I follow him inside, content to get answers. He takes me down a hall, and I stay alert, taking in every detail in case I need to escape. Though the mansion seems to be in desperate need of attention, it has an allure about it. The place is falling apart yet seems oddly well-kept, and the items are clearly valuable and of good quality but made to seem cheap. The questions I have grow.

“Ave,” Draven says, stopping in his tracks. I almost collide with his back but stop myself short as he suddenly turns around. I notice the lack of distance between us yet again and take a quick step back.

“Ave,” he continues, also taking a step back. “Ave, I will answer your questions as best I can later on. Through those doors,” he points to a large, cracked, brown door, “is my butler. He will give you a room, a change of clothes, and whatever else you may need. Join me for dinner later on, please, Ave.” He opens the door, and behind it stands a man in a pristine grey suit, middle-aged and almost grey. He walks towards us and bows his head to Draven, his short greyish hair bouncing with him.

“I greet the master, I greet the young lady. My name, young madam, is Lysander.” I had never been greeted so formally in my life.

“My name is Ave. It’s a pleasure to meet you,” I reply.

“The young lady has no last name?” Lysander says, piercing his eyes at me.

“The young lady needs no last name,” I reply, almost annoyed at his clear interrogation. The butler seems nice but has a shadow about him that warns me not to get too close to him. He bows yet again and starts to walk away. I take that as a sign to follow him. He stops five doors down the large corridor and opens a door with an incantation.

“Open to the East,” he enchants. He opens the door to the room once the floral glow at the centre of the door has faded. Yet again, I have more questions that I will not get answers for. Why does such an old mansion have space manipulation magic? Why waste it on bedrooms? I learnt space manipulation last year in an attempt to grow my cottage. The incantation was simple enough, but the map had to be drawn in the form of a tulip with descending vines. So the laws for it were simple. Each room you wanted needed a vine, and all the vines needed to form a circle around the tulip when completed. Each location needed a name and an equivalent space. Space manipulation was simply a way to hide the space that you already had and also a way to move things closer to you. You could not, however, create an extra room. That could only be done by growth magic. The law of growth and the law of space manipulation meant that you had to be a dual-spirit user to do both. My grandmother once told me that dual-spirit users were rarer than pure-blood spirit users. As a child, that seemed like no big deal, but in my pursuit to learn how to control my spirit energy, I dived into books and learnt that there are only three remaining pure-blood user families left after the Eclipse War. So why does this derelict mansion have such a rare, expensive incantation?

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I walk into the room as he holds the door for me. The shock when I entered the room was almost as overwhelming as when I discovered that almost every fruit could be made into jam, and that all jams can be enchanted to last forever. It was an expensive, elegantly decorated room with everything a young noble lady would need. I was shocked yet unimpressed; that much I knew. Wealth meant very little to me. The time I lived in that forest taught me there are far more valuable things. Being in such elegance made me uncomfortable.

Dinner, then answers, I thought to myself. I can handle this much. Lysander directs me around the opulent room.

“Please take a shower, Miss Ave. Dinner will be ready in an hour. I have left clothes for you by the dresser.” I walk towards the dresser as he pragmatically explains the little details. I listen to be polite, hoping that I might learn something relevant. He leaves the room, and I’m left alone. It feels bigger than the forest. I notice a mirror and walk towards it. It’s been a while since I saw myself through such a clear surface. I do not recognise myself. I look clean yet unkempt. My clothes are worn out. My hair seems overgrown. It is the only healthy-looking part of my appearance. I am unnaturally skinny, something which I had not noticed before.