"You keep saying that, but you're ready enough to charge into the forest all alone. Look at your dress. You ruined it."

"How do you expect me to focus in Gaurin's class when he hates my guts?"

"He doesn't hate you."

"Oh, right, sure, he doesn't hate me, just like the Diallos and the Glockners." All of those families, with their bitter, beady little eyes. They were the reason why she avoided certain parts of Stockbrunn entirely. She couldn't go down Kuefer Street without worrying that she'd run into one of them. "Need me to go on?"

"No one hates you. You're the heiress apparent. That means something to these people. Don't confuse their jealousy for hatred."

"You don't get it."

"I do get it. I wasn't that much older than you when I became the Chieftess." Hilda said. "You can't spend all of your time moping and crying. You have to put the town first. They need you."

"As if you don't mope and cry about Dad."

"...What did you just say?"

Ellie refused to back down. "I said—"

Just then, the front door opened. In walked Henrik Stenberg, a boy about Ellie's age who worked as her father's nighttime attendant. Dr. Cuthberht had recommended him to them after his older sister Johanna had left them for medical school. He was tall, gawky, and awkward in his height and long limbs, much like a baby horse that didn't have its footing yet. His posture suffered from having to lean down too much to get on other people's level. He had a pair of round silver glasses perched on his nose.

His throat bobbed when he swallowed. "I'm so sorry for being late Chieftess Hildegard." They'd gotten on a first name basis in the months since he had started working in their home.

Hilda made sure her glare lingered on her daughter before she turned to him. "It's not a problem. Bodil is finishing up with him upstairs. Why don't you take Ellie up with you? She hasn't gotten a chance to say hello."

"Yes, ma'am." He hung his coat on the rack by the door. "Shall we?"

Ellie went up the steps without waiting for him. She heard the door shut, signalling that her mother had left. Good for her, then. She probably realized she was going to lose. They'd finish their fight at a later time.

She spoke over her shoulder. "What made you so late?"

"Agatha lost a tooth."

"Who?"

"My little sister."

"Right, cute little Agatha! I remember her now." She didn't. Ellie had too many things to juggle to remember something as minor as that. Her mother acted like she had to keep tabs on everyone in town, right down to memorizing their birthdays and who their second and third cousins were.

On top of that, she had to learn a whole bunch of other irrelevant stuff. The last Territorial War had been maybe 24 years ago. They weren't fighting the Erzyans—Casterne's neighboring territory—any time soon, so why did she have to practice spear fighting? Not that she was keeping up with those lessons, either. Spear fighting occupied her time even less than Guarin's lessons did.

Old Gaurin with his peg leg. Apparently, his family had originally come from Nystad, the coastal town where Stockbrunn imported its dried fish from. He'd been a teacher there, too, specializing in political affairs. For whatever stupid reason, he moved down to Stockbrunn and became a secondary studies teacher.

Ellie knocked on her father's door. Bodil Olsson, his daytime attendant, opened it. Even though Bodil was older than her mother, her eyes were less tired-looking, still holding onto a youthfulness reserved for women half her age. She had permanent creaselines on her forehead, and the edges of her red hair were graying. She'd been working for them since Ellie was 7. If circumstances had been different, Ellie might have thought of her as a second mother. She'd make a better one than her real one, in any case.

Bodil stepped aside so they could enter the room. "You're right on time. Vicente's almost ready for his nap."

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A/N: This is an interactive fantasy serial. Voting takes place on Thursdays through Sundays on the story's main site. The most up-to-date chapters can also be found there, but uploading will happen in parts on RRL as well.

The latest chapter, Chapter 7, has now been posted to the site. Voting will end by February 28th at 11:59 PM EST.