranun’s head and eyes couldn’t turn anymore left, lest his neck snap. He drew a breath before confronting the woman, this time, with confidence in his tone. “I did what I felt was right.”
“Very well,” she said. Her head shifted to Anemone, and she smiled brightly. “What’s your name again?”
“A-” she trailed off, flushing. She never proclaimed her name out loud yet. “Anemone,” she finally said. “My name is Anemone.”
“Anemone, huh?” her head tilted. Her eyes lifted past her to Ranun before falling back to Anemone. “Such a pretty name. You can call me Calace or mom, whichever you prefer.”
“Thank you,” Anemone said. She felt strange being in this situation, as if it was all wrong. Perhaps she was too far into the moment to respond honestly, that she didn’t need them to pretend.
Because that’s what they are doing, Anemone thought, pretending to be my family, my parents.
Calace stretched her arms up, pulling her muscles tight to loosen them up. She yawned but looked up and behind Anemone toward the door. Anemone turned and found a clock. “We still have a few more hours left in the night. Or did you plan on sleeping early again?”
“Do you have anything in mind?” Ranun asked.
Calace scratched her head, struggling to come up with something to do. “How about we just relax, introduce ourselves?”
Ranun smiled, saying nothing, leaving Anemone to respond. Four eyes on her, they all waited, and nerves began to tense up inside of her.
“Alright,” Anemone said.
They moved over to the kitchen, straight ahead opposite the front door along the back wall of the mansion, where the floors were checkered black and white, and the tables were marble. A large rectangular table was held by thin pillars on the floor, with eight chairs around, with flowers lined the table similar to how the restaurant arranged them, three bowls. Though, the anemone flowers were absent this time.
A large counter divided the kitchen from the table, with stools instead of dining chairs out toward the dining room. Ranun sat down first, then pulled one out for Anemone to sit to his right. She accepted the seat, feeling her stiffness ease a little as she could finally relax.
“Juice?” Calace asked.
“Sure,” Ranun said. “You want some?”
“Yes, please,” Anemone said. Her meal earlier was fine, but she missed out on the juice, too nervous to order it back then. Calace pulled two glasses from a cabinet, then a plastic carton of orange juice from the fridge, pouring them their drinks.
Anemone took a sip but wanted to control herself from downing it all at once. Her compulsion was always to consume everything as fast as she could. She never understood why. It was just how she acted with food and drinks. It took Pedr a while to finally train her to eat with manners rather than her once beastly habits.
“So, are you from Gleon?”
Before she could answer, Ranun plopped his own glass on the counter, empty as he drank it all at once. “She’s the one I mentioned from Dormoor.”
“Ahh, so you’re from Dork, if I remember correctly,” Calace said.
So, they’ve spoken about me before? Am I really that interesting to Soucrest? Is my blood that big of a deal to them?
Calace looked solemn for a moment, looking her in the eyes. Perhaps she knew of what Dork did to those born with green eyes. But Anemone didn’t desire her pity, for she had sort of embraced her past. It was behind her now. She had to look forward.
“What is Gleon anyway?” Anemone asked. She heard that name a lot whenever her skin was brought up. In contrast to her fellow beasts, her paleness never came into question when she was among them, but sometimes strangers on the streets of Ryuso asked if she came from there. Even the agents who rescued her pointed her skin out as being gleonish.
“Gleon is a kingdom to our east,” Ranun explained. “There are a lot of regions in Valoria, and if you’ve noticed, our skin tones here are a little different than what you might have found in Dormoor. The same is true everywhere, pretty much. Gleon is just a place where skin tends to be a little paler compared to everybody else.”
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
Anemone nodded, understanding. Aidan had similar skin, if not a little tanner. She viewed her hand, noticing how white it was compared to their skin. Almost milky in color, while Ranun and Calace had a less striking tone.
She took another sip of her juice, feeling the sugar pump some energy into her. It’d been a long day. Saying otherwise would be an understatement. A day of travel, a dinner where she found her name, and now this chat? She hadn’t realized how close she came to passing out before the orange juice revitalized her a bit.
“Anemone is on course to enroll in Kinler’s agency,” Ranun said, speaking directly to Calace. “It may take a few weeks before the others are ready to begin, but do you have time to take care of some errands for me? She’ll need uniforms, her armor, and a sword.”
