Jarasevo castle.

On the hill that overlooked the Monster Capital like a lighthouse both in day and night. A monument by both human and monster definition how it stood taller than tall. It was said that it was more robust than the bedrock that elevated it as it was raised by Monster Royals past in a display so splendid it would radiate off the marble walls for hundreds of years to come!

One would be hard-pressed to deny that legend upon seeing how smooth it was. Like a single block of marble hollowed out with windows and doors placed without as much as a nail or hinge to hold them in place. Like they were there when the stone was birthed. Like it was there when all time began.

And not a single day shown as age on it.

It had stood longer than any human castle. Its Royal Lineage stretching further back in time than any human equivalent could claim. Each Monster Queen and Monster King still lived on inside its wall even after their reign was over. Their auras lingered like the gentle smell of fresh pastry outside a bakery, and just as enticing. They were respectful about the current monarchs though, not speaking up or making their presence known as their time to reign were over. They were a part of the castle, and the castle was there to aid the Monster Royals, and the Monster Royals were there to protect their land and souls.

During the day it would be like a second sun to its surrounding subjects to remind them that they had nothing to fear in life, shining clear as day even while the darkest of clouds hung heavy above both head and soul. It would happen that the towers would slice through the clouds like a knife through hot butter so that the necessary rain would move in predictable patterns. The many roads that led out from Jarasevo bent to follow the sliced clouds. From the top of one of the towers one could see the swirling pattern of villages and farms disappearing down the horizon. It was never truly known if the towers' impact on the rain was intentional or not, but the resulting prosperity was never questioned.

During the night the radiance wouldn't shine in a way that would hinder sleep. No, instead it would warm the souls of its monsters and humans like an additional, magical blanket. It would be like a warm mother's hand stroking the foreheads to help drift safely and quickly off to sleep. All that had met the Queen would recognize her hand as the one that would help them sleep. Even the Royal Guard stationed at night would feel the Queen's security envelope them like a cloak. They would speak of feeling the Delta Runes on their armor shining like candles for their souls.

Inside, the halls would be grand, and more importantly, make everyone that walked them feel just as grand. From the smallest of Whimsum that would feel like it was as large and respectful as King Asgore, to the largest of griffons that would never feel their wide wings grind against the walls. Welcoming to all, the castle was, with both heart and soul opened to those who would visit. Be it human or monster. Each one would give a piece of themselves to the castle, which would of course give them back a piece of itself. Thus the current Monster Royals had both the council of Monster Royals past and the council of humans and monsters alike at their disposal. It made everyone feel welcomed as they would feel their own kin walking side-by-side with them.

And where wouldn't they go, if not the Royal Garden?

A place filled with such life and color that even the rainbow was enticed by it. Each time the rain would pass it was seen nestling into the many flowers and trees, both from human and monster country. The Golden Flowers would glisten and shimmer like gemstones whenever the rainbow sat itself so patiently to smell the roses. Roses just as colorful as it was. Always in bloom, held opened and alive by magic.

The King's magic, to be exact.

It was the Prince's first magical lesson and duty, to keep the garden as alive as he wanted his subjects to be when he ascended to the throne. With each new Prince the current King would encourage the Royal Garden to grow as much as the Prince would. As much as the Monster Country would when he would become the new King. Whereas in human culture it was custom to give flowers as a gift to the Queen, for the Monster Royals it was snatched out of the delegate's hands by the King or Prince to go plant in the Royal Garden before the Queen could even begin to explain that she was not the one to receive the gifted flowers.

Because of that there were always humorous whispers about the trees in the Royal Garden and whether or not the Prince or King were running through the halls of the castle with an entire tree over their shoulder. Perhaps even the two helped each other, with the King for the crown and the Prince for the trunk? Those hushed giggles as to not to offend the hospitality were often heard between the leaves and vines to the delight of all that could hear.

Even the King and or Prince.

For it was because of their effort that the garden did blossom, and that their kingdom did as well. Otherwise the Queen and or Princess wouldn't have somewhere to go and enjoy tea which she so much deserved. Nowhere except the most beautiful place in the country which could still never match her beauty.

In stark contrast to the hushed giggles there would ring out a loud and sarcastic guffaw instead when the Queen and or Princess heard of the reason. Perhaps if that was the truth, the King and or Prince could let the Queen and or Princess get a glimpse of said flowers before being snatched out of hers hands?

