Two months.
   It took Liberty two months to convince her new family to relax their vigilance and give her some freedom. It took a lot of family dinners and afternoon teas, sporting perfect etiquette and an affectionate manner, for her to be allowed even one step outside the mansion. Now she sat in a lavish carriage pulled up to the side of a busy market district with the maid, Erica, on the seat across from her and only two guards this time.
    Liberty sighed and let her gaze wander out the window as she thought about all the effort she had poured into becoming a version of Serena that both she and her family could accept and feel confident about letting loose on the general populace.
    Answering to a new name had been pretty easy all told, but it had been moderating her voice and words that had really been a challenge for her. Liberty was known for being outspoken and brash, and Serena was the exact opposite of that. The girl had been reserved and poised, but honestly, Liberty thought she had just been extremely shy. She hadn't been able to find any diaries or journals to find out what Serena really thought or felt, but the way her body would tense up when the Count would shoot an eyebrow up at Liberty when she used a tone or volume that he didn't particularly approve of had given her the feeling that girl had cringed away from disapproval. Not that it seemed to be fear, as the Count never said or did anything that felt like a threat or a reprimand, it seemed to just be anxiety. Not something that Liberty was used to herself, but her other best friend Jane had some pretty bad social anxiety, so she recognized some of the symptoms. Tensing muscles, nervousness, and slight fidgeting. It had been a little rough in the first few days, but she had eventually found a balance between her forwardness and Serena's reserve that she could maintain. Liberty even thought that the Count and Countess might like this better, as they seemed ecstatic to engage their daughter in conversation on any topic she felt like talking about. They seemed to be happy that their daughter seemed to be coming out of her shell. The Countess especially seemed to be relieved whenever Liberty would express an opinion. She got the feeling that her mother had been worried about the girl being too pliable.
    She didn't feel she had changed the character all that much, but then Serena had been largely a blank canvas to begin with. There had been only a few instances in the book where the girl had expressed any real opinions about anything, and they mainly revolved around trying to get the prince of the year to treat other people like, you know, people and not just chess pieces or tools to be used and discarded. Oh, and rebuffing the prince's amorous advances and insisting that they wait until after the wedding before letting the creep get too close. She had liberty's whole-hearted support on that one.
    Luckily, while there were no memories from Serena to help her, there seemed to be a lot of muscle memory. Anytime she was unsure what fork to use or if she should curtsey, the body automatically responded and took the correct action. It saved her from a lot of embarrassing and tiresome situations. She was especially relieved when the Countess asked her to play the piano for her one night after another successful family dinner.
  Liberty had sat at the beautiful instrument for a few moments, then tentatively reached out her hands and pressed them lightly to the keys. Relief flooded her, and she let out the breath she hadn't been aware she had been holding, when her fingers started to move and the resonating chords of a sonata flowed through the room. It sounded pretty good if she did say so herself. That Serena could play the piano, obviously quite well, was not a detail the author bothered to include in the book. Perhaps this, and the sketching, was what the author had meant when they had included the line 'Serena was an accomplished young lady." Did they even know how many hours of practice it would take to become as proficient at the instrument as Serena obviously was?
    "Whatever. The author was obviously a bass," she muttered under her breath, wincing and the word substitution as one of the guards opened the carriage door and helped Erica down. That was another thing she had found out and hated the second she had noticed it.
    She couldn't swear.
    Not that it was frowned upon, or just not accepted language for a young lady. No, she literally was unable to voice a single swear word. Anytime she would try another, inoffensive word would be substituted before the sound could leave her lips. She had tried it for a straight hour after she had figured it out, but it was no use, and she was left huffing in frustration.
    As a modern woman, she felt that a very basic human right had been stripped from her. The author had apparently had a problem with cursing, but no problem whatsoever with getting the Prince and Serena to make out in any available dark corner, while the poor girl had to keep dodging his wandering hands. Not to mention the scenes after the lavish wedding that the Prince rushed through. When reading them, Liberty had wondered if sleep was just not necessary in fictional worlds. While she didn't like the jerk, the Prince had definitely had a lot of stamina and, as had been revealed after one particularly detailed scene, a very sturdy desk in his office and a staff that knew when to make themselves scarce. Another reason she had pitied the poor Prime Minister. He had to run the country while the Prince was off doing as he pleased and keep the staff from interrupting the future Emperor and Empress while they were trying to extend the royal line as quickly as possible. "Poor custard."
    She winced at the substitution again. Steamy bedroom, office, and the odd garden scenes aside, seeing as Liberty had absolutely no intention of participating in them, this no swearing really got under Liberty's skin. No one deserves to live with a PG-13 filter on their mouth without their consent. "And I definitely didn't consent to this bullship. Freedom of speech is the bare minimum whatever mothertrucker dumped me here owes me."
