Two days later, Lunara morning, I awake feeling sore. It turns out that spending four hours in intense dance lessons on a Heliosa afternoon is a bit of a work-out, who knew? This morning, I feel it, like, really feel it. I honestly wonder if Mrs. Christies was so hard on the lesson yesterday to make up for the shortened lesson on Saturna, or was it to continue punishing Guntar while inadvertently catching me in the crossfire. Regardless, the end result was my waking this morning with my everything aching like I had been performing an extreme workout.

  Luckily, this morning Mary woke me a little early and, as I stretch and groan in my huge comfy bed, she speaks up.

  “Lady Beira,” she says before waiting for a reply.

  “Yes, Mary?” I look at her expectantly.

  “I have taken the liberty of running you a hot bath, should you wish for a soak to relieve your muscles, prior to today’s activities.” Her words immediately improve my morning and for a second, the pain lessens.

  “Mary, you’re the b-best maid a girl could ask for.” I reply cheerily and move to get out of bed. My body takes that moment to remind me that everything hurts, causing me to groan as I stand up and shuffle back to the bathing area. Mary helps me pull my hair up into a loose bun so that it doesn’t get wet, and I slip into the hot water. I sink up to the top of my breasts, feeling the water’s warm embrace soothe away my soreness.

  Ah, this is the stuff. I don’t think I every want to leave the warmth of this bath.

  I know, however, that it won’t last. Eventually, I’ll have to get up and go through my routine of getting dressed, having breakfast with my parents, going to my lesson for the morning which should be history and geography with Professor Lancaster, eat lunch, and finally be tortured by Mrs. Christies again. It’s not that I hate dancing, I actually enjoy it a lot, but there is dancing and there is dancing. Mrs. Christies manages to take something I find interesting and fun, then turns it into something cold, clinical, and overly formal. Even the formal Ballroom dances that I am learning have the potential to be really fun, but she tends to make it tedious and frustrating. At least Mr. Grabby-hands behaved himself yesterday, so there is that. I don’t know exactly what she did to him, but she clearly put the fear of God, or of Damian, heh, in him because he was the perfect gentleman yesterday.

  “You called?” I hear a voice pipe up in the back of my head.

  Instinctively, I cover myself.

  No. Go away. Don’t you know it is rude to intrude on a lady who is bathing?

  “Please, it’s not like I haven’t seen your naked body before.” I can feel his smug little smirk.

  Seriously, Damian. Please just go away and let me bathe in peace.

  “Alright, alright. I was just coming to tell you that today you will be taking your morning lesson with Lordrin Zellen because Professor Lancaster came down with a, cough cough, mysterious illness. Do me a favor and ask him to test your affinity potential today. I’ll get around to reviewing it later. Toodles.”

  I sigh as I feel his presence vanish, and I try to relax again. I wish he would not pop into my head at inappropriate times like that.

  Perv.

  “My Lady,” I hear Mary call from the inside my closet as she picks out my clothes for the day. “It is almost time to start getting ready for breakfast.”

  All good things must come to an end, I guess.

  I stand up and make my way to the front of the bath where Mary is waiting beside the steps with a fluffy towel so that I can dry off.

  Once I am dried, dressed, and made presentable for the coming day, Mary leads me downstairs to the dinning hall where my parents await.

  “Beira,” my mother says as I sit down. “Your lesson today with Professor Lancaster has been canceled due to illness. However, this does not mean you can slack off this morning. I have requested that Lordrin Zellen come today to give you your weekly lesson on magical theory and application, instead.”

  I nod my head in acknowledgement and she continues.

  “Also, your father has informed me about you wanting a block of time so that you can resume grooming Rún as well as potentially helping with his training…” She pauses, eyeing me for a reaction but I keep my face emotionless as I expect her to deny the request.

