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She wasn’t sure what to say at that point in time, really, her mom telling her all this brought some conflicted feelings within her and she wondered if giving the potion to Niccy would have been the greater good, or if returning to the male that she once was would have been better for the Kingdom. Regardless of these feelings, Umbra relaxed in her mom’s embrace, slowly, she too wrapped her arms around her mom and embraced her into a comforting hug while in the privacy of the change room. Umbra didn’t know what to think, but her mom’s words were something of a comfort to her right now. It was nice to know that her mom had her back, and she didn’t see her as any sort of failure. She remained there, in that embrace, for a few more minutes before she let go and pulled back to face her mom again. She wasn’t sure what she should say, if anything at all. Maybe they shared something now that made their bond a little stronger and words weren’t needed right now. It was always a possibility. The fact that her mom was beyond proud of her took away some of the fears that were plaguing her, it was a huge relief that she was still thought of in a positive light even after all of this happened. She may still have things to sort through and get her head around, but for right now, she was happy and content with the outcome of this, and it felt good to spend some time with her mom after three months of hell. Umbra paused and turned her attention back to the mirror so that she could once more take a look at herself.
”I think I’ll take this one too, though, if you could help me out of it, I’d be grateful.” Umbra looked over to a set of sapphire blue and gave her mom a bit of a nod. ”Could you do me a favour and go pay for that set… I think I need to wear it out of the store so that Sorcha doesn’t make us pull over and force me to change in an ally or something.” Wheels seemed to start to turn in Umbra’s head about something, thought it was hard to tell what.

Sorcha was rather unprepared for the sudden affection and just about lost her balance, the outcome would have probably put both of them on the floor, luckily thought, she was a trained soldier and was quick to find balance once more. She chuckled a little and did her best to hurry the youngest on her way before her mom came out of the change room. She knew that Ryuu wouldn’t need help with everything, and a corset didn’t take that long to lace up. Watching with amusement, Sorcha bared witness to Nicolette’s first act of defiance as a teenager, the smile only spread on her face as she watched the red faced Princess buy her things and then hurry back to Sorcha, who in turn, took the items from her and kept them by her side as if nothing was out of the ordinary. ”It’s not a problem Princess, really.” Sorcha animated the conversation with some girl talk for a few minutes before the Queen came out with something, made a purchase then returned to the changing area where Ryuu was in. She seemed to immerge once more shortly after. Sorcha walked over calmly and naturally as though she wasn’t helping Nicolette rebel into her teenage years and looked to Ana. ”Is all well, your Majesty?”

The rest of the trip there, Sorcha gave Umbra a bit of a crash course on some the differences in the apparel and they made sure to hook her up with enough underthings to comfortably last between wash days and give her some choice as well. Admittedly, Umbra wasn’t all the keen on the idea of getting the nightdresses but then again, she had the choice not to wear them either, so… Ana won out on that one. When everything was said and done the girls made their way back to the cart with their purchases.

”Thank god that’s over with… Geez, I hate that place, I felt like a pervert while I was in there…”

Though true that Ryuu refused to wear the dresses, she more than made up for it with the variety of styles of tops and pants that she chose to grace her outfit, she would have plenty of choice when it came to her wardrobe even without the dresses and gowns of the usual lady. They still held the elegance and androgynous seduction that Umbra seemed to be going for. Even Sorcha had to admit that Umbra seemed to have something going on with her rather odd fashion sense… Sorcha jokingly bet that the courts would have girls investing more in pants then skirts in the future. Umbra, while blissfully ignorant of what her mom was scheming and smuggling for her behind her back, made her purchases with confidence. Umbra had planned to dress more or less as she would have if she was still Ryuu, with suit and dress pants rather than a gown… and if anybody didn’t like it, they were more than welcome to take a lick where the good lord split. Umbra was her own person now, and she intended to keep it that way by being herself and dressing as she would like despite what society would prefer. She may be forced to be a girl, but she wasn’t going to do what she wasn’t comfortable with.

The rest of the day was spent bouncing around from one shop to the next, Umbra was just as lost as she was in the previous one. Though with the help of both Sorcha, and her mom, she was able to fumble though it and even learn a thing or two about this stuff. Umbra noted very quickly that girls were… very expensive… but finally, the last stop was here, Umbra got out with her new boots and cloak, now having her own, comfortable shoes, she retired her moms. She still had the cloak that Nicolette gave her for her birthday, though had it altered slightly so that it wasn’t dragging on the ground anymore, and was also made to fit her new frame a little more. She hated to give it up, it was a damn fine cloak.

