Second rank

Henrietta had had the best sleep of her life. Her feet hadn't gotten cold or wet during the night, they had stayed dry and warm inside her new cotton bed. Soren had slept soundly the whole night too, only coughing slightly due to his cold. When the warm sun started filtering through the glass windows they almost couldn't believe that it was morning.

For the past month they had been sleeping in empty alleyways or behind houses where the chilly night wind didn't reach them. They would almost always be disturbed by pickpockets trying to steal what little they had or the dreaded rats climbing over them. They hadn't had a full nights sleep in so long. The experience felt foreign to them.

"Come Soren, it's time to wake up..." she whispered happily into the boy's head as she tickled his plump cheeks.

He gave off a little moan and lifted his head up, but then changed his mind and sunk his head back into the pillow.

Henrietta chuckled. She decided to let him sleep for a bit longer. She would go to the bathrooms to bath and get ready for the day.

She looked around the room and smiled again. It was almost like a dream. The best dream she had ever had.

Henrietta quietly creeped out of bed, so she wouldn't disturb Soren and gathered the towel and gown that there inside the closet and walked a little way down the hall where the washrooms were. The bathroom was neatly set up with five cubicles. Each cubicle contained either a bath or something that Sybil had told her was called a 'shower' and a basin in each.

Henrietta approached the cubicle with the shower because she was eager to try it out. She undressed and folded her nightgown onto a counter and stood under the shower. She then called out the command that Sybil had taught her.

"Hot and cold water shower!" She Called out nervously. The spell that Riley had cast on all the showers activated and warm water came showering down on her from the roof of the cubicle. Henrietta shrieked and laughed, completely taken a back by the strange invention. She savored the feeling of the clean warm water cleansing her and washing away all the dirt.

She could feel that this would be a new beginning for her and her son and it was all thanks to Lady Riley. Her savior. A true saint. Henrietta knew that she would never be able to repay the Lady's kindness, but she would work her hardest everyday and try and make the very best of this opportunity.

Henrietta made her way back to the room and got dressed in the uniform, that luckily fitted her perfectly. She also had to drag Soren out of bed and dress him up in the clothes that he had been wearing yesterday. She felt embarrassed that he looked so shabby but she hadn't got the chance to go and buy him some new clothes so he would just have to go to the Godfrey's home with these clothes. She reminded herself to go and buy him some clothes at the end of the day.

They two went down to the dining room and were ecstatic to see two plates of breakfast waiting for them.

They annihilated their fluffy pancakes in an instant, enjoying every piece of sweet fluffy goodness.

Henrietta then walked Soren to the 'Godfrey's home for children' where he would spend the day while she was out working at the café. She hoped that he would like it at the Home.

She then walked to the café that she would be working at. When she turned the corner and finally saw it she gasped at how beautiful it was. The double storey place was painted pale pink and white with silver accents. There was a little garden on the side that was outlined with bushels of flowers and she even saw a small wooden hut where little rabbits were ducking in and out of. As she stepped through the doors she was greeted by two women, she realized they must have been mother and daughter because they shared a lot of the same red hair and freckles.

"You must be miss Henrietta!" Bubbled the younger one. "Welcome to the café, my name is Briony and this is me mum Matilda!" She pointed to the older woman behind the counter.

"Thank you. I'm looking forward to working here." Henrietta replied shyly. She was quite glad that her new colleagues were so friendly.

"Well come this way, I'll need to show you how everything works before the customers start coming in." Briony suddenly grabbed Henrietta's hand and pulled her towards the counter, where Matilda was busy putting all the cakes, tarts an other treats on display. Briony went wide eyed at what she saw. The most exquisite beautiful cakes that she had ever seen, in fact that she had never seen because she had really never seen anything like it, they all looked so decadent and exotic. Henrietta realized that Lady Riley must have been the creator of these goods as well as the creator of the amazing foods he had had for breakfast and dinner last night. She thought that Lady Riley must be a true innovator.

