Weak To Fire

20

Y/N had never seen such a fancy place in her entire life. Mereo's home was an entire palace... well, not really a palace, but it was the closest thing to a palace that Y/N had ever seen in her entire life. She loved it. Every single room in their mansion was so spacious and clean and beautiful. It was all decorated tastefully. Y/N had never seen anything like it. She had only ever lived out in nature, really, so this was really different for her. Plus, the place was being cleaned by maids.

It was insane how many maids and servants there were milling about the Vermillion mansion every single day. Y/N had never known what living in a mansion like that was actually like. Sure, she had heard that some people had servants in their houses and all and she had seen some of them in the streets at times, whenever she was travelling, but to actually live in a place like that was a completely different experience. Y/N wasn't really sure whether she was enjoying it or not. Half the time she thought it was really fancy, the rest of the time she felt guilty for being waited on like that. She absolutely wasn't used to it and it felt kind of wrong.

Still, she was living here now and this was the way the Vermillion household seemed to do things. Plus, it wasn't like she saw a lot of people every day. Often the servants were the only people she saw in the house, since the place was so huge that people would just be able to disappear in it. It was honestly mind-blowing just how big one single house could be. It took Y/N about three days to just sort of wrap her head around it and even then she was still not used to it.

Mereo was usually pretty busy, so she had all the time in the world to figure out where everything was, wander around the house and explore the capital. Not that she wasn't busy enough exploring the house. Mereo usually got back in the evening and they had dinner together and could spend some time in the evening with each other, before Mereo had to go to bed for another long day of work. Y/N didn't know exactly what she was doing every single day, but she honestly didn't really mind not knowing. As long as Mereoleona would come back home, she was happy.

Plus, she had a good bit of work cut out for herself. Every couple of hours she went to check on Fuegoleon and sometimes she met some people there that were either members of his squad or family members or servants or any other friends. It was pretty entertaining. Most people were happy with her saying that she was a guest of Mereoleona's - Y/N wasn't sure how much she was supposed to say just yet and she wasn't sure how to bring the whole thing up with Mereo, but for now that seemed to be fine for everyone. Y/N quite liked the people she met.

There was one guy that seemed a little annoying to her, apparently one of Mereoleona's cousins. His name was Kirsch or something and he was completely obsessed with himself. Other than him, she actually liked the members of Mereo's family that she met. There was Mimosa Vermillion, who was a sweet young girl, pretty and humble and just... just nice. If there was anyone that was niceness personified, it would probably be her. And then there was Mereo's little brother Leopold.

It was pretty easy to tell that they were siblings, because Leopold had the same rambunctious personality that Mereo had, just with a little more youthful vigour (not to mention that they all had the same sharp canines, the same blue eyes and the same fiery red hair). Leopold was around his brother often. He clearly admired him a lot, especially since he mentioned how much he wanted to be like him at any given time. Y/N thought it was really sweet.

She found that she enjoyed spending time with Leopold when Mereo wasn't around. Mereo and Leopold could be a little competitive with each other (and Y/N assumed that their entire family just was that competitive, but she didn't know for sure). She could easily get worked up over something she felt passionately about, but Y/N wouldn't describe herself as very competitive. It was still fun to watch them, though, because they didn't unnecessarily involve other people in their little squabbles and there was just that atmosphere where everyone knew that they were still family and that they still all loved each other at the end of the day, no matter what.

Y/N found it a little difficult to get used to, mostly because water spirits didn't really have a concept of family. Sure, she knew some other water spirits and all, but it wasn't like they were in any way related. Not in the sense that humans were related. Seeing a whole family was something completely new for Y/N and she wasn't used to it, but she liked it. At least she thought she liked it. She hadn't been there for long enough to say for sure, but it seemed like they were a nice family. They didn't seem half as stuck up as most of the nobles that Mereo had told her about when they were talking quietly late at night in bed, before Mereo was about to fall asleep.

"You think he'll ever wake up again?" she suddenly heard Leo's voice saying. They had been sitting next to Fuegoleon's bed, just watching him. Leo had been throwing a ball of fire from one hand to the other to pass the time. Sometimes that was just what they did - they just sat there and passed the time without talking. Weirdly enough it was always fine... it was never awkward or anything.

"I'm sure he will. From what Mereo told me, your brother is very strong. He'll be completely fine, I'm sure." Y/N reassured him, although she wasn't so sure after all. But Mereo always told Leo that she was certain that Fueggy was going to wake up again at some point, so that was the narrative she was going to go with as well. It was probably better that way. Still... from what she had heard the attack on the city had been bad and Fuegoleon was injured badly. He had lost an entire arm after all.

"I don't know... it was bad... I don't think Mereo knows just how bad it was." Leo answered. He sounded pretty down about everything. From what Y/N had heard he was right there when the attack happened. No wonder he was so worried. The poor kid had seen everything up front.

"Where's this coming from, Leo? You're usually so confident. At least while I've known you..." Y/N replied. She always felt a little off when people in Mereo's family spoke to her as if she was a part of the family, when she had only just met them, really. But everyone was really nice to her and they treated her with a lot of respect. Y/N wasn't sure whether they were scared of Mereo or whether they were all just really nice people. Probably a mix of both.

"I'm just really worried about Fueggy. I've always looked up to him and I'm just worried that... that..."

"There's no reason to worry, Leo. Your brother is just stubborn, not waking up like that. I bet he'll have a good laugh when he hears how I had to come back to the capital and take care of all his business. I bet he's doing it on purpose." a voice said from the door. Y/N and Leo turned towards the door and saw Mereoleona standing there and giving them a confident grin.

"Mereo! You're back!" Y/N said, a smile forming on her face. Mereoleona nodded and walked into the room, looking at Fuegoleon. She didn't seem as confident anymore and Y/N knew that she was just putting on a brave face to cheer Leo up. She was pretty worried about Fuegoleon herself.

"I am back. And you should go and get some dinner, Leo. Come on, before the cooks throw it out." she said. Leo got up and nodded, quickly heading out to the dining room. He often forgot that he had to eat, because he was so focussed on whatever he was doing at that very moment.

"Are you sure it's a good idea to tell him that everything is going to be fine?" Y/N asked quietly, hoping that Leo wasn't going to hear anything. Mereoleona sighed and sat down beside her.

"I don't know. I really don't know. I just don't want him to worry too much. The little guy has enough to worry about already. Anyway, there was something I wanted to tell you." Mereoleona said.