The Echo Flower patch were often crowded to relive those moments. With hushed giggles, of course. Boss Monster aura wasn't so easily persuaded out of an Echo Flower, which brought great amusement to an already splendid garden. The laughter helped with fertilizing, so it was by the Queen and or Princess order that the Echo Flower patch would never be overwritten.

Until the next generation of Monster Royals, that is.

The legacy of all previous Monster Kings blossomed in the garden all year round for all that visited the castle to enjoy.

And those who would visit would always want to leave. Not due to the lack of hospitality nor the sense of inferiority that would seldom be inflicted, yet quickly pushed away. All that visited would want to leave so that they could see the world with the new perspective gained from Jarasevo Castle. Of its splendor, culture, food, beds, guards, Monster Mages, and finally Monster Royals. To sing from the bottom of their soul all the wonders they felt nothing but privileged to experience. How could they not? How could they not want to dance down the hill with each and every monster hand in hand, claw, paw, tentacle, bone, whatever they had! To dance and sing from the bottom of their soul so flustered with joy and pride. Joy from the memories they would never forget. Pride from the Monster Royals having entrusted with this joy and memories without a second's hesitation.

The cobblestone up towards the castle had ingrained dots on them. Tears, it was said to be. Tears of the ones that danced and sung down the hill, irrigating the lifeless stone underneath their bouncing feet with their happiness and unending laughter. Dresses swayed like the golden fields of wheat during a warm summer's breeze. Hats twirling in the air as if never to fall down again. Shoes which percussions would echo throughout the many alleyways to let everyone know of the festivities.

All of this went through Cter mind as she entered through the large gate that was just as much swallowing her up as it was inviting her in. The letter in her hand she brandished just to the side of her catching breath so that it wouldn't moisten and stain.

Half an hour later her hands were filled of her hanging cheeks with her elbows resting on her knees as she sat sighing on a bench overlooking the city. The glistening walls behind her tingled at her neck, but to her it was as a rash. Not even the view from where she sat she could appreciate.

All she could do, and did, was sigh.

Because really, what did she expect?

She knew beforehand how all those stories about the castle in Jarasevo couldn't possible be true. How it was more fluff than the fur of the Monster Royals. Not as much painting with vivid colors as it was throwing the paint in her face every single time someone would add to the increasingly unbelievable description of the castle. About roaming auras from previous Monster Kings and Monster Queens. About Echo Flower patches spouting embarrassments about the royals to amuse visitors, prying open for political soft spots that could be abused.

And human and monsters dancing down the hill after having visited?

She sighed again.

Perhaps she was a bit cynical at the moment, but it wasn't really a feeling she felt she could blame herself for feeling. She'd walked, not danced, up the large hill for what felt like hours to deliver a letter. That she was allowed to do. Not to the actual recipient, though.

"The Monster Mages do not take in apprentices."

As was said to her in opposite of what the tavern owner had said. Which would've been well enough for Cter to catch the hint that what she sought wasn't to be found in Jarasevo Castle, but with what the Royal Guard added as Cter told him that Kry had spoken to her just an hour or so ago she could really had done without.

Even if she knew in her very heart and soul that it was true…

"We know of you, Cter. We've known of your travels since when you first crossed the border near The Flipping Heart. Kry makes sure that none of you humans are a threat to monsterkind, especially if the first thing you do is travel straight towards the capital. Double that, if not triple, if you're calling yourself a human mage."

"But Kry told me..." Cter whispered just as meekly alone on the bench as she did against the dog monster quirking a tall eyebrow over his beady eye. His panting to keep cool in the blazing summer heat stopped as Cter managed to collect her words enough to make them audible. It was luck that the guard had sharp hearing, otherwise he wouldn't have heard it despite the wispy echo that the large, marble entrance produced. "But Kry told me I was a human mage..."

The Royal Guard then sighed just as tiredly and drained of emotion as Cter did afterwards. He reached over for a document across his wooden desk softly lit by a candle. He pierced the parchment with a claw and handed it over to let Cter read for herself. It was almost as if the guard was giving praise that she could even read to begin with. "Kry's report of you. Would you like a copy to bring with you? Won't take long since..." Another wispy echo bounced all around Cter as the guard inhaled through his clenched teeth with both eyebrows raised over his widened eyes from raisins to grapes. "Well, you'll know."

