Not Your Average Fairytale

Enraged

Kame opened her eyes to sunlight streaming in through the windows of the inn. By the time she had returned and given Fenetre his gift of raw meat, she had been so exhausted that she collapsed onto the bed when the sun was still in the sky. She awoke to the sun in the sky the next day. Groaning, Kame slowly sat up, smoothing down her hair. It has been her first real sleep since her birthday, in an actual bed. Forcing herself to move because she was sure Fenetre was getting antsy in the stall, Kame rummaged through her tan bag for a new set of clothes. She was going to visit the castle today.

She was certainly not keen on going to the castle to work, but at this point, she had little choice. She knew well that if she served this royal family, she would certainly not see her own. She lifted out another of her mother’s simpler dresses, sighing. She could not go to a castle in pants; she had to make them think nothing was suspicious. Suspicious was a girl that looked vaguely like Serenia’s crown prince with baggy pants on.

The shida so hated wearing dresses though. It was very easy to get cold in one - she didn’t know how women did it all the time. Women also wore makeup, but Kame did not have any, nor did she want to try applying such things to her face, as she was sure it would turn out monstrous.

Kame slipped herself into the small, personal bath of her room, barely able to stretch out her legs without touching the other side. To her, this was more of a sink than a bath. But the water was hot, and the herbs in it smelled soothing enough. The shida tried not to think of this as her last relaxing bath, since she would be working in the castle before the day was over.

Considerate of the riyu in the stalls downstairs, her bath was short, and she slipped into the simple blue dress, remembering an instance when her mother had worn this dress. It had fallen to her mother’s knees, but it fell further than that on Kame. She examined herself in the mirror, the shock of another person standing in the reflection still hard to control. Kame frowned. She just did not have that “womanly charm” that the noble women of her country possessed. “Well,” she whispered to herself. “It can’t be helped. I‘m not exactly woman enough to have that sort of charm anyway. Then why did the prince ki…”

The face of the person in the reflection had turned bright red, and Kame pushed that moment from her mind. She really could not deal with that at this moment, and she hoped if she ignored it long enough, it would fade from her memory entirely. The prince of Serenia would be exiled if his first kiss had been with another man, although since it was Prince Aleis the royal family may be lenient. The fact that she technically was not another man at this point did not matter. She still felt like a man. A man with breasts.

If she really had to be a woman though, those breasts could have at least been larger. Maybe people would be nicer then. Kame shook those thoughts from her head, since they were entirely inappropriate and there were more important things to think about now.

Kame tied the knife’s belt around her waist once more, this time covering it entirely with her dress. She then laced her black servant’s boots up, and shouldered the tan bag when she stood. She sighed, looking back at the surprisingly comfortable commoner’s bed in longing, but the thought of the gorgeous creature waiting for her in the stalls pulled her from the room. She gave the key to the man at the front desk and rounded the building to the stables.

Fenetre’s long ears stood up when she entered, and Kame could not help but smile. The large feline creature got to his feet, excited to see the shida and at the thought of leaving this cramped place. Kame opened the stall door and Fenetre strode out, his necklace shimmering in the light, and he gently rubbed his face on Kame’s arm.

“Hey,” the shida cooed, scratching behind the great beast’s ears. “The castle should have stalls for you to live in. If not, we’ll find somewhere else to live, all right?”

The riyu purred in response. Her hand on the necklace, Kame led the creature into the streets. Fenetre knelt down to allow her better access to his back, and Kame hiked up her dress in an unladylike manner to sit comfortably on him. “We’re going to the castle, all right?” She said, with a pat on the riyu’s neck. With a responding mew, the creature took off through the streets, leaping and bounding over vendor stalls and people alike. Kame had grown used to this movement already, and she simply hugged the riyu’s sides with her legs, and gripped the excess fur at the nape of his neck with her hands.

Fenetre reached the castle sooner than Kame would have liked, and she had him stop a ways before the gate to enter the castle. She took this time to smooth down her hair, running her fingers through to pull out any knots the ride may have influenced. Staring at the riyu, as an afterthought, Kame removed the jeweled necklace with his name on it, stuffing it into her bag. At Fenetre’s quizzical look, she scratched under his chin as she said, “For caution. We don’t need you in trouble for biting someone’s hand off on the first day.”

She straightened the dress so that it once more fell below her knees. She cursed lightly when she saw the small wrinkles that temporary scrunch had left, but there was nothing she could do about that now. She did her best to smooth them out before she once more put a hand on her companion’s side and they began walking together.

As they approached the gates, she could see the guard’s eyebrow raise in surprise. This woman was too dressy to be a commoner, but she was too disheveled to be appropriate nobility. And the fine creature at her side looked a bit too valuable to belong to her. The guard shrugged, and she stopped before him with a small, awkward smile on her lips.

“You are?” He asked in a gruff voice.

“My name is Kame... ko, and I am here for work. Prince Aleis recommended I come here,” Kame said, thankful she thought to add the “ko” to her name at the last moment. Kame was a man’s name, and a rare one at that.

The guard’s face was illuminated once she said the prince’s name. Apparently he recommended many for work. “Your abilities?”

“My… oh. I have none. I am a shida,” she said, unable to bring any fake happiness into her smile.

The guard’s face was further showing enlightenment. She was a shida, probably of a noble family. But shidas are useless in noble families, and many of those children are thrown into the streets and forced to find work to survive. That explained her clothes and her riyu, but also her disheveled appearance. Her family had cared for her a bit longer than an average noble family would, but she was here all the same.

“Pleased to meet you, Kameko,” the guard said, bowing lightly. “You may enter round back through the gardens. The chef will appoint you a job from there. Good luck,” he said with a smile, and Kame was sure it was one of pity. She returned the smile nonetheless, and continued inside with Fenetre.

It took quite a few minutes to circle the giant castle, and Kame noted how similar it was to her own. There were not nearly as many vines growing up the sides, but the plant life in the gardens was of immense quantity and variation. As she stepped closer to the back of the castle, she finally saw a large, fenced in area where she saw various tari grazing on the jewel-green grasses. There was a single squal inside, an absolutely beautiful specimen, with light blue-green scales with splashes of white, red, pink, and blue. It looked up from its snack, a freshly killed rabbit, and looked directly at Fenetre with glimmering ruby eyes.

“That’s Monokro,” a voice said from beside her, and Kame jumped.

