An all too familiar voice found its way to my ears as I came back to myself.

Sam.

"What is your name?" My familiar asked the first of his three questions.

It had taken many swipes of his paws and even more threats rumbling up from his chest, but I had learned that I could do almost nothing until I sated his compulsion.

I gave him the answers he needed, and sat up in the then cold water before I ever opened my eyes.

Deep blue eyes, mottled blue fur, a single fleshless claw resting menacingly on the countertop, he had been gone for nearly a week, but he was still Sam.

"Where have you been?" I muttered, unable to bring the anger I felt for him to my surface.

If I thought my mother was so much as annoyed with me, I knew I couldn't stand it, and Tana's mother had said much worse than that.

Sam bounded down from the counter, his one exposed claw clicking against the stone floor, and looked me dead in my eyes. "I am unable to tell you, My Lady. I ask for your trust that my absence has been in pursuit of your well being."

I sat straight up and wrapped my arms around my freezing body. "I actually mean this. Are you well?"

"Yes. For both our sakes, do not question me further." Sam growled as he moved to leave the bathroom.

I could have brought my power to my lips and stopped him. He would have had to follow whatever command I gave him, but I kept my mouth closed. Even if I had not been caught in the awful feeling that Tana had felt and had the will to do it, I wouldn't have.

I could not remember a time that the big blue cat had actually asked me to trust him.

What sort of master would I be if I didn't?

I forced myself to stand and stepped out of the bath. Wrapping myself in a towel and throwing a second over my damp hair, I gave him what he had asked for. "Thank you, Samsara. You may go now. I will not trouble you again until you return."

"For once," My usually contemptuous familiar began with what sounded like good humor in his deep voice. "You sound like a sorceress. Listen to the crippled teacher. You will grow strong under her guidance."

Maybe it was because of what I had seen when I was Tana, but I didn't want him to leave. I didn't want to be alone.

Just before I could convince myself to ask him to stay, the bathroom door open, and Anna stepped inside.

"Autumn? Are you-oh, hey," She said as she saw me. The way her eyes lit up when they met mine cast off some of the sadness that being Tana had left in me. "You're back early!"

Sam made no attempt to slip through her legs or pass by her. He threw his body into her legs and knocked her into the door frame as he went.

"Hey! What was that for? And where have you been? You can't just disappear like that. She needs you." Anna called after him, but all she received in response was the sound of our door slamming shut as he left.

I went to her and threw my arms over her shoulders. "Sorry, he is acting strange."

"Really? That seemed like standard Samsara behavior to me," She laughed and hugged me back. "Is everything alright? Did you go to The Well."

Our embrace did not last long.

I flinched back from her and pulled my towels tighter around my already cold body. "Why are you so cold?"

She brought the back of her hand to her face and shook her head. "I'm not? I just got back from Hymneth, but I feel fine."

She wore nothing but my cuffed boots, her skull necklace, dainty little gloves like what Precept Seram wore, and a short sleeved dress that was so thin that wearing nothing was probably warmer .

"You went all the way to town in that? I would die. Can you start the fire?" I asked as we left the bathroom.

She rubbed my back with her hand and smiled. "Of course, but tell me about The Well. What was Katarina up to?"

"I'm not sure." I started, trying to find the words to tell her what I had just done. Once she knew, I would have to tell her everything that had happened between Tana and I. When that was done, she would know what I had been keeping from her.

Even if it was not mine, I did not think I could take being a disappointment to anyone else that day.

I would tell her tomorrow after a good night's sleep. I would feel better by then and she would understand. Besides, if she learned that calling a name did not only work for Katarina, she would want me to go back, and I truly did not want to be someone else again so soon.

I had found what I was looking for in her memories, and it was far worse than what she knew about me. No one would care that I had colored rings on my stomach when they learned what Tana's mother thought of her.

In truth, I felt bad for the honey haired underwitch, but if she forced me into it, I would not hesitate to tell everyone what I knew.

"Another nothing one? It seems kind of obvious when you think about it. Most days, even if you're immortal, are spent doing normal things," Anna said, saving me from having to lie or walk around the truth. She opened a new bottle of wine and knelt down to fan the flames in our fireplace. "Sleeping, eating, doing nothing. Oh well, you'll find something soon. I know it. Come here when you get dressed, I brought presents."

That shook the sorrow from my shoulders immediately.

"You did! Why?" I asked as I rushed over and sat down on the floor next to a small parcel

that I had not noticed before. Its thick brown paper was tied up on all sides with twine, and it was all I could do to not tear it open like Sam would an unfortunate bird.

"Because I love you. Open it." She said as she sat down in front of me.

After I recovered from watching the hem of her dress ride up her thigh, I did as I was told.

"What are these? Are they sweets?" I asked as I pulled out a handful of little glass vials. Blues, reds, greens, black and white, there were so many colors that they went spilling out of my hands and back into the box.

