Upon arriving at the small temple, Mai'ya's lessons with the priest began.
Dastan positioned himself at the temple door and started observing the surroundings. He had never been to that part of the gardens before. He was a practical morph; he believed that everyone could achieve their dreams and desires through their own efforts and that divine power played an almost insignificant role in such matters. It wasn't that he didn't believe in the goddesses, but rather that they observed more than they took actions that interfered in Orhyan.
Dastan glanced inside the temple, his gaze stopping at the life-sized statue of Selèn. The representation of the goddess wore a flowing dress the color of the night sky, and her hair and eyes were silver. Her hands rested on the hilt of a long golden sword, and iridescent wings extended from her back, curving slightly forward as if embracing the goddess.
Seeing that the guard was looking in that direction, Madelaine approached him and asked, "Is something wrong, Mr. Dastan?"
"Hmm," he was distracted, as he could swear he had seen the statue's eyes glow like two full moons for a moment.
"Mr. Dastan!" Madelaine called louder, startling the young guard.
"I apologize," Dastan said to the maid. "I got distracted for a moment when I saw the statue of the goddess," he explained, his cheeks flushed. He returned to an alert position.
"You don't have to be so serious, you know," the maid said. "By the way, my name is Madelaine," she introduced herself. "I'm Princess Mai'ya's personal maid." She finished with a smile.
"Well, as you already know, my name is Dastan," the young man replied. "I'm sixteen years old, and it had been three months since I was chosen to join the queen's guard," he added.
"Right, I forgot to mention my age," Madelaine said, hitting her hand against her forehead. "I'm twenty-two years old, and before this, I served the second princess's mother." A shadow of sadness passed over the maid's brown eyes when she mentioned Lyra.
After the disappearance of the former king's first concubine, all the maids who served her were punished by Queen Valissa. Some of them now begged on the streets of the capital, unable to find decent work, while others had been allowed to work in the palace again after investigations proved they were trustworthy enough to return to serving the royal family.
Nervously awaiting the personal guard's judgment, Madelaine began to twirl a strand of her light brown hair.
"You and the princess are not to blame for anything. It was the second princess's mother who committed the crime. You shouldn't be punished for something you didn't do," Dastan shared his opinion, looking from the maid to Mai'ya, who was still engrossed in her lesson. "I know well what it's like to be the unwanted child. The princess is still young, and I know she will suffer more because of this situation," he thought, returning to an alert position.
Two hours passed before the princess and the priest appeared at the temple door.
"With that, we conclude today's lesson. I'll accompany you to the princess's courtyard and then take my leave," Kauan announced, and so the group went on their way.
...
Upon arriving at Mai'ya's courtyard, they saw Mherona giving orders to some servants who were cleaning and tidying up the area.
"Don't forget the glass roof," the first princess reminded them. "Hello, cousin," she greeted upon seeing Mai'ya. "It's been a while since we last saw each other, hasn't it?" Mherona said, smiling at her cousin. "Wait, what happened to your face?" she asked worriedly, approaching the second princess.
"Uh, while we were heading to the small temple in the gardens, we ran into Valissa," Mai'ya began to explain. "And well, you can probably guess what happened next," she said, pointing to her own face.
Mherona nodded in understanding. "I heard that my father, the king, had summoned Valissa to the royal office, but I didn't think it was because she had attacked you," the first princess explained. "Oh, the king asked me to supervise the servants who came to fix up your courtyard," she said, pointing to the morphs going back and forth repairing things. "It seems like your life is starting to improve, cousin," Mherona said excitedly.
"Well, now that we're here, I should return to Sagreif," Kauan said. Mai'ya and Mherona nodded, and so the priest departed.
Looking around the courtyard, the second princess noticed that they had unsealed the side doors and that more servants were fixing up the rooms inside. She approached the door on the left and saw that, in addition to repairing and cleaning, they were also furnishing the space.
They had replaced the old doors with rusty hinges with new ones, and inside, there were furnishings arranged into a small sitting area separated by a screen. Behind it, she found a bed, a nightstand, a wardrobe, and a vanity with a mirror. Mai'ya noticed there was an internal door on one of the walls, and upon opening it, she found a bathroom with a porcelain bathtub, a sink, and a closed-off space for the toilet.
Mai'ya left that room and went to the other newly opened door. The sight inside was the same as the previous one. She returned to the courtyard where Mherona was talking with Dastan and Madelaine. But then she stopped halfway, turned toward the central door, and entered. The servants had also renovated that space, and now it was worthy of being the residence of the second princess of the kingdom.
The once nearly empty space now had a wide variety of furnishings, including curtains on the windows and rugs between the two sofas. The furniture Arenim had summoned was arranged into a study area, and the small, simple wooden table had been replaced with a larger, more beautiful one decorated with golden veins. A glass cabinet held porcelain dishes and other items suitable for receiving visitors.
Mherona appeared beside Mai'ya and asked, "Happy with the changes?"
"Of course I am," the little princess replied, ecstatic. "Thank you so much!"
"You're welcome," Mherona replied happily. "The servants just started cleaning the glass roof and will take a while to finish," she commented. "How about we study together for a bit?" the first princess suggested. Accepting her cousin's suggestion, the two princesses picked up some of the books left by Arenim, settled around the table, and began flipping through the books, though they spent more time chatting than studying.
As soon as one of the servants announced that the repairs and cleaning were finished, Mherona said goodbye to Mai'ya and headed to her own courtyard, as it was already late. The second princess had dinner and prepared for bed.
That night, Mai'ya had restless dreams of a shapeless figure that turned everything it touched into ashes. She tried to stop the creature from continuing its destruction, but she herself ended up falling victim to the formless thing. As Mai'ya turned to ashes, she could hear the sound of laughter coming from the sky, where a black sun shone.