<~> Chapter 113

Luna and I left the room and walked down the hall. Seilfreid kept a respectful distance behind us, but it was clear he was continuing to make sure we didn't run off.

I reached over and took Luna's hand. ("How do you feel?")

Luna squeezed my hand and smiled up at me. ("Better than I expected, if I'm totally honest... Not that I knew what to expect from that situation.")

("How does it feel to be a secret princess?") I asked with a smile.

Luna chuckled and shook her head. ("I'm not a princess. I'm just a bastard child.")

I shrugged. ("Maybe, but if that thing you did with her proved it, that means you have dragon's blood in you.")

Luna pursed her lips and was silent for a short while. ("I suppose it does, doesn't it?")

I grinned. ("Well, even if you aren't a princess. You'll always be my princess.")

Luna rolled her eyes but continued to smile. ("You're better at flirting when you're not trying so hard, you know.")

("Who says I'm trying hard? It's easy to flirt with the woman I'm in love with,") I said with a grin.

She giggled. ("You're being goofier than usual. Are you trying to cheer me up?")

("Depends, is it working?") I asked.

Luna rolled her eyes again, but her smile only widened. ("Fortunately for us both, it is.")

("Then sure, I am trying to cheer you up,") I replied.

("And what would you have said if it wasn't?") she asked with a raised eyebrow.

I smiled. ("Then I would have been merely declaring my love for my princess.")

Luna laughed and shook her head.

Since we had been walking for a while without any particular destination, we ended back up in the atrium. It was later in the day now but there were still a lot of people out and about. Off in the distance, I noticed two familiar figures. Aria was looking over the railing, and Iris was also trying to peek over it despite her short stature and grimoire tucked under her arm. I glanced over the direction they were looking, but I couldn't tell what they were gawking at.

("Should we go see what those two are up to?") I asked Luna.

("Hm? Oh, sure. Sorry, I'm just a bit distracted,") she replied.

"Hey, what are you two looking at?" I asked once we had gotten closer.

Aria glanced back at me before turning back in the direction she was facing. "Iris was trying out some of her wind magic," She said while pointing.

I followed her line of sight but... didn't see anything.

"What am I looking for?" I asked.

She looked back at me with a confused look before coming to a realization. "Oh... you can't see it, can you?"

I turned back and squinted. "Can't see what?"

("You might be able to see the wind magic. It's subtle, but I can feel the swirl of it over there,") Luna said to me but made it so all of us could hear her through the rings.

I looked around and caught the funnel of wind magic. It was so much more subtle than most magic I was used to looking at. "Okay, I see it, I think?"

Aria laughed. "You obviously don't. There is a mass of dead leaves spinning in the air over there. Look around. Everyone is staring at it."

I glanced around, and like she said, everyone was looking right at something I couldn't see.

"That's strange. Do dead leaves not have any mana in them?" I asked.

"Look down there," Aria said pointing at the ground. I peeked over the edge and saw what she was pointing at. There were hundreds of shadows where the leaves swirled, nearly blocking the sunlight on the first floor. I looked back to where the others said the leaves should be, and there was nothing.

Since no one answered before, I asked again, "Do dead leaves not have any mana in them?" I asked while facing Luna.

Luna shrugged. ("I think the blindfold is more sensitive than I am at judging the difference in mana concentrations. You can see mana in things like the buildings and the ground, but to me, that doesn't feel like anything.")

I reached out and felt the leaves invisibly touch my hand. I grabbed one as it passed and pulled it closer to me. The moment I pulled it out of the whirl of magic, I could see it again in the sunlight. "What? I can see it now."

All three of them gave me confused stares. After a moment, Luna looked back over the railing. "Is something about Iris's magic obscuring the leaves to your mana sight?" she asked.

"Possibly. Wait, how long have you been keeping this up? Doesn't it take a lot of mana to maintain spells for this long?" I asked.

Iris shook her head. "The wind spell I was playing with can alter air currents. It takes mana to set it up, but it just stays that way using the magic in the air for the most part. I was going to put it back when I was done but it looks really neat..."

I reached my hand out again and felt the cloud of leaves lazily pass by my hand. "Do you think this could fool monsters that primarily see magic, like this blindfold?"

Luna cupped her chin. ("Perhaps. There are a few monsters that don't have eyes and some have discovered it's possible to overwhelm their senses with high volumes of magic.")

"This seems like a neat trick. I wish I could see it," I said.

Seilfreid cleared his throat behind us. "Miss Iris, would you mind releasing or reverting your magic, please? Your spell seems to be distracting a lot of people."

Iris went ramrod straight. "Yes, sir! I apologize!" She spun on her heel and held out her arms. The short girl was barely able to see over the high railing. She chanted a spell, and I watched as small tendrils of magic reached out and tweaked a few spots in the air. After a moment, the swirl died and I could suddenly see the cloud of dead leaves start to fall in the courtyard. Some of the people under the leaves laughed as a blanket of them all fell down at once.

Seilfreid frowned and turned to one of the nearby soldiers who had been following us. "Go tell someone to clean all of this up. Blame the mess on Highness Celeste for allowing her guests to get carried away."

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Iris's ears went back and she shrunk in on herself. "I- I'm sorry..."

