"Ahhh! Are you ok!? You're not hurt are you?" A feminine voice asked desperately.
I opened my eyes, trying to ascertain what had happened only to find the face of a beautiful, dark haired girl bent closely over me, her eyes welling with concern. "Please be ok," she said again. "Ahh," she bit her lip, not giving me a chance to respond. "Of course, she's not alright. It's just like Marian always says, I'm too rough, I don't think before I act, I…"
"Umm," I tried to interrupt.
"Of course!" Her eyes brightened. "Healing magic! I just have to heal you." She quickly sprung up off of me, and it was only then that I realized the heavy weight that had been pinning me to the ground was her. "Evernight…" She intoned, holding her arms out above me.
"Um, I'm really al—" I tried to sit up before a giant sphere of green liquid manifested from her hands and doused me from head to toe.
"There!" She said, proudly. "All better now, right?" She looked at me expectantly.
I looked down at my soaked clothing. It was my impression that healing potions burned off as they spent their energy, but evidently when you had far too much for the problem at hand, the liquid stuck around. "You don't happen to have a skill to dry me off, do you?" I asked, a little afraid that the answer would do more damage than good.
"Oh!" She exclaimed in surprise, as if she hadn't noticed I was drenched until I pointed it out. "No! I've done too much again! I'm so…" her voice hitched as a sob rose in her throat. "sorry," she said, her eyes welling with tears again. She took a deep breath, evidently trying to control her own raging emotions. "I'm sorry, I'm a little." She furrowed her brow in concentration. "Out of control at the moment." She clenched her fists tightly, her knuckles whitening as she took in a breath and held it.
"Ok," she sighed as she exhaled at last. "Sorry, yes, let's." She kneeled down, still looking like she was struggling to control herself. "Here," she held her hand out and a warm breeze came out, ruffling my hair and clothing. "Is this?" She bit her lip. "Is this alright?"
"Um, yeah," I bit my own lip. This girl…she's too…goddamn…cute. I took a steadying breath of my own. "Yeah, that's fine."
Rufi bounded over from where I had first been hit, stopping at the heels of the girl to growl at her.
"Oh look at this little one!" The girl turned keeping one of her hands out to continue drying me as she reached out towards Rufi. "You're trying to protect your mistress aren't you?" She asked warmly, holding out a finger towards Rufi's mouth. "Look! I'm no harm." Rufi latched onto the girl's finger with her mouth, continuing to growl, but seeing the girl not flinching nor moving to attack, gradually Rufi simmered down, at last relinquishing the finger, to plonk down on the ground grumpily, as she continued eyeing the strange girl.
I took the chance to take a closer look at the girl myself. Dark, long hair but with a red streak through one side. Golden-brown branching horns rose from the top of her head, that looked faintly…draconic, though more eastern dragon type, than western. The girl wore a silky black kimono, patterned with silver-thread spider webs that shimmered in the shifting light of the jungle understory.
"Who…are you, by the way?" I asked the strange girl who had pummeled me to the ground only to try to heal me.
"Ah, about that…" She scratched her head with her free hand as if the question was awkward. "I'm Riviera, but my friends call me Rivi. Nice to meet you!" She grinned, extending the hand that was drying me for a handshake.
"Uh, likewise? I guess?" I shook her hand. "And are you…? A servant of Melphinoe?"
"Oh, yes!" She said eagerly, brightening at the question. "Floor guardian 4 at your service. Guardian of the realm of Lust, First among Night Mistresses." She gave a mock salute. "You must have so many questions," her tone grew concerned. "Fencer didn't beat you up did they? They've always been a little rough on newbies, but this…You're not hurt are you? After all that healing magic? I saw you were crying and I rushed here right away. Ohhh I shouldn't have waited so long. Sister Endra said I had to wait until you came to my floor, but how could I wait when my little one was in trouble?"
"You…You're a floor guardian?" I asked, stunned at the sudden flood of information.
"Yes," she frowned. "Didn't I just say so?"
"Sorry, it's just…"
"Oh," her face grew sad like I had touched on a long-standing wound. "I know, I'm not very much like the others, am I? Don't have the dignity befitting my station and all that."
"Oh! I'm sorry, no, I…" Without thinking I had started trying to comfort the girl. "I've just been very overwhelmed by all this, sorry for doubting you, only I haven't seen any floor guardians not on their own floors."
"Ah! Right! Yes!" She clung to the reason I gave her. "We all do tend to be a very solitary bunch, especially in the lower floors. How have you been bearing up, though? I'm sure this must be all very new and confusing, and you've been moving through it all very fast for a new recruit. Are you ok?"
"Umm," I suddenly wasn't sure how to answer the question. "I guess you're right that I have been kind of overwhelmed." I twiddled my fingers, looking down at them, trying to process everything that had just happened in the span of a few short minutes.
"So you're…A Night Mistress?" I asked, my voice a little more raw than I intended as I remembered what had sent me running off into the jungle in the first place.
"Yes!" She said brightly. "Aren't I pretty?" She twirled. "We always become rather beautiful, but I think the Spider Dragon suits me very well don't you?"
"The…Spider Dragon?"
"Oh my! I forgot, nobody's told you hardly anything have they?" She petted me on my head, and my face instantly flushed red. "Night Mistresses all take after legendary beasts. It's the power of the beast's heart that brings us back from the dead, and its power grows within us as we do."
She crouched close to me, then brushed a strand of my silver hair behind my pointed ears. I looked at her soft, rounded cheeks and delicate lips, my heart pounding at the distance between us.
"The Crimson Wraith hasn't quite awakened in you yet, but I think you're already quite beautiful."