When I finally woke, I was alone.

  Before we had finally fallen asleep in each other's arms, I had told Anna about the days I had spent away from her three times.

  The bath had been thankfully uneventful. My bravery had been rewarded with the absence of any horrific entities appearing on the ceiling in a cloud of black mist. Once I had gotten in and relaxed in the warm water and foamy white bubbles, I had not wanted to get back out again. Twice, she had ran more hot water so I could continue to soak and tell her what had happened.

  The first time, I had started with the terrifying ride atop Rhiannon's lion of fire. In one long breath, I told her everything I could remember up until the moment I crossed through the black gate and arrived home.

  The second time, after Anna had asked so many questions I thought it best to start again, I remembered more. It was the why of things that came with the second telling, as I understood them at least. Go baked his muffins because he was nervous. He was nervous because there were things he was not allowed to tell me. Patience had left the books out in his library because there were things he was trying to tell me. He had to leave his books out because there were things he was not allowed to tell me. Rhiannon had not told me about my audience with The Mothers because it only would have brought me worry and suffering. Rhiannon hadn't told me until we were on our way to the colosseum because telling things at the wrong time can be painful.

  Anna expressed great interest in seeing Patience's underground library and then continued asking questions.

  The third and final time proved to be mostly small details and my feelings on it all. Nocti only came out at night and didn't eat. Galahad gave up being a king to be with Rhiannon and his hair was far more beautiful than his story had prepared me for. Go's full name was Gosephellies and that brought an unreasonable amount of joy to my heart. I told her of the painting with Rhiannon, Rubra, and Bayle on the morning of the sixth vow. What the vow was, I didn't know, but I did know that it was still being kept. I told her about the little pieces of the lover's I saw in Rubra and how sadness would come to Rhiannon if she thought she wasn't being watched.

  She learned all I could tell her of The Mothers and what I thought about each.

  Glim proved to be her favorite although she was still struggling with the concept that The Mother's were not all cruel and evil torturers.

  When I began to nod off between my own words, she had drained the bath and we had gone to bed. What had happened between then and waking up to find her gone, I didn't know.

  The room was dark, both because of the canopy and the lack of windows, but her place in the bed was still warm. She had not been gone long.

  Wondering if she had been visited by another of her nightmares, I sat up and threw the blankets off of me. "Anna?"

  I usually woke up before she got out of bed, but for the second time in a much too short span of days, I had no way to tell how long I had been asleep.

  A gentle knock came from outside of my dark room.

  "Are you awake, my little Delpha?" I heard my mother call.

  I threw open the canopy and stumbled through the darkness to the door. The light that flooded into my room when I opened it was entirely too fucking bright and I had to cover my eyes with my hands.

  "I was beginning to worry you would never wake up, how did you sleep?" My mother asked as she steadied me with her hand.

  "Where is Anna?" I rubbed my eyes with my balled fists until they stopped hurting and then blinked until my mother stopped being a painful blur.

  "She went down to the city for supplies not very long ago. All of had a late night, but it seems that you two most of all." My mother said as she snapped on the lights in my room.

  I brought my arms above my head and my entire body locked into a forceful stretch. "What time is it?"

  Supplies?

  "Late afternoon," She said as she bent down and picked up the pile of The Lady in Purples clothes that I had left on the floor in the same spot I had taken them off in. "What's this?"

  What looked to be a firefly made entirely of bright yellow light flitted out of the black clothes and began to circle around the room in a wild path.

  I had seen its color before.

  Dimming and brightening, it circled over my head before diving down and landing on the sleeve of my night shirt. It tickled my arm as it crawled down it and disappeared underneath my wrist, leaving a wake of my soft hairs standing on end. I rolled my hand over and brought my hand to my face. My mother and I watched as the little thing circled the circles of The Mother's seal with smiles on our faces. When it reached the yellow ring, it brightened as it ran until it burst into a small amount of glimmering yellow dust.

  I laughed, both at the small wonder I had just witnessed and at the thought that The Mother in Yellow had hidden something inside my clothes when she had laid over me. There had been no point, not one I could understand at least, but Glim did not strike me as one to make a lot of points.

  I did not need to search through The Well to determine if Glim's punishment would be like Rhiannon's. She had just told me herself.

  "You have no idea how good it feels to see you happy, my little Delpha." My mother said as I went to to the desk that was pilled high with Anna's books and carefully poured the dust on top of one of them. I would have find a bag or some small glass to keep it in.