And Cter did.

She did the moment she saw the supposed report about her.

All of five lines.

With three about her.

'Knows magic. Knows might be too strong a word.'

'Couldn't even look me in the eyes despite believing I was a weak mage.'

'Accidentally encouraged due to relief that I didn't have to do anything more to assess.'

Wait… Four lines.

'Dismiss immediately if she's to visit the castle due to accidental encouragement.'

It was not of Cter to cry in public. Her aura though poured like a waterfall, which washed over both the Royal Guard she was talking too as well as the ones standing straight with disciplined distances between them along the length of the castle entrance. All turned their head towards the human exhaling ruggedly. There was a hefty silence following, with none knowing what to actually do to salvage it.

"Would you like a copy?" the sitting guard repeated from the other side of his desk which did nothing to shield him from Cter's leaking aura. She shook her head weakly, and let the parchment fall back onto the table before she turned away with a choked sob. "There is a bench out the right and a minute's walk if you want a place to sit and think," the guard offered to Cter's back as she neared the door.

She nodded. She didn't know why she did, but it was something she felt she had to do. Had to accept the help even if she knew it was just to get her out of there. She didn't feel like crying either. If anything she was too shocked to cry. Too confused about how to take anything right. The human she thought not to be a weak mage turned out to be one of the most powerful ones. He praised her by accident and didn't really mean it. She was told she was destined for something more from a monster's hunch which was the same hunch he had with Queen Toriel, but she was turned away at the literal gate, so how true was that hunch then?

Cter had to sit down for a while. Not only because of her legs again, but because of…

Just...everything.

Her mind was a mess. On top of that she felt it clashing with what she felt from her grandmother's memories inside her sleeve. The picture of Jarasevo, be it as hazy as it was, wasn't at all what Cter had experienced. That was sure to cause some friction the next time she was to summon magic.

If she even wanted to after this damned day.

With a tug and simultaneous sob Cter loosened her strap holding her sleeve's chest-covering, loosening it and throwing it out of her undershirt and robe.

This was it…

This was as far Cter could push reality until it caught up with her. Until the consequences of her cheating on the final exam left her stranded alone in another country with nowhere to go. Where should she go? Where could she go? She knew nobody! What would the tavern owner say if she came back and told him that his hunch was wrong. That…

She didn't know… She didn't know what to say!

She didn't know anything.

No monster.

No human.

And no magic.

Nothing that could help her.

Should she just try and get home? With what money? She would only have enough to the border if she decided to. And then? Then she'd be back in her human country where she wouldn't have the advantage of being a human that...had grounds to maybe produce magic? She wasn't a farmer's girl. She didn't know a craft. All Cter knew was how to study, and look where that got her!

Throughout her self-aimed and self-afflicted curses she held her hand tightly around her sleeve, but never ripped it off. There was still a comforting familiarity to it that she needed. Romrom's vague and distant presence was comforting. Cter could probe the magic with her eyes closed and imagine that her grandma was holding her hand. Just vaguely though.

Her torso folded forward as she began crying, her shoulders and back heaving with each choking sob. The cobble underneath her was irrigated like the embellished stories told, but not of the tears of joy the rumors boasted about. Only tears of a human truly lost. Physically, mentally, spiritually, and magically. Indulging herself in the last sliver of home that she could vaguely call as such. "I miss you," she sobbed. "All of you." She squeezed herself tighter, but she only hugged air. There was no one she could wrap her arms around and lean her weight onto though, and it put strain on her back. "I want to go home."

With a heavy head she looked up and over the low stone wall in front of her at Castle Hill's edge. Through watery eyes she winced against the horizon where Hjearta was somewhere beyond it. Where Soul's School was. Where her village was. Where her friends and family was. All thinking that she was flourishing in the Monster Capital. All thinking about how pride they were over her. About how she could wield dazzling magic that she had worked diligently to learn that would impress even the Monster Royals!

They were all thinking wrong, and the only way for Cter to correct that was to travel back. To leave Jarasevo behind her like Romrom did. To again fail to uphold that important promise she was entrusted to finally keep. Cter wasn't trusting in herself enough at that point to worry about it though. It had fallen further down her priority list than her self-esteem had. Slammed into the ground below without as much as a bounce.

