The Orb pulsated brightly as Kaira carefully picked up the last tiny piece of the stone with delicate instruments. She blew a strand of hair out of her face and, with steady hands, locked it into place in the Orb.

To her immense relief, she saw the cracks slowly dissipate from its surface and the shine steadily reappear.

"Oh my gosh, I've finally fixed the Orb! Gaby's gonna be so proud of me!" she squealed and jumped to her feet. After long hours of silence, her throat felt scratchy and she quickly cleared it with her wand. It was time for dinner now, as her stomach pointedly reminded her, but she was too restless to sit at a table and eat, so she closed her eyes, picked a location, and turned on the spot.

Before opening her eyes, she could smell the sweet rose scent in the air, and her heart rate picked up immediately. Her palms quickly grew sweaty, and she placed the Orb in her sling bag to avoid dropping it.

"Thank goodness you're on time, Kaira. Pass me the bag now." A sweet voice called out and she opened her eyes to see Gaby walking toward her with an outstretched hand. She slung the bag off her shoulder and handed it to Gaby, who promptly took the Orb and studied it carefully.

"Yes, you've fixed it properly. I can see no cracks running across the surface now. This had better work, okay?"

"Of course! Anything for you!" she exclaimed immediately, then cringed at how desperate she must have seemed, but Gaby just turned and teleported with the Orb, her lingering rose scent the only reminder Kaira had of her.

Kaira sighed deeply. What had she even expected? That Gaby would realize that she loved Kaira just as much as Kaira loved her? That she would wrap her arms around Kaira and profess her deep affection for her? Gaby had never shown any particular affection for Kaira before, and it didn't look like it was going to change anytime soon.

She ran a bitter hand through her hair and was about to head home when the glint of jewelry caught her eye. On any other day, she probably would have ignored it, but today had been incredibly tiring and frustrating, so she indulged herself in the thrill of finding something unexpected and picked up the silver bracelet from the ground.

It was a charm bracelet, and even without a tiny plaque that held her name in cursive lettering, Kaira could have easily guessed that it was Gaby's; judging from the number of roses and cat charms hanging from it.

After a quick debate, she decided to return the bracelet to her immediately and teleported to the rituals' arena, where she knew Gaby would be rehearsing for the annual procession.

Kaira searched around for a while, but she couldn't spot Gaby anywhere, so she decided to head up the Oak Tree in the hope of finding her there.

Now, strictly speaking, Kaira wasn't supposed to be here unless she had an official summoning from the Queen or until she was a part of the celebrations, but something prompted her to venture deep into the labyrinthine recesses of the tree.

A small part of her even wanted to catch a glimpse of the Queen. Nobody even knew what she looked like since very few people actually had the fortune to see the reclusive Queen's face. The Queen was apparently incredibly shy and even refrained from having her portraits framed across their kingdom like her predecessors.

Kaira was suddenly pulled out of her thoughts by the sound of tinkling laughter that she immediately recognized, and she quickly hid in the shadows of a wall to listen to Gaby speak to her friends.

"...so incredibly stupid, I swear!" Gaby said between chuckles. "That idiot's utterly besotted by me, I know that very well, and I've got her wrapped up around my finger. I just told her to fix the Orb for me after I accidentally broke it, and she didn't even hesitate to spend days on it! And she even swore to keep it a secret, so I don't even have to worry about anyone scolding me for my carelessness."

Kaira felt herself grow cold all over. She desperately wanted to believe that Gaby wasn't referring to her and that she was making fun of somebody else, but in her heart of hearts, she knew that Gaby had made a big fool of her, and had been doing so for a long time.

She suddenly felt a soft hand on her shoulder and felt someone cover her mouth. Kaira resisted immediately, gripped with terror at the thought of getting caught by the guards. But the figure just turned her around and placed a finger on her own lips, and Kaira fell silent immediately, awestruck by the beauty standing before her.

