I'm not the type of person who handles bad news well, and this was no exception. Knowing that, once again, my brother would be returning to the mansion, and that I would have to endure his stant harassment, kept me in a bad mood for the rest of the day.

  Aelira and Maeka noticed my bad mood quickly, and I'm sure they figured out why. On the way to Ki's office, they tried to cheer me up, but holy, there was nothing they could do or say in that short time to lift my spirits.

  With the three of us walking with long faces, the walk seemed like criminals on their way to receive their sentence.

  Felia was at the dreeting us with her usual serious face. However, the moment she saw us there was a small wrinkle on her forehead, a clear clue of how bad we looked in her eyes.

  Luckily, she didn't ask any questions and opehe door for us. A slight nod was all she did before closing it wheered.

  “Dame Fiana.” They said both bowing and waiting in front of Ki's desk. I moved to my usual chair and just stood there without saying anything. I couldn't bring myself to curl up on my seother's p.

  Ki who seemed to notice my as, was silent for a while until, perhaps seeing that she couldn't do much, she decided to go on about her business. Something I thanked her for mentally. I didn't want to talk at that point.

  “There are a couple of things I o ask you both.” Ki ged to a serious expression that showed the situation could be something quite serious.

  They both nodded with a “Yes master” and braced themselves for whatever she was going to ask them. Some twitg of Maeka's tail showed how nervous she was not knowing what Maki's sudden attitude was about.

  “Acc to Felia, Ameli has been ag... odd. Have you noticed anything in the days you've been aloh her?”

  They both looked at each other fused by the strange question, and for a moment they didn't know what to say.

  Then the question arose. “Lady Fiana, what do you mean by ag odd?”

  “Hmm, acc to Felia, Ameli has been talking to herself on several occasions, she is quite easily distracted, she has dark bags under her eyes as if she hasn't slept in days, and stra of all, she has been, how shall I put it, watg Felia very ily.”

  “Watg, ma'am?”

  “Another way to put it is that she is stalking her. Felia has told me that she has been 'tally' running into her more times thahinks possible. She said it was like she was always in the right pce at the right time.”

  Aelira held her , deep in thought. Her face was a show of and dismay. Maeka, oher hand, looked unfortable.

  “There's... something I've noticed for a while now.” The reptilian girl broke the silehat had formed, speaking in a hesitant tone, as if she thought she shouldn't say what was on her mind. Ki nodded, urgio tinue. “Ameli usually does her job well, and many times I don't have to do much more than support or help her when she has her hands full, but...” Maeka hesitated for a moment whether she should tinue or not. She looked over to Maki who raised an eyebrow and nodded again for her to tinue. Maeka then sighed and tinued her words. “There are times whearts mumbling things that I fail to uand.”

  “What kind of things?”

  The reptilian maid looked even more unfortable than before, and in a way, she seemed embarrassed. Different from before when she was “flirting” with Aelira. Ki seemed to notice the girl's attitude aured for her to approach her.

  “...”

  “I see. Go back to your pce.” Ki pihe bridge of her nose, irritated by what she had just heard. “This is going to be another headache.” She muttered as Maeka retook her previous position.

  Ki sighed somewhat exasperated, then gave me a sidelong gnd returned her attention to the two maids in front of her. This time, turning to Aelira.

  “Being a Valven just like her, what's your take on it, do you think it could be that she's... frustrated?” she asked.

  Aelira tilted her head in fusion, then, as if she had just realized something she opened her eyes quite wide and began to think deeply.

  “It's unlikely, though I wouldn't rule it out pletely. I've talked to her a bit about... those things, but there doesn't seem to be anything we o worry about. Or so I thought. I think she's just a little shaken and fused by the normal ges of her age.”

  Maki csped her hands together, looking very ied in the subject. “What kind of ges? I know this is a difficult age for the Valven, but I don't know all the details.”

  “Well,” Aelira began, brought a hand to her and, like a teacher teag a css, began to expin slowly and cisely. “Since she has just reached her Nymph stage, if her Maternate has already performed her transition ritual, then right now she should be going through the normal mood swings.”

  “Mood swings?”

