Notes: The end of the last chapter has been changed and updated, so if you haven't already, please go back to the previous chapter to read up on that before proceeding to read this one.
Warnings: Mention of last chapter's sexual assault
3rd Entry: Prisoner
When Parizade opens her eyes again, she's greeted to the sight of a canopy of see-through white and hushed tones way off to the side. The bed she lay in was impossibly soft to where it felt like her small body was just continuously sinking into it with the aid of the heavy blankets. The redhead releases a soft, albeit guttural, groan and closes her eyes again to willingly sink back into the mattress. But it seems that her throaty noise caught the attention of the others in the room as the tones immediately cut off, a door is quietly opened and shut, and she feels a side of the bed dip lower.
The person doesn't speak until Parizade opens her eyes and slightly tilts her head to see who is there. Beside her is a gorgeous woman with beautiful auburn hair tied into two loops and shining jade eyes. There was a third, much smaller loop in the middle of her bangs, which framed three dots in a vertical line. But, the most prominent feature on her face was her smile, joyous and revered, as if the young woman had just discovered all the answers she will ever need.
"Good evening, my lady, aru," she warmly greets, her melodic voice hardly above a whisper.
"Wh-who are you?" the blue-eyed child painfully croaks out. The woman's smile vanishes at the sound of her voice, her eyebrows drawing together in worry. She moves out of the girl's vision, but not too fast to elicit any panic, and comes back with a glass of water. Parizade, with the help of the kind woman, gobbles it all down as best she can.
"I'm a magician employed under Barbarossa, aru. My name is Falan, aru," the woman, Falan, answers as she places the glass on a nightstand. It takes Parizade a second, but she eventually recognizes the name as her eyes slightly widen.
"You were the one who called off the wedding yesterday," she speaks in realization.
"I'm sorry, my lady, but that happened three days ago, aru. You've been asleep for the past two days, aru," Falan breaks it to the girl as gently as possible.
"T-two days? Bu-Wha-Ho–" Parizade scrambles for words, her mind jumbling to piece together her fractured memory of the past three days.
"This may be too sudden, but do you remember what had happened when you were last awake, aru?" the magician asks in all seriousness, her words alone cutting the girl off. And it does, freezing her and forcing her to think.
"Th-th-there…screaming…and-and figh…figh-ti-ting…," the little girl's words start to lose all rhythm as events of that night flash through her brain. "A…several so…soldiers there…" her blue eyes glaze over as her mind focuses in on those few minutes. "Touching…ch-choking…" her skin began to burn, as if she could still feel the remnants of those hands. "They tr-tried…tried to remove me…my clo-clothes…" Where was she again? The line between memory and reality begin to blur as Parizade finds herself on the cold ground of that dark hallway, someone squeezing the life out of her as others grope her all over.
But as soon as the horrors appear, they come to a screeching halt when Parizade feels fingertips press against her shoulder. The girl flinches at the contact and looks up to see Falan gazing down at her in worry.
"You don't need to tell me everything, aru. I'm sorry for making you relive it all, aru," the woman sincerely apologizes. The child looks away in shame, instead focusing on the white canopy. A few moments of silence engulfs the bedroom.
"…I passed out as the man was choking me…What happened after that?" Parizade finally asks in a quiet, hesitant voice. If those men had actually…gone through with their intentions, she had a right to know. No matter how awful.
"They never had the chance to anything more than that, aru. I got there and stopped them before they could do more, aru," Falan informs, looking quietly proud of herself.
"What were you doing there at our manor?" the child questions instead. The magician's small smile immediately falls at that and she looks down at her lap. The room seems to grow colder in the silence.
"That's…That's something you're going to have to ask Lord Barbarossa, aru," she admits, almost hesitantly. At the mention of the lord, Falan shoots up to her feet and faces the bedridden girl with a tight smile.
"Why don't I go and tell him that you're awake now, aru?" Before Parizade can protest, Falan flees the room with grace, shutting the door behind her as quietly and quickly as possible. The redhead stares at the door in confusion for a mere second, then relaxes against the bed and drifts off to sleep. If she's being cared for by Barbarossa, then he'll surely come to her to tell her what's been going on.
When Parizade wakes up again, the room is significantly darker than before, the only light source coming from a candle on the nightstand beside her. She turns her head and sees her friend, Barbarossa, sitting on the other side of the stand, legs crossed and intently focused on the scroll on his lap. She shuffles a little, trying to sit up, but the light ruffling of the bedsheets is enough to alert the lieutenant. His head snaps up and he meets her eyes.
"You shouldn't try to move," Barbarossa advices her, his voice rumbling and quiet. He stands up, rolling the scroll in his hands before placing it beside the candle with one hand as the other gently pushes Parizade into the bed.
