Sophie didn't want to wake up. She didn't realize beds could be this comfortable. Just when she thought something was as impressive as it could get, the universe proved her wrong.

Then she was abruptly reminded that her so-called impenetrable shielding did not apply in Adeala.

An extremely loud, sarcastic telepathic message from Iltaurielle blasted into her head, making her groan and bury her head under her pillow. IT'S GOOD TO SEE YOU'RE ALL SUCH EARLY RISERS! BREAKFAST IS CURRENTLY BEING SERVED AND IF ANY OF YOU WANT TO EAT BEFORE GOING DOWN TO THE LOWER CITY FOR THE DAY, YOU'LL GET YOUR LAZY BUTTS OUT OF BED. IF YOU'RE NOT READY TO GO IN FORTY-FIVE MINUTES, IT WON'T BE PLEASANT. AND NO, ONCE BREAKFAST IS PACKED UP YOU WON'T BE ABLE TO GET ANY.

Sophie sighed. She was really getting tired of this. But she dragged herself out of bed and slid her feet into the pair of fuzzy slippers thankfully provided. She had discovered the night before that the stone floors got cold, especially as Adeala was coming out of winter.

She shuffled to the closet and pulled out a plain tunic and pants. By Lost Cities standards it was practically peasantry, but Adeala did not seem to subscribe to the notion that the more important you were the fancier you dressed. In fact, nearly the opposite seemed to be true. All of the military officers ranks below Iltaurielle were wearing much fancier clothing with all their medals and ribbons displayed. Iltaurielle herself wore simple, utilitarian clothes and allegedly kept her many awards and medals in a box somewhere. She'd forgotten where.

Sophie was surprised, as she explored the bathroom more thoroughly than the day before, to see a few bottles and a soft cloth along with a note in the top drawer of the vanity. The note, predictably, was written in Adealan. She groaned, taking it out to her desk and pulling out a handy device Iltaurielle had shown them how to use. If you held it over text in nearly any language, it could translate it into nearly any other language. It looked like one of the cheap kid's safari cameras that didn't actually function, but when Sophie held the note in front of the viewport, the translation appeared on the screen in less than a second.

We were not sure of your skin type or your normal skin and hair care routine, so we gathered information based on your behavioural patterns and used it to provide hopefully satisfactory products. If you require something different or if the products provided cause an allergic reaction, please notify your master immediately so that adjustments can be made.

Oh. That was nice of them.

Sophie put the translator thingy away and walked back to the bathroom. She immediately regretted that as the labels on the bottles were also written in Adealan. She rolled her eyes and changed, deciding not to bother with them right now. For one, she was starving and had no way of knowing how late it was or how much longer food would be available.

Iltaurielle had shown them when to find and how to unlock the small chest that sat on the righthand side of the desk. It was lined with velvet and had several strangely-shaped slots in it that they had learned were meant for storing weapons. Right now, all that was in there was the standard dagger that every apprentice was required to carry. But as their apprenticeship went on, Iltaurielle had said it would slowly be filled with weapons made to their specifications and that they would know how to use each and every one of them.

Sophie strapped the dagger to her belt, only feeling the slightest revulsion at openly carrying the blade. It was plain, simple steel with a leather-wrapped handle, worn by the hands of those who had wielded it before her. She turned and walked to the full-length mirror set into the stone between her closet and the bathroom door.

A very different girl stared back.

Even though it had only been two and a half weeks, she'd changed. The way she held herself was stronger, confident even. The way she rested her hand on the pommel of her weapon without hesitation. Adeala was changing her and would continue to do so. But deep in her heart, she knew that on the other side of those drastic, scary changes, was the person the Moonlark could be. She didn't know what that was yet, but she was ready to find out.

When did it get so easy to carry a real weapon?

She didn't have time to keep thinking about it. Someone banged on her door and Dex called, "Sophie, come on! You're going to miss breakfast!"

"Coming!" Shaken out of her daze, she ran to her door and slipped out, closing and locking it behind her. "Sorry I'm late."

Dex was dressed very similar to her. Brown tunic, leather jerkin, grey pants, and with a matching dagger hanging from his belt. "It's fine. Come on, let's go!"