Luna smiled and patted her on the head. ("Don't be, that was marvelous magic. I'm sad I hadn't been here to see you cast it.")

Aria shook her head. "You guys just can't help but get in trouble by casting spells in public places. First that fence and now this."

I gently smacked Aria's shoulder and laughed.

She grinned back. "It's true ya know."

Seilfreid sighed. "Please refrain from using your magic in the atrium... Actually, please don't use magic anywhere in the castle without permission. I don't want you to set fire to something in your bedrooms either."

Iris nodded quickly without arguing.

"See, kid, ya got us in trouble," Aria teased.

"Did not! You told me it would be fine to practice here!" Iris squeaked.

Aria tapped her chin with a finger. "Hmm... I think you're misremembering."

"Am not!" Iris cried out.

I pulled the two of them apart. "Quit it, you two. Aria, stop teasing her, you're freaking her out. Iris, don't worry, we believe you. No need to make a scene."

Iris's ears went back and she nodded. Aria just snickered until I smacked her arm. "Ow! That hurt..."

("Do you two know where Maxwell and Piper went?") Luna asked.

"We were going to meet them for dinner. They walked around with us for a while, but they decided to go back to their rooms to 'nap in the most comfortable bed they ever laid in,' according to them," Aria said.

Luna looked a little embarrassed. I mostly just thought about the bed as normal... which probably meant it was high quality. It beat the one at the inns we've stayed at too, but the one in Fallow was really nice after spending so long in the dungeon...

Aria turned to look at Seilfreid. "Is there anywhere we can go to test out our magic?" she asked.

He cupped his chin and frowned. "On the fourth floor? No. There are some facilities for that kind of thing on the first floor, but you don't have permission to leave..."

Aria sighed. "Well... I don't mind taking a little vacation and relaxing, but things are going to get a little boring if we're stuck in the castle. Did your Highness say how long she wanted to keep us here?"

Seilfreid shook his head and turned to Luna and me. "She did not, but perhaps these two would know better. They met with her not long ago."

I shook my head. "She didn't say, but I honestly wouldn't count on her letting us go any time soon. Things are... complicated, to say the least."

"Seems that way," Aria said with a frown.

"I want to practice my magic..." Iris said glumly.

"The next time I'm able to speak with her Highness, I'll ask her if she would allow someone to escort you to the training field during the day. As of now, there's not much else I can do," Seilfreid said apologetically.

("I can ask when I talk with her next. She suggested having dinner with us tonight or maybe tomorrow,") Luna said.

("Are you up for that so soon?") I asked Luna privately.

Luna paused before nodding. ("I think so. Like I said earlier, I was happy with how it went, and I would still like to get to know her better. I still feel awkward, but I would be lying if I said I wasn't happy about meeting her now.")

"For now, let's go talk with Maxwell and Piper," I said.

The four of us left the atrium with the soldiers following behind us. It felt a bit strange being followed around and watched all the time, but there wasn't much we could do about it. We knocked on the door of Maxwell's room, and he opened it pretty quickly. It seems despite his earlier comments, he wasn't actually asleep. Piper lazily waved from behind him.

"We were just going to go looking for you four. Come in," Maxwell said before stepping out of the way. The four of us slipped into the room, and he gave the soldiers a quick glance before shutting the door behind him.

"So, updates?" Maxwell asked while sitting down on the bed.

There weren't many places to sit in the room, so I just sat on the floor and pulled Luna into my lap. Aria sat on the bed next to Maxwell, and Iris sat on the last open chair.

"Well, Celeste seems... nice, but things are complicated," I said.

Maxwell crossed his arms. "You met with her already?" he asked.

I nodded. "The two of us had tea with her a while ago, just before we found these two causing trouble in the atrium," I said with a smile.

"It was Aria's fault!" Iris sputtered.

I laughed and waved her off, "Joking, joking."

Aria cleared her throat. "Iris, time to do that other spell we talked about."

Iris's ears went back. "But the soldier said not to use magic in the bedrooms," she whispered.

"This is important. Please do it," The look on Aria's face was serious.

"O-okay," Iris relented. She closed her eyes and chanted a spell before a soft ring of wind began to spin around us. "It should be working now..."

Aria stood up and walked through the ring of wind magic and waited.

"Can you hear me?" Piper asked.

Aria stepped back into the ring of magic. "It seems to be working. I couldn't hear you at all, just the sound of air moving." She plopped back onto the bed next to Maxwell.

"So, what did you learn?" Maxwell asked.

I hugged Luna softly. "We more or less confirmed that the two of them are related. They did something with their magic, and Luna said that she is likely her mother."

Luna nodded. ("We used concurrent casting and it was effortless. I think the chances that she's truly my mother is exceedingly high,") Luna said to us through the rings.

Maxwell deflated. "What does this mean for us? Are you going to stay here with her now?" His voice sounded sad. It was an unexpected show of emotion from someone who was usually so stoic.

("I don't intend to leave all of you. We'll either stay together or leave together. Whatever we decide as a group. She may be related to me by blood, but you two are my family,") Luna said resolutely.

Piper smiled. "I love you like a sister, little Luna. No matter what we decide, we'll stay together."

Luna nodded. ("No matter what. I promise.")

"Let me tell you guys what happened." I took a breath and started summarizing our meeting with Celeste.

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