I arrive back in the same room I left, the king and Diablo seem to be finishing up the deal, as I appear. Diablo was the first to react to the new addition I was holding. He seemed shocked. Well of course he would be, I think most of the world will be when this gets out...
Diablo spoke "Your Excellency, you are back." I reply as I am looking at the little girl in my arms, "Yes I am." I look up at him and then say "Have you finished the deal yet?"
Diablo seems to take a second to compose himself before gesturing to the king beside him, who might I add has an expression on his face that reads 'why has he got a orphan girl in his arms?'
I do not need to explain myself to someone like him, so I directly ignore him as Diablo answers me "Yes, Your Excellency, we are just finishing the final amendments to the agreement."
I nod in affirmation before turning to leave and enjoy that noble hospitality that I missed. "If you need me, I will be enjoying this 'humble abode' a bit while I wait. Oh and I will need to clean this one up" I gesture to the girl in my arms, as I turn and leave the room.
As the door shuts, Diablo seems to think to himself 'why would my master pick up a random orphan girl from this backwater for? Unless.... no way? Right?' Before turning back the the king to continue 'finalising' the 'deal' with him.
As I leave the room my personal guard straighten and salute, by slamming a fist on their chest. I nod before walking to the King Mage captain, Alphonso, a man that has been loyal to my house for over a decade now.
As I approach Alphonso can not help but look at the girl in my arms before quickly averting his gaze and composing himself before stating "Your Excellency." and saluting again.
I look at him, nod, and then say "Alphonso, this here is my daughter"
As I state this I could see the sign of pure surprise in his eyes and facial expression before yet again composing himself. I then go on "I want you and your team to be in charge of her protection, do not disappoint me." I say with a glare that could make a lesser man faint.
However, Alphonso is no lesser man, it is why I chose him for not just this trip but also this task. Alphonso falls to one knee and swears "Your Excellency, my men and I will sacrifice ourselves, to protect Her Highness. You have not just my word, but my years of loyalty and I stake my honour on it!" He almost shouts at the end as he finished delivering that pledge.
I tell him to rise and then hand her off to him, while saying, "Diablo is still finalising the deal, go get her cleaned up. Just order a few maids from around here to do it, and make sure to keep and eye on her at all times." I say.
As I walk off I hear "At once, Your Excellency!"
POV - Daughter
I awaken to a weird feeling of emptiness like something or someone is missing, however, as I look around and I start to awaken, it seems like I am moving through a hallway larger than anything I have seen before, with wealth displayed everywhere.
As look to my front I see a few maids rushing, and as I look around me I see I am being held by an unfamiliar man. I quickly panic, but before I can say anything the man speaks very respectfully, something I am not used to "Your Highness, don't panic, your father told us to get you cleaned up before we leave this place."
Your Highness? Why would he call me that? Anyway, as I nod in understanding, we arrive at a massive ornate door that as it opens leads into the largest bathroom I have ever seen, the maids start to get to work operating the different taps to make the large oval bath fill up with steaming hot water.
*Sigh* how long has it been since I had a hot bath? As I think this, the man puts me down onto a little wooden stool as he speaks to one of the maids in an authoritative tone "Ensure Her Highness receives the best care, understood?" He says making the maid flinch and nod quickly. The man then steps back and surveys the maids and the surrounding bathroom like a hawk. Scary. I thought.
The maid comes over to me, and starts to get me out of the old torn clothes that I have been in since I entered that hell called an orphanage. I slightly wince at the sharp pain of my cuts as she pulls my top off.
She apologies quickly "Sorry, Your Highness, but I have to do this to be able to heal you and then bath you" She quickly explains. Wow, I guess my father really is a big deal if this is how people are treating me now.
I nod slowly, as a reply. Healing though, what does she mean by that? I know mother spoke of the different elements in this world, the more common ones like fire, wind, earth, and water.
Then there are the higher versions of these elements, fire = lava, water = ice, earth = nature, wind = air and then there are the two rarest elements, light and dark, however they have no higher version because of how powerful of an element they are.