Anna scrunched her nose. "No, dummy. It's to paint your nails. I know you can probably turn your whole body blue if you wanted to, but this way you won't have to waste your aura."

I could have cried. I could have thrown myself at her and squished her until she couldn't breathe. She had spent her day walking through the snow to go and get something for me.

I had mentioned my nails to her once, and that had been all she needed.

"Go on, dump them out. Pick a color." She said as she took a drink.

I did as I was told and sent all the little vials spilling out into the floor beneath us. "Are you going to do it too?"

"Mmhmm. You are going to watch me first so you know what to do." She nodded as she pulled off her gloves and reached for the vial of black.

I took her by her wrist and stared down at her hand. "What's wrong with your thumb?"

From its tip to its end, her thumb nail was already as black as night underneath.

"Oh, I forgot about that. I smashed it between two books a few weeks ago, remember?" She said as she pulled her hand away and opened the vial.

"I think so, but shouldn't it be healed by now?" I asked.

She shrugged. "It is. It doesn't hurt or anything, probably just old blood trapped underneath. Watch. You take this little brush and you just."

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She painted over the darkened nail and covered it in pure black before she moved on to her pointer finger. "See? It's easy."

"Right, easy." I agreed as I watched her work.

The fireplace was warm, she had the same focused intensity in her eyes as she did when she had her nose in a book, and I could have watched her until I died of old age.

"How do they look?" She asked and held them up for me to see after she finished.

"Black is good on you." I said with my head in my hands. The way it contrasted with her skin, it made her look warmer, almost like she was glowing.

"I'll remember that," She smiled. "Your turn. I think this is pretty close to what you said you wanted the other day."

She rolled a vial of rose red across the floor to me, and I watched it bounce off of the side of my foot without moving.

It was not the exact shade of The Mother in Red's color, but it was close enough that it brought her name to my mind.

"Anna? Can you do it for me? Please?" I looked up and asked with my bottom lip stuck out. I was perfectly capable of doing it myself, I was just not ready to stop watching her quite yet.

She covered her eyes with her hands as she crawled closer to me. "Stop! You can't do that to me. You're already so cute I can't stand it."

I pulled my towel down over my face and stared at the place I knew her to be. "Is that better? Can you do it now?"

"Barely," She laughed as she took my hand into hers. "All you've got on is a couple of towels. It's all I can do to remember to breathe."

I blushed so intensely that I thought my towel might catch flame.

"Alright, be still, I didn't go all over looking for this stuff to do a bad job," She said as I felt her stretch her legs out beside me. "After what happened last week, there are so many guards that you can barely walk down the street."

That made sense. When we had first arrived in Hymneth, there had been no guards at all. If anything else happened, the whole town would likely turn blue and white with their surcoats.

"Did you see Ms. Lao?" I asked. My eyes were closed and I was enjoying her holding my hand all too much. The only reason I had spoken was so I could keep hearing her voice.

She sighed deeply. "No, she hasn't really been in the best mood lately."

"Why not?" I asked.

"She's just worried about us all. Arthur's getting creeped on by sorceresses, she thinks I look sick, she wishes you could be free of all this Mother stuff," She put my hands down onto my crossed legs. "All done, try not to touch anything for a little while."

"Can you do my toes too?" I asked, still enjoying what she was doing far too much to let her stop.

"I'll do whatever you want me to, but you won't be able to see them with your boots on." She said and raised my foot onto her lap without hesitation.

"I'm not wearing them anymore. I am going to start wearing my sandals." I answered.

Anna's hand brushed against the bottom of my foot and I nearly kicked her it tickled so bad. "Isn't that against the rules?"

I smiled and told the truth. "I don't care. I want to wear them."

"Oooh, Autumn is in school for a few months and she's already becoming a bad girl." Anna laughed.

I shook my head under my towel. "I don't want to be bad."

Anna stopped as she spoke. "No, dummy. Bad is good. Wear what you want, it's not like any punishment they can give you will be worse than what you've already been through."

I thought about that for a long time. Before I could really make sense of it, Anna placed my feet back on the fire warmed stone and stood up. "Come look, I've got something we need to talk about."

She pulled me onto my feet and led me somewhere without ever asking me to uncover my face.

I was a silly girl, I knew that, but Anna never made me feel silly for being one.

When we stopped, she raised my towel and showed me myself in the mirror.

I held my hands up in the and stared at the rose red color of my nails. Unlike Anna's black, it only made my skin look paler, but I did not hate the way it looked. I brought one of my feet up to the sink so I could see my toes as well.

Through their memories, I had been countless sorceresses that had all looked unique from one another. The glamors I had worn had made me several others, but I had never looked the way I did then.

I looked good with color, and seeing that made my reflection and I smile at one another.

