As always with the child, she felt the need to investigate this…Lewis. Lord Raith seemed to trust him but Dala wasn't certain of him yet. She didn't care whether he was a good person or not. He could be as fucked up as he wanted to be. It was his loyalty to her father that she worried about. Her overprotective nature led her to Lewis' tower and she wanted to see what an assassin's room was like. But she was determined to not get caught. She began to sneak towards the room, hugging the walls and waiting for servants to pass before she entered the next hall. Of course, all the servants could see her. The child wasn't as good at sneaking as she thought she was. Especially since she hummed her own theme song as she went up the stairs.

"I'm the best. Yeah I am. I'm the best because I am." She softly sang to herself as she reached the door of Lewis' tower, "Here it is."

Taking out a little bobby pin from her bag, she began to pick at the lock of the door. But to her surprise, the door was already open. Whomever last left had forgotten to lock it or didn't want to. The child gently opened the door further and tiptoed into the room. She began to look around the room, trying to find letters or books to look at. And trying to see if there was any food she could steal, as she had suddenly become quite hungry. The one thing Dala didn't expect was another person. When she spotted Simone, the child made an eep sound and dropped a few random papers she'd just picked up.

"Wait a minute! You're a girl!" She said suddenly, "Are you his sister or something? Or….are you LEWIS? Did you shape-shift? Come on tell me the truth!"

Dala….was an idiot sometimes.

"Or are you a ghost? Oooooo are you one of Lewis' victims coming back to haunt him for the rest of his life?" Dala asked, "Nah you look too thick to be a transparent ghost."

The last thing she'd expect was Lewis having a girl friend or a girlfriend in his home. She suspected Lewis had no friends since he didn't seem like the social type.

A quick job he said. Be good he said. Stay in the tower unless you’re supervised he said. Who was going to supervise her? The walls? She found herself more agitated than normal ever since the trip to Angela’s realm and her literal trip down a hill. She couldn’t remember anything but well whatever it was that Lewis and she were up to now.

Which lead to a blush and a face plant into her knees. He was her literal warden and yet… she was always happy to see him and talk to him when he let her. Maybe it was because she had no one else to speak to but that didn’t account for everything else.

Angela had looked her over after her fall and gave her a clean bill of health but… she spoke with Lewis more privately about something. Was something wrong with her after all? Lewis hadn’t told this Simone that she had the worst form of immortality ever. This Simone was… just dazed by it all. She had no idea she was actively going towards her death and that Lewis would be at the end of it. Nor did she understand why it made her so happy to think of her death.

It was all so macabre.

Simone had her long black hair down with the top partially pulled back into braids around her crown. She wore a halter like dark green dress made of velvet that wrapped around and tied in the front. The sleeves were lace and cuffed at the wrists in the same material as the base dress but they were off her shoulders. It was soft and she liked it because of that.

She was laying on Lewis’s bed muttering to herself about how he said it would be quick. It wasn’t that she was clingy or attached, she had run out of things to do again. The few handicrafts she had picked up and swore she could make last didn’t last long in the end… and she had finished all the books she had borrowed. She had actually forgotten she needed to change them all out before Lewis even left.

That was when she heard the noise. She jolted up off the bed and almost backed herself into a corner. She looked more like a frightened deer than a girl. They must have eeped at the same time because Dala was much faster at getting her questions and accusations out than she was. Privilege to the young if Simone had to guess.

“No! No! I’m not his sister nor am I a shape-shifting Lewis I promise!” She must have looked silly being so scared but she wasn’t expecting someone other than Lewis.

“I’m Simone,” she managed to calm herself down enough to come out of the corner and offer a little curtsy to the small one. You never knew what company you held and it was best to be proper – that was what her father had always told her. “I’m umm…” She couldn’t think of what she even was to Lewis. “Absolutely something to Lewis but I’m not quite sure what to call myself… To be honest.”

She was playing with her hair nervously now as she watched with her gray eyes, “Are you a friend of Lewis’?”

To her surprise, the woman seemed more afraid than Dala was. The child listened to the woman's response and gave a clumsily performed curtsy in turn. Manners was one of the things Dala had forgotten to train herself in. She had a couple lessons but they were short and a long time ago. Simone mentioned about her relationship and began questioning it, unsure of what it was.

"Sounds like you're pining for him." Dala said bluntly as she took a seat on one of the chairs, "We are definitely not friends. Its more of a toleration. I'm just here to make sure he's trustworthy. Gotta protect my parents."

It was a similiar reason why she went after Syn but the child didn't particularly want to inspect every new servant her parents got. The only reason why she was legitimately concerned was because of Lewis' connection with Marcov. That was the only man who'd want her head so it was fairly obvious who sent Lewis in the first place. But it seemed it was a small connection and that Raith had Lewis' full loyalty. The child was just there to double check. But now was the time to deal with the lady inside the assassin's room.

"Nice to meet ya." Dala said, "I'm soon to be Princess, queen, leader Dala Asher Balato."

The child knew the difference between princess and queen now, she just was in the habit of introducing herself like that. She then stood up and inspected the woman. It appeared that she was in decent health, so it didn't seem like Lewis did anything to her. Dala then reached into her bag and held out some dried fruit covered in a water-proof cloth.