As I was thinking this, the maid hands started to glow a pure bright emerald green and as she put her hand over my scars, scratches, cuts and bruises they all started to heal until my skin was as perfect as I remember.
I couldn't help an awe filled expression to appear on my face. At this the maid smiled slightly, before responding to my expression "Your Highness this is the nature affinity, I am able to heal most minor wounds and injuries."
Interesting I thought, then I thought again, why is she just a maid for then if she has this higher element and can use magic?
As is she could read my thoughts the maid laughed in a slight, self depreciated way, before responding "Your Highness, even though I have these powers of nature I don't have the talent to back them up, I was born with only a yellow magic core and so at most all I could do is heal minor wounds, someone with a much better talent would obviously be able to do more."
Before I could say more, she spoke again "Your Highness, lets get you into the bath now, and sort out that beautiful hair of yours." As she said this she picked me up gently and walked over to the bath, before lowering me in.
After finishing the bath I was put back on the stool again and what greeted me in the lavish long mirror in front of me shocked me, it had been a while since I had seen this person.
My hair had now been unmatted, and has been cleaned, my body no longer has any blemish let alone a bruise or cut or scar. My eyes are now clear and have regained their lustre. I felt so happy in this moment, to be able to regain my former self. Thank you father, I thought.
He has done so much for me in such little time. As I was ruminating on this, the maids dried my body and hair as another brought forward some lavish small dresses for me, as one maid spoke "Your Highness, this is all we could arrange on short notice."
Before I could say it was fine, the man that has been watching like hawk the whole time, spoke sternly. "They pass, His Excellency will arrange something better once we get back to Luminosity" Something better? I thought. These dresses are some of the nicest I have seen! The maid holding up the dresses nodded, then asked me to choose one. I thought for a moment before picking.
Before I knew it we were done and if I thought my old self was back before, this time I didn't even recognise myself... Suddenly an excitement bubbled up within me, I cant wait for father to see me. What will his reaction be after seeing me in such a state before? It feels nice to be excited again, I thought, for a moment.
Then a knock came on the door and broke me out of my reverie, as the man who has been watching like a hawk answered, then turned to me, respectfully saying "Your Highness, His Excellency is asking for us, we should be on our way." I nodded, then turned and thanked the maids, which all looked surprised by that, before I turned and started walking out into the hallway again.
As I walked back down the long, wide and overly lavish hallway to father surrounded by men similar to hawk eyes, I heard him speak to me again "You do not need to thank people like those maids, Your Highness."
I was shocked as I turned while we walked and looked up to him and replied "But my mother said that manners cost nothing." The mans serious eyes seemed to relax slightly as he replied "That is a valuable piece of advice and an honourable way to live, however, Your Highness, this world is far from honourable, as I think you may have witnessed."
He seemed to hesitate, before continuing "The reason I said this is because you are no longer a normal child Your Highness, which you will soon learn as the world comes to know of you. You are now the child of one of the most powerful and influential men in this world, that comes with enemies, pressure and a certain way of needing to act."
Then as if realising something, he bowed his head slightly and said "I apologise if I overstepped, Your Highness, I just think you needed a basic understanding for you to better understand your position." I nodded slightly as I replied "It is fine, I know my father is powerful from the way he dealt.... with those bad people. However, could you tell me more about him, as you know him, before we arrive?"
Hawk eyes looked at me and then slowed his steps as he replied with a bit of nostalgic fervour in his voice "What I know of him personally is quite little, however, I have been with him and his house for the last 10 years, since the founding of our great city state -Luminosity, and through that time he has always been a focused man, who was dedicated to the path of power and supremacy. Probably why he became the youngest Great Mage in history. I believe the only reason he built his city was for this and the reason he is the way he is personality wise is also because of this. He is a man that has cut himself off from all mortal emotion or at least on the outside looking in it seems that way, as he dedicates himself to his singular goal. Power. Personal or otherwise."
As I listened to hawk eyes I couldn't help but ponder his words. My father's life sounded... sad. What did he go through to end up like that? I wondered, as we slowly walked through the corridors of this castle.
Suddenly the splendour of it all seemed a little less than before.