The Celestial Princess and Her Suitors

Chapter Nine: Rufus Lore

Lucy walked briskly toward her workplace. She glanced around, her left hand resting on her keys. It had been a little more than a week since her last encounter with Kit and her other partner. She had gotten tired of calling the two men "Kit's partners," so she decided to give them names. She dubbed the large man that had attacked her with a weapon "Bear" and the man dressed in all black was given the name "Snake." The celestial wizard was still on edge and wary of her surroundings. She didn't know how many partners Kit had, or where Kit could be, but she knew that she had been lucky so far. Knowing that her luck may not keep going much longer, she kept an eye out for the trio.

As the blonde picked up her pace slightly, wanting to get to the bakery and cafe as quickly as she could and not wanting people to become concerned about her, she caught sight of maroon hair out of the corner of her eye. She stopped walking and whipped around, only to find that the maroon hair belong to a woman. Lucy turned around and continued her walking with a sigh.

Great. Just great.

She was starting to see those mages everywhere. In the past week, she would catch glimpses of what looked like the mages she had been meeting, only to turn around and find that it was actually a different person or an object. She couldn't believe herself. She only met these mages once. She barely even knows the most basic of information about them. And yet she is now seeing them everywhere and whenever her mind isn't plagued by Kit and her partners, she is thinking about the mages. Lucy took another look around, finding yet again nothing. Waiting for Kit, Bear, or Snake to attack her seemed to be worse than actually being attacked by them.

As she was looking around, she noticed a blonde woman walking swiftly in the same direction. The woman had blonde hair that reached her hips and was dressed in a white, button-up shirt with puffed sleeves and a high-waited, bright red, pleated skirt that reached the ground. On her head was a large, deep red hat with a prominent brim, the sides curving upward. The hat had gold edges and a gold band around the main part of the hat. What especially caught Lucy's attention was the large, spiked, pink plumage that began at the side of the hat and cascaded down to her hip. Holding her hand and walking slightly behind her was a boy that appeared to be twelve or thirteen. He had blonde hair that reached his shoulders. He was dressed similarly to the woman that seemed to be his mother. He wore black dress pants, a white dress shirt, and a bright red vest.

Lucy quickly looked away from the mother and son, not wanting to seem weird for watching them for too long.

As she was walking past a costume shop, she took a glance at the window. Something quickly made her stop and look again. Sitting on the face of a white mannequin head was a crimson mask with gold edges. It looked like something you would wear at a masquerade ball. Lucy stared at it. It was really pretty. She looked at the price on a table card below the mannequin head. It cost twenty jewel. She knew that she had enough money for it. Placing her hand on Horologium's key and getting the current time, she smiled at the knowledge that she had enough time to quickly buy it and get to the bakery and cafe in time for its opening. She rushed into the shop and asked the shopkeeper for the mask. She paid for it, accepted the small, brown bag that the mask was placed in, muttered her thanks, and quickly walked out and made her way to her work.

As she walked past an alleyway, she heard low talking within it but decided to ignore it in favor of getting to work on time. That is, until she heard a crash and a woman and a child let out a short scream. Lucy immediately turned around and dashed into the alleyway, coming to a stop, and stared at the scene in front of her.

A person with long green hair stood beside a large, muscular man that was dressed in animal skin, their backs to her. Lucy was able to see that in front of them was a blonde woman sitting on the ground, her arms wrapped around her midsection and a crumbling hole on the brick wall that she was sitting against. Lucy was able to infer that the woman had been thrown into the wall, likely through a hit to the stomach. Kneeling next to the woman was a blonde child, a boy, looking clearly worried for his mother and scared of the pair that had attacked her. It didn't take Lucy long to realize that this woman and boy were the same ones she had seen several minutes earlier.