On the following morning, Morgan arrived outside the palace's guest quarters as early as possible, standing in the hallways bathed in the pale gold of the early morning sun flashing through the open curtains. A maid had already fetched word that Meyli and her sister were awake, and Morgan had insisted that then she would come and see her… and take her to have breakfast ahead of everyone else. She also put her foot down when the oldest of Meyli's sisters tried to follow along.

"Just her," she'd said to the eldest, hands on her hips; in a way, she had brooked no argument. "She’s the one I’m escorting. You and the others can wait for their turns, as my siblings will come and accompany you around the city." Then she leaned forward, whispering to Rashira, "If you always shadow her, she will never bloom."

With that, despite being younger than Rashira, she did not protest anymore and just watched Morgan lead the visibly nervous Meyli away, leaving a stunned quartet of sisters behind.

“Don’t be afraid, I don’t bite!” She chuckled, looking at the bag of nervousness walking beside her.

The young girl’s current robe looked fresh and unused. It was slightly too large for her frame, and after examining her face, she was a bit whiter than she should be. Her hair was neatly braided down one side, and by how she held onto the edge of her sleeve, it was clear she would constantly fiddle with it if left alone.

"How was your first night here?" Morgan asked, smiling cheerfully.

“It was… good. I slept…” She muttered, but that didn’t tell much about it, really.

"I see… Well, then, let’s have a good morning, too, hm? C'mon, I’ve prepared some fine food! The really good kind, not the fancy nonsense many nobles like, but the true Avalonian tastes. You are going to love it!" She exclaimed proudly, reaching out and grabbing hold of her hand while pulling her along.

The moment they touched, her eyes darted about, noting the possible paths of escape like some prey animal, but there was nothing similar to it—only the hallway leading out to the garden.

"Why just me?" she asked suddenly.

"If you want to be with my louder older brothers and sister, sure... But they will take the girls out into town, straight into the crowd! Do you want that?”

“N-not… really…” She muttered honestly.

“I guessed so… So, it will be just you and me. Girl to girl. Sister to sister, ehehe," Morgan added with a teasing wink, "The others are going to be busy, but we can’t let you be alone all day now, do we? That would be rude, so you get me for the whole day! Lucky, right?"

As Meyli followed, listening to her, she finally chuckled, and her footsteps were growing quicker and much steadier now. Arriving, the palace garden glistened with the morning dew, causing Meyli to take a deep breath, something finally reminding her of how it was back home. She had already missed this feeling, and it was such a relief to experience it again. Leading on, Morgan pulled her under a flowering trellis and a table that had been set for two. There were fresh fruit, warm pastries, jams, cheeses, and two tall glasses of milk.

“Woah…” Meyli stared in disbelief. "This is..." she muttered as fruits were not exactly in abundance back home. Yes, they could get any if they wanted, but… still. It was a delicacy, not something for breakfast. Not to mention jams? It was the first time she heard about it, listening to Morgan’s explanation of what it actually was.

"Enjoy your breakfast," Morgan declared, flopping into her chair. “Sit, sit! There's no need to bother with etiquette; take what looks good and dig in! Also, if you want chocolate in your milk, you can mix it up freely!" She added, showing her a small jar with cocoa powder in it. “I like mine with coffee, sooo…” she giggled, already pouring it into her cup.

Following suit, Meyli did so slowly, mimicking her. She touched a pastry as if it might be a trap, but seeing how freely Morgan was acting, she took a piece of bread, spread jam all over without any care, and held it with two hands. So... She also took a big bite.

“Good, isn't it?” Morgan asked in the meantime, her mouth full, "I heard you can use magic? You’re a healer, right?"

Instantly, Meyli blinked, but then she realized Lancelot probably told her, so she nodded without reserve.

"Can you cast any other spells? More light-based ones, I guess…"

Another nod, this time a bit more cautious.

“Cool!” Morgan grinned and swallowed. "Me too. It's not as good as I should be, though... I am kinda lazy. You see, I only study what I like, and my sister Leyla says I’ve weaponized mediocrity. Maybe… But I like it this way!" That alone made Meyli giggle quietly.

“S…sorry…” She added the moment she caught herself.

“It’s true!” Morgan winked at her, “I am surprised you were sent here with that gift.”

“I am not good at it…” She replied, barely audible. “I could never work it on people… And anything else I tried always failed…”

"Probably because of a mental barrier…” Morgan muttered to herself before breaking into another smile, “I can do some neat stuff," she added. "Want to see? Maybe it will help you grasp your own powers!"

Finishing one of the pastries, Meyli paused, then slowly nodded, examining Morgan’s body as if expecting her to break into bright lights and fly away. But it was nothing so grandiose, as Morgan simply held out her palm towards her.