The mess hall made her think of the cafeteria at school, but it was much nicer. It was a huge open space with long tables running the length of it. On the wall to her left was a large open window through which a few kitchen staff were serving food to four lines of personnel. Sophie and Dex hurried to join a line.

"Do you have any idea what we're eating?" Sophie tried to stand on tiptoe to see over the shoulder of the person in front of her, but the hard soles of her boots refused to bend.

"No, but it smells good."

The person in front of them turned around. "It's probably the usual. Lots of choices. There's food from most every culture on the continent, the big ones at least. They've got options for everyone. Just tell the server what type of food you want, they'll give you the options from that and you can narrow it down based on allergies, personal preference and stuff. Or if you know what you want you can just tell them and they'll give it to you. You guys new?"

Sophie nodded. "Yeah. We've never been here before."

"Okay. I'd stick to normal Egaetian food. Don't get too crazy with the ethnic foods. It's pretty standard bacon, eggs, toast, pancakes, sausage, that kind of thing. It's pretty allergy-friendly."

"Thanks. I'm Ruvyn." He held out his hand to shake.

"Sophie." She shook his hand.

"Dex." He also accepted the handshake, giving Ruvyn a small smile.

"You guys new cadets? If so, welcome to the greatest military in the known world."

Sophie shook her head. "No. We're apprentices."

Ruvyn moved up in the line and they followed him. "Huh. Most people take apprentices around midsummer, who are you guys apprenticed to?"

"Lady General Iltaurielle," Dex answered.

"Oh woah, you're being trained by the Blood Phoenix herself! You must be incredible fighters or strategists. She'll only train the best of the best."

Sophie shrugged. "I don't know what she saw in any of us. But apparently, it was enough for her."

"Huh. Cool. You guys must be really new if you only have the training daggers. Almost all the generals, but especially General Starfinder, move on to specialised weapon training as soon as possible."

"She hasn't said anything about that to us." The line continued moving and they moved with it. "You know a lot about Lady Iltaurielle."

Ruvyn shrugged. "She's probably the most famous general in Adealan history and she has no problem helping out the little guys. Stick around here and you'll learn quite a bit. And I served under her for a few months several years ago after my battalion got ambushed and what was left of us were transferred to her command while they shuffled people around to fill out the battalions. She's a brilliant strategist, a strong leader, and nearly all the soldiers under her command would call her a friend. You're lucky to be apprenticed to her."

They had now reached the front of the line. Ruvyn ordered quickly and the young woman nodded quickly and barked the order back at those behind her.

"Getting food is just that easy. There's no fancy system." As he said that, the woman plopped down a tray with his requested items. "And they're fast, which is nice if you're in a hurry."

He left and the woman looked at Sophie, waiting expectantly for her to order.

Sophie bit her lip, not totally sure what to do. Dex slipped into Adealan, saying something to the woman. Sophie had no idea what he was saying. The woman said something back and Dex translated. "Syrup or anything on your pancakes?"

"Uh, little bit of syrup and drown it in whipped cream."

Dex relayed it and the woman laughed. She yelled back and gestured for them to step aside so she could help the next person in line.

"What did you say to her?" Sophie was a little unnerved and annoyed that Dex could understand and speak Adealan perfectly and she, the Polyglot, couldn't even say hello.

"I told her we were new and didn't really know what we wanted. She said she could just get standard plates for us, which are bacon, eggs, pancakes and French toast sticks. I don't really know what those are, but I'm hoping you do. I saw everyone else sort of huddled in a group looking lost, so I asked for eight plates for all of us."

Sophie looked around and said the other six standing just off to the side next to the door. "I'm going to go get them and find a spot to sit."

"Okay. I think by the time you go get them and come back, they'll have our food so you might as well just bring them here."

Sophie nodded and wove through the crowd toward the others.

Tam and Linh looked overwhelmed and Fitz was frowning, trying to figure out what was going on. Biana was fiddling with her belt.

"Hey guys, Dex got food for us. Come on!"

Fitz instantly looked relieved. "Oh good. We had no idea what to do."

They followed her back to where Dex was standing, where as predicted the woman was setting eight plates of steaming food on the long bar.