  I turned back around to her and noticed that she was not dressed normally. Her hair was brushed out and braided with white ribbon at its end. She wore a dress that was much more opulent than her usual wraps and there was a silver necklace fit around her neck.

  "Why are you dressed so nice? Why did Anna need to go get supplies?" I asked, the strangeness of it all settling over me.

  "You cannot tell it here in Erosette," She said as she went and opened each side of my beds canopy. After making the bed, she folded The Lady in Purple's clothes and left them in a neat pile "But it is the first day of autumn, Autumn."

  "What does that mean, mother, mother?" I asked with my hands held behind my back.

  She gracefully brought herself to the top of my bed and patted the blanket in front of her to tell me to come sit. "It means that it is your birthday. That is why I gave you the name I did. The leaves had just begun to change when you came into this world and I could not think of a better name for a future sorceress to have."

  That didn't feel right. Too much had happened in too short a time for it to have only been a year. I had lived more in the last several months of my life than I had in all the years before it.

  I did as she asked and she turned my back to her. I felt the slight coolness of her colorless aura against my scalp as she started to brush through my sleep tangled hair.

  "When Anna found out, she insisted that we threw you a party the way that mortals do. That is why she went down to the city. Today was supposed to be your day, fully, but you've slept most of it away and I'm afraid your party is set to begin shortly." She said with feigned sadness.

  I relaxed back into her and let myself enjoy the soothing sensation of her touch.

  "Have you ever had a birthday party?" I asked her.

  "No, my little Delpha. I understand that they lose their luster for mortals after thirty years or so. I've lived for so long, I'm not sure I even remember when my birthday is." She said with a little laugh.

  "What was it like, having me?" Her aura laced fingers caught against a tight tangle near the ends of my hair, and I felt her power untie it without any pulling or pain.

  "Easy. The easiest thing I had ever done. I felt like my entire life, everything I had been through, had all been preparation to be your mother." She said and by the tone of her voice, I could tell she was smiling.

  "Was my father there?" I asked another question and hoped it would bring her to the painful edges of her bindings.

  She sighed. "No. Unfortunately, he was dead long before I held you for the first time. Now, if you wish to wear those tattered things to your party, I will not tell you no, but I am certain we could find something to fit you that is a little more festive."

  "No. I know what I want to wear." I said as I slid off the bed and made my way into the closet. I changed out of my night clothes and pulled on something I had not worn in a very long time. Leaving my boots where they lay on the floor, my mother and I made for the stairs.

  I was dressed in the way I had found comfort in before I knew the pain my punishments would bring. Barefoot and with my arms and legs exposed, I felt none of the fear or apprehension that had marked me for so long.

  Anna met us at the bottom of the stairs. She wore a black thin black dress that hung off her shoulders. The aura marked bird skull hung from the ribbons I had made around her neck and her hair was pinned up behind her head.

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  "You, uhm, wow. The tan line is a little strange, but you look beautiful." She stammered as she tried to hide the small leather bag she was holding behind her back.

  "Tan line?" I said and looked over myself to see what she meant.

  She too me by my hand and pulled me into Arthur's room. We went into his bathroom and she stood me in front of the free standing mirror in the corner. There was indeed a pale ring around my throat where Azza's golden choker had been for months, but that was not what caught my eye.

  "Look at my fucking hair!" I exclaimed as I took it into my hands. Every strand and gentle wave shimmered with the iridescent tint of my mother's aura. I whipped my head from side to side and every wave of my hair left trails of shimmers in its wake.

  "Did I do well?" My mother asked as she stepped over one of the mounds of clothes that littered Arthur's floor and joined us in the mirror.

  "Better than well. I already think she's beautiful. This is almost too much," Anna said as we locked eyes in the mirror. "You are normally supposed to wait until after you blow out your candles to open your presents, but I think these will complete the outfit."

  I knew what was in the leather bag before she ever loosened the draw strings.

  She had gotten me sandals, the very same kind that Rhiannon and her roses wore.

  I had sunk to the floor and started crying before she ever handed them to me. I felt no embarrassment at my tears, not in front of them, not after I had received something I had wanted more than almost anything.

  "Thank you." I said more times than I could count. There were no other words I could find to show her my absolute gratitude. Anna and my mother comforted me and after much too long a time, I left Arthur's room with my eyes dried and Anna's gifts on my feet.