"Here. Food is good for the soul. And the stomach." Dala said, "So why are you here then?"

Simone had a blush across her face when Dala called her out. “I don’t know if I would call it that.” She chuckled a bit and nodded, “That is a good thing to do for both parent and child. I would do the same thing if I were in your shoes. You are very brave.”

She tilted her head and gave a smile, “Well if I knew I was in the presence of another princess I would have straightened this place up a lot more. Lewis isn’t the best housemate.” She gestured to the messy room. “I am first princess Simone Auclair of the Auclair kingdom though it has been a long time since that was relevant. At least according to the books.”

She curtsied again, “It is very nice to meet you Princess, queen, and leader Dala Asher Balato.” She never forgot her manners but she had been lightly spooked.

Once Dala offered her the food Simone hesitated and looked towards Dala. After inspecting her and realizing she was human she took the food, “Thank you. I’ve been a bit peckish… I was told not to bother the servants too much.”

Once the question of why she was there Simone unlocked her eyes from Dala and moved over to a window, “I’m…” She struggled for a moment but it sounded like this kid had pull. “I’m Lewis’s prisoner. I’m here until he knows what to do with me. I’m not allowed to leave the tower unless he’s with me.” She offered a smile, "He found me a couple of months ago. That's all I can remember is when he found me until now. Bits and pieces of who I am… but besides that nothing. Lewis is all I have."

Apparently Simone was a princess. An actual legitimate real princess! Not just a self proclaimed future princess like herself! Dala's eyes lit up with joy and excitement as she realized that this lady was exactly whom she needed to talk to. There were so many questions popping up in her head when she suddenly realized that Simone was moving over to a window to answer the difficult question. Dala listened quietly as Simone explained her situation. A prisoner who's kingdom wasn't relevant anymore and a girl who knew nothing about who she was.

"So you're a princess locked in a tower with a forgotten kingdom?" Dala asked, "Didn't know all those fairytale picture books were accurate. Huh."

The child hopped off of the chair and walked towards the window. Outside the maze could be seen and the sun was still up. Normally the child would be concerned about a prisoner princess but Simone had every chance to escape. The door to Lewis' room was open and if Simone was unhappy here, she would show it. The memory loss was a bit concerning but Dala knew there was little a nine year old could do about it.

"You seem fine with being here." Dala stated, "But aren't you bored? This isn't a big room."

The child was already getting bored just thinking about Simone's boredom. She pushed herself from the wall and rushed towards the bookshelf and grabbed a few books.

"You're a princess. Show me some princess stuff!" She exclaimed, "I don't know much about manners. But you gotta know a lot. Don't we gotta put books on our feet to help us learn to walk or something?"

Dala had no idea what she was doing.

“Yeah, guess Lewis fits a big bad dragon… huh?” Simone chuckled a bit as she looked back towards Dala.

When Dala pointed out she was fine with it she just smirked. “If I ran away he would find me, Lord Raith would find me. It is much better to cultivate the garden you are in than to try and escape to the grass that might be more green on the other side. Trust is something you need to build not break. Eventually, Lewis will trust me enough.”

For her other statement, she mulled it over, “Dreadfully so. I’m half tempted to give Lewis a piece of my mind about it but it would be my own fault. I told him I had enough handicrafts to last me until he got back.” She gave a frown. “But this is Lewis’s room, not mine. I am just in here cursing him out a little. Mine is across the hall.”

She let out a laugh as she watched Dala. “Not quite.” She took three of the books and put them on her head as she balanced herself and curtsied at Dala. “You use books to learn proper balance. I got tortured by my etiquette instructor when I was your age. She beat it into my head… Nasty old woman… I just can’t remember her face or name.”

She thought about it once more and chuckled. “My father once told me that it was a princess’s job to make guests feel welcomed in our home. So we would practice introductions and how to say hello. You would always say nothing but good things to them because your political pulls meant everything. How you sit in a chair is important, how you interact with boys matter, everything does. I hated it when I was your age.”

"Well if she was that nasty then you don't need her name. We can call her Ms. Bitch." Dala declared as she grabbed three more books for her own head, "That sounds unpleasant. But it probably didn't help that Ms. Bitch was so terrible."

She was attempting to balance the three books on her head. One fell off then the other two went with it. Dala picked up the books and tried again, trying to walk very carefully across the room. The child was trying to imitate Simone's technique and grace, yet the books kept falling off. The child held down her growing frustration and kept trying. The books were on her head once more as she began walking across the room.

"Were the lessons useful?" Dala asked, "Or were your parents just trying to be mean?"

The child didn't have any idea if the books were helping. So she put down the stack of books and sat back on the chair. Her legs were crossed and she was slouching a bit.

"I gotta learn these lessons eventually." The child explained, "I've been putting them off since they don't seem as important as most of my other lessons. Its taught to all nobles so I figured its gotta be important somehow."

Dala was learning in a manner of things, usually from a variety of teachers. Economics, healing, gardening, politics, languages, writing, reading, and much more. All of these were important to being a good ruler, or at least that's what the child had been told. If she was to ever become a leader of value then the lessons needed to be learned as quickly as possible. When she wasn't hunting for ingredients or making money, the child was studying from her textbooks.

