Dinner passed the time with delightful ease. Fern couldn't remember ever feeling so free-floating in her life; pletely unbound by any sort of deadline or mission requirement or onerous expectations, she simply indulged in the magnifit repast.

  After the first spoonful she fell in love with the stew and its indescribably rich fvors. The meat was unfamiliar, but tender and wonderfully savory, and the spices aables apanying it were absolutely perfect to her taste buds. But then, all of the food was - not wanting to offend, she sampled each item oe Crimson had arranged for her, and found everything absolutely delicious. Before long, she'd eateire serving; and then Crimson provided a freshly full pte, alongside a gss of deep red - almost violet - sparkling wine.

  Fern ate and drank her fill like never before. Even at times when she did have a little moo spare, the tavern food was hardly w on; this, however, most certainly was. Once she'd gotten past her initial hesitation, the food just started to disappear.

  After the first two gsses of wine, Crimson provided water, and enced her to drink that so the m wouldn't hit quite so hard. She did, naturally, even without additional prompting; it was easier to just do as she was told. Not that many words were exged; the few times she gnced up, Ravenna was either sav her own meal, azing at her with a serene expression. It was just so... peaceful.

  I could get used to this sort of thing, Fern thought as she leaned bad basked in the rare sensation of an almost overfull stomach, her mind drifting off and her eyes slowly closing until the darkness ed around her like a f b.

  "The hell are you doing, dozing off like that, Luckless?"

  Harsh ughter with an uone of spite roused her from sleep. Her stomach hurt - empty again, like always. The cheap wood of the tavern table chafed against her arms as she lifted her head, blinking away the drowsiness.

  Ah... of course. It had been a lovely dream, and very real - but only a dream after all. How silly of her to think that she could be so lucky, when she was Fern the Luckless. Just like everyone said.

  "Sorry," she mumbled weakly, gripping the edge of the table and feeling it splinter under her fiips as she struggled to her feet. Gods, she felt awful. But anyone would, surely, ing down from that paradise.

  Her body moved like it was in river mud as she staggered to the bar. "Ugh. Hey, barkeep. What- whatcha got for me today?" she mahe breath struggling to exit her lungs. Gods, she was in a horrible way.

  "For you? Let's see..." A cruel smile spread over his fabsp; "I've only got ohing, looks like. Something called 'Go Die in the Forest'. It doesn't pay well, but that doesn't matter, now, does it, Luckless?"

  Wait.

  He took her wrist roughly, pulled open her ched fingers, and shoved the mission scroll onto her palm. It burned her, but she couldn't let go of it. She didn't even cry out at the pain.

  Wait, no, this is-

  "Get outta here so someone else do your job. Not that you ever had much of a job anyway." A chorus of cruel ughs sounded as, unwilling, uo stop herself, she turned and trudged toward the door with slow, heavy steps.

  No, this is all wrong! It's not like this, it never was! This is all just a-

  Fern came upright with a gasp, soaked i.

  Her stomach hurt a little, but not from emptiness. As her eyes refocused, she saw a long wall of full bookshelves, ahe softness of a thick mattress underh her. She gnced over to see another bed and a woman in it, her long white hair spyed across the sheets.

  Ravenna. Her partner.

  The events of the day slowly filtered bato her mind, and as they fell into pce, silent tears of relief started flowing.

  Before long she started shivering a little, with half of her outside of the thick bedcovers. Atempt at sleep seemed like a poor idea right now, so Fern looked around and spotted her bathrobe, folded up on a side table. Quietly, so as not to disturb the dark mage nearby, she eased her legs out of the bed and slid her feet into the slippers on the floor. Donning the bathrobe and ing it around herself snugly, settling into its warmth and fort, she headed upstairs, to the observatory.

  Crimson sat at the tral desk, and stood as she entered, approag her with a gss of water in hand. "Up a little te, aren't you, darling?" she murmured, her rich voice velvety-soft in the near silence.

  She accepted the gss gratefully, taking a sip of the cool water right away. "Couldn't sleep."

  "You've been g." It was a statement, not a question; but despite the maid's usual fir for the dramatic, there was a gentle in it that settled on her shoulders and eased out some of the tension she didn't even realize had collected there.

  Fern nodded, slowly. "Bad dream. About..." She hesitated for a moment, searg for the words. "Before here."

  "Awh, poor thing." The maid's hand lifted up, theed on her head - and the tips of her cw-like nails delicately stroked at her scalp, drawing a soft breath and a little shiver from the pinpoiions. "Do you have those often?"

  "I... yes. This one was..." Her eyes half-lidded. Gods, this felt amazing. "... Worse than usual."

  "Hmmm." Crimson gazed at her, those eyes of hers warm and bright in the dim light. "Darling, may I teach you something? A little verse to help keep those dreams at bay. It's an old favorite of mine."

  Fern gazed babsp; The reddish glow was so... entrang. She couldn't seem to look away. "I... guess? It's hard to lear night, usually..."

  The maid smiled lightly, just the ti fsh of teeth between her lips. "Ah, o worry there, I promise you'll have no trouble at all. It's quite simple; just repeat after me, darling. Ready?"

  She nodded, slowly. Hopefully this worked; she could use some untroubled rest.

  "The shadows are my friend," Crimson intoned softly.

