"Bye mom. I'm leaving now."
"Yu-chan, wait. Do you have...?"
Yuri's mother is cut off by the splash of the bath water. Yuri is now returning to Shin Makoku after a quick visit home. The rushing water passes him and he soon finds himself in the fountain in the middle of a temple.
"Welcome back, your majesty."
Yuri looks around to see everyone waiting for him. Conrad is holding a towel for him. Yuri climbs out of the fountain pulling some aquatic plants off and takes the towel from Conrad and dries himself off. "It's good to be back again."
Gunter walks up to Yuri. "Yes, Gwendel said there are some papers that need your attention right away."
Yuri frowns. "Except for that. I might as well get it done with. Let's go."
Yuri spends the majority of the day studying and filling out paper work. The week progresses as normal. Four days after his arrival, Wolfram is back to bugging Yuri as normal.
"Yuri, I am your fiancé. It's only normal that we should bath together."
Yuri fakes a smile. "I would Wolfram but um… Gwendel needed me to sign more papers." With that, Yuri takes off as fast as he can while yelling behind him, "Go ahead and I'll join you later."
Wolfram sighs and knows Yuri won't join him and goes to take a bath alone. After changing, he tries his best to relax in the hot water. A gasping noise comes from the other side of the bath and startles Wolfram. "Who's there!? Show yourself!"
The steam starts to clear and a woman's voice stammers, "W-W-Where am I?" Wolfram can see the woman some-what clearly now. She appears to be in her early twenties with long blonde hair and bright blue eyes. She stares in shock and embarrassment at Wolfram.
Wolfram runs across the room and flings open the door and yells, "Intruder! There's an intruder in the bath!"
The woman becomes terrified and pushes Wolfram aside as she runs in panic out of the room. Wolfram grabs his towel to cover up as he chases the woman. After a while, the trail of water ends and Wolfram stands in the intersecting corridors debating what direction to go.
"Wolfram, what's going on?" Conrad, Yuri, Gwendel, and Gunter run up behind him.
"There was an intruder in the bath. I don't know what she was doing in there or how long she had been in there but I can only think that she was waiting for Yuri."
Conrad thinks about this for a second. "Did you say it was a woman?"
"Yes, she has blonde hair. That was all I was able to get before she ran off. There was too much steam to see clearly."
Gwendel snickers, "Are you sure it wasn't mother?"
"Yes, I'm sure it wasn't mother! Mother wouldn't have run away like that", Wolfram yells in frustrated.
Gwendel turns serious again. "I'll get every man searching for this woman. Until she is found, I suggest that your majesty stays hidden." Conrad nods to him and Gwendel leaves.
The group splits up to go off their own direction, Yuri, Conrad, and Gunter stay together and Wolfram goes to get clothes. Down the hall behind a closet door, the blonde woman rests and catches her breath. After the muffled voices leave and there are no other noises in the hallway she cracks open the door. The hallway is clear and she slowly comes out. She continues on her way down the hallway trying to find a way out. She folds her arms across her chest and tries to keep from shivering. She becomes distracted by the paintings on the wall and does not notice the small girl walking toward her doing the same thing. The two collide and the girl falls down.
"I'm so sorry! Here let me help you." The woman holds out her hand for the girl. The girl takes it and gets to her feet.
The girl brushes herself off. "I'm sorry; I wasn't looking where I was going." The girl looks up. "Oh, you're all wet!"
The woman blushes, "I fell and wound up in a bath, I think. Everything is still a little fuzzy. I'm sorry if I got you wet. I didn't mean to."
"No, but don't you have dry clothes to change into?" The woman shakes her head. The little girl grabs her hand and pulls her down the hallway. "Then I'll get you some clothes to change into!"
"You don't need to do that", the woman insists.
"But I want to and you can't stay in wet clothes, you'll catch a cold." The woman reluctantly follows the girl. "My name is Greta. What's yours?"
The woman smiles at Greta. "It's nice to meet you Greta. My name is Kana." Greta smiles back at Kana. They finally stop in front of a door and Greta opens it.
"I'm sure we can find something for you in here." Kana looks around at the many racks of clothes in the room that appears to be for a seamstress. "Pick anything. I don't think anyone will mind."
Kana browses the clothes until she finds a plain, light blue dress and goes behind a curtain to change. She comes back out and the dress fits her well enough.
Greta's eyes light up. "That's so pretty!" Kana twirls for her and sends the ends of the dress fluttering out. Greta laughs. "Kana, how did you end up in the bath?"
Kana says sincerely, "As I said before, it's all fuzzy. I remember walking home when I tripped and fell and the next thing I knew I was here. Where is here anyway?" Kana sits down on the floor and Greta comes to join her.
"You don't even know where you are? This is Shin Makoku."
"Shin Makoku? I've never heard of it. Nothing here looks or sounds familiar. I was just going home to see my mother to…" Kana appears somewhat depressed and angry. "But it's nothing you should have to worry about. It's my problem right now not yours."
"Kana, I want to help you."
Kana smiles and ruffles Greta's hair. "Thank you. You're a good girl, Greta."
The sound of armor on stone echoes into the room. "She has to be around here somewhere. Keep looking until you find her!" Kana becomes frozen with alarm.
Greta looks at Kana. "They're looking for you aren't they? You're the intruder." Kana nods sadly. Greta stands up. "Then quickly, follow me. I know how you can get out."
"Why do you want to help me? Won't you get in trouble?"
"I'll be fine, plus, I told you I wanted to help you."
Kana smiles and stands up. "Lead the way." Greta runs over to a side door that looks like one servant's might use and the two hurry down the straight and narrow corridor. When they reach the end with another door, Greta cracks the door open and peers out before flinging it open and holding it open for Kana. It's a laundry room. Greta goes over to the main door and cracks it open also. Footsteps can be heard all over coming closer.
"Greta, what way is it out?"
Greta nervously responds, "To the right. Go all the way down and it goes to the courtyard but you won't be able to get anywhere after that without my help. It's confusing enough for someone who lives here let alone a stranger."
Kana thinks quickly. "Greta, I'm going to go there and hide. Later when the coast is clear, I want you to find me. I'm very patient so you can take your time, Ok? I'll be alright. I had your help."
Greta still seems upset but gives in. "Fine." She perks up, "But I'm going to go the other way and give you some more time to hide."
Kana smiles, "Thank you Greta, for everything." Kana then opens the door and runs down the hallway to the right.
Without checking, a passing soldier sees her leave the room and yells, "I've found her! She's heading for the courtyard!"
Kana doubles her speed and hears a faint cry from Greta. The courtyard approaches but not fast enough. She reaches the railing separating her from the courtyard when the soldiers surround her on all the other sides, swords drawn. Attempting to jump the railing would be pointless. She faces her captors. A tall man walks forward. He seems to be the one in charge.
"What is your business here?" His voice is deep and booming.
From the back, Greta yells, "Gwendel, don't hurt her! She didn't do anything wrong."
"I'll let her answer that." Kana does not say anything.
"Your majesty, please wait!" Conrad calls as Yuri pushes his way through the soldiers to see the intruder.
"Conrad, I want to speak with her myself." Yuri finally gets to the front along with Conrad and Wolfram. Yuri looks at Kana. Shock and surprise register on both Yuri and Kana's faces.
"Yuri!?"
"Kana!" The two names are said at the same time.