Life of Change

I had frozen under that little girl's gaze, too caught up in her tenderness to notice Katarina approaching us. I only became aware of her presence when she crouched beside the girl and looked at me with an uncomfortable smile.

"For some reason, I feel completely defeated." She said, gently stroking the little angel's hair and ears.

The baby closed her eyes with contentment painted on her face, purring from her mother's delicate loving touch, and yes, literally purring.

I could hear that unmistakable sound coming from her.

"Defeated?" asked one of the ladies who had been introduced earlier, Countess Silbrook.

"Yes. I have never seen my little Kibisa1 laugh with such glee for anyone other than Leviant. And none of us know how he can accomplish that." Katarina replied in a slightly frustrated voice. But she quickly changed to her usual cheerful smile and beckoned me closer.

Hesitantly, I walked slowly towards her as I alternated my gaze between the little girl, who was still enjoying her mother's affection, and the Duchess herself, who for some reason had a smile that sent shivers down my spine.

When I was within her reach, she pulled me much closer, almost putting me in front of her daughter, and then proceeded to give me the same treatment as her.

...

Well ... I can understand why the little girl enjoys the pats her mother was giving her so much, they were incredibly pleasant.

"Then, Orinthya." The Duchess began, not holding back her hands. "Would you like to be friends with my little Yuliana?"

The question left me thinking for a moment, and though it felt a little strange the way she asked it, I had already made up my mind to be her friend, and nothing would make me change my mind.

I nodded and she gave me a smile in return. Then she shifted her attention to her daughter, she stopped her hand so she could pay attention to her.

"And you, Yuliana, do you want to be friends with Orinthya?" she asked. The little girl looked at me the same way as before, wondering who I was and what I was doing there. Then she looked back at her mother, back at me, and nodded slightly.

"Otya. My?" said the girl bowing her head slightly. Katarina laughed gleefully at her words.

"No honey, she's not yours. She's not a toy, she's a friend." Katarina replied stroking her hair.

Speak for yourself, if she asked me, I would gladly be.

The girl responded with a confused expression but did nothing but look at me and put her thumb to her mouth.

Katarina quickly corrected her, removing her finger from her mouth as she rolled her eyes and lifted her off the ground.

"Are you hungry too, Orinthya?" she asked me, as she stood up.

I nodded. I wasn't that hungry, but with all the sweets I saw when I arrived, I wasn't going to refuse.

Katarina took my hand and walked me carefully to a small children's table on one side of the room, near where Makila and the rest of the mothers were drinking tea and chatting. Makila gave me a cheerful wave, with a proud smile that told me she had been watching very carefully what happened.

The Duchess sat us both in the small chairs and ordered one of the maids to serve us food. To her surprise, Ameli had already moved over and placed a small tray with the things I liked on it for me, along with a bottle filled, of course, with my raval juice. If I had to guess, I'd say she pulled it out of those magical storages they all seem to have, otherwise, I don't know how she did it. Not that I minded so much as long as it was handy.

Katarina looked at her a little impressed by her efficiency. She nodded to her in approval, to which Ameli just gave her a silent bow. I felt proud of the girl who had improved by leaps and bounds since that day. She had secured her position next to me through hard work and dedication, guided by Makila, a strict and effective mentor.

The maid to whom Katarina gave her order was already placing Yuliana's favorite sweets in front of her, next to her own bottle. It didn't take the little girl a second to devour her sweets and drink greedily.

The purr echoed in my ears again, showing how happy she was at this moment. Although the expression on her face didn't change too much, other than looking a little more relaxed. I decided to go along with her happiness by enjoying myself as well.

"Dear guests, my Duchess. Your grace, Countess Isolde Bos Eleios and young Miss Aria Bjuu Eleios."

A woman with an arrogant and proud expression walked through the doors, she walked with an elegance and confidence that only someone who has dedicated her life to the refinement of high society could possess. Every step she took resonated with authority, and her gaze, sharp and unflappable, seemed to evaluate us all with the critical eye of someone accustomed to being the center of attention.

She wore an elegant midnight blue taffeta gown, adorned with intricate silver embroidery drawing patterns of flowers with thorns along the skirt. The waist is marked with a black velvet sash, accented with a sapphire brooch that reflects light as she moves.

Her shiny silver hair, long and wavy, cascaded over her shoulders and back, precisely styled to frame her face. She had 2 horns slightly curved back with a smooth, almost pearly texture. They were adorned with fine silver rings encrusted with small sapphires that matched the brooch on her dress.