A young boy of fifteen stood next to her with a large grin spread across his features. He was slightly shorter than her, with a head of untidy honey locks that were clumped together in various lengths. His shaggy hair had grown a bit past the nape of his neck, and his skin was such a tan shade that it was darker than his hair. His warm, bright eyes were the color of chestnuts, and they showed a limitless amount of youthful energy buried within them. The boy wore a pair of brown overalls with grass stains on the knees, and a light yellow shirt underneath, rolled up to just above his elbows. He was clearly a servant boy, and Kame had to bite her tongue when the thought of him approaching a prince of her stature so casually deeply insulted her. She breathed, and had to remind herself that this dense boy would not recognize her as a prince anyway.

“Monokro is the prince’s personal steed. Hey, you know what?” The boy said, his grin never fading. “You look kinda like Prince Kame! You know, if he was a girl.”

Kame felt her face flush, and she stumbled over her tongue for words. “I-I do? How strange,” she said, with a nervous laugh.

The boy laughed loudly, “I bet they wouldn’t even notice if you switched places. You’d probably be a nicer prince anyway!” He said with a laugh.

This boy would die. Kame did not know how she would do it yet, but it was inevitable.

“By the way!” The boy said loudly, startling Kame once more, which was worse this time because she was aware of his presence and he was still surprising. “My name is Criss! I’m the stable boy. You are…?”

“…Kameko,” she said, hesitant to offer that name now. But she had to stick with it, because it would be bad if she gave the guard a different name than the rest.

The boy gave her the exact response she assumed he would, laughing. “Your name is even similar!” He said in his shaking voice, finding a female version of the Serenian Prince absolutely hysterical.

Kame would remember to make his death a slow one.

“I guess you’re here for a job? Prince Aleis told Myubi, the chef lady, to expect a new face,” Criss grinned. Kame wondered if that stupid grin was always present on his dense face. If Kame were a magna, she would have cursed this boy purely for being incredibly obnoxious and annoying. “So! If you‘ll be living here, than your riyu will be too?”

Kame nodded, and watched as the boy’s smile grew ever wider, and he turned to the feline that towered over him. He offered a hand, and Fenetre hesitantly sniffed it before snaking out his tongue and licking the boy’s fingers. Criss laughed, and reached up to scratch behind the riyu’s ears. Kame cast a sideward glare at her companion. Traitor.

“He’s gorgeous! What is his name?” Criss was speaking again. The shida rolled her eyes at the boy’s exuberant personality before replying flatly, “Fenetre.”

For the first time since she had met him, she saw the grin on Criss’s face fade. He whispered the name under his breath while absently stroking beneath the creature’s chin. Kame was curious now, and she stared at him as she saw an indiscernible emotion flicker in his eyes. “What’s wrong?”

The grin returned, albeit smaller now. “Oh, nothing! I’ve just… heard that name before. Its nothing! I’m going to take him into the field now, and I’ll clean out a stall for him. Is he saddle-trained?”

A little confused, Kame shook her head. “No, he does not like them.” As an afterthought, she commanded, “Do not force them on him either.”

“Oh, I won’t!” He said, smiling. “Its not natural, you know? I just needed to know so I can keep him exercised is all.”

The shida nodded as the boy led her precious companion from her and into the wide field. The first creature the feline examined was the prince’s squal, supervised by the stable boy. When they seemed to get along, Criss exited the field and bounded to her side once more. “They didn’t rip each other to pieces, so its fine!” He said, grinning as if it were a normal response to what should have been a tense moment. “Gotta be careful when introducing two predators, you know? But they’re good. Monokro is really laidback and looks like Fenetre doesn’t mind him, so they’ll get along good.”

How did an idiot like this get a job as the castle’s stable boy?

“So what are you?” Criss said, smiling widely. “I mean, like, what’s your power thing?”

Kame refrained from rolling her eyes while he was watching her, and she replied quietly, “…nothing. I am a shida.”

“Aww,” the boy said loudly. “That’s okay! Some of the others are shida too, and I’m not exactly skilled myself with my power either, so don’t worry about not fitting in.”

“What are you then?” Kame asked, her eyes narrowing at him.

“Er…” he said, at a loss for words. “I’m… a ronda! Of earth. But I can’t do much. Move a pebble or something. I’m practically a shida myself!” He said, laughing at his own obvious lie like the joke it was. Well, it did not matter to Kame what he was, as long as he took astounding care of Fenetre.

“Direct me to this Mee-you-bee woman?” Kame asked, wanting to rid herself of this loud specimen for now.

The boy’s mouth mimicked a large circle in response to her words, and he spoke quickly. “Its Myubi! Get it right before you meet her, or she’ll beat you on the head with a frying pan!” He spoke as if this was a personal experience, one that the shida did not doubt. Mental note, be cautious of Myubi.

“See that little door over there?” The stable boy said, pointing to a small wooden door nestled in the great stones of the castle wall. “That goes d’rectly to the kitchen. Myubi’s probably in there preparing the royal family’s lunch.”

Kame nodded, exhausted just from this lively encounter, and she watched as the boy pranced off toward the stables, no doubt to make room for Fenetre. As she stalked toward the door, the shida made a note to check to the stall sometime today to make sure it was satisfactory enough for her lovely companion to sleep in. Unsure of whether she should knock or just enter, the door was opened abruptly in front of her, nearly grazing her nose.

An older woman stood in the doorway, looking Kame up and down with a scrutinizing gaze. The woman was large, from years of taste-testing five meals a day. Kame vaguely remembered his own castle’s cook looking similar to this one. She wore a dark blue dress with her sleeves rolled up to her elbows, and a white, frilled apron over the dress. She has short mahogany curls held back in a white bandana, and her intense gaze was that of rubies, similar to those of Prince Aleis, the shida noted.

“Well,” the woman said after a while, in a rough voice. “You’ll look good in the uniform, but we’ll see how hard you work.” At this, she reached out a large hand to Kame’s arm, lifting it up and examining it carefully. “Puny,” she said, letting it drop. “You look like you’ve never worked a day in your life.”

Kame held back the various cutting remarks she would have normally said and resorted to a bow. “I will work my hardest, ma’am.”

“You bet your little ass you will,” Myubi said, finally letting her into the kitchen. “You’ll work hard and then harder. It’s a rough job serving this castle. The family is kinder than some, but they won‘t let you take advantage of them, no way. If you‘re just here to woo the prince, it won‘t work.”

The shida took note of the “it won’t work”, rather than the “try your luck elsewhere” that she had expected would end that sentence.

