"Sumia?"

At the sound of her name, Sumia jumped guiltily – jumped, then hit her foot loudly on the bottom of the table, followed by the chair she was sitting in crashing over backwards. "Owww..."

"Sumia, what are you doing?" Cordelia's expression was all concern by the time Sumia caught sight of it from her position on the floor. "Are you all right?"

"Y-yes. I'm fine." Cautiously, she got to her feet and dusted herself off. Yes, it was just as she'd said. She really was fine – no more bruised than usual, at least.

But by then, of course, it was too late. Cordelia had picked up the book on the table and was studying it intently.

"What's this? Oh, Sumia – not more fortunes!"

There was little point in denying it, much as she'd like to, so instead she tried to explain. "It's horoscopes! It tells the future based on your birthday."

"The future?" Cordelia was openly skeptical.

"Like mine today said that I should watch my step. Pretty accurate, don't you think?"

Cordelia fixed her with a look that said she should know better. "Sumia, that's you every day."

"But how would the author know that? And look, you can even use it to see if you're compatible with someone!"

"You can?" Cordelia began flipping through the pages, her attitude completely changed. "Let's see, my birthday is July 7th, that makes me a Cancer. And his birthday..." She broke off and looked up unhappily. "Oh no. This says we're not compatible at all!"

Tossing the book on the table, she put her hands on her hips and tossed her hair, giving Sumia the look of the unfairly betrayed. "Why do you like this stuff again?"

"Well, what if one day it says it's your lucky day? Wouldn't you be inspired?"

"From something like this? Sumia, you know better than to believe it."

Sumia stared down at the floor and her hands twisted together nervously where they were clasped in front of her. "I know."

Cordelia sighed, but she relaxed her stance and just shook her head at her fellow pegasus knight sadly. "I suppose it's better than flower fortunes. But do you really need something like this? I expect any day now to find you in the kitchen, reading entrails."

Sumia wrinkled her nose at the thought, though the truth was that she might have tried it if she thought it would work any better. "I can use all the help I can get."

Cordelia shook her head again, but at least she was smiling now. "In that case, why don't you come train with me? It has to be better than sitting in here reading."

Sumia wasn't so sure, but she nodded anyway. Cordelia could be so intimidating, but she knew she had her best interests at heart.

"Just let me put away this book." She headed for the table, but on the way there, she tripped over nothing at all. Not exactly a new experience for her, but she wasn't used to anyone catching her, and definitely not used to that person being Cordelia.

Sumia looked up and was surprised by Cordelia's sudden closeness. If she leaned forward just the tiniest bit... She'd already been blushing, but her blush deepened. Strangely, she wasn't the only one. But surely that didn't mean anything. Of course Cordelia was just experiencing secondhand embarrassment due to Sumia's clumsiness. It would be foolish to read anything more into it.

She looked away as she extricated herself, moving out of Cordelia's arms and back onto her own two feet without further mishap. Was it just her imagination, or did Cordelia seem almost reluctant to let her go?

As they headed outside to find their pegasi, Sumia couldn't help thinking of her horoscope for that day. It had said to watch her step, but she hadn't told Cordelia the rest of it: Watch your step! You could fall into an unexpected circumstance that will cause you to make major changes in your life.

Sumia didn't usually truly believe in fortunes, but this time, she wondered.