Adults liked to say 'on one hand' a lot. No, not just the adults. Even her sister said that.

Adelheid thought she had a good idea about why, now. It was just time to test that.

She put her hands in front of her, stretching with side that had palms and grabbed things looking up. Shadows appeared there, pulled from the nearest corner. They started rolling in the air, and then they were balls of shadows instead of just shadows.

Looking at the one on her left hand, Adelheid scrunched her face up. On one hand, Hildegard was teaching them a lot. Adelheid was already Level 45. And the lessons were fun sometimes.

She turned to look at her right hand and made the same ugly face at it. On the other hand, meditating was so boring! Yeah, it made those Control and Acclimation numbers go up faster… but they had always been going up anyway? Plus even with all the Skills Adelheid got and leveled, Hildegard still just looked grumpy at them, instead of happy for her.

It was those <Mind> Skill things that the butler didn't like, even though Adelheid had followed instructions. Perfectly! She'd done the exercises and gotten Skills during the lessons. Now, [Indevote Student] had 17 levels on it, [Lousy Configurations] had 9, and [Mental Elasticity] had 15.

When she first read those Skills out, Hildegard had been flopping around like one of those 'amphitheaters' Adelheid sometimes caught her father chasing. The first ones were apparently bad, and the last on wasn't what she was supposed to get from their practice.

Adelheid huffed. Even just thinking about it made her grumpy. This was still happening to her. Every time she finally understood something, more new things that she didn't understand would pop up.

Why couldn't things just always make sense?

Now, she looked from one ball to the other. Adelheid had already thought of what she had in one hand.

Even if what she technically had in each hands were balls of shadows.

She just pretended they were those two things she thought about.

Even if each of those things had technically been more than one thing.

Now… what?

When she'd tried asking Hildegard what that saying meant, the butler had said it was a 'turn of phrase' that people used when 'weighing their options'.

Adelheid raised and lowered her hands, trying to feel how much the shadows weight. They didn't weigh anything at all, so she was pretty confused. How was she supposed to know which side won?

Eventually, Adelheid decided she was too confused to figure it out. And too confused to keep worrying about this, actually.

It was 'meditation time' again, as Sister Malwine called it. Adelheid took that as her notice to step aside.

She was going to all her lessons, but she wasn't going to stop visiting her family members. Who knew what might happen if Adelheid just stopped appearing around them? They might get a bit lonely.

Her mother and Sister Matilda were studying. They always were. And of course her mother didn't pay attention to her—was she still mad?

She deserved it. Adelheid looked off to the side. Was that a rude thing to think? Maybe. But she wasn't going to take it back.

Sister Matilda did notice Adelheid, though. She looked up from her book and to her little sister with eyes that reminded Adelheid of how Sister Malwine looked whenever she wanted something.

Should she say something? Adelheid really didn't want to speak with her mother right now. Maybe not even soon. But Sister Matilda…

Hildegard had been right, even if she could be annoying sometimes. So annoying. Getting more Skills hadn't just gotten Adelheid to Level 45—she wouldn't have been able to do something like this without them.

She thought about [Hiddenness] and [Dark Balance], and just like that, she could feel {Missing} getting happier. It'd gotten easier to mix with her Skills ever since she got the first value to be four numbers, but she just knew this wasn't something the Affinity could have done alone.

Not this early, at least.

Adelheid tip-toed and sat down next to Sister Matilda, smiling. She gave her older sister a look. "Keep reading."

Matilda did a little jump—she hadn't noticed Adelheid had moved—but she looked down, putting the open book in her lap.

"What's wrong?" Adelheid asked, whispering. She knew she could speak like she always did, but whispering was more fun. Like they were sharing secrets.

"I hate this so much," Sister Matilda said. Her eyes were a little wet and everything. That was bad. Was she about to cry? Adelheid wasn't sure if she could hide something so loud. "I just want…"

"Tell me," Adelheid put her hand on Matilda's shoulder. If she wanted something, Adelheid could probably get it for her. Or borrow it. Just so she wouldn't cry and ruin her hiding.

