Xanthy hooked a finger at the collar of her dress. Well, considering she just came from a broadcasted announcement opening Jered Hyngtis, it's more than a dress. A flitting curse slipped through her painted lips as she tugged at the neckline biting at the base of her throat. Whoever invented this monstrosity of a collar deserved to be demoted.

Her heels clacked in empty echoes against polished stone as she walked the hallways of the Imperial Palace. She tilted her head here and there, relishing at the temporary relief it brought to her temples and shoulders. To think that her day was just getting started. Ugh. It's tiring being the High Queen.

A gaggle of servants dressed in identical red coats and khaki trousers passed her by and each ducked their heads at the sight of her. Their mouths formed circles that could have fit a nosa sigra as they openly gawked at her going on her way. Xanthy smiled and ducked her head back at them and continued walking.

The same decorations which had been confusing her for a whole year had faded in her subconscious as she memorized the twists and turns of the corridors. Considering she's about to spend a long, long time here, it's high time she did so.

Xanthy smoothed her skirts, running a hand down the silky yellow plait and dusting it free of any particles of dust that might have hitched a ride on her way from the public podium to the Seelie Hall. Master Quinxus would have been so proud.

A year ago, back when she first agreed to be the High Queen, she had been a scholar's worst nightmare. Apart from knowing basically nothing about ruling a country, she was also lacking in a ton of aspects of living starting with...writing.

She had only learned to read the Ylanen koset in the Commons thanks to the magic tome Elred shoved into her face back when she was first learning about the world. Up until the end of the war, she really had no use of getting her fingers twisted and dirty trying to hold a quill or a graphite stick.

So, the Seelie Court masters only scratched their heads and looked at each other in confusion when Xanthy mentioned she couldn't read the Keijula koset and had no idea how to hold a writing tool.

That's how she ended up taking a whole year being educated about what a fairy had to be taught as soon as they were able to comprehend. Compounding that with the hours of study required to learn how to be an effective High Queen, it's no wonder Xanthy had never even stepped foot out of the Imperial Palace except maybe to do public announcements like what she did earlier. It's a miracle the Seelie Court allowed her to go on her own with just a card to read from considering her reputation for butchering things before they even began.

A small smile played in Xanthy's painted lips as she turned a corner. Damn, she must have been a handful for the Masters.

The butt of her cane thumped dully against the red, patterned carpet that started at the bend. For the first time in weeks, her leg didn't throb whenever she walked so maybe Nyxis's recent venture for a cure has finally worked. She'd have to ask him what he used.

The tall doors to the Seelie Hall sped into view at the end of the present corridor. Xanthy took a deep breath and forged ahead. The opening of Jered Hyngtis couldn't be that bad, right?

She paused a few steps from the redcoats stationed at the sides of the doors. It's amazing how just a year ago she and these soldiers had been trying to tear each other's throats. Now, she nodded at the one to her right and he nodded right back. Civil. Without bloodshed involved. As things should be.

"Imperial High Queen, enter," the red coat turned and gripped the door's handle. Xanthy pursed her lips. No matter how many times she tried convincing these people to just refer to her as her first name, none of them bothered to heed her request.

A lump formed at her throat, making the tight collar more annoying. Her fingers wrung her skirts as she passed the red coats by and stopped a few paces away from a round table where all of the High Queen's fifty advisers sat.

Xanthy bit her tongue. She had asked a stupid question back when she first saw the entirety of the council. Wasn't fifty too many? Despite the wide eyes and the looks of confusion and ire she received from the Masters back then, it's still a valid question until now. Fifty advisers was just too many, wasn't it?

"Your Highness," a man clad in a long, maroon robe atop his usual tunic and trousers shot up from his seat. He twined his fingers and pressed them against his stomach before dipping half his body in her direction. Almost on cue, the rest of the advisers scrambled to their feet and did the same.

A sigh sped out of Xanthy's lips. "Master Quinxus, I told you it's not necessary," she tucked loose strands of khaki hair that escaped the braid Airese had done earlier behind her ears. The carpet muffled most of the clicks of her heels against the stone floor as she strode towards the last empty seat meant for her.

She rested her cane against the table's rim the moment she settled into the high-backed, velvet chair. "I prefer to be called by my name," she said, twining her fingers together atop the table's smooth surface.

Master Quinxus's dark blue eyes revealed nothing as well as the flat expression in his face. "In formal functions like this, Your Highness, we prefer to stick to tradition."