  “I have informed Mrs. Christies that she should start and end her lessons an hour earlier. That should make enough time for you to properly groom him, however…” She pauses again, likely noting the smile that was starting to creep up on my face had fallen. “Taking part in his training will have to wait till after Princess Isabella’s Ball. There simply isn’t enough time in the day leading up to it, for you to take on those duties. Afterwards, I’ll leave the whole afternoon blocked out for just you and him.”

  I’m positively beaming with that news, a huge goofy smile filling my face.

  “T-thank you, mom. That means the world t-to me.” I reply brightly.

  I glance to my dad, who is watching me with a smile, and quietly mouth a ‘thank you’ to him. He slightly inclines his head in acknowledgement and turns his attention to his food with a twinkle in his eye.

  I notice that the room has brightened considerably, but think nothing of it as I start eating the hearty breakfast of eggs, bacon, sausage, fried potatoes, toast, and cheese. Not even the slight over greasiness of the food can lighten my mood, plus the flavor makes the slight greasiness ok. The entire meal, I am daydreaming about the time I’ll get to spend with Rún today and I decide to sneak a special treat to him when I see him, as a way to properly apologize for my absence. Once I finish eating, I set my silverware down properly and place my napkin beside my plate to let the staff know I’m finished.

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  After the meal, I make my way down that what I have been calling the lecture hall, but in reality, is only a meeting room normally reserved for the simi-annual meeting my father has with the other nobles live in his territory. As I step inside, I see Lord Zellen sitting behind the desk at the front of the room, thumbing through some notes.

  “Ah, My Lady Beira, how lovely to see you today.” He calls out, his face which normally looks like he had perpetually eaten something sour, breaks into a warm smile. “I hope you are doing well today, My Lady.”

  “I am, Lord Zellen. T-thank you for asking.” I give him a warm smile and slight curtsey, making sure not to go too deep. “And, if I may, how are you t-today, sir?”

  “I’m well, I’m well. I admit, I am a little thrown off by the shift to one day earlier for your lesson, but with poor Adrian Lancaster ill, I suppose it can’t be helped.” He replies cheerfully, not showing any outward signs that the shift in schedule had affected him on the least. “On the up note, it looks as if it is going to be a lovely day and we have ample amounts of bright natural light coming in. To that effect, lets keep this lesson light, ha, today and try to have some fun.”

  I go to my usual seat and sit.

  “Now, I figured that we would focus on some exercises to try and get around that block that you seem to have developed around your affinity. Having such a block is highly unusual, but not completely unheard of. It is usually associated with some form of trauma, that affects the afflicted psychologically, for instance, the recent assassination attempt on yourself. Now I know your family is insisting on calling it an ‘accident’, but let’s call a spade a spade. I was there that night escorting my darling Matilda. I saw you when you were brought in from the maze. Someone, or something, tried to kill you with magic. That is not something that you get over easily, but these exercises might just help.

  “I have been thinking about this for a while to be honest, ever since the Duke and Dutchess informed me of your amnesia. Then when you asked me about rechecking your potential and were unable to produce the slightest sliver of frost, it got me thinking. Maybe we can’t undo the psychological block on your magic without first convincing your post trauma self that the block is nothing more than an obstacle that can be gotten around.

  “Now, I realize this won’t address the other lingering effects that the attack on your life had, but if we can succeed in finding a way that allows you to access your magic again, I will test your potential, like you asked me about before. Luckily for that, you only need to do the bare minimum for the test to accurately work.”

  The next hour and a half, we go over multiple techniques for accessing my magic. After much frustration on my part, something finally clicks into place and my right hand is now coated in a thin layer of frost that glows slightly. I smile brightly at my success and hold my hand up proudly for Lord Zellen to see.

  He walks to the table in front of me and leans over.

  “May I?” He asks, indicating towards my hand.

  I nod and he pulls out a pair of spectacles.

  Putting to the glasses, he leans in closer, close enough for me to feel his hot breath on my hand.

  “Hmm. This is interesting.”

  “W-what?” I ask, feeling a bit uncomfortable with him so close to me.

