Side Story - Maria 3: Decisions, Decisions

AN: I somehow managed to put a continuity error in this chapter. Thanks to Termac it's fixed now!

Maria pouted slightly at the painting in front of her. It was a scene from her most recent dream, showing Aperio sitting at the base of a tree on a floating island. She knew the island — it was hanging above Ebenlowe, after all — but somehow she could never portray it correctly. Something was always missing. "But what?"

"Stuck again?" the voice of Amelia called from behind her. "Maybe it's time to call it for today? You already tried… sixteen times, after all."

"Fine," Maria replied, putting down her brush and palette. A small mental effort caused the sole ring she wore to glow slightly as she placed the simple clothes she wore into its [Dimensional Storage]replacing them with the proper dark red dress she was supposed to wear.

Amelia appeared behind her, braiding her charge's hair with a speed that should not be quite possible. "It is almost noon already, my Lady. Your friend will arrive shortly."

A smile spread across Maria's face at the words and the girl tried to sprint to the door leading to her room immediately, only to be stopped by a hand on her shoulder.

"Manners, my Lady," Amelia reprimanded. "I know you are excited to go outside with Brenia, but you still have to remember who you are. The problem with the church might have been solved, but there are still others who wish you ill."

"How do manners protect me from an assassin?" Maria asked as she turned around. "Will he be too shocked by a perfect curtsy to do anything?"

Her maid heaved a sigh, gently pushing Maria along. "No, but an assassin is also not something we worry about. It is more the status of the house and how people will try to undermine it and get to you that way."

The girl frowned at Amelia's words. She knew that her father had been working hard to keep their family — and the numerous ventures they supported — alive, but she was not quite sure how any of that related to her. "And all this happened in the last months? Why would being excited to see Brenia be worse than the day I literally ran away from home."

"Because you did that to see your Goddess," her maid replied with a sigh. "Nobody can argue against that, especially not with your Goddess being who she is." Amelia massaged her temples for a moment, seemingly trying to come up with an answer. "You already know some of the rules you have to follow as a noble; learned the etiquette. Think of this as the next step now that you are starting to approach adulthood."

Maria turned around and stomped her foot down, leaving a tiny crack in the old wooden floor. "I'm ten and not even the heir! Why does any of this matter to some idiots who don't even live on the same island?" She folded her arms in front of her chest before taking her eyes off her maid, mumbling her next words. "I should just ask Aperio to deal with them."

"I doubt your Goddess would condone that," Amelia said as she stepped up to her charge and lightly nudged her to turn back around again. "Though, if they are doing what your father suspects they are, she might just take care of them for you."

"What are they doing?"

Her maid let out another sigh and rubbed the bridge of her nose. "Bad things," she finally said, holding up her hand to stop Maria from asking her what those things were. "Your father will tell you when you are ready."

The rest of the way outside was spent largely in silence, only the occasional grumble escaping Maria to let world know she would like to go back to being ten. Her tenth year on Verenier had finally given her her Goddess, but with each day she inched closer to her next birthday, she had to leave more and more 'improper' things behind. How is this supposed to work when you are an adult? Just don't do anything fun? "At least Aperio and Brenia can attend my next birthday."

It would still be a while, but she had no doubt that her Goddess would do her this favour — even if she had been awfully quiet. Whenever Maria thought of reasons why her Goddess might be so unresponsive, the memory of her first visit to the estate played back in her mind. The sadness and grief Aperio had felt had never really left her. She had not known that someone could feel so… strongly.

She had no doubt that it was the blessing that caused her to experience her Goddess' emotions like that, but it was still not something she had expected. Or would have believed without having felt it first-hand. Aperio was the All-Mother; the literal creator of everything. How could there ever be something that made her feel that? Why would she make something that hurts her?

"Trying to figure out the mysteries of the universe again?" Amelia asked as she opened the door for Maria.