"What kind of person is Lady Riley? What is she like?" Henrietta found herself asking Briony.

Briony smiled brightly at the question and her mind drifting back to Lady Riley.

"Well..." she began, "She's the most beautiful lady you ever saw!" She exclaimed brightly, which made Henrietta giggle. "With hair and eyes as dark as ravens wings, if you were to walk by her in the street, the wind would be knocked right out of you cause she's so strikingly lovely!" Briony had stars in her eyes as she explained Lady Riley in her cute accent. "She's also the kindest, most generous Lady you'll ever meet. She saved me and my mum you know! When our Inn ran out of money, Lady Riley bought this place from us for much more than we were asking for and then employed us to work in it..." she sighed, "and now she's even helping other people..." she looked towards Henrietta and smiled.

Henrietta nodded her head. Now she knew just how amazing Lady Riley was. She hoped that she would get the opportunity to meet her one day.

"Not to mention the Lady is a master at making cakes!" Briony added. "C'mon Henrietta I need to show you how things work over here."

Briony first gave Henrietta a chart of all the prices for the goods, which made Henrietta's eyes bulge out because the goods were so expensive, there were even some items that cost silver coins. When Briony saw her reaction, she reminded Henrietta that the store catered mainly towards wealthy merchants and residents living on the harbor side. Henrietta nodded her head but she still couldn't believe that there were people in Gismead who could afford to pay silver coins for desserts.

Henrietta explained to her how the cash box worked, and the and the commands she had to use to make it work, since Lady Riley was the one who spelled it. Henrietta was also beginning to realize that Lady Riley was a very powerful Mage since she was able to spell so many different objects.

Briony showed Henrietta how to package all the goods if a customer wanted to buy a dessert and take it away. She also showed her how to take orders from customers and then accumulate a receipt for them. She also showed her the menu that customers ordered from if they wanted to sit down in the shop and eat their desserts, this special menu had some desserts like waffles and pancakes and sundae's that Matilda would make in the kitchen when a customer would order it. There were also some special drinks such as milk teas, milkshakes, coffee's and other special items that would have to be made by Matilda if the customer wanted them. Briony also explained the origin of the name of the shop, since customers always asked about the name as it was such an unusual name. Briony told her to remember that the shop was named after the stray cat that Lady Riley found here. Briony also reminded her not to tell anyone that Lady Riley was the owner of the café since she wanted to keep it a secret.

Henrietta's head was spinning a little bit, but she was also excited for the first customer to walk through the door so she could start working.

When Soren stepped into the Children's home, he had been really nervous and uncomfortable because all the children were staring at him, he thought it might be because his clothes were so torn up. However the kind old madam that everybody referred to as 'Granny Edith' immediately scooped him up into her arms and hugged him. He immediately felt better after some affection. He also met a boy who was just a year younger than him, Fendrel. As they were so close in age they became fast friends and played together in the garden for most of the morning. Suddenly a bell rang and Soren followed Fendrel as everybody rushed inside and went to go and sit in a nice living room that was furnished with a soft carpet and some nice couches, luckily Soren and Fendrel were one of the first ones inside so they got to take nice comfortable seats on the couch. Soren watched curiously as a well dressed man entered the room with a pile of books that he handed out to everyone.

"Good Morning teacher!" Everyone sang in unison. Soon the teacher began his lesson, today he would be teaching the children how to read.

Soren was so shocked and happy that he would be able to learn how to read. His mother had promised that she would teach him, but since they never had any books or paper to practice on, they never did. So Soren payed his utmost attention when the teacher started teaching them the letters.

When lunch time finally came, the class said goodbye to the teacher and rushed to the dinning room where long rectangular tables where set up. Soren and Fendrel held hand as they got into seat next to each other. Soon Granny Edith and some helpers started being out food to the children. The kids' mouths watered as delicious looking 'sandwiches' and chips were brought out to them.

