'Everywhere, every day I do magic, the magic that no one sees, It is quite silent-the kind you can't hear, the forest for the trees. Changing, rearranging the whole world "as good as new," Flash of fire lightning and rain and a sea was parted too!'-Magician of Faith, Alan S Bailey (April 2015)

There is a sort of fuzzy haze that you fall into after being driven to the point of exhaustion. All your senses are dulled and your mind is filled with a mist. You're aware that something is going on around you. But you're not exactly sure as to what that is. 

This is the state that Shura found herself in laying on the cobblestone. Drifting in and out of consciousness. She saw only mere flashes of what was going on around her. Barely even understanding what little she did see. 

A flash from a ball of fire, a shout from someone across the courtyard, Halfmoon speaking to a strange person Shura didn't recognize. Minnow rushing over and... Nothing. Everything just kind of fell into darkness after that. 

When Shura woke up next, it took her a minute to realize where she was. At first, she thought she was home in her bed. But then she thought that she was back at the Smelter and a momentary panic set in remembering that she needed to work. 

But as she stirred from her sleep and her senses slowly came back to her she realized she was in none of those places. But rather somewhere entirely new.

 A darkened room with thick curtains, stone walls, and fine wooden furniture. While it was hard to make out most of the details, her sight slowly adjusting to the lighting around her beyond the dull glow of the candlestick at her bedside. But from what she could tell, she was neither home or at the Smelter. She wasn't sure where she was.

As the sensation of pain slowly returned to her body Shura let out a low groan sitting up. "Where... Where am I?" She asked slowly, her voice barely above a whisper and her throat as dry as a desert.

Blinking once and then twice, Shura rubbed her eyes free of sleep. She shifted a bit, the bed felt soft under her. Much better quality than back at the Smelter. She could see tall bedposts at the ends of the bed with fabric hanging off of it. 

Oh, this was one of those really fancy beds... 

Shura struggled to remember the name. But she did remember how badly she had wanted one of these beds as a child. For months she had fixated on wanting one of these. Unfortunately, she never got one of them. 

So there was a certain level of excitement at finally getting to sleep in one of these beds. But what was it called....? Shura racked her brain trying to remember before suddenly it clicked.

"Canopy!" She exclaimed, though, in her current state her exclamation was barely below a normal speaking level. She clutched her throat coughing feeling the tingle from speaking with a dry throat. 

As if hearing her speaking, the door opened letting light into the room. Walking in, the tall figure slowly came into focus. Shura narrowed her eyes struggling to see as her eyes adjusted to the sudden light. 

"I see you're awake." A female voice spoke up, almost instantly Shura recognized it. "Princess?" She asked forgetting her first name at the moment. It seemed that Halfmoon had knocked the sense out of her earlier. 

Tetra looked down at her with an indifferent sort of look on her face. Hearing how rough Shura's voice sounded she sat down a cup on the nightstand and poured a liquid into it from the pitcher she was carrying. 

"You must be thirsty, drink this." She ordered handing the cup to the much smaller woman. Tetra felt her stomach bubble with irritation and anger at the sight of her face. Bandaged up from scrapes and cuts, wisps of her dark hair sticking out every which way. Hardly the vision of a desirable lady.

And yet...

Minnow's reaction after Shura collapsed enraged her to no end. The young man was inconsolable as if a dear childhood friend had been hurt. What was even more infuriating was when Mako showed up and mentioned that Shura and Minnow had only recently met. 

Tetra narrowed her eyes at Shura, who was now struggling to hold up a simple cup. Letting out an airy snort, Tetra turned her head. What was so special about this weak little thing anyway?

Why was it that Minnow shed tears over her? They had only just met. Tetra had known him for years! But despite those years... Minnow still refused to simply call her by name. 

Shura felt so weak, almost dropping the filled cup. She quickly gripped it with both hands trying to steady herself. She had been thoroughly beaten within an inch of her life. Even still, she was endlessly surprised by how weak she felt. 

While normally she would hesitate to take a random cup of something from someone she barely knew. Especially when that someone seemed to hate her. As evidenced by the glare that Shura felt digging into the side of her face at the moment. 

She was too thirsty to actually care about the contents of the said cup at the moment. Taking a huge gulp, she nearly downed the contents all in one go. However, once the taste set in she coughed and gagged.

