Indoctrination

The order of the light.

That is the way by which the faeries live, as designated servants to the god Sol.

They are beings made of light, formed in the same instance that the world was created.

But they are also the most powerful allies we humans have in this unending war.

I am not too fond of them. Nor am I fond of those who stick to their side.

And yet…

“Pleasure to meet you all. My name is Kami Inohara. I was chosen by Lady Asenna to support Lady Daradriel in all her many duties. I look forward to working with you all.”

Kami steps back gracefully, as her purple hair flows beautifully along the back of her thin white dress. The other Flare Aids gasp in awe of her beauty, and begin to clap in support. A taller blonde lady, blessed with sizable breasts that could be noticed through the side of her dress, then uncovers her veil and steps up.

“Hi. My name is Anna-Mae Hellend. I was chosen by Lady Temaine to support Lady Daradriel in all her many duties. I look forward to working with you all as well,”

The other Flare Aids all gasp in awe of her…blessings, and begin to clap in support. Some only glare in jealousy, making Anna-Mae slightly uncomfortable as she steps back in the same graceful manner as Kami.

“Hello to you all. I am Alita Rapino, and was chosen by Lady Diana to support Lady Daradriel in all her many duties. I am grateful to be here with all of you,”

Alita begins to step back and smiles, expecting the same type of reaction as the two who came before her…but it seems that most eyes were already focused on the next person.

Alita: “Huh?! What the? Where’s my *awes*? Unbelievable! Who are they all looking at anyway-”

As Alita looks to her left, her expression of frustration suddenly shifts to complete shock, as Aurelia uncovers her veil.

Aurelia: “Hey, is it my turn, or what?”

The Flare Aids all surrounding the main hall of the Temple of Sol gasp in shock. Not because of Aurelia’s uncouth words, but because of the beauty she possesses.

Aurelia looks around confused. She sees the aesthetic golden walls and figures surrounding the temple, and becomes impressed.

“Whoaaaa!”

The leader of Daradriel’s Flare Aids, Beatrice, suddenly claps her hands.

“Aurelia! Introduce yourself properly!”

“Oh, right, my fault,”

Aurelia steps up, and looks around towards everyone with a big smile. She spreads her arms wide, unknowingly showing off her perfect figure.

“Hi! I’m Aurelia! Aurelia Yuki! It’s nice to meet you all, and I hope we can all be great friends! I’m new to all this fancy stuff though, so please bear with me!”

Aurelia bows.

“Thank you very much in advance!”

Beatrice: “And how were you chosen?!”

Aurelia looks at Beatrice and pauses for a moment. She then snaps her fingers as she realizes what Beatrice meant. 

“Oh! I was chosen by Lady Daradriel!”

The crowd suddenly erupts in even more shock. Even Beatrice couldn’t believe what she just heard.

Beatrice: “Impossible!! Lady Daradriel has not chosen anyone in centuries! None of us here were chosen by her, and yet you stand here and claim to be the first?!!”

“Umm…I guess so?”

Beatrice stands up from her seat and walks down the golden stairs leading to where Aurelia and the other inductees were standing. She then whispers aggressively in Aurelia’s ears.

“Lying is a great offense to our Lord Sol and his commandments! Take back this…joke of yours!...and all will be forgiven,”

Aurelia: “But I’m not joking. Nor am I lying.”

Beatrice backs away.

“Lady Daradriel has not even been seen outside of the Temple of Sol in ages! And yet you still claim such a brand upon yourself?!”

Aurelia tilts her head.

“I don’t know what to tell you, Miss Beatrice. She was the one who showed up in front of me. I never asked for any of this.”

“What is all the commotion about?”

Everyone turns to the front door of the main hall leading to the holy grounds.

“You must remember, you are always in Sol’s presence here. And I will not have my aids bickering like children.”

The Flare Aids all bow as Daradriel walks into the main hall with two of her oldest Flare Aids, aged 27 and 29. Daradriel holds out her hand, and a ray of light suddenly appears.

“Now…where are my new aids? I bring gifts, ordained by our great lord, Sol,”

Daradriel looks upon her four new Flare Aids, who all bow gently before her…even Aurelia this time. The words of her sister ring through Aurelia’s ears as she lowers herself to show reverence to Daradriel.

{“Always bow! BOW! Every time you see a faery, you have to BOW!”}

Aurelia: “See, I remembered, Lexi, jeez. Have more faith in me, will ya,”

Daradriel gives each of them a soft ball of light as they cusp their hands carefully, making sure not to let it fall.