The girl squinted slightly at her maid as she stepped through, taking a deep breath of the fresh air. "Trying to figure out why Aperio always seems to be sad."

"She does?"

"Yes," Maria replied with a small nod. "I know why — I think — but I am not sure why she ever let that happen." She let out a sigh. "Are you happy now? Because I'm not."

"I apologise, my Lady," Amelia replied, bowing deeply. "But I have to make sure you do not risk the house." She held up her hand as she righted herself, then reached out to pull out the chair for her charge. "I know that you had hoped that it would end now, but though the advances from the churches might appear to have stopped, the people who want your family gone are still there. They've now simply shifted back to older means of ridding themselves of rivals."

"Accusing them of having fun?" Maria mocked as she sat herself down, not a single crease showing in her dress. "How dastardly of me to want to enjoy some time with my friend."

"A commoner." The voice of Brenia might not be able to fill the garden like that of Aperio, but it was still perfectly audible for Maria. "They want to make it seem like you are unfit for nobility. My mother had a long talk to me about that." She lifted the hem of her dress slightly to perform a shaky curtsy. "Made me get this, too."

The black and blue dress Brenia wore reminded Maria of the one her Goddess always seemed to wear, just updated for the ever-shifting norms of the nobility. If Brenia belonged to a noble family herself, her current outfit would undoubtedly mark her as their heir. The amount of money her mother must have spent on the fabric alone would not be something her own father would have done lightly. The same was true for the cut and fitting of the dress; obviously done by an experienced tailor. Not cheap.

"It suits you, Miss Whytegaard," Amelia said as she offered the seat opposite Maria to their guest. "I hope you found Genvial's services to be adequate."

Brenia did not reply, instead simply blinking at the maid as she tried to process what had just been said. Being addressed by her surname or as Miss was probably not something she was used to yet. As soon as her friend had sat down, a gaggle of maids appeared out of seemingly nowhere, bringing tea and plates of plates of cookies. Not used to being served tea by a herd of people, either. Even though I didn't ask them to.

She was not mad at them, as it was their job after all, but taking it a little slower around someone who was obviously not comfortable with the entire situation would have probably been better. Amelia seemed to agree with her thoughts as she gave her subordinates a small gesture that caused them to quicken their pace and depart again.

"Do they always do that?" Brenia asked, her head still turning from side to side as she tried to see where the servants had disappeared to. "Ninja maids…"

"Ninja?" Maria asked, leaning herself forward a little. "What's that?"

Brenia also leaned forward, and the gleam of gossip was in her eyes. "Adam told me about them." She glanced around again, but there was still no visible sign as to where the servants had gone. Her next words where whispered, obviously only meant for Maria’s ears. "They're like super good assassins from the world he is from!"

"Are your subordinates assassins?" Maria asked, looking at Amelia with a raised brow. She already knew that none of them were 'normal', but that was true for the people that served her father.

They all either knew him personally, or had known her mother. Those that did not, belonged to the family of Geshton's brothers or sisters or of her mother's sister. Amelia had called them 'branch families' and told her not to trust them too much, a comment that had not made much sense to her at the time but did now. Can't trust them, can we?

"Lula was the closest to an assassin," Amelia replied. "But even then, she dealt with monsters. Not regular people."

"So cool!" Brenia exclaimed, her previous confusion and fear having seemingly vanished. "Can she be invisible? I want to be able to do that."

"You will have to ask her that if you want to know," Amelia said. "I am not about to share the skills of my subordinates."

"Can we ask her?" Brenia asked, her eyes practically sparkling as she looked at Maria. "Please?"

"I don't know?" the girl replied, turning to Amelia. "Can we?"

Her maid simply offered a shrug. "I do not speak for Lula. If you really want to know, you'll have to go and ask her personally."

Maria squinted at her maid. Usually Amelia would have been more than happy to go and figure out if that would be okay. She had even done that for her when Maria had first seen Lula and had been confused about her tail and horns.