"Barbarossa," the girl breathes out, a ghost of a smile on her face, which is returned in the same way for a brief moment.
"How are you feeling?" he asks in concern as he pulls his chair up beside the bed and sits back down, now facing her.
"Better than earlier, if I'm to be honest," Parizade nods. She falls silent for a moment, her gaze drifting upward before flickering back to the man. The redhead swallows in anxiousness as she opens her mouth and asks, "I met Lady Falan earlier when I first woke up and she told me that she was the one who saved me. When I asked her what she was doing at my family grounds that night, she told me to ask you instead. So, what happened, Barbarossa?"
The two stare at each other, golden eyes in contemplation and sapphire ones in anticipation. The atmosphere grows tense with every passing second. Parizade can hear the fire of the single candle crackle under the weight of the air, the shadows on her friends face slowly consuming his face. Surprisingly, Barbarossa is the one who gives in first, leaning forward so that his elbows rested on his knees and knitted his hands in front of his mouth.
"As you know, my wedding with Serendine did not happen. She fled the capital on the day of," he starts off. Parizade doesn't say a word or even give any sort of confirmation that she knows or understands, just stares at him expectantly. "This country is falling apart under the current monarch's rule and I cannot allow that. I knew I needed to take matters into my own hands when it was obvious that the wedding was not going to happen."
"So you instated a coup," Parizade breathes out in realization, growing pale in horror and fear. "And it's not just my family you targeted, you also went for those who are absolutely loyal to the crown. The ones who would most likely attempt to take control back." Barbarossa just nods and the redheaded girl can feel her skin grow colder.
"Yes, I was the one who ordered the attack on your house. I had sent someone over to retrieve you before the fighting would start, but it seems that you got caught up in it in the worst way possible. For that, I apologize." Her eyes widened in recognition as she remembered the man who had grabbed her in the dining hall. The one whose life she ended so violently.
"It's okay, I understand why you did what you did. You didn't know about it and reacted accordingly," the lieutenant consoles with a small smile. But that didn't make it any better, did it?
"And why did you want me alive? Am I to be your puppet now?" she asks, a tone of accusation dancing along the edge of her words. Her partner doesn't take any offense at her tone, but instead his smile grows wider by just a tad.
"Of course not. You're intelligent, Parizade, far more than the rest of your family. If I needed a puppet for the Ashtari, one of them would have been a better choice," he shakes his head at that, "No, what I need is a partner. Someone who holds the same ideals as me," Parizade flinches at that, remembering the words she had told him over a year ago, "I need people who will become leaders in the new Parthevian Empire."
"But to restructure and entire governmental system in such short notice and through violent means, people are going to revolt against you. And what about Princess Serendine? I can't imagine that she would sit by idly," she disagreed.
"Those that get in the way of our progress and glory are nothing more than an inferior, filthy species. Ugly and lacking intelligence, I cannot even call them humans," Barbarossa coldly declares, speaking as though he is merely stating the facts. The girl can feel herself tense at the insult.
"I-Inferior species?" Something inside of her stirs against those words, almost like there is a being inside of her stomach, growling and hissing. Her mind suddenly clicks to it.
"Yes. Incompetent, useless. Why must we be ruled over by such trash? Inferior species are just that, an inferior species. Dirty blooded beings that must be put in their place or eliminated," the lieutenant, always so calm and collected, grows harsher and sharper as he continues to speak his truths. Parizade can feel the weight of his words quite literally, pushing herself further into the bed in hopes to get away.
"So join me, Parizade, and help me recreate Parthevia into the greatest empire in the world."
When Parizade woke up again, the room was much brighter than last time, soft sunlight streaming through the thin openings in the curtains. The young girl turns her head and stares at the natural light, a tired and troubled expression upon her face. Barbarossa had left almost immediately after he made his views clear, stating that she needed more rest. And that she needed to make her decision soon.
Even so, it's not like she has any choice in the matter. She's got no house to go to, no employees or knights to turn to, and she's bedridden under Barbarossa's care. The only thing she really has now is the weight of her family name, but as the youngest and cowardly child of the Ashtari, even that wasn't worth much. Parizade knew that and she had a feeling that Barbarossa knew this as well.
If that were the case, then a decision wouldn't be needed. If Barbarossa were a generous man, then she could have said that it's because he really was giving her a choice. But after recent events, it was clear that that wasn't the case at all. No, the power dynamic between them was too unbalanced in his favor that giving her a "choice" in the matter wouldn't mean anything. It was all a power play, a reminder on who's running the show and calling the shots without coming out and saying it. She's basically a–
" –aru? My lady, aru?" Parizade's train of thought comes to a screeching halt when she feels a hand gently press against her shoulder. Her eyes dart to the other side to find Falan standing over her, a look of worry prominent on her face.