“This is my gift to you all. A piece of me, and a piece of Sol rests in your hands. I want you all to be careful as you do this, but please try to eat it as soon as you can.”

The other three inductees at first appear shocked, but quickly eat the ball of light. They become surprised by the feel of it, and look at each other in wonder.

Aurelia, however, looks directly at Daradriel with a confused expression, as the ball of light remains in her hands.

“What is the point of this, if you don’t mind me asking? I don’t really feel like ingesting something I can’t taste or smell, no offense,”

The rest of the Flare Aids gasp in shock once more, appalled by her resistance…but Daradriel only looks at Aurelia with a smirk.

“I’m glad you asked. It seems you are the only one capable of thinking before doing what you are told,”

Daradriel turns to the rest of the Flare Aids surrounding the main hall.

“All of you are my subordinates…but you fail to think for yourselves. It seems you would all rather have me think for you, even if many of you are already grown women. I am not your babysitter, nor am I your ruler. I simply consider myself to be your companion in the presence of our god.”

Daradriel walks to Aurelia, and lifts her hands high. The ball of light formerly in Aurelia's hands fades away.

“This is the example I want you to follow. Do not constantly do what you are told. Have the mind to think for yourselves…otherwise, you are of no use to me. You may all be my assistants…but I will never treat you as servants…and I would rather you not all limit yourselves in the same manner,”

Daradriel leans in towards Aurelia and whispers.

“I’m glad. You have not let me down, Aurelia Yuki.”

Daradriel then walks away with two that came with her, as she waves back to Aurelia in the same manner Aurelia had done to her.

“Please…continue to be my own ray of sunshine in this miserable world…and that goes for all of you,”

As Daradriel leaves the main hall, the rest of the Flare Aids begin to murmur and stare at Aurelia, who is left wondering what Daradriel meant with her statements. Aurelia certainly notices the stares, but ignores them as she refuses to accept negativity towards herself or anyone around her.

“Aurelia? Aurelia, was it?”

Aurelia turns and sees one of her fellow inductees, Kami, standing right behind her.

“Yes, and you’re…Yam? Yami?”

“I’m Kami, haha. Kami Inohara. You really are a free-spirit, it seems. I can’t help but envy that, to be quite honest,”

Aurelia smiles brightly and widely.

“Can we be friends?”

Kami shakes her head in shock, before laughing once more.

“Yes, of course we can. It seems you aren’t only free-spirited, but blunt, as well,”

“Ah, I got it from my dad. He’s much more outspoken than I am, believe me,”

“Unbelievable!”

Aurelia and Kami both turn and see Alita with a frustrated expression, with Anna-Mae quietly standing behind her.

“Do you think of all this as a joke? I have been preparing for this moment my entire life! And you single handedly managed to ruin it!”

“...my bad?”

“You don’t even mean that!”

Anna-Mae steps up: “Now now, let’s not attract more negative attention to ourselves. We may have all come here from separate paths, but we are now following the same one.”

Kami: “I agree. It’s not as if we are supposed to impress the others,”

Kami then looks down towards Anna-Mae’s chest, and brings out a fake smile as she looks back up at her.

“Especially since we are all friends and rivals in this place...”

Anna-Mae smiles softly back at Kami: “Truer words have never been spoken,”

Aurelia puts her thumbs up sharply and smiles brightly: “Forget that! Let’s all just be friends! Who needs rivals!”

Alita begins to boil with anger as Anna-Mae and Kami laugh at Aurelia’s innocence.

Alita: “Easy for you three to say! You’ve already got better looks, better figures, and better speeches than me! I am the odd one out here!”

“Your hair is beautiful by the way!”

Alita looks up at Aurelia’s gleaming expression.

“Seriously, I’ve never seen anyone with such nice orange hair before. I’m so jealous!”

At that moment, everything in Alita’s mind stopped for a moment. The most beautiful woman that she had ever laid eyes on…just proclaimed jealousy of the same hair she had been bullied for since she was a child.

{Be careful! Taffy’s gonna get ya!}

{RUN!}

{You don’t want her sticky hair all over you, do you?! Stay away from her!}

The same hair…she tried desperately to cover ever since she was a child. Especially as the color of her hair resembled that of a famous sticky treat for animals.

{Go away! I’m sure the farm animals in the boonies are looking for you!}

{Why don’t you just go live there, and leave us alone!}

A tear begins to fall from Alita’s left eye. Aurelia’s gleaming expression suddenly changes to confusion once more. Only Alita knew how much those compliments meant in that moment, forcing her to snap out of it and wipe her eyes. As her hands uncovered her face this time, the three others now saw a wide grin of gratitude.