The next moment, muttering a quiet incantation, a soft orb of golden light bloomed just above her skin, spinning gently like a miniature sun made out of bright runes. Then, with a small gesture, she flattened it into a disk, which fractured into six motes and formed a perfect, symmetrical flower formation. Its petals were all individually formed as they rotated slowly in the air, each buzzing with warm energy that began producing differently colored lights like a miniature rainbow.

Of course, seeing such a complex spell, Meyli gasped, her eyes going wide.

“That’s… incredible! How?!”

“Um… It's just a little light show, it's nothing that weird…”

“No!” Meyli answered almost immediately, “It had differently coded formations, acting independently… at once!”

“Um…” Suddenly, Morgan was unsure. It was nothing major, but she was learning from Leon, Mikan, Sasha, and Merlin... Aaaand, she was reading ancient Ishillian tomes… Maybe Khulman’s wizards were not as advanced? Or just different? No… Meyli, even if she said she wasn’t good, still recognized what she did. Which means she had the talent. "You try," Morgan said curiously, wanting to see her attempt. "If you understood it, you can replicate it. Magic only needs understanding… Don’t worry, it doesn't have to be perfect. Just... reach for it."

"I... don't know if I can." Meyli recoiled, suddenly trying to push down her wonder.

"Sure you do!” Morgan pushed on, undeterred, “I heard that you healed hawks back home, didn’t you? This is nothing compared to that. It’s just a party trick…"

Meyli stared at Morgan’s formation one more time, then slowly, hesitantly, lifted her own hand. At first, nothing happened…

“Ah, yes!” Morgan blushed, reciting the mantra she also used, but it was only the basic names of the underlying runes.

The moment Meyli repeated the words, focusing on the feeling coming from Morgan, a flicker of light appeared… Then another. The air shimmered brightly between her fingers by the time the fifth second had passed. Watching, Morgan leaned back, examining Meyli's formation with sudden alertness. The outstretched waves of Meyli’s magic were gentle, delicate, and, to her surprise, beautifully tuned... Tuned to hers. Taking a bit longer to form, Meyli’s disk finally also bloomed before it faltered, collapsing, just to bloom again, this time, for real.

Finishing, taking a deep breath, Meyli locked it into the shape of the same flower.

The same exact shape.

“Woah…” Morgan tilted her head because even if Meyli wanted to copy her… it shouldn’t be an EXACT copy. "That wasn’t just mimicry."

“Um… I…. Um… I…” Meyli stuttered, moving her head back and forth, eyes wide. "It felt... familiar," she whispered. "I didn’t mean to... Hauh… I don’t understand… It just felt right…"

"It’s okay!” Morgan chuckled, but she knew it was something… Unique. “Our magic resonated… That doesn’t happen often, as far as I know. Huh…" She trailed off, thinking.

“Did I do… something wrong?” Meyli’s voice was a whisper as both of them dismissed the spell.

"Of course not!" Morgan answered at once, puffing out her chest, “It just means you didn’t have proper examples and training in this type of magic. The one you are good with! Do you want me to teach you some? It can be fun!”

"...” falling silent, she just sat there for a moment before answering, “I’m not sure what I want…" she murmured.

"That is not bad; you don’t have to know. We don’t know what we want from the future anyway. Most of the time… I think. Anyway, what I am saying is that we can try it. Then, you can decide if you want to learn it or not."

Listening to her, Meyli’s expression was surprisingly excited, as she had never really heard anybody say things like this to her… No wonder her eyes were becoming brighter and brighter.

"Really?"

"Sure," Morgan repeated firmly. "First of all, you’re not in Khulman anymore. You’re in Avalon! You get to choose what you want here. That also includes who you want!"

“Um…” She flushed, making Morgan grin.

“If you are worried about my big brother, don’t be. You won’t need to be his wife; you can say no here and choose whatever else you want. Anyway, enough talk about the buffoon, we are going to have a girls’ day! Let’s play and do some magic stuff! After that, I will take you to the greenhouses, it is fun! We don’t have a birdhouse… but, hm… Maybe we need a zoo, Father mentioned it once in the past.”

“What’s a zoo?”

“Well,” Morgan started, explaining it to her, “It should be a place with many animals inside…”

...

....

.....

Tarsine had prepared herself for battle... She expected the day to be… troubling.

Of course, not because of being one of the possible future wives of an Avalonian… But to socialize with his sister, Leyla. Going by the experience she had with Lancelot, she couldn’t tell what the day would entail, being ‘asked’ to accompany the daughter of Sovereign Leon. Tarsine had thought her elegant bearing and calm demeanor would be armor enough for whatever type of girl she turned out to be… but…

She was wrong.

