The Maid and Her Princess [On Hiatus]

A Commission Only For Madoka (Beyond a Dragon 5/7)

V.

Madoka woke to the sound of something murmuring from beside her. Audrey's voice. Thank the kind gods it wasn't anyone else's voice, she stirred. How did she end up in the same bed as Her Highness? She slipped out, thinking that there was really nothing to worry about, and immediately shivered. The air around Audrey was frigid. The maid glanced down at her sleeping princess. Could she really not feel anything different about herself?

Her skin was its usual tone, unlike how she got cold up in the Hall of the Frost Queen, and despite her rising and falling chest the girl seemed at ease. Audrey indeed slept like a baby. The golden chains of Knotting magic avoided Her Sleepiness as usual. The Night Operators, Madoka mused. They're after this girl, but the maid could only shudder if they knew exactly how high the cost would be if they crossed her. The orange glow of the sunrise calmly rising through the window's curtains pulled the maid out of her trepidations, causing her to get up and stretch. There was that quest thing she had to do with that dragon man.

A freezing cold sensation suddenly shocked her leg. Madoka seized up for a split second. For what reason? She swore she checked this whole room and outside for invading thoughts. Her senses could detect killing intent and nothing was out of the ordinary, so what is this? She felt a light tug and turned to see that Audrey's blue eyes were looking right at her. Why was such a terrifying feeling encroaching upon her senses?

"S-Sorry," Audrey croaked. Her voice was deep when she woke up, a strange beautiful trait of hers to Madoka's ears. "Didn't mean to spook you."

"I-It's nothing, Your, ah, mi— ah, Audrey," Madoka stammered. Her nerves betrayed her futile attempt at reassuring the princess. So, she cleared her throat and avoided a purple thought shard that floated near her. She would rather know what Audrey wanted from her audibly instead of a simple thought. "Pay me no mind. What is it?"

The hand that tugged Madoka's pant leg let go and pointed at Audrey's bag.

"The... Storage Talisman," Audrey spoke firmly. Was she going to entrust Madoka with such a valuable item? No, that— The girl coughed and gave her a stern look, prying her out of her self-doubting. "That's exactly what I'm going to do, Madoka. Honestly, if you're going to quest by yourself and loot stuff then you might as well have an infinite portal of storage."

Audrey and Madoka sighed simultaneously, though for different reasons. The girl could read Madoka's worried face like a book, while the maid herself could not read at all. What a drag, she could only scoff instead.

"I can't refuse, can I?"

"No," Audrey replied flatly.

Madoka looked at the princess with frustration and eventually resigned herself, going to fish the talisman out of Her Stubbornness's bag. As soon as her hand felt the cold and smooth rectangular rock, a rush of images suddenly blew over her mind's thoughts like a tidal wave. Everything inside of the storage talisman revealed themselves to her at that moment, forcing her to clench her other fist and drop it.

"You'll get—" Audrey fiddled with her hands and waved what she was about to say off. "Eh, I already said the feeling is overwhelming. Try to think of what you need at that moment, like if you want to put stuff inside it or take something out of it. Makes the thing react accordingly."

"Hmm," Madoka had never tried to open the portal herself. Only Audrey knew how to do that, but the maid knew that the princess was testing the talisman and her compatibility since it was reacting to her magic now. Open a small portal, she thought of the hexagonal shape. An odd feeling hummed in her chest while a white light illuminated her vision from behind. Madoka knew what that glow meant, though apprehension slowly crawled along her neck. Was this because the crystal inside her was truly charged?