The guest room they had prepared for me turned out to be close to the royal quarters. Not close enough to be within their private wards but still. I felt honoured at the sudden trust I was shown. Gregor must have changed his mind. Or maybe the [King] had after the last visit had been so pleasant.

My night was restful, at least until a servant knocked on the door to wake me up. I did not complain, though, as I heard Medea’s voice down the hallway. She was being scolded by a maid for trying to leave the royal quarters.

I quickly checked my plumage for any ruffled feathers and sorted the few that sat a little off before walking over to the door and opening it. The butler’s hand hit empty air as he tried to knock once again.

“Oh. Good morning, Lady Fio. I apologize for waking you up.”

“You’re fine”, I said, “It’s Medea, right?”

“Yes. She is trying very hard to bypass the wards. Which is not difficult. The royal family can step through at any time.”

“I see. I’ll go play with her.”

“Thank you, Lady Fio.”

The butler stepped out of the way as I left my room. He followed me down the hallway towards the arguing voices. There was another door in between just in front of the barrier which stood open just a bit. I hooted when I reached it. All of a sudden, the argument was drowned out by a high-pitched squeal.

“Fiooooo!”

The door slammed open and Medea rushed through only to be caught in a wall of shadows. I heard the butler gasp and the maid shrieked for the girl to come back. They calmed down quickly once they spotted the princess hugging the darkness, me standing still a little away. She peeked over the edge of the wall.

“You’re back!”, she grinned.

“I am. Good morning, Medea.”

“Good morning!”

The butler cleared his throat.

“Your highness, I would ask you to return to your quarters. At least to get dressed properly.”

“Aww!”

“I have to agree”, I said, “How else are we supposed to play?”

“In my room!”

I looked at the maid who had a slight panic attack at the princess’ declaration. The butler sighed.

“Of course. You should still get dressed, your highness. Breakfast will be served in an hour.”

“Mmmm… Okay!”

She started pulling on the shadows.

“Come!”

Since I could not step through the barrier leading to the royal quarters, I expected the butler would open it up for me. Before that could happen, though, Medea managed to drag my darkness inside of it. Suddenly, I saw a path. A flex of my will and [Eldritch Shift] activated. And I stood inside, without any issues.

I looked up at the butler.

“I think you should tell Gregor to meet me later. I found a way to get through the barriers.”

He nodded, dumbfounded.

“W-w-w-what?”, the maid stammered.

“Gina, Lady Fio has the explicit permission of the [King] to be invited to the royal quarters by a member of his family. There is nothing to worry about.”

“But…”

She gestured at the dark outline of an owl still on the outside of the barrier.

“She has also been tasked with finding holes in the security by the [Spymaster]. There is no issue.”

“Oh. Okay”, she took a deep breath, “Thank you. I was really panicking there.”

I drew my shadows in as the butler inclined his head.

“I will send Gregor to you later. He is currently busy.”

“Sure thing”, I said.

Before I could say goodbye, Medea was already dragging me down the hallway. I solidified the darkness a little to make sure she would not rip it apart. Better my Skill than my body… The maid followed us after closing the door. She kept quiet the whole way. Only when we stopped in front of a fancy wooden door, she stepped up to open it for us. Medea let go of my darkness and ran inside before spinning around and spreading her arms.

“This is my domain!”, she declared like a little queen, “You are free to enter at any time!”

I inclined my head.

“Thank you for having me.”

I stepped inside and the maid closed the door behind me. The room was spacious but not as much as I had expected. A bed stood on the wall to my right with another door close to it leading into the next room. It was queen-sized and took up about half of the space. The floor was covered in a comfy rectangular carpet and a few tiles showed in the corners. Two shelves with small treasures stood on the left wall in between two more doors. One stood slightly open, leading into a bathroom. The maid walked past me to the second one, opening it up into a walk-in dresser. A pile of plush animals and pillows crowded the corner behind the bed. There was a suspiciously dark-feathered owl just about my size.

“Look!”, Medea called out as she ran over to it, “This is just like you! I call her Firo!”

I hooted and walked over. It was very difficult to spot any seams and the colours, while similar, were still distinct from my own. Most notably, this plush owl had a white pattern on the back of its wings with spikes that almost looked like a crown.

“She’s beautiful. And very well made.”

I patted Medea on the head with a tendril of darkness formed into a hand.

“Did you ask someone to make it for you?”

“Yes. Mum! She made the tailor do it!”

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I chuckled.

“That must be a very skilled tailor.”

“Yup! She made all of these!”

I looked over the pile. There were bears, horses, a boar, two cats and a fish. All of them detailed and with colourful cloth. Even the pillows had simple animal designs stitched onto them. One was very crude and simple compared to the rest. An attempt at making an owl’s face.

“Did you make that?”, I asked.

“Mhm!”, she nodded proudly.

“It looks good.”

“I couldn’t make it really good. But it was fun! And I’m practising a lot to make it better!”

“Your highness”, the maid called from the dresser, “Let me get you ready.”

Medea obediently walked over and let herself be led into the bathroom. I heard water splash and clothes rustle for a few minutes while looking at the shelves. Most things were small objects. An old toy car made of wood, a collection of smooth rocks, a book with a large leaf decorating the leather cover. There was a box with a board next to it. A pattern was carved inside looking a little like a traditional board game from Earth. What was it called again? Go? It had the wrong number of lines but it seemed to be well-used.