  “Yes, ma'am. Normally, after going through the rite of passage, newly initiated Nymphs usually gh 3 mood phases. Beginning right after the ritual, the first phase leaves them in an almost stant state of joy, and usually sts a couple of days to a few weeks.”

  Aelira's expnation reminded me that shortly after Ameli reached 20, she was cheerful, smiling, and in a stant state of endless positivity. Though it certainly only sted a month. After that she became...

  My thought was interrupted by the tinuation of Aelira's expnation. “At the beginning of the sed phase, they tend to be a bit irritable. It is not usually a problem, so they are usually left to their own devices. Very few are advised to give themselves a break from their jobs at this stage.” Aelira moved closer to Ki and tinued speaking in a lower tone. “Also, their bodies begin to ge more noticeably. They experiene growing pains. Usually limited to their breasts, hips, and thighs. But the most pronounced are mostly iails and...” Aelira looked at me for a moment, hesitating a bit to tinue, but quickly decided to finish her words. “On their phalluses.”

  “Aelira...” growled Ki under her breath. I could see her eyebrows draw together as her ears tracted in a clear expression of annoyance, reproag her for mentioning that sort of thing in my presence, something I wasn't able to uand, given that other topics that seemed “stronger” she didn't forbid me.

  “I'm sorry, Dame Fiana,” Aelira said hastily, giving her an immediate bow. “It's hard to find another way to put it. Besides, it's not something I should omit if we're trying to find some sort of ao what might be happening to Ameli.”

  “...You're right.” Ki ceded, inhaling deeply aurning to her previous serious expression. “I guess I got a little sensitive about it. So, do you think it might be because of that?”

  Aelira shook her head. “It's hard to tell. What I'm worried about is the third phase.”

  “Expin.”

  “The problem with this phase is that it depeirely on personality and bee very... random.” Aelira's expression as she said that turned dark, eveone of voice became sterner, a clear indication of how worried she was about the situation. “As they reach the Nymph stage and overe the initial phases, ier, they have a plete ge in their personality. Those who in their childhood were cheerful and giggly may turn into sex-hungry monsters-”

  “Aelira!”

  “S-sorry master! W-what I meant to say is that they bee too difficult to handle.” Startled, the older Valven corrected herself, waving her hands frantically in front of her face, which had turned pale as she realized what she had just said. The pirl looked like she wao escape out the window from the panic Maki had caused her. She coughed orying to resume her words a little more calmly. “The p-point is that, although it is quite rare, some Valven e to have a personality ge ihird phase of their transition to adult Nymphs. Some Maternates have a belief that this is because their previous personalities are not the right oo find patible mates, therefore, their bodies force them to ge.”

  “And because it is forced and sudden, they are not able to deal with it properly,” Ki cluded, leaning ba her chair looking a bit exhausted and overwhelmed, perhaps from the many thoughts that were swirling around in her head from the new information.

  “Correct, ma'am.” Ki nodded in uanding, theured for Aelira to return to Maeka, who didn't know how to take the current situation.

  Meanwhile, Ki entered a state of deep refle, closing her eyes and breathing slowly. Her long ears twitched a bit and her eyebrows sometimes moved up and down, making her, in a way, look quite fune how seriously she must have been thinking at the moment.

  After a retively short time, she opened her eyes and calmly looked towards the two maids waiting in front of her. “For the moment I want you both to keep an eye on her for a bit. If you notiything strange or worrisome it's fine if you talk to her, but, be sure to let me know what's going on. Is that clear?”

  “Yes, ma'am!” both maids responded with a bow and a loud voice.

  Ki nodded and sighed, allowing herself to rex for a brief moment. “Then how about taking the rest of the day off?” she said suddenly, taking both maidservants by surprise.

  “Excuse me?”

  “You've been w a lot tely, so I think you deserve a little break.” Maeka's eyes began to sparkle with excitement, just as her tail began to wag, giving little thumps to the ground. Aelira just smiled in relief and was a little amused at how much her friend was showirue feelings.

  Ki smiled wryly at the rea of both of them, she turo me, but before she could say anything else...

  “No,” I said, ahey all stopped to look at me, fused. I immediately repeated after seeing Ki's questioning expression, this time, I looked her in the eyes and said “NO” sternly.