“Ahh, so just prepare her? I think I can manage that,” Calace said. She studied Anemone, eying her, swaying left to right, eying her like she found something. “How about we start now?”
“Now?” Ranun asked.
“Her hair,” Calace said, crossing to the stools, grabbing a clump of Anemone’s long, flowing hair. “You haven’t cut it in forever, if at all, haven’t you?”
“No sir,” Anemone said.
“Mam,” Calace corrected, smiling as she pulled a few strains. “Ranun, go get my scissors.”
Anemone hadn’t realized it until that moment. She hadn’t ever really spoke to an adult woman before outside of purchasing food from street vendors with Pedr, and talking to Delta was quite brief, though she liked her almost immediately.
“Scissors,” Ranun nodded, standing off the stool to vanish off to the side, rejoining them a minute later with an entire kit in his hands. He placed it on the counter, and Calace pulled it closer, opening it up to reveal a full set of scissors and razors.
“Garbage bag,” Calace said.
“Garbage bag,” Ranun repeated, moving to the sink to pull a bag from underneath. He opened it up, then pulled up and yanked down to get a brash, kick of air inside to expand the bag. Once fat, he handed it over to Calace, who cut a hole near the center of the bottom.
She then threw the bag over Anemone, and she feared they would strangle her. Before she could fight back, her head slipped through the hole, and now her entire body had the plastic bag covering it.
Calace laughed, shortly followed by Ranun.
“What?”
“You’re all red,” Calace said, her cheeks all but forced her grin as they arched up. She pulled Anemone’s hair out from inside the bag, running her fingers through it to straighten it out.
“I thought you were trying to kill me,” Anemone said softly.
More laughter, this time was louder and rambunctious. Their joy was a little contagious, as Anemone smiled slightly herself, though she felt as if she should be angry. They were practically making fun of her, weren’t they?
But they were good people. Part of her felt used her whole life, so much so that they could be manipulating her right now. Laughs could be ploys, a method to trick her. Perhaps mockery.
Her smile blended back into a line as she became unsure. She closed her eyes and took her breaths, assessing.
Click, Anemone snapped her eyes open, a sting of fear beating in her chest. Calace held a strand of her hair, dropping it to the floor.
“Do you have a length in mind?” Calace asked. “I for sure have to shorten it up a little bit, maybe have it similar in length to mine, or I can go even shorter, let’s say a few inches off the sides…”
Anemone hesitated.
Ranun snickered, and Anemone turned to him. “She already has something in mind; best to trust her judgment.”
Anemone’s face questioned what that meant, but she didn’t get an answer.
“I imagine you with short-medium hair,” Calace said, taking a snip of her hair, cutting the long ends about halfway. “You’re going to be an agent, right? And I imagine that involves fighting. Normally, women prefer shorter hair so it can’t get grabbed.”
Anemone nodded. She remembered her hair being quite the nuisance in the fights. If she were careless, her opponents' first tactic was to pull and yank at her hair. The pain would always send her down. “Do what you think is best.”
So, Calace started. She cut and cut, snipping off her longest strands in half to have an easier base to work with. Then, she started with smaller and smaller strands. Eventually, the hair that once was on her back was no longer present, and her head felt a thousand times lighter.
“I’m going to call it a night,” Ranun said, standing up. “I’m sorry, I’m just exhausted.”
Calace smiled at him. “I’ll join you after we’re done.”
Ranun nodded before climbing the staircase between the kitchen and the front door.
“He’s a nice man, isn’t he?” Calace said.
Anemone nodded. That was how he seemed.
“I can’t imagine you feel at home yet,” Calace said.
Is it that obvious? Anemone thought. I haven’t exactly felt like I was coming off as uncomfortable.
“Ranun’s trying his best,” Calace said. “And I will too.”
“Why?” Anemone asked. “Why try for me?”
“I can’t speak for Ranun, but I know him well enough to know that he isn’t taking this for granted. He means what he says, and I don’t doubt for a minute that he isn’t committed to you.”
“Why me, though?”
“I don’t know,” Calace admitted. “But ask yourself if it matters.”
“If it matters?”
“He calls you our daughter,” Calace said, her voice calm, smooth in tone. “It doesn’t matter why our son is our son. He simply is. There’s no reason the same can’t be said for you.”
