Petrus

"The stars being white and the amount of constellations that was shown is abnormal."

"Even with a Petrus Stone?" Kuon asked the priests.

"From what we've read, yes. Even high starred one does not have a record like this." The staff priest answered.

"For now, we'll go back to the Axion and contact the bishop." The scale priest said.

The quill priest, took out a paper and is writing something. "We'll contact you through a letter in one or two days. You should start preparing to come to the Axion soon." 

"Um, priest. This might be rude of us, but how do we address you on the Axion?" Nakia asked the quill priest.

"Call us by our tools, I am Quill, that one is Scale, and the last one is Cane."

Nakia nods, and Quill continues to write what seems to be a letter. After they finished, the priests left another message that they should bring a couple of items to prepare.

The three priests then carry their belongings and proceed to bid them farewell, as they are departing for the Axion.

Nakia escorted the three priests until they got out of the estate, meanwhile Kuon was accompanying the sleeping Lily.

After a while, Nakia came back and sat beside Kuon. They just sat there for a while, Kuon occasionally caressing Lily's white hair.

"So, the family jewel was actually a Petrus Stone."

Kuon doesn't seem to respond, and Nakia coughed a little. 

"Ahem. What actually is a Petrus Stone anyway?" he asked again, still no response.

Nakia thought he was being played with, and decided to peek at Kuon's face. It turns out she was asleep while her hand rested on Lily's head.

"Oh well, I'll just lay down too." 

He placed his sword beside him, and laid down. He stares at the ceiling for a bit, then slowly closes his eyes.

Lily, who was sleeping right after the awakening ceremony, finally wakes up. She sat up first, before opening her eyes.

As she fully sobered up, she saw Kuon dozing right next to her, and Nakia laying down behind Kuon.

"Eep!" Her hands quickly cover her mouth.

"You have finally woken up, miss?" Kuon asked, with her head still slowly bobbing up and down.

"Y-yeah, it's fine, though. You can sleep some more." 

"Mmm, okay." Kuon then falls to her side, facing Nakia.

Lily got up and left the hall, leaving Nakia and Kuon sleeping in the hall. She made sure to tell a maid that was passing by not to enter the hall for a while, and request to pass it to the others.

She then walked around the estate's garden, then sat on a gazebo looking at a field of flowers.

The field was just a small patch, where it was filled with three types of flowers. Roses, lilies, and dahlias, each tinted with specific colors.

The roses were yellow with occasional pink ones, the lilies were as white as snow, and the dahlias were white with their flower tip tinted purple.

Lily was drowning in her head, reminiscing when that field was still empty. Every day, she and her parents would make time to plant and tend to the seeds.

Cleaning the field from pests, watering the seeds, and enjoying their time in the gazebo where she's sitting now.

Kuon sneaked up and surprised Lily. "Boo!" 

Lily jumped and waved her hands around in the air as if to deflect something.

"W-wha-wha?" Her face turns red.

Kuon giggled, and Nakia who was a bit far out looked to the side covering his mouth. Suddenly, she pulled something behind her, and put it in Lily's lap.

"Happy 20th birthday, miss. Here is a little gift from both of us, please open it." Kuon smiled at her.

Lily quickly pulled the twine tying the gift, unveiling what is inside. She quickly put it on her head, and hugged Kuon.

"Thank you so much, I always wanted one!"

Her red hair was decorated with a dark-red headband that Kuon had made a couple of weeks prior.

"Nakia bought the materials, and I combined them together."

Lily peeked over Kuon's shoulder, revealing a shy Nakia that's hiding behind some tall bushes.

She giggled, and threw herself into Kuon's lap. "I wish mom and dad were still here." 

"All of us wished that too, you know?" Kuon said as she stroked Lily's hair.

The three of them didn't make any noise after, they just stopped, enjoyed the gentle breeze, and the dancing flowers.

The day ended just like that, some congratulatory remarks, but mostly quiet.

Nothing eventful happened, meanwhile at dawn, on the priest's side it was quite hectic. Quill is writing a couple dozen letters while the other two search for a precedent over what had happened to help summon the bishop to the Axion.