"Wha-What was that!" She exclaimed, now, finally able to speak somewhat normally. Tetra titled her head to the side in confusion. "Wine. Why?" The princess replied. 

Shura looked horrified, Tetra's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "What do you not like wine or something?" She asked. Shura took a glance at the cup before setting it down on the nightstand next to the bed. "I don't drink wine." She replied feeling strange about the aftertaste of the wine. 

"So what you drink ale or something?" Tetra asked sort of irritated that was the best wine in the kingdom. How dare she be so ungrateful! "I don't drink ale either." Shura's response caused a pause in Tetra's chastising thoughts. "Wha... What do you drink then?" Tetra stumbled a little, failing to understand how Shura could survive without drinking wine or ale. There wasn't much choice aside from them. 

"Water." Was Shura's response. Had Shura then, not looked Tetra directly in her eyes with her response. Tetra would've thought Shura was having a bit of a jape with her. But the seriousness in which she replied made Tetra realize that she was not kidding.

"You're going to die," Tetra replied in all seriousness. Shura gave Tetra a bewildered look, "As if drinking wine is any better." Shura retorted, "It is if you don't want to die of dysentery." Tetra was quick with her reply as well. 

Tetra then moved from the bedside over towards the windows. Drawing the curtains back, Shura saw the moon shining brightly through the window. 

"Wait, it's night?" Shura asked startled, suddenly remembering her shift at the Smelter. "How long was I out? What time is it?" Shura rattled off a couple of questions to Tetra in quick succession. But before Tetra could even make an attempt at answering her questions, Shura swung her legs out of bed trying to get up and head towards the pub. 

She'd be damned if she allowed that fish-man to add even more to her debt!

Unfortunately, for Shura, her body betrayed her and she fell face forward onto the wooden floor below. 

"Hey! Be careful!" Tetra exclaimed making her way over to Shura and picking her up with ease. Shura, now with a freshly busted lip let out a whine. "My body has betrayed me." A bit dazed, she rested her head against Tetra's shoulder. Shura heaved a heavy breath, the airbrushed past the crook of Tetra's neck. The princess, while noticing this, ignored it. Had it been anyone else, like Minnow, she might have been startled or even flustered. But it was Shura.

"You fought with Captian Halfmoon, you need to recover." Tetra scolded adjusting her grip on the much smaller woman before setting her down onto the bed. "It wasn't so much as a fight as it was me running for my life." Shura corrected, she wasn't going to kid herself about the facts of that encounter. She could not handle Halfmoon. She wasn't sure if anyone could handle Halfmoon.

She had no idea as to why she suddenly went crazy on her and attempted to murder her. Maybe it had something to do with her thinking she was this Haddock person. 

Whatever the case may be wasn't exactly important. It didn't excuse the attempted murder. Looking around the room and then to Tetra, Shura adjusted the large nightgown that was slipping down off her shoulder.

"Where... Exactly am I?" She asked looking over at Tetra who had made herself comfortable on a chair next to the bed. The soft flickering of the candle flame danced in the silence between them. 

Tetra heaved out a soft sigh, "You're in my room." She explained motioning around Shura. "Oh." Shura replied, "So," She started, "I'm in the... Palace?" She asked slowly unsure. This place seemed a bit more humble-looking than the palace.

Tetra let out a disapproving noise. "No. You're in the temple of the kings." She corrected. "I don't live at the palace." She explained. Shura tilted her head confused, this confusion only served to irritate Tetra even more.

It was pretty clear to her that Shura was from Olisvine. She was about as naive and crass as the rest of those backwoods peasants. Though she didn't remember hearing anything about them drinking water. Though, if that was the case. It would explain a few things about their behavior.

Tetra's eyes landed on Shura's form. Especially this one in particular. 

"So did you get kicked out or something?" Shura asked, sinking into the large pillows on Tetra's bed. Tetra clicked her tongue. "No." She snapped quickly, "Sounds like you did." Shura replied sing-song, only to receive a glare. "I live at the temple because it's my duty as the princess." Tetra haughtily replied. 

"And that means?" Shura urged on, completely clueless as to what that meant. While if she had been at 100% she would've probably racked her brain for the lore of Midknight Saga. But after taking a beating at the hands of Halfmoon... Shura wasn't exactly the sharpest knife in the crayon box at the moment.

