As a result of having been disobeyed, Dori forbade Sucrose from going out of the palace until further notice. That was the only thing she said to her the following day, before informing everyone that she was going to be away for a week.

During those days, Sucrose spent most of her time inside her atelier, practicing different types of alchemy. She wanted to avoid everybody as much as possible; she didn't dare to show her face to them after it had been known what she had done. However, such a feat turned out to be impossible, even despite how large the palace was: she always bumped into somebody every and each time she wasn't in her atelier.

During her first encounter with Goshtasb, the butler scolded her for disobeying the boss, which frightened her. However, he then thanked her and praised her for her well-made ointment; Dori had already told him. His words of gratitude made Sucrose feel something odd within her, although she didn't want to pay it any attention and excused herself as soon as she could. Still, since that moment, Goshtasb became more receptive towards her.

Others, like Soltani or Mandana, never berated her to begin with. In fact, they even tried to comfort her: "It's not like you did it on purpose", "Everyone makes mistakes", or "The boss will have already forgiven you when she comes back" were some of the words they told her. It was thanks to their support that, as the days went by, she tried less and less to avoid them. Even so, she still couldn't forgive herself.

Shaghayeh, on the other hand, distrusted her even more, now to an evident point. Be that as it may, she never said or did anything to her; she only avoided her. She thought that doing so would be the best course of action for both of them, because otherwise she would only yell at her, something she didn't want to do. Not for the moment, at least.

The week had already gone by. Sucrose was in her atelier, doing some more synthesis. Although, she wouldn't be able to do many more, because she was beginning to run out of materials. She had just finished synthesizing some neutralizers for other synthesis when somebody knocked at the door, then it opened and Dori irrupted.

"Sucrose, I want you in five minutes in my sitting room. Do not be late."

Dori left without giving time for Sucrose to even react. Sucrose organized the neutralizers by their colors, red and blue, and went to Dori's sitting room. She knocked thrice on the door, then she opened it and peeked inside. Dori was comfortable on her divan, holding her pipe in her hand. Next to each side of the divan there was a box: the one on Dori's left was squared, whereas the one lying on her right was long and narrow. Dori directed her gaze towards Sucrose.

"Come in."

Sucrose entered, closed the door behind her and approached Dori. She was prepared for whatever Dori might say to her. Or so she thought:

"Do you know the tale of The Magic Lamp?"

Sucrose shook her head, utterly surprised and lost before that sudden, unexpected question.

"In it, there is a lamp which, if you rub it, a genie appears from within and grants you three wishes," Dori narrated. "Quite different from real-life genies, honestly…"

Sucrose was now even more lost, if that was possible. Was Dori perhaps going to ask her to synthesize a magic lamp like the one from the tale? Were that the case, she was afraid to tell her that such a feat was impossible for her and disappoint her once more.

"The point is that today I will be your genie and grant you three wishes," Dori revealed. "Even though they have already been granted."

Every thought inside Sucrose's head froze. Out of every hypothesis which she had drafted in her head about her next interaction with Dori, that she was going to be given even more stuff wasn't even considered. She wanted to ask her if she wasn't angry anymore; she was curious, but she was also afraid of making the situation awkward. That predicament was making her nervous.

"Is something the matter?" Dori asked curiously.

"Huh? No! Nothing! I'm fine!" Sucrose jabbered. She decided to just play along for the moment. "So, what are my wishes?"

Dori stood up from the divan. She grabbed the box on her left and offered it to Sucrose. Sucrose took it and opened it. Inside there was a belt like the one which Dori had given her before. This one, however, was larger; it had four pouches, two on each side, instead of just one; and it also had some straps where she could place her flasks and test tubes.

Sucrose put it on. It adjusted to her waist backwards and forwards. She wanted to return Dori the small one, but the latter refused. Dori insisted for her to keep it; she really wanted to see it being used rather than just having it stored somewhere.

"It sure looks good, does it not?" Dori said while she rubbed her own hands. "Now, let's move on to your second wish."

She moved with great care the long box until she placed it before Sucrose. She invited her to open it. The lying box didn't even reach Sucrose's shins, so she had to kneel in order to open it properly.

Within this second box there was a staff. Its shaft was blue and it had a long golden tip on its bottom end. On its top end, a transparent cube with large wings rested on one of its edges on the center of a large, round golden base. Four vertical tips, long and curved towards the inside at each opposite end of the base, protected the cube.

