A Tale of One Deviant (Book One)

Chapter 146: Wandering de Libellules

"Where's Magaris?"

"She hasn't come to visit us yet. Maybe she thinks we have the other maids and don't need her?"

"Tomorrow is th-the holiday, so she must be preparing for it with, with the others?"

"But it's already nighttime. Shouldn't she have visited when the day ended at least?"

"But...Thérèse isn't here, so Magaris does more work for her....?"

"Well where's Mommy? Where's Sissy? Where's Daddy?" Chord flopped back onto the bedding, curling around a pillow she'd brought from her room. Her cute pajamas, which she'd sewn patterns onto herself, twisted across her lazy figure. "Why haven't they come to visit us yet?"

It was an answer to their questions that wasn't really an answer. It made sense to the three children as they all nodded together, in various positions spread about Hera's bed. Hera herself was worriedly furrowing her thin brows at a teddy bear she'd acquired from their sister's room, a very bad one that didn't have all of its stuffing settled in all of the right places. While grabbing at its paws and poking its mismatched button eyes, she stayed silent. The others were coming up with questions they'd repeated for days since coming back with River, the nanny of their friend.

Boredom and tiredness overtook them as Adri began to rub at his eyes, blinking at the mana light floating in the air that he'd conjured. Its light dimmed a little as if in response to his sudden yawn, revealing a pink tongue stained with frosting after they'd been snuck treats earlier from the kitchen. Tomorrow was the servants' day off, and treats of all kinds had been prepared over the course of the days. Of course the children wouldn't turn down homemade sweets, especially if it was Tierre giving them.

"Adri," Hera spoke up for the first time in a while. Her mouth felt dry while reaching over to the nightstand for her water, leaving the teddy bear leaning against her pillow. "You forgot to brush your teeth again."

"Uh-huh..." The boy looked into the distance blearily, not seeming to hear her. He slowly slumped backwards, getting comfortable. Those eyes were getting harder and harder to keep open.

"Hera," Chord opened her own lips, dragging herself up to slump over stacks of pillows she collected from around the messy bed. They'd all been talking for a while, and the maids who'd put them to their individual rooms hadn't come to check on them yet. "You forgot to wash your feet again."

Hera turned a light glare back towards her sister, who stared up at the canopy with unfocused eyes. She was getting tired, too; Adri's light had noticeably faded out to the point that none of them quite minded how dark the room suddenly was. "It's my bed."

"And?" Chord yawned, distorting her words. Her silky brown strands hung like noodles off her head, squiggling down her back when they couldn't be pulled straight by gravity. "I'm sleeping here too, and you've put your feet where our faces go."

"Go to your own room."

"No," Chord shook her head, unfolding her legs and knocking her pillow tower aside. She stood up straight on the bed and began to stretch, hands up above. The patterns on her pink pajamas of flowers, vague animals, sweets, and anything she could think to embroider at the time, stretched as well. "I don't want to be alone."

"Hey!" Hera weakly argued, flicking narrowed green eyes up and down at the girl shaking from the effort in front of her. "Why are you standing on my bed? You just complained about my own feet!"

"Mine are clean."

"They're your feet!"

"Yours are dirty though? So I don't know what you're complaining about."