A few months later, Helen went on a visit to the Murlough’s estate with Thera. The carriage bumped along the road and Thera gazed eagerly outside, drinking in the unfamiliar sights. She had been dressed in her best, with her hair curled and tied up in a bow.

Helen was watching Thera. Thera was almost five years old. Soon she wouldn’t have much time to play, yet she had live all her life sheltered and boxed up in the estate, without as much as a single friend to play with.

When Helen had made the play area for Thera, she had realized this and made plans with her good friend, Sarah Murlough, to plan a play date between their daughters. 

Many letters had gone back and forth in between the two estates these past few months, until finally it was decided. Thera would come with Helen on a visit.

Even though the two estates bordered each other, it still took an hour’s ride to reach the front gates. The Murlough estate was twice as large as the Rose estate. Instead of a manor house, there was a huge mansion with twenty maids to keep it clean, a whole kitchen full of master cooks, and two butlers besides, to serve the family.

Thera said nothing. She just followed her mother, observing everything. A pretty lady, with auburn hair swept into the latest fashionable loose bun and wearing a pastel blue dress that almost seemed to float about her, came out at the entrance to meet them.

“Helen, dear, it has been such a long time!” She hugged Mother elegantly.

“Hello, Sarah.” Helen replied. “How have you been? Are Frederick and the children all right?”

“Oh we’re fine darling, we’re all perfectly fine. In fact, we’re so fine that it’s been dull around here all week, what with Frederick gone on the king’s business and all.”

Lady Sara saw Thera over Helen’s shoulder.

 “I see you’ve brought you’re daughter with you. Lovely! Do come in, both of you, you’re just in time for tea.” She ushered them both inside the mansion, bringing them to the parlor balcony.

The ‘tea’ table was more like a buffet table; it was so loaded with sweets and food that there was hardly enough room for the tea and the teacups. Lady Sara and Helen sat down in two very comfortable-looking cushioned chairs.

“Now,” Sarah said. “Come here, my girl and let me take a look at you.” She gestured to Thera. 

Thera looked at Mother, who nodded in encouragement. Then Thera came and stood within an arm’s length of Lady Sara, who promptly grabbed her by the shoulders and turned her around in a circle, examining her with blue-grey eyes the color of the sea.

“Yes…I see. You look just like your mother did at your age. Except her hair was a bit darker than yours, but that’s probably your father in you.”

She let go of Thera.

“Do help yourself to some tea and cake, darling! My own child should be along in a minute or two. I tell you, I turned my back and she dumped the inkpot all over her new dress-”

“I didn’t dump it! It fell on me!” proclaimed a rather cross-looking girl with bright red hair that drifted about her head in loose waves, as she glowered from the parlor door. “Mama, you should stop exaggerating everything I do. It really is quite rude you know, for a young lady.”

Spotting Thera, she paused and looked her over. Thera glanced at her once, taking inher red hair and piercing sky-blue eyes, and then turned her attention back to the tea and cakes. They looked positively scrumptious. Her mother had already taken a slice of Gendhalt(their version of German) style Chocolate cake and was beginning to eat it, ignoring them as she concentrated on the flavor.

“Laura! We were just talking about you. Come here, child.” Lady Sarah held her arms out to Laura, who stamped her foot.

“No, I don’t want to. Not when I’ve been so insulted!” She scowled.

Thera, deciding it was all right,  had picked out a slice of sponge cake with custard filling, covered in cream, and with a strawberry on the top. She began eating it as she watched the two go back and forth.

Then she noticed that she had accidentally grabbed the fork for Laura’s table setting. Well, it didn’t really matter who used which fork, so she just replaced it with the one on her setting which she hadn’t used. Satisfied, Thera went back to eating cake.

 Finally, after her second slice, she broke in between the two and asked Laura,

“Laura, there’s only one slice of strawberry sponge cake left. Do you want it? Also, how do you do? My name is Thera.” She said as she held out the slice of cake on a plate.

“Hmmph. Yes, I DO want the sponge cake, please.” She took the plate from Thera and sat next to her, on the side farthest from her mother. By doing so, Laura made it clear that she was still very much cross with Mrs. Murlough.

 “As you can see, I am Laura Murlough, although mother’s already told you as much, I’d expect.” As Laura bit into her cake, her expression loosened as she fully enjoyed the sweet sensation. She busied herself with eating, while Lady Sara and Lady Helen chattered about the latest news over the girls’ heads.

Instead of cake, Thera decided to try some scones with clotted cream. Delicious! The food here was good enough for a fancy restaurant. She happily ate them as she sipped her tea.

Food aside, Laura was quite curious about her visitor. She kept asking many questions in between bites of cake and sips of tea.

“It’s a shame, though, really. I just got that dress at the dressmakers, Harriets, yesterday, and for it to be so ruined even before I’ve had a proper chance to wear it- Have you been there?

“Well no-”

“Really? That’s a shame. They’ve got such a lot of beautiful gowns. But mama has already spent her apportioned amount on clothes for the week, so we can’t get it replaced for a while yet. How old are you right now?

“Four.”

“Really? I’m five. That means that I’ll be ahead of you by an entire year of cultivation, in the future. If you ever need someone to turn to, you can just ask onee-san here.” She said so proudly.

Not really…In terms of cultivation I’m already seven years ahead. Thera thought, feeling rather awkward, but since she was keeping it a secret, she decided not to quarrel about small matters.

“Really? Then I’ll be in your care.” Thera replied, trying not to sound amused.

“I have a pet kitten! Do you have a pet animal?” Laura had switched gears. Thera was momentarily confused, but realized that normal children had really short attention spans.

“Ah, no-we don’t.”

Laura looked at Thera eyes shining expectantly for a few moments until Thera realized.