"I don't like this," Matilda scrunched her eyes up, rolling up on herself a little. She almost crushed the book. "I want… I wish I could just keep reading and playing with Paul and… I don't want to be a lady. I don't want to study to take care of the house and 'move in circles' or whatever!"

Adelheid nodded. That made sense. She'd watched the people who took care of the house many times. She understood why her father paid them to do it. The house was so big and messy not even its owners would take care of it for free.

So why was their mother expecting Matilda to do it? "But don't we have 'staff' for that?"

"A proper lady manages the staff," Matilda grumbled. Adelheid couldn't tell whether it sounded like she hated the 'proper lady' part or the 'manages the staff' part more.

Maybe she could hide Sister Matilda if just getting stuff for her wouldn't be enough?

"I'll return," she told her older sister before moving through the house.

Adelheid appeared in Alaric's room, where he and Theo were sitting in the floor with some books scattered.

"If you compare the theories—" Theo was pointing at one that was open on the floor while holding another in his hand. His mouth stayed open but he didn't say anything more, just staring at Adelheid.

"Brother Alaric," Adelheid turned to her older half-brother, who looked like he'd been about to throw a book at the other boy. "Do you have room to hide one more person in here?"

"What?"

"Mother is being very mean to Sister Matilda. She doesn't want to learn proper lady things."

"Uhm—"

"So I was thinking, maybe I could bring Sister Matilda here. She could hide with you and Theo."

Alaric's eyes had gotten really big. "Eh. Look, Adelheid. I don't think you can just do that? Like, I understand. I can talk to Bernie—"

"She cannot be talked to," Adelheid said with the most super serious tone she could manage. "She's…" she tried to think of any of the words Hildegard had taught her about, "…stubborn. Too stubborn. She wants everyone to be fancy ladies and doesn't notice that no one wants to be. So we need to hide Matilda, so she doesn't stay sad."

"The house would be in disarray if Matilda vanished, Adelheid," Alaric insisted. "I understand, like I said, but we can't just…"

"No, she won't vanish, she'll just be hiding here," Adelheid explained. Her brother didn't know much about her power—of course he'd think they 'couldn't just do this'—so she'd have to explain a lot. "I'll bring her anything she needs. And I'll bring her. No one will notice!"

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Her brother didn't look like he believed her, but that didn't matter much.

"I'll return," Adelheid told him just like she'd told Matilda, and she moved to reappear right next to where the girl had been sitting, [Dark Balance] and [Hiddenness] still on. "Matilda, I know what to do. We're going to hide you."

"Huh?" Matilda's eyebrows went up. Her head was shaking. "But Mother… she'd notice!"

Aw. Adelheid was happy Matilda hadn't doubted her. If she was worrying over this being noticed, then it meant she already believed Adelheid could get that far!

"Don't worry!" Adelheid smiled with her teeth. She reached out, offering Matilda her hand. When the girl grabbed it, she focused everything on making sure it looked like Matilda wasn't missing from the seat. She'd never practiced to see for how long she could manage this, so she'd have to pay attention to convince Bernie that Matilda had just gone back to her room, but it'd work.

It wasn't as awesome as what Sister Malwine could do, though. She couldn't just copy herself or anyone. But she could now do lots of fun things with an empty spot, like the one Matilda had just left. Just the image of Matilda reading… yes, she could do that. Walking, too.

Matilda was bigger than Malwine or Franziska—she was harder for Adelheid to move. It was like trying to take something larger than the size of the door she was using, but she squeezed through.

She did do a little scream, though. They appeared next to Alaric, with Adelheid raising her hands to show off. "Here, done!"

Theo was laughing for some reason. Adelheid couldn't make out everything he was saying between chuckles, all under his breath. "I can't believe… so ridiculous…"

Alaric was taking turns glaring at him and at Adelheid. He was pretty fair with it, actually, not letting either feel left out. "I… Why do I keep having to deal with these things?"

"Ouch," Matilda grumbled from where she'd ended up, between the books. She rubbed her shoulder. It was Alaric who noticed first, and ran to help her get up.

Oops. Adelheid hadn't noticed, though her last step had gotten less heavy after she appeared here. She just hadn't made the connection between that and Sister Matilda flying off from the sudden appearance. "…Sorry."