  Fern blinked. Oh, was that it? "The shadows are my friend."

  "Waking, they care for me."

  "Waking, they care for me," she returned, getting a feel for the ce by the way the maid's fingers moved ever so gently in her hair, pressing softly oressed sylbles, lifting slightly on the unstressed ones.

  "Sleeping, they guard my soul."

  Oh, that sounded lovely. "Sleeping, they guard my soul."

  Crimson nodded slightly, a satisfied glint in her eyes as she tiaring at Fern - into her, it felt like. "Those who watch, those who hunt."

  She felt like sleep was starting to close in again. "Those who watch, those who... hunt."

  "Ill i founded."

  "Ill i... founded."

  "The shadows are my friend."

  Ah, that robably the end of it; how nibsp; "The shadows are my friend."

  "Very good, darling. Very good indeed. I daresay you won't have any more trouble tonight." Crimson's hand slid over and down, softly rubbing the back of Fern's neck - without her nails this time. "Just rex for me and listen."

  Something in the back of her mind tried to assert itself, to warn her, but she couldn't hear it. She was too busy gazing into those lovely red eyes. "Okayyy," she slurred, softly.

  "That's a good girl," Crimson purred, and a wonderful sensation washed over her. Oh, she was good, was she? That was delightful to hear. "Now then." The maid's voice dropped to a soft, sweet whisper. "Whenever I say-"

  She didn't remember anything after that.

  "Wake up, darling. You don't want to miss breakfast, do you?"

  Fern sloleasantly melted out of the sweet darkness of sleep, blinking away the drowsiness and finding herself surprisingly awake in just a few moments. "... Huh. Oh! No, I certainly don't, not after that meal st night; that was incredible."

  Ravenna giggled softly. "Your appetite said as much, darling. I've never seen the food disappear so quickly!" She had already dressed, a loosely flowing robe of deep green tossed over her bck bodysuit and a simple bck leather belt underh, various small devices and gems dangling from it. "I'm sure the maids are delighted to have someone so enamored with their handiwork." Her voice dropped to a hushed, spiratorial half-whisper. "Sapphire in particur would never admit it ht, what with her refined persona and all, but she absolutely adores making the most marvelous things i - things that would make a noble choke with envy!"

  She wriggled out of the bed and grabbed at the pile of clothing on the bedside table, a little hastily pulling on the short bck robe and loose reddish trousers. Fern didn't necessarily balk at casual nudity; after adventuring for as long as she had, sometimes things just ended up that way. Here, though, it felt rather different; more intimate, somehow. "And aggravating the aristocracy is one of your personal pastimes, presumably?" she murmured, after a moment of thought.

  The brilliant gri iurn was absolutely worth the effort. "Oh, I see you, darling, well done. And yes! A thousand times, yes. There's nothing quite as delightful as seeing one of those snotty little snobs sullenly sulk and stamp their heels so, just because you have something they do not." The dark mage ccked - a little more quietly than usual - off to the stairwell, and turned. "Sometimes I enjoy... adding to my colle, solely for that purpose. But we discuss such things ter, darling; breakfast awaits, after all."

  Her heels echoed oone as she disappeared dowairs, and Fern pulled ourdy-looking bck boots from the pile and followed as quickly as she could.

  The room lighting was bright and cheery, rather than the dim, almost sultry ambience of the previous night; Sapphire stood there as calmly as ever, and as soon as the two had sat down, she directed the aetheric rod at the table and snapped with her free hand.

  This time the spread didn't fill the eable, but the wonderful smells certainly filled the room: sizzlis, fresh eggs, cheeses, a vibrantly colored fruit sad, and powder-topped waffles with melted butter and syrup slowly dribbling off them. The maid simply gave Fern an uanding nod, and she picked up her fork and started serving herself with the particur sort of eagerness a soon-to-be-filled stomach motivates.

  "I daresay she likes it," Ravenna murmured with a soft giggle, coating her scrambled eggs with a fine yer of shredded cheese and grinding some pepper as well. "I'd have thought she might slow down a little, but perhaps it'll take a few days for her to realize there's o rush so."

  "You've no cause for , Miss Skysh," Sapphire remarked, seeing Fern's embarrassed expression as she paused, mid-mouthful. "Mistress merely enjoys her little jests, no matter the time or pce or subject."

  "I do, I do, it's very true." The dark mage speared a slielon and nibbled on it delicately with a soft sigh of te. "I take it you slept well, at least, judging by how fast you're clearing your pte."

  "Well... not in the beginning," she admitted. "But Crimson helped me after I went for a short walk. She taught me a little verse of some sort to keep the nightmares away." Another slieat vanished before she tinued. "It seems to have dohe trick; I feel much better today."

  "I see~! Well, that expins the, ah." Ravenated for onbsp; "Difference."

  Fern tilted her head, fork poised to stab at a nearby waffle. "Difference?"

  "I don't believe she's noticed, Mistress," Sapphire murmured.

  A feeling of uarted bubbling up inside her. "Wait, noticed what? Is there something on my fabsp; Did my skin turn-" And she stopped cold, the fork dropping from her hand and g against her syrup-smeared pte.

  The back of her right hand was different.

  The sigil she'd seen so many times she never bothered to look at any more, the hero sigil, had ged - no, reverted - into that of a jack.