Empress Celeste. She was talking to the ghost of the late empress. Adela had known that her father was the personal knight to the empress, but she didn't know just how close they were. Then again there was very little Adela knew about her father.

"Adela!!!"

Adela winced and let go of Mira instantly, rubbing her throbbing arm. Mira's nail marks were deep and just looking at it made Adela flinch all over again.

"Are you insane?" Adela started, rubbing her skin. "You could have drawn blood,"

"What happened?" Mira said, blatantly ignoring Adela.

Adela looked at Mira and scooched away. The desperation in Mira's eyes was definitely not comforting.

"Nothing," Adela said. "I just heard a fall and when I came you were unconscious."

She stared straight into Mira eyes, making sure her face was innocent. "Or was there something I should have seen?"

That did the trick. Mira immediately clamped her mouth shut and threw her face to the side. But she groaned when Mira still lay back down on her side.

"Aren't you going to do other-"

"ADELLLLLLLLLL"

And then, Mira stood up, gleaming like an absolute idiot as she skipped along to wherever Katriel was.

She looked at the spot that the Empress had been looking at. "I'll do my best," She whispered.

Adela got up and started to move towards Mira and Katriel. It wasn't hard to locate them considering the amount of noise they were generating.

"Let go of the basket," Katriel screeched.

Mira who now had the body strength of a diamond was tugging the basket like it was war.

She looked down on them, chuckling slightly. She walked up to them and yanked the basket out of their grip. "What is it?"

Mira gasped and reached out for the basket. "Katriel doesn't want to hand it over,"

Katriel scoffed and reached out for the basket. "Not all of it is for you."

Adela still held the basket out of reach. She stepped back a little and flipped open the covers of the basket. She went through the contents and handed over the items to an eager Mira.

Mira glanced over the items, struggling to hold the massive load. She laughed maniacally to herself before running into one of the empty rooms.

"Not even a thanks," Adela grumbled as she handed the basket over to Katriel.

Katriel chuckled, shaking her head at Adela. "I don't think she knows the word 'thanks'"

She laughed and looked back at the buckets before she heard Katriel talking.

"No,no, no, no," Katriel said, wiggling her finger.

Mira dragged Adela with one hand and held onto the basket with another.

"No more working. It's midday and I want to have my lunch," Katriel said, leading Adela towards the ground floor.

Adela nodded. She was grateful that she could eat before her stomach started making itself known.

"What about Nelly?"

"I told her already to meet us at the side," Katriel responded.

The maids quarters held three maids per room and Mira was her other roommate. They continued their journey down the flight of stairs and soon they could spot Nelly, standing with her hands crossed in front of the door.

"How long does it take to complete simple morning chores?" Nelly asked and playfully swung the small leather bag against Katriel's shoulder.

"How long does it take to defeat demons?" Adela countered.

Nelly rolled her eyes and opened the door. "Better not let Madam Raquel let you hear you call her that,"

Katriel scoffed as she bypassed Nelly and went out first. "She's exactly how they describe them in books. Can't be helped if there's a resemblance."

Adela laughed and Nelly shook her head exasperated. They went out into the courtyard and followed the cobbled pathway towards a round gazebo, flanked by beautiful flowers that glowed blue, red and yellow.

"It's childish, getting your nicknames from children's books." Nelly said, as she sat down.

Katriel scrunched her face in confusion but Adela was already speaking up, rolling her eyes as she said, "She's the embodiment of pure evil. Right along with goblins, dragons and nymphs. Stuff that can only exist in stories,"

"Don't Naians believe in sirens and ocean spirits though," Katriel said, bringing out the food.

Adela glanced to the side, "Sure, but it–"

"She's not a bad person!" Nelly shouted.

Adela looked back in shock at Nelly and Katriel chuckled nervously.

"Its the tr–,"

"We're sorry," Adela said, cutting off Katriel.

She looked to Katriel, cueing her on to agree. Katriel's eyes narrowed, maintaining that stubborn stand she was prone to taking. Adela pleading, offering a weak smile to Katriel. Eventually, the dark green eyes started to soften.

