Rene woke up to a harsh knock, followed by the door opening, something falling on the ground, then the door closing again.

She opened her eyes and looked at what was dropped, but didn’t get up.

“What are the clothes for?”

Elina let out an exasperated sigh from the other side; Rene was actually a bit surprised she stayed long enough to be asked a question.

“San Asari’s arts festival starts today,” Elina explained simply, a bit like she was explaining something mundane to a kid. “Father wants a photo of all of us; Mother wants you to look presentable. You should remember this by now.”

Rene sat up and stretched, looking at the clothes from her current spot. Not much care had been put in laying them down, but she expected nothing less. From here, at least, it didn’t look like they’ve ever been worn—likely something Elina bought, but ultimately didn’t think suited her and never wore as a result.

“I’ll be down in a few minutes,” Rene replied. She took a second to consider if it was worth adding, then said, “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” Elina said, just as haughty as Rene expected. “I want it back by this evening—by the time I wake up tomorrow at the latest, if Father needs you for anything after and you can’t change.”

“Noted.”

With her duty done, Elina walked away and Rene assumed she was free to do what she had to. She got off her bed and looked at the outfit in question—just a shirt and skirt, although she folded the latter up and took out one of her better pairs of pants instead. She tried to walk the line between looking ‘decent’—which, to the Dazuz family, meant full dresses and jewelry, but when used to refer to her just meant anything she didn’t pick out for herself—and still be comfortable as she walked around.

When Rene considered herself to look slightly better than usual, she went to the dining room. The other four were there—Lord and Lady Dazuz, Elina, and Leo—each giving her their own variations of a scrutinizing look when she entered.

As per usual—for the rare times she actually ate here, at least—she took her given spot to Leo’s right, filled her plate with whatever she knew she could eat from what was still on serving trays, and patiently waited for the comments before she ate.

“…You’re wearing that?” Lady Dazuz asked after a whole minute.

“Let her be,” Lord Dazuz said, waving her off. Rene started eating, his involvement ensuring she wouldn’t be saying anything. “She’s only in one picture.”

Lady Dazuz looked at her again, then sighed. “I…suppose that’s fine. Historians should be able to guess easily enough that she’s not ours.”

No one spoke until Rene finished eating—everyone else was done, simply sitting there glaring at her or each other—then Lord Dazuz stood.

“Let’s go, then.”

Everyone murmured some kind of agreement and followed after him, everyone but Rene walked with their heads held eye and disdainful looks—by contrast, Rene kept her head down and tried to look like she wasn’t with them. Actually going into San Asari proved they weren’t the only ones—other noble families came as well, mostly due to some sort of tradition none of them particularly cared for or because they could get free pictures and drawings—but she knew they were the only ones who didn’t need to take a train.

San Asari held a festival for the arts every year in October; other major cities were similar, albeit the month changed based on their respective ‘anniversary’ of being completed. Rene only ever went to San Asari’s—and that was always with the Dazuz family, for an hour or so at a time—but she heard it was one of the largest celebrations. Artists and musicians wandered the streets or took up stands near shops; among people’s chatter you could hear camera shutters and different instruments.

Oddly enough, she never really stayed much longer than she had to before; there were a few artists or photographers who just wandered around until they found someone who caught their eye and they typically didn’t ask for confirmation before drawing, painting, or photographing them, so Rene never fully understood the appeal when someone could randomly decide you were ‘interesting’ without telling you, nor did she ever have an excuse to collect any photos of her later. She considered leaving as per usual as soon as the Dazuz family got their picture with her, then remembered Adelinde and Matteo. That convinced her to stay.

Rene didn’t know if they were out or where she could find them if they were, so ultimately she went to the music district to be in someplace familiar where the Dazuz family might not notice her. Lo and behold, Adelinde was in the gazebo playing the piano; Matteo sat with a man a bit older than Rene on one of the benches. The toddler saw her first and waved; the man noticed once she was close enough to hold a conversation, although Matteo still talked first.

“Hi!”

“Hey, kid,” Rene replied kindly. She looked at his watcher. “You’re a relative, I assume?”

“Markus Dakari,” he said, nodding. He stood up and offered his hand; after she shook it, he took a step back again. He put on a kind of easygoing, joking look. “Just Mark is fine, though. Named after my father, but my mother regretted it—hence Adelinde’s more elegant name.”

She observed him for a second, almost automatically commenting, “Adelinde is definitely prettier.”

She didn’t entirely realize she said it until Mark laughed, and even then didn’t have time to clarify—whether or not she needed to—before Adelinde had stepped down from the gazebo and walked over to them. Matteo gave his mother a quick greeting while Adelinde herself almost smiled at Rene.

“I didn’t expect you, to be honest,” Adelinde said. “Have you been here long?”

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

“About two hours at this point, I think,” Rene replied. “I came with the rest of the family, but they only needed me for one picture.”

“They don’t want one family photo with everyone, then separate solo pictures?” Mark asked curiously.

“There’s one picture with all five members,” Rene explained. “Then they take one with the blood family”—she always assumed it was for when she disappointed them or died, at which point they could pretend she never existed—“and everyone else gets separate pictures and portraits. I honestly can’t sit still for that long.”

“I’ve only been able to sit for two or three photos intentionally,” Adelinde mused. “The rest of the collection were from others who took group pictures of everyone in the gazebo or if we happened to look nice for a few seconds.” She paused for a moment, then looked at Rene. “Do you need to head back to your family soon? You can walk around with us, if not.”

