Aella opened her eyes and yawned. She was in her room, waking up right after dawn as the maids in her room were changing shifts. As she sat up, she looked beside her and saw Zephyr curled into a ball on the pillow, sucking on her finger like a baby.
Usually, Arad would've been by her side, but he wasn't around in the past days; he was taking Cerilla and the others to the summit of the World Tree. That was a good thing, since her hip still hurt a bit from their night a few days ago, and even her stomach still churned a bit.
She stood, and the new maids walking in approached her, "Your Majesty, the water is ready."
Aella yawned and rubbed her eyes, "Call me Majesty again and I'll tie to the pole in the hall." She patted the maid on the back, "Aella is enough."
"As you wish, your... Lady Aella."