“Not at all ma’am. The prince was kind enough to recommend I work here,” Kame said, choosing her words carefully. “I would not take advantage of that kindness.”

“You sure as hell won’t. If you screw up, you’re out on the street again. It’s a tough place for a shida,” the woman said with a sideward glance at Kame as she stirred whatever was in the large pot on the stove. “Least here you’ve got three meals a day and a bed to sleep in.”

Kame gritted her teeth together, and prayed that her words were not too strained as she bowed and said, “Thank you for your kindness.”

“Oh sweetie, I’m not kind. I’ll be hounding your ass to make sure you’re working hard. I see you slacking off, and you’re gone.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Kame said once more, inwardly plotting this woman’s demise, as well as the stable boy’s, for speaking to her in such a vulgar manner. If only they knew who they were speaking to, their mouths would be shut as soon as they had opened. The shida was bemused by these thoughts alone as a younger girl rushed in, carrying a large basket with various bottles of wine in it. The girl was wearing a shorter, lighter version of Myubi’s dress, frilled apron included. The uniform ended mid-thigh and it extended outward slightly from a petticoat worn underneath. She wore dark blue flats that tied around her calf, and white stockings that ended just above the knee. She wore her goldenrod curls in pigtails tied with dark blue ribbons, and she flashed a smile in Kame’s direction, her violet eyes glittering.

“What took you so long, Sujie?” Myubi demanded of the younger girl. The girl in question placed the basket carefully down on the table, saying, “These wines are gifts from the Artisque Winery, ma’am.”

“Good, we’ll serve one to the family today. The lightest one, its only lunch now. Prepare it. Your name is?” She changed subjects and targets in one breath, and Kame stumbled a moment before replying with, “Kameko, ma’am.”

“Cute enough name. All servants are up at dawn. Gotta clean before the royal family wakes up, and then once more while the family eats lunch. Sujie, the Artisque wine glass set. Are you dense? If you happen across the King, Queen, or Prince, you must never look them in the eye, and you will only address them as ‘Your Highness’. If they tell you to do something, you stop whatever you’re doing to do it for them, and then continue once they’re satisfied. Only speak when spoken to. Be quiet and polite. Sujie, steady your hands, you’re spilling it. Now, you caught the Prince on one of his good days, so do not expect the same kindness he showed you yesterday anymore. Got everything so far?”

Kame nodded, struggling to keep himself from drifting into his daydreaming during lessons daze.

“Good. Sujie, take Kameko to the servant’s quarters and find her a uniform, size seven from the looks of her. Preferably one already tucked in at the breast area, she’s not exactly gifted in that department,” the chef said, taking no notice of the shida’s glare. Kame’s breasts might be new, but she certainly did not like having them insulted in this manner. “If not, just stuff them for now. Find her a bed and a pillow as well, and a pair of heels. Can’t wear boots in this uniform. Show her the bath as well, but do it all quickly. I want both of you back here before this stew is finished brewing.”

“Yes ma’am,” Sujie said with a bow, grabbing Kame’s hand and pulling her along down the hallway. “Servants’ entrances are all along the back of the castle. Can’t take regular entrances unless you’re working the front - can’t have servants bumping into any honored guests, right?”

Kame could not recall whether the Serenian palace had passages like this. All around her were more servants, running past and dodging them in busy preparation of the family’s lunch. Sujie was still talking, but Kame could not hear her over the chaos in the hallway, so she allowed herself to be dragged through the swarms of people and up two flights of spiraling stairs.

“The quarters are separated by gender, men on the the floor below us and women up here. No men are allowed on this floor. If they’re caught, they’ll be whipped and exiled. Servant baths,” Sujie said, waving her hand to a large door on the far left wall. “Just for girls, of course. it’s a big public bath, no fancy private baths for servants. Its nice though, the family lets us use the same herbal formula in the bath water as them. Its our small taste of royalty. There’s smaller baths in there as well, to wash your uniform. You’re in charge of washing your own uniform. Here,” Sujie spoke with little breath between her thoughts. Kame imagined the servant girl was thinking of how long it would take Myubi’s stew to finish. “This bed is unoccupied. Lucky, you got one near the bath. Wanna switch? Nah, kidding. Anyway, drop your stuff into the chest at the foot and follow me. Your shoes and clothes too.”

Kame glanced around the small area. They were kind enough to design six foot walls to divide each individual quarter, but the room, if it could be called that, was tiny. Her closet at home was thrice the size of this quarter. Each quarter had a small bed, comfortable enough, Kame discovered as she sat on it to pull off her boots. There was a chest at the foot of the small bed to store her personal belongings, and a small nightstand on the bed’s side with a candle atop it. Kame imagined there would be flint and extra candles in one of the drawers. Other than these few pieces of furniture, there was nothing else. Oh no, there was a metal bar on the furthest wall that stretched between two of the half-walls. Kame imagined she would hang her uniform there to dry overnight.

Kame pulled the blue dress over her head without hesitation, thankful he had discovered what the smaller white dress was for that morning. At Sujie’s shocked look, she untied the belt with the knife on it and placed it in the chest beneath her dress.

“Weapons are not allowed,” Sujie spoke, and Kame shrugged.

“It’s a keepsake,” the shida lied to pacify the servant girl. “It was my father’s.”

“Oh,” Sujie said with a smile. “My mother gave me a ring to remember her by. My father kicked me out a few years back when he saw how pathetic my fire power was. I can barely light the candle on my nightstand.”

“At least you can do that,” Kame said, and Sujie did not catch the hiss in her words.

“Don’t worry Kameko, there are plenty of shida working here. Or there are people like me, barely gifted at all,” The ronda servant said with a small smile, in an attempt to be friendly and comforting. “I know you’ll fit in. Now come! We have to hurry.”

Kame stalked after Sujie, bare feet pounding against the hardwood floors. The ronda led her to a large room, the largest the shida had seen on this level. Sujie threw open two large doors, sifting through layer upon layer of dark blue, finally pulling out three uniforms of the appropriate size.

“These are your uniforms. They’re short-sleeved, but when it gets a bit colder, we’ll be given long-sleeves. Put one on quick,” The servant girl said, even as she was tugging the uniform over Kame’s shoulders. She pulled it down and fixed the skirts, adjusting the built-in petticoat to show just a small amount of frill at the bottom. She took a step backward and looked at Kame with a smile. “You look pretty!”