Before the children began to eat, Granny Edith lead all the children in a prayer.

"May we be truly grateful for the patronage of Lady Delton! May the gods bestow only gifts and happiness upon her, and my the gods also look after all these precious children and bless them with magic." She stated.

As per custom, the children touch their fingertips to their foreheads and had a moment of silence. Then as soon as she the moment was done, the children tucked into their food hungrily. All of them grateful for Lady Riley who had supplied them with yummy food, clothes, better furnishings and teachers.

"Anything interesting?" Asked Luella as she dragged a golden chip through the tomato sauce and then plopped it into her mouth.

Clair looked up from the Gismeadian and nodded excitedly at Luella. "Look here." She turned the newspaper towards Luelle and pointed to the front page.

Luella brushed her brilliant blonde curls out of her face and squinted at the article. Clair had taught herself how to read a few years ago and had then taught Luella, since they were best friends.

Luella read out the article.

"Lady Delton stuns with S grade for Mage exam..." she frowned. Then her eyes opened wide.

"Lady Delton! As in our patron Lady Delton?!" She exclaimed shocked.

Clair nodded smiling softly. "Yes. It says that she is the Third woman in the history of Girannon to receive an S grade..." Clair was quieter and calmer than her friend. She wasn't really the type to get excited, but reading about academia and magical accomplishments made her giddy, something that Luella - who didn't care much about academics -  never understood.

Clair took the newspaper back from Luella. "It even says that because the artifact was so powerful, the First Prince, confiscated the weapon from her..." Clair bit her lip as she carried on reading. It was unbelievable how amazing Lady Delton was. Even though she was a woman, even more so a woman who started out as a commoner, she was still managing to do such amazing deeds. Clair found her self wanting to be just like Lady Delton one day.

"Let me see that!" Luella snatched the paper out of Clair's hands. "Clair look at this!" She gasped as she pointed to the detailed ink drawing on the article, of Lady Riley standing next to the prince who was holding a glittering sword high in the air.

"Look at Lady Delton's dress!" She exclaimed, pointing at the beautiful jeweled corseted dress. "Isn't it the most beautiful dress you've ever seen Clair!" Luella gushed excitedly.

Clair frowned annoyed and took the article back from Luella. She couldn't believe that from this inspiring article, Lady Riley's dress was all that she could see.

-Riley-

I was grateful that Agnes had let me sleep in because I felt so rested when I woke up at noon. I yawned a great big yawn and looked up at my bedroom ceiling. I hadn't noticed before but it was painting a pale blue. I looked over to the other side of my room and saw that Sophie and Sedgwick were out sleeping on the balcony. Sedgwick coiled up and Sophie perched on top of him. I also saw that there were a few crystalline crystals scattered about my room (Sedgwick must have went to the bathroom a few times).

My mind drifted to the note that the prince had left for me the night before after I had managed to save Lord Baratheon. I opened my drawer and took out the note and read it again.

'Lady Riley

Your lack of self awareness disturbs me.

If you are going to try and save others at least make sure you have enough magical power to sustain yourself...

By the honor of Girannon

First Prince Geoffrey'

My eyes rolled to the back of my head, but at least it was a short scolding. I folded up the note and put it back in my drawer. Just then Agnes popped her head around the door.

"Ah, Milady, you are finally awake." She smiled and then bustled into the room with Edna and Mellie following behind her.

"Milady you gave us such a fright when the prince brought you home unconscious! And all those scary bloodied men came in with you! It was all so frightening!" Squealed Mellie, clasping her hands together and recalling the events of the previous night.

"Oh Mellie don't shout so, you're giving me a headache!" Snapped Agnes.

Mellie frowned and gave Agnes a sideways look before pouting and sitting down on one of the sofas.

"Sorry to worry you." I smiled. "But it is kind of strange that I keep on fainting like this..." I murmured. I really hadn't fainted before when I was on Earth, so why did I keep on fainting every time I did a new spell. I knew it wasn't because I was using up too much magic because I knew I had much more magic than the spells required and yet I would always faint.

