He woke up to the sound of birds chirping and a hand on his shoulder.

Cale blinked his eyes open, stared up at the maid standing next to where he had been sleeping with his head on top of an open book by the desk and thought: freaking damnit.

This was not his room, that wasn't his desk and before yesterday, he'd never seen that book or language.

The maid looked worried. "Young Master, are you alright? Do you require any medicine?"

He sat up straight on the chair, cracked his neck and stretched his back. Falling asleep at a desk was apparently a pain no matter where you were or what body you were inhabiting. Cale yawned and looked through tired eyes at the maid. He wasn't sure how long he had been asleep, but he'd been up reading until the sun was finally starting to rise. Through the window, it seemed to be high up in the sky now.

"I'm alright, no medicine necessary," he mumbled in answer to the maid that still looked slightly worried.

"If you're sure." The maid didn't look very appeased, but her worry started to dissipate from her eyes. He counted it as a win.

He asked, "What time is it?"

"It is two in the afternoon, Young Master." the maid responded.

"Oh. Could you bring a clock in here? It's hard to know when to go to bed when I don't know what time it is." Cale asked the maid and very much did not pout. He was an adult. He was above such things.

The look the maid gave him in response said otherwise. He blamed the fact that he was in a different body and couldn't fully control it yet. "Certainly, Young Master. Whatever you require, you need only ask of me. I am your personal servant, after all."

Servant? Did that mean something other than maid? Were they not the same thing?

He was starting to get confused.

"Ah... yes. Thank you." he could only respond as he had. It seemed to work fine after all, and he shouldn't mess with something that worked.

Cale observed the ma- servant as she picked up the tray next to his head and left the room after a final determination that he was okay.

He was very much not alright.

He was in someone else's body for crying out loud! There was no way that he was, in any definition of the word, okay. That was wishful thinking, something that he preferred to stay far away from. It only led to impossible dreams, like when he was a kid and wanted to be an astronaut. His grandfather had crushed that dream with cold hard facts while he was still a child. He'd hated him until the day he died for it and then he'd cried bitterly at his grave at the funeral because he would never get the chance to apologize after he realized that the man had only been looking out for him, if in the entirely wrong way. He wasn't interested in making that kind of mistakes again.

His head made a thud-like sound when he dropped it on the book.

The book he'd spent pretty much the entire night reading with only candlelight was about the history of the Frosthaze family. It started with its rise in a doomed empire, how it had prevailed when many other families failed and detailed their history in many different wars and battles, stories of heroics and failures there within, though there were only a few words dedicated to those who had failed. It then went on to how they had acquired a Lordship in the kingdom they now resided in and their recent success in a war that had ended what was a few decades ago, give or take some years depending on what year it now was.

The name Frosthaze was familiar, but he couldn't recall from where. It obviously hadn't been a very important one if he couldn't remember it.

But still, it annoyed him because he knew that he had read it somewhere before, he just didn't know where.

So annoying.

Cale sat up straight again, stretched his back one more time and rose to his feet. It was time to find something other than what looked like a sleeping gown to wear.

He threw open the door to the closet.

It looked like clothes out of the Victorian era mixed with more modern clothing. He wasn't entirely sure what he was supposed to wear when it came to casual clothing. Well, he'd just go with what he liked best and look clueless if anyone claimed otherwise. He'd learned from his mother that it worked surprisingly often.

His mother may not have known fashion, but she knew how to look like she knew exactly what she was doing and it was the other person who was mistaken.

Cale had picked up a thing or two, one of which was to blatantly disregard other opinions.

So, he picked up a white shirt, a pair of what looked similar to black khaki pants and a black vest. It was probably not summer wear, but strangely, he couldn't really feel the heat. It was odd and unsettling, but until he could do something about it, he'd just have to go with it. He laid the clothes on the bed which had been made and looked even more comfortable than before as he pulled the sleepwear off. The sleeping gown was thrown on the bed next to the other clothes.

Thankfully, the clothes were fairly easy to get into, even if he spent an unnecessarily long amount of time staring at all the different ties before settling on a dark blue one, and so it didn't take him long to dress. Thin socks suitable for summer was found at the bottom of a drawer and then it was just shoes left. He wanted to leave the house and go outside. He needed to get out and breathe in fresh air.

He felt trapped enough as it was.

Finally, he found a pair of shoes at the bottom of the closet, hidden behind piles of clothing.

It was women's boots.

They were black with a two-centimeter heel each and devoid of zippers, rather they had to be tied up with black string. They were pretty to look at yes, but they were still meant for women.

But they were the only pair of shoes he could find, even after spending several more minutes going through the closet. So, wear them he would. He needed to get outside more then he worried for his pride.

He was in a foreign body, damnit! His pride could go to Hell and rot there until he figured out what exactly was going on.

He put on the boots.

His (more precisely, the body he'd taken over) hair was still trapped in the same messy braid that he'd first woken up with. He pulled on the ribbon tying it together until it let go and dragged his hands through the hair to sort it out the best he could. He grimaced when it got caught. He wasn't used to long hair and it was annoying, the way it hurt when he pulled on it too hard. He put the silver ribbon in his mouth as he pulled the hair into what resembled a high ponytail by feeling, as there was no mirror in the room (something else that needed to be added) and brought one hand to get the ribbon and tie it around the hair. He pulled it several times around until he could let go enough to tie it together. He hoped it didn't look too ridiculous, but he was far passed the point of worrying about his hair of all things.

Even if it did look kind of... white in the sunlight.

He left the room and closed the door behind him. Now he just needed to find a door that led outside.

Hopefully, that would be easy.

Cale wandered from hallway to hallway as he made his way down stairs and through both rooms and corridors. The room he had been on was on the third floor, so two staircases down should do it.

Once he was on what he was pretty sure was the ground floor, he started to look at all the doors he passed until he came into a large open room with windows from floor to ceiling and a pair of glass double door that led into a beautiful garden. The same one he'd seen from his window. He smiled for the first time since he'd woken up in this body.

He walked towards them and when he reached them, he pushed them open. Immediately, he was caught by the sweet fragrance of the flowers, the way the sun glittered through the treetops and the white-painted porch that he stepped out onto. He breathed in the fresh air deeply and took four long strides, completely forgetting that he was walking in heels until he stood next to the railing and put his hands on the white wood. His eyes shined at the wonderful sight in front of him. The grass was cut short and bright green, with a sparkling blue pond next to the tree-line and a stone path that led from the porch all the way to the forest. The entire garden evoked a feeling of peace in the observer.

A loud gasp broke him out of his musing and he turned his head to stare at the middle-aged woman sitting on a chair on the porch, the stool as white as the rest of it. She stared at him as if he was a ghost.

He really hoped he wasn't.

She stood up with a slack face and the book she had been holding fell to the floor. She took a hesitant step towards him and Cale watched as she seemed to gather her thoughts and finally spoke. "Calla... you're well enough to leave your room again."

Tears started to form in her eyes. "I've been so worried for you, my beloved son."

Cale swore in his head as he finally recognized the name. Calla Frosthaze was a character that died in the book 'Fire & Ice'. Damn it all it to Hell, but he did not sign up for this shit!