They visited one of the oldest libraries and stayed there, from midnight until now. Some scriptures indicate that this incident could happen when a non-awakened person consumed a Petrus stone prior to being awakened.

"The white lights is hypothesized to be caused by the unstable memory that the Petrus stone hold, hence when the 'consumer' is being forcefully awakened there will be a recoil." Canes pointed to his book.

"Petrus stone holds pure memories, not to be confused with good or bad. But a pure collective of raw emotion, that will–" Scale read from another book.

They were discussing back and forth, because the last time this happened was almost a century ago, when Petrus stone was still mostly unresearched and is in its primordial state.

"In short, the stone that Miss Lilian consumed was most likely an unrefined Petrus stone?" Quill asked as he wrote the last letter.

"It could be that, or it is one of the world stones." Scale answered.

Cane got up and started putting the books back. "Ah, this is tough. Hope the bishop is intrigued enough to care."

"Yeah." The other two sighed.

They cleaned everything up and went outside, to their surprise it was already noon, and they had spent more than twelve hours in the library.

As it was past the expected time, they hurried to send the letters to their recipients and continued their journey back to Axion.

Back at the Turin house, Lily was having a studying session with her tutor.

"That one is good, my lady." the tutor said to Lily.

She slowly lowered the cup in her hand. "Nobles have it hard with these etiquette lessons."

"Well, at least you only have to learn, miss." as she demonstrates how to hold various eating utensils. "And most nobles don't have to work in their lifetime, too." she added.

"Managing people is not an easy task either, Mrs. Falker" She picked up a small spoon.

"That is the wrong spoon, miss." She then showed her the right spoon for the soup. "Yes, managing people is hard. But nobles will never toil in the dirt just to eat."

That sentence punctured Lily's spirit. "I'm sorry, Mrs. Falker." She lowered her head and ate the cold soup silently.

"No worries, a small squabble like this is what makes us close."

They continued to practice for a while after that, and finished after having lunch together.

Lily pulled her hand upward, stretching her body. "Next is studying!" She prepared a book and a graphite stick, and walked to the study.

"Miss, Mr. Falker has arrived." One of the workers said.

"Quickly, let him in."

"Hello, little miss." Mr. Falker said from the door.

Lily, who was sitting at the table, lit up. Because she had a lot of questions that she wants to ask.

Mr. Falker sat down in front of Lily, and placed his book on the table.

"Mr. Falker! I have a question!" Lily raised her hand.

"Ask away, little miss." As he opened up his book.

"What actually is a Petrus Stone?"

"A Petrus stone is–"

A stone that holds a memory of someone that brought upon a massive change for the world, it was first discovered in a mine, then another was found in ruins. The memory that is stored inside the stone holds not just "good" people but "bad" people too.

"—and that is what a Petrus stone is, according to this book at least."

"So even those warlords from Varonos could be stored inside a Petrus?"

"Maybe? We still cannot tell whether a person has consumed one or not."

"Interesting. I have another question."

Mr. Falker raised his eyebrows and hummed, ready to answer Lily.

"What is an Axion?"

"It is what the religion of Waktu, calls their church."

Lily tilts her head sideways. "That's it?"

Mr. Falker only nods.

The both of them discussed Axions, and Petrus stones for quite a while. Sometimes some academic question was asked by Mr. Falker, and Lily tried to avoid that at all cost.

In the middle of the lecture, someone knocked on the study door.

"Yes? What is it?" Lily asked.

"Excuse me, miss. A letter from priest Quill has arrived, and it is urgent."

"Hm?" Her brow furrowed.

"It is said that you will have an audience with Waktu's Bishop tomorrow."

"WHAT?!" Both Mr. Falker and Lily shouted.

The lecture ended abruptly, as Mr. Falker understood that it is a more pressing matter that needs immediate attention. He left after saying a few words, and asking Lily to be polite at all times.

Kuon and Lily quickly prepared some clothes and dresses for their trip to the Axion, and when it was almost midnight, they started their journey to meet the bishop.