What was June to say to that? That life was hard for them all common folk who didn’t feel the flow of those particles entrapped in oil? Or that it was okay, and that everyone had skills of their own? She did neither, leaving Naomi to her reading, as she herself got lost in thought.

“Say,” June spoke, after a few more minutes of bored silence, “have you ever wished that you too could control mana?”

“Humm,” Naomi lifted her head, tilting it ever so slightly, hence allowing a bang to come loose from her buns and fall over her eyes, “I believe you’ve already asked me this the other day, back on the balcony.”

June’s cheeks flushed red and she covered them with her wrist, pretending to hold back a sneeze. That incident had been embarrassing on so many levels. Not only had it practically been a confession, but her dropping her lie detector ruined the mood as well as her chances with Naomi. She tried not to think about it too much; this is who she was after all, chasing people away whether she wanted it or not.

“No,” June continued after taking a few seconds to straighten out her expression, “As in what that young lady can do. Have you ever wished you could communicate with the machines, resonate with that mystical energy that makes them move?”

Naomi blinked, her wide black eyes reflecting her surprise at the question. June didn’t reckon that she’d said anything out of line, and yet Naomi’s reaction was so curious.

“No, not really.” The other woman eventually replied. “I don’t think it’s for me, you know? Like how some people like riding horses, and others don’t.”

June twitched a corner of her mouth upwards, in an unconvinced half-smile.

“I’m not sure that parallel holds.”

“Well, okay,” Naomi set aside the journal, “I think it’s one of those things that you shouldn’t chase if you don’t have an affinity for. Like how some people thrive in social and fast-paced environments, while others work best when left alone and unsupervised.”

“Hmmm.” June saw her point, but she didn’t agree. One could force themselves to ‘work’ in an unfamiliar environment, just like she was doing now, but mana-affinity was something innate. She glanced at the pile of magazines on the table, and suddenly remembered the pile of unopened letters. “Wait here a minute,” she said, as she got up. Those letters would no doubt make a better conversation topic than her unrealised dream of becoming a technomage.

“So you didn’t think I was popular?” June spoke, holding back a chuckle after Naomi’s last comment on the number of invitations she’d received.

“That’s not what I said, my Lady!” The woman defended herself. “I just said that you could have easily been mistaken for a princess or a queen with this amount of personalised mail. I meant it as a compliment!”

“I think what you were trying to say is ‘proper baroness’.” June chuckled again, as she reached for the last letter. “Dear Jeneviere,” she began reading out loud, “see, this one is beyond personalised; it’s rude.” She commented before continuing reading, “I hope you have settled well in your new position, and that the noise of passing trains is not too distracting for you. I write to you on this warm summer day to invite you to the upcoming annual ball in Capital City. I know you must have no doubt already received countless similar invitations, but I would be truly honoured if you were to attend it under my house name.”

June glanced to the bottom of the page, to see, not without surprise, the name ‘Rose Pinkstar’ written in neat cursive.

She set the letter aside and flipped through the rest of the opened letters. She hadn’t bothered reading most of them properly, but she was sure this was her first time hearing about this ball, or rather her first time getting officially invited to it. Cedar had told her that she could come, but he hadn’t insisted.

“Lady June, you can’t go to that ball!” Naomi suddenly called out.

“Huh?”

When June looked up at the woman, she was met with worried eyes. Naomi looked genuinely concerned about this ball.

“You can’t go.” She repeated, with an unconscious headshake.

“Whatever it is you’re worried about, I’ll be fine.” June presumed that Naomi had also made the link between the lack of those mentioned ‘other invitations’ and also assumed that it was some sort of social trap. But June had thick skin, and if nothing else she now wanted to go just to prove to Naomi that she could do it.

“You don’t understand.” Naomi shook her head again. “Something bad will happen at that ball.”

“No I understand-”

“You will die.”

The two women looked at each other in tense silence, one confused and startled, the other too visibly upset to speak.

“Go take that lie detector of yours if you don’t believe me.” Naomi finally spoke. Her voice was full of that same resolve she held back when they first met, and June’s heart sunk in her chest as she realised that Naomi wasn’t lying.

“Sure, come this way.” June gestured.

Silently, she led Naomi back into her room, towards the small commode by the door. When they were close enough, she swiftly opened the door, and pushed the other woman out.

“My Lady!” came a voice of protest, soon followed by knocking on the door.

June ignored her and pulled out the tablet she used to contact Lude. But, once she felt its weight in her hand, she hesitated. The knocking continued, while she walked up to her bed and let herself fall on it. She covered her face with a pillow, to muffle out the sound and allow herself to think.

Had Lude been right this entire time? Had this girl been a spy who changed sides midway through? Was she sent by Harvard? None of those were possibilities that June wanted to accept. She liked the girl, and she refused to believe – no, she knew – that she didn’t have an ounce of evil in her.

But how else could she explain Naomi’s warning?