"My lady, are you alright?" the magician asks again, her shoulders relaxing a tiny bit now that she's got the girl's attention.
"Yes, I just…I just spoke with Barbarossa last night…" the girl answers, sounding quite exhausted. So many things have happened in such a short span of time, like an unrelenting, ongoing tornado that's sucking the air out of her lungs and leaving her drained.
"So now you know?" Parizade doesn't say anything, but that's more than a confirmation. Silence reigns over the pair for a while, until the redhead turns her head to fully face Falan.
"I'm sorry for last time. I never got the chance to thank you for saving me from those men. So thank you, Lady Falan," she says sincerely, a tired smile on her face.
"I am just a mere court magician to be addressed as such, my lady, aru. Please just call me Falan, aru," says the magician, returning the smile with a small, kind one of her own. But it was brief as a frown of concern takes over and she asks, "How are you feeling, aru?"
"Not as tired, still feeling weak though. I'm also a bit hungry and thirsty, if I'm to be honest."
"…And mentally?" Falan cautiously questions. The redhead glances off to the other side, thinking what the best course of action would be. Seeing her indecision, the woman takes a seat beside her and begins to speak.
"I understand that you don't trust me yet, my lady, so why don't we get to know each other first, aru?" she offers in tentative hope. Parizade stares at her for a moment then gives her a tiny, hesitant nod, to which Falan perks up at.
"Perfect, aru! To celebrate our new friendship, why don't I share something about myself, aru?" The girl's eyes glaze over, the conversation bringing up strange, foreign feelings of nostalgia within her. Why did the magician's words sound so distantly familiar, as if she had heard the same things before? But that's not possible…It couldn't be.
"Hmm…" Falan hums, thinking of what to say. "Well, I'm sure you've noticed how all of my sentences end in 'aru', right? Aru?" The little girl nods. "That's because my mom used to talk like that and I picked it up, aru. But being in my position, I had to drop it, aru."
"But you're using it with me right now," Parizade points out.
"Mmm-hmm. That's because you…" the young woman grows quieter, almost like she's embarrassed about her next words, "…you remind me of someone I once knew and respected, aru. She said it was adorable and would always defend me whenever someone would bully me or call me out for it, aru. She told me that if it's something I enjoyed doing, then I should do it, aru." Parizade listened intently, captivated by Falan's bittersweet nostalgia and intense reverence of her special person.
"How do I remind you of this person?" the girl asks, wanting to know more. "She sounds like a great person."
"Yes, the greatest, aru," Falan nods. "As to how you remind me of her, aru. My lady, do you know about the rukh, aru?" She shakes her and Falan explains, "It is the energy in all of us the moment we are born and in nature itself, aru. As a magician, I am able to see the rukh of others and that in nature, aru. I admit that, when I first saw you at the wedding, I didn't see anything noticeable with your rukh, aru. It wasn't until that night at your manor did I sense the similarities, aru."
"Maybe there are similarities because we're relatives?" Parizade offered, but the magician shook her head.
"No, that's not possible, aru. She's…She's been gone for a very long time, aru," the woman almost whispers out, a look of remorse overtaking her. Parizade tries to speak her apologies and comforts, but Falan waves her off and replaces her frown with a smile instead, albeit a tad melancholic. "It's alright, aru. It happened a long time ago and I am no longer sad about it, so it's all fine, aru."
"…Thank you for sharing your story with me, Falan. I really appreciate it, truly," Parizade wholeheartedly speaks out of gratitude in a soft voice, a content smile on her face.
"You're very welcome, my lady, aru," says the magician happily as she stands. "Please don't feel pressured to share anything with me before you're ready, aru. But if there's anything you would like to say or get off your chest, you can tell me and I swear I won't tell a soul, aru."
"I shall take my leave now, my lady, aru," Falan departs with a small bow, quietly leaving the room. Parizade stares at the closed door for a moment before relaxing her body and gazing up at the white canopy.
So much has happened in such a short amount of time when she was conscious. It feels like someone just repeatedly slammed entire libraries worth of information into her head relentlessly with no rhyme, reason, or pause over the past few days. It leaves her in a state of utter, weary confusion.
But did it really matter if she's already being forced into one direction anyway? It's clear that Barbarossa intends to make her choices for her and with no other plan of her own, wouldn't it be better to just ride it out? And it's not like she'll be alone; Falan promised to be a confidant. Even if she's working for him, she can just play the "nostalgia" card over the court magician to get even a little leeway. Or maybe that's what they want her to think?
Parizade scowls and forcibly closes her eyes, trying to will herself to sleep. For now, she'll just have to keep her head low and wait to see what happens.