“Would you like to show me your pet kitten, please? I’ve only seen them in books.” Thera asked, wondering if she had got it right.

“I thought you’d never ask! Follow me!” Laura got down from her chair and curtsied to her mother and Lady Helen before leading Thera-who hastily copied Laura’s curtsy- out of the room.

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Lady Sarah and Lady Helen glanced at each other and smiled, knowingly. It seemed their little scheme was a success.

Thera’s POV:

“Her name is Sarhan; it means ‘sleeping forest covered in snow’. Mama said that if I take good care of her, then maybe when I’m older, I can contract her to become my familiar.”

Ah, a familiar was it? I remember reading about that sort of custom in sister’s tome. Families of the more prestigious ranks of nobility would sometimes gift their noble youths with rare animals.

Those animals which grew up alongside the children would then be contracted as familiars. It was quite an old system. But that means that the Murloughs are more prestigious than I thought. Not that I have any usurious intentions, or anything.

Laura led me into a huge room. Too large! I will never get used to how the nobles enjoy rooms with ceilings higher than a two-story house. Oh, and now she’s showing me her kitten.

……………………………..TOO CUTE! It’s like a Siberian tiger-no wait, it’s too small to be that. It’s like a grey tabby that accidentally got thrown in with the whites. There’s just black and white striped markings; not a speck of grey to be seen. It also has sky-blue eyes. Oh man, it’s so fluffy! I want to hold it!

Ah, bad! I just let everything show on my face, didn’t I? What should I do? Laura has a smug look on her face.

“She’s cute isn’t she? She’s so fluffy you want to hold her and pet her all day long, right?”

Geh! How did she know? Is she a mind reader? I could feel my face grow hot as I admitted.

“…Yes.”

She giggled. “Then, here! You can hold her for a little bit.”

She picked the kitten up out of its padded basket, and placed her in my arms. But as soon as Laura let go, the kitten dug her claws in, and climbed up onto my shoulder.

“Ow! Hey-OW!”

It balanced easily on my shoulder, and refused to come down.

Laura giggled again.

“She likes doing that a lot.”

The little fluff ball had claws after all, huh. I reached my hand up to pet it, but it batted my hand away with its paw. So it wanted to play, did it?

“…Hey, Laura, do you happen to have a rather large feather I could use?”

“What? Hmmm… oh! I do have one! It fell of one of my old hats, but I couldn’t bring myself to throw it out. It came from a fenril bird, after all.”

Ah, a fenril bird, I see. As I recall, those birds live deep in the forest and have brilliant blue feathers. (imagine a completely blue peacock).

“Here it is, but what are you going to do with it?” Laura asked.

“Watch.”

I made sure that the kitten could see it, then I used small jumping motions, back and forth. The cat’s eyes opened wide, following it with interest. It leaned forward, trying to snag the bright flashing thing on its claws. It tipped over, and fell into my arm. Success~!

“Ah, I see! She wants to play right now! But, how did you know that, Thera? I thought you said you didn’t have any pets?”

Uh-oh. I need a good answer for this one. I can’t just tell her that I used to play with alley cats in my previous life, can I?

“Of course we didn’t. But that didn’t stop me from reading about them. I even read several books on the subject, but I never had the nerve to ask mother for one.” I managed to bluff my way through it, somehow.

“Oh, so that’s why! But still, you’re pretty good for it being your first time holding a cat. Most four year olds would just grab her around her waist and let her hind feet hang down, But you hold her like you’ve done this before.”

And you’re too observant for a five year old! I wanted to yell a tsukommi.  

“Well…I guess it’s because I’m used to holding books.”

“Hah? What has that got to do with anything?”

“A lot!” I insisted. “If you grab a big book around its middle, then it will most definitely slip down and fall on your toes! I got used to holding the books from the bottom so that they don’t slip, so I just did what felt best, and this was it.”

“Oh, so that’s why.” It seems I satisfied Laura’s curiosity for the time being. Whew! But still, for her to be that shrewd…I’m going to have to be careful around this one.

Then she winked at me. “I’ll just bet that Mother’s talking to Mrs. Maverick right now, trying to convince her to get you a pet since it’s ‘all the rage among fashionable noble society these days’, as she would put it.”

Surprisingly, I could imagine that happening with perfect clarity. I looked down at Sarhan. “Oh I do wish it were true!” I whispered.

Laura smiled. “Then, why don’t we go check? Here, I’ll put Sarhan back in her basket. You know, I think that you’d be a better cat owner than I am given time.”

It’s because I was single in my last world, wasn’t it? Somehow, I started feeling belittled, or laughed down at by someone somewhere.

I mentally sent ninja throwing stars aimed straight for the head of that person, somewhere.

Oh great. Now my imagination is getting the better of me, I just know it. Let’s just stick to reality, ne?

Laura lifted Sarhan into the basket once more, then tied the fenril feather to a piece of string and tied it onto the basket so that it would dangle and sway in the breeze coming through the muslin on the window screen.

She grabbed my hand and motioned for me to be quiet as we stalked down the hall towards the parlor. I used the ninja walk that I knew so well, erasing all sounds of my feet. But I made sure to stay behind Laura, or else she might suspect something again.

When we reached the door, Laura looked through one of the keyholes in the double doors, and motioned me to look through the other one.

While I could read lips if I wanted to, I wanted to try something out.

I slowed my breathing and concentrated my martial spirit to my ears, temporarily, not forcing it to mesh with them, but holding it there, as a kind of enhancer. I had learned this from one of father’s technique books.

While Laura was screwing up her face trying to hear, I could hear every single thing they were saying. I could even hear the slight clink of the forks on the plates as they placed their plates aside and began to talk.

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