I was running late. Or at least running behind. Vivian almost looked scrambled as she was moving around her office organizing the shelves.

She wasn't actually moving anything, just adjusting positions in small increments. It was painfully familiar.

It wasn't the first time I felt a bit silly for not realizing that she was my grandmother sooner.

"What's wrong?" I asked as I knocked on her door.

"Serafina, can you go tell your Towermates that there's been a change of plans? I also need you to change into your uniform. Dragon Tower's parents are arriving sooner than I had hoped."

"How much sooner?"

"They are scheduled to arrive in about one hundred and seventeen minutes."

Oh crap.

"On it," I said around my growing panic before sprinting off.

(*********)

I nearly ran face first into the door of Dragon Tower. "Open Sesame," I said around attempts to breathe.

Jarec was playing with Scraps, very much unaware of the horror I was about to unleash on him and all of our friends.

"Jarec, can you call everyone here? There's an emergency and I need to talk to them."

Jarec blinked, "Is it serious?"

"Yes. I have to go change. Just please get everyone here," I darted up the stairs at a less than safe pace. But we didn't exactly have time to spare.

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My heart was pounding, either from nerves or excitement I couldn't tell.

I ran through each item one at a time. White shirt, red tie, black vest, red coat. Representative badge. This was it. I would face my own mother and the parents of my friends. This was going to be my one chance to make a good impression. And the first time my position as Dragon Tower Representative truly meant anything.

I could handle this. I hoped. Steady, Serafina.

With a deep breath I opened my door to find everyone standing around. None of them looked too nervous to me.

"Thanks for getting here quickly," I started as I tried to stay at least semi calm. "So you know how you wanted updates on the parent thing? There's been a change of plans."

And there were the looks of panic.

"You know how it was supposed to be tomorrow? We have an hour."

"What?!" Celica screeched.

"Yeah. So if there's anything you need to hide get going."

"Fuck!" Russel swore before running up past me and into his room.

"Now I have to go help Vivian, see you all later," I said as I left. I hoped they didn't notice my hands were starting to shake.

It was probably for the best that I was forced to hurry to almost the opposite side of campus for this. Standing still at that moment would have been the worst.

(*********)

If hiding my anxiety from my friends was questionable, then I wasn't fooling Vivian for a second. She stopped her fiddling with a trophy on her shelf to give me a worried look.

"You don't need to look so nervous Serafina. Lucinda will the worst of the bunch and you have the benefit of knowing she's got your best interests at heart."

I let out a nervous laugh. "Yeah, but everyone's going to know. It feels like most of the professors already know who she is."

"Not all. Most. Some were students during her time here, those that came later at best know rumors. And I doubt she'll be calling herself Lucinda Hearth."

"She might not, but enough people are gonna find out. Some are going to see me differently."

She turned away from me and started dusting her window. Not that I could see any dust on it that needed cleaning. Maybe I wasn't the only one less than calm about this. I also had no idea where the duster came from.

"It's certainly a risk, but it seems to be one she's willing to take. And so was sending you here in the first place."

"Me coming here was my idea."

"One Lucinda allowed, she would have weighed the risks. I can't speak of your father's thought process but I would like to think I know enough of Lucinda's mind to trust she has some kind of plan."

That didn't help, but it let me take a deep breath. "Maybe I'm worried over nothing."

"All I can tell you is that if Lucinda believed this would put your happiness here at risk she wouldn't have come."

"And it's a bit past the point of no return anyway. Nothing I can do about Mom being here or how anyone is going to feel about it. I just need to buckle down and go with the flow."

And try to ignore the warm itch from my curse.

Vivian started murmuring what I was pretty sure was a prayer of some kind as I sat down and tried to stay out of her way.

In and out. The feel of the red Dragon coat. The hint of smoke and wildflowers in the air. The light coming in from the window.

The almost peace I felt was shattered by a familiar rushed knocking on the door to Vivian's office.

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