Tetra stood up and approached the side of the bed. Leaning down to Shura's level Tetra hovered above her. "It means, as the princess I have a connection to the past kings," Tetra spoke haughtily. Shura eyed her looking up at her, a confused and slightly amused look crossed her face.

"What's with that look?" Tetra snapped narrowing her eyes, "You know, I don't really feel much of a connection to you." Shura remarked smirking, "Meaning?" Tetra questioned. "I mean, they think I'm Haddock," Shura replied, Tetra leaned down further. "What's that have to do with anything?" She asked lowly. Shura's smirk slowly turned into a smile.

"I just thought if I was Haddock. I would feel a better connection to you." Shura started, Tetra opened her mouth to say something but was cut off by Shura. "Seeing as I fucked your dad and all." 

Within an instant, Tetra's hands were around Shura's throat. Shura managed to choke out the word help and the door to the room swung open once more. A couple of men pulled Tera off of Shura. 

Shura coughed and gasped for air, Tetra looked furious. "How dare you say such things about my father!" Shura managed to get her breath back smirked at Tetra. "K... Keep it up and I'll do it again." She teased, Tetra lunged at her, Shura didn't move because she couldn't. The men holding the princess back struggled against her. Just as Tetra was almost able to reach Shura once more, a voice stopped Tetra in her tracks.

"Princess I don't think it wise to attempt to murder someone in your own bed." The men and Tetra froze and looked behind them at the man in the doorway.

Tall, thin, and imposing. He wore dark purple robes and his hair was long and stuck out every which way. It would seem messy normally. But his hair seemed almost deliberate. 

"Cisco!" Tetra laughed nervously, "We were only joking around!" Cisco shot a look towards Tetra. He obviously didn't believe her. "You're already on your third warning princess. I don't think you want to be kicked out from here as well?" 

Shura let out a laugh hearing this, "Knew it." She chuckled to herself, Tetra shot her a look. Cisco's eyes landed on Shura, "it seems you're healing up quite well there." 

Once his gaze landed on Shura, she felt a strange feeling she hadn't felt since the last time she was in a church. Holy men like Cisco had a special way of making you feel self-conscious about everything. It seemed that even in this world they had that ability. 

"Yeah well... I'm still hurting quite a bit but I'm trying to be a trooper." Shura shrugged, trying to ignore that burning feeling. Cisco made his way over to Shura's bedside, "I am deeply sorry about my wife." He grabbed her hand and clasped it much in the manner that most prests that Shura had run across did. "Halfmoon's your wife?" Shura asked surprised.

 Cisco chuckled softly, "Yes, she is." He kneeled down at Shura's level so he wasn't towering over her. The tall man almost reached the ceiling when he stood. But now that he was kneeling he seemed to be more of average height. 

Up close, Shura was able to get a better look at the man in front of her. Though despite the closer distance, the candlelight did very little to illuminate his features as clear as it could have. 

But from what Shura could tell in the low lighting, his hair was light brown, His banes were pulled back out of his face with some sort of band. That made his hair stick out behind him like a lion's mane. He had a gentle sort of face, his skin was a smooth and even dark brown. His eyes were a gentle grey, or at least they looked grey. Again, it was hard to tell in this sort of lighting.

If Shura had to guess his name based on his appearance alone she would've guessed Leo or Lionel. But instead, this guy was named after a fucking calculator. 

Suddenly feeling some cold air on her arm where there hadn't been before. Shura looked down to see that Cisco had unwrapped her bandages around one of her arms. Expecting to see some sort of disgusting gash or cut, Shura was surprised to find that her skin was unblemished, there wasn't even a scar there. 

"Hold the fucking phone!" Shura exclaimed seeing this, "I know she cut me there!" Shura used her free hand to motion to the spot where she had been cut. Clearly, there was some sort of injury there before from the blood that soiled the bandages in Cisco's hands.

"What's a phone?" Tetra asked hearing Shura exclaim for someone to hold it. While Tetra was confused as to what that object was, the two men and Cisco were more concerned with Shura's sudden ability to heal fast.

Cisco looked at Shura with astonishment, "Just Who are you?" he asked narrowing his eyes and leaning in closer to get a better look at Shura's face. The other two men, dressed in the same robes as Cisco whispered to each other. Shura felt uncomfortable, she got the feeling that she was going to be called Haddock more often now after this.

Looking down at her arm she considered her new healing abilities. Then she responded. "At this point, fuck all if I know who the hell I am..."