The shida attempted a smile back, before Sujie was suddenly right in front of her again, shoving cups made of cloth down the front of her uniform. Kame felt her face burn in surprise and shame. “Though we’re going to have to get these tucked for you. Myubi was right, gotta stuff you for now. Can’t have you wear a baggy uniform. Its funny, the dress fits everywhere else. Hm.”

The burning in her face was now one of rage rather than shame, but Sujie took no notice as she returned to the open closet and pulled out a white apron, draping it around Kame’s neck and expertly tying a bow in the back. She glanced at Kame again with a smile and an approving nod before she closed the closet and rummaged through the drawers of the dresser beside it, pulling out two long socks. Kame sat on a small bench and pulled them on as Sujie sized her feet and opened another closet to find a pair of flats. The servant girl swiftly tied the ribbons of the shoes in place on the shida’s calves, and then she reached into a large box on the side of the bench, lifting out a smaller box.

She opened the box and held five pins in her mouth as she gathered Kame’s platinum hair and twirled and twisted it, pinning it tightly in place. The shida’s head ached from the rough pulling, but she was thankful that her hair was no longer in her face. Sujie held Kame’s hands and pulled her to her feet, stepping back to take in the final product. “There! Adorable. I knew you weren’t a pigtail kind of girl. I’ll teach you how to do all of this later, but for now, we have to get back to the kitchen.”

“…thank you,” Kame said, possibly for the first time actually being thankful for something.

Sujie grinned, reminiscent of the stable boy that Kame had already pushed to the back of her mind, and she grabbed her hand and pulled her down the stairs once more. They burst into the kitchen a minute later, and Sujie pulled Kame down with her as a ladle was whipped at them.

“You’re late, as usual!” Myubi said roughly. “The stew was finished two minutes ago.”

A tray was shoved into Kame’s arms unexpectedly, and she would have dropped it had Sujie not steadied her quickly. The violet-eyed girl also had a tray shoved into her arms, but she was used to the abruptness and she simply exited the room. Kame hesitated for a moment, and turned to follow Sujie, but another ladle blocked her path. The shida turned to face Myubi, who had one arm extended to block her even as the other was chopping celery.

“You are to deliver that tray to the Prince. He has requested to eat in his quarters today. You are to bring this to him and wait for him to be finished outside of his door. You will brin the tray back once he is done,” the older woman said, glancing up to meet Kame’s eyes. The shida was shocked when she saw that the cook’s eyes were now a deep blue. She had not imagined the red, that much she knew. “If you screw up, you’re out. Am I clear?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Kame said with a bow of her head. She thought for a moment before looking at the chef once more. “Where exactly are the Prince’s quarters?”

The cook flashed a small smile as she stared intently at her task at hand. Kame noticed it a second before it was gone. “Third floor, second staircase through the servants’ passage. Extravagant door, can’t miss it. Hurry before that gets cold.”

The shida nodded, stepping toward the doorway.

“Kameko.”

“Yes, ma’am?”

“When you return, I’ll have a meal prepared for you. You look famished,” Myubi said, her hoarse voice softening just slightly. She did not look up from her project, but Kame smiled and bowed once more, thanking her profusely for her kindness before exiting and walking swiftly through the hallway.

Maybe she was too quick to plot Myubi’s demise. The older woman had earned herself another chance at life because of that promise of a meal. It had been a while since Kame had tasted anything produced in a castle. She silently cheered at the thought of food, and it energized her as she stalked briskly through the hall. She even had energy left when she reached the top of the three flights of stairs. She exited the stairwell through a small and discreet doorway in the wall. The inner walls here were surprisingly not the grey stone of the servants’ hall, but they were a forest green on the top half, golden, twisting decorations adorning much of that space. The servants’ door itself was a part of the red part of the wall, with only a small golden doorknob to signify it was a door at all. The red and green halves of the wall were separated by gold lining. Kame balanced the tray in one hand as she closed the door behind her, and as she turned, she very nearly dropped the steaming tray.

“Extravagant door…” she murmured to herself. “Can’t miss it… clearly.”

The door was shimmering gold, with the dueling figures of a phoenix and a serpent plastered on it in red and green. Kame frowned as she approached the large double doors. “Why wasn’t my door this extravagant?” she whispered lightly as she knocked three times on the serpent’s scaled stomach. The green beneath her knuckles were emeralds placed in an intricate scale pattern, and she could see the rubies that made the phoenix red.

“You may enter,” a voice called through the doors, and it took Kame a moment to find the door knob amidst the designs. She slipped ungracefully through the opening as she held the tray over her head and the door ajar with her foot.

“You must be new,” the prince said lightly as the shida allowed the door to slam shut when she slipped her foot away. As she turned to face him, she lowered the tray and scoffed. “Yeah, you kissed me and recommended me, remember?”

She stared across the red carpet that depicted the same scene as the door, only in monochrome reds. She walked across the floor to the amazingly large bed that the prince was currently lounging on. His hair, it seemed, was in a constant state of spiked bed head, and his mouth was, not surprisingly, set in a frown. He wore all black, an open black shirt with ruffled sleeves beginning after his elbow and black trousers with a red waistband around his stomach, as if to pronounce his miserable state of being. His crimson eyes were set in a mild glare, but Kame would not let his grumpiness affect her.

Aleis maneuvered himself over to the edge of the bed nearest her as she set the tray down not-so-gently on his nightstand. “Here is your food, your Highness,” Kame hissed vehemently, reliving the moment of humiliation as she remembered the prince’s lips on hers. She shuddered at the thought and tried to shake it out of her mind, to no avail. She would never forgive him for it.

“I’ve never seen a servant with so much attitude before,” Aleis said quietly as he sipped from his goblet of wine. “You should be grateful to me for finding you somewhere to live.”

“Thank you for finding me somewhere to live,” Kame hissed. “But it does not mean I’ll kiss your feet, your Highness.”

“You really must be trying to get exiled with that personality of yours. Sit,” he said, and waved his hand to a golden stool with a velvety forest green cushion.

The shida glared at him for a moment before sitting, and she had to remember to sit with her legs firmly closed, as she was not wearing the pants she was so used to.

“At least you did that. Maybe there is hope for you after all.”

“Oh, just stop with the almighty act, your Highness and get over yourself,” Kame hissed through gritted teeth.

The prince’s eyes narrowed and he placed his goblet down forcefully on the tray. He swung his bare feet to the edge of the forest green blankets, standing in front of Kame and looming over her, a glare set in his features.