Alita: “Thank you! It really means a lot to me!”

Aurelia: [“Hmm…I didn’t realize rich people cared so much about their hair…I gotta note that down later...”]

***

Two hours later, Aurelia finds herself in a bath towel, having a long conversation with her three new friends in the sauna. As they all had their introductions at the crack of dawn, they now have free time until the noontime prayer.

Alita: “Noble or prince, which one do you prefer?”

Anna-Mae: “Surely a prince would be the correct choice, who wouldn’t want to be a princess,”

Kami: “I wouldn’t want that amount of attention, personally. I’m going with a noble.”

Anna-Mae: “But the princess has a lot more power over a noble, and wouldn’t have to worry about their place in Floritian,”

Kami: “Well in that case, high nobility would be the better choice. Being a princess still means more pressure to deliver sons, and I don’t want that. I would rather have many daughters,”

Anna-Mae: “Oh come now, in this society, no woman would ever prefer to raise a daughter over a son. Having a son means having a better chance to stay in nobility,”

Kami: “It’s the pressure of kingship that worries me most,”

Anna-Mae: “Aurelia, what do you think? Noble or prince?”

Alita: “Nobody wants to know what I think?!! I asked the question, damn it!”

Aurelia: “....neither. I don’t think I’m meant for that stuff.”

Anna-Mae: “Huh? What…stuff?”

Aurelia: “Marriage. Kids. Birthday parties. Seems like a lot if you ask me.”

Alita: “WHAT DOES BIRTHDAY PARTIES HAVE TO DO WITH THIS??!!!”

Kami: “Then…what made you decide to come here?”

Aurelia stands up quickly, uncovering her naked figure in front of her friends without realizing. She smiles brightly, and leans in directly towards Kami.

“What kind of question is that? I’m here for the fancy lifestyle, of course!”

Kami: “But…the query-”

Aurelia: “Plus! I didn’t really have a choice. I couldn’t say no to a faery, after all. My father wouldn’t let me live it down!”

Aurelia then begins to stroke her chin.

“I also wanted to see what the capital is really all about, so I guess I also came here out of curiosity, in all honesty!”

Alita sulks: “This woman is strange, man…”

The four ladies then hear a few other Flare Aids squealing in excitement from outside the sauna. Anna-Mae and Kami at first look at each other and shrug, unsure of what may be transpiring, but let it pass by.

Suddenly, they open their eyes wide in realization that they are in a sauna with Aurelia Yuki.

Aurelia bursts out of the sauna room, naked as can be for all the other women to see. She then sprints directly to the group of women that were squealing, who all look at her in shock. Alita, who had quickly realized what Aurelia was going to do, tried to grab and stop her from exposing herself, but Aurelia’s unexpected strength - spurred on from her curiosity - ended up dragging Alita out of the sauna in the same motion.

Aurelia: “What? What is it? What’s happening? Is it a fire? Is it a puppet show?”

The girls that were squealing turn and see Aurelia’s nakedness slightly covered by the steam emanating from the sauna.

“Um, no…it’s actually a parad-”

“A parade?! Like those military ones?!”

“...yea…can you not get so close…”

Aurelia looks out from the large pillars surrounding the Temple of Sol, and sees the ongoing military parade in the central street of Floritian. She grins brightly.

“How does one attend a parade?”

Alita: “You can’t go…”

Alita, in pain from her injuries of getting dragged with Aurelia’s strength, croaks, forcing Aurelia to look down and finally notice her.

Alita: “The noontime prayer… is going to happen soon…and we inductees…have to be there….”

Aurelia: “Whoa, what happened to you?”

Alita springs up sharply and glares directly at Aurelia.

“YOU happened! Now put this on!”

Alita hands Aurelia a robe and helps her put it on quickly. Kami and Anna-Mae then join them in their own robes.

Kami: “What are you up to this time?”

Alita: “She wants to see the parade in the central street.”

Anna-Mae: “Oh, what a wonderful idea,”

Kami: “You’re just hoping we might meet royalty or nobility there, aren’t you…”

Anna-Mae: “heh heh…whatever do you mean?”

Alita: “We have to attend the noontime prayer, especially since this one is going to be a Prima Osu! All of the faeries and all of the Flare Aids will be there. Lady Diana, Lady Ophiel, Lady Niko…all in the same room…we CANNOT miss this!!! It’s literally supposed to be our first worship assembly!!!”

Anna-Mae: “Yes, yes, we understand. If any of us misses it, we’ll all be in…um…guys…”

Anna-Mae points to where Aurelia was standing.

“Where’s Aurelia?”