Soon, the princess joined me again. She was wearing a long yellow one-piece dress with white embroidery. We started playing with the plushies at first. I used my shadows to move the boar and owl and we had a small pretend tea party. Soon, it was time for breakfast.

The day proceeded calmly from there. I joined in on Medea’s lessons, sometimes helping to teach, sometimes learning myself. In between, we played in the courtyard or inside. There were three hide-and-seek sessions in which she got progressively better at spotting me even through my hiding Skills. Granted, I chose locations where I could be found and avoided totally blending in. The [Queen] spent some time with us as well.

Sometime in the afternoon, we were taking a break in the courtyard. I knew I needed to tell Medea I would leave for a long time and I regretted not getting some kind of gift for her. Gregor had come to talk to me, earlier, and I had used the chance to have him bring me five vis crystals, some dirt, and a barrel of water. The princess looked confused when the servants brought them over.

“I’m going to travel far away, Medea”, I began.

Confusion was quickly replaced by sadness.

“There are things I need to do. I might not come back for a year. That’s why I took the time today to spend with you.”

“But…”

She was close to tears.

“And I want to make something for you. As a promise that I’ll come back.”

She nodded and wiped her eyes.

“Do you want to watch me do some thaumaturgy?”

She tilted her head.

“The what now?”, the [Queen] whispered from a bench a few metres away.

I reassured her with a glance.

“Okay?”, Medea said.

I nodded and pulled out my crucible and heating plate as well as the one iron bar I still had lying around. The pot went on the plate and I poured the water using my shadows. I heard the [Queen] standing up and stepping closer. When I looked at her, she seemed mostly curious. I activated the heating plate and waited for the water to boil. We ended up climbing on the bench just so we could both look inside.

“Do you have anything specific you would like to have?”

“Hmm?”, Medea made.

“I am getting you something from metal. A figure. I could just make an owl but maybe…”

“Owl!”, she said.

I chuckled.

“I see.”

When the water was ready, I threw in the dirt and vis crystals.

“Ready?”, I asked.

The princess nodded, her fists clenched.

I threw in the iron and with the telltale ringing of thaumaturgical alchemy, it was pushed back out and flew into the air. Only, it was purple now.

“Whoah!”, Medea gaped.

“We’re not done yet but this is the most spectacular part.”

The thaumium landed in the grass a few metres over as I picked up the crucible with my darkness. I opened my [Owl’s Stomach] portal, the one leading to the devouring part, and poured the fluxed water inside. Then I put my things away and jumped off the bench.

“This is… thaumaturgy?”, the [Queen] asked.

“The very basics, yes. You can do a little without any worries but even with how simple it is, it can seriously damage the surroundings if you aren’t careful.”

“I see…”

We walked over to Medea kneeling above the thaumium. She prodded the metal with a finger.

“It’s cold!”, she said.

“Yup. It only absorbed the magic, not the heat.”

“What now?”

“Now I do magic. This is no longer thaumaturgy. This is something I learned the basics of from the dwarves.”

“Artificing?”, the [Queen] asked.

“Yes.”

I picked up the thaumium with a foot and pulled it closed. Standing more comfortably, I put one talon against the metal and poured in metallum vis. Within moments, the ingot was completely filled. I forced my will upon it and shaped it. First, into a somewhat elongated oval shape. I quickly smoothed out the contours of the wings and face before pulling out legs and beak. I decided to make the wings stand slightly open as if the owl had just landed. The head had to bend a little lower as well, of course. I made it look up at whoever would admire it.

Next, I carefully carved out the details. Bit by bit, feathers took form. Talons spread from the feet, and the beak stood open slightly. Eyes and facial feathers appeared and the typical ear tufts just like I had popped up. Within a few minutes, I had a mostly high-quality thaumium figure of myself. I decided to go over it once again, improving the detail even further. I made it so my own thaumium and glass form was represented in the image with the feathers getting a bunch of small holes that let light shine into them. Held against the sun, they would glow like living tissue. I made sure to test it.

Soon, I was done. I carefully put the figure down on the gravel pathway, happy to see it was standing on its own. I pulled on the metallum vis and it left the metal within seconds. Then I looked up.

Medea was staring. There was an excited smile on her face and her fists were pressing into her cheeks. More interestingly, the [Queen] stood behind her in almost the same position, only with flat hands instead of fists.

“This is for you, Medea”, I said.

The princess squealed.

“Soooooooo prettyy!”

The noise made the [Queen] flinch and within moments she was once again standing like a proper Lady.

“This is… truly wonderful. How did you do it, if I might ask?”

“Metallum vis and a whole lot of concentration. High will Attributes helped, probably.”

“I can assume.”

“Thankyouthankyouthankyou!”, Medea shouted while hopping in place. She could not rip her eyes off the figure.

“You’re welcome”, I said, “And I promise I will return.”

Suddenly, her gaze turned to me. I had half a mind to dodge when she shot forwards but decided to simply accept the hug. The girl was not very strong and it was not wholly unpleasant. Mostly because Catori almost shoved me outside into our soul and nuzzled into the princess.

I chuckled as I found myself in her body on our couch. It only took a moment to go back to myself in my room and just as I had stepped outside and settled into the corner of our living room, I was dragged back into reality.

“Thanks”, Catori whispered.

“No worries.”

At least the hug was over.