Now they were in the jewelry shop, where Umbra looked over at Nicolette and gave a half grin. ”Someone get a leash for Niccy or she’s liable to go wild.”
It was needless to say that Umbra wasn’t as excited as Niccy was to go inside and get some jewelry, though she followed around to see if anything caught her eye. Umbra more or less ignored the earrings, as she didn’t have pierced ears, so she hovered more or less around what was familiar to her… the necklaces and rings. A few things did catch her eye… until she saw the price tags and then immediately lost interest in them. Good Goddess…
Umbra was looking around when she saw a wedding ring that caught her eye… again… her shoulders dropped a few degrees and the shine left her eyes.

”Man… your serious, huh Ryuu?”
“I tell you Tobi, I’ve never met a woman like her. She’s… everything that I want in a woman.”
“You’re crazy, Bro. I mean, you just met her.”
“Tobs… you’ll get it one day, when you find that one person who just makes you feel, complete. When you want to spend every day with her, when you’ll do anything to make her happy…”
“If you say so… but I still think you’re a little touched in the head. But… if that’s the way you feel, congrats Ryuu.”

Umbra felt tears well in her eyes, though she fought them back and straightened herself up, she couldn’t tear her eyes away from the diamond ring.
”See something that you like, M’Lady?”
”O-oh no, thank you… um… I’m just looking right now…” Umbra didn’t noticed that rather handsome young man, her eyes had dropped to the floor for a moment when she pulled her gaze up, he was resting his elbow on the counter and his chin in his palm. His light brown hair fell over one of his eyes, the other was a brilliant green that seemed to dance with some sort of joy that he held for his work… or perhaps it was the young lady he was meeting for the first time.
”You have very beautiful eyes… they remind me of the Sapphire gems that I work with, those Vivid Medium Sapphire tones…”
Umbra’s cheeks started to turn a little red, her shoulders rising almost to jawline and she looked away. ”T-thank you.” She really wasn’t sure what to say, really, she had never been on this end of flirting before…
”Would my lady care to come with me? I have something that I think would suit you to a tea, it will bring out those Vivid Medium Sapphire orbs that you naturally possess.” He offered his hand over the counter where Umbra nervously and hesitantly took it. Like a gentleman, he lead his lady over to where some of this latest creations were located and produced a choker from behind the glass case. ”May I do the honors, M’lady? After all, a piece of jewelry is nothing but a bubble of glass and shaped metal without the beauty of a woman to wear it.”
Umbra’s cheeks deepened a little in their red hue as she watched the young man come out from behind the counter and step behind her, gently placing the choker around her neck and fastening the hook and eye behind her neck. She was gently shifted to a mirror so that she could see what she looked like with it on. His strong hands were gently on her shoulders.
”So what does my Lady think?”
Truth be told, her Lady thought that she might need some help dealing with boys and their sudden interest in her…

”You’re right, young lady, it’s… missing something. Let me see what I can find to complete the look. I’ll be back.” The jeweler disappeared in the back, in search of just the right piece to help complete Umbra’s look.
Umbra could only stand ridged and not sure what to do, what sort of nightmare did she get herself into? She had to admit though… she did kind of like the choker, though she wasn’t sure how to respond to all this… lavish… attention from the store keeper and jeweler. Umbra fought for the words to come out of her mouth, but wasn’t sure what to say, thank goddess that Niccy came over and sent him on a hopefully endless journey. Umbra gave her a strained, though slowly relaxing smile. ”Thanks Niccy, you saved my bacon that time. Do you always have this problem when you go out?” Umbra scratched her cheek, good grief, this was going to take some getting used to. Umbra, to distract herself from the shameless flirtations, turned back to the mirror to try and get a better idea if she liked what she was wearing or not.

It took a few minutes for Umbra to fully relax again, she looked at herself one way then another before she sighed and closed her eyes in a somewhat defeated posture. ”I have no idea what I’m doing or what I’m looking for… hey Niccy, you’re a jeweloholic, what the hell am I supposed to be looking for, any suggestions?” Umbra right eye closed while she continued to look at her sister with a bit of a defeated, or perhaps lost expression on her face. She normally would have asked her mom or perhaps Sorcha on this one… but they were too busy giggling in the corner about Umbra’s reaction to the sudden flirting form the clerk, apparently they didn’t take as much pity on her as Nicolette did.