Her eyes were an intense glacier blue, with a piercing and penetrating gaze that conveyed her experience and dominance, but also a strong disdain for everything around her. A truly icy stare.

She advanced directly toward Katarina, the hostess, and stopped a few steps away from her. She handed her daughter to one of the maidservants to then bow to the Duchess, with perfectly mastered movements, proof of her great experience.

"Duchess Nazzik, it is a true pleasure for me to have been invited to your home on this beautiful day." She said in her clear and soft voice, which did not go at all with the attitude with which she entered the room.

"Isolde," Katarina called her courteously, but maintaining an authoritative tone, which showed that she was in a higher rank than the countess. "I am glad to see that you were able to attend."

The Duchess approached Isolde, clasping her hands with hers and giving her an honest smile.

The 4 nobles behind Katarina greeted the countess, who returned a brief greeting. Then it was Makila's turn, who maintained an unperturbed expression.

My second mother greeted her with a cordial smile. The woman kept silent for a long time as if she had no intention of responding. Makila, however, remained calm and patient, something that seemed to annoy the countess, though only for an instant, for she immediately changed her expression to a polite smile and returned the greeting.

Isolde suddenly pulled out an envelope and handed it to Katarina, who looked at it in confusion.

"This is a letter of apology from Duchess Fondawl for not being able to attend today's event. I spoke with her two days ago and she asked me to deliver it to you directly."

"Thank you, Isolde."

The woman curtsied and after a few words walked away, straight towards the 2 women who were still in their distant position. I was beginning to feel very serious suspicions about those two. They were doing nothing but standing there, whispering to each other, watching everything as if they were only here to gather information in a rather blatant manner.

Isolde greeted them much more cheerfully than she greeted Katarina herself, revealing that she had known them before and further increasing my doubts about them. But things simply ended there. The mothers' conversations resumed as if nothing had happened, and the other children continued to play with each other.

From what little I managed to hear from Katarina as she spoke to the rest, Duchess Fondawl's son had fallen very ill, and so was unable to attend. Katarina only said that she hoped it was not something serious, as Duchess Fondawl had had the misfortune of having lost a son a couple of years ago, and did not want something like that to happen to her again.

After several comments sharing the same opinion, they slowly returned to more cheerful topics.

In front of me, Yuliana was watching everything with her expressionless face. She shifted her gaze to me, and tilted her head in confusion, giving me that look again as if she didn't remember me. She looked down at her hand, which was holding a cookie, and then offered it to me.

I looked at it for a second before taking it and eating it straight up.

It tasted like one of those oatmeal cookies. Quite delicious, if a bit dry. I did the same and offered her one of my candies. A small ball of soft caramel, whose flavor was a bit reminiscent of honey with a slight hint of cinnamon.

"Ah, wait young Miss Orinthya. Young Miss Yuliana doesn't like-"

The maid who tried to warn me stopped abruptly when she saw Yuliana take what I offered her and eat it quite normally. The maid was silent for a while, incredulous at her lady's action. She glanced toward Katarina, but she seemed to pay no attention, so she sighed and returned to her position behind us. I could hear a sly chuckle from Ameli.

Time passed, and more guests arrived. Different women and men from various echelons of the nobility brought their children and the place quickly filled with people, all conversing peacefully, though divided into two groups. One together with Katarina, Makila, and the 4 nobles from the beginning, and the other, together with Isolde and the 2 chattering females.

Unfortunately, the children seemed to follow their parents' example and stayed separated in the same way, with the only exception being Yuliana and me.

We had both finished eating together and, following the persistent little girl, we moved to one side of the room, where there seemed to be some of her toys, which were mostly plush dolls.

However, we were not "playing" in the most literal sense of the word. Yuliana would show me one of them, I would admire it with genuine curiosity, squeeze it, hug it check how incredibly soft it was, and then nod or deny towards her. The girl, whose expressions were quite limited, would respond in two ways. If I nodded, meaning I liked the stuffed animal, then she would show a proud expression, as if bragging about having a stuffed animal to match. And if I denied, she'd be thoughtful as she picked out some other one that I might approve of.

To be fair, the ones I really came to like had shapes familiar to me, among them one that looked very similar to a rabbit, only, with shorter ears, a wider head, and with four eyes, two large and two small. Another one looked like a small fox, only it had a slightly stockier body, with two thin tails, less fur than a normal fox, and a big toad-like mouth.