The shida merely smiled in response, “You will not intimidate me, your Highness.”

“What are you so angry about?” Prince Aleis said, yet to remove the glare from his face.

“Why concern yourself with the matters of a shida like myself, your Highness? What are you so angry about?” Kame said in a mocking tone. “Oh no, I know the answer to that question. You are angry at being challenged by someone you view to be beneath you. By someone you think you can just kiss and get away with-”

“So that is it?” The prince interrupted, with a taunting smile set in his features. “That is what you are angry about? A simple kiss?”

Kame shot to her feet in front of the prince, not frightened at all by the older teenager who towered two heads over her. “A simple kiss!? You call kissing a-” Another male who also happens to be prince of the neighboring kingdom, “A person who has never been kissed before a simple matter!?”

“A person? What, you are not a girl now?” The prince taunted, amused when Kame’s face flushed in her humiliation. “The first kiss, third kiss, and twenty-seventh kiss are all the same. It does not matter.”

“To you! To you it does not matter! But to me,” kissing another male who also happens to be prince of the neighboring kingdom, “it was an insult!”

Aleis smiled and snaked a hand around the shida’s very feminine and not masculine at all waist, tugging her closer. “I apologize for insulting you, my lady. Allow me to show you my sincerity with another kiss?”

A loud crack resounded throughout the room as Kame’s hand connected with Aleis’s face. The prince stumbled backward and landed on the soft covers of his bed. Shock danced in his wide ruby eyes as he turned to face the enraged shida once more.

“To hell with your false sincerity!” Kame shouted, turning on her heel and stomping to the door, calling over her shoulder. “I will be waiting outside for your tray, your Highness!”

As Kame let the large door slam shut behind her, she let out a frustrated sigh and leaned against the serpent, feeling the cool emeralds on her heated back. Well, that was the end of her short-lived stay in Zekke. But it was so worth it to get that egoistical playboy of a prince to shut the hell up. That would be an event worth remembering and passing along when she returned to being prince of Serenia. If she returned to being prince of Serenia. Kame vaguely wondered if putting a snobbish prince back in his place would be considered a selfless deed. She laughed softly to herself as her rage slowly began to dissipate in her good mood.

She heard the great door beside her creak as the phoenix was forced forward, and she set her features in a glare once more, a look she was now going to reserve solely for the prince. He leaned against the great door to prop it up, smirking once more at her. Kame smiled right back at the sign of the bruise forming on the prince’s left cheek, and snatched the tray from his hands. She began to stomp away when she heard quiet laughter behind her. She whirled around with fury in her eyes to face the prince as he laughed at her when she was directly in front of him.

“What is so hilarious, your Highness?” Kame spit out maliciously.

“I was wrong about you,” Aleis said, his laughter echoing through the empty hallway. “You really must not be a girl, you hit like a man! My mistake, my mistake. I apologize for getting your gender confused my… lady.”

“WHAT!?” Kame shrieked as the prince continued to laugh and close the door behind him. The good mood that the shida had found had lasted for just a moment. “Want a matching bruise on the other cheek, you damn prick!?” She shouted at the door with the phoenix on it.

She turned on her heel and stomped to the servants’ door, slamming each foot down with excessive force on each individual stair for three flights, before continuing her infuriated march to the kitchen. There was no one present when she reached it, and it appeared she was a little early for the meal Myubi had promised her. She tossed the metal tray into one of the many sinks in her anger, and she stalked outside the kitchen door to come face to face with Criss.

“Hey! How’s it going? Having fun yet?” The loud creature said. “Oh, uh-oh, why are you so mad?”

“Th-th-that prince,” she hissed his title in pure hatred. “Is he always such a miserable little demon!?”

The honey-haired boy grinned widely. “Only to the people he likes!”

“Like hell he likes me. I will murder him if I see him again,” Kame said, calming down somewhat in the cooling breeze. She glanced over to the field where her beloved riyu stood at the edge of the fence, looking intently at her. In one easy bound, he leapt over the small fence and padded over to Kame, nuzzling her arm with his soft head, purring. “Thanks Fenetre,” she said as she scratched behind his ears. “Well Criss, that fence of yours is pretty useless in keeping him confined.”

“Yeah, I knew it would be,” he said with a smile, and Kame’s features twisted in incredulity. “But look, he’s so well-behaved! I mean, before he let himself out to catch himself some lunch, and he brought something back for Monokro too! He’s awesome!” The riyu in praise turned his nuzzling toward the stable boy then, and Kame once more mentally accused the feline of being a traitor.

The kitchen door flew open as Myubi called, “Kameko! Criss!” Once more, Kame had to dodge the kitchen door, and she narrowly avoided being thrown into the stone wall behind the door. “Oh, you’re right here. Come on in, I’ll whip something up for you. You two look like you need something more than the stew the rest of the servants are getting.”

“Hurray!” Criss cried, pumping a fist into the air as if he were a boy of eight. The shida disagreed with the chef’s suggestion that this exhausting creature be given anything that would give him more energy.

Kame stepped back inside the kitchen, followed by the skipping Criss. The shida sat herself at the simple wooden table in the center of the room, propping her head up in her hand. She allowed herself to slouch, and under the table, her legs were not pressed together firmly. Myubi pulled fresh potatoes from a basket on the counter and began to expertly peel them. “These potatoes are excellent, Criss. Good work.”

“Thankies, ma’am!” The stable boy said with a grin as he plopped down gracelessly beside Kame.

“I thought you were the stable boy?” She inquired, peering at him out of the corner of her eye.

He pulled a piece of bread from a basket in the center of the wooden table, taking an enormous bite and smiling as he chewed. “I am!” he responded, spitting out bits of half chewed bread onto the table as he spoke. Kame crinkled her nose in disgust. “I’m the gardener too. Isn’t that cool?”

A ladle met the loud creature’s forehead with a loud smack as Myubi shouted. “Mind your manners, boy!”

“Yes ma’am!” The stable boy said, tears streaming from his eyes from shock more than anything. He clutched his head in overdramatic pain as he bent over the table, whimpering. Kame rolled her eyes and reached her hand to the bread basket in the center of the table.

“How was your visit with the prince?” Myubi asked, and the shida’s hand paused over the bread. “Was he nice to you?”

“He…” Kame searched for words that were more polite than was an absolute and total asshole or I almost killed him. She decided against lying, since it was very likely she would not be working here anymore. “He was infuriating.”

To her surprise, the cook began to laugh. “Of course he was! That’s our prince. Criss, give me back my ladle.”