  They were light, nearly weightless, and fit me perfectly. I knew that they were just shoes, but they felt like so much more. Every time the straps shifted over my legs when I walked, every time I felt the air on the skin of my feet, was a reminder that I did not deserve Anna. She had been far too good to me from the first time we had met and she had only treated me better as we had fallen in love.

  I didn't know how or when, but I would repay her. I would commit some grand gesture or get her something that was immensely valuable to pay back the debt that I knew she would deny existed.

  We took the back door out of the manor and I stepped into my party.

  The big table that we had all sat around on Morrow's night had been brought back to the space between the manor and the garden. Its top was filled from end to end with bowls of the fried potatoes from seven columns, entire roasted chickens, and pitchers of what must be ale. The guards, all six of them and the captain, sat around it with Arthur and Ms. Lao. A wooden platform, a much smaller one than what had been at the tournament, lay near the right wall. Little lanterns that hung from iron posts were scattered through the space, standing ready to ward off the oncoming night.

  All of them stood when they saw us and let out a welcoming cheer.

  For the second time since I had woken up late into the afternoon of the day of my birth, I cried again. A stream of nods and greetings came from the guards as my mother led me to the table and I sat down at the head of it. Anna sat on my right and her mother was on my left.

  "Happy birthday, Autumn. Your hair is very pretty." Ms. Lao said as she gave my hand a small squeeze.

  "Are you better now?" I said through spurts of sniffles and wiping my eyes.

  She looked much better than she had the last time I had seen her. She had put on some of the weight she had lost and her eyes were much brighter than I had ever seen them.

  Anna answered for her. "She's got to go back to Hymneth tomorrow, but she didn't want to miss your birthday."

  My mother cleared her throat as she took her place at the opposite end of the table. "Before we eat, I would like to give Autumn her gift from me. I tried to tell it during Dreamtongue's night, but now is a better time than then."

  "She doesn't want to hear a story right now. Do you, Autumn? She wants to eat." Arthur groaned.

  Bool, with no attempt to hide his violence, drove his elbow into Arthur's side. "Quiet."

  Arthur wasn't entirely wrong. The fried potatoes called for me to consume them like I had at the bar in seven columns.

  "I will be brief," My mother said as she noticed the longing for the potatoes that must have been obvious in my eyes. "I know that there is a party to be had. The guards began to call you Ugi shortly after we arrived here and I wanted to know why. Like any story, they heard it from someone who had heard it from someone else. The Hezbelth's tell it differently, but I like this version the most.

  She resettled herself into her chair and began to give me her gift. "Ugiphenel was a giant that was said to be so tall, that he could stand flat footed in the ocean and still see over the tallest peaks in all of chaos. Wounded by a fight with a terrible sea beast, he lay down on his side to rest. He lay there so long, that trees began to grow around him and soon he became one of the mountains he used to gaze over. Long after the giant had began his slumber, a dragon hatched and found herself in a next of broken eggs. Hezbelthorag was her name and she knew it before she ever opened her eyes as all dragons do."

  The back door of the manor swung open and a man stepped through it.

  "Master Nocti, what are you doing here?" My mother asked as everyone at the table looked towards him.

  “Good evening," Nocti said with a tip of his wide brimmed black hat. "I did not mean to interrupt. We will come back at a later time."

  "No, no. No one wants to hear my story anyways." My mother sighed.

  "I do." I answered honestly. It had been far to long since I had heard my mother tell a story that I didn't know like the back of my hand.

  "Thank you, my little Delpha. We will make time for you to hear it soon." She gave me a nod and I knew her words to be true.

  “Wait! Do you bastards calls me Ugi because I’m big and you think I’m dumb. Understood. I thought we were friends but I’m glad I know better now.” Arthur said, his arms crossed over his massive chest and his usual smile turned down into a frown.

  “No, Arthur. That’s not it.” Anna said, shaking her head.

  “It sure as shit feels like that is what it is." The tall man declared.

  “They call you Ugi because you are big and dumb.” Anna said with a plain face.

  The guards all burst into fits of laughter.

  When it quieted, Nocti reached into his long black coat and pulled out a wax sealed letter. "I have three matters to discuss while I am here and then I will darken your evening no longer. The first, is with Master Arthur."

  “Oooooh!” Anna called. She looked at me with a wicked smile on her face. “See, that's funny because that’s what people used to do in class when someone got in trouble."