"Are you well?" Alaric was looking at Matilda, checking her shoulder and everything. She didn't look hurt, but that didn't keep their brother from pointing at Adelheid. "Go to Anselm, and ask him if he has anything for bruising."

Adelheid nodded. Their oldest brother was always playing with bottles and stuff. Maybe he would have something. Not that Adelheid had noticed any bruises. She hadn't dropped Matilda that hard!

She moved from one room to another with a step, finding Brother Anselm next to that table where he kept lots of things made of glass. He was using some small thing to add drops of something to a bigger bowl.

Adelheid's nose itched. The smell reminded her of her great-grandma, and that did make her a little sad. Maybe that was a high level thing? She knew her great-grandma had been Level 149, and now her oldest brother was Level 145.

But she didn't have time to keep thinking about that. Her family really liked doing those little jumps whenever she showed up, because that was what Brother Anselm did. He almost dropped the glass thing in his hand. "Adelheid!"

"Hi, brother. Alaric says you might have something for bruising?" Adelheid used the words just as Alaric had. Maybe it was something specific, even if she didn't know why.

Now, Brother Anselm put the glass thing down and stepped away. "What happened? Is everyone well?"

Aw. Adelheid thought that reaction was nice. Even if everyone was well. It sucked, but she doubted her parents would react like that in the same situation. "We're alright. I took Matilda to visit Alaric and I might have moved a little too fast. She's okay! But Alaric's worried."

"I'll be there," Anselm said suddenly. He started walking to another door, looking at Adelheid over his shoulder. "Wait for me outside. It's not safe to stay near these… chemicals for long."

Adelheid had no idea what he was talking about, but she did move to wait outside the door to his rooms. He'd sounded very serious, so she took the warning seriously as well.

It didn't take long for him to show up, his hair wrapped up in a towel. That was weird, but he was carrying a bag and started walking immediately. He looked to the sides as he walked.

Oh. Right. He probably couldn't see her. Adelheid moved to walk next to him and waved. At least he didn't do a little jump this time.

Adelheid moved to be inside Alaric's room and opened the door for him just as he was about to knock. Even Theo gave her a weird look. Rude. She was being helpful!

"Who are you?" Anselm asked Theo while Adelheid was busy closing the door.

Alaric made a weird gesture. "You were just supposed to ask him for something, not bring him here!"

"A friend from Beuzaheim," Theo said. He pronounced Beuzaheim so weirdly, though. Even Adelheid knew how to say it right! Maybe it was an accent?

Adelheid spoke at the same time, whispering to Anselm. "That's his good friend that he hides in his room—don't tell anyone!"

Matilda was still rubbing her shoulder. "Brother!"

She wasn't specific about which one she was calling out to, but both of them looked towards her.

Anselm pulled a small container out and opened it. "Let me see."

Soon, both of them were looking at Matilda's shoulder while Adelheid and Theo sat in the corner. She turned to the family friend. "Why are they being like this?"

"Being slammed against a shelf tends to be cause for concern," Theo said, not quite looking at Adelheid.

She huffed. "I didn't mean for her to just fly off!"

"But she did," Theo insisted. "It's… it's good that your brothers make sure she's okay, no? Even if you didn't mean for anything to happen. It's better that they take care of her, instead of ignoring it and having regrets later."

Adelheid frowned. When she'd been smaller, she'd had some falls herself. She didn't always move in the right ways, so sometimes she'd tripped when she arrived someplace, or hit something. But she didn't have anyone getting freaked out over it. People didn't pay much attention to her back then.

She'd been fine every time! But… maybe Matilda was more delicate? She turned to Theo, not doing at great job at hiding her new worries. "Wait. Could she actually not be okay?"

"That's why they need to check," Theo shook his head. He was looking at her for way too long. "Mortals are different, you know. I can't imagine what it must be like… growing up around only mortals. You need to be careful with them."

Adelheid's eyes widened. How did he know she wasn't just mortal like everyone else? She hadn't even mentioned it!