  “Your hand. It is glowing.” He explains. “At first, I thought it was the light reflecting off the ice crystals coating your hand but upon looking closer, the glow seems to radiate from within.”

  He stands back up and returns to his desk.

  “Ok, My Lady. I want you to dismiss that and then resummon it when I say. I want to see how quickly you can access your magic now that you have found a way that works and know how it feels.”

  I nod, dismissing the cold from my hand and the frost fades rapidly. The glow, however, lingers for just a moment before dissipating, causing Lordrin Zellen to arch an eyebrow in curiosity.

  “Summon it back now.” He commands after a few seconds.

  It takes almost a full minute for me to resummon the cold, but both Lord Zellen and I notice that right before the frost forms, my hand alights in a soft glow yet again. He has me dismiss the cold once more and has me repeat the exercise several times, and each time my speed improves sightly. After each attempt, he nods to himself and jots a couple of notes down on the papers he was examining back when I first came into the room.

  “Ok, My Lady. Now I want you to see if you can summon that glow while avoiding any of the cold effects.” He says with a queer look on his face, as if he is trying to prove something to himself.

  I focus on the light only, making sure to not draw any of the cold in the air towards me, and within seconds a soft glow again surrounds my hand, this time without the slightest hint of frost appearing.

  “Ok, you can dismiss it now, Lady Beira.” Lord Zellen says as he scribbles down some more notes while murmuring to himself.

  I dismiss the glow and sit patiently for him to finish with his notes.

  Lord Zellen looks up at me and begins speaking.

  “This is very curious, My Lady. You are displaying an aptitude for a light affinity that you have never displayed before.” He says speaking slowly. “This is going to require more study because such a thing shouldn’t be possible. I know it is getting towards the end of our lesson and I promised to test your potential, but before I do, I would be remiss if I didn’t check on more thing first.”

  He reaches under the desk and pulls out a small object that he hurls at me!

  I react without thinking and slam up an icy barrier to block the object while simultaneously firing a concentrated beam of light at it. I hear the object hit the barrier and then bounce on the floor a few times before growing quiet. The smell of burning rubber and ozone fills the room as everything seems to stop.

  “Eheh…” Lord Zellen says, the noise incoherent.

  After a brief pause, he clears his throat and speaks up.

  “Eh, I would have to say your reflexive use of your affinities is in top shape.” His voice has a nervous edge to it. “Um, could you drop the barrier, My Lady? Please? I promise not to throw anything else at you.”

  It takes me a minuet but I manage to dispel the ice and see a pale Lord Zellen sitting behind the deck with a nervous sheen of sweat on his forehead. Behind him, to the left of his head, is a still smoking hole drilled into the stone of the wall. On the floor in front of me is a small ball, about the size of a baseball, made of a rubber like material with a neat still smoking quarter sized hole that is burned through it.

  “D-did I do that?” I ask, my eyes wide at the damage.

  “Yes, My Lady, you did.” He replies. “I was expecting the barrier, after all, I wanted to test your reflexes to see if you could raise one to protect yourself instinctually. I was not expecting a counter attack though.”

  “I am so s-sorry.” I apologize shaking my head.

  “I didn’t know I could do that. Are you ok? D-did I hurt you?” I say with concern as I rise and walk towards him to check on him.

  He flinches momentarily as I draw near, but then straightens and pulls a crystal out of his pocket.

  “I am fine, Lady Beira. Thank you for your concern.” He takes on a calm and educational demeanor once again.

  He hands me the crystal, which kind of resembles the one used in the Sims, only clear.

  “Ok, I told you that I would test your potential if you regained access to your magical affinity… or affinities in this case.” He says explaining the reason for the crystal. “This is a focus. Depending on how strong your potential is, when you focus your magic onto it, it will glow various levels of brightness with the color matching your affinity. I have never tested anyone with dual affinities before, seeing as it should be impossible for that to happen, so I have no clue how the focus will display those, but we should be able to get a read on your potential, regardless. Now, focus on feeding your magic to the crystal. It only takes a trickle.”