It wasn’t too long after Umbra asked her sister for some advice that the Clerk came out once more with an entire tray of various sapphire jewelry that matched the tone of the gem that Umbra had around her neck. Great… now she had even more styles and variety of jewelry that Umbra had no clue about.
I think that this would suit you well, M’Lady, a pair of earrings that match the choker that you’re now wearing.” The clerk offered with a confident, though gentle smile.
Umbra was bent over, her hands on her thighs to prop herself up, when she was shown the earrings she looked up at him with a rather unconfident look on her face. ”They’re really… beautiful… but I don’t have my ears pierced.” The clerk looked at her with some level of surprise but quickly replaced that look with that smile he occupied before.
”Well, we do offer the service here, M’Lady, if it would be to your convince, you could get them pierced now?”
Umbra paused, she wasn’t so sure about that, would it be alright? Was that something that all girls did? Would it take long? Would the Queen take her head off if she did it? Umbra looked over at Niccy then looked over her shoulder at her mom.

No pressure or anything.
Umbra listened to what her mom and sister were saying and thought for a moment. By the way that her mom described the situation with the clip on earrings, Umbra looked up at the clerk and a relaxed smile crossed her face. ”Okay then, I’ll get my ears pierced. It looks like I won’t live it down if I refuse.” Umbra mused with a tease at both her mom and her sister. Umbra was ushered into the back where she met a rather nice looking young lady who was there and cleaning some tools that were going to be used in this rite of passage to girlhood. The earrings that Niccy and her mom seemed to unanimously voted for her to get were placed on the table. There was some small talk before the young woman pinpointed the dead center of her earlobes and swiftly got the job done. Now, Umbra wasn’t sure what to expect for the pain, she didn’t expect that she would be rolling on the floor screaming in pain but she expected… something. But she felt nothing but a slight pressure before it was done. Maybe her experience with her last, painful transformation made her immune to such insignificant pain. A few minutes later, Umbra immerged with those dazzling earrings in her ears.

Umbra came over to her mom and sister once more, with a bit of an amused look on her face. ”There, I successfully performed your strange acceptance ritual. Am I part of the tribe now?” Umbra chuckled with mild amusement. Umbra continued to look through the tray of sapphire jewelry. She guessed that she was going to get the choker, her mom seemed to have it set it off to the side for her, and Niccy seemed to have picked out a bracelet that Umbra had to admit, was rather pretty. Once more, Umbra turned her attention to her sister and all of her wisdom and experience in this matter. ”Alright, I got a choker and a pair of earrings… anything else you can think of…” Umbra trailed off for a moment and seemingly answered her own question. ”… I guess I’ll need a new crown, my other one doesn’t fit on my head and is rather clunky and uncomfortable. But that can come a little later, I guess. Anyway…” Umbra shifted and sorted through the other stuff, pulling out a rather elegant ring to put in the ‘maybe pile’. She didn’t want to go overboard with this stuff. But she would trust Niccy’s judgement when it came to this sort of thing.
”So, how about defining ‘statement pieces’ for me, Niccy? Your elder sibling isn’t sure if… she’s… doing something right or wrong here.”

With Nicolette’s help, Umbra was able to navigate her way through the jewelry store until she had procured everything that she needed to stumble her way through dressing herself. When they got home Umbra exhaled heavily, happy to be home and able to kick up her feet once more. Her mom asked her if she was going to be alright with her wardrobe. Umbra looked over at her with a soft smile, though her eyebrows were angled upwards. ”I think so, at the very least I have my own pants that fit me now and I won’t have to borrow anything from you… unless the maids accidently bring my clean clothes over to your room… in which case I will be doing nothing more than claiming what was already mine.” Umbra chuckled, though it did sound lacking in humour. Her shoulders dipped down slightly and looked towards the staircase that lead to her room. ”What a day… my head is so full of new information that it feels like it might burst open… being a girl is needlessly complicated. Why couldn’t our gender just be content with basic, simple things so I wouldn’t have to worry about silly, strange things like fashion.” A beat of silence filled the air before she looked over at her mom again. ”Thanks for coming with me today mom. I really appreciate it. I should go and see to my duties, at least for a while.”

Umbra walked into t her room and looked around, she gave something of a rather depressed sigh as she looked at the exact same room that she spent most, if not all of her life in, the room seemed to have a certain funk to it now… living in it three months probably didn’t help any… it almost depressed her just standing in the doorway now. So many memories that were made here that she would cheerfully happy to ignore or try and move on from, though there was some good memories in here too. Umbra closed her eyes and then closed the door before looking for her mom, once again.
When she did find her, Umbra approached her quietly. She wasn’t sure if she was feeling greedy or not, she had asked for a lot today but there was still one more thing that she needed to do in order to allow herself one last finality in her new life.
”Hey mom… can… can I have a new room please? I don’t think anything less than a total purge will ever allow us to get that funk out of my room and I don’t think that I want to wallow in that anymore. And… can I maybe do some redecorating with it as well. I’m just so bored of white walls…. That and its hardly a room worthy of a future King such as myself.”
Umbra held her breath a little bit as she waited for her answer, hoping that the humour would help out her position, though so far, his mom seemed oddly unbothered that her son had become her daughter. Maybe enough time passed for her that she learned to accept things as they are now? It was a possibility.