The shida vaguely wondered if this woman had two clashing personalities fighting over control of her body. Maybe she was cursed too.

“I mean, it was terrible! All of his words are meant to make fun of others,” Kame enunciated, moving her hands to emphasize her point as Criss walked over to Myubi, one hand on his forehead and the other gripping the ladle. “Your pouting won’t work on me,” the chef said, directed at the stable boy. Nonetheless, Criss still sat himself at the table with a pout on his face. “I bet he teased you,” Myubi said, speaking to Kame once more. “Sometimes even I want to smack him.”

I already did, Kame almost said. Its my first day, and I already hit the bastard.

“He teases you when he likes you,” Myubi said as she placed various ingredients on a frying pan. They hit the warm metal with a harsh sizzle as the shida huffed in irritation. “I already talked to him.”

Kame froze, her eyes wide, as she glanced over to the chef, keeping a careful eye on the hot frying pan that could come flying her way at any moment. “I spoke to him a minute ago, and he requested that you bring him his dinner later this evening.”

“What!?” Kame cried out, apologizing when she was given scrutinizing glances from both Criss and Myubi.

“So, later tonight, you will bring the prince his dinner. Whatever you did, keep doing it,” Oh yes, I’ll keep smacking him for being an asshole, “because he seemed much more energetic than he has been for a long time. Think of it this way,” she said, cutting off the shida’s protest before it had gone past the first syllable. “You get to skip out on the cleaning when he requests you deliver his meals. You clearly have never worked before, so this works out well for you. Then, when he gets bored of you, you‘ll be fit enough by then to actually participate in the cleaning without collapsing from exhaustion.”

The shida pressed her head against the table and grunted in response. The cook only smiled at that. “You know, it was strange. He had a very large bruise on his face when I saw him. He said he fell down the stairs.”

Well of course, Kame thought, her mind not completely following Myubi’s words, he would not admit to being hit by a woman, a servant woman no less. That would just be pathetic. I guess I still have a job after all.

“I wonder what torture he’ll put me through during dinner?” Kame wondered aloud as Myubi placed steaming plates in front of them.

“I’ll make you a deal,” the chef said, sitting down across from her. “If you can make it out of that room alive tonight, I’ll cook you up a victory feast. What would you like?”

The shida was suspicious of the chef's attitude turnaround, but was very enticed by this offer. She thought for a moment before responding with a simple, “Lobster.”

The chef laughed aloud, and held out her hand. “It’s a deal then! Cheer up the prince and get a fresh lobster meal.”

Kame smiled, and took the chef’s large hand into her own, surprised by the softness of the skin. “Now eat, this concoction I made for you. It is all energizing foods, so you’ll be able to make it through the rest of the day. Criss, I want to see all the hedges trimmed before nightfall.”

“Yes ma’am!” The stable boy said, forgetting about his ladle injury as he swiftly consumed everything on his plate.

The shida smiled and looked down at her own plate. It consisted of potatoes, pasta, and small strips of chicken, covered in a strange sauce that she had never seen before. She took a silver fork to the dish, twirling the pasta around the fork, and placed it in her mouth. Myubi watched as the shida’s eyes widened, and her face brightened in pleasure. Kame remembered more table manners than the stable boy sitting next to her, and she finished chewing and swallowed before showering the chef before her in praise. “If there had been a chef like you in Ser-!”

Watch yourself, the voice resounded in her head, don’t make me come over there.

When did you get back in? Kame hissed in her mind. Didn’t I tell you to get the fuck out of my head?

Your gate trick could only work for so long, my lady, the magna spoke, and the shida could hear the amusement in his voice even in her head.

Try this one then, the cursed prince thought, and imagined a draw bridge raising on either side of a wide river. There was no responding voice then.

“Kameko? Is something wrong?” The stable boy next to her inquired, bumping her arm with his shoulder to get her attention.

“Oh, no, of course not,” The shida said, with a nervous laugh. “I was just in total awe of this amazing chef in front of me. I would die happy if I could eat your meals everyday.”

“Well, you will be eating them everyday. I am the head chef. You’ll eat them as long as you are here,” Myubi said with a smile, her crimson eyes sparkling in the light.

Sujie entered from the servants’ entrance and ducked without even looking as a ladle was launched at her. Kame's eyes were wide in surprise at the ladle that whizzed past her head, and at the chef's sudden mood swing. “You’re late!” The cook shouted, and the ronda placed a box on the table before sitting across from Criss.

“This is cheese from Limone’s Dairy, ma‘am,” Sujie said. Myubi rose from her seat as Kame continued to inelegantly shove food into her mouth, feeling energized almost immediately after consumption.

“Good,” the chef said, placing a plate in front of the pigtailed girl. “We can offer it with the stronger wine at dinner tonight. How did the family enjoy their lunch?”

“The King and Queen found it most pleasant, and send you their regards,” the servant girl said as she twisted pasta around her fork. “The prince said he hadn’t really noticed the taste when I saw him. And he had this huge bruise on his face.”

The shida glanced around nervously. Both of those things were probably her fault, but she decided not to care. He deserved what he got, and she was sure he knew that as well. Maybe he would be more polite to her during her next visit, unless he was plotting his revenge and he was planning on tormenting her.

“I’m going to get started on preparing dinner now, so everyone out of my workplace,” The chef said, turning to the stove once more.

“Aww, but I just got here,” Sujie whined, mostly in an attempt to play with the chef, who was out of ladles to throw. For now.

“Your fault for coming late,” Myubi shrugged. “Take it with you, but you damn well better bring those dishes back and wash them yourself.”

“Yes ma’am!” Sujie said in excitement as she grabbed her plate and exited.

“Oh, Kameko,” the chef stopped her once more. She was glad she had chosen to simply add a “ko” to her name, otherwise she would have completely ignored everyone talking to her. “Why don’t you set about getting those uniforms tucked around the chest? I’ve got a note here you can give to the tailor. We have one residing in the castle. Second floor, third set of stairs through the servants’ passage. Weird door. Can’t miss it.”

Definitely cursed with two personalities, thought the shida as she took the slip of paper. Kame bowed her head in thanks before exiting the kitchen. Criss glanced at the chef with a grin on his face. “She’s different. I like her.”

“I like her too. Now get the hell out of my kitchen,” Myubi said, and Criss darted out the kitchen door before she could pick up that ladle.