  “Nita, what do you mean by “no”?”

  “Don't rest today.” I crified, pointing at both maids. I was not going to allow such a thing.

  “L-dy?” Maeka looked at me incredulously. Her eyes begged for an expnation, but she also told me that she hoped my refusal was a joke or the innoce of a child who didn't know what was going on. But it wasn't, I was fully aware of what I was saying.

  I looked away from them and focused on Ki, who seemed curious about my strange behavior. She got up from her chair and crouched dht where I was sitting, then stroked my head and spoke to me in her soft, motherly voice. “ you expin, Nita, don't you want them to rest?”

  “I don't want to. Lira and Eka deserve more.” I replied. I felt a little ahat Ki only offered them the rest of the day, especially sihe day was almost over. I mean, we were in the middle of the afternoon, they weren't going to be able to get a with so little time off, and they've been w and training diligently (plus it seems like they need some time alone if all that flirting means anything), so I thought I'd stop Ki and, taking advantage of the fact that it was only the sed day of the week, Alemis, switch it to giving them the rest of the week.

  I did my best to expin that to Ki. She listetentively, and nodded with a smile. When I finished speaking, she sighed with a smile and mumbled something I didn't uand as she returo her chair.

  “Since my little daughter objected so fervently to my decision, I'm going to resider. Therefore, I will not be letting you have the rest of the day.” Both maids looked disappointed by the ge in her decision, especially Maeka who looked sad. But, Ki was not finished speaking. “Instead, you will take the rest of the week.”

  The rea of both of them was to be framed in a photo. Aelira looked very fused, I could almost see the question marks in her head. But in Maeka's case it looked like she was being swallowed by the vacuum of space, floating in the vastness of the stars, as she tried to process Ki's words.

  The first to finally uand what was going on was Aelira, who quickly offered a bow towards both of us, thanking us for the sudden vacation. I told Ki to also offer the same to Ameli so she wouldn't feel left out, so the small reward would be for all of them.

  After that, and dragging a struggling Maeka with trouble restarting her processor (?) Aelira took her leave, leaving me aloh my seother.

  “So, Nita, what do you want to do?” she asked as she sorted through some papers and envelopes, stag them aside and separating them in some way only she knew.

  I didn't have to give it much thought. There was something I really wao do that had somehow been suggested to me. “I want to see Mom.” I said.

  Ki stopped her hands and stood thoughtfully. “Well, Lana's workload has slowed down quite a bit si time.” She mumbled, going back to her work of s papers. “Are you sure you don't want to py with me? We hardly ever get a ce to do that my little Mishka.”

  While that was true, and a rather tempting proposition, there were a couple of things that bothered me about it. One of them, and I hope she wouldn't take it the wrong way if I ever let her know, is that Ki isly the most fun person to py with. Needless to remind you, she's terrible at telling stories, at least not the kind that helps you sleep, and for any other kind of activity that even minimally be called “games” she is, for ck of a better word, exhausting. No, not the kind that tire me out because she has too muergy, she's the kind you 't argue with because she's somehow pletely oblivious that we're supposed to py for fun.

  A clear example was with the game of eldoria. A simple sleight of hand game, there are not many rules and you depend only on your speed to make the right shapes to win. Easy, right? Not really. When I've gotten to py with Ki, partly my mistake since I knew she was that way, it was impossible tue with her. And no, it wasn't because she was a bad loser or a bad winner, it was because she was extremely perfeist and annoying.

  Look, the game sists of doing a hand position, as I said once, simir to a jutsu, that corretes with the previous one. In a way you pare it to the Japanese game of Shiritori, basically stringing words together, only in this game you string together “shapes” made with your hands. If you make a sword, the one must with a spear, then the oh a bow, and so on until someone makes a mistake or fails in the form. And thereihe problem. If I start with the shield, Ki tells me it's done wrong, and asks me to do it 100 times until she thinks it's right. And that happens every damn time. Yes, five me if I don't want to py with that kind of person.

  But I'm spreading myself too thin on this.

