[B3] Chapter 3 — A Parthanex Tower Welcome

Ria looked around her new rooms. The arrangement was similar to what she had at Keira’s manor: a reception area, a study area, a screened-off bed area, and a private bath. They didn’t give her a suite with a balcony though, which was disappointing but understandable for securing her safety.

Ranger let out a grumble of dissatisfaction, and returned to sniffing around the rooms for enchantments and uninvited critters. The balcony at Vorshan Estate was one of his favorite spots to soak in the sun while sleeping or meditating.

“There’s still the fifth-floor student lounge’s balcony,” Ria reminded her obsessively diligent deepways hound.

Her effort at consolation was met with an unimpressed chuff.

Not much she could do about it.

Moving closer to a tall glass-paneled window providing light to the study area, Ria was greeted by the overcast view of the Elemental Gardens below. An impressive and enviable view if she were honest. The greens and blues were particularly vivid in the gentle rain that had begun to fall. She ran her fingertips over the varnished wood of the antique-styled writing desk beside the window.

Over the centuries, how many powerful mages of her Order studied magic at this desk?

She didn’t have any complaints about the furniture which, though old, was well-kept and of a quality fit to appease noble sensibilities. It wasn’t like they were forcing her to live in a barely furnished tower cell with wobbly chairs and a bed intended to be uncomfortable. Hells, the bed provided was one of those fancy ones with curtains and bedding that was even softer than what she had at the manor.

Though she chafed at the choices being made for her, living in the tower was something she wanted and would have already arranged herself if not for Keira staying at the estate. Now that her friend was staying at Shining Sun Hall, that consideration was no longer necessary, and she’d be able to spend more time with Iselyn who had the set of rooms next to hers.

Muffled bumps and voices could be heard through the nearby stone wall.

The pair of young Gryphon Knights assigned to her, Rigonni and Arella, were settling into the other adjacent suite of rooms.

Ria felt self-conscious being escorted by knights while at the academy. It drew stares and whispers. Knowing that she wasn’t allowed to leave the campus, she also had to fight down the thought that her knights were prison wardens.

The thought was uncharitable to the elite pair who were there to risk their lives protecting her and were just doing their duty as assigned to them. Both knights had been friendly and quick to assist with whatever she needed. Considering her new reality and status, a better way to look at the situation was to view interacting with the two knights good practice for setting up and managing her household.

Rather, shouldn’t she be excited? Gryphon Knights! They ride gryphons! Gryphons! Or such. But somehow, she just couldn’t work up the enthusiasm.

No, it wasn’t that they were her wardens; the usual gate guards would have also been informed that she wasn’t allowed into the city ‘without advance permission and an adequate protective detail.’ The real problem the knights would cause for her was keeping her from sneaking off in the middle of the night to find Moon Elf gardens or exploring the castle’s lower levels with Phaelys and her friends.

She sighed out in resignation. As much as she initially ruffled at the restriction as having to ‘get permission’ to go anywhere, Arella had gently explained that it was a matter of scheduling and pre-positioning qualified soldiers and mages—that they would need time to investigate the destination and surroundings and plan both the outing's route and the possible return scenarios should trouble arise.

The conversation had been a moment that crystallized for Ria that she was no longer a village girl riding happenstance to prominence or an honored war hero or a sometimes champion of the Grand Arena but Celestria Theana ad`Drelfgar Vor`Daarryn, a person important enough that a simple trip into the city for shopping had the potential to inconvenience hundreds if not thousands of people.

Ria glanced up at the portrait of her happy family, hung over the desk as it had been at the manor. Her mother, an unrecognized princess, had found a prince of her own, and she and her two older brothers had been born. The name Drelfgar had sounded suspiciously familiar when Jarrel had said it, and remembering where she’d heard it before had taken a while, but there was no way that her father’s House name being the same as a certain dwarven king was a coincidence, a king with an adamantium affinity.

It matched what Researcher Shadwich had rambled about in his letter. The magic-resistant legendary metal was undoubtedly the reason why her risk-taking and extreme increase in energy density flowing and residing in her body hadn’t made her explode in a gorey mess of half-boiled Ria parts or however that worked.