It took the cursed prince a few guesses before she actually found her own assigned box of a room, and she picked her other two uniforms up from the foot of her bed. As an afterthought, she removed, with great difficulty, the apron and the dress, praying that she would stumble across Sujie to help put it back on later. She slipped the simple blue dress on once more, wishing that she could have gotten away with pants just this once, and she gathered the poorly folded third dress along with the two neatly folded ones, and she wandered around a moment before finding the stairs again and continuing down the servants’ passage.

She passed the staircase that eventually led to that brat of a prince’s room, turning her nose up at the thought of him. She came to a third set of stairs, and wondered as she climbed them exactly how big this castle was to have so many passages and stairwells. This hallway was far more modest than the one leading to the prince’s quarters. It appeared as if a person with far too much free time and material had taken over this wing, as extravagant clothes were pinned to the walls in display, bits of strong and thread randomly linking them together across the walls. She turned and halted in shock.

“Weird door, can’t miss it…” she said to herself. “What is it with this castle and weird doors?”

These double doors were not quite as large as the prince’s, but they had articles of clothing weaved in and out of what appeared to be an unfinished quilt. Not only were there random articles of clothing, but there were fake people inside of them, made entirely out of cloth. She actually recognized one of the figures, the one that was grimacing, to be Aleis. She hesitantly brought her hand to this door, lightly knocking on what could have been the most solid of areas by the doorknob three times.

“Come in!” A singsong voice called through the door.

“Oh, hi Kameko!” Sujie said from a seat by the door, still eating from the plate of food she had been given by Myubi. “Here to get the breasts on your uniform reduced?”

A mild glare was sent in the direction of the ronda. “…yes,” she allowed herself to admit. It was uncomfortable how easily women talked with each other about their body parts.

“Big brother!” Sujie called, and a man peeked his head around a corner at the far wall. “We need tucking over here.”

“One moment, please,” the man said, and Kame lost sight of him as he pulled his head back around the corner. The shida nearly slipped out of the room at that moment. Had she actually been a woman, getting her breasts measured and fitted into her uniform would be embarrassing enough, but she was not really a woman. Which made having another man touch her breasts that she should not have a hundred times more awkward. Kame imagined she would desperately need a counselor after she broke this curse.

“He is your brother?” Kame asked, to prevent herself from trying to escape.

“Yeah, oh, but don’t worry. He likes men,” Sujie said, as her fork hit the now empty plate with a clank.

Because being a man in a woman’s body being touched by another man was not awkward enough, Kame thought to herself. Being a man trapped in a woman’s body being touched by another man who prefers men just makes everything so much more pleasant. And men like him are not persecuted in this country?

“Hello, young lady,” the man said as he approached. “My name is Namie. I am this castle’s tailor… had you not been wearing a servant‘s shoes, I may have mistook you for an honored guest.”

Kame could not help but think, had she been a woman, she could possibly be attracted to this man. Theoretically, if she was a woman. Because she was not a woman. She was still a man. A man with breasts.

Namie shared his sister’s goldenrod hair, however his locks were completely straightened, and it fell past his shoulder blades, currently pulled back in a braid. Some strands had come lose from their hold and fell in various places around his oval face. His skin was pale in comparison with the prince’s skin tone, but he was still darker than Kame. His eyes shimmered with a light lavender, unlike his sister’s intense violet, and he had small square glasses on the bridge of his nose. He wore a robe of some kind that was tight to his torso, but loosened after his waist and pooled around his feet, but it was light enough to sway as his feet moved. There was an intricate pattern of white doves and deep purple tree branches bearing lavender blossoms. Kame suspected the tailor had made it himself, and he was in no way wrong.

Swiftly, the tailor manifested a tape measurer from somewhere on his figure, wrapping it around Kame’s chest with expert hands. “This will be easy enough. I apologize, these uniforms were designed for women that were… better endowed.”

In an attempt to ignore yet another insult about the size of her chest, Kame asked instead, “Were you the one who designed our uniforms?” as he handed the three articles to the elegant man.

The tailor walked to a nearby table, seating himself at it and immediately threading a needle with a dark blue thread. “You are correct. I designed them. I thought that black uniforms would be too cliché and too dreary, so I chose a dark blue instead. There is not much difference, but it certainly adds color and therefore a little more excitement to the design.”

He is the culprit that added the frills, Kame thought, and tried to keep his face from betraying his thoughts. He found himself in wonder as the man, without measuring anything, tucked the chest area under itself and began to weaving his needle in and out of the garment with ease and skill. It was only a short amount of time when he had moved onto the next piece.

Sujie gathered the finished uniform and gave Kame a look that demanded she strip once more. The shida sighed, slipping out of the blue gown and placing it on Sujie’s chair. The servant scrunched the uniform up, this time taking the time to explain exactly how she could do this on her own. Kame tugged the skirt down and smoothed it out, noting how the chest area seemed to support her wonderfully now. “Hurray,” Sujie sang. “No more stuffing!”

Kame flushed, draping the apron around her neck and failing at tying a bow at her back. Sujie giggled, and rounded her to guide her hands through the backward tying process. “It just takes a bit of practice is all. You’ll get it soon. If you need my help, I live on the same floor as you, and I’m in the kitchen a lot.”

“Thank you Sujie,” Kame offered, out of sincerity. “You’ve been so helpful today.”

She was startled when Namie appeared at her side, passing her the fitted uniforms. “You have a letter for me?” He asked, reminding Kame of the slip of paper in her hand.

“Oh yes, sorry,” She said, her face flushing once more. He handed the tailor the paper and the man opened it at once, smiling softly.

“What is your payment this time?” Sujie asked, her voice excited.

“She said she’ll accidentally graze his uniform with a meat knife and send him here at once to have it fixed.”

“Ooh, lucky you!” Sujie said, elbowing her elder brother playfully in the side. He smiled in response, and Kame was certain that she did not want to be aware of what the plot was. She simply bowed, thanking the man for his expert hand, and exited the room.

The shida noticed the numbers of servants piling into the hallway now, so she quickly ran up to her quarters and dropped the uniforms exactly where they had been previously. She then ran back downstairs and found her way to the kitchen. It must be time for dinner. As she entered, she heard a groan and a whine as Criss stomped a foot on the stone floor.

“I’m so sorry, Criss,” Myubi said, holding what was sure to be a knife to cut meat in her hand. “I didn’t mean to cut it. Maybe you should be more careful in the kitchen anyway. You should go to Namie to get that fixed, right away.”

