Surrender
"I'm relinquishing my Key"
Dawn looked to Lady Wednesday in surprise as she put away her riding crop. They were on the shore of a Secondary Realm in a place where the Border Sea was leaking into the native waters. That had been a problem lately: the Sea spreading, expanding, into the Secondary Realms. It was troubling and annoying, but nothing that Lady Wednesday couldn't handle… when she used her Key. And now, she was talking about giving it up?
"But milady," Wednesday's Noon said as he moved to stand beside Dawn. "The Key… you had taken it in good faith. Why are you wanting to surrender it?"
"Good faith…" Lady Wednesday chuckled and pulled what looked like a buttered scone from a small pouch she'd tied between the prongs of her Key. "I had not fully considered the responsibilities of the Key, nor had I realized the effort it would take to maintain the Border Sea." She sighed, waving her hand in a delicate gesture as she finished off the scone.
Dawn heard a thump from behind, something hitting hard in the sand, followed by an incredulous cry. Wednesday's Dusk was on his knees, bent forward. His voice half-caught in his throat.
"But milady, you can maintain the Border Sea! Did we not just drive it from this Secondary Realm?"
Lady Wednesday shook her head. "It's getting more and more difficult. For every place we drive back the Sea, it spreads into seven others."
Wednesday's Dusk went on. "Milady, we can help you!"
Dawn shivered under her lady's stare; Lady Wednesday shifted her eyes from her, to Noon, to Dusk and then back to her. She looked tired, crestfallen. Doubtful.
"I cannot do this," She took out another scone and began to eat it. "The Border Sea is not only spreading throughout the Secondary Realms, it's moving into Nothing," she swallowed hard and licked her lips. "And that Nothing is coming back to the House."
Beside her, Noon pushed himself to his feet, dusting the sand from his hands and knees. Behind her, she heard Dusk doing the same.
"We can fight it, milady," Dusk said, taking his place beside Noon. Dusk drew his weapon and bore the blade to the sun.
"We will fight it," Noon said, amending Dusk's declaration.
"And you, Dawn?" Lady Wednesday asked.
Dawn thought for a moment. She didn't want to offend Lady Wednesday, nor did she want to displease he brothers, so she chose her words carefully:
"We exist to serve our lady, so we must do your will, whatever it may be."
Lady Wednesday smiled. "Then let us free the Will."
Dawn swore she heard Noon chuckle in what sounded like disbelief, so she glared at him from the corner of her eye.
Lady Wednesday went on, "The problems with the Border Sea and myself," she looked down at her hands, which were now holding another scone and a small cake, "Must stem from when we had broken the Will and taken it for ourselves. I don't like what is happening to the Sea, to the House, to us all. We're failing." Lady Wednesday stared and Dawn suddenly felt weighted down. All three of them fell to their knees in the sand.
"We have to do this; it's the only way to fix all that has gone wrong! But I can't do it alone." Lady Wednesday said.
Noon lifted his gaze. "We're with you, milady."
Turning to stare at the sea, sparkling under the midday sun, Lady Wednesday shook her head. "No. We need stronger allies, because to fix all that has come undone, we all have to surrender our Keys and piece Her Will whole once more."
Daring to take one step forward, Dawn asked, "Then who, milady?"
She glanced over her shoulder and though she was smiling, her eyes were not. "I was thinking Lady Saturday. She's very influential and well-spoken. The two of us would have a better chance against the others."
The tension in the air was palpable. Neither Dawn nor her brothers were fond of the so-called Superior Saturday. If her Times were any indication, she wasn't to be trusted.
"Lady Saturday?" Noon asked. He kept his gaze level with the shoreline. "Are you sure?"
Lady Wednesday didn't answer the question. Instead, she lifted a hand and motioned for the three of them to rise to their feet once more.
"Let us return to the House," she said. "We have preparations to make."
Dawn and her brothers bowed to their lady and started for the sea. Noon and Dusk jumped in, transforming as they hit the water. Lady Wednesday grabbed Dawn by the wrist before she had the chance to jump in with them.
"You do not think this foolish, do you?"
Dawn looked to her lady in surprise.
"Don't think ill of me when I say this, milady, but you must really have doubts if you're asking my opinion."
Even through she knew her lady to be kind, Dawn closed her eyes anyhow and waited to be struck. Physically. Verbally. She braced her feet in the sand, preparing to recoil. The attack, however, was feather light and when she opened her eyes Dawn saw that Lady Wednesday had taken her hand. In it she placed a small, red berry.
"I'm afraid."
The admission startled Dawn and she pulled away, squashing the berry. The juice trickled down her fingers and dripped into the sand, clumping and staining it red. Dawn opened her hand in horror, realizing what she had done. She destroyed a piece of food, and a bright, beautiful piece at that.
However, Lady Wednesday just smiled and parted her lips. And for some reason Dawn knew to place what was left of the berry on Lady Wednesday's tongue. She swallowed it and sat down on the shore, right at the edge, where the waves met the sand. She motioned for Dawn to sit with her and unwound the pouch she had from the Key's prongs, lifting from it a small container of berries.
Her lady ate so much and so frequently that Dawn knew that it was no longer for amusement. But as she sat down beside Lady Wednesday in the sand, she proceeded to feed her anyhow. Berries, confections, biscuits and tea. When her lady wasn't looking, Dawn ate a few berries herself, wondering what was so great about them and why Lady Wednesday could consume so many.
She was caught in the middle of swallowing when Lady Wednesday brushed a finger over Dawns lips to catch the juice that lingered there. She licked her finger clean; Dawn thought it was strange.
"Milady, we should probably get back," Dawn said.
She agreed, but before Dawn could get to her feet, Lady Wednesday kissed her: light and eagerly. Gently, she parted her lips with her tongue. Dawn could feel the power of her Key humming inside her and the agony her lady was enduring. Worst of all, she could feel that… hunger that plagued her so. It was horrible, frightening. How could she go on like that centuries at a time?
Dawn yielded to the kiss, half because she felt sorry for Lady Wednesday. Half because she enjoyed the feeling of her mistress moving atop her, straddling her hips. Pressing her body into the sand.
Much to her disappointment, the moment went as quickly as it came. But as Lady Wednesday drew back and brushed the sand from her gown, Dawn now had a better understanding of her lady's want to surrender.
End