  The other reason is the most important one, and that is that I am simply a bit tired of spending so much time with Ki. Yes, I know that sounds a bit bad, but sidering that most of the time I've spent with her is studying, receiving an uhy amount of homework aensive lectures that would bore even the most erudite of schors, I think I deserve at least a little leniency here.

  With all that in mind, I decided to be at least a little ho with her. “Ki, I miss mom. I'm always with Ki, but never with Mom.” My words must have had a greater impa her than I intended, since Ki immediately stood up and lifted me up huggiightly.

  Teically I had spent several days visiting Mom since she colpsed, but it wasn't what I wanted. While I spent a fair amount of time with her, it didn't take away from the fact that she was in bed valesg and we had to be careful what we did so she didn't have a repse. What I wanted was to watch her work like when I was with her and Aunt Kar, to walk with her in the garden or just follow her wherever she went.

  Ki released the hug and kissed me on the cheek, the me down and stroked my head. “I uand. Lana should be with Hal right now, so, give me a moment to finish tidying up my things and I'll take you to her, okay?” Ki gave me a sweet smile and I nodded in response.

  Immediately Ki got to work ohings while I started to explore her office a bit, waiting for her to finish.

  On one of the shelves to one side of the office, some books had always caught my eye. They were quite rge and, from how well cared for they looked, it was obvious that they would be extremely important. And that was just what caught my attention. I felt like asking Ki about them, but for some reason I never did.

  Before I could delve any deeper into that thought, I was lifted off the floor and snuggled into the softness of Ki's chest, who gave me a nice smile and a “Are you ready?” to which I nodded immediately.

  We left her offid soon arrived at our destination. Seria, one of the maids who always apanied Mom, was standing by the door. Before Ki could approach her, and before Seria herself could say anything, the door suddenly opeaking us all by surprise.

  “Remember, as soon as that girl arrives tomorrow send her with me, there's some-” Without having seen us, Mom almost bumped into us, causio jump, fortunately, Seria got behind her immediately, preventing her from falling to the ground aing hurt. “Wow, Fia? You scared me, what are you doing here?”

  “Sorry, I was just ing t Nita to you, she said she wao see you. Did something happen?” thanking her maid for her quick a and rejoining me, Mom took me from Ki's arms and greeted me with a kiss on my forehead, theled me on her chest and started walkio Ki, with Seria in front of us.

  Mom sighed exasperated, as if she had just been through a situation too stressful to bear. “I just received a letter from one of the panies we let mahe mana stones. A member of a certain t family threw a tantrum and very petuntly demao sell some of those stoo them.”

  “Don't they know that sales are only made under trad in specified quantities? How mahey asking for?” she expressed in a stern and annoyed manner.

  “A small batch of 20 unrefiones and another 10 refined ones," Mom replied shaking her head. She rubbed her forehead as if a headache was beginning to surface. I decided to hug her a little tighter, hoping to fort her a little.

  Ki exhaled, sharing the feeling with my mother. Her long ears folded back, a clear sign of pent-up anger. “I could uand if it had been a batch of at least 500, but only 30? What kind of spoiled child does something like that?”

  “That's just the problem. It wasn't just any spoiled child. It articurly annoying one.”

  “Please tell me it wasn't someone from the Krandel household. If I have to see one of those kids again, I'm going to-”

  “Easy, honey, it wasn't them...fortunately.” Seria stopped when we reached the guest room where my mother usually eains her business associates. The maid opehe door and stood there as the 3 of us entered and sat on the couside. “Seria, go get Tina. Oh, and y some tea and nutbread? I really o eat something.”

  “Right away, my duchess.”

  “So.” Ki began after Seria closed the door. She held Mom's hand trying to calm her, and herself, from the stress that seemed to be overwhelming both. “If it's not one of Krandel's offspring, who was so ignorant as to make such a se?”

  My mhed and brought Ki's hand up to her face, where she began to gently stroke her cheek, helpio rex a little. Oher side, there was me, resting my head on her chest and holdiher hand, trying to soothe her as well. Mom smiled at the affe we were both giving her, but just as easily as that smile came to her lips, it disappeared, repced by a somewhat bitter expression.

  “Teral. Teral Burmont. Our dear daughter-in-w's big sister.”

  FivesZeta