The pebbles ringing the lakes of Finaqua aren't all heart-shaped but DG doesn't mind. She picks them up one by one, skimming them across the nearest pond glad for the simple splashes they create.
The trees don't collapse, the sky doesn't fall and the stone skips across the velvet water two, three, five times until it sinks to the bottom, just as it might on the Other Side.
The horizon shines crimson between the hills and Azkadellia stands beside her, watching, her head tilted in thought. "You were always better at this than I was."
"You throw it too hard." DG flips a tiny one lightly and the skips are too many to be counted. Smiling, she presses a rock into Azkadellia's hand. "But practice makes perfect."
Her sister stares at the stone, holding it like a bird in her palm. "Maybe tomorrow," she says softly, putting it in the pocket of her dress.
DG shrugs. She takes Azkadellia's hand and squeezes it. "You've got time." The suns are beginning their descent in the Western sky. "Plenty of time."
0o0o
"They want me to execute my own daughter. My own daughter."
The Queen repeats the phrase over and over, her voice slowly fading to nothing, as if by doing so she can dissolve its truth.
Her husband sits pale and silent beside her while Glitch shifts uncomfortably from one foot to the other, pulling at the neck of his coat. "There are ways around this, of course," he says, but offers no suggestions of just how.
"Blood wants blood," Cain says, not meeting the Queen's gaze. "They're not going to accept your reinstatement as legitimate ruler until you've proven you're not under her control. They see no reason for you to let her live."
The Queen's eyes flash furiously. "She's my daughter. My daughter. What about this can't they understand?"
"Many daughters have died by her hand," Cain replies, glancing up meaningfully at her. "Many sons, husbands and ... " He pauses. "Wives as well."
The Queen doesn't reply to this. She takes her husband's hand, her knuckles white.
Cain's tone isn't without its sympathy. "I'm sorry, Majesty."
Beside him, a nervous Glitch yanks harder at his collar. "There are ways around this, I'm sure."
0o0o
"They're going to banish me," Azkadellia says the next morning, the two sisters sitting side by side on a blanket as they take their breakfast by the lake.
Two apples, one red, one green are shared and a basket of grapes is propped between them which DG plucks at, between bites on her apple. She finishes it abruptly, tossing the core into the lake where it lands with an inelegant splash.
"It was a compromise." Azkadellia continues, turning the untouched red apple around in her hand. "Either that or execution." She puts the apple in the basket and lies back on the blanket. "I suppose it's the better option."
"Really?" DG snaps. "For who?"
Azkadellia's laughter is as light as the clouds above. "I have no idea."
"You didn't tell me our parents were so cowardly." DG spits the words out, like bitter seeds.
Azkadellia shakes her head. "They're the bravest people you'll ever get to know."
"You're the bravest person I know." DG flops onto her back and takes Azkadellia's hand. Their shared light shimmers between them as they stare up at the sky.
Dozens of rocks around them rise and twirl, filling the air with fine dust before flying over the lake in a skittering, magical dance and the sisters laugh until they weep.
0o0o
"I think she'll be safest in the place of your confinement, Majesty," Glitch says, smoothing a hand over the tiny prison where the Queen spent fifteen annuals of sheer hell. "We can guard her best here and once ..." He coughs to cover up his discomfort. "Once a certain period has passed, she can be reinstated as part of the royal family. When, um, the time is right."
"Which will be when I'm dead," the Queen interjects. "And her sister takes the throne."
Glitch sighs. "It's not a perfect plan. But the alternative ..."
"No one wants civil war, yes, I know." The Queen sounds tired, more tired even than she did on the day she brought DG back to life. "I'm not arguing that. I'm just wondering why I allowed myself to live so long."
Glitch pauses, then bows deeply, looking more like Ambrose than he has in many annuals. "Because you are ever our good and gracious lady."
0o0o
The suns are setting on the last day before Azkadellia's banishment.
DG has said nothing to her parents, she's remained eerily silent throughout the long, tearful explanations, speaking only in monosyllables during the family meals, those times that are supposed to hold them over until Azkadellia's return.
She spends most of her time by the lake, her sister at her side. This night is no exception.
"It's never been done before," Azkadellia whispers, as pink fingers of light reach up into the darkening sky, as if trying to hold on to the day for eternity. "I don't think it can be done."
"Don't be ridiculous." DG thinks for a minute before amending that. "Don't be like them."
Azkadellia nods, her eyes shimmering wetly in the twilight. "Then let's begin." The suns are nearly gone as she holds our her arms to DG, crossed at the wrists and begins the sacred cant. "But tomorrow, dawn will come the way I picture her."
DG takes up her hands, pressing their palms together until the golden light envelopes them. Reverently, she continues to cast the spell. "Barefoot and disheveled, standing outside my window in the thin cotton dresses of the poor."
Azkadellia closes her eyes in ecstasy. "She will look in at me with her thin arms extended ..."
The light around them sparks and spins and something happens, fingers turning to fine feathers, arms to wings and Azkadellia's voice ends in a note of song as DG finishes the spell.
"Offering a handful of birdsong and a small cup of light."
There is pain when it's over, as if part of DG's life force has been expended but it's worth it when she looks down in her hand and a small bird is sitting there, nestled neatly in her palm. A tiny brown sparrow, one of its wings tipped with gold and it tilts its little head to one side before singing a low whistling note.
It sounds like a question and DG knows exactly what's being asked. "Yes, it worked," she whispers joyously. "I told you it would."
The sparrow shakes and fluffs its feathers before extending them in flight. It's clumsy at first, flopping through the air in ungainly spirals before gaining strength. DG watches as her sister flies toward the horizon, toward the last shards of day still clinging onto hope.
"And yet another perfect day," she says to no one in particular, before settling down by the lake's edge to wait on the rising of the moon.
0o0o
The next morning the Queen and her officers arrive at the lake, looking for Azkadellia.
Needless to say, they don't find her. Only DG, who is sitting there eating an apple as if it's the most sensible thing in the world, to be sitting around and doing nothing on her sister's banishment day.
When they ask her where Azkadellia is, DG simply shrugs.
"I suppose this means the princess has flown," one of the generals offers.
The Queen examines her daughter carefully. "I suppose so." She straightens herself into a regal stance. "She's banished herself, which is just as good."
The officers look slightly perturbed, but one by one, they nod in agreement.
Behind the group, a sparrow flutters and darts, spinning in a circle around them before landing on DG's shoulder. It curls against the warm skin of DG's neck and she reaches up to give it a tiny bit of fresh apple, pressing her nose lovingly to its little beak.
The officers are charmed. "How magical our princess is," they say admiringly. "Even the birds come to pay homage to her. She could handfast with the sky itself."
"Indeed," says the Queen, a smile curving her lips. "How very magical my dear daughter is."
0o0o
end
A/N: The "spell" quoted is from a poem by William Collins.
reviews are loved. thanks for reading!