[Realm: Uhorus]

[Location: Verdantis]

[Capital City]

The tea in Lucinda’s hands was still pleasantly warm within the antique porcelain cup. Thin wisps of steam curled upward before disappearing into the air of Alyssia’s chambers. She did not truly need the warmth—not physically—but there was something comforting about holding it nonetheless. It gave her hands something to do while her thoughts wandered where they always seemed determined to wander.

She sat beside one of the tall windows overlooking the castle grounds, her red eyes fixed on the dreadful skies beyond the glass.

The sky had not changed.

The tears still hung overhead, looking like wounds, endlessly bleeding that darkness into the world below.

By all rights, it should have been night.

Had there not been attendants carefully marking the hours each day, Lucinda doubted she would have been able to tell anymore. Morning and evening had long since lost their meaning beneath those ruined skies. When the calamity had first begun, she had wondered why people insisted on keeping such careful track of the passing hours when the skies themselves no longer obeyed them.

Now she understood.

Routine was comforting.

Normalcy, however fragile, gave frightened hearts something to cling to.

It reminded people that tomorrow still existed.

Unfortunately...

A spawn of Octavia did not have much normalcy left to hold onto.

"Are you quite content to simply sit there and stare out the window so listlessly?" Alyssia’s voice finally broke through the silence.

Lucinda blinked.

Turning slightly, she found the older spawn reclining comfortably upon her bed, entirely absorbed in a beautifully decorated cookie whose icing was rapidly disappearing one bite at a time. Alyssia regarded her with a mildly questioning look, one brow raised as though she had been observing Lucinda’s distant expression for quite some time already.

Lucinda offered an apologetic smile.

"Sorry... I didn’t mean to drift off like that." She lowered her eyes briefly to the tea in her hands before looking back toward the window. "My thoughts just always seem to circle back to the calamity. No matter what I’m doing, it eventually ends up there."

Alyssia took another small bite before swallowing.

"It really does seem those are the only kinds of thoughts that ever occupy your head," she observed, neither cruel nor mocking, merely stating what she believed to be true. She dusted a few crumbs from her fingertips before setting the remainder of the pastry aside. "Surely you realize there is more to life than constantly thinking about the apocalypse."

The statement sounded almost contradictory considering the state of the world.

Yet Alyssia spoke with complete confidence.

Lucinda gave a small, helpless shrug.

"Well, it is potentially the end of the world." A small laugh escaped her, though there was little humor behind it. "It’s difficult not to think about it."

"I didn’t say it was difficult," Alyssia replied, shaking her head with a small sigh. "I’m saying it shouldn’t become the only thing you allow yourself to think about." Her red eyes rested steadily on Lucinda. "There’s a difference."

Lucinda remained silent.

"You truly need something outside of duty," Alyssia continued after a moment, lightly tapping her delicate chin in thought. "A hobby, something that’s yours alone."

She studied Lucinda carefully.

"But admittedly..." A small frown tugged at her lips. "I’m at something of a loss as to what that hobby would even be."

She let out the smallest breath of amusement.

"Even when we spoke before, you didn’t sound entirely certain whether reading was still something you genuinely enjoyed or merely something you had grown accustomed to."

Lucinda couldn’t immediately answer.

Instead, she looked down at the reflection shimmering across the surface of her tea.

"Maybe..." she eventually murmured. "But conversations like this are nice too."

Her smile softened.

"It wasn’t often that I had the chance to simply sit down and talk with someone without there being a mission, an emergency, or expectations waiting afterwards."

Alyssia hummed thoughtfully.

"I suppose being a spawn of Octavia naturally attracts admirers. Then, before Fiona, Victoria, and others..." Alyssia tilted her head slightly. "Did you truly have no one you could simply talk to?"

Lucinda’s expression minutely changed, enough for Alyssia to notice.

"At first..." Lucinda admitted softly, "...not really."

She smiled to herself.

"It wasn’t until I properly got to know Fiona, Victoria, and everyone else that things slowly began changing." Then another memory surfaced; her smile grew warmer without her realizing it. "But before even that Mikoto appeared."

The name alone seemed enough to brighten her expression.

"He talked to me the way everyone else did." Her fingers gently tightened around the porcelain cup. "He wasn’t intimidated or overly respectful, and he wasn’t constantly reminding himself that I was a spawn of Octavia."