Everyone else looked a little confused. Marella wrinkled her nose when Sophie handed her a plate. "What's this?"

"Let's go find a place to sit and eat and I'll tell you." Sophie picked up her own plate, biting back laughter at the mound of whipped cream that had maple syrup drizzled over it with presumably pancakes under it. Everyone else appeared to get the hint and picked up their own plates with a normal amount of whipped cream on them.

They found a table that was unoccupied and sat down. They'd learned the hard way the night before that occupied tables would tint themselves gold and unoccupied tables were white. Fitz had almost gotten into another fight before Iltaurielle defused the situation.

Sophie stabbed her fork into the whipped cream mountain and did find two pancakes buried under all of it. "So this is all pretty normal human food. You should be fine with the pancakes. I don't know how you guys are with eating animal products, do you eat eggs? Regardless, these are scrambled eggs right here." Sophie licked the whipped cream off her fork and pointed it at them. "Bacon is meat, so you'll probably want to avoid it. French toast sticks are fine. I've never actually had them before, but they should be really good."

"What's the white stuff?" Keefe poked the whipped cream with his spoon.

"Whipped cream. It's really good on pancakes and lots of other stuff. It won't kill you, so stop poking it, and eat what you feel like eating." Sophie went straight for the bacon. She had not had proper bacon in years. There were gnomish vegetables that tasted like bacon, but it wasn't the same as the real deal. She coated hers in whipped cream, as she'd always done much to her parents and sister's disgust, closing her eyes in bliss when she took a bite. "Ugh, I've missed real bacon."

Biana looked disgusted. "You like eating meat?"

"Certain kinds. I don't really miss it except for bacon. Try it, you might like it."

She wrinkled her nose and pushed the offending food as far away from everything else on her plate as she could.

Linh took a nervous bite of one of her French toast sticks and her eyes nearly bulged out of her head. "Oh my gosh. Guys."

"What?" Tam's brow furrowed and he tried one of his. "Oh wow."

Sophie grinned. "Are they good?"

"They're amazing," Fitz answered around a mouthful of food.

"Dearie me, did your parents teach you anything? No talking with a full mouth."

Fitz grumbled, glaring at Iltaurielle as she perched on the corner of their table.

She was wearing a flowy green dress with a brown belt cinching it in at the waist. Her hair was in a neat braid down her back. There was no weapon in sight, though she was absolutely still fully armed. But she was far more relaxed here than they had ever seen her.

Keefe elbowed Fitz in the ribs. "She is right, you know. You shouldn't talk with your mouth full."

"I'm glad to see someone agrees with me. As soon as you're finished eating, head down to the uppermost gates. We are going down to the market today. Be prepared for a lot of walking and if you know what's good for you, you will be courteous to the people. You have the same rank as them until you earn otherwise." She pinned each of them with a firm stare until they agreed. "Good. I will be waiting for you. Be there in a reasonable time please."

Sophie dug into the rest of her food and finished it off quickly. The others followed suit, not wanting to test Iltaurielle's patience. All of the bacon got pushed to Sophie's plate, which she did not mind. More for her.

Iltaurielle was waiting for them as she'd said, leaning against the wall next to the gate. "Good, you're learning to be punctual. Keep it up." She turned on her heel and walked out of the gate.

Sophie glanced around at everyone else and shrugged. There was no real choice but to follow her.

Their new master was in no hurry to get wherever she was going. She meandered from street to street, clearly having some destination in mind but not minding how much time she was wasting to get there. Sophie took the opportunity to study her new surroundings.

The full midmorning sun was striking the slate rooftops and glistening off the water in frequent large fountains. Some fountains were clearly just decoration, but others had wide, low basins and no fancy spouts. These ones were riddled with small children enjoying the water and their mothers and fathers washing clothes or playing with their children.

Everything in the city seemed to be made of the same white stone, which made sense since the mountains the stronghold was carved into were the only source of stone for miles. But it was by no means blank. Flowers were everywhere, cultivated in window boxes and pots outside houses, on vines growing down buildings that added to the charm instead of making it look rundown. There were several small shops along the roads, many of which overflowing with greenery. Small plants of every kind in pots, from decoration to seasonings to medicinal herbs.