Anna started running water in the sink beside me and began filling the bath without covering its drain. Whatever she wanted to talk about, she meant to make sure that my white haired guard could not overhear it. She shut the bathroom door and came up behind me.

Her eyes went from my foot to my hands, and then to my eyes before she wrapped her arms around my waist. "I think this is the first time I've ever seen you see yourself like I see you. Do you like them?"

"Yes. I feel new." I answered honestly and watched my face blush with warmth.

"That's not the word I would use," She said as our eyes met in the mirror. "I don't think there is anything new about you."

I shook my head and lowered my leg. "But I've never had painted nails before?"

"No, but it's not new, it's just you. The glamors, the uniform, the being locked up, you've never been allowed to express yourself, but you are now." She said under the sound of the running water.

We slept beside each other every night. Not a day went by when we were not close at least once. Even still, when she held me the way she was then, it felt just as exciting as the first time.

"Do you like me?" I asked, knowing what she would say before she answered but still wanting to hear it anyways.

"No," She said and spun me around. Faster than I could realize what was happening, she leaned over and kissed me on my cheek. "I love you however you are."

I kissed her. "Even with this shade of red?"

"I think Rhiannon would be angry that you look better in her color than she does." She said with a wink that made my heart flutter.

I kissed her a second time, and hoped that both of us would lose count after that.

"No, no, no," She said as she playfully put distance between us. "We have to talk."

I held her by her arms so she couldn't get away. "You always do this. You make me blush, I get all red in the face, and then you make me stop."

"Maybe I just think you're cute when you're frustrated." She said and bit her bottom lip into a wicked grin.

That did it.

Before she could so much as take a breath, I spun her around and took her by her hips before lifting her onto the counter. I stepped inside her guard and let the towel around my middle slip down to the floor.

All those nights playing points had not just taught me how to win games and score points

A high pitched scream spilled out of her and rang out over the still running water. It settled into a shocked giggle, and then fell into silence as I took her breath away.

I gripped her thighs with my hands and raised myself onto balls of my feet so I could reach her neck.

It was my turn to whisper into her ear. "You forget that I am a sorceress. I could just charm you into doing whatever I wanted."

There was a stillness between us that felt like it lasted forever, but I knew it could have only been a breath or two long.

Anna broke it.

"You could be a mortal like me and you would still be able to do that." She said with a little laugh and pulled my mouth up to hers.

I lost myself then. Not like I did when I was coming out of a memory. I knew exactly who I was. I knew exactly who she was. I wandered willingly in what we held between us for as long as she would let me.

Not anywhere long enough after, she pulled away and leaned her head back against the mirror. "Hold on, I need to breathe."

"I don't." I said as I looked up at her and let the towel on my head fall back and settle onto my shoulders.

Anna had seen me with nothing on more times than I could count, but it felt so different. The only thing keeping the towel from falling off completely was the steam that filled the room and the sweat it had brought to my skin.

I was nervous. We were dancing on a line we had never crossed before and I did not know how it would feel to be on the other side, but I was not scared.

Whatever happened, it would be with Anna, and that was all I needed.

She smiled and sighed. "Can I be honest with you?"

"Always." I whispered back, my patience beginning to fail.

The pleased curve of her lips, the slight scrunch of her nose, the way her raven hair clung to her jaw in a perfect frame, if she had been a painting, I would have starved to death before I ever looked away from her.

"I'm scared. Things are so good with us, I don't want to mess it up. What if you," She looked up at the ceiling and held her breath for a long moment. "What if you don't like it? What if you don't like me that way?"

I pushed myself up and leaned forward until she was forced to look at me.

"All I do is make messes. There isn't a way I don't like you. Hush." I said, unable to wait any longer.

"Autumn." She said and tried to push me away.

I stopped and let my eyes drop down to the counter top between her legs. "Don't do this. Not this time. I know what I'm doing."

"No, Autumn, look!" She said and lifted my face back up by my chin. Leaning towards the still running water, she revealed the mirror that was alight with a glow of perfect red.

My jaw dropped.

I tried to wipe away the steam with my hands, but when all that did was smear it, I took Anna by her shoulders and used her back.

"Hey!" She laughed

A version of my face that I had not seen since that day in The River Eae stared back at me.

My eyes were not my natural green, or the bright azure of my blue, they were as red as anything I had ever seen.

"What does this mean? Do I have my red again?" I whispered as I raised my hands up to them.

"I dunno," Anna said as she slid down off the counter and stopped the sink. She skipped over to the bath and stopped it as well before she took me by my hand and opened the door. "But we are going to find out."

My towel had held on for as long as it could, but in the end, its strength failed and fell off and crumpled to the steam slicked floor.

"Scratch that," Anna said with a wicked smile. "We're going to get you dressed and then we're going to find out."

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