Xanthy stuck her bottom lip out. "Come on," she cocked her head to one side. "Please?"

"As it is, we cannot defile the Imperial Power by abandoning tradition," the adviser replied, getting a few sympathetic nods with it.

"It's not like I'm High Queen for long," Xanthy rolled her shoulders and picked at her collar again.

Master Quinxus snorted. "As you keep reminding us, Your Highness," he leaned back against his chair and addressed his colleagues. "For our real agenda for today, shall we congratulate the Imperial Highness for a successful opening of Jered Hyngtis?"

The resounding set of clapping that came after made Xanthy blink. She...did it? She whirled to Master Quinxus, probably the only adviser she had seen more than twenty times the whole year. Instead of the usual stony expression, this time, something else shone in the old master's eyes. Was it...pride?

"You have grown and learned a lot in your stay in the Imperial Palace," Master Quinxus continued as soon as the applause died down. "That doesn't mean your study will stop there."

Xanthy blew a breath. "I know," she said. "I'll go back to the star charts and the trading logs as soon as—"

"You will be a student for all your life," Master Quinxus tapped his fingers against the table. "You can't enjoy Jered Hyngtis for the same amount of time."

Xanthy knitted her eyebrows. Was she hearing this correctly?

"Take the holiday off, Xanthy," Master Quinxus said. "Let the Seelie Court take care of the matters at hand."

She resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Well, addressing her by her name wasn't so hard, right? Still...

"I can't take breaks," Xanthy pinched her palm and stared at it. Despite being relatively clean and manicured, sometimes, she could still glimpse their wretched state before she knew how to take care of herself. "I have a ton of stuff to learn and do so we can get started with the reform as early as possible,"

She clicked her tongue and slapped her forehead. "I just remembered I still have Master Andren's writing assignment," she whirled back to Master Quinxus and gave the adviser an apologetic shrug. "Yeah, I'll sit Jered Hyngtis out. I have a lot of deadlines to catch."

"By the power vested in me as the Head of the Court, I declare all deadlines null and void," the adviser turned to his colleagues. "All in favor?"

"Hear!" came the undivided decision.

Master Drenice, Quinxus's wife, smiled at Xanthy from across the table. "Her Highness has been working hard for a whole year," she said. "I'll say she deserves this holiday break from us."

"Hear!"

Xanthy pursed her lips. "What about you?" she glanced at the rest of the advisers whose faces she probably wouldn't remember. "When will you celebrate the holiday?"

Master Quinxus folded his hands together. "Who says we aren't already celebrating it?" He had that playful glint in his eyes that Xanthy was seeing for the first time. Was that what the holiday was doing to people? True enough, everyone seemed calm and laid back ever since she finished her announcement. It's like another kind of magic sweeping over the island the moment the first rays of the first day of the year sets in.

"See the city. Taste the feasts. Experience the traditions," Master Quinxus jerked his chin in Xanthy's direction. "I'm sure your friends have been dying to be with you after being away for too long."

"I meet them for lessons every now and then," Xanthy shrugged. Then again, the adviser had a point. It has been so long since she hung out with them without a world to save or a lesson to finish. She licked her lips and bobbed her head. "Fine, fine. I'll go."

A wide smile tore an unexplored path in Master Quinxus's face. Huh, it wasn't everyday Xanthy got to see that. "Excellent," he said. "Find your parents and maybe you'll get to spend your first holiday together as a family."

Xanthy's gut turned. Oh, yeah. She had a family now. She wasn't in the Disfavoreds anymore. She...she had come a long way, hadn't she? "Yeah," she met the adviser's eyes and smiled. "I'll go and do that. Thank you."

"Well, that concludes our last meeting until the end of the season," Master Quinxus said. "I trust you know where to find Master Reciphra to help you work on your closing speech come the fifteenth?"

Xanthy locked eyes with the young fairy in silver-rimmed spectacles somewhere to her west. "Yeah," she said again.

"Excellent," Master Quinxus said. "Shall we adjourn?"

After he said the final concluding words to every meeting, the advisers sat back. Oh. They're waiting for her to leave. Nobody was supposed to arrive later than the High Queen and no one was supposed to leave earlier. It's a weird concept but Xanthy would take it. It came with the package, anyway.

Her legs walked but her mind was off in tangents. Suddenly, she was left with no idea what to do after her usual schedule was bulldozed just like that. Enjoy the holiday, huh? How in Umazure was she supposed to do that?