The ones I rejected were... well, hard to describe since they didn't look like something a child would like. If there were such a thing on earth, it would surely give even adults nightmares. The most normal among them looked like a starfish with a gigantic eye in the center of its body. It had some sort of sloth-like claws on each tentacle and was a very dark shade of purple.

Whoever made these plush dolls was very good at their job...something I didn't know if I should be thankful for or not.

After turning down the last one she offered me, Yuliana sat in thought for a long while, until something seemed to occur to her. She waved her hand, and in response, the previous maid suddenly appeared.

"Gia, Giva." Babbled the girl earnestly, opening her arms as if describing something very large.

"Right away." Replied the maid, quickly leaving the place.

I tilted my head in confusion. I had no idea what the girl had planned, but from her expression, it looked like I was going to like it.

Surprisingly she got up from her place and sat down right next to me, leaning on my shoulder, giving a long sigh. She stood watching the rest of the children play happily, running around the place and laughing unconcernedly. The maids that each noble had brought with them watched over their respective children, while the parents chatted and gave sidelong glances at their children from time to time, either worried or curious.

Makila was one of them. When my eyes met hers, she would give me a knowing smile, as if she was somehow teasing me. I didn't want to indulge her and just concentrated on Yuliana's actions, although that seemed to make her expressions worse, because every time I turned around, her smile grew wider. It seemed that at any moment she would turn into the Cheshire cat.

Finally, the maid that left came back. And boy was I surprised to see her. She had a stuffed animal that was quite a bit bigger than us. If I had to describe it, I'd say its body looked a lot like a giant anteater, but with the arms of a gorilla and the head of a walrus. Without those characteristic tusks, though.

Yuliana immediately stood up and raised her arms toward the maid who placed the huge animal next to her. The girl immediately hugged it and smiled in satisfaction. She gave me a look as if asking me why I had not approached her yet.

I stared at her without understanding what I should do. Yuliana looked at me annoyed, with an adorable frown.

"Osya, Giva." She said sounding authoritative. I tilted my head in confusion. I wasn't sure what she meant, whether it was to introduce me to her toy, have me compliment her, or, like the rest, "rate" the quality of it.

"Young lady." Said Ameli suddenly kneeling next to me. "I think what young lady Yuliana is asking you to do is to come over to her and hug her friend Ginevere. Isn't that right young lady Yuliana?"

The girl nodded immediately with sparkling eyes. Ameli seemed to have understood the little angel's intentions perfectly, which gave me a feeling of pride and defeat at the same time. Wasn't she supposed to be bad at this and I the good one because of the years I took care of my sister?

No, wait.... was that thing called Ginevere? How the hell did she get that name from just Giva?

I started to think that maybe it was a common name for stuffed animals, like Teddy bears because otherwise, I couldn't understand how Ameli picked up the name so easily.

Anyway, I decided to follow Ameli's advice and hugged the strange, huge stuffed animal.

...

Damn, it was soft. Incredibly nice and fluffy. What kind of divine craftsman had created such a wonder? They didn't pay them enough, of that, I was sure. Yuliana snorted, smug, as if to tell me "I told you so."

Arrogant brat. If you weren't so incredibly adorable as to forgive you anything, I'd... I'd... I'd pinch those adorable cheeks right now!

We stayed like that for a long while, almost falling asleep from how relaxing it was. Much harder for me, as Yuliana's sweet purring almost sounded like a lullaby that relaxed me enough to almost lose consciousness and go into my nap mode.

*tap tap tap*

Small but loud footsteps approached and stopped right in front of us. I opened my eyes to check who it was and saw Isolde's daughter, Aria, looking at both of us with intense eyes, and full of arrogance. The girl seemed to be older than us, maybe 2 years and a little more. She had platinum hair, a little darker than her mother, and gray eyes a little darker than mine.

She was wearing a sky-blue organza dress that reflected a deeper shade depending on the light, accentuating the freshness of her youth. The dress had a skirt with several layers of soft tulle that gave it volume and movement and was adorned with small silver flower embroidery running along the hem. The bodice had a delicate rounded neckline and short puffed sleeves, adding a classic and tender touch.

Her hair was styled in soft natural waves that fell to her shoulders. Her bangs, slightly deviated to one side, covered part of one of her eyes. And on the sides of her head were what looked like hints of small horns.

Just imagine that she has little horns on her head xd

"Give me," she said dismissively as if she were ordering a random servant.

Yuliana looked at her in confusion, with little, if any, intention of doing as she asked. The older girl, seeing that we were not following her orders wrinkled her face with an annoyed expression. She tried to approach Yuliana to pull her away from Ginevere, but I wasn't going to let that happen.