Sucrose was left speechless before such a gift. She gently grabbed it and took it out of the box with great care. It had the ideal weight for her. She gripped it with both hands and gawked at it from top to bottom. Then, all of a sudden, the cube emitted an intense turquoise glint which blinded both of them. Once it had ceased, they saw that the previously transparent cube was now turquoise. It now looked like an Anemo Hypostasis. Dori was beside herself with joy.

"It worked! It worked! Splendid! Marvelous!"

"What is this, exactly?" Sucrose asked, her voice choked with emotion.

"That is a Catalyst Staff," Dori answered with a broad smile. "Catalysts deal only elemental attacks, do they not? But with a Catalyst Staff, you will be able to deal physical blows as well. Perfect for extracting minerals or asking whatever attacks you to leave you alone pretty please, for instance!"

"I didn't know that Catalyst Staves existed…"

"Because they don't," Dori confirmed. "You can't imagine the huge effort I had to make in order to have this manufactured! I was breaking cold sweats out, fearing that it might not work!"

"Is that why you were away for the whole week?"

Dori nodded several times. Obtaining the staff, forged by the best blacksmiths from Inazuma, was but a trifle for her. However, she needed to use her every ability as a merchant in order to obtain the materials for its core and then to have them shaped in the form of a Hypostasis. She had rented a room in a hotel in Port Ormos so that she didn't need to come and go every day. She returned that other day, the one she rebuked Sucrose, to get some change of clothes for her long stay.

"I can't accept this," Sucrose refuted. "I don't deserve it."

"You silly. I wouldn't have bothered if you didn't deserve it," Dori replied.

Dori's bluntness left Sucrose without arguments. Without knowing what to say, Sucrose just gazed at her new staff once again, which was becoming blurrier as she was feeling her eyes warmer and more humid.

"You are a weepy one, are you not?" Dori teased.

"Yes… I suppose I am," Sucrose laughed. She rubbed her tears falling down from her eyes and embraced the staff. "Thank you. I will treasure it."

"I know you will," Dori nodded smilingly. "So, should I now tell you your third wish?"

Sucrose looked around, but she didn't see any more boxes.

"What is it, then?" she asked.

Dori stood with arms akimbo and smirked.

"Little old me."

Sucrose and Dori left the palace together, in search of a place where they could test the staff. The third wish consisted in that, from then on, Dori would accompany Sucrose to explore and gather materials the days in which the former didn't have any urgent work. On the other hand, Sucrose was only allowed to go out of the palace accompanied by Dori, since her ban hadn't been lifted yet.

"Were you perchance expecting for me to offer you my hand on marriage or something!?" Dori mocked laughingly. "You should have seen your own face!"

"Hey, after this Catalyst Staff, I was expecting anything coming from you," Sucrose justified herself, humiliated for having misinterpreted Dori.

Dori had the habit of doing everything in a straightforward way, sometimes even too much. Sucrose had experienced so ever since their first encounter; therefore, that possibility crossed her mind, even if only for an instant. Now that she reflected upon it more calmly, imagining a married life with Dori was so ludicrous that even she laughed at her own misunderstanding.

Soon after climbing the path out of the basin, instead of following the road, they turned left towards a narrow trail. They didn't walk it down much when they turned left again, reaching a clearing in which there was a cave after two trees forming an arch on their right. What stood at the cave's entrance surprised Sucrose.

"I didn't know that there were Hilichurls so close to home," she whispered to Dori.

Two Hilichurls were positioned in front of the cave's entrance, one at each side. It seemed like they were standing guard. The Hilichurls stared at them, but they didn't do anything else.

"Don't worry about them," Dori asserted. "We are like neighbors. Actually, we even have a small business agreement: I bring them food and they let me inside the cave to mine. This cave is full of minerals, you know."

Dori took out a sack full of what Sucrose guessed was food and approached the Hilichurls.

"Moshi mita?" she greeted them.

The Hilichurls began to speak to Dori in a manner Sucrose fathomed that it wasn't what Dori had expected, because Dori was making a face Sucrose knew quite well: she herself made that same face whenever she didn't know how to respond. She tapped Dori's shoulder.

"May I?"

Sucrose tried to communicate with the Hilichurls, albeit with some difficulty. She spoke slowly and sometimes she stumbled over her words, but at least it seemed like she was doing well. At least, that was what Dori thought, because from whatever they were talking about, she understood only the last part:

"Tomo valo!" one of the Hilichurls said.

