“I give up.” Ciara threw the small pieces of wood down onto her bed as soon as she said it. Frustration had been plaguing her since she’d started the puzzle just after lunch and she couldn’t figure out how to make the blocks fit together to form the image of her familiar. It didn’t help that whenever Ciara would get distracted – whether by the guards training in the courtyard just below her window, or the serving staff wandering around in the halls and into the rooms – Nalani took the opportunity to worsen the aggravation by moving what Ciara had accomplished and stealing a piece or two from the set. Now the canopy of the bed rattled whenever the familiar moved on the cloth as the wooden blocks clunked together.

“We could go for a walk, Ci,” Nalani said, climbing from the bedposts to her fairy’s neck and giving her a hug. “It’s such a nice day outside after all that winter snow melted.”

Ciara smiled at the monkey and stood up. Her familiar was right. It was a nice day outside, and it wouldn’t hurt anyone for her to get out and about more than she had been lately. She hadn’t ventured much of anywhere around Shaman since the Omniety competition and, truth be told, she felt lonely despite enjoying a fairly lavish life in the most populous building on the world. Arthur was busy with his duties and Ciara hadn’t bothered to get to know most of the other nobles and residents on a friendly level. A walk in the gardens would give her something to do, and perhaps she’d run into a conversation along the way.

She casually brushed the wrinkles from her dress, having crumpled it terribly while sitting on her bed, and pulled her hair into what seemed a presentable style. She’d never been much of a courtier as a young girl nor did she truly fit into the noble class in which she’d found herself. Despite her heritage, she’d been raised in the Labyrinth where her mother had left her, rather than the castle. If things had been different she might have been in Tristan’s shoes at one point, child of the first and only Prime Minister of Shaman. But war had happened and love had happened and things were not as they might have been. Even so, Ciara didn’t envy her best friend his duties as king.

It took five minutes and at least as many “hello”s and “good mornings”s to arrive at the gardens. The bright sunlight and colorful flowers beginning to bloom made the woman smile, but she closed her eyes all the same. It was far nicer to feel the warmth of the spring sun and smell the new beginnings that the season had brought that to be overwhelmed by the colors. As much new life as the spring brought with it, there was nothing like the laughter of a child playing to remind anyone, let alone a mother, about what the season was truly about.

When something ran into her legs, Ciara finally opened her eyes and looked down at the young girl hugging her. Nalani, as curious as her fairy, leapt from Ciara’s shoulders to the ground to get a good look at her as Ciara knelt down to the girl’s level to get a better look. Several lines of dirt or soot were on each cheek, and it seemed she’d gotten a fair amount of whatever was coloring her face on her nose as well. The smudges told the older woman all she cared to know about the state of the dress, but, she figured, it would come out at some point and she had no one to impress with her fashion sense anyway.

Smiling, Ciara traced her thumb across one of the lines. “Well aren’t you a cute kitten?” Harmony, once, had done the same thing, though Ciara’s daughter hadn’t realized that cats didn’t enjoy swimming, even with dolphins. The water of their home soon destroyed what make up had been on the girl’s face, but Ciara knew the look of a cat when she saw one. “I have it on good authority that cats love apples, you know. They can’t always get their paws on one though.”

Ciara glanced toward the large black cat of some sort who was standing nearby, watching. “And hello to you too.”