Iltaurielle stopped at every one, greeting the owner and engaging in conversation. They were very happy to see her, most offering hugs that she accepted with a smile. But these conversations were kept short and they kept moving farther into the city.

The market was located along the enormous main avenue they had ridden up the previous day. Not lined with crowds, the intersection between the wide cobbled road leading up to the citadel and the road perpendicular to it leading to the docks was larger than expected and lined with stalls. People wandered between vendors, and children moved in packs around their parents. It was bustling and alive and oddly homey. Something about it felt so much more familiar and safe than the Lost Cities ever had.

Iltaurielle called them all around her and handed out leather pouches that jangled with money. "Here is what you've got. The silver ones are jarias. The gold are worth ten jarias. The brass are worth half a jaria. The copper are worth a tenth of a jaria."

Sophie pulled open the drawstring and peeked inside. "What are the ones with swirled silver and gold?"

"Oh, those are five jarias." Iltaurielle showed them how to clip the pouch to their belts. "Each of them is a different weight and thickness, so eventually you'll be able to tell them apart by touch. You have fifty jarias to spend. Spend them carefully and try not to get swindled."

Iltaurielle was hoping her apprentices could at least shop without constant supervision. They probably wouldn't believe her, but she actually had things to buy and couldn't be constantly hanging over their shoulders. Fifty jarias was pocket change to her, but it was more money than most people spent at these markets. As long as they exerted a little common sense and only purchased from reputable sellers, they would be fine.

She continued strolling down the market, keeping a lookout for her favourite cloth merchant. All of her apprentices would need appropriate clothing for the Autumnal Ball and even though she could simply have such clothing commissioned, she preferred to make it herself, as she had done for most of her clothing, her husband's, and her children's.

As she walked, she kept an eye on all of the other jewelry and fabric stalls she didn't stop at, looking for anything that might look nice on any of the eight, though she was looking in particular for the ladies. Hopefully by the ball they would have advanced enough in rank to have formal uniforms the gentlemen would wear to events such as those. It was, of course, open to the ladies to wear theirs if they so chose, she did it herself more often than not, but it was good to have the options and sewing a suit to Adeala's standards was a righteous pain, let alone four of them all tailored to different people.

Tam and Linh had signed the apprentice contract. Tam had come the evening before to discuss the finer points of the contract with her and his sister had accompanied him. The three of them had had a lengthy discussion and both had signed. They hadn't been exempt from the ten pushups, but they seemed to understand the test for what it was. Tam had wanted to protest, she'd seen the flash of defiance in his eyes. He didn't trust adults, even when he should. It would serve him well later, but she didn't like seeing unhealed remnants of trauma in children. He would be the first one she would reach out to.

Keefe had come to meet her before breakfast. They had discussed the contract and what it meant and she was sickened to see the fear and distrust and pain behind every word. He was afraid of sighing over his fate to yet another adult who would betray him. As much as she hated to leave it that way, she couldn't build bridges with two apprentices at once. Tam's distrust easily bridged to insubordination and that she had to resolve first before it caused other problems. Then she could take the time that Keefe needed to show him that she was not going to be like every other adult in his life. She was not going to abandon him.

She noticed a blue silk out of the corner of her eye and paused. The stall was busy, so she stayed back, letting the portly man draped in brilliant oranges and yellows that glittered with interwoven gold handle his current customers before she asked about it.

Iltaurielle narrowed her eyes, studying the fabric carefully. It looked like a high-quality fabric, but especially for those with access to illusion-makers, it could easily be cheap fake silk played up by the seller. But most illusions, especially those affordable by successful merchants, couldn't hide colour. This particular roll was a beautiful deep blue with just enough green to give it another layer of colour and shimmered with silver with the sun happened to glint off of it.

It wouldn't be her first choice, but with the right makeup and jewelry, it would look gorgeous on Marella. It was too dark for Linh, it would make her look washed out. It was also probably too dark for Biana, and too close to the colour of her eyes. As a jewel colour with a green dress, that could be nice on Biana, as long as it was the right green. Sophie needed red. Brilliant, scarlet red with gold jewelry.

