Vampire and the Dayspring Star

Later that week, Lycoris stood awkwardly in her room with a familiar suitcase set out in front of her wardrobe… accompanied by multiple siblings. It only sunk in when she saw Athena steadily packing all of her clothing that this was goodbye to the Palace, for now. She was moving out, heading somewhere still unknown to her… even if she had seen pictures of the campus grounds.

The region it was in was remarkably similar to Lycoris's home village, naturally covered in cloudy skies and constantly just slightly damp from morning dew that could never fully evaporate, filled with lush evergreens and tall bushes. While there were open fields of grass and rivers running through the images Lycoris looked up of the region, it was far more flat than the hilly terrain far to the west.

According to Athena it was a "Continental Climate."

The academy grounds themselves looked completely different from the surrounding environment. Smoothly paved stone paths lined with immaculately maintained flower bushes stretched down the length of walkway, all matching the colors of the Seven families like a slightly discordant rainbow fading toward the baroque building spreading out across the far horizon of the photo. Maple trees were planted on the outside of the paths, their boughs reaching over like archways giving the image an almost ethereal quality, like the pathway would lead to another world entirely…

Supposedly, a few hundred miles further east, on the absolute edge of Tenebreimen's borders, was a massive wall built to separate the edge of habitable territory from the desert beyond. It was hard to imagine that such lush terrain could abruptly turn into desert, but apparently the wall was part of a stopgap to both stop the encroaching desertification of their lands and also keep the nastier monsters from invading.

Lycoris shuddered as she imagined the poor soldiers who got sent to "Desert Wall Duty." That couldn't be a fun time. Especially given the inherent problem the sun posed, and what Lycoris knew of deserts.

"Your Highness, should we bring along the clothes you purchased in Condore as well? I can't imagine a time when you would actually wear any though…"

Lycoris looked up from her phone with a somber frown, "Surely there will be a time where I need to wear something

other

than my uniform or more… Court-appropriate clothing." She flapped one of her arms, letting the loose sleeve and frills wave about.

"When you sleep, sure, but remember, it's a much more public space than this section of the Palace. There will be many more eyes on you at all times, and not just—"

"I did fine in Condore, did I not?!"

"That is true, but as I was about to say Your Highness, it won't be just common folk. These are the children of the Seven, and families beneath them important enough to send to the grandest school on the continent! One day, when you are Exaltare, they will be the ones working to undermine your authority and expand their own influence across Tenebreimen. No doubt their parents have already told them this as well."

"Exaltare…"

Lycoris wilted, sitting back down on the edge of her bed. She didn't even bother throwing out the riposte of mentioning that there would be just as many working

alongside

her. She didn't really want to think about working together with Vampires at all, really. Or governance.

While her mother comforted and coddled her, trying to make the most of their last week together for the foreseeable future—which was probably just a blink to Lilianna—Lycoris continued to be wracked with inner turmoil.

Put plainly, she didn't want to be Exaltare anymore. She was terrified how she might change by the time the position would fall into her lap, that nothing would change in spite of the strange opportunity she had been given. That she might be just as terrible a ruler as her mother. That there would be heroes who would see

her

as a blight upon the world.

Lycoris wasn't supposed to be a ruler in the first place, authority never sat particularly well on her shoulders. The idea that she would even have to make a decision that could affect so many lives in the first place—something she already

had

done, technically—much less rationalize such a horrific decision was… …well, she didn't want to do it.

Soldiers were at least prepared to lay down their lives already, to protect the civilians. Making policy that affected the latter was a far taller order.

Reaching for her locket, her hands clutched at empty air. Her heart skipped a beat and her throat tightened.

"Oh… Did you pack up my locket along with my other uh… accessories, Athena?"

"Your Highness, I…" Athena hesitated, then shook her head somberly, "no, I have not. It should be where you left it."

"Hmm…"

Lycoris fished through the drawer beside her bed, but didn't find Mizar in there. Her heart skipped a beat. There's no chance that Athena could've…

She stood up and paced around the room, looking in drawers, under her desk, and behind the vanity mirror.

Seeing her start to fluster and panic, Athena stood up from the meticulously arranged suitcase. "Perhaps it's still in the bathroom? I believe you were wearing it before you had your soak, Your Highness."

"Oh!"

