It was truly amazing, Niamh thought as she sat at the table in her bright little kitchen sipping tea. Well, not so much that she was sipping tea in a cute kitchen, but just how much had changed since the night Nimue had replaced Alodie. And while her own purification had certainly been a kind of turning point, her cousin’s had been what had set everything else into motion. She wasn’t even sure she missed the Court. Certainly, they’d allowed her to be as monstrous as she’d liked. Perhaps even encouraged it on some level. But when she laid everything out in her mind, it was evident enough that she’d had no friends. Her own fault, of course, prefering to have potential victims instead.

If she were honest with herself, she knew she still wanted people to torment. But living with Nimue helped keep her on a mostly even keel as far as morality went. Snorting a little and smiling into her tea, Niamh couldn’t help but shake her head with exasperated fondness. Nimue was a big puppy somehow combined with the bubbliest of potted daisies and given human form. She could be a twit. But now that she’d purified, her soul was true. And Nimue had a very strong sense of right and wrong. Having an example of how to be a good person right in front of her had benefited Niamh hugely. She would never not be a sociopath, or at least have those tendencies. But she had a sort of anchor now to help her be better.

It was… pleasant. Weird. But pleasant.

Also pleasant was knowing that her soul was now her own. As was time. She hadn’t powered up more than once or twice since purifiying, wanting to get the hang of her new self first. But when she had there had been no quotas to meet. There had been nothing that she’d had to do for anyone else, no orders to follow. And that had been satisfying.

She even had friends of a sort now! Whisler and Nereid were both good people and ones that she knew would help her if they could. One could argue they already had…

Finishing her tea, Niamh stood and took the cup over to the sink, rinsing it out and placing it off to the side. All right, she thought. Enough introspection for now. She could always pick herself apart later. A quick glance at the clock showed that she was in danger of running late. Sighing a little, she hurried to her room to begin dressing. Her hair required only a little fluffing before being twisted into an elegant side knot. By the time she was dressed, she wondered why on earth she was putting this much effort into simply visiting her doctor. Dismissing the thought as silly and unproductive, she gave herself a final look-over, nodded and headed for the door. Maybe afterwards, she could visit Nimue at work and they could grab lunch or something. It was all perfectly normal and Niamh kind of enjoyed that.

For now.