"Just stay silent for me. I'll deal with them," she said with a soft, hushed voice and glided into the room. Its occupants fell silent upon her arrival, and Kaira watched as the woman pulled out a scroll and handed it to Gaby, whose face turned furious upon reading the words. Kaira expected her to lash out at the woman, but she simply schooled her expression, bowed deeply, and walked out of the room. Kaira confronted her on her way and stuck her tongue out childishly. Gaby seemed astonished to see her, but simply huffed and stalked away.

She was quickly followed by her friends, who cast angry glances at Kaira before running after Gaby.

"You can come in now, Kiara!" the woman called loudly, and Kaira briskly walked into the room with her eyes trained on the floor. She had a pretty good idea of who this woman was, and if she was right in her suspicions, she had to be on her best behavior.

"Oh come on, I didn't pull off a massive firing of my staff just so you would look at the floor the entire time. A little appreciation goes a long way, as does confident eye contact," she said playfully.

"I'm sorry, my Queen, but etiquette states that someone of my level must always maintain this position," Kaira firmly replied. She heard an exasperated gasp before she felt the Queen place a delicate hand under her chin and lift her head lightly. Kaira's deep black eyes met the Queen's warm amber ones and the Queen let go of her chin with a slight blush and looked away.

Kaira even heard her mutter something along the lines of, wow, her eyes are much more intense than I expected... and shook her head furiously. Surely she was hearing things, right?

"Okay, so I know that this is incredibly out of the blue, but I've been wanting to meet you for quite some time, Kaira," she confessed. Kaira frowned when she realized something.

"My Queen, how do you know my..."

"Oh please, don't call me My Queen and all that nonsense. My name is Maya, so you can just call me that," she said with a nervous fluttering of her hands.

"Okay, so Maya, could you please explain what's going on here?" Kaira asked cautiously. She was having a hard time focusing on the conversation though and kept staring at the beautiful woman talking to her, choosing to lose her senses over Maya's beautiful head of hair, petite figure, and the golden gown that perfectly wrapped around her figure.

Wow. It had been a long time since she's had such a huge crush on someone. She was also quite startled to notice that the Queen was of her age, and only seemed older at first glance due to her bearing

"Of course. I'm sure you must be very confused right now, so I'll go over the start," she said.

"A couple of weeks ago, I was secretly touring the countryside and looking into the well-being of my people, when I spotted you walking around with a load of lugs and wrenches in your hands. Your hair was in a messy bun and you were covered in smudges of paint and whatnot, but you seemed so much more beautiful than all the well-bred women I'd been matched with, that I had already fallen head over heels for you, and I just had to know you better."

Kaira felt her cheeks grow warm at the Queen's... no wait, Maya's words.

"So I hatched an elaborate plan to get you to the Oak Tree without directly summoning you for frivolous reasons. In fact, I almost lost my patience and was about to summon you when I saw you standing there! I was actually so nervous I could barely talk to you," she admitted with nervous laughter.

Kaira's head was spinning by now. Did Maya have a... crush on her? No. Of course not. There was no way someone as important as the Queen would fancy someone like Kaira so intensely.

"I know that Gaby was supposed to bear the Orb and light the way to a New Year, but I don't find her worthy of that privilege. This must be too sudden for you, but would you accept the post instead? It could even be a way for us to get to know each other better," she said hopefully. Kaira glanced at Maya's outstretched hand and took it with a small smile, feeling thrilled at the sparks that flew from the brief contact.

Maya seemed to feel it too because she quickly withdrew her hand and smiled shyly at Kaira.

"Shall we start preparing for the celebrations then? There's not much time left," Kaira said, and Maya nodded eagerly.

"People of Ataraxia! A year filled with memories has passed, and a new one is starting today. I'm proud to herald the way into our new year with renewed vigor, energy, hope, and a little bit of magic. May this new year shine a little brighter for us all!" Kaira announced from her podium and raised her arms, clenching the Orb tightly in her palm.

It caught the moonlight and glowed brightly, filling the arena with its soft white light and infusing everyone with an extra boost of magic.

Kaira caught Maya's eye in the crowd and winked at her flirtatiously. Maya made a huge show of swooning and winked back at her with a little flutter of her fingers. Kaira grinned widely at her in return.

This year was off to a great start indeed.