"No, no, no! We're not doing that high-neck funeral curtain look again!" Leyla spun around dramatically, her current dress flaring as she waved Tarsine back into the dressing room, one hand already dragging off the piece of clothes she just put on. "It doesn’t fit you at all! You are tall already; that neckpiece just makes you look like a tortoise. You're a girl. A hot one. With legs! And confidence! So act like it… Try these!" She pushed a new set of clothes on her.

They were in the third clothing shop. For the past hour or so, Leyla had been taking her to different boutiques where she was free to check the clothes she adored through the windows from the previous day… And it turned out that Leyla was way too critical of what looked good on her.

"I am acting with confidence," Tarsine murmured, tugging her sleeve back into place. "And I happen to like high collars."

"Sure. And I like boiled turnips.” Leyla rolled her eyes, unaffected by Tarsine’s glare, “But do I eat them daily? No. Because there's better out there! Be a proper woman and try something sexy!"

Grumbling, taking the clothes off, Tarsine couldn’t help but think of where she actually was. The shop was a wonder from within, too, as from the inside, it was bigger than she thought. There were rows of silks, satins, velvets, and weaves she had never seen before. Besides the raw materials, there were daring cuts, backless numbers, plunging necklines, and even sheer, way too revealing tops and bottoms that sent a flush to her face just from looking at them on the mannequins. And yet, the women of Avalon wore these clothes so casually, so confidently, without shame or fear... So much so that, deep down, she wanted to give them a try.

"This would get you exiled back home," Tarsine sighed, reaching out to touch the simple, deep-blue dress with bare shoulders and most of the back cut out, the one that Leyla handed to her.

"And yet here, you'd be called fashionable." Leyla grinned, pulling three more dresses from the racks and handing them to the stunned Tarsinie. "Now go. Try. These. On."

“All of it?!” Tarsine opened her mouth to object…, but she failed because Leyla was giving her a look that told her she wouldn’t move until she saw her dressed up in them.

Minutes later, she stood before a full-sized mirror in a slinky, off-shoulder blue gown that shimmered with faint threads of gold when it caught the light from the outside. Her collarbone was exposed... Her back felt practically naked… But her reflection?

Her reflection looked... beautiful. Just that… Beautiful. She didn’t look powerful or intimidating. She was… Just… elegant. Feminine. Sexy.

"You look incredible," Leyla said honestly, walking around her. "That is a dangerous kind of classy. Do a twirl!"

As if hypnotized, Tarsine complied, the hem fluttering slightly as she spun. Seeing it in the mirror, a never-before-experienced thrill ran down her spine, making her gulp.

"I like this one." She said without thinking.

"You should!” Leyla agreed, “You have a pretty waist, round bottom, and big boobs; damn, I’m a bit jealous! Mine are only palm-worthy... I inherited my mother's figure. Anyway, you should also try this." Leyla handed her a bright red halter dress that barely reached mid-thigh.

"I would be executed wearing this! They would think I am a… cheap woman!"

"Good thing this is not Khulman, then!” Leyla moaned, rolling her eyes, “You'd be worshipped in here! You’ll see! Come on. One more dress!"

In the end, they went through five more outfits, each one more daring than the last. Tarsine had expected to feel discomfort or shame, but something inside her had begun to awaken with each dress, each compliment, and each approving glance in the mirror. It scared her a little… but it also felt terrific.

"Leyla," she said finally, sitting on the plush bench as her last outfit, an asymmetrical forest green wrap dress, clung tightly to her slightly sweating body. "Can I ask you something personal?"

"Shoot."

"All your dresses... the way you walk, the way you talk. You don’t seem... ashamed of it. Of showing skin or sounding... crass."

“Of course not!” Leyla tilted her head, surprised, "Why should I be? Beauty isn’t a weakness, and modesty isn’t a strength. Of course, I don’t mean to flash your privates at everybody. Everything needs limits, but a healthy one… In both directions. And why should I act differently from the people of our city? I am part of them, not some specially grown... thing."

“I see…” Tarsine whispered as her fingers touched the fabric of her dress. "I think... I want to make clothes."

“Huh?” Leyla blinked her eyes, suddenly surprised by her words, "You mean, design them?"

“Yes,” Tarsine nodded slowly, and her face became resolute. "Elegant ones. Not revealing, necessarily… Just... beautiful and ones that are flattering. Ones that make women feel like how I just did."

"Well, damn," Leyla laughed, standing and offering a hand to pull her up. "Then let's make today a proper start. We need to visit Dorian! I think Father already mentioned him to you... I can take you to him! If you're serious, I’ll introduce you two."

"You would really do that?"

"Of course! He lives nearby, too. Want to go?"

“Shouldn’t we… announce our arrival or something?”

“Don’t worry!” Leyla grabbed her arm with a grin, “He counts as a family friend. You know, my father almost killed him before recruiting him!”

“Really?” Tarsine asked, shocked, her teenage side breaking free, wanting to hear the gossip-worthy backstory.