"Then we go and find Lula," Maria said, getting up from her chair. She started to move away from the table before turning around and grabbing a handful of cookies. "Gonna need to prepare for the journey!"

"Of course," Brenia agreed, one of the plates vanishing into a black rift. A giggle escaped the girl as she watched the [Dimensional Storage] close again. "This is so cool."

"Did Laelia teach you that?" Maria asked.

"No," Brenia replied. "Mother would never do that, so Qhinya did. She is helping Adam with his mana problems but has trouble teaching him, so she tried to teach me something instead!"

"And now you have [Dimensional Storage]?" Maria asked, stepping through the door that Amelia held open. "Isn't that like super hard to learn?"

A black feather appeared in Brenia's hand in reply, one that Maria recognised as one from Aperio. "Not really. I found it easier than stupid fireballs."

"Oh," Maria said, lowering her head slightly. "The only magic I can do is related to my painting. Caethya and Aperio didn't have time to teach me yet, either…"

Brenia slowed her stride at the words, some of her eagerness to meet Lula seemingly disappearing. "I could ask Qhinya to teach you as well? We were supposed to learn together, after all!"

Maria smiled slightly at the words of her friend, but she knew that was likely not an option. Her father did not know this Qhinya, and she doubted the House of Healing would be happy with having a noble and her guard walking around there just to learn some magic. Can't help the people there.

Still, it was worth a try. Asking could not hurt after all. "Do you know where father is right now, Amelia?"

"In his office," the maid replied with what Maria could only describe as a hint of a smile on her face. "Should we go now?"

Maria hesitated for a moment. She was certain her father was busy now and she did not want to disturb him, but she also wanted to finally learn magic. Of course, learning from Caethya and maybe even Aperio would be nice, but this Qhinya Brenia talked about seemed to know what she was doing. And I want to see that janitor…

Having servants with magical abilities was nothing new to Maria — everyone that served house Terenyk was capable to some degree, after all — but this one intrigued her. A random janitor that understood magic well but could not use it, and had the name of a fallen God? Maria was pretty sure this was the Natio and he was serving some form of punishment.

"Yes," she said, facing Brenia. "If you are okay with that?"

"Sure!" the girl replied. "Maybe I can spot some of your ninja maids."

"They are really good at hiding." Maria's eyes darted from side to side as she tried to find one of Amelia's subordinates. Ever since her latest excursion, there had always been someone close to her so she would not run away again.

Amelia simply gave a chuckle as she led the girls towards the office of Lord Terenyk. While Maria joined Brenia in trying to find some of the maids that technically served her, the thought that someone in the estate would use this harmless bit of fun against them did not leave her mind.

It would probably never fully go away. She might not like it — or even understand it — but she knew what Amelia had said was true. There were people that did not like what her father was doing and would use everything they could to rid themselves of him. But Aperio supports us…

With the All-Mother on their side, nobody should try something too wild, but Maria was also not sure if Aperio even cared about anyone else in her family enough to save them. She could pray for an answer, but more often than not, those went unanswered. Too weak to her.

She would simply need to learn how to use the mana she had. Hopefully a good argument she could use for her father. I just want to be with my friends.

Brenia took her hand. "I'm sure we can convince your dad! How are you supposed to spot ninja maids if you cannot use your mana?"

"I don't know," Maria replied. "But I am not sure my father will see that as a valid argument."

The exchange continued, Brenia offering ideas that they could use to argue for lessons with Qhinya in Aperio's absence and Maria trying to think of ways her father might dismiss them.

In the end, the decision was not up to either of them. Her father was the one who decided who came and went from the estate. But he agreed to let me study under Caethya, maybe he will allow Qhinya too.

The sound of Amelia knocking on the wooden door that led to her father's office took Maria from her thoughts. Maria was not sure what she would say, but she would give it her all. She wanted to experience life outside their estate and this was the best shot she had; even if she had to take some of her 'ninja maids' with her.