Kame’s brow twitched in annoyance at her recent realization. There was a large tear in the stable boy’s pants, too large to continue on working in for fear of ripping of the entire leg. “But, I didn’t finish the hedges yet, ma’am.”

“I forgive you, and I know you’ll get them done first thing tomorrow morning,” The chef said, placing the knife down and shooing the honey-haired boy. “Go now, get it fixed before it gets worse,” she said, giving him one final push through the open doorway.

“I see your plot,” Kame said, making her presence known.

The chef laughed. “You can’t blame Namie. He has little to do most days, and the poor man might be bored to death after a while. He thinks Criss is adorable and likes when he visits is all.”

Kame shook her head in disagreement, but Myubi’s shoving of a new, steaming tray into her arms showed her exactly what she thought of her opinion. Kame frowned as she looked down at the new tray. “We’ve got a sure deal, remember?” The chef reminded her, a playful smile on her lips, and fun glinting in her deep blue eyes.

“Your lobster had better be worth torture,” Kame warned before stepping to the door.

“Oh my child, believe me, it is so worth it,” Myubi reassured, laughing at the shida’s dismay as she walked out of the kitchen

Kame decided to take the journey to the prince’s quarters somewhat slowly. He would have to deal with a meal with a slight chill if he insisted on having her deliver it to him. Just think about the lobster waiting for you. It will be the most delicious thing you have ever tasted if you can get through this.

She trudged up the three flights of stairs slowly, each step becoming more hesitant as she neared the servant’s doorway onto his floor. “The lobster,” Kame murmured aloud to herself. “The amazing lobster…”

Balancing the cooled tray in one hand, she opened the small door in the wall and entered the regal hallway. She turned to the great serpent and placed the back of her hand lightly on it, unwilling to knock.

“Just think of the wonderful lobster meal awaiting you in the kitchen,” a voice behind her said, and she turned with a glare on her face, put there instinctively at that voice.

“I’m surprised that a meal is all it took to make you come back here,” the prince said with a playful smile on his face, and reached his hand past her to open the door with the phoenix on it. He bowed lightly in mock respect as he held the door open for her, and she turned up her nose as she stepped into his room talking across the room and dropping the tray roughly onto the nightstand.

“Here is your dinner,” she hissed brushing past him on her way out. He reached a hand out and grabbed her arm as she passed in a firm grip. She whipped her head around and put all of her hate into one nasty glare. He simply smiled and motioned to the stool by the bedside. Groaning loudly, she wrenched her arm from his grip and stomped over to it, even sitting down forcefully.

The prince followed in suit, sitting across from her on the forest green blankets of his bed. Kame could not help but think of how comfortable that bed could be, dreading the small mattress she had been given.

The prince took a sip from his wineglass and nibbled on a piece of Limone’s cheese. He seemed unperturbed by the look of pure hatred sent his way, and Kame noticed a layer of makeup on the side of his face, covering the bruise her fist had made.

“Why not just heal it?” she asked after a moment, referring to the abilities he had shown her in the alleyway yesterday, though that moment has seemed so far away at this point.

The prince glanced up, and it was the first time Kame had seen serious anger in his ruby eyes. “You have not spoken to anyone else about my gift?”

“No,” she answered honestly. “I assumed you did not want it known because you never announced it.”

He laughed softly, wryly, as he spoke, “To make my gift even more pathetic, I cannot heal my own wounds. If any enemy of Zekke were to know that my ability was so utterly useless…” he said with a sigh, bringing his hand to his face, brushing away stray locks of charcoal.

The shida did not need the sentence to be finished. Ayura were immensely gifted when it came to healing, but it left them defenseless when it came to being attacked. They were the only ones that could use their abilities to defend themselves. When Kame had been able to use her wind, she could call up the wind as a shield to aid her, as well as use it as an weapon against any enemies. As a shida now, she understood his feeling of helplessness.

“You fought well enough against the Gazzet men in the alley, even without some form of offensive power,” Kame said, her first kind words since meeting him.

“You did as well, until you were distracted.”

“You saw that part?”

“I had to see in order to help, did I not?”

“Why did you help?” Kame asked him, playing with the frilled edges of her awkward skirt.

“You were distressed,” he said flatly, but the shida could tell that it was not the sole reason.

“Then why did you kiss me?” She questioned, this time calmly.

He glanced at her once more, an unreadable expression on his tanned face. Sighing, he set his glass down on the nightstand. “…I thought that you could have been the one. That is all.”

“The one? The one for what?” She said, slight annoyance apparent in her voice, waiting for his answer to be less vague. When she received no response, she moaned in impatience. “The one you wanted to marry? The one to bear your children? What?”

He sighed, looking at her with unexpected pain in his crimson eyes, his hand hovering above his neck. With some difficulty, he began, “The one to make it all stop-”

The shida heard a sudden hiss sound from seemingly nowhere, and the prince fell to the floor at her feet. “Aleis?” She shouted, falling to the floor beside his writhing figure. “Hey!”

She gripped his shoulders and flipped him over onto his back, pushing the stool out of the way with her arm. “Hey!” She shouted, and his crimson eyes flitted to her, pain apparent in every feature. He gasped for breath that would not come, and blood slowly began trickling from the corner of his mouth. His hands clawed at his own throat, his body convulsing and coughing blood across his carpet.

“Shit!” The shida swore loudly, flying to her feet in a frenzy and running across the room, putting all of her weight into flinging the heavy door open. She screamed as loudly as she could for help, running back to his side when she saw attendants rushing through the hallway.

“Aleis!” Kame cried, roughly grabbing his shoulders and shaking him.

He gazed into her cool blue eyes with a small, bloody smile before those ruby eyes lost their focus and he stopped convulsing, going limp in her arms.

Vii: Okay, so, here's another extremely large chapter. I did go back to make a few changes to chapter one, but they just involved more of Kame's temper tantrums, and I removed the unnecessary geography lesson. It will come into play later, of course, but it was not necessary in chapter one, when there was more important information to remember. I made these changes based off of my koi's observations when the chapter was first published.

I like this chapter. I'm fond of all of the new characters introduced, and I absolutely love Kame and Aleis's relationship. And Kame and Myubi's relationship. And everybody's relationships.

Can you believe this is a year and two months later? Time passes so fast o.o;; I will definitely try to have the next chapter up after November, but there are no promises since November is Nanowrimo and I'll probably be all tapped out.

Also, as a small note. I wouldn't call it slash if it wasn't slash, right? Right.