Ridai was standing in her room, staring around. She wanted to commit it all to memory. Her low-to-the-ground bed, the small table where she always drank her tea, the way the sunlight drifted in through the window in the morning, the well-used rug on the floor, and her bookshelf, which was so stuffed with books that the sides were beginning to come off. Other than these items, her room was bare, which left quite a lot of empty space. Sighing, Ridai exited her room for the last time. She did not look back, and instead walked purposefully down the hall. She turned and entered her dressing room.
        "Good morning, Ma'am," her dresser greeted.
        "To you as well, Laila." Ridai smiled, hoping her sadness was effectively concealed. "What shall be my outfit today?" she asked, as she did every day.
        Laila held up a simple white robe. "The ceremonial robe, of course."
        "Of course." Ridai disrobed, and Laila wrapped the simple garment around her, tying a gold ribbon into an elaborate knot around Ridai's middle to hold it in place. If the knot were to come undone, it would be disastrous, as Ridai wore nothing underneath. She shivered. The thin cloth did not hold heat in very well.
        "How do I look?" she asked Laila, spinning slowly.
        "Regal." Laila smiled and hugged Ridai. There were tears in her eyes. The two girls embraced, then separated. "Alright, ma'am. Time to go."
        Ridai nodded. "Right." She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. She stepped out of the room.
        She walked slowly down the hall, committing it all to memory as she had with her room. She soon reached the dining hall. She pushed open the doors and entered. Sitting at either end of the table were her parents. Neither looked up or spoke. Ridai took her seat. Her private butler, Eidwa, strode over. He blushed lightly. Ridai also blushed. The ceremonial robe was too thin and short. Her thighs were exposed and her large bust was visible through the translucent fabric.
        "What would like for breakfast, Ridai?" he asked. She had told him long ago to stop calling her ma'am, and he was the only person who called her by her first name.
        "Do we have any cinnamon peaches?"
        Eidwa gave a small smirk. "For breakfast?"
        "Oh, come on. This might be the last time I'll eat them for years." Ridai giggled lightly.
        "Anything for you, ma'am," he replied, amused. He went to retrieve the said "breakfast". Ridai was left alone with her parents, who stood and left in unison as they did every morning. Not once had either of them ever spoken to Ridai. She knew it was part of the practice for royal families, but it made her dislike them. She preferred to spend time with Eidwa or Laila.
        Eidwa soon returned with a bowl of cinnamon peaches and placed them in front of her with a glass of milk. "Here you are, Ridai."
        "Thanks, Eidwa." She resisted the urge to hug him. She wanted to save that until after the ceremony. She began eating, and as she did so, her younger sister entered. Ridai did not look up or speak, knowing it was not customary to do so. She was glad that her sibling was able to talk to her parents, as she was not a "direct relative", despite being their daughter. Ridai found the non-speaking rule odd. Its rules were strange and it didn't seem to do anything as far as she could tell.
        Ridai finished her meal and stood. Eidwa followed her through the "palace". It was not really a palace. It was more like four separate buildings with a courtyard in between them. Each building was two floors and had eight rooms of equal size. One whole building was unoccupied, as the king and queen only had two children.
        Ridai went out into the courtyard. It was raining lightly, and the plants were covered in little drops of water. The rain made the robe stick to her skin. She hoped Eidwa wasn't looking.
           There were still three hours until the ceremony, and she no lessons that day because of it. She sat down upon a bench under a cherry tree and contemplated the rest of her time at the palace. She planned to say goodbye to the rest of the workers, but she had plenty more time.
        As she sat, cherry blossoms drifted down and landed on her deep brown hair and her legs. She fingered one absentmindedly. After a few moments, Eidwa sat down next to her.
        "I'll miss you," he whispered.
        "I'll miss you too," she replied. She leaned against him, and he put his arm around her shoulders. Suddenly, he placed a kiss to her cheek. Surprised, she looked up at him. A small smile found its way to her face. They had kissed in the past, but that was when they were little and didn't understand the meaning of it. It hit her then that it was unlikely that they would see each other for years, and she burst out crying. His gold eyes filled with tears as well, and soon they were hugging each other and sobbing. After a few minutes, they separated, and he took her hand.
        "Cmon," he whispered. "You should go back inside where it's dry."
        She wiped her tears and nodded. "Okay." He helped her up, and they made their way back to the building which they had come out of. It was the only building which she had been in. One was her parents', which her younger sister also lived in, one was unoccupied, one was hers, and one was the servants'. She was forbidden from entering any other than her own. The only servants that did not reside in the servants' hall were Eidwa and Laila, who stayed in Ridai's building. Ridai's building housed the dining hall, the library, a sunroom, and a large bathroom that included a large hot tub. On many occasions, she had invited Eidwa and Laila to swim with her. Eidwa had always come but didn't swim, and Laila never turned it down. Eventually, Ridai's younger sister's first child would move into Ridai's hall.