"Valo!" Sucrose replied. She turned to Dori. "Okay, we can go inside."

Dori gave one of the Hilichurls the sack and followed Sucrose inside the cave. For a change, she was the one perplexed this time.

"Do you speak Hilichurlian?" she asked Sucrose.

"Just a little bit. I had a Hilichurl back in my laboratory in Mondstadt. Thanks to that, I could learn some words. I wonder what has become of him…" Sucrose explained. "The point is that some 'somethings' ―I didn't understand the term― have sneaked inside the cave and they're having trouble dealing with them, so I offered to chase them out. Sorry for not consulting it with you."

"I forgive you. But do not do that again."

"Did I do wrong?"

"Just kidding. You did quite well. By doing this, we will improve our relationship with them," Dori claimed. "And we will also test the Catalyst Staff as an offensive weapon!"

"Still, if you don't mind my asking, why do you let them be?" Sucrose wondered. "People usually… you know…"

Dori gestured to Sucrose to bend down and whispered to her ear. "Because, as long as they stay here, everybody will stay away from this cave and, by extension, from the minerals."

Sucrose frowned. It was nice that Dori had reached an agreement with Hilichurls instead of scaring them away or exterminating them, though it seemed more like Dori was taking advantage of them, actually.

They arrived at an open space. In its center grew some gigantic azure mushrooms. Water from a hole in the ceiling fell onto those mushrooms, then it fell from them like waterfalls to a small lake surrounding the whole place. Sucrose gawked at the scenery, but something else caught Dori's attention:

"Sucrose, look!" she murmured. "Those must be the ones!"

Sucrose looked where Dori was pointing. Beyond the lake with giant mushrooms there were several fungus-shaped creatures of different colors. One of them, a brown one, was larger than the rest. It also had ears, small fins, legs and a tail. Sucrose never had seen such creatures in real life; thence, she didn't know how to confront them. Even so, this time, unlike her encounter with that Rishboland Tiger, she was sure of herself. She had flasks prepared on her new belt, she had a new weapon ready to be tested, and she had Dori by her side. She was all set for anything.

Or so she thought, because summoning a staff wasn't the same as doing so with a grimoire. It appeared just where she had extended her hand, and if she hadn't reacted on time, it would have fallen to the ground. Furthermore, it slipped from her hands a few times until she managed to hold on to it firmly with both hands. Dori frowned at her.

"Would you stop acting like a Samachurl?" she grumbled.

"S-sorry…"

Because of Sucrose's clumsiness, the fungi had been made aware of their presence. The big one let out a roar which resonated inside the cave, then the smaller ones lunged at them. Dori prepared herself to fight as well: she summoned an overly large purple oil lamp in her left hand.

"Is that your weapon?" Sucrose asked.

"No. This is my partner," Dori clarified with a broad smile. "This is my weapon."

She then summoned in her right hand a claymore as big as herself. Spinning her whole body, she tossed it up in the air, and then, she raised her lamp up high. Billows of purple smoke emanated from the lamp and transformed into a round blob, similar to a Slime, yet this one had a smiling face, a small ponytail and two floating hands. The blob grabbed the claymore with both hands and struck it with might against the approaching fungi despite its small size, hitting one of them right on its head.

"Pay attention!" Dori yelled.

Hadn't been for Dori's yell, Sucrose, who was captivated by that purple blob, wouldn't have noticed that another fungus was coming at her, spinning like a top. As a reflex, she swung her staff and hit it right with one of the Hypostasis' wings. The fungus was sent flying in a whirlwind and fell into the water. Sucrose was perplexed.

"Did I do that?"

She looked at the Hypostasis. Several small gusts of emerald wind whirled around it. She wanted to try something: she firmly swung the staff towards another fungus. It didn't hit it, as it was out of her reach. However, a gust of wind appeared from the Hypostasis, which blew it away. Next, Sucrose ran towards the fungus and smashed its head with the staff's base. The fungus received a good whack, but no wind appeared from the staff whatsoever.

"Okay. I think I'm getting the hang of this," Sucrose affirmed. Then, she turned to see how Dori and her blob were doing. "Dori! Look out!"

Just in time, Dori saw that the big fungus, which had decided to enter the fray, was ramming at her and evaded it. The fungus crashed against the wall, hitting it with so much force that the entire cavity quaked; and yet, the fungus was still standing, preparing himself for another charge. Sucrose and Dori regrouped, whereas the blob flew upwards, out of reach, under Dori's command.