Of course. She felt somewhat silly for letting it slip her mind. Especially when the whole reason she took it off before getting into the bath was that she didn't want any to leak in and possibly cause water damage to Mizar inside. She didn't know if holy brambles could grow mold, and didn't really want to test the theory either.

Before Athena could say anything, Lycoris rushed out of the room and sprinted down the hall toward the bathchamber. Thankfully, everything would have been left exactly where Lycoris put it, as there were currently no other servants that tended to the Elysian Sanctum—not yet, at least. Lilianna had made it sound like she was going to begin vetting more help with Lycoris safely sent off to school.

The room was still slightly warm and humid from her earlier bath, though the water had already been drained. Lycoris had quite an embarrassing initial reaction to what qualified for standard bathing in the Empire. The fact they drained the bathtub after every individual soak felt incredibly wasteful. She wasn't a stranger to the mana-faucets that produced heated water, but to expend so much energy filling a circular tub bigger than her bed, only to empty it after a single use…

She couldn't undersell how massive it really was

, she could almost use it to swim laps. And it was deep enough that, when filled to the brim, she had to stand on her tiptoes to keep her mouth and nose above the surface.

And yet in spite of that, it felt

small

in the expansive bathchamber, large enough to require its own marble support pillars placed around. Each had been outfitted with fully functional showerheads, that produced hot water no less! The amount of enchantments that had to have been placed on such mundane equipment still made Lycoris feel a bit dizzy if she thought too hard about the logistics of it all.

Careful not to slip on the tiles as her momentum carried her onto the still-slick tiles, Lycoris hurried over to the wide mirror and wash basin where the soaps and lotions and creams were all neatly arranged, and scooped her treasured locket from the countertop.

"I'm sorry Mizar! I didn't mean to leave you here. I just have… a lot on my mind right now."

She tenderly stroked the embossed mythril-silver surface, gazing at it affectionately. She turned her attention to the bottles after a moment, fastening Mizar securely around her neck and tucking him back next to her heart where he belonged, a thought blooming in her mind.

I wonder what the bathing situation will be like at school… Will it be more like the barracks? Or, maybe I should bring my own soaps just in case…

With a shrug of her shoulders, she reached out and hugged the pile of product against herself, the slightly wet and slippery bottles cool to the touch, the fragrant scent of vanilla and honey filling Lycoris's nose along with some other sweet aroma she couldn't quite place.

Careful to keep them from slipping out of her arms, Lycoris scurried back to present the assortment to Athena. Apparently she looked ridiculous, as the maid made a bizarre expression and let out a strange snort,

"Your Highness, why are you carrying all of the Elysian Sanctum's product?"

"I thought we might need it! After all, we have no idea what sort of environment it'll be like there. Might as well bring more soaps to share just in case."

Athena put a fist to her mouth and squinted her eyes shut, taking a deep breath before replying,

"Your dormhouse is fully private, including your bathing quarters. There's no need to worry about sharing with other students, and it should already be fully stocked. Her Majesty has ensured that every brand is the same as it is here at home. You like the Moonberry Dulce scented shampoo, right?"

Lycoris glanced down at the bundle in her arms. "…Ah."

"Allow me to put those back, Your Highness. Were you able to find your pendant?"

"Y…Yes."

"I suppose it's a good thing we didn't finish packing your clothes, we'll have to find something to change you into after sudsing up your current clothes," remarked Athena, after taking the bottles back from Lycoris and examining the girl's blouse.

Lycoris looked down at the same time that Athena commented, only to notice that some of the residue on the sides of the containers had moistened the front of her dress.

She brushed her hands over it, wiping some of the slimy soap off of her dress and shaking it from her hands, though that didn't do much to improve the state of her dress.

"Oh, um, my apologies. I wasn't thinking— Ah, she's already gone."

Athena had already vacated the room by the time Lycoris looked back up. The past week had been full of similarly scatterbrained moments, as the young princess's thoughts remained elsewhere. Thankfully she never did anything that put her in any danger, aside from maybe letting Mira get a little too energetic as he chewed on her hand after she fed him.

Lycoris sat down at her vanity, most of the product that would normally adorn it already packed away. Apparently makeup didn't get the same treatment as shampoo.

She lifted up the locket containing the piece of Mizar, slowly rubbing her thumb over the engraved flower on its surface. Even though Elham had shared a lot of his wisdom on various plants, Lycoris didn't recognize the spindly-petaled plant. Perhaps she'd be able to find out at the school's library.