     After taking a few deep breaths, she shook her head slightly to clear it and stepped down from the carriage with the help of one of the guards before Erica had time to do more than shoot her a quick searching gaze. Once out on the cobbled street, she took the parasol the maid held out to her and rested it on her shoulder, twirling it with practiced ease, then started her stroll in the busy marketplace.
     This wasn't their first trip to this street. They had been coming here for the last week. Erica had caught on pretty quickly that Liberty was looking for something when she had switched from the upper class shops that the Count's family usually frequented after their first couple of unchaperoned trips to this middle class market filled with stalls of produce, artisan goods, and people. She had questioned her after they got home the first day. 
     The little maid had been nervous and worried about her mistress after all that had happened since the illness that had sent Serena to her bed months before. More than anyone, Erica had been witness to the strange behavior her Lady had been exhibiting since she had finally woken from the fever that had kept her bedridden. While Liberty had felt bad for the sweet girl, she hadn't felt comfortable trusting her with the truth. They already thought that she had lost her mind for a bit, and she had a plan and a schedule now. She didn't need the maid running back to the Countess or the doctor with a tale about the young mistress believing she was from another world and getting her locked up longer, or heaven forbid, for good. 
     So she had told her that after her long illness, she had decided that her life needed purpose and that while she appreciated her family, she felt she needed to start filling her life with a little bit more. It seemed that the maid was incredibly loyal to Serena and had also been extremely happy to see her becoming more outspoken since her awakening. She had already had some thoughts about her sweet lady spending all her time cooped up at home by herself for years, and this new version of Serena that was emerging seemed to meet with her whole-hearted approval. She promptly promised to help Liberty with whatever she might need, and her help meant that no one had looked too closely at the Count's daughter going to this market over and over again.
     It also helped to have the young maid who fit in a bit more with the crowd in her plain brown gown and bonnet than Liberty did in her pale gown trimmed in ribbon that obviously cost more than most here could afford. People didn't talk to those who didn't fit in, and she needed to find the person she was searching for, so she would take any advantage Erica could give her. She hadn't been able to sneak out of the house in disguise just yet, but once she was able to recruit this first member of her team, that wouldn't be a concern anymore.
    They strolled through the stalls with Liberty stopping at stalls that caught her eye, and Erica would subtly question the stall owners. After about an hour of this, Liberty saw a stall that she hadn't seen on their previous trips, and it looked very promising.
    The sides of the stall were lined with beautifully decorated paper lanterns with metal frames. It was the small figurines that covered the surface of the table in front of the proprietor that was what had drawn Liberty's attention, though. While they looked as incredibly detailed and delicate as any porcelain figurine, the large winding key on the back of each showed that they were, in fact, made of metal and clockwork. She was sure this was the place they would get the information they needed, and her barely imperceptible nod to Erica had the girl making her way to talk to the gruff man. She had studied the lanterns for a little while longer, and soon the maid came back to her with good news.
     "I got an address. Didn't cost too much either." The girl looked a little smug at that, and Liberty smiled.
     "Well then, let's not waste any more time. I am looking forward to this." Liberty smiled at her and gestured for her to lead the way. They exited the market with the guards following behind them, seeming to get more nervous and alert as they left the crowds far behind for the quieter streets and alleys they passed through. 
     While not quite heading to the slums, they definitely passed from the upper middle class neighborhood to a decidedly lower middle class one before Erica stopped at the door of a small shop with no plaque hanging over the door. After a confirming nod from Liberty, she stepped forward and rapped confidently on the door.
     After a few moments with no answer, she rapped again. When that also went unanswered, she looked back at the guards and then tried the handle. It turned easily, and the door swung open, causing the maid to flinch as the hinges creaked from obvious neglect. Liberty moved to enter, but one of the guards asked her to wait for a moment and entered first. A minute later, he leaned back out and indicated that it was safe for her to enter.
     The inside of the shop was, to put it mildly, chaotic. It was set up like a workshop with tables and work surfaces filling the space. The tables were covered in half-finished figurines and other, less recognizable experiments. One whole side seemed to be devoted to an elaborate chemical lab filled with glassware that looped and curled around in intricate ways.
    As they looked around, Liberty noticed a beaker bubbling away with a very large thermometer in it that seemed to be steadily climbing. After a couple of moments, the red line hit a point that caused a loud, shrill whistle to ring out in the room. A moment later, they heard a thump from above them and the clear sound of footsteps heading towards the stairs that came down at the back of the shop. Shortly, a willowy young woman with deep blue eyes and her black hair piled in a messy knot on top of her head in a faded gown came into view and headed towards the side of the room that held the lab.
     She stopped short when she noticed us standing there and blinked in surprise behind her round glasses, then asked, "Who are you people?"
    Liberty put on her most friendly smile and stepped forward, extending her hand to the woman. "I would like to offer you a job. Would you like to talk about it?"