The other customers left and she stepped forward. The merchant was counting the money he'd made from the last sale and Iltaurielle eyed the money as he counted it. Some people thought it was an intrusive habit, but the average amount a customer paid for a product provided good intel on whether or not the prices were fair. She noted the annoying amount of gold in the coin he was counting into the safebox and frowned. Even for expensive silk, that was an awful high price. Unless the customer had bought an inordinately large amount of fabric.

The man noticed her and pasted on a customer smile. "Ah, come to inspect my wares? I can promise only the finest quality of silks from the heart of the Barjeels themselves!"

He must be new.

"I'm sure your fabrics are very nice." She kept her replies short, studying the fabric with a pensive expression. "Do you have a swatch of that one there?" She pointed to the blue silk she'd been eyeing.

"Of course, of course!" Iltaurielle noted the slight tremor of nervousness in his voice. Her initial theory was probably correct.

The square of fabric he handed her was not the same silk. It was the same colour, but it didn't glimmer in the same way. This small piece was a very high-quality finesilk that likely, true to the merchant's boasting, did come from the Barjeel mountains. But the roll of silk it was supposed to be representing was a different fabric.

She decided to give him an out to save his dignity. "This isn't the fabric I asked for." She gestured to the roll again, giving him a light frown. "I asked for that one. This is a beautiful silk, but it's not the one I asked for."

Then she heard her name being called from across the square and looked around. Diagonally across the square was the stall she had been looking for. A friend of hers that currently ran the business was waving enthusiastically at her.

"Ah, my name is being called. I will have to look at it later." She turned away before the merchant could reply.

Sareeh was grinning widely. "Iltaurielle, it's good to see you! I just got more of that cotton blend you like."

"Thank you for telling me, but I don't want cotton this time. I have taken apprentices and they'll need something to wear for the Autumnal Ball. What kind of silks do you have?"

"Well, who are you dressing? Hair, eye and skin colour is all I need." Sareeh turned, looking over the silks and brocades hovering on invisible racks.

"Four different girls. All fairly pale, though one is gaining more of a tan complexion. Marella, blonde hair, blue eyes, pale. Linh, black hair with silver tips, grey-blue eyes, pale skin. Sophie golden blonde hair, brown eyes, little tanner than the others, but still pale. I know I need red for her. Biana, brown hair, dragon teal eyes, pale now, but will probably be pretty tan by the end of summer."

"Alright. Marella, blonde and blue. I'd put her in this pastel yellow here. Aquamarine for jewelry. You said the Autumnal Ball?"

"Yes."

Sareeh waved her hand and a roll of brilliant scarlet silk came to the front. "Not the Summer Solstice?"

Iltaurielle rolled her eyes. "I've always hated that holiday. I'm skipping it again. I'll be up in the mountains with my apprentices taking advantage of the hunting weather."

"You really should just give it a chance. Next year. I'll even comp a dress for you. Sew it myself and everything."

She sighed. "Maybe next year. So, the yellow and the red. What else?"

"For Linh, she's the one with black hair right?" Sareeh waited for Iltaurielle to nod before she waved a bolt of light blue to the front with the red and the yellow. "This one. Make a bit of an ombre with some white and a bit of a darker blue. That would be really pretty. For Biana…" She sighed. "Dragon teal is hard to match. I'm going to say dark green." She called the roll forward. "Same yard count for each?"

"Yes please. Charge to my account as normal and have it delivered to my rooms. Is there anything else you think I'd need?"

"Nope, not from me. Just make sure those girls look stunning."

Iltaurielle nodded her thanks and left as Sareeh started cutting the fabric. The sun was climbing toward noon and it was time for her to round up her apprentices and herd them back up to the citadel.

She hoped they were feeling energetic because they were going to start with hand-to-hand combat.

It's here. I did it. You have your chapter! I know it's way later than I usually post, but I did it! Hopefully next week's chapter is on time!

Thank you so much to everyone for their support. It really helped me get this out. I just want you guys to know that I read and appreciate every review I get. I have them flagged in my inbox and I'll go back and read through every review I have ever received. So please don't think your review isn't appreciated. I love every single one. Thank you so much for taking the time to tell me just how much my stories mean to you. For every person who said they love this story and want me to keep writing, this is for you.

Shine brightly!

Ruby.