I'm back! And I own nothing!

"I shouldn't have opened my mouth," I groan as Shirayuki finishes examining my left arm. She chuckles as she directs me to rotate my shoulder.

"It's no trouble to make sure your healthy, that is why I'm a Court herbalist. And you did say your arm had been pulled out of its socket last week. Inflammation can linger and affect the muscle."

"But I already told you I recently went to a physician, and he said I was fine."

"Your arrival in the Palace Library was a unique and stressful experience that could have caused tensions to your recovered muscles, if not pulling your arm out of the socket a second time," came Ryuu's response from a nearby table, not taking his eyes of the medical journal he was currently writing in. Because I have no rebuttal to his statement, I glare at my arm for being responsible for putting me in this situation.

My "interview" with Zen ended about an hour earlier, with me telling him everything about how I got here, minus the manga I found. So as far as anyone was concerned, the mysterious light that transported me to the royals' private library came out of nowhere. Zen asked me a few more questions before leaving, no doubt to report to his brother Prince Izana. Then Shirayuki told me that she and Ryuu wanted to make a medical history for me, and asked if I would mind if we go to the medical wing. I said I didn't, but I asked her if we could see some of the palace grounds while on the way.

The three of them decided that a "slight" detour on the way to the medical wing wouldn't be so bad. Wistal Castle is a beautiful palace. The majority of buildings are white, with a few splashes of pink rooftops and spires. Some of the ramparts and walls have carvings of light blue swirls and lines on top a deep blue stripe. Each archway has one of two symbols on its crest, and I recognized on of them to be the same as the one on Zen's scabbard. And the one on the manga. I took a risk by asking my companions what the two represent. Apparently, the one I familiar with is the sigil of the royal family. The other one is a representation of the people of Clarines. The design consists of a diamond-shaped flower with petals over what might be a chalice or bowl if you look at the swirls one way. But when I first saw it, I swear it was an abstract owl.

When we arrived at the medical wing, Ryuu led us to a room filled with shelves and medicinal filing cabinets. Besides the table that Ryuu's currently sitting at, there's a second one appears to double as a desk. I barely noticed the pillow and blanket in the space below the second table before Shirayuki picked up a journal and started asking me questions about my medical history and previous injuries. And that was how I ended up mentioning my arm getting pulled out of its socket two weeks ago. And of course, Shirayuki insisted I sit down and examine it to make sure I didn't tear any muscles, so Ryuu took over writing and asking me questions.

"The good news is that your arm is still in good condition," Shirayuki finally says after assessing I'm not in any pain. "But how did you say it got injured again?"

"I was sparring with a friend of mine, and when I threw a punch at him, he defended himself by grabbing my arm and pulling it to throw me off balance. But I was also trying to pull my arm out of his grip, so our combined forces dislocated my shoulder. Since neither of us was at fault, his mother decided to punish us both with unpaid shifts in the bookstore."

"Why should your employer care if you injured your arm?" Obi asks from his perch on the open window sill. "And how come she gets to punish you when your friend is her child, and not you?"

"Komori-san used to be my nanny, my caretaker?" I tell him, wondering if I have to say the word in Japanese. "After she retired she opened a bookstore, and I work there part-time. And according to her, I'm always going to be her akachan, so if I get hurt, so she's always going to care."

"Akachan?" Shirayuki asks with a puzzled look. I blush when I realize I have to translate.

"It's her way to call me baby." Shirayuki smiles kindly, whereas Obi gives a small smirk. Ryuu just looks at me expectantly. "What?"

"Why is a lock of your hair gray?"

"Che, seriously?!" I swear as a frisk my hair in front of my eyes, trying to locate the godforsaken section. Shirayuki helps me, not bothering to hide her surprise at my anger.

"Is this something we need to be concerned about?"

"No, no," I sigh, glaring at the treacherous hair. "It just pisses me off when I miss a section. I'm a master of hair dye, and yet this happens." I emphasize by shaking the lock.

"The gray is your natural hair color?" Obi asks, shifting to lean forward and away from the window.

"Yeah," I confer, "It's a thing, an admittingly weird thing, in my father's family for some of us to have our hair turn gray during adolescence. I used to have red hair, believe it or not." I turn to Shirayuki. "Not like yours," I say as I assess her locks. "Mine was a dark red and looked nothing like an apple. Same goes with my older brother. His red is golden, like honey."

"Your brother also has red hair?" Ryuu asks with intrigue.

"Hai, that's right." Now it's my turn to be puzzled when the three look at each other in amazement. "What, the newcomer asks a second time?" Obi chuckles at my humor and turns to answer me.

"Red hair is rare in the kingdoms of this continent, and sometimes nonexistent on others." I lean back in my chair as I think this new information over. Then it hits me.

"Did you guys think the blue was natural?" I ask the three incredulously. And to my utter shock, they all nod and look at me like they had every reason to think so. "Blue hair is natural in this country?! And yet red hair is still rare?!" I may or may not be screeching at this point. Based on the others' faces, I think I am.

"Well, yes, when you consider that three of the noble families in Clarines alone have members with blue hair," Shirayuki explains calmly, "Not to mention how common the color is in the neighboring kingdom, Tanbarun." It takes me longer than I wish to admit to calm down, but I eventually do. I lean back in the chair again and decide to take another risk.

"Can I ask a hypothetical question?" All three nod their heads again. "Considering what you just told me, is there any possibility that there's another girl named Shirayuki with red hair?" Shirayuki and Ryuu scrunch their faces in thought, but Obi squints his eyes at me suspiciously. Che, I swear, too specific. "Or anyone named Shirayuki, for that matter," I add quickly, "Seeing as how iconic the name is." My words earn three pairs of confused eyes. Doubt starts to creep up my back. "The story of the maiden Snow White?" I ask them nervously.

"Who?" Their voices chorus and dread fills my stomach.

"Shirayuki, don't you know that your name means 'snow white'?" Surprise opens her mouth and widens her eyes, which is answer enough. "You never bothered to ask your parents?"

"My grandparents raised me," she replies, her expression turning thoughtful. "And to be honest, the thought never occurred to me what my name meant since I grew up as a peasant. But I never heard of a story about a girl with that name. What's it about?"

"It's just an old fairy tale fabricated to please the masses," I dismiss with the flick of my wrist. "One of many about a princess who gets saved from her stepmother by the power of true love."

"That sounds nothing like my Mistress," Obi says with a bit of pride in his voice. "She doesn't need anyone to save her. Her strength is strong enough to face any obstacle. And she doesn't even have an evil stepmother."

"I see," I remark. But fairy tales are retold with many variations.

"And Shirayuki's hair is red, not white," Ryuu comments. His words make me chuckle.

"Neither was the hair of Snow White. But her skin tone certainly was pale," I tell the group, getting up from my chair and walking over to Shirayuki. "Looks like your grandparents family was thinking the same thing," I remark as a hold up our arms side by side to compare them. My skin makes hers look paper white, and hers makes mine look like leather. Shirayuki smiles unsurely but grows more confident when I smile back.

"Speaking of color," I continue, "you guys wouldn't happen to have a recipe for hair dye, would you? It doesn't have to be blue," I say as I point to my head. "Just something to keep this mess not gray."

"I can discuss with the Chief herbalist on making a paste for your hair," Ryuu says as he notes the reminder down in the journal. "But it may take a day or two."

"That's fine," I tell him, but in my head, I panic. Here's hoping the dye already on me stays for that long.