School, huh…?

She wondered if there would really be anything at this academy actually worth her time. Not that she had any shortage of it now, but she'd already grown up and been an adult once, and while that had been decidedly lacking in scholarly learning, she

was

a functional and productive member of society. She'd even technically raised soldiers up from being trainees! Which made her something like a father… or… mother?

…Me as, a mom?

N-No no no, that's ridiculous! Me, with a child? Would it look like Mama and me… No wait, stop it Lyco!! You don't even know who the father would be! Wait that… isn't even the important part here! I mean, it's incredibly important, of course, but why am I even—

The room suddenly felt like it'd risen half a dozen degrees as her face burned.

Chasing the thought away before it could sear itself into her mind, Lycoris furiously shook her head and slapped her dark purple cheeks, causing her hair to flail about

. Letting her mind wander only brought her to strange places.

And thinking about her mother only continued to fill her with complicated feelings.

She didn't want to leave, but at the same time she couldn't bring herself to stare her mother in the eye. Even though she craved the endless kindness her mother lavished upon her, and couldn't resist indulging in it, she was disgusted with herself for turning a blind eye to all Lilianna had done. Lycoris still wanted that cursed unconditional love. But she couldn't reconcile how selfish it felt, that guilt twisting her every embrace with her mother into agony the moment they parted from each other's company.

Dizzy from her embarrassment and walking around in circles both metaphorical and literal, Lycoris barely noticed when Athena returned with a bow and light frown, placing a hand on the girl's shoulder.

"Your Highness, I know you're feeling anxious, but even in the Drimus Duchy, you'll still be a stone's throw away from home. Technically, it's fewer teleport jumps as well!"

Lycoris felt her stomach twist and flip upside down, a whimper of agony escaping her lips, "I forgot that we'd have to… do we really?"

She paused, looking up at Athena who gave a solemn nod. "Ugghh… why's teleportation gotta be the fastest way to get anywhere? What happened to using our legs like the—"

She cut herself off before mentioning the Goddess. Lycoris was too caught up in her griping and had accidentally slipped back into the old manner of speech she used with the others… Somehow the situation felt painfully familiar to the times when they reached an impassible wall.

"…Ancestors intended. Hey, Athena?"

The maid looked up from the suitcase, pulling out a less soapy replacement garment to change Lycoris into. "Yes, Your Highness?"

"What are the Ancestors even like? Do Vampires have churches and stuff? There's… a lot of them in Dauwen, and they're all very grand and pretty. But…"

Lycoris had yet to see a single religious structure in Tenebreimen on her travels through it. Not just when she was in Condore or Kranes—though anything in the latter would have likely been a shattered mess. The only thing that even came close to qualifying was the triptych behind her mother's throne, and that felt more historical than religious.

"Ahh, well… Hmmm, how to put it…" Athena stopped in the middle of unfurling the dress. "It's a very personal thing, most people think of their own family lineage, but it can also be thought of as a general group of those who came before, who built up our civilization to what it is now. Proper buildings for worship are usually more a small village thing. Most people just have personal shrines in their own homes for when they want to pray. In fact, they often keep their family's remains stored there. Though, that doesn't mean there aren't any structures at all, a lot of noble families have dedicated grounds for their deceased!"

As she started to ramble, she quickly picked up speed and began explaining the exact sort of layouts and rooms for such things, and also about the Seven having larger mausoleum-like spaces in their homelands, as most had too many ancestors to realistically keep them all in personalized separate urns, and it was considered an honor to be placed among the others that came before.

By the time she started going into the exact materials that they used to create urns did Lycoris cut in,

"I-I get it! Or, I think I do. Thank you, Athena. I didn't realize you were so passionate about this sort of thing. I suppose that explains our conversation in Kranes, maybe."

"Well, Your Highness is going off to school, so I assumaposed that it might be beneficial to be more… educational. Forgive my presumptuousness! I shall be more curt in the future!"

"Ahah… I'm alright, but thank you though. You're perfectly fine as you are, Athena."

Seeing Athena trip over herself was almost enough to cheer Lycoris back up.

Holding her arms out to the side for her maid, she let herself be changed before the two of them would bid a tearful farewell to the Palace and Lilianna, despite Lycoris's best attempts to remain composed in front of the Exaltare.

