I was doing some stretches to try to keep myself calm. I had been here a few days now, and all the things I was being shown were really starting to stress me out. Whether it was how I sat at lunch or the way I held a teacup. How did any noble manage all this? My body was tense.

  It was causing me to view my room slightly differently. In some ways, it felt small because this was the only space I could unwind, and it was just one single room, but for as large as it was, it couldn’t compare to the great fields or the big trees of Hatula. So, in that sense, my previous sense that this room was excessive had long passed. If anything, I would have preferred it to be a bit bigger.

  A tap came at the door. “It is Emilia. I have something for you. May I come in?”

  I took a breath, the last relaxing one I expected for a bit. “You may.” Even that was annoying. What was wrong with just yes or sure?

  The door opened, and the head maid, Emilia, along with a few other maids, came in with her; they were holding a large green dress. It had white trim, frills, and golden embroidery. It was truly stunning —the kind of thing I expected Elise to wear. Considering Elise wasn’t here, I felt nervous about why it was being brought to me.

  “Ready to try it on?” Emilia asked.

  Frick. I simply raised my arms. I knew no words were needed for the maids to get to work. After several nights of being bathed, I had long since given up my modesty in the face of other women. I trembled a bit at their fingers touching my skin. Not nerves or anything —just that, ever since they've been lathering me like a summer ham, my skin has felt so much softer, which has made it very sensitive. It was an adjustment.

  Looking down, I saw they were placing a silk shirt that had a firm trim on top; it didn’t look nearly as pretty. I wondered what–

  She squeezed really hard, and I coughed. “What are you doing?” I wheezed. “I can barely breathe!”

  She loosened it a bit and looked at my stomach. “Full breath, please.”

  I took a deep breath and felt the tightness of this top again, but instead of adjusting it, she pulled it slightly tighter. “That is worse!”

  “This is the appropriate tension, apologizes my Lady. From what I hear, even the young miss complains about the tightness.”

  The young miss so Elise’s child. I noticed the feel of other hands tying knots behind me. So this dress needed even more than one maid. Great. At the same time, they were pulling up the sleeves of a very see-through white up to my elbow, and holding it in place with a ribbon. Also tight, but not as bad.

  They had me sit down next to leggings, and after that, they finally had me step into the gown. Pulling it up, they began trying it into place as well. How was I expected to pee in this… ughhh I thought back to that spell. It removed waste from even inside me. I couldn’t deny its value, but there was just something about not using the bathroom the usual way that threw off my sense of normalcy.

  Oh, there it is —more tightness. It wasn’t quite as bad, though. More firm, I suppose. Looking down, it didn’t look as pretty as I expected. It felt like it was missing something. But then I realized there was one last piece, a bodice that went over. Wasn’t the first layer enough? But what use was complaining? None.

  She slid it on, and once again the three of them tightened everything. Oh, there it is. It felt tighter than the first. “I can barely breathe!”

  “Sorry, my Lady, but this is properly how to get it on. Any loser, and it may shift.”

  I felt a cold chill on my foot as they slipped something on. What was that? It was titled forward. Like the back of it was raised. It instantly threw my balance off. “What are those?”

  “Shoes made for you, my Lady,” the maid on her knees said.

  “I got that, but why are they uneven?” I asked. Was this shoddy craftsmanship?

  “That is just how noble shoes are, my Lady.”

  I wanted to fume, but I relented. “I presume they wish to see me?”

  Emilia raised a hairbrush. Oh, freaking hell. Oh well. I just sat down and closed my eyes. She had done this a few times, but it was a hassle. At Hatula, we played with each other's hair occasionally, but it was usually just a basic braid. Emila would split my hair into two braids, then roll them up and secure them with metal clips. Admittedly, if I were working in the summer, it might be a nice style, but work was the one thing I was basically forbidden from doing.

  “Ready,” she said.

