After what happened today Gladys was not quite sure if she should worry about rumors about Aurora going around the servants, certainly the panic she had provoked should be enough to make herself the focus of all hearsay. But on the other hand, Aurora is logically the only new variable that may have caused this qualitative change in the nature of her mana. Or maybe she is overthinking it and it would be best for Aurora to have some rumors about her being special, after all she is, and it is not something that can be kept hidden for long.
For the time being the one thing that Gladys is certain is that she needs to learn to control this new power, fast. She firmly ropes Aurora against her chest and prepares to do something she hasn't done in almost a year: meditate.
Meditation is a basic technique to any mage, in fact is the most fundamental prerequisite for being able to use magic. It basically consists in shutting down the five senses to sharpen the use of the sixth sense: the ability to sense mana. There is even a tradition in several noble families to use secret rituals to awake and master mana-sensing. Anyway, Gladys has a lot of practice in entering this stage in as little as 15 minutes without the need of potions, drugs or enchantments.
Gladys places some pillows under her back, rests her head over the headboard, closes her eyes and starts following her practiced steps to enter the usual profound meditation stage. However ... something feels different. She doesn't enter the familiar dark and silent place where she can feel the mana around her like she is floating on the surface of a lake. Right now she is floating in a space full of color and noise, however the images and sounds are being transmitted directly to her brain with no intermediation of her eyes or ears. And more importantly, she can feel that most of this information is being transmitted passively by Aurora and she can receive any other form of assistance as long she knows what to ask for.
Gladys thinks for a moment and wordlessly requests Aurora to help her compress her mana. In her unconscious state all the anima circuits of Aurora recognize Gladys as a friendly entity and grant her request. In just four hours the mana vortex surrounding the soul of Gladys is heavily compressed until the point it's spinning new nature is imperceptible for normal magicians. Right now Gladys has about the same magic output power as she had before being transformed by Aurora but a lot more stamina, this effect is similar as being transformed into a superhuman and then wearing heavy weights to limit your own power and speed to human limits (or another analogy wold be to increase the resistance in a circuit to reduce current while maintaining voltage). Obviously this are not shackles meant to imprison or limit Gladys so she is taught how to control the level of compression of her mana. While her mana is forcefully compressed Gladys' power is limited, but she can use it for a lot longer, giving her a lot more control over her magical output.
When Gladys finally opens her eyes it is already midnight and is almost completely dark, however she can see without a problem with just the subtle illumination of the first quarter of the moon that pass trough the middle of the curtains. Rita, the servant that will be assigned as Aurora's personal maid, has fallen asleep in a chair next to her bed. She is a petit 12 years old brunette and is actually quite pretty except for the fact that her thick eyeglasses cover her almond eyes and the freckles on her cheeks.
There are a few sandwiches, an apple, a glass of water and a bottle of milk on a silver tray over the bedside table, besides the tray there is a small oil lamp. Good timing because Gladys is starving after not eating all day. Gladys wonders for a few seconds and thinks about the theoretical knowledge she has about fire magic while staring at the wick of the lamp, trying to sense the mana around her, and just like a revelation the last piece of knowledge is passed to her through the connection with Aurora and the wick of the lamp starts burning. This is the first time Gladys was able to use any other magic apart from water and air; and it is fire magic, the same magic she has seen her husband use a hundred times.
"Rita, wake up". The small girl is startled and almost falls off the chair she is sleeping in. Immediately after, she starts apologizing "I'm sorry madam, I was just resting my eyes for a second". "It doesn't matter, help me with the tray. I am starving." responds Gladys. Rita puts a small wooden table over the lap of the duchess and place the silver tray with food over it, except for the apple that she starts peeling with a small pocket knife. After serving the peeled pieces of apple in a new plate in front of the duchess she awaits in silence standing near the bed, she can't help but look at the oil lamp wondering why it was left burning and who lighted it up, however a servant is not usually allowed to ask for explanations from her master.
Gladys finishes her late dinner and asks Rita for some information about the state of affairs of the manor after the incident "Tell me Rita, what measures has taken the duke after the incident of this afternoon and what are the rumors going around the servants?", Gladys could see some hesitation on Rita's face so she added "I order you to be as truthful as possible, you understand?"
"Yes, madam." says Rita demurely and after thinking for a second finally informs what she knows "After his Excellency was kind enough to give a glass of diluted mana potion to everyone feeling light-headed, everything got under control in less than an hour. Everyone was a little scared, and half the servants were given a half-day off, the rest of us that were not particularly affected continued with our normal duties. The duke send me to attend madam's and young miss' needs, at first I couldn't get close but slowly madam's overpowering mana relented so about an hour ago, when I was finally able to approach the madam, I decided to wait at the bedside with a tray of food. The young master is currently sleeping in the Annex House as a precaution under the duke's orders and the duke has instructed me to give him news about your state as soon you awake. And well ... about rumors" Rita look at Gladys with uncertainty about speaking any longer.
"Speak Rita, I assure you that you won't be punished for speaking the truth so don't hold anything" says Gladys with a nuance of threat. "Y-yes! At first there was a rumor that the little miss died at birth which made the madam go mad with grief, unleashing the madam's fury over everyone in the manor. This rumor was specially pervasive because the birth happened a month before than expected and it was believed that no baby would have survived experiencing something like that at point blank." Rita take a surreptitious glance at Aurora, wondering for a second if the madam is holding the corpse of her baby girl unable to accept the horrible truth.
"Listen carefully Rita, Aurora is in perfect health, she is just asleep right now and won't wake up until tomorrow morning. Stop anyone you hear from speaking nonsense, you understand?" says Gladys with a tinge of anger in her voice. "Of course madam! I'm sorry madam!" responds Rita in panic. "Don't worry about it Rita, Aurora is a very special girl and it will be your duty from now on to take care of her. So you should learn to accept whatever happens around her as the will of the spirits and not lend your hears to any malicious words looking to tarnish her image, you understand?" Gladys says authoritatively. "Yes madam, I will serve the young miss with all my hearth whatever happens" says Rita while puffing out her chest and straightening her back trying and failing to look like a soldier.
Without something else to say, Gladys dismiss Rita with this words after finishing eating: "Then that is fine. You can leave now, I need to sleep." Rita wants to ask for a second if the baby shouldn't be sleeping in a crib being watched by a nanny, but decides is not her place to make any kind of suggestions, specially not right now.
Rita says "Good night madam" while leaving the duchess' room with the silver tray and burning oil lamp to illuminate her path.
Gladys makes a mental check on the condition of her body, but even after holding her baby for hours her arms don't feel numb or even tired. Meditation has actually trained her body to sleep without moving around so she isn't worried about crushing Aurora while moving around, and one of the perks of being a magician is that after mastering meditation almost automatically you learn to sleep on command. So to end a long and life-changing day, she kisses her baby girl again on the forehead and goes back to sleep while whispering "I love you".