The Noble Queen-A Shadow Slave Fanfic

"Natural Awakening?" Fort looked up from checking his sons' math by the fire. 

"What's that?" Brock pushed his feet against the couch cushion until his head was hanging off the back like a bat. He looked curiously at his sister in the kitchen. "Is it like Awakening in a forest setting or something?" 

Rain winced. She had been on the fence about asking at all, and she certainly hadn't meant to draw her father's and brothers' attention. 

"Not exactly..." the teen bit her lip. 

"It means trying to become Awakened without going into a Nightmare," Noble answered matter-of-factly. 

"Is that even possible?" Blaze turned and sat on his knees to look over the couch as well. 

"In our world? No. It's never been done." The professor shook her head. "It's getting late, boys. Get ready for bed before all three moons are overhead." 

Rain had already been given wild ideas today by a shadowy stranger. She didn't need that curiosity infecting Brock and Blaze as well. 

The incoming complaints were met with a stern gaze from their father. "If you want to stay up, I am sure your mother and sister would love some help with scrubbing the stains out the clothes from your adventure from Monday..." 

Both boys froze. When they had come home that day, their mother had warned them that the volcanic ash might never come out. 

Faced with an entire night of scrubbing, Brock and Blaze reluctantly headed upstairs, leaving the eldest three members of the family to speak more privately.

Seeing his wife's pleading look, Fort went back to checking the papers. The pen moved across the page aimlessly as he stared at the work. Noble returned her attention to her daughter.

"What do you want to know about Natural Awakening?" She glanced reflexively toward the closest window.

The glass was shut and the curtains were pulled tight. Rain's brother had said he didn't come into their house, but did he listen to their conversations by other means?

'I suppose I won't find out unless I make him upset enough to intervene.' 

The only way Noble thought she might do that was by mentioning Sunny directly, and the mother had no intention of outing him just now. 

"Anything you know," Rain answered vaguely. 

"In my last Nightmare, there was a group called the Hopefuls. They were people who were actively trying to form their core–to Awaken."

"Forming a core," Rain mumbled. "How does that even work?"

Noble smiled. She had wondered something similar. 

"I'm not sure, but I was told that increasing their essence control would help them form their core faster." 

All of that was information that Noble would have offered without having met Sunny, so she saw no reason to hide it. The knowledge had been curious to her at the time, and now saying it aloud, she mulled over it a second time. 

"Do you think that's true?" Rain seemed very deep in thought. 

"Unless the Spell doesn't actually recreate events of the past, I believe that is what happens, yes." 

Noble didn't doubt that what she had seen was the case. Yet, there wasn't any method mentioned on how to get control of soul essence, so the information was mostly theoretical and not actionable. 

But Sunny…

Noble went over her interactions with him. He believed he could help Rain Awaken. 

He was at least a Saint. How was that even possible? How much older was he than Rain?

Ages were extra hard to determine with the Awakened population, but Noble couldn't believe he was more than five years older...maybe seven?

He couldn't have been more than ten years her superior or the government would have put Rain in his care instead of her ending up at the orphanage. That was the sad reality of the outskirts.

Becoming a Saint under the age of thirty! That was not for the faint of heart. If she had learned a little about natural Awakening in her nightmares, perhaps he had learned much more. 

That would explain his quiet confidence. 

Unaware of her mother's thoughts, Rain was following a track of her own. 

"If it happened in the past, do you think...is it possible that it could happen again? That people could Awaken the old way, I mean." 

"We live in a world that a hundred years ago no one even knew existed. There is magic all around us, and I have superpowers. Anything is possible." Noble stopped the churning handle and opened the lid to check on the wet clothes. 

She frowned. As she had suspected, the dark ashy stains on her sons' shirts were not coming out in the warm water. It would be a long night.

"Anything is possible," Rain repeated to herself. 

Noble felt the hope blossoming within her daughter, so she was not surprised by the next question. 

"So, hypothetically, if someone wanted to try to Awaken naturally, would you be upset if they decided not to join the Dreamer Academy, at least for now?"

Rain's eyes darted toward the window and Noble did not have to guess that she was also thinking of the man in her shadow. 

"I didn't stop you from joining us and I won't stop you from taking as long of a break as you need, even if that break is permanent." Noble glanced toward the couch. "And I know your father feels the same." 

"Hm?" Fort looked up from the paper. "Did someone mention me?"

Rain rolled her eyes. "You've been on the same problem this whole time. We know you were listening." 

"If you are talking about my daughter giving up a dangerous training regimen for a life of something that sounds like meditation, no I didn't hear a thing! But if I did, I would approve wholeheartedly." Fort turned over the page nonchalantly. 

"Your father's opinion aside, don't do anything without giving it a lot of thought. It's your life and we want you to have the choice of the best way to spend it." 

This was the best advice Noble could give. Years of training in either avenue would have a cost. Which price would Rain be willing to pay in the end? 

"I understand." Rain picked up one of the boy's shirts and a bar of soap. She joined her mother in attacking the back stains marring the sleeves of Brock's shirt. "Tell me more about these Hopefuls. They sound interesting." 

Noble smiled and regaled her daughter with all she knew. Of all the things that had happened in that harrowing ordeal, learning more about the Hopefuls had been one of the more interesting. 

The ladies talked late into the night until even Fort gave up on eavesdropping. However, when Noble finally got to bed, the ambassador had a big smile on his face.

"You seem happy," the floating woman chuckled as she climbed under the blanket. 

"Why wouldn't I be? You talked our daughter out of a life of fighting and into the life of a monk." The man laid back on the hanging bed and sighed contently. 

Noble's smile froze on her face. Fort had gotten the wrong idea. 

She had to tell him. But how?