Glancing up at Eric, who looked amused that she’d stolen his hand, she asked excitedly, “This is your family crest, right?” As he started to nod, she went on. “But it’s not completely. Does your family change the little icon on the bottom of the shield depending on the person? Yours is a book because you work here.”
He laughed and continued nodding. “I’d say someone already told you that, but I’m fairly sure they haven’t. Yes, it’s to distinguish which member of the family sealed it. Most family crests are the same, with a small changeable section that is decided upon them earning their own crest.”
She grinned. “I want a crest! And a cool ring that I can use to stamp the wax. That’s just fun!” She was imagining the possibilities. She had a feeling if she had her own ring and wax right now, she’d just go stamping her crest on everything. Actually, that wasn’t a bad idea. Every brand had their icon that they put on their creations, so she needed to figure out what hers would be…
She had spaced out, missing whatever Eric said as she went through and thought of and then discarded a bunch of images in her head. Maybe something with a dragon and the scales of justice? Or maybe she should incorporate the magic symbol Will had pointed out to her the other day…was it only yesterday?
“Jade. Jade. JADE. Damian is leaving.” She belatedly realized Eric had been calling her and was waving his hand in front of her face to get her to focus. She jumped to her feet, focusing on Damian, who was holding his part of the contract and grinning at her from the door.
“Stop by the store later when you’re feeling well.”
She smiled, then bounced over, surprising him with a hug. “I will! Have a good day! And thank you.” She let him go, and he walked away with a giant grin on his face. She looked back at Eric, who was just staring at her in bemusement, as if she was a little animal he found particularly adorable.
He walked over, patting her on the head and laughing. “Never change.” She stuck her tongue out at him as he gently pushed her out of his office, closing the door behind them as he started leading her down the hall. “Now then, I think it’s about time you see your new room. I have to say, I was surprised when I heard we were already getting requests to use your old room. Word travels fast, and apparently you’re not the only one who’d like a little more light...though I’m not sure that’s the only reason they wanted to use that room…” He frowned, now thinking of other reasons people might have requested the room.
She just giggled, poking him in the side. “Don’t worry about it. I have a new room! With actual sunlight! They can have the artificial light. Just think, I’m brightening their days without even trying!”
Eric grinned, and she heard him mutter, “You’re just everyone’s little ball of sunshine…”
She was okay with that title.
Chapter Twenty-Nine – Mesmer
As they walked down the hall towards her new study room, Jade was thinking about what kind of surprised expression to make. Startled, pleasantly happy, scared if they jumped out at her? Eric interrupted her musings by speaking as he put a key in her hand, “Here we are. Your new study room.”
She smiled, taking the key and taking a deep breath before she put it into the lock, turning the handle. She opened the door lightly, anxious she was going to hit someone unawares if they were hiding behind it. All of her practiced expressions flew out the window as she gasped, staring around in awe. There was no one inside, but that allowed her to get the full picture.
The bank of windows on the far wall was incredible, letting in streamers of sunlight that illuminated a pretty coral-colored couch and a light wooden desk with plenty of drawers. There were little earthen shelves coming out of the wall that held her sculptures, showing them off. There was an extra one of a cute little puppy that had been added, and she wondered who’d lit it up. It wasn’t quite her style, but she still liked it.
The opposite wall held a small bookcase, which was filled with even more books than she’d had on the last desk. She walked over, slowing running her hands over the spines and enjoying the scent of real paper. The books were mostly divided by shelves; one on magic, one on history and geography, one had etiquette, and there was even a book with the pedigrees of the current royal families. More shelves had various eclectic books on them. She could tell they had stocked them with anything they thought might be most useful for her to know about her new world.
She began to explore more, running her hands over everything. There was a small work table that had some metal ingots and a few of the glass lenses she’d ordered. She cast a questioning glance at Eric and he just smiled enigmatically. She found several coolboxes fully stocked with food, and her perusal of the desk found things like paper and ink. The bottommost drawer even had another blanket like the one she’d loved so much, so that she could take a nap on her very comfy couch if she wanted. Everything looked and smelled new.
She could hear whispers behind Eric and called out softly, “You can come in now, you know.” A little guiltily, faces began to appear in the door frame as she grinned at them. “Thank you, again. It’s perfect.” They poured into the room with laughter, and she went around hugging them. As expected, Camille, Trisha, Lucas, and Stephen were the main culprits. She found out that Lucas was the one who’d lit up her new little doggy.
“It’s not quite as good as yours, but it was my first try, and I wanted you to have it.” She was struggling not to cry as she laughed and regarded all of them.
“We’ll leave you to read.” Camille was hugging her when she whispered the next part. “You’re not alone here. You don’t have to be strong all by yourself.” She herded the rest of them out as Jade smiled and bid them goodbye, for now. She pulled out her comfy blanket and went over to the couch, curling up and staring at the sunshine.
Silently, she let the tears flow down her cheeks. She didn’t even know why she was crying, but it felt like a cathartic release. The last few days of events had finally caught up to her as she thought about all that had happened, and finally accepted that it wasn’t a dream, but reality. She was really here. She recalled the stress of hiding her true ability, of wanting to make a good impression, of nearly dying, and trying to pretend she was strong and confident when she was just mimicking things she’d seen others do. It was all so new, and she finally realized she’d been bottling up her feelings of being overwhelmed.
So she cried it out.
Twenty minutes later, she finally felt the tears stop. Curled up on the couch, she smiled wearily. The world was new and wonderful, but scary. She wasn’t used to everything yet, but she’d get there. Feeling like a huge weight had been lifted off her chest, she grabbed some food from one of the coolboxes and two books off the shelf that looked interesting. Walking back to her little couch, she curled up again and started to read.
***
It was dinnertime when she emerged from her room. She’d been playing with the metal they’d left her while she read, trying to familiarize herself with how to mold it. It was resistant at first, not at all like the light. She’d eventually gotten the hang of it, and her little work table now proudly sported a bunch of bobby pins and three different pairs of sunglasses. On the last one, she’d managed to work little designs into the metal so they were decorative as well. The first two were more functional than pretty. Oh well, if she wanted to, she could always reshape the metal, but instead, she put them on an empty shelf. They were almost the first things she’d made with her metal magic, and much more impressive than the bobby pins. As such, she was a little loathe to remake them.