Umbra paused for a moment to think about the question, though she was pretty sure that she was certainly able to look around the castle by herself. Hell, it would give her an excuse to get a little more intimately familiar with the castle and its rooms. ”…No…” she replied hesitantly, ”Though if someone were to meet up with me during my searching I would certainly not turn them away.” Maybe it would be good for her to just wander in silence and collect her thoughts and try and put them together. She did her best to puff herself up and appear confident today, but there was still a lot that she was uncertain of and was struggling with. Things that she couldn’t really ask her mom or sister or Sorcha about. They were things that she needed to come to terms with on her own and figure things out gradually. Umbra let her mom get back to what she was going to do and walked up the stairs and made her way to one of the wings that held bedrooms and guest rooms that she could possibly claim as her own. She slowly started to open doors and peer inside, seeing if she could find one that enthralled her, a room that captured her imagination for what she could do with it. Things were boring for her now, she wanted change and she wanted something that was going to surround her in the new so that she could phase out the painful old. Though she would still look for the Unicorn horn in hopes of one day completing that potion that she gave to Nicolette, she didn’t hold out any hope that she was ever going to find it. She had more or less begrudgingly accepted that this was her fate now, that she was going to be stuck like this till the day that she died. It wasn’t a pleasant thought, admittedly, but it was her reality now and there was little that she could do about it aside from be diligent and prudent about things.

One by one, she opened the doors to rooms, going from one floor to the next in attempts to satisfy her need to find a new nest. She wanted the room to be more spacious, she wanted one with a great view so that when lightning storms rolled in during the summer months that she could watch and enjoy them… she wanted a balcony that she could walk out on, and enjoy the summer breeze when it was hot out, or when she was entertaining her close friends. She wanted out of that cramped room, she wanted everything that was opposite of her old room. Maybe it was when she was at peace with her attempted suicide that she realized how caged in she felt with her old room, or maybe it was because of her Uncle’s words that she really wanted to try and spread her wings… she wanted to stop being what everyone else wanted her to be. It was always: Ryuu, this isn’t proper. Ryuu, a young lord doesn’t perform with anything less that this… Ryuu… you need to be this way for the people to like you…
Was that all there was to being a leader? To be what people wanted you to be?
To hell with that. Perhaps it was for far too long that Umbra let other contain her to their own needs and desires, and to be perfectly honest… getting rid of those old men and women in the courts that forced her to be nothing more than a puppet for their desired. Now, she was going to spread her wings, she wasn’t going to be something fake or false to satisfy a few people. She may not understand who she was now, but she had a vision of what she wanted for her Kingdom and her visions didn’t matter if she was male or female, fashionable or not. It would make people uncomfortable, it would make people happy… but change always did so.

Umbra opened the door to one of the rooms and walked inside to take a look around. The room was bland, just like all the others, but this one was more of a blank canvas than a bland room with a weak theme. It had what she was looking for, or at least enough that she was happy with it. With her arms crossed, she crossed the room and opened the large, French doors and stepped onto the balcony. The view was truly something else. It faced the east, meaning that she would catch the first rays of the sun and moon, though she had a good view of the north and south as well from her balcony. She breathed deeply and raised her chin. Yes… this was room that she was going to make her own. She turned around and started to plan what she wanted done to it. It would be nothing short refurbishing but… it was her room, and just like her life, she was going to make it one that she was going to enjoy to the best of her abilities. If she didn’t like it, she would do what she could in order to change it for the better. It felt… refreshing… and though she did wish she could have experienced this as Ryuu… she questioned whether or not she would have had the chance to experience this as Ryuu… A new gender seemed to give her a new perspective… or was that her Uncle Vidor after he saved her from her attempted Suicide… or did it really matter?

Orpheus tapped away happily, whistling a tune to himself as he worked on the roof of his little ‘Orpheus cave’. He wasn’t expecting a visit from the Queen, most of the girls were out and doing their own things, they all got to go and do their own thing after their excises were done and their chores were completed. Orpheus would always work on his hut, more because winter was coming soon and he really didn’t want to sleep with a pile of snow on his head any more than what he already had. Other than the roof, the rest of the hut was pretty well done, he just needed to insulate the roof around the hole for the chimney for his personal little fireplace. There was a few other minor things to do, his hut was livable, though it wasn’t totally finished yet. So, he was hoping that he could finish it before nightfall tonight.