  I stood up, and one of the maids presented the full-body mirror. They didn’t have enough for each room. So they brought it in when needed. Seeing myself, I felt… strange. I knew that was a mirror. I knew what a mirror was. I hadn’t when I first arrived, but I do now. I saw Emilia next to me. And I knew they wouldn’t trick me. And yet, I didn’t see myself. I didn’t see Julia of Hatula. I saw the Wind Maiden. Apparently, green was a traditional color of the Wind Maiden. My eyes were green, so it only added to the flair, as if I had been born for the role. I hated it.

  Emilia walked in close proximity to me. I soon realized it was because she expected me to lose my balance and wanted to be right there to catch me. That happened about four times before I reached the tea party room on the second-floor balcony by the western side. In the morning like, it was in full shade and a nice spot to see the surrounding scenery.

  Elise and her daughter stood up.

  “I am ever so pleased to see you today, Maiden of Wind,” she said with a curtsy. Apparently, even the way girls bowed had a unique name. “And if I might add, you look absolutely radiant today.”

  I tilted my head slightly. The child of a baroness was not worthy of a Maiden of Wind to curtsy for. “I am equally pleased to be joining you both today.”

  “Oh my, Mother, she is positively fuming today,” the young lady said.

  Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  “What, But I… I said it perfectly,” I retorted.

  “Yes, but your face is so tense one might believe if you were a chipmunk, that you might be able to crush stone in your jaw,” Elise said.

  “Elise-”

  “Please, Maiden of Wind, you know I dislike it, but as a noble, I must remind you.”

  I sighed. “Baronness Elise, this is…. Absolutely dreadful? How am I to maintain composure when I feel like I am being prepared for a viper's belly with how much this dress is choking me!”

  “You’ll get used to it,” Elise added. “Takes a bit of time.”

  The maid behind the young lady poured me some tea with two sugars and a dash of milk. I sipped it as a small bit of happiness out of this situation. I also grabbed a cookie with bits of chocolate.

  “Trust me, you don’t want to eat too quickly,” the young lady said.

  Elise giggled. “She has made that mistake before; she got quite the stomachache with all the compression on her full belly.”

  The pout on the young lady’s face was almost adorable if not for the fact it made me realize that I couldn’t even fully enjoy the situation of this tea party. “Ugh. So, how long does one need to adjust to this compression?”

  “If you wear it every day, probably just a month or two.”

  My smile cracked. Even I could feel it that time. That's long! I just wanted to slump my shoulders, but I understood she would just tell me to stop. I sighed instead. Elise was at least someone I didn’t feel scared around. She had proven herself to be a kind friend.

  Elise waved her hand. And parchment and a pen were brought. “If you can’t eat as much, I thought you might like practicing? My little sweet daughter could use the practice as well.”

  I smiled at that. While it wasn’t demanding in the ways I was used to, learning to read and write was practically the only time I could actually do something that felt somewhat familiar to reading and writing. The young Lady quickly wrote down the words. One was my name and the other her name, both in the very stylistic way she had been raised to write with.

  I almost wanted to growl. She was taunting me! I couldn’t write my own name that pretty yet. And she could do both ours. I still couldn’t read her name. The main thing I realized is that it began with an A and was nine letters long. But I didn’t know any girl names like that. I had asked mom for suggestions.

  I got to work on writing. I wanted to clear the hurdle of writing at least my own name better than the little twerp!

  Elise smiled as she sipped her own tea. Wait… she was wearing a dress like the one I had. How has she been gulping it down without a stomachache! Gah! Noble life is totally unfair.

  Oh crap. I jumped up suddenly.

  “Everything okay?” Elise asked.

  “I must…. Uh, I forgot how to say it. Toilet!”

  “Are you sure you don’t want me to use Zureinigen?”

  “I’m good,” I said, trying to rush. Crap, I stepped on the dress again, but caught myself on the wall before falling.