"Thanks," Dori puffed, without her usual accent. "We're even now."

"How do we defeat that one?" Sucrose asked. "It looks very sturdy."

"I have an idea: let's position ourselves between it and the lake."

They moved slowly and without taking their eyes off of the fungus until they were standing where Dori had suggested; then, they waited for the fungus to attack. The fungus charged at them, but they both evaded it and it fell into the lake. It didn't drown in it, but that was part of the plan. Dori aimed at the fungus with her lamp and shot a couple of purple orbs from it, which hit and electrocuted the soaked fungus.

"Sucrose! Now!"

Sucrose grabbed one of her flasks and tossed it to the fungus, hitting its head. The flask broke and its content reacted with the electrocution, causing a violent burst which sent the fungus, along with most of the lake's water, flying. The fungus didn't fall onto them by a few steps. It lay on the floor, completely motionless.

"Phew! That was a close one…" Sucrose panted, looking at the fungus. "Huh? What's this?"

Something had been dropped from the fungus' body. Sucrose grabbed it. It was a medium-sized piece of body tissue. When she looked at it up close on her left hand, she felt a sudden burst of fear running through her whole body. She was hyperventilating, her heart beat as if it was trying to escape from her chest, and she felt her blood pulsating with intensity in her left hand.

"Sucrose! What's wrong!?"

Dori came in a hurry when she saw Sucrose in such a state. She was worried about her. Sucrose looked at her and lost her focus on the tissue. She began to calm down.

"Dori? I… I…" Words couldn't leave her mouth. She breathed in and out several times until she managed to settle down. "I-I'm fine. I was just… spacing out, that's all."

"Are you sure?" Dori doubted. "Because you still look quite pale to me."

"Yes, I'm okay now. Thank you for worrying about me."

Dori wasn't convinced, yet she pursued the subject no longer. Sucrose didn't want to think about the tissue again; she just stored it, along with the rest which had been dropped from the fungus, inside one of her pouches. Dori and the purple blob reached their hands, forming a cup, towards her. In them they carried sufficient fungal spores and pollen from the other fungi. Sucrose opened another pouch and they emptied their hands into it. The third wish included that all of the materials which they found would be kept by Sucrose for her alchemy.

"Dori, what is that?" Sucrose inquired, referring to the purple blob.

"This is my partner: a genie," Dori boasted, her usual accent having returned. "Unlike those from the tale I have told you about, these ones don't fulfill wishes; rather, we form pacts with them. In our case, he helps me in combat and then I fulfill a petition of his."

Dori pulled out a coin. That coin wasn't a Mora; it was much bigger. She tossed it up into the air. The genie grabbed it, giggled, and then vanished.

"Well? Do you like your new staff?" she asked after putting her lamp away.

"It's a strange weapon," Sucrose admitted. "It works differently depending on how I attack the enemy, but I think I'll get used to it."

"Shall we test it on the minerals, now?"

They approached the mineral veins. There were different kinds of minerals, but the most common were iron and crystal. Sucrose stood before an iron seam and held firmly her staff. In one single strike, she broke the seam and many fragments of iron sprung from it. Next, she tried with a crystal seam. She needed more strikes, but she was able to break it as well. Both Sucrose and Dori were astonished.

"I didn't expect you to break them with such ease," Dori confessed, checking the staff up close. It didn't have the slightest dent; it was intact. "They surely did a magnificent job in making the staff. And in a hurry! I must make sure to reward them handsomely.

"I still can't believe that something like this exists!" Sucrose said excitedly, while she was keeping the extracted fragments. "This will be a complete revolution!"

"I highly doubt it. It wouldn't take as little as one week to have another one made," Dori refuted. "Besides, specific gems matching the bearer's Vision are needed for this purpose. Otherwise, the weapon wouldn't synchronize with the Vision, and it would be no different from an ordinary staff."

"Gems? Do you mean the Hypostasis?"

"Indeed. It has been made and shaped from Vayuda Turquoises. And acquiring the necessary amount was no small feat, let me tell you. Therefore, I will only make more Catalyst Staves upon requests and payments in advance. I would need to sell them for a fortune in order to amortize them."

Sucrose remembered what Tighnari had told her. How much money had Dori already spent on her? She saw a long path before her until she could imagine the tycoon being proud of having taken her in her life: she had only disappointed her so far. She patted her forehead; she really shouldn't be thinking too much about it. All she had to do was to walk that road, regardless of how long it was. Now that she had it clear again, she said to Dori:

"Should we get going?"