Regardless of what logic she tried to twist herself up with, her emotions were inevitably more honest than her mind, and much like when she'd left for Kranes County, she embraced her mother before stepping down the steep stairs onto the street below, toward the private car waiting for her.

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＊　＊　＊

The trip to and through the teleports was a much less boisterous affair than her previous. There was less novelty and wonderment to it, sure, but also with the extra prep time to receive Her Highness, the teleports didn't have to be closed to the public, nor was there a massive congregation crowding around everywhere she went.

Not to say there weren't spectators who stopped and turned their heads at the Princess surrounded by armed Vampires in black suits, but Lycoris barely acknowledged their presence, and as a result, nobody tried to stop her for pictures or anything like that. Or if they did, she didn't notice.

She was too distracted between her own thoughts and the mild nausea from teleportation. The world around her might not have existed at all as she was being ferried off.

I wonder if this is how Fawaris felt, whenever her father decided to drag her around the capital? Or when he was moving her from one room of the castle to another,

she idly wondered as she looked up at one of the functionally nameless blacksuits guarding her. Though the uniform was different, their presence existed to ward off danger the same as knights of the Rays did.

It was obviously a false equivalence. Lycoris wasn't under lock and key at her mother's order, for one. But there was certainly a level of similarity to the sense of isolation she felt herself as what Princess Fawaris used to gripe about. It was hard to decide if she truly had a better deal. Less to bother and upset her, but more time to let her own mind torment her instead. And Fawaris didn't have to deal with being a Vampire.

By the time they arrived at their destination proper, it was already the early evening. Despite living in the Transfixion of Heaven, where windows were a "luxury" that she avoided more often than not, Lycoris had gotten used to the subtle difference in clouds overhead instead of regular skies. Dull greys and reds meant daylight, the Goddess trying to bore through the protective layer of cottony clouds. They would fade to orange as the angle of light catching them changed, and eventually turn black and blue as night settled in.

But Lycoris wasn't ready for what she saw when her transport passed through the subterranean security checkpoint and pulled out of the tunnel onto the campus grounds of the academy proper.

A clear sky hung overhead, dotted by clouds dyed golden in the evening sun.

A spike of anxiety welled up inside her as she wondered if something had gone wrong, if Tatyana had gotten here ahead of them and was trying to do here what she'd managed in Kranes, but neither Athena nor the vehicle driver nor the guards inside with her seemed remotely perturbed. Surely at least one of them would've made a remark if something was amiss.

When nobody in the vehicle spoke up, Lycoris turned to the only reliable source of comfort at hand.

"Athena…?" She scooted closer to the maid, letting her concern display plain on her face.

"Yes, Your Highness? Is something the matter? A stomachache perhaps? Or, hunger maybe… I suppose it's true you've barely eaten all day. I have trouble eating when about to travel as well. We do have some blood inside the—"

"Why is there no cloudcover? Is it safe?"

Athena froze mid-explanation, her expression melting into a pained, tender smile. She wrapped a hand around Lycoris's shoulder, pulling her against her side in a small squeeze.

Maybe she sounded more perturbed than she had meant to…

"Yes, Lycoris, it is safe. I forgot that you'd never seen this sort of structure before, and recent events must still be troubling your mind. In olden times, cities would use an adaptive screen dome rather than something like the cloud generator that blankets Llojsdeyja. While most remaining cities from that era have been retrofitted with modern technology, Pandosia included, the academy grounds themselves have a private dome that the students and administration prefer because of the more 'natural' view."

"Why did it fall out of favor? Wouldn't people prefer that to seeing the same boring clouds?"

"Cost, mostly. They're much more expensive to maintain, and it's a far greater headache to simulate weather than it is to permit natural wind and storms to roll in. And…"

"And…?" Lycoris tilted her head, egging the maid on.

Athena shifted somewhat uncomfortably. In a quiet and somber voice, she replied, "It… makes people yearn for the open air. I'm sure you can imagine how dangerous that could be…"

Her delivery made it quite clear that there was a story behind her words of caution, but Lycoris wasn't in the mood to go digging. Nor did she want to force something uncomfortable out of Athena like that. She knew that if she demanded it, the maid would probably spill every single thought that existed in her brain for the Princess to peruse, but Lycoris wasn't so heartless.