  "I don't understand." I said shaking my head.

  "Fuck it. Never mind." She sighed.

  "Language!" Ms. Lao snapped under her breath.

  Arthur stood and took the letter from Nocti. "Can you just tell me? I'm not much of a reader."

  "On hearing of Captain Byron's recommendation of you to the enclave, The Mother in Red has sent an invitation for you to come and train with her." Nocti said, his bright red eyes beginning to shine in the dying light.

  Ms. Lao whispered at Anna. "What is he saying? What recommendation?"

  "Son of a bitch," Springer shouted suddenly and slammed his fist against the table. "I've been trying to train with her for years."

  "Whose big and dumb now?" Arthur called back over his shoulder.

  "It's still you, Ugi." Anna called back.

  The guards burst into laughter yet again and I found myself doing the same.

  "Please consider it, it is not often that she takes interest in an unproven warrior," Nocti said quietly. "The second, is with Lady Autumn."

  Anna did not call out like she had with Arthur.

  I will try to tell you some other way on a different day. Rhiannon's words returned to the front of my mind. That was why he had come. He was here to tell me that they were coming for Anna or that I would be locked away in an actual prison.

  "As to what you spoke of with The Mothers regarding your education, you are being permitted to join a school." He said, smiling.

  What the fuck? I thought as I threw myself up from the table and ran over to him. Tears filled my eyes for the third time that night, but I held them back.

  "I'm going to be a rose? I've already got the sandals, I just need one of those half cloaks." I said excitedly, feeling so light that I thought I might lift right off the ground and take flight like Glim's little firefly.

  "No. There is a certain Mother that would not allow that. As it stands, it seems you will be sent to study under The Mother in Blue at Lun Arcanicil. It is in Hymneth, which is in her domain. The details are still being debated over, but she sent me as soon as she could." The pale man said.

  I was disappointed that I would not be a rose, but never did I think my enraged ranting would lead me to getting what I wanted.

  Vowkeeper does not break her vows. A fuzzy memory from Rhiannon's safe place swelled in my mind as I began to understand what I had just been told. My legs grew weak and my heart pounded in my chest.

  Just before it all became to much, Anna wrapped her arm around my waist and held me upright. "I never thought I would be in a relationship with a schoolgirl."

  "The last matter is not mine." Nocti said as he stepped aside.

  The pale man was not alone. Walking out of the dark manor, dressed fully in her red half cloak and sandals, was Pyreme.

  “You left this at seven columns. I thought you could maybe sow it back on.” The Blonde haired underwitch said as she handed me the piece of black fabric that Trea had torn our of the front of my dress.

  “It is a shame, Lady Aubrey," Nocti said to my mother as he walked towards the table. "I must be slipping in my old age. To think that one of my charges could follow me all the way here without me noticing. It is embarrassing really.”

  "Very. Perhaps it is time for you to consider retirement." My mother agreed.

  I shook myself out of my surprise induced stupor. "At the tournament, you let me go, why?"

  Pyreme shrugged and turned her sleepy eyes to mine. "I don't know, I like running into you I guess. It seemed like the right thing to do. And, you said I could meet your familiar. I've never seen one before and I don't think you would have been around to show me if Trea got her hands on you."

  "This is so cute it hurts, let's agree you two are friends and go eat. I'm starving." Anna said and turned me back around to the table.

  After a very compelling argument by my mother, Nocti and Pyreme stayed. The underwitch ate with the rest of us. Nocti didn't. The food was so good I hardly remember eating it and the pitchers full of the sweet drink that Arthur had bought me when we went on out date.

  I drank more of the sweet drinks that I would ever be able to remember. I played more games of points than I would ever admit I lost. I laughed so hard and so long that I knew my middle would be sore for days to come.

  I did introduce Pyreme to Sam. She spent the rest of the night sitting near him and trying to carry on a conversation, much to his apparent annoyance. I knew that if he was truly annoyed he would have left or attacked her so it couldn't have been too terrible for my familiar.

  There was a cake and candles. Pyreme had said I did make a wish after Anna explained the custom, but I would never remember what it had been. I had drank too much, felt too much, everything was too much. Long after the sun had set, Anna helped me inside and made sure I didn't take a drunken fall when I tried to go up the stairs. Everything had begun to run together and the edges of my vision were one big blur.

  It had been the best birthday that I could remember having.

  I was home. I had lived nineteen years, could only remember half of it, and all was well.