After they exited the cave, Sucrose told the Hilichurls that the fungi had been taken care of. The Hilichurls were so happy that they began to dance. They even offered them a token of gratitude: arrowheads. Sucrose surely would find them some good use in alchemy.

Instead of turning left and going the way back, Dori pulled Sucrose's arm and took her to another path which went up in the opposite direction. At the end of the path there was a vantage point between a rock wall and a small cliff. Beside the wall stood out a round, tiny but tall house, with a leafy roof, located on a wooden platform. Dori took Sucrose to the brink of the cliff. From there, the Palace of Alcazarzaray could be seen in all its glory.

"Wow… What a view," Sucrose admired.

"Is it not?" Dori nodded. "Sometimes, I like to come here and admire my humble home."

"And what about that little house behind us?"

"That one? Not a clue. It has been there ever since before I came to live here," Dori explained. "The thing is that I have never seen anybody, and yet it has no signs of being abandoned."

"Anybody, huh?" Sucrose decided to drop the subject.

They sat down at the brink and remained there for quite a while, gazing at the palace and breathing Sumeru's warm air. Sucrose was beginning to appreciate that, thanks to her new clothes, she hardly ever felt hot, although she hated to admit it. They saw Mandana in the garden, taking care of the flowers, as well as Soltani, who noticed them and waved at them.

"You know," Dori spoke suddenly, "I enjoy these moments of tranquility, even though I'm not making money."

She stretched her arms and dropped her back onto the ground. She rested her head on her hands and closed her eyes. It seemed like they were going to stay there for a while longer.

"Can I go stretch my legs?" Sucrose asked.

"Just stay around and don't go chasing strange creatures," Dori said, without opening her eyes.

Sucrose stood up and went straight towards that tiny house. She climbed the small ladder to the platform. Once there, she sat down at the edge. She looked at Dori and confirmed that she was still lying there with her eyes closed. Then, she turned her head and looked at the red Aranara that had been there the entire time.

"Hello?" she whispered, trying not to be heard by Dori.

"Big Nara can see Aranara!?" the Aranara screamed, due to his surprise.

Sucrose quickly looked at Dori again, quite nervous. Dori was just as before; she hadn't moved. Sucrose presumed that, if she couldn't see them, then it wouldn't be odd that she couldn't hear them, either. She breathed out a sigh of relief. She didn't know what she would have done if Dori had seen her talking to thin air, and that that thin air was talking back. She talked again to the Aranara:

"Huh… Yes, it looks like I can. Although I don't know why…"

"If big Nara can see Aranara, then it's because big Nara is special!" the Aranara said while gamboling.

Sucrose didn't understand what the Aranara meant by 'Nara'. She guessed that it might mean 'person' in their vocabulary.

"Yes, well, Nara…" She scratched her ear. "My name is Sucrose. Do you have a name?"

"Arake is Arake!" Arake replied. "Arake is happy to meet Nara Crows!"

"'Crows'? No, no, it's Sucrose," Sucrose corrected.

"Yeah, Arake said it: Nara Crows."

"Su-crose."

"Nara Crows."

"Whatever…" Sucrose gave up. "Do you live here?"

"No. Arake lives in Vanarana with other Aranara, though Arake is always out and about," Arake explained. "Some other Aranara live in Vana like this one. Here lives Arashakun, but Arashakun isn't here right now."

Sucrose needed some time to process everything Arake had just said, because of his manner of speaking and his tongue-twisting vocabulary.

"What are you doing here, then?" she asked.

"Arake is watching Arashakun's Vana. Arake usually visits Aranara living in the forest. Arashakun asked Arake to watch Vana while Arashakun was away and Arake said yes."

As if he had been called, another Aranara appeared from the other side of the platform. This one was green, taller and rounder than Arake, and wore a floral ornament on his chest. Sucrose didn't know where he had come from.

"Arake! Arashakun is back!" the other Aranara said, which Sucrose assumed that it was Arashakun. "Arashakun thanks Arake for watching Vana!

"Arashakun! Look!" Arake pointed at Sucrose. "Nara Crows can see Aranara despite being big Nara!"

Arashakun looked at Sucrose, who was staring at him; then, he gamboled a little and said:

"Arashakun greets Nara Crows without being scared because Arashakun has courage!" Arashakun pointed at his ornament.