The idea that her mother might have pushed to demand further explanation only emboldened her choice to keep her peace. Even if that was just Lycoris's one-sided assumption.

Instead, she asked about the screen, which she was more curious about anyways.

"Does it always mirror what the weather is like on the other side? How does it work?"

"Originally, crystalline mirrors and cameras to reflect the sky beyond. However since Pandosia has a cloud generator now, the one over the academy has been modified and follows the weather forecast instead."

It sounded completely unreasonable to Lycoris, even knowing all that the Vampires could create. Alephertz Academy's grounds spanned four thousand four hundred and eighty acres. It was so much bigger than the little village Lycoris grew up in, she could've fit her family's entire farmstead in it a thousand times over and still have more room than she knew what to do with! The idea that a massive dome could be built over such an expansive region just to block out the sun and replicate its glow…

There was an almost bittersweet sorrow to it, like a child yearning for a mother

'

s lost grace.

"What happens when it rains?" She couldn't stop her voice from trembling in awe.

"Hehe, that's why domed cities fell out of fashion. Replicating rain and wind and snow is rather challenging and requires a lot more equipment, which means even more expenses and maintenance. There were a lot of arguments over whether to even bother."

"I see…"

Lycoris peered through the car windows as they pulled up to the front gates of the main campus, staring not at the colorful white brick walls caked in stucco, but up above at the sunset she'd almost forgotten about. The sky had started to turn red, the clouds catching the light and shining it down. It was hard to—impossible to believe that it was just a projection, like the screens on the elevators.

"Maybe I'll like school after all…" she muttered quietly.

＊　＊　＊

The entrance to the campus was exactly as the image she'd seen, if not even more grandiose now that she could see it in full. The gentle sway of trees and rustle of bushes in the fresh breeze with the deepening blue twilit sky overhead was something that couldn't be replicated through photography alone. Nor could the fragrant scent coming from the blossoms of said bushes, lined up in the colors of the seven houses—though she'd noticed that the golden blooms from the photo had all been pruned already.

Unfortunately, she didn't have time to literally stop and smell the roses as it was already quite late, and Athena was tasked with escorting her to the Dean of the campus for introductions and instructions on where they would be staying.

There weren't any other students that she saw while walking up to the building and through its large open-air hallways, though they had all probably retired to their dorms for the evening. Either that, or this particular part of campus wasn't a popular evening haunt.

After climbing several flights of stairs—enough that Lycoris began to worry about how high up they were despite still standing on solid ground—they came before a row of faculty offices, with the Dean's being the only one still lit.

Inside was a luxuriously adorned ultramarine-wood desk, with gilded filigree running over the grains of every plank, and draped with a curtain of green ivy in front. There were locked glass cabinets and shelves with all sorts of strange rectangular boxes, and behind the desk against the opposite wall was a window covered by venetian blinds.

But Lycoris pushed all of that aside, as the first thing to actually capture her attention was the pink-haired woman sitting at the desk, with a tired, disinterested look on her face that sorely mismatched what Lycoris recalled from almost one year prior.

Rosa Drimus. A woman who looked nearly identical to Lycoris's mother, if not for the way she carried and dressed herself. At least, Lycoris couldn't imagine Lilianna wearing a tiny petticoat and pencil skirt like that.

There was no bubbly excitement or sincere concern, just detachment and disinterest, as though she wanted to be done with this as quick as possible.

"Your Highness," she nodded curtly upon making eye contact with the girl.

"Greetings, Rosa. We meet once more." Lycoris curtseyed in response. When the woman quirked her eyebrow, she continued, "I apologize for not formally thanking you before for your assistance but… I doubt you need any explanation about the clandestine nature of the matter."

She leaned forward, tilting her head slightly as though debating if she should bite into a piece of bait or not. "…I do not know of what you speak, Your Highness." Then, she leaned back and sat up properly, clearing her throat, "it is my honor to welcome you to Alephertz Academy, as the first proper Aphtangloa to ever attend. Normally, such a position is inherited several decades

after

graduation, and as a result you have caused a number of logistical headaches that required attention."

Lycoris's smile creased like she'd bitten into a lime. "I… have certainly heard that one before. Honestly it would be a simpler task to list all the things that my presence

hasn't

required a logistical overhaul of."