She laughed sort of hard at the language that Dala used, “I wish I was as brave as you to use such language but I feel like I would have been slapped by Ms. Bitch.” Simone encouraged her to continue to be strong or what her eyes saw as it.

Simone watched and studied Dala as she failed to balance with the books. “Very, it helps to become a strong leader. To become a strong leader you must be able to gain a following. A leader must be good at speech and be able to carry themselves with a certain grace. Whether that grace is to make your court fear you or love you.” She thought about it a bit, “It was just my father. My mother died giving birth to me. As far as I can remember he never remarried.” Her memory was so spotty. “So I was raised by nannies for the most part.”

The woman came over and sat on the floor by Dala. “To me: they were very important later on. Not so much for you, I am sure. As the first princess, my husband was to be a very important man. It was important that I attract a strong leader and bring honor to my family. Regardless if he made me happy or not. That part of my memory is on fire and I don’t know if I ever did get married.”

“May I?” She offered her hands to Dala and waited for permission. Simone was gentle as she fixed Dala’s sitting posture. She uncrossed her legs and showed her how to tuck them properly. “Try to keep your back straight. It will help with balancing.”

For a moment Simone held a smirk, “Sometimes the biggest insult you can give is to be as sarcastic as possible but make it sound nice. There was this fat duke once that was awful. I remember him trying to bargain with my father for my hand. He was ancientttttt. I was only twelve. Fat and gross and I hated him. So I was as nice as possible but I exaggerated everything about him to his face. It was so bad everyone but him caught on. They laughed. My father was upset a little bit he was growing tired of that fat duke. I don’t think he ever did catch on that I was being sarcastic.”

Fear or love. That is what Simone mentioned when talking about grace and speech. The child didn't understand yet how to inspire either. Fear was difficult since she was very small and her muscles were weak. Love….felt like it was even harder. She had her parents and less than a handful of friends. Getting an entire kingdom to love her seemed almost impossible. But that was why she needed these lessons. Dala looked up to Simone as she began explaining how it was just her father and the may nannies who raised her.

"That's dumb. They should used you as a strong leader instead." The child declared.

Dala gave permission to Simone as she helped with her sitting posture. Her legs were tucked properly and she was trying to keep her back straight. Then Simone began to explain how to give a big insult while making it sound pleasant. As Simone began to explain how she made a fool of some fat ugly duke that she hated. The story seemed to end with the duke being unaware while the father grew tired of the duke. The end of the story was a bit ambiguous but it seemed like she wasn't forced to marry that disgusting man.

"Eeeeeeewwww that gross duke was asking to marry you?" Dala asked with a disgusted face, "Gross!"

Marriage was something that Dala never really liked the idea of. Ria and Raith's marriage was one of the few times that she'd actually seen it done well. Every other marriage had its mixtures of abuse and misery while a few marriages turned out decent. Still the child felt the idea of marriage was dull and completely uninteresting. She'd rather fight a monster.

"Did you secretly insult people in any other situations?" Dala asked, "And can you teach me how to do that? Most of my insulting of people gets me into trouble. I wanna be witty!"

Simone gave her a sad smile. “Where I was from women were to be seen and not heard. Supportive of their husbands and raise their banners to them. I think it’s dumb too but that’s just the world I was born into. I wanted to change it but I barely had a say and I can’t remember if I tried to in the end.” Her words were gentle as she explained.

After her story, Simone laughed a bit. “When you are the first princess and not promised you get all types of people asking. Men who lose their wives, men who want the throne, men who want other things. That’s the way it is. It was up to my father to make the good decisions and if I was lucky I would have a say in the end.”

She put her finger to her chin. “All the time actually. I was a rather rebellious little girl but that’s because I was an only child. It took a long time for me to take my lessons seriously and it was only after my father pleaded with me. My father never remarried see. He had a broken heart from my mother’s passing. It’s one of the few marriages I had always looked up to. He couldn’t even look at another woman. He loved her very much and he loved me too.”

Simone was trying her best to think of a way of teaching how she knew to be sarcastic. “I’ve never had to learn but I had to get good at it. Getting good at it is the hard part. Sometimes you have to practice and practice to get it. The main thing when you want to insult someone like me is to focus on something you don’t like and make it sound as nice as possible.”

She got up off the floor and changed her posture for a moment. “Like so.” She looked at the mirror and pretended. “Oh, Lewis! I think it is so absolutely wonderful that you want to cut my leg off~ That is so amazingly gentlemen like of you.” She did sound sincere and honest at that.

She turned to Dala, “Like that but not about cutting your leg off. Honestly, I can’t think of anything to fault Lewis on except wanting to cut my limbs off when I can’t keep up.”

The princess helped Dala up and she put the books back up on her own head. “Balance though is easy enough.” She straightened Dala out and put only one book on her head. “It takes time and patience. Once you master patience you can do anything. Try it with one book. We’ll move to two… and then we can do three.” Simone started to dance around the room carefully keeping the balance.

“See?”