The painting wasn’t the only decoration Head Towermaid Friesa had found places for in the suite. Books and other art pieces including her Divinesday champion figurine that she had left out to decorate the shelves at the manor were also now decorating the bookshelves of her study area.

Ria absently summoned the well-wishing flowers from her vault, and began placing them around the suite as well, adding more splashes of color.

Another positive to living in the tower, her own books weren’t the only books she would have easy access to from her rooms. Before leaving Ria to settle in, Friesa had pointed out the seventh floor’s central common room, a cozy library with seating and reading tables. Now that this was her home for the foreseeable future, she would probably be spending a lot of time there together with Iselyn and the other first-year Ordermembers, maybe as much as in the fifth-floor’s student lounge.

While placing vases, Ria checked the armoire in the screened off bedchamber and found her clothes already neatly hung inside, as expected. She summoned her regalia and hung it on a clothing tree nearby.

There was space between the curtained bed and the wall to put additional storage. Peeking around, Ria’s thoughts froze as the sight of a certain enchanted security chest came into view.

Had they searched the chest while bringing it into the academy?

“Woof?” Ranger questioned from where he was in the bathing room.

“Hopefully, nothing to worry about,” she told her faithful hound and, with building dread, approached the chest to see if anything was missing.

Knock, knock.

Ria flinched, quickly sending her senses through the door before forcing her tensed up muscles to relax. She’d deal with the chest later. If anything had been found or taken, there was little she could do about it now.

“Come!” Ria called out, and with the sound of the outer door, the expected blonde girl wearing a Golden Dawn robe was soon standing in the reception area looking around at the room and furniture.

“Oh? You’ve already decorated?” Keira asked, looking around the space.

“Just the flowers,” Ria demurred, joining Keira and placing the tea set from her vault onto the low table between the leather-bound couch and upholstered chairs as she motioned for them to sit. “Friesa set up the rest, probably when your parents visited earlier.”

“Friesa?”

“The head towermaid.”

“Ah,” Keira vocalized in understanding, watching Ria conjure water to fill the delicate steeping pot and add two careful pinches of precious leaves purchased from Patricia’s tea shop in Vorshan’s Hills.

“I’m surprised other Orders can visit here—the residential floors, I mean,” Ria asked, concentrating on using her magic to quickly bring the water to a light boil.

“Each Hall and Tower are different. I already got permission from your towerkeeper. To visit Iselyn…” Keira reported but trailed off, looking away and fidgeting some before admitting with a mumble, “…and Aldri.”

Oh?

That was a surprise. Ria couldn’t help a bit of a smirk slipping as she poured Kiera’s serving of tea and practiced using her magic to cool it to the perfect temperature.

Keira promptly made use of served tea to ignore her, checking its temperature briefly before taking a sip.

So, Keira was… “Climbing the stairs of adulthood, huh,” Ria mused, and her blonde friend had to quickly put down the cup to deal with the coughing from liquid inadvertently going where it shouldn’t.

“W-what a-are you saying?!” Keira sputtered, once the coughing had subsided enough to speak. The girl’s cheeks and ears were blushing. “Aldri is from a respected family!”

Holding back a grin of triumph at the reaction, Ria calmly finished pouring her own serving and set the steeping pot to the side, making herself comfortable as she took the cup in hand and cooled the tea within. “So, you’re saying… nothing happened then?”

“Of-, of course!” Keira stammered. “Nothing like you’re thinking!”

“Really? Nothing at all?” Ria pressed, struggling to keep a straight face as she leaned forward with an eyebrow raised.

Keira was shifting in her seat and turning redder by the moment. “He might have… k-k-” The terminally embarrassed noble girl couldn’t seem to get the word out.

Smelling metaphorical blood in the water, Ria couldn’t help herself from channeling her inner Orlisi and further teasing her oh-so-deserving best friend. “Hooh? Is that reason for the sudden engagement? Go on. We’re both girls here; I want the details,” she needled, half in prurient curiosity, half just enjoying Keira turning completely red and opening and closing her mouth like a fish, unable to form words.