The shadows twisted and formed outside of Ana’s room on her small balcony, Vidor stood against the wall, one leg raised and resting the bottom of his foot on the wall while he crossed her arms across his chest. The breeze felt nice tonight. Closing his eye he raised up his hand and knocked gently on her balcony doors, the window rang slightly with the vibration of metal on glass from the metallic arm that he sported. Crossing his arms again, he waited to see if Ana would answer, he had been by Ryuu’s room a little earlier but he wasn’t answering his door, so Vidor assumed that maybe he was at the cottage or something. He had a few things that he wanted to distribute between him and his mother, but he guessed that the poor kid needed a break from everything. Hopefully his lifted spirits carried him through the day.

Umbra had claimed her room and decided that she was going to sleep here tonight, when the morning came, she would order what she wanted for her room. The bed was stiff and still new, obviously nobody had claimed this room before, despite its size and view. It made Umbra feel a little better for claiming it. She started to plan where things would go and tried to decide on the color that she wanted for the walls… and maybe the floor too… yeah, the white needed to go, it was too bright and crisp for her tastes and she had more or less lived in a white room for most of her life… though she did cheat a bit when she covered as much of the floor as possible with carpets and what have you. Umbra’s eyelids were starting to get heavy, the day’s activities weighing them down. In her comfortable pajama’s it didn’t take long for her to fall asleep. Tomorrow was promising to be another big day whether she like it or not.

When Vidor looked over and saw Ana in her nightgown, Vidor quirked an eyebrow slightly and a smile spread across his face. Only Ana would face down unknown danger with a sword and a flimsy nightgown. ”You’re looking good, how’s Ryuu?” he asked before he was invited into Ana’s personal chambers where he closed the door, locking the wind out so that Ana didn’t have to worry about freezing to death while they chatted. Vidor looked at her once more, those hard, steely eyes of his softened at the sight of her. She was just as beautiful as she was when they first met, and though their relationship started in the throes of animosity and hostility, it had bloomed into something so much more, with so much passion. He missed her, oh how he missed her when he was forced to leave that day, they still stayed in touch, but he had to wrestle with boundaries that he would normally have abandoned because of his personality. Vidor produced a fairly large scroll and a scrap of paper.
”Sorry for dropping by unannounced and so suddenly. I was going to give the scroll to Ryuu to open when he felt the time was right, but he wasn't in his room.” It was about then that Ana had thanked him for looking after their child, he got a gentle look on his face and looked back up at her once more. ”I don’t think I did anything outside of a fathers duty, there is no need to thank me. I would gladly risk my life for my child without a moment’s hesitation.”
Vidor gave something of a chuckle. ”It’s strange, I have to admit, to have this need for such protection for others. I would never have thought that these… instincts… would come from being a father. Having been someone who relied and only trusted himself for the longest time, I would never have thought I would care so much for someone other than myself. All you guys made me soft during that adventure of ours. I blame you guys.” The last two sentences were spoken as a joke, though it would be easy to see how a man like Vidor would think in such a way. When Ana said that ‘she’ was doing better, Vidor looked up a little surprised before his expression softened once more. ”That’s good to hear… he, erm… she… was in a really dark place there for a while. I’m glad that Ryuu is doing better now. She’s strong kid, she’ll be fine.”

It was admittedly really weird calling his son, ‘she’, but if that was how she was going to turn her life around to make herself feel better and stronger than she had been before, then all the power to her. It… would take some getting used to on his part, but he accepted Haku when she made the change, and he would accept his child without hesitation the same way. If this was what she needed to do to cope with everything, then that was fine. Vidor was just happy that she was in a better place in her mind now. Vidor dropped his gaze though, his face dropping. ”I still feel bad about the horn… I’m sorry. I was the only one I could find and I haven’t been able to find another one yet. I promised Ryuu that I would keep looking.” Vidor then looked up again and pulled a folded piece of paper from his pocket and offered it to Ana.
”That reminds me, I found Haku’s new location, her and Jace are doing fine and they’re actually not too far from here. They’re still getting settled in but I’m sure Haku would like to see you again and introduce you to the newer members of the family.” There was a twinkle of mischief in his eyes saying this. Poor Haku had wanted to get in touch with her old friend again, but she wasn’t sure how to go about it. Vidor offered to deliver her address to Ana when he got the chance. Haku was happy… and maybe she could be a friend and source of support for Ryuu when she needed it. ”How… have you been holding up though. I can’t imagine that things have been easy for you here.”