"AH!" I yelled to get her attention, as I stood up and glared at her. The girl stopped in surprise and looked at me with wide eyes, but only for a moment before she scrunched her eyebrows together angrily and tried to approach my little angel again.

I growled at her like an animal, causing her to jump in fright and look at me more intently than before. Yuliana stood behind me, hugging Ginevere tighter as Aria and I kept up a staring match.

Unexpectedly, the girl pushed me hard, pushing me out of her way. Not hard enough to fall to the ground, but hard enough to push me away. And then she began to struggle with Yuliana for possession of Ginevere.

"NO! MI, MI!" cried Yuliana, struggling to keep the other girl from taking her stuffed animal. The maid seemed conflicted, hesitating about whether to push the girl away or call both of their mothers. When I looked over to Katarina, she looked calm but was already heading this way. Isolde looked completely different than I expected, she looked a bit panicked, as if she was really scared of what might happen, and was already moving towards us at a hurried pace.

Yuliana and Aria were struggling fiercely, neither giving in to the other's dominance of Ginevere. It was at that instant that I had enough and stepped between the two, pushing the other girl slightly, and planting myself firmly in place.

Aria didn't take that well, as she immediately lashed out at me with swipes. I heard her mother screaming her name in anger and some panic, but the girl not only didn't listen to her but was even more insistent, trying to push me out of her way.

Seeing that none of that was working, she finally had enough, gave me a furious look, and before I knew it, she had made a fist and punched me full force in the face. Right on my nose. The blow was so hard that it knocked me to the ground right at Yuliana's feet.

"Young lady!"

"ARIA!"

Both screams were heard at the same time.

My nose hurt, to the point that my eyes filled with tears. I tried to recover and sit up, but as soon as I did, I felt something drip on my clothes and then saw it fall to the floor. A drop of red liquid. Blood. I was bleeding.

There was a moment where I went blank, and suddenly I realized how much it was hurting. More tears began to well up, my breathing hitched, coupled with the fact that I really couldn't breathe properly.

Then it happened.

Like a bursting dam, I cried at the top of my lungs.

Next to me, was a sob and then a cry at the same level as my cry.

Gentle hands caressed my head. With my eyes blurry from tears, I could barely recognize Ameli who had crouched down next to me, trying to calm me. Off to the side, who appeared to be Makila also approached. I immediately moved towards her.

I heard, amidst my own crying, Katarina taking her daughter in her arms as she also tried to calm her down.

Makila put a handkerchief to my nose, stopping the bleeding, and making me cough more than once. She repeated again and again for me to breathe through my mouth, which was difficult as I was crying in pain, but somehow, I managed to do it.

The handkerchief was already quite red by the time I realized it.

Next to us, Katarina had somehow managed to calm Yuliana, who was clinging tightly to her mother. She had hidden her tail and her ears had flattened, a clear sign of her current mood.

On the other side, Isolde was strongly scolding her daughter. She was pulling hard on her ears while the child was crying. Isolde... looked somewhat terrified. All the color of her slightly pink skin was gone. She was pale, and from the way her hands were shaking, I did not doubt that she was considering the worst possible scenario for her daughter, or herself. Her eyes, which once gave an air of coldness and arrogance, reflected a terror that I was unable to describe.

I was sure that through her mind she could only think that her daughter had seriously hurt the daughter of a Ducal family. And they, being from a family of counts, were in serious trouble for it. Not just political.

"How is Orinthya?" asked Katarina in a worried voice. She held Yuliana safely in her arms and walked over to try to check on me.

"It doesn't look serious, but it's possible she broke her nose. It's going to need healing." She said, not as calmly as her expression appeared. There was a slight tone of anger in her voice.

"I already called the family physician; she should be here soon."

Despite my loud crying, and the pain that still assaulted me, I thought it wasn't as bad as my reaction made it seem, but having a doctor was always better. Besides... I didn't want to have some deformity in my nose. That kind of thing can fuck up your breathing when you get older.

"Where's the girl?" a person suddenly shouted.

A... be-being? She came in suddenly, looking agitated and scanning everywhere in the room.

"This way, acolyte Vlyra." Katarina indicated.

Vlyra was a being approximately 180cm long, and about 120cm tall, similar to a giant slug. It was crawling quickly towards us. Her figure was thick and stocky at the bottom, and from the front, the other half of her body rose into a torso just slightly thinner and straighter.