She didn’t quite expect the offer; she shook her head. “I don’t have to head back, but I don’t—”

Mark, apparently catching on to something, chimed up. “We’re not doing anything special; you won’t be imposing.”

Rene tried to think of some reason not to—she honestly doubted they didn’t already have plans, but if Adelinde and Mark were okay with her coming with them…

Once again, she wondered if she would hear any comments from Lord Dazuz if she did; and, once again, all she had to do to decide she could handle it was to look at Adelinde and Matteo’s expressions, both curious and smiling. After a second, Rene smiled too.

“All right,” she reasoned. “But I should probably head back around or after lunch.”

“I’ll take it,” Adelinde said nicely. She looked at Matteo. “Okay, Matteo, your choice—do you want to stay here or go somewhere else?”

He thought about it for a second, then got off the bench and went to his mother’s side. He took her hand and tugged in a specific direction, and Adelinde gladly obeyed. Mark and Rene walked a bit behind them.

While Matteo spoke directions, Mark glanced at Rene.

“Adelinde talks about you a lot,” Mark said, somewhat quietly so Adelinde herself couldn’t hear. The atmosphere was loud enough that it wasn’t really necessary. “You’ve helped her grow a lot—this is her first time to a festival in about three years.”

“Sorry.”

Mark laughed. “Why are you apologizing? That’s a good thing.”

“It seems more like a just-family outing,” Rene admitted. She lightly gestured to the groups around them. “That’s the case for everyone else, at least.”

“Sure, I took the day off so I could walk around with Adelinde and Matteo,” Mark reasoned, still smiling and still slightly teasing. “But you are still why Adelinde’s even out here. I think it’s fitting for you to come with us—if only because Adelinde wants you to. The kid seems happier than he was earlier, too.”

Rene was tempted to continue some kind of protest, but they were close enough to Matteo’s chosen location that the toddler kept indicating the place to Adelinde. Just a little bit more walking, and they were at the conservatory. It had a bit more people in it than usual—Mark commented that most were either photographers of some sort or people hiding from the chill outside—and from there Adelinde led them to where the instruments were.

Most of them were taken, including the piano; as such, Mark stepped up instead of Adelinde, opting to use a guitar. Unlike with Adelinde, the general tune stayed the same—variations of one of Dakari’s traditional songs, with a few added twists when a certain person wanted to break off but couldn’t convince the others. It served mainly as background noise as Matteo looked at Adelinde.

“Draw?”

“You want some paper and crayons?” Adelinde asked to confirm.

Matteo nodded eagerly, wandering over to a bench and sitting down to wait. Rene sat down on one end while Adelinde got a piece of paper and pack of crayons laying out for the sole purpose of encouraging little artists. Matteo cheered when his mother returned, taking her own spot on the other end of the bench and laying the paper and crayons next to Matteo.

He barely wasted a second before handing the pack to Rene for her to open, then once he had it again he took out a few crayons. With such a confident look that only toddlers could muster, he drew some controlled scribbles.

Around them, there was the musicians playing their respective instruments and the periodic sound of camera shutters—Rene still stay focused on Matteo and Adelinde, entertaining conversation with both of them as it came and went. She didn’t notice the time—didn’t really think to check—until Matteo paused his determined drawing just to ask Adelinde if it was close to lunch.

Rene had a hard time leaving when she knew the rest of the day would be spent helping the Dazuz mansion staff or sitting in her room alone, so she agreed to come with them for lunch. She bid farewell to the family before heading back to hers, albeit without actually talking to her adoptive parents or siblings.

…

Two days after the festival, Rene woke up to another knock—albeit slightly gentler then Elina’s, leading her to believe it was one of the staff instead a family member. The fact they didn’t say anything confirmed that.

Curious if she was needed for something, she got up and saw a envelope near the door. She picked it up, the only outside indicator of anything being her name on it.

She opened it just to pull out a photo and a short letter from Adelinde.

I went back to see if there were any surprise pictures. There was just one—both of us with Matteo.

I already have a large collection, so you can keep this one. Consider it a sign of friendship.

-Adelinde

Rene held up the photo to see it better. Adelinde on one end of a bench, Rene on the other, and Matteo in between them—some parts were blurry, since none of them noticed the photographer. Considering the angle, though, she had a feeling the they had been in plain sight and no one noticed them. That spoke to how little Rene paid attention to her surroundings—how much she focused on just…Adelinde and Matteo.

She walked it over to the photo wall, searching for any good spot to put it. There wasn’t quite enough room—not for it to stay where she wanted, at least.

She debated for a second if she should hang it up somewhere else—like above her dresser, near the mirror, which would risk someone noticing and questioning—before her eyes fell on a page of a storybook promising new life on a grand island made by human hands. Before she quite thought about it, she took it off and let it fall; in its place, she put the photo of her, Adelinde, and Matteo.

Rene took a step back to examine the newly-altered wall. If she managed to keep this up—if she could convince herself to mention anything she’s felt for these past few months—she wouldn’t need the promise of a perfect life.

She glanced at her calendar, if only just to confirm the date. Maybe she could find a time to talk about it before the end of the year—then, at least, she would know whether or not she could still hope to be something to Adelinde. It would be better if she could confirm anything before she had to make a choice, so she knew if she could safely do what she wanted.

She didn’t want to lose Adelinde the same way she lost Hannah—didn’t want to have a friendship or romance or anything to end because she was too scared to trust there would be enough for her somewhere else.

Either she would go along with the Dazuz family whenever the new island was created with no regrets, or she would break off from them and finally have a place in Dakari. All she needed to do was find a good time to tell Adelinde she might have fallen in love.