But, I’m not your daughter, Anemone thought. You aren’t my parents. Words or promises can’t change that. Can they?
Calace continued to cut her hair, this time working at the front. Already, her head felt a thousand times better, as it felt like a pound of hair was no longer holding her head down.
“What’s this?” Calace said, pulling her hair out and away from her forehead. “Nine, three, seven?”
“My number,” Anemone said. The numbers were large and green, a stamp of her birth into the beasts. “They gave it to me in the beast camps.”
“No, this ruins everything! Let me see…” she turned back to the kitchen, bringing out a box and a small glass of water. She lifted a cap to the box and poured out a pile of white powder on the table. She pinched the substance in her thumb and index before tilting Anemone’s head back and padding her forehead with clumps of the flaky powder.
Anemone felt her head start to sizzle, like the powder reacted with the green printed numbers.
Dabbing her fingers in the water, Calace proceeded to rub her head, moistening it. She dragged her fingers hard and forced Anemone to endure it until she finished. Anemone braced, feeling uncomfortable. Enough pain that she debated fighting back, flailing her arms and pushing her away. It was her instincts, which she shoved aside, figuring Calace was only trying to help her.
Calace finished with a rag, and soon after trying with that, she pulled back to show a stain of green on the cloth. She lifted the glass of water to Anemone’s forehead, and the reflection showed that the numbers were gone off of her head.
“Whoa,” Anemone said. “It’s gone? It’s off of me?”
Calace nodded with a smile. “But back to your haircut.”
So, Calace finished up, cutting off the sides before finishing up with the hair over her eyes. Anemone was astounded that her tattoo vanished, all thanks to a particular powder, water, and a rag.
Calace escorted Anemone to a bathroom, showing her the mirror.
There, Anemone saw herself anew inside the reflection. She hardly recognized herself. She looked completely different without long hair. It was short, the front extending only as far down at the tip of her nose, while her sides covered only half of her ears. She liked that there were still some strands flowing down, but not enough to get in the way of her eyes. She turned her head and noticed that her neck was completely naked. Anemone hadn’t seen this much of her face and neck in years.
She felt her hair, rubbing her hands through it, then around where her hair used to take up. It was gone. Like the numbers on her forehead, she liked it. It felt right to have shorter hair.
Calace squirmed beside her, about as excited as Anemone was. “So? What do you think?”
“I like it a lot,” Anemone said.
“You do! That’s great!”
“Thank you,” Anemone said. “I feel strange here, but you two have already done a lot for me. Much more than I expected.”
“Ahh,” Calace wrapped her arms around Anemone, providing a warm, welcoming embrace. “We just want you to be comfortable.”
Anemone nodded. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” Calace said shortly before yawning. “Now, I suppose it’s time to show you to your room. I’ll give you the house tour tomorrow morning, how about that?”
Anemone nodded. She followed Calace out from the bathroom and proceeded upstairs. They reached a large hallway with large paintings and portraits on the wall. Immediately, she recognized Ranun’s face before noticing that Calace stood beside him with black hair instead of the blond she had now.
The entire wall was dedicated to their family, going from the two of them to three, as a baby grew up into a man as Anemone reached halfway down the wall. The frames seemed to stop a little further down the hall as Calace stopped beside a door.
They entered her room. It was bigger than the apartment she slept in Ryuso but had less inside, with only a bed twice as wide as any she had seen before.
“It’s not much now,” Calace said. “But we can add some color to it later if you wish.”
Anemone sat on the bed. Immediately, her body demanded that she sleep, and her eyes started to grow weak. She yawned with a wide mouth and closed eyes. She opened to see her yawn end when Calace’s own began.
“Do you need anything? Water, more blankets or pillows?”
“I’m fine,” Anemone said.
Calace nodded, turning out to the door. “Goodnight.”
“Goodnight,” Anemone said. Right after Calace closed the door, Anemone added, “thank you,” but felt her words unreached.
“You’re welcome,” Calace said, her voice muffled through the door.
Anemone smiled before digging herself into her bed.
Maybe they aren’t too bad, she thought. She didn’t know how right or how real this family could be, or if they would ever be the same as her actual parents. But she should give them credit where it was due. Ranun gave me the one name I have wanted forever. And Calace, she gave me my appearance. The least I could do is give them my effort.