“Telling an introvert to go to a party is like telling a saint to go to Hell.”

- Criss Jami, Killosophy

The next day was Sunday and after sleeping in, they had a leisurely breakfast and finished their homework. In the afternoon Mireille had to go back to the academy for more tutoring in lightning attunement.

In the evening Vanessa came back to the townhouse and gave another lesson to the overworked Alyssa.

Alea was being dressed by three maids and had, perhaps for the third time in her life makeup applied to her face.

After everything was finished her ebony hair was adorned with a silver net studded with small sapphires glinting coldly in the light of the globes. Her blindfold was made of silk and stitched with arcane sigils easing her access to the spider. She wore an evening gown of dark-blue samite ornamented with leaves and flowers in an even darker tone of black but made of reflective fabric so that those accents were visible when hit with light at a certain angle. She wore black lace gloves reaching to her upper arms, while her shoulders were bare. A corset tried to give her some curves that were not naturally apparent.

She was miserable.

The spider was polished until every brass rivet was gleaming and one enterprising maid had even bound a yellow ribbon on its back.

“I look as if I am about to be sold and the clothes are the packaging.” She stretched and grudgingly said. “But the fabric is beautiful and the gloves even feel nice. If those were acid-resistant I could wear them in the laboratory.” The last was said while inspecting the gloves in contemplation.

The maids looked at each other and suppressed a giggle.

Viola Silversmith, the head of the household’s servants inspected her critically. “It will do. My lady, your carriage, courtesy of the princess, has arrived. I would urge you to make haste.”

Alea sighed deeply and then raised the hem of her gown with hands on both sides and walked towards the courtyard. She had decided to leave Lorelle behind on the off-chance that there would be someone at the party who recognized her as the missing maid of Mathilde von Nordmark.

The coach was an ornate affair, dark wooden paneling polished and varnished to a mirror sheen. The edges were worked with silverplated steel carved with runes and as she entered, the noise from the outside faded to a mere whisper. The air was fresh and a light floral scent pervaded the spacious interior. A maid sat with her hands folded demurely in front of her. She had strawberry blond hair and freckles like her friend Mireille. She seemed to be in her late twenties with a slim figure.

“And who might you be?” Alea asked after she had arranged her skirt and sat down.

“My name is Magritte and I will be your attendant for the party. My lady the princess Lieseleta von Margrinar has given the order that you are to be served as if you were she. So please feel free to make use of me as you wish.”

“Then I will be in your care. Do you know where the party is taking place and who arranged for it?”

The maid looked at her curiously. “Did my lady not tell you? The party is hosted by the von Dornenfurt in their villa. In this case the young lady Theresia von Dornenfurt. They are of high nobility and Theresia’s father is the duke of Dornenfurt, Pheresias.”

Alea remembered the heraldry book she had been forced to study and nodded in understanding. “Because Dornenfurt is so close to the capital it has been a privileged house.”

“That is the case.”

Ruminating about why she of all people was attending this party, the rest of the way was spent in silence save for the whirring gears of Cecily her spider.

Exiting the coach they stood in front of a large mansion lit from within and without by magical lighting. The graveled road they were on went in a circle around a big water fountain in front of the great double doors leading into the entrance hall. Magritte smiled at her, “We should head inside, your dress does not seem to be warm enough for a prolonged stay outside.”

Wind bowed creaking branches and trees farther back in the large carefully tended garden.

Alea nodded and mounted the stairs leading to the doors. A liveried servant opened the door and bowed. Her dress swished over the polished marble floor, large columns dominated the atmosphere while large chandeliers lit the room nearly as bright as daylight. The walls were ornamented with stucko and painted in white and pale gold. Some girls stood there talking in small groups while it seemed most of them were already in the dining room.

She spied Lucille chatting with another girl she had seen in the dormitory, Margot should be her name, and nodded toward them in greeting which was returned. Then there was Alexandra von Stetting who looked surprised but delighted to see her. Melissa von Eulentor the ill-fated, probable girlfriend - she was unsure- of the insufferable lout Otto von Landesend stood to the side holding a thin stemmed crystal glass with a sparkling beverage trying to stay out of the limelight.

And while she could completely empathize with that, she was not going to waste her pity on enemies of her friends.

Magritte cleared her throat. “The princess would probably like to meet you before dinner. It seems as if her wishes to be seated next to you were not heeded. But she will be with you after the meal ends.”

Alea hunched her shoulders and calmed her breathing. She had feared that she would be alone in such a gathering. She was still not used to such and after years of living with her grandmother, she was only slowly acclimatizing to having friends and a social life.

“Please follow me.” Magritte walked briskly down a side corridor while periodically looking back to ascertain that she had not gotten lost.

‘I must have made the impression of being unreliable and pretty naive.’ Alea thought bitterly.