"Don't let that worry you Milady. It's a known fact that when young children start using magic for the first time they faint quite a lot. Or anyone that hasn't used magic in a while faints quite a bit. Your fainting spells will soon pass once you've gotten really use to magic." Agnes reassured me.

"It's probably because of your amnesia. Since you've forgotten your life before you woke up in the forest you've probably also forgotten the balance you need to maintain a healthy magic usage so that you don't faint."

It actually did make sense, just not in the way Agnes thought it did. I probably kept on fainting because my body wasn't used to magic, so the more I used it, the more I would get used to it and be able to use it at will.

Edna then approached my side. "Milady a letter from the Royal palace and a letter from the Church of magic came today for you. Also two more trunks of gold from the Royal palace were sent today because a trade agreement has been reached between Girannon and Astonia for you healing potion." She handed me the two letters.

"Thank you Edna." I put the two letters in my draw, I would read them after I got dressed and had my breakfast.

Since we were now in the Falling season, the weather was starting to get colder, so Agnes brought out a peach colored dress with sleeves to keep me warm. Augustus had made me a classic English breakfast with two fried eggs, bacon, blood sausage, hash browns, baked beans and grilled tomato.

After breakfast I made my way to my favorite study next to my Safe room and laid down on the couch, and covered myself with the blanket. I first took out the letter from the church of Magic and marveled at the shimmering pearl colored paper before opening it to read it.

'Dear Lady Delton

It has come to the churches attention that you have been blessed generously by the gods of magic but have not yet registered with the church. Thus we would like to invite you to come to our headquarters in the noble sect, to register with the church and to be personally haled into the church by Saint Corvinia Isleen, tomorrow morning.

We hope that our invitation finds your good Favor.

May magic run abundantly through you always.

Church of Magic.'

I don't know if I was paranoid, but it felt more like an order than an invitation, quite a passive order, yet there was still an underlying implication. However from what I knew about the church was that it was best to get on there good side, so I would go tomorrow but I would be firm with them. I would not be willing to do anything I didn't want to do.

I put that letter down and then opened the brilliant gold envelope that came from the palace. I was actually expecting this letter since Geoffrey had told me to expect a letter from the palace.

I gently caressed the golden paper before opening it.

'Dear Lady Riley Delton

The Royal family wishes to inform and congratulate you on your promotion to a Second rank noble.

For your magical prowess, for you kind and gentle demeanor, and for the honor fitting of a high class Girannonian noble that you display, you have been selected be become a Second Rank noble.

By the Honor of Girannon

King Leofrick Theodore Ulric Ambrose'

I let out a loud sound, somewhere between a gasp and choking on my own tongue, on reading the letter. I had been promoted to a second rank noble!

"Is anything the matter Milady" Asked Mellie as she poked her head around the door, he eyes wide with worry.

"Mellie!" I shouted. "I've been promoted to a second rank noble!" I gushed excitedly and sprung up from the couch and went to go hug her.

Mellie seemed to be in a state of shock and didn't quite comprehend what I had told her.

"M-Milady a-aa Second r-rank Noble?" She stuttered our, confused.

"Yes I am." I confirmed as I squeezed her tightly. Suddenly, as if she just suddenly understood it, she let out a very loud

Wooohoooo!!!! And hugged me back tightly.

"Heavens! What is all this racket?!" Asked Agnes crossly as she burst into the room.

Mellie answered her for me. "There's no need to be cross Ms Agnes..." she teased, "In fact we should rejoice because our Lady has just been named a second rank noble!" She called out giddily.

The blood rushes from Agnes's face at hearing her words.

"Is this true?" She asked looking completely bewildered.

"Yes, I just read the letter informing me of it!" I nodded brightly. I could tell Agnes was full of joy, but she was just too shocked to express it.