"You're such a modest child, Ereya. You don't want to see yourself hailed as a hero on the news. At the same time, you paid a lofty price... It must really suck being hospitalized days before your inauguration." said a mischievous, sultry voice belonging to an elegantly dressed woman. Her face was obstructed by a red, feathery fan. The madame took enormous pleasure in teasing her niece while gently braiding her blonde hair.

"I'm no hero, I was just doing my duty as a soldier. They're just shining a spotlight on me because of my status. Just so you know, I'm getting discharged today." Ereya pouted, untangling one of the braids, her curly hair cascading on her shoulders.

"This last stunt really did a number on you, eh?" the matronly woman asked in a merry voice while polishing a red apple that had the same color as her hair. The image of the elegant woman slowly peeling the fruit reflected on its shiny surface.

"I'd be grateful if you didn't mention it ever again. I was a failure yesterday..." Ereya lifted a hand over her eyes to hide her tears but the trembling of the lips gave it away.

"I'd have to disagree. You're too hard on yourself. You saved all those people. Without you, most would have died by the time the reinforcements came." she stopped her knife midway, curly red ribbons falling on the floor. The noblewoman touched her niece's face, tracking across the old scar on Ereya's left eye. The young soldier shivered slightly under her touch. Ereya couldn't contain her emotions anymore so she just let them burst out.

"But! Still...So many are badly injured, some might not make it !" She clenched her fists causing the cannula from the IV to leap out of her vein.

"Look what you've done, you naughty girl, now I have to call the nurse. Tch, tch!"

A blocky white robot wearing a pink nurse cap came in the room to adjust the cannula but not without showing a digitized angry sign.

"Just leave it like this, I was going to get it removed when I got discharged anyway."

A small needle flying from her vein had nothing on her fractured arms and broken ribs. Her eyes didn't fare too well either being affected by the blinding grenade.

A doctor came in the room, he was a gazelle chimera. He must have been in the first generation of emancipated chimeras.

"We took bone samples from your humerus as well as fibrous connective tissue from your ligaments and used our printers to replace and mend your broken bones as well as heal scar tissue. I'd advise you to stay more in the hospital to rest and run more tests on you but since tomorrow is Your Highness' Inauguration Day ... We had to make an exception." The doctor adjusted his glasses with a slight tremble and avoided looking Ereya in the eye.

"Of course, my grandfather would expect no less," said Ereya with a blank, thousand-yard stare. It was as if all joy was drained from her and she became an empty shell.

Seeing Ereya in a state like that startled the mature, crimson-haired woman.

"Dr. Irvak, as her aunt and a fellow member of House Dorrean, I have to object to this rushed Inauguration Ceremony. She has to focus on healing first before she does anything else. I suspect uncle spearheaded this as a jab at the other Houses---"

"Melissa, that's enough! I can manage... This isn't even the worst injury I've ever had."

"This has nothing to do with a complete recovery based on scientific evidence, and more to do with bribery, am I wrong?" asked her aunt pointing her fan at the doctor.

"Duchess, please, try to understand I couldn't refuse the high duke..." the gazelle would have sweated profusely by now if he didn't have fur.

Melissa took a strong bite out of the apple. She chewed with a disgusted look on her face. She coldly stared the doctor down. The gazelle became more uncomfortable by the second, pulling on his collar nervously.

Ereya tugged at Melissa's red dress.

"We haven't seen each other in so long. You wanted to visit the market, right? You were so excited to see how things have changed." Ereya forced a smile.

"Hmmm...True. So you've learned the art of bribery I see... Very well. I'll bite."

Ereya let out a sigh of relief.

"While we go to the market you have to help me choose a gift for someone." Her kin showed a true smile, a first in a very long time.

"To whom do you bestow such honor, niece? You rarely, if ever, buy gifts for someone. Maybe your new boyfriend I heard so much about?"

"No, it's for someone else. His name is Atthis."