"I'm sure. Here,"

Rosa first placed a pair of tiny blue envelopes onto the desk, then went to look through one of the drawers of her desk.

Picking one off the desk, Lycoris looked at the painted Drimus insignia on the front, then opened it and slid out a small pitch-black card with a winged blue rose etched into the front of it. Turning it over, she saw the back had a small shiny mythril plate embedded in it, along with "Lycoris Aster Aphtangloa, First of Her Name" embossed in gold filament. Inside the other envelope was the same, except it only had the outline of her family crest, and on the back had "Athena Rjinston Oleandra Ochros, Fourth-Blooded" instead.

Lycoris carefully slid the expensive-looking cards back into their respective envelopes and turned back to Rosa.

"What are these?"

"Access cards. They will get you into any room you are permitted entry for, including your housing."

"Cards?" She looked back to Athena, who had a nonplussed expression as well, and turned back, "Why cards? At the hotel in Condore, there was just a thingy to imprint our mana signature onto. Isn't it a liability to use something that could be lost or stolen?"

In response, Rosa stared down at her with a curious smile. "Best of luck, Your Highness." Without any further elaboration, she slapped down a much larger folder. "Her Majesty has already handled all of the paperwork needed to properly enroll you, signed the waivers, and handled the matter of payment—though such a thing seems

laughable

perhaps. She might as well have written a check to herself. Inside this folder are your copies of the documents, along with a map of the campus with your building and the servants' building highlighted and your weekly schedule. There should also be a calender with significant holidays and other instances of time off marked."

"Is there… any orientation or anything I need to go through?" Lycoris asked, somewhat worried at how hands off Rosa was being. It was like this was a completely different woman from the one who'd rescued her.

"You have a maid right beside you. All of the necessary books and tablets will be inside your housing. Any curricular questions can be answered by the instructors or other students. Is that all?"

It wasn't the first time Lycoris had encountered this, but Rosa looked like she really didn't want to be in her presence any longer than necessary. Not because she

hated

her, probably, or because she was terrified. It was more like she was incredibly uncomfortable being around Lycoris, like the girl was a phosphor grenade with its pin pulled.

It really was strange.

"Um, you

are

Rosa Drimus, right? M-My mother's… twin sister?"

The woman sighed, "Yes, I am the Exaltare's sister. Before she was Aphtangloa, she was Lilianna Drimus. Why? Has she said something about me?"

"No, but… you don't seem to be acting anything like you did when we met last year in the capital."

That

got the woman to snap out of her fatigued disinterest.

"This is the first time we have ever spoken, Your Highness."

"What? But, you… those… you called me

honeydrop,

" Lycoris gasped and recoiled in confusion.

In turn, Rosa's face blanched, and she put her hands against her cheeks and almost slammed her face into her desk. A moment later, she was standing up and cursing under her breath, pacing back and forth as she mulled over the sudden revelation.

Lycoris had no idea what had come over her at first, until she eventually caught up to the realization herself. And a fresh sense of confusion and betrayal gripped her heart as she realized her mother had lied to her.

What else has she been lying about?

Lycoris stumbled backward as she hugged the two little envelopes against her chest, feeling the locket beneath, and recalled the moment she'd first been gifted it. What was the point of her mother letting her hold onto Mizar's memory like that? If heroes were so dangerous, that even Athena thought she'd be better off without the locket, why did her mother do that in the first place? Was it just part of some scheme to win her trust? Would getting rid of it really be better?

Picking up on the fact that something was wrong with Lycoris, Athena scooped the envelope off the table and gently wrapped her other arm around Lycoris's shoulder.

"Thank you for your time, Your Ladyship. We shall go settle ourselves in. If there are any further questions Her Highness may have that I cannot assist with myself, who might I seek out?"

Drawn from her private venting by the question, Rosa nearly jumped out of her skin as she remembered there were still two extremely important guests in the room with her. "What?! Oh, yes. Seek out Selin Dorn. He'll be able to assist, or at least come and inform me if there is something that

actually

requires my personal attention for whatever reason."

Rosa glanced pointedly down at Lycoris, her eyes half-lidded in anticipation of the headache she was likely expecting the Exaltare's child to cause.

Athena nodded, ensured that the cards were secure, and escorted Lycoris off toward her new home. Only the Ancestors knew how long she'd be staying there for, probably…