Sucrose smiled, although said smile was a little off. She was already imagining that every Aranara would call her by the wrong name of 'Crows', and she didn't like it. Arake approached her.

"Nara Crows should visit Arake and siblings in Vanarana. If Nara Crows can see Aranara, then Nara Crows can visit Vanarana!"

"It's Sucrose," Sucrose tried to correct him once again. "Thank you for the offer, but I'm afraid that it won't be anytime soon: I'm not allowed to leave home on my own."

"Shame… But Arake will talk about Nara Crows to siblings and other Aranara! That way, Nara Crows can say hi to them when Nara Crows sees them!"

And, with that said, Arake leapt out of the platform. Sucrose leaned out to see him leaving, but he had completely vanished. She then looked for Arashakun. She found him inside the tiny house, the Vana, intoning a melody in a low voice. She decided not to disturb his singing and reunited with Dori.

"Dori, should we go back already?" she asked her.

Dori didn't answer; in fact, she didn't even react: she had fallen asleep. She had a clam and serene expression, quite different from her usual sly and eccentric one. Sucrose gently took her in her arms, trying not to wake her up, and put her so that she could hold her with only her left arm. Dori, still asleep, snuggled Sucrose and rested her head on the latter's shoulder. Sucrose thought that Dori ought to be this cute all of the time; and quiet, too. She deployed her Wind Glider and leapt from the cliff, gliding back to the palace.

Sucrose entered her atelier still carrying Dori on her arm. She laid her down onto the couch. Next, she took out all of the materials which they had gathered and put them onto a work desk. She looked again at the fungal body tissue. She shook her head with a grimace, trying not to think about it.

"I thought I had put it behind me…"

She then directed her attention towards the spores and the pollen. She had never worked with them, but if she were to guess, she thought that she could use them for medicinal synthesis. Still, she wasn't as irresponsible as to do such synthesis based on mere supposition. She needed to go to the city to acquire some reference books and, while she was there, talk to Nahida about her ability to see the Aranara.

However, in order to go to the city, she needed to do so with Dori. Unfortunately, Dori was going to be away the following morning, and she would like to go as soon as possible. Sucrose was deep in thought, thinking about an alternative idea so she could go to the city with Dori's permission, how to ask her, and what her possible answers would be. She was so focused that she was surprised by Dori's loud yawn.

"That was a good nap!…" Dori said while stretching out without any shame. "Huh? What are we doing in the atelier?"

"I wanted to come back," Sucrose explained nervously, "and you were so soundly asleep…"

Dori made another loud yawn.

"It's fine. I was dreaming that I was swimming in a sea of Mora. I would have gotten angry if you had woken me up." Dori stood up from the couch. "Hey, since I'm already here, why don't you show me what you have done during this week?"

Sucrose pulled out everything that she had synthesized and put it onto another work desk so that Dori could see it. There were more ointments, polish powder and paper.

"It's nothing worth mentioning…" Sucrose sighed.

"Don't be silly. If I can sell it, then it's worth mentioning." Dori refuted. "Besides, this powder is already of better quality than the ones usually found in stores, and so is the paper. It's a good beginning, let me tell you."

That was a good time to bring out the subject. Sucrose breathed in and gathered her courage.

"Hey, Dori… I need some books to learn about the native species, and also to learn more syntheses." She hesitated for a moment. "Can I go to the city tomorrow?"

"Do you only want to go to purchase books?" Dori asked.

"Well, I'd also like to talk to Nahida, if that were possible."

"In that case, I will think about it," Dori confirmed, "because I think that you should make some savings before you start to go shopping. I will tell you my decision before we go to bed."

Dori kept everything that Sucrose had shown her and was about to leave the atelier. However, before she could take even the first step, somebody knocked at the door.

"Mistress! May I have a moment!?" It was Goshtasb, calling from the other side of the door.

Dori gestured to Sucrose with her head that she was the one who had to answer.

"Come in!" Sucrose said.

The door opened and Goshtasb entered. He was quite perplexed.

"How did you know that I was here?" Dori inquired.

"Because I saw Sucrose carrying you inside, before," Goshtasb answered, still perplexed. "I came to inform you that you have a visitor."

"How strange that you let somebody in without an appointment," Dori commented. "Because I don't have any appointment today, do I?"

"No, you don't," Goshtasb corroborated. "But I didn't think that it would be a good idea not to let her in: it's Lesser Lord Kusanali."