"Fine," Katriel sighed.

Adela clapped her hands and smiled at both of them. Madam Raquel was always a sensitive topic to Nelly. Adela even thought they might have been related with the way Nelly always defended her whenever she made a snide comment about the head maid.

"So did anything noteworthy happen in your lifes?" Adela asked, desperate to clear the air.

Nelly scoffed. "The king of the dragons and I are getting married in a fortnight."

"I'm assuming he's blind?" Adela teased.

Katriel chuckled and Nelly just rolled her peridot colored eyes, concentrating on the food in front of her.

"I just wanted to give you the gossip you've been dying for," Nelly said.

Katriel nodded and looked at Adela. "You ask us everytime. And every time we give the same answer,-"

"Nothing," Adela completed. "But honestly, how can a place be so uneventful? It's boring me to death"

"There's still the Full Moon Festival coming up," Nelly added, "Dress shopping is a dangerous battle around here."

Adela grabbed a plate, feeling her stomach ask why she was wasting time. "Wasn't that a week ago?"

"No," Katriel chimed. "That was just the Day of the Moonstone,"

Adela groaned, remembering the day-long festivity of dancing, singing and drinking wine until she dropped and woke up with her head feeling like it had been split open.

"Remind me why we needed a festival for a moonstone anyways?" Adela asked before sipping the soup.

"It's not like you had anything better to do," Nelly said.

It was true though, Adela really had nothing better to do than sulk around and try to solve a mystery. But still, it felt strange to have seven different festivals within the space of four weeks. And all for obscure things like the first sprout of the carrots, the appearance of the jade and many other things.

She leaned back against the cushioned seat and stuck her head out the pillars of the gazebo. She looked up at the clear blue sky and spotted the tiny outline of wind mages practicing flying.

"Del? You haven't told Nelly about Mira,"

Adela sat back up, laughing lightly as she remembered the ridiculous incident. "It's just Mira being dramatic as usual,"

Katriel scoffed. "Dramatic is being gentle. Girl slipped and demanded we bring her food."

"Food?" Nelly said, leaning closer to hear.

"Yeah, What was it again Del?" Katriel asked.

Adela racked her brain for a moment before the words came back to her. "Floating rice with chicken sauce and glazed ham?"

Nelly chuckled before she faltered and froze. Her smile slowly crumbled as she jolted up, knocking the teapot over and spilling the contents on the table. Katriel and Adela gasped and shifted to avoid the hot liquid touching them. But Nelly remained unfazed and instead cursed before running out of the gazebo and back into the palace.

Adela and Katriel looked at each other wondering just what had gotten into Nelly.

"I'll go after her," Adela said and got up.

Katriel nodded dismissively before picking up a napkin and mumbling as she dried the table. Adela pushed the door open and strode back in. Her eyes quickly caught the tail end of Nelly's skirt diving down one of the corridors.

Adela sighed in exasperation and gathered her skirts before dashing after Nelly.

"NELLY!" Adela screamed.

Adela pushed herself forward and  turned the corner. Nelly was ahead and still running despite Adela calling her name.

Exhausted, Adela slowed down a little to allow her yank the shoe off her foot. She closed one of her eyes and focused on the back of Nelly's head, zoning in just enough before she launched it at the poor maid's head.

Adela watched as the weighted shoe sailed and hit the intended target who stumbled and fell on the tiles. Nelly let out a pained groan and Adela smiled in satisfaction as she strolled over to the fallen Nelly.

"Need a hand?" Adela asked as she stretched one hand forward.

Nelly looked up at Adela, her eyes narrowed in annoyance. Adela winced as she saw the large bump that was forming on Nelly's forehead.

"Sea witch," Nelly said.

"Garden Gnome," Adela retorted.

Nelly rolled her eyes and reached for Adela's hand.

"So why did you run out like a deranged woman?"

Nelly sighed and rubbed her forehead while Adela wore her shoe again.

"What were we talking about?" Nelly asked.

"Mira's insane food request,"

"Oh right," Mira muttered. "Mira's going to poison the man that was courting her,"

A/N

I'm back peopleeee