  Emilia and two maids were following behind me. I suppose I would need their help with the bathroom. Which… happened to be more true than I realized. They had to take off both the top bodice and the dress, which took so long! Then I was able to use the bathroom. They were more insistent that I not clean myself, since I was wearing the fancy gloves. Ugh. I hate it. That was such an ordeal.

  When I got back to the table, the young lady had already filled out a full page of writing and had it at an angle clearly visible from my seat. She was reading a book now.

  “Welcome back,” Elise said, sipping tea. “Would it not be wise to learn the spell at least?”

  Magic kind of scared me, if I was being honest, because it violated the natural order. “Baron Christopher said I wasn’t to learn magic until the royal capital?”

  “That… strictly speaking is true. But Zureinigen is a spell that most mothers teach their daughters around this time. So I was going to teach my daughter. And it felt like a spell you might need in an emergency.”

  “But is it safe?” I asked.

  She nodded. “As long as you don’t try to use any other spell. It is said a Maiden’s magic is volatile before she is married, but it is just a cleansing spell. I don’t personally see the harm.”

  I sighed.

  “Oh, Mother, you shouldn’t push. She is still catching up on writing. If she isn’t ready for something like Zureinigen, then that’s it. We can’t expect so much from her,” the young lady said while smiling at me in a way that just… it made me angry.

  What did she mean by that? That’s it! This is a spell children are taught. “Fine! I’ll learn. I bet I can handle it way faster than her, anyhow. So I won’t need long.”

  Elise chuckled. “That’s the spirit. Maids, leave us.”

  All the maids cleared out without a word. That unsettled me a bit. “Maids aren’t permitted to learn magic?” I asked.

  She set her hand on her cheek. “No, that isn’t it. However, we would charge them for a lesson. It is more about them not seeing if you struggle or not. Weakness in this case is something best kept hidden.”

  I should be used to answers like that by now.

  Elise came over to me and touched my stomach slightly. I felt a bit more warmth given the layers between us. “Feel that? I am flickering my magic against yours. Magic exists in your stomach. You can control that feeling. The first task is to move it to your finger. Closing your eyes can help.”

  Interesting. I decided to close my eyes. It felt like jam, warm jam in my stomach. I tensed and released and could feel it moving around. How was I supposed to get it to my fingertip? Hmm. She influenced mine with hers. Does that mean I could just push it a bit forward? Oh, that felt weird. I moved my hand towards it, and I felt the gooey warmth touching my finger before I touched my own belly.

  “I did it,” I said, raising my hand.

  “Huh?” Elise said. “That was… oh. Haha, that was clever.”

  “What? What happened?” The young lady said, looking back and forth between us.

  “Don’t worry about it, you keep trying,” she said as she walked over to me. Once she reached me, she leaned in and whispered. “You should still practice manipulating it on your own. But this isn’t a bad idea in certain cases. When you get skilled, let me show you what I can do.”

  She touched my hand. And I felt the warm tingle surge through my arm, my shoulder, and down to my right foot. It began feeling ticklish. “Hey, stop that.”

  The feeling pulled back as if it had never been there. Dang, so she could go both ways. Her control was much better than mine, but I guess she had been doing this for about as long as I've been alive.

  Elise took some tea and spilled it on a napkin. “Next is an image. You need to focus your mind on what you want. Cleaning. Cleansing. When you feel you've got it, tap it and say the phrase. Zureinigen. Okay?”

  Clean. Not that I had any idea what seeing a dirty napkin cleaning itself would or should look like. I guess the reverse of it getting dirty. I did laundry, but it was so soapy, and we churned the water harshly. So I didn’t notice any moment of cleansing. Reverse. Got it.

  I tapped the napkin. “Zureinigen.”

  As I envisioned. The color of the tea drained, and the napkin became dry.

  Elise clapped. “Very good. You can try practicing this on your own next. I will check back on your progress after a few days.”

  I raised my head. “That wasn’t so hard.”

  The young lady closed her eyes and seemed to be focusing even more on her magic. She didn’t say anything. Ha. I won. Now, to get back to studying writing.