Then the maid opened a room and gestured for her to enter.

“Alea!” Lieseleta looked up from a chessboard where she was playing Jera. The princess was clothed in golden-colored fabrics with amber and topaz glittering in geometric ornamentation probably hiding defensive magics. Her golden hair was held back by a diadem featuring a large yellow topaz in which reflections of light formed a seven-pointed star.

And then she hugged the little girl who was at least a head shorter than her. It looked like a big sister holding her smaller sibling.

Jera stood up and bowed politely. “Good evening Ms. von Graufurt.”

“I am quite cross with Theresia, I mentioned that I would be arriving in the company of a good friend and she thought I meant Minette. As if.” She rolled her large blue eyes and looked angry. “But after the formal part of the evening is finished I will not leave your side.”

Alea who was a bit stiff during the sudden embrace relaxed and returned the hug. “I really don’t know why you are so nice to me. But I am grateful.”

“You don’t even know how likable you are. What do you think of my new perfume? I extracted the oil from flowers I grew myself.” She looked expectant.

A scent somehow sweet and refreshing at the same time hung in the air.

“It smells like water lilies.”

“You have a very good sense of smell, that is exactly what I used. Normally their scent is too weak so I helped with some magic. Botany is my hobby you know.”

“I like it,” Alea said firmly.

“I will gift you some when next we meet.” Lieseleta looked satisfied.

“Your Highness, Ms. von Graufurt, we need to get to the dining room, they cannot start without us.” Jera admonished.

“Yes, you are right, Jera. Let us go.”

The dining room was built with large windows facing the garden. Dimly visible behind the reflections thrown by the brightly glowing lights.

Candles were lit on the long table and porcelain dishes and silver cutlery were placed alongside stitched napkins. The whole affair was gleaming to a nearly unpleasant degree. At least a score of noble girls in gowns in all possible colors but with distinct leanings toward more muted autumn colors were already seated and talking to each other. As Lieseleta and Alea entered there was a brief lull in the conversation as everyone turned to look.

“Welcome princess, I am overjoyed that you accepted my invitation. And who is your friend?” A tall girl with curly auburn hair and a curvy figure walked towards them. She wore a pastel green dress with silver accents and silver jewelry with dark red garnets.

“Theresia, good to see you too. How could I not come to one of your gatherings? This here is Alea von Graufurt. She has not had much exposure to the usual gatherings as she resided mostly in Grunewald. I regard her as an important friend.”

Theresias eyes lit with curiosity. “I heard of a blind student with some clockwork mechanism. So that is you? Good evening, my name is Theresia von Dornenfurt. I am delighted to make your acquaintance.”

Alea curtsied a bit out of practice and said, “the pleasure is all mine. Thank you for extending your invitation.”

“Don't mention it.” Her gaze traveled between the two of them and she seemed to reach a conclusion before she nodded. “Then please be seated. Alea your seat is here.” She pointed towards a vacant seat in the lower half of the table.”

For a very short moment, distress flickered across her features before she became expressionless again.

Lieseleta and probably Theresia too caught it nonetheless. Lieseleta squeezed her shoulder leaned in towards her and whispered apologetically. “See you later.”

Theresia led her towards the head of the table where she was seated to her right. On the other side of Lieseleta sat a smaller girl with gorgeous blonde hair that fell down her back in carefully tended waves. She had a pretty face, light-blue eyes, with a subbed nose, and smiled brilliantly at the princess who seemed much less enthused.

Alea sat down and looked around her. The girl to her right was a prim-looking girl in a soft grey dress with elaborately styled curly brown hair. The girl to her left was thickly set and tanned. Dark hair and dark eyes held a lively spark.

“Good to meet you, my name is Paula of Andria.” The tanned girl greeted her.

“Vela von Gildburg. You should be my cousin once removed. Pleased to make your acquaintance.” Her dry tone suggested that she was anything but.

“Likewise.” Alea forced herself to answer. Sweat dotted her brow. The spider moved towards her neck and the gears sped up.

“That is a highly interesting automaton. It moves just like a living thing.” Paula looked intrigued.

Grateful for a topic she could talk about Alea began to answer as Vela interrupted. “Please. No talk about work and study. That's all my father ever does. Can we talk about the fall's end festival instead?”

Alea hung her head and shrunk back into her seat. Paula looked a bit irritated but began to talk to Vela about the impending festival. It was the anniversary of the founding of Margrinar and the harvest festival rolled into one and as such the most important day of the year. This time the festival would culminate with the Exhibition of the Arcane as was custom once upon a time. It should be about two months hence by Alea’s reckoning.

In the privacy of her mind, she visualized the formulae that she had seen Vanessa draw in the air. ‘Such facility with the arcane, it is so elegant and straightforward. An error is an error and a success easily measurable. Not like this gathering where it all depends on subjective opinion. Please let it end.’ Her right hand unconsciously drew runes in the air and she felt an answering tingle from somewhere to her left. Her eyes were drawn to a servant who lifted the lid of a covered dish.

