Orihime slithered back into the castle, worried to the core that Aizen would be waiting at the gates for her or one of the espada. Yet, fortunately she managed to return without an army of guards waiting for her and when she sneaked back in, Aizen was not standing before her, asking about her trip. She scuttled back to the kitchen uneventfully, every single sound putting her on pins and needles. At last, after what seemed like an eternity, she found herself back in the kitchen, her desired destination.
"Orihime!" cried Mary as she burst in. The princess would find herself gratefully thanking her lucky stars for not having to look for her or ask the other servants for her wherabouts upon entering. There was no way her voice would have held up.
The pudgy cook's pleasant face became lined with worry when she got a good look at Orihime's face.
"Good heavens! You look like you've seen a ghost! Well, you probably have, considering the fact that you're in Hueco Mundo, but still! I didn't think your trip would have been that-"
Orihime wasn't really paying attention to Mary's inane prattle anymore. Wanting to get her point across, she numbly gestured toward an empty section of the kitchen. The kindly servant was sharp enough, and knew Orihime well enough to realize what she meant.
"Of course dear, let's go in there and you can tell me all about your little excursion"
She put her hand over her waist and sheperded her in.
The moment Orihime heard the door behind her click shut, she broke down like a brick wall. Every single emotion she had ever felt since the beginning of her trip came bursting out of her like water out of a dam.
"There, there" Cooed Mary soothingly as Orihime bawled like a baby in her arms.
It was a very long time before Orihime's mouth was able to enunciate words that weren't clogged up by her sobs. But there was nothing to filter out her emotions.
"The village was horrible!"She cried.
"People are starving and there are so many orphans crying for their parents! Everybody's bones are sticking out and they don't even have blankets or good housing conditions and it was so sad! I can't believe that this is one of the villages Sora used to take me to when I was little! Everybody was miserable and hungry and I can't believe that this is what their life is like now-"
At this point, Orihime's speech became canceled as she was seized with another fit of crying.
Mary sighed, forlornly "I didn't think that you'd like what you'd see but it your doing so was necessary"
"You needed to see what Aizen was doing to the people of Hueco Mundo for youself. Otherwise you'd have never believed it. Who would?"
"B-But how could he do this to the people?"
"He taxes the living daylights out of them in order to fund his lavish parties and almost all of their resources are shipped straight to the palace, free of charge"
"He doesn't even let them keep their crops?"
"Barely enough to keep them alive"
Orihime was so overwhelmed by the horrifying reality that she burst out crying again.
"Allright, that's enough tears for one day" Said the elderly hollow, sympathetically but firmly.
"I was hoping to save this present for your birthday, but it looks like I might need to whip it out now. I can't stand seeing you sad. Curse my bleeding heart for it"
Mary retreated out of the room and walked up to a small cupboard. From inside her apron, she retracted a key that she used to unlock it.
Orihime watched curiously as Mary reached into the cupboard and withdrew a small, white box.
"Your brother entrusted me with this until you came of age" Said Mary as she handed it to her.
Excitedly, Orihime took off the lid and gasped with delight.
Inside the box, nestled amongst lavender tissue paper, was a pair of two beautiful hairpins. They were robin's egg blue and intricately shaped like flowers with five, beautifully exquisite petals. In the center of each one was a dainty crystal.
"Oh Mary!" Whispered the awed Princess.
"This is the shun-shun-rika" Said Mary.
"They're a family heirloom of yours that have been passed down to the females of each generation"
"Sora never told me about this"
"That's because it is an Inoue tradition that the current princess receives them on the eve of her sixteenth birthday as a surprise.
"Your brother was a cautious man and on the off chance that he- left" Mary faltered, seeing Orihime's sad expression.
"I was to be the one in charge of entrusting them to you. I hope he won't be too hacked off about my advance in timing but your happy smile means more to me than some stupid precise timing"
Orihime giggled a little (embarrassingly) at Mary's rudeness
"These heirlooms are said to contain magic powers" Mary lectured.
"Now I don't know what those may be, since I've never taken a shine to hair ornaments (frivolous and unnecessary in my opinion) but why don't we put them in your hair and find out, eh?"
The princess nodded.
Mary took each one and used it to tuck some stray hair away behind her ears.
"Now let's see your pretty face" She smiled as she led her to a bucket of water.
Orihime smiled as she saw her reflection. She wondered what sort of powers the Shun-Shun-Rika might have.
"You'd better get back to your room before Aizen realizes that you're gone. You've been sneaking about long enough and what with another one of his cursed balls coming up, the place is crawling with servants prepping. Any one of them could see you "
Orihime was jolted out of her reverie.
"What?"
"Oh that's right, you just got back" Said Mary.
"His royal pain-in-the-butt is trying to schmooze some visiting Prince by throwing a party"
Orihime suddenly remembered the spectacled boy in the desert. Her eyes widened as she was jolted with a plan.
"That's it! I'll go to the ball tonight and speak to the Prince! I bet he has a huge army back in the Vandenreich that can be used to save the people from Aizen's reign of terror! Oh! I'll go and get ready!"
With that, Orihime turned tail and flitted back towards her room.
Mary smiled a mixture of wistfullness and pride.
"That girl's a member of the royal family, through and through. I just hope that she doesn't get herself caught"