After dragging her right arm across the bottom of her nose Cter stood up on wobbly legs to take in the view one last time before she was to leave it forever. If anyone would glance at her they'd think she was enraptured by the view, which she'd be if her entire world hadn't shattered and distorted it to a reminder of how far away she actually was. The dread of how she'd ever be able to travel home seeped up through her legs like a pair of wet socks, gripping her bones and echoing inside them like flu up to her chest. Romrom's memories inside her sleeve reacted to her decision reverberating inside her aura, but with her chest-covering loosened it couldn't try and convince her soul.

Which was the exact reason why Cter loosened it.

It was Romom's decision Cter were to travel to Jarasevo, not her own.

It'll be her own to leave it though.

And go home.

"You mind me sitting down here?"

"You may," Cter answered while turning away from the voice next to her. "I'm just about to leave." Her hand had just gripped the handle on her luggage when she felt a rush of recognition throughout her aura. She stopped half bent-over as she let the feeling germinate enough to confirm that it was…

It was…

It was the same as hers.

Cter stealthily looked over her shoulder to the monster that seated itself on the other side of the bench with the same look in the glimpses of eye Cter could see through the hair draped like a heavy curtain. The identical distant look that wished it was anywhere else but here. Somewhere else where what just happened didn't happen. It was slightly different from Cter though. Not raw, but from somewhere deeper. A depth of emotion only afforded to monsters.

Did this one feel Cter and came to join her?

The monster coughed a sob that barred its uneven teeth inside its long and scaly muzzle tinted gently blue like the earliest hour after a sunrise. With one of its four clawed fingers it collected the curtain of light-colored hair so that Cter could see its eye fully. Opening up its window to its soul just like that.

Who was this monster?

"Seems we both didn't really make the cut for the castle," the monster scoffed melancholic as its stumpy lizard-tail curled inwards. "M-may I ask what you were there for? What position?"

Cter sat down again with a respectful distance between her and the monster. The way it smiled seemed genuine, despite its scary appearance. Cter would've jumped out of her skin had she turned her head in a crowd and seen that smiling at her, but with the monster radiating the same aura that Cter did, for seemingly the same reason too, it had her see the smile as calming.

"I...was there to ask for an apprenticeship." Cter shivered as the cold words of the guard echoed inside her head again.

"Me too," the monster replied while nodding as solemnly as Cter did. The two caught glimpse of it and exhaled humorously through their nostrils. The monster a bit more than what Cter did. "Cooking apprenticeship for me," it added while shrugging its shoulders. The combed hair it had brushed away came cascading back over its shoulder and again obscured its eye.

It brought an annoyed sigh out of the monster.

"Here," Cter said before reaching down into her luggage. Luckily she quickly found what she didn't already have in her hand when she took the monster's attention. A small length of finger-wide fabric that she didn't have to use for her chest-covering. With a thankful smile the monster took it and began tying its hair into half a braid which it let hang behind its scaly neck.

"Thank you, human."

It was nothing.

...Nothing?

Yeah, it really was nothing to Cter. In a good way. Nothing in a good way. She'd forgotten about her visit to the castle for just a moment there, and did something that was nothing to her.

"A mage apprenticeship," Cter said as she rode the last lingering calm that her nothing-gesture afforded her. "But it didn't go as I had planned."

"You're a human mage?" the monster piqued with such surprise that it almost had its hair standing up straight. It would've blocked out the sun if that was the case. "You must still be powerful if you went all the way here to Jarasevo to visit the Monster Mages."

"I just..."

It took quite a bit of effort from Cter to tear her eyes away from looking through the fabric of her luggage onto her sealed scroll again,

"I just graduated," she said while motioning tiredly over yonder. "From Soul's School."

"Soul's School?" The monster nodded, clearly impressed. Cter wasn't ready to accept that though. She'd been burnt once already, and even with that calming smile she felt anxiety build up once again over her mage status. "That's the one in Hjearta, right? The first one built?"

Cter nodded factually.

"You're from there too?"

And again.

"I'm from Xoff," informed the monster while pointing over its shoulder, the bend of its arm underneath its chin so that it wouldn't muffle itself. "Have you been there before?"