Inside was a black orb approximately the size of a large fist. She felt the energies rising inside the dark glass and though she only got a glimpse her body moved nearly without thought as she jumped on the table voicing a command word then she gestured and incanted a spell. Inside the spider gears long-unused began to rotate and energies burst from hidden reservoirs time seemed to slow down.

The server turned dead eyes toward her and the orb began to flash as blood burst from the wrists of the hapless man, the cuts showing runic precision, before flowing into and through the sphere of dark crystal.

Another flash, accompanied by a shattering noise and an eruption of black energy.

Shards of razor-sharp glass interwoven with boiling blood hung in the air before they were loosely shaped into a rotating oval sphere which shot towards Lieseleta and the others sitting at the head of the table. Vases and flowers were shredded by the speeding missile, petals rose into the air mixed with droplets of blood.

In the air before Alea glyphs spun in a dizzying array forming an eye the size of her chest. The eye opened and pure light spilled into the world, light more potent, more real than that of the sun at noon burst into being and flashed towards the missile made of blood and glass.

A sharp sizzling and cracking sound drowned out any other noise as if a forge were doused in water, the moment positive and negative energy met. Alea spread her arms and then forced them back together tightening the beam. Inside her chest, a torrent of energy streamed from the plane of radiance, glowing steam wafted from her hands as her gloves unraveled.

Cries of surprise and pain echoed as the girls covered their eyes. ‘I have it focused, they should not lose their sight.’ A forgotten memory flashed through her mind, rats looking up at her, bloody teeth bared, their eyes boiling, their fur bursting into flame before everything became white. She did not realize the tears falling from her sightless eyes.

The servant tottered as blood dripped from his forearms, ripped and cut from invisible blades. The light hit him in the left torso and began to burn through his chest while his jacket burst into flames.

A gesture and the beam stopped before another shot towards the rotating mass of glass and blood. Everything happened in fractions of a second but the action seemed to occur in slow-motion. The brass spider began to smoke and sparks shot from strained gears. The time magic contained in the automaton wound to a close with a rattle and the world sped up again.

The shards of glass mixed with blood were much reduced at this point and some were even buried in the wood of the massive table. Jera raised her hand and with a sharp crack the amulet she always wore splintered and expanded to form a sphere before Lieseleta. The boiling liquid ate into the glowing green shield while the rotating glass shards steadily bored deeper but before they could penetrate the barrier the ray of light flashed once again and glass became liquid and some of the blood evaporated.

Alea stumbled and fell to her knees. The shield shattered and shards of bloody glass bore down on the princess who raised her arms defensively before her face. Theresia shouted a command word and streams of water formed a convex shield before them which stopped the last shards from reaching them, they tinkled as they fell onto the ground.

Screaming some of the girls leaped up and began to run from the room. Some, very few, spoke and gestured barriers into being around themselves- walls of water, air, and force. Alea shivered, her sight jumped and sometimes lost cohesion, darkening and brightening at random. The spider was still smoking, the yellow ribbon singed.

With trembling hands, she gathered the small automaton into her arms. ‘After the assassination I have been drilled in emergency defense again and again. But I never used the time compression that my grandfather installed. Please don’t be broken.’ The last she repeated like a mantra in her mind again and again.

The servant looked at his ruined arms nodded as if to himself and then fell to the ground as if he were a marionette whose strings had been cut. Blood began to spread in a steadily widening circle around him gleaming in the candlelight while smoke rose from his still burning clothes.

Jera grabbed Lieseleta and pulled her from the room. Alea saw her resisting but the bodyguard was much stronger than her.

Struggling to get off the tabletop she laboriously lowered her legs from the edge and let herself fall the last centimeters. A metallic taste spread in her mouth and a ringing sound filled her ears. The gate blazed in her chest and tears dampened her blindfold as she pressed the small spider to her breast. A small rasp could be heard where two gears were misaligned it sounded grating to her trained ears.

“Ayteresh Iokar mistrum. Tesephis nielat.” Spell formulae were safe. They would help her. She stumbled towards the fallen servant and looked at the broken eyes staring uncomprehendingly into the distance.

His face overlapped with another.

A young man stood in an alley and spat into the dirt. “I hate this job.” And he shot her, had shot her. Burning pain blazed in her breast and for a moment it seemed as if the gears were not only in the small spider but also clicking and whirring in her chest, where her heart should have been.

An old, tired face looked down on her. “I love you Alea, little princess. Sleep, sleep and forget, forget what I did to you.”

Tick, tick, tick went the gears of the puppet that was a small girl that was a puppet. Light blazed between her clenched fingers as she screamed.