…Was it the Affinities? It was probably the Affinities, wasn't it? She knew Hildegard had been able to tell because she'd known her great-grandma, but how could this random boy tell as well? She had to ask. "How do you know?"

"How do I know you needed to hear that, or how do I know you aren't mortal?" Theo laughed again.

Adelheid huffed at that.

"When we're young, we start getting these instincts about how the things that give us potential work. And we don't always understand how it might affect others. Given the circumstances, I suspect no one's ever given you that talk," he shrugged. "As for how I know you aren't mortal—there's a limit to what mortals can do. The way I was taught… the more removed something is from reality, from what a mortal without Skills could do, the more [Integrity] it would cost, because it hurts the body, to do something that isn't supposed to be possible. And we all only have so much [Integrity] to go around. When you have Affinities you could use, to make things cost [Toll] instead—that's what it means to have potential, because you'll be able to reach heights you otherwise couldn't."

Adelheid nodded along—the boy really got into what he was saying, and she didn't want to be mean by telling him she only understood like half of what he said.

"So you aren't mortal, either," Adelheid tried her best to look like Hildegard on a bad day. "Are you?"

"No," Theo shook his head. "It's a secret."

"Okay…"

In the distance, she noticed Alaric rolling his eyes. Speaking of Alaric, he stood up, letting Matilda stay with Anselm, who was putting something on her shoulder. "Do you know any doctors in Beuzaheim? It might be safer to just get her checked out properly."

Theo motioned in Anselm's direction. "I thought your brother was an alchemist?" he asked in a whisper. "Doesn't he have potions for this?"

"My brother is an experimental alchemist. Bernie might have something, maybe… but we can't go to her," Alaric shook his head. "Can you sneak out and take her to a doctor?"

"Oh, yes, Alaric. All the doctors I know in Beuzaheim," Theo said. There was something weird about his tone. "Since I know Beuzaheim so well."

"Shut up—I have to do damage control here. There's no telling what will happen once Bernie notices she's gone."

"She won't notice," Adelheid told them so they'd be less worried. It didn't help.

"She had a large collection when she left the craft," Anselm noted. He stood up, leaving Matilda in the chair they'd kicked Theo out of at some point. "I confess I know not what she might have done with it, or if she still practices. She would indeed be your best hope here—either that, or having your… friend take her to a doctor."

Theo was groaning, while Matilda herself just looked very confused.

"Where would she keep them?" Adelheid asked. She hadn't managed to find those Skill books Sister Malwine wanted, but she might have more luck with this. "I can look for them."

"Unfortunately, she would likely keep them in her inventory. She wasn't around by the time Old Martin got around to telling us more about proper preservation practices."

I have no idea what any of that means. Adelheid once again just nodded along. "So I can't just go grab things," she gave Theo a look. "Okay. Go take her to a doctor then."

Theo tipped his head to the side. He had that face people made when they were about to argue, so Adelheid stepped aside and back into the corner where she'd been 'meditating'.

Just like she'd done for Matilda, she'd made sure to leave the impression that she'd stayed there, still meditating, in case Hildegard checked.

She took deep breaths and got back into position, letting go of her Skills.

"I'm bored," Adelheid complained.

Hildegard walked up to her. Good. The butler clearly hadn't noticed Adelheid went on her little walk. And Bernie couldn't have noticed Matilda was gone—she'd be here bothering them, if she had. "Fifteen more minutes, Adelheid."

It wasn't as if Adelheid had anything to count that with, so she just huffed. Her sister would be proud if she heard that.

"I'm already at level 19 [Meditation]!" Adelheid insisted. She'd been at 19 the entire time, sure, but that was still a pretty high number. It was much more fun to make her other Skills go up. The only good part about [Meditation] was how it made {Missing} and the others slowly get better.

But it was still boring!

Even though she didn't like it at all, Adelheid closed her eyes again. She'd have to hope her other brothers took good care of Matilda.

It would probably be a mess, but the idea of having her mother be in trouble sounded a bit too good for her to not act. Especially if this made Sister Matilda less sad.

Adelheid didn't want any other of her siblings to be as sad as she'd been growing up. Not if she could help it.

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