Higher up were 3 long, slender arms like branches. Two of them grew from her shoulders and the third from her back, which ended in 3-fingered hands, slightly short and stubby, with what looked like a suction cup on the tip of each.

She didn't seem to have a neck, and her head was a little larger than normal. Nothing about her body was to me, though. Her face was very similar to that of a snail, elongated and with 2 protrusions on the sides of the chin. She didn't seem to have anything resembling a nose and her eyes, a very nice emerald green color, were very similar to a chameleon's, being able to move them individually.

Only the upper half of her body was clothed, with something similar to a Greek robe. The silk-like fabric crossed over her shoulders and then descended into a skirt that reached down to almost touch the ground. She wore a wide belt of dark leather, which had several hooks from which some objects were held, presumably for medical use. As far as I could see, she had no breasts, which seemed about right when I thought about the possible species she came from.

When she finally came in front of me, she gave me what looked like a reassuring smile. Her eyes moved quickly; and individually, scanning my face, looking at Makila, Katarina, Ameli, and Yuliana.

"Ma'am." She said, addressing Makila, by way of a quick greeting. She looked intently at the handkerchief she put on my nose. "Could you remove it and let me see?"

Makila nodded and obeyed her without trouble, slowly removing it from my face.

I could see her focus completely on me, with very serious eyes. Then she slowly brought her hands closer as she spoke to me in a soft, motherly voice. "Hello, little one. My name is Vlyra. Don't worry, I'm here to help you feel better. I'm going to check your nose, okay? It'll be real quick."

I nodded in response. The touch was light and careful. Every movement she made she described so that I would be aware of it and not panic. An example of how used to dealing with children she was.

Contrary to what I expected, her fingers were warm and not at all sticky. They felt very nice.

"You're doing great sweetie, you're a very brave little girl." She said in that pleasant voice. And for some reason, the praise she gave me helped me calm down a lot more.

"Well, if I'm honest, I expected a lot worse, but this kind of wound is easy to heal."

There was a collective sigh. I more than anyone else was relieved by it.

"Will it leave any after-effects?" Katarina asked, her voice worried.

"It shouldn't if I treated her right now. Thank Alika it wasn't a fracture." Vlyra replied with a smile. Then she brought her third arm close, placing it right over my nose, and in a harmonious, pleasant voice, chanted what I assumed was a spell.

"May the touch of the great light grant renewal to this weary soul."

There was a humming sound, like when an electric coil was turned on, but it sounded very soft. Then, from her hand came a bluish light, which focused on my face filling me with a sense of warmth and peace. The pain gradually faded, changing to a mild tingling, then to nothing.

When the light faded, I felt completely refreshed, as if I had gained new energy.

"Well, it looks like there was no problem." She said, smiling at me once again. "I would recommend feeding her something nutritious and letting her sleep for a while to let her body recover on its own."

Makila nodded in agreement and smiled at me in relief.

Vlyra seemed to take that as her chance to step aside. She excused herself and went to check on the other girl, Aria as I was lifted in Makila's arms.

Katarina approached with Yuliana looking tired, yawning even. Despite the little incident, the other guests didn't seem too disturbed, and the rest of the children, although they weren't playing as actively as before, were still in their little groups, completely oblivious to everything that had happened. Although several of them looked as tired as me and my little angel.

"Maybe we should take advantage and let them all take a nap?" announced Katarina, attracting the attention of all the guests, who nodded and ordered their servants to take all the children to a separate room so we could sleep.

To be honest, taking a nap seemed just what I needed at the moment. My eyes felt a little heavy and crying so much was wearing me out. It's not like I liked admitting to crying like that...

Ameli offered to immediately take me to sleep, but Makila seemed a bit reluctant to let go of me. My poor maid had to almost beg her to let her do her job so she could take me.

Before all that, Ameli had to change my clothes, because of the blood stains that had been left on my dress. She would take the opportunity to clean it while I was asleep. She changed me into some kind of robe-like pajamas that she took out of her magic inventory and then laid me down in a place a little apart from the rest. But a protest was heard.

Yuliana, who was in a nearby bed, saw Ameli and me away from her and protested about it. Ameli, somehow good at understanding the little angel, changed her mind and took me to the girl, who happily pulled me aside to a spot next to her to hug Ginevere.

I sighed in amusement. Before I knew it; bless my good fortune, the little angel had taken a liking to me.

With nothing to stop me, I laid down on one side of the all-too-strangely named monster, with Yuliana on the other side, happily cuddling and looking at me contentedly. Before long, sleep overcame me and before I knew it, I had fallen asleep.