Cter hadn't. "No," she answered. "I grew up in a small village so I've not done a lot of traveling."

"Besides all the way to the Monster Capital," the monster added playfully. Cter didn't entirely agree with it. "Same with me."

"Sure," she still said, even if it was through a sigh.

There was a slight change in the monster's aura. It had mellowed out just as Cter's had as the two talked, but then it quirked up like a sneeze, almost startling Cter. She looked over to the monster who's face and muzzle had wrinkled so much the space between its scales on its face were almost as wide as the scales themselves.

"You're not surprised that I'm from Xoff?" It almost sounded like an accusation. "Not in the slightest?"

"Not really?" She could not tell it why though. At least, not exactly. She could tell it a part of it though. "I have a grandmother who is a monster." Before the monster could react Cter lifted up her sleeve to show. "It's her memories in my sleeve."

"And my family is human!" With a couple of excited points between itself and Cter its eyes lit up as well as its smile. "We're like complements. You have monsters in your family, and I'm a monster in my human family."

...Sure? Maybe?

"Alright," the monster said with a heavy sigh seeing Cter's forehead wrinkle in uncertainty and confusion. "Thing is..." It clenched its teeth onto its conflicted tongue as it struggled to find the right words. "Can I say it straight with you, human?"

Cter's neck craned back a bit as the monster swung its large muzzle facing her. There was a bit of parallax from its yellowed teeth and eyes being just as pleading yet in different ways. "D-Depends what it is?"

The monster hung its head in defeat as it breathed out and in. "I need a roommate," it told the bench between the two hoping that the words would bounce loudly enough on the wood so that the human next to it could hear. It peeked up with one eye to gauge the human's reaction, its lips tugging as it bit its uneven teeth down onto them. "I might've…" It inhaled again as it shook its head, brushing its half-braid on the backrest of the bench. "I might've gotten a place that I could only pay for if I managed to get work for the Monster Royals."

That was...not really Cter's problem.

And the monster could tell from the way Cter close her aura off in a sudden fit of clarity. Its head shot up and it clasped its hand. "Please, human! We're both in the same situation, aren't we?"

No.

"I'm going home." That was what Cter wanted to do. "I miss my family."

"So do I!" the monster exclaimed. "I came here so that I could learn how to cook better!" it continued onto Cter's back standing up and bending over to pick up her luggage. "I made a promise!"

Cter's hand again halted on the luggage's handle.

A...promise?

"To my brother," the monster said quietly to itself. "My human brother. I've not seen him for years. He's out doing important work somewhere in Xoff, and when he comes back I want to give him the best meal he's ever had." It gripped its other arm and squeezed it tightly, almost turning its scale a deep purple akin to the Royal Color. "Maybe then he'll stay a bit longer so that we can talk for once."

…

Maybe...maybe the two had more in common than Cter thought Not much, but perhaps...a bit? With both having traveled away from their mixed families and both having been rejected from Jarasevo Castle on the same day, that is. That was a thought that struck her hard like a hammer on an anvil. "Can't you just find another place that you can live in alone?" Cter asked with a voice akin to the vibration of an anvil after getting struck by a hammer. She didn't follow up the question though, just waited with bated breath to listen not only with ears, but with her soul as well.

Because the two's auras were again the same.

"It has its own balcony to hang up laundry," the monster revealed as if it was the punchline to a joke. Its faux smirk drained into a frown directly afterwards though. "And to be honest, I don't want to live alone here." With longing eyes that Cter could see herself very clearly inside, the monster gazed over the city bathing in the long, bright-orange rays of the afternoon sun. "It's a bit too big for just me, I feel."

The town was big, true, and Cter felt the same about it. Her and the monster's aura were in agreement on that. They were in agreement of something else too. Something else that the monster could sense Cter was lying about. It was almost as loud as her sobbing was.

"We'll go back to the castle together, human."

The monster jumped closer on the bench before it decided it was better if it just stood up instead.

"We'll get inside. You and me."

Cter's left hand balled into a fist.

"Next time we sit here on this bench we'll both be clad in the Royal Purple and drinking Royal Purple."

Her sleeve began pulsating.

"Me as a cook for the Monster Royals."

It surged from her soul.

"And you as a Monster Mage."

She was determined.