It was sweet revenge, getting back at the honest-to-a-fault girl for the embarrassment inflicted after her first outing with Hulle.

“I-, Aldri-, nobles would not-, you are terrible!” Keira finally managed to huff out when it dawned on her she was being teased thanks to the obscene grin Ria could no longer hold back.

Making an effort to suppress the coming giggle fit and school her features as if her curiosity had been innocent all along, Ria casually sipped her own tea. “Hmm? Is that so?”

“It is!” her friend humphed with finality and proceeded to drain the mostly-full cup of tea in one go before forcefully placing it back on its saucer with a clack.

Ria couldn’t hold back any longer and the giggles broke free, turning into full laughter.

To her credit, Keria endured by pouring herself another serving and patiently waited for Ria’s amusement to subside.

“I broached with Ana’s mom the possibility of you hiring her daughter as a personal maid,” Keira said, redirecting the conversation to what was presumably the reason for the visit. “Have you thought more about it? The matter we discussed regarding Ana before… everything that happened.”

Instantly sobered, Ria grimaced and looked away, her hand gripping the fabric of her skirt and a sudden discomfort forming at the pit of her stomach.

Orlisi had advised that she start setting up a household… but anyone joining the service of her ‘House’—she would be putting the person in danger. Could she do that to Ana?

Would it be better to ask Lady Asara or Administrator Rente to recommend people instead?

The thought made Ria annoyed at herself. Did risking people she didn’t care about make it less bad? No, that made her a terrible person.

Ria knew she couldn’t hide in the tower. Debuting was always supposed to be just the start. There would be more events she would have to attend—likely soon—and dressing in finery and doing her hair by herself would surely be a disaster. And repeatedly trusting Orlisi not to prank her was just asking to be pranked. Could she trust anyone else to do what Ana did for her and keep her secrets…?

Both Keira and Phaelys had advised her about the value of people she could trust.

As much as she didn’t like it, choosing the girl was the clear choice. Whether Keira’s offer to have Ana trained like Miela made things better or worse…

But if Ana became the next Ellen… how would she face Ana’s mom? How would she face herself?

Ria clenched her teeth. No, she couldn’t think like that. If she were just Ria, then she could risk someone recommended, but as Celestria Theana seeking revenge—or further, seeking the Revanti throne—was that a choice she could afford? To pass up the opportunity to add someone she could trust implicitly to her household?

Was this what it was like to be a noble? Why they put so much emphasis on etiquette? Because making a mistake could mean danger for family, servants, and the people whose lives rely on their leadership?

Ria shook her head as if shaking off her weak thinking. If she was to be a real royal, or even a noble, these were the hard choices she would have to make.

“Fine.”

“Hmm?” Keira questioningly hummed, looking at her with a furrowed brow and maybe a bit of concern.

“If Ana is okay with it, it is fine,” Ria clarified, feeling queasy about her choice. “I’ll need to confirm with the towerkeeper though.”

Expression clearing, Keira nodded and motioned with her hand as if that was expected. “Go on, I’ll wait.”

Ah-! That was right. She could just ask.

“Towerkeeper, Towerkeeper,” Ria called out to the air and didn’t have to wait long for the response from Alenna, who welcomed her back and was quick to offer to talk anytime she needed to talk. Getting preliminary approval wasn’t difficult and involved the same conditions as Iselyn was offered for her maid.

While Ria and Keira were composing the letter addressed to both Ana and her mom explaining the offer and conditions, Iselyn showed up with Malleron, Katria, Rialle, Orlisi, Wendra, Jenna, and the other girls living on the seventh floor to hold a small moving-in celebration in the seventh-floor common room. Eventually, a number of boys from the eighth floor got wind of the celebration and also joined.

By the time the end of visitation hours arrived and Aldri walked Keira back to Shining Sun Hall, the entire Grand Games team and a lot of Ordermembers Ria didn’t know or had only met in passing had dropped by to visit or at least introduce themselves.