        Ridai went to the sunroom to dry off. There was a fireplace, and she lit it. She sat on a cushion in front of it, warming up. Within minutes, the thin fabric of the robe was completely dry, and she stood.
        She turned to Eidwa. "I'm going to go say goodbye to the rest of servants. Do you want to come with me?"
        Eidwa bowed. "I don't really have a choice."
        "Okay, come on then. I just hope they are all in here somewhere; I can't go look for them in the servants' hall."
         The first room she checked was the library. The cleaner was dusting the shelves, and Ridai approached her. "Good morning, Seyla."
        Seyla turned around. "Ma'am! Good morning." She curtsied. "How may I help you?"
        "I wanted to say that I'm going to miss you. You've been so helpful throughout my life, and I wanted to say goodbye."
        Seyla's eyes teared up. "I'll miss you too, ma'am. I hope your journey will be successful and quick."
        "So do I."
        "Well, I should probably get back to work. Your father wants the building spotless by noon."
        "Alright. I'll leave you in peace."
        Seyla curtsied again and turned away. Ridai sighed, then looked around the library for the last time. She had read most of the books in there, except for the ones in the locked section. She didn't have access to those; only her parents did.
        She turned to Eidwa, who seemed lost in thought. She wondered what he was thinking about. "I think we should move on," she told him.
        His eyes focused. "Hmm? Oh, yes, of course." He followed her out. "Where are we going next?"
        "The kitchen. The cook should still be there." The kitchen was half of the dining hall, and was separated by a paper wall. When Ridai was younger, she enjoyed helping the the cook mix ingredients and loved using the mortar and pestle to grind spices. Now, she tried to stay away. Any food she touched turned out to be a disaster.
        "The kitchen it is." The pair traveled through the dining hall and into the kitchen. The smell of baking chocolate cake hit Ridai's nose, and she inhaled deeply. The cook was mixing something in a large bowl. Ridai watched in fascination as the cook carefully poured the mixture into small molds, then placed the tray into the icebox to set. After doing so, the cook turned around, rubbing her hands together to shake off some flour.
        "How may I help you, ma'am?" she asked.
        "Sorry for interrupting."
        "No problem. I was just finishing up the sweets for after the ceremony."
        "I wanted to say that I'll miss you, Rika. It pains me to think that I won't be tasting your food for a long time after this."
        Rika laughed. "I'll miss you too. I still remember meeting you for the first time. You were so little." She used her hand to show how tall Ridai had been when they first met.
        "You weren't much older!" Ridai protested, laughing. "You make it sound so dramatic."
        Rika tutted. "I was ten. You were three. That's seven years difference, hon."
        "Okay, fine. I just wanted to say goodbye, and I hope we'll see each other again after my journey."
        "So do I, hon. So do I."
        "See you at the ceremony. I can't wait to eat whatever you just stuck in the icebox."
        "Okay, hon. See you later." Rika turned away to begin working on something else.
        Ridai stepped out into the hallway, sighing. "That's everyone downstairs. I still have to talk to Laila, though."
        "I think she'll miss you most of all," Eidwa told her. "You spent do much time together."
        "Yeah. I wrote a letter for her and put it under her door last night, but it said not to read it until after I'm gone. I gave one to you, too."
        "Yeah, I got it. I really want to read it."
        "I hope that it's good enough. It's so hard to condense fifteen years into one letter."
        "Anything you write will be good enough for me. I'm sorry I didn't write one for you."
        "I'd just be more sad if you did."
        There was a moment's silence, the Ridai spoke. "It's weird that you're a guy. All of the other servants are girls."
        "Yeah, a gold-eyed guy is very rare. I hope it brings you fortune."
        "Sorry you got looped into this royal servant thing. You could probably do something better with your life than follow me around all day."
        "There's nothing I would want to do more." He smiled and touched her hair. She smiled back.
        "I'm glad," she whispered. "I should probably go talk to Laila. She might be wondering where I am."
        "Good idea." Ridai went up the stairs with Eidwa in tow. She walked down the hallway until she came to the dressing room.
        "I hope she's still in there."
        "I'm sure she is."
        Taking a deep breath, Ridai pushed open the door. Relief flooded her chest when she saw Laila sitting by her sewing table, making what looked like a coat. She looked up when Ridai came in.
        "Ridai!" Laila abandoned formalities. She stood and ran over to give Ridai a hug. "I'm going to miss you so much."
        "I'm going to miss you too, Laila." She hugged the other girl fiercely, determined not to cry. Despite her efforts, tears gathered in her eyes and threatened to spill over.
        Laila stepped back and stood face-to-face with Ridai. Her gold eyes met Ridai's blue ones, and were also filled with tears. "I wish you luck on your journey, and I hope you come back soon."
        "So do I."
        Laila then turned to Eidwa, and the two shared a look that Ridai could not comprehend.
        "We should be going," Eidwa told Ridai gently.
        "You're right. The ceremony will start in a couple of hours." Ridai wiped her tears and turned away from Laila, determined. She followed Eidwa out of the dressing room. She did not look back.