Lucinda let out the faintest breath.

"He just talked to me, as though I were an ordinary person." She paused. "At first I couldn’t have possibly known he carried the exact same burden we do." Her red eyes slowly lowered to the tea.

The steam had grown noticeably thinner now.

"Even though he was also a spawn of Octavia, he lived so differently from me." Her voice became quieter. "He concealed his identity and never announced who he was. But even so, without revealing it, people still came to recognize his strength."

She shook her head ever so slightly.

"Despite all that, he somehow managed to keep something I never truly felt I had. Freedom." Lucinda drew a slow breath. "He carried responsibility, but it never looked like obligation." A faint smile lingered upon her lips. "I couldn’t help but envy that."

Alyssia watched her carefully.

There was something unexpectedly gentle about the way Lucinda spoke.

"And admire him as well," Alyssia quietly concluded.

It wasn’t phrased as a question.

Lucinda answered just as honestly.

"...Yeah." Without embarrassment or any attempt to hide it. It was simple honesty.

Alyssia regarded her for another thoughtful moment.

("Hm...") Her thoughts settled. ("The more she talks about him, the more convinced I become that she’s forcing herself to live in a way she never truly chose.") She folded one leg beneath herself. "Now I’m actually curious. I’d quite like to meet Mikoto myself."

"I think you’d like him," Lucinda said, noticing Alyssia’s contemplative look. Her smile returned with surprising ease. "Actually..." she laughed softly. "You remind me of him sometimes."

Alyssia blinked.

"I do?"

"You both speak whatever comes into your heads." Lucinda smiled apologetically. "Without much hesitation, it’s a very admirable quality."

Alyssia smiled with satisfaction.

"I’d call it one of my better traits." She folded her arms comfortably. "But from everything you’ve told me..." Her gaze settled firmly upon Lucinda once more. "...Mikoto sounds like someone you ought to imitate a little more."

Lucinda tilted her head.

"I... don’t quite understand what you mean."

Alyssia answered almost immediately. "Doing what you actually want."

Silence lingered, and Lucinda blinked.

"I don’t know about that." Her smile turned sheepish again. "Mikoto never used his freedom maliciously." She looked down into her tea. "But someone possessing that much power and simply doing whatever they want..." She hesitated. "...Most people would find that frightening."

"And that’s precisely your problem, Lucinda." Alyssia’s answer came without hesitation. She lightly shook her head, her white hair shifting over her shoulders. "You care far too much."

Lucinda looked genuinely surprised.

"I do?"

"Yes," Alyssia answered so quickly there was almost no pause between the question and response. "You really do." She rested an elbow upon her knee. "Ordinarily I’d say that’s a wonderful quality." A faint sigh escaped her. "But I’m honestly not convinced it’s healthy in your case."

She gestured lightly toward Lucinda with one finger.

"Your mind never stops; you’re constantly carrying someone else’s worries, someone else’s responsibilities, and someone else’s expectations." Her expression softened. "I don’t think you’ve given yourself permission to simply exist in a very long time."

Lucinda looked down quietly.

"Maybe." The admission came barely above a whisper. Almost unconsciously, her eyes wandered back toward the ruined world beyond the window.

Alyssia followed her gaze for only a brief second before looking back at Lucinda instead.

"...Home?"

The question was simple.

Lucinda nodded.

"Yeah." A small breath escaped her. "There are plenty of capable people in Galadriel. I know that, and I trust them; I truly do." Her fingers tightened ever so slightly around the cup. "But knowing they’re capable doesn’t stop me from worrying. My thoughts always drift back there eventually. I just..."

She looked outside once more.

"...I hope everyone’s alright."

Alyssia watched her quietly; she said nothing.

("You’re genuinely too kind, Lucinda.") The thought lingered with unexpected seriousness. ("Far kinder than is probably good for you.") She rested her chin lightly against her hand. ("And that’s becoming its own burden.")

A small sigh escaped her.

("Though...") The corner of her mouth lifted almost imperceptibly. ("I’m hardly qualified to lecture someone about unhealthy ways of living.")

The room gradually fell silent once more.

Lucinda remained seated beside the window, her attention once again drawn toward the endless darkness beyond the castle walls.

Even now...

Her thoughts had already returned to Galadriel.