Sorey has no idea what they're doing here. He found strange that they were going to the noble's district and at first he thought they were going to stop at Alisha's house, but when they passed in front of it Edna didn't even turn to see.
He had stayed a few steps behind contemplating the manor. He wondered if Alisha's descendants were there or if she even had had any children. He found himself wanting to go in, even if there was no one inside that could see him or recognize him. Perhaps he wanted to go in precisely because of that: it was a part of his life as a human, but there was nothing there that could really hinder him with the past.
Instead of going to Alisha's house, Edna had guided him to the Palace. Sorey had asked her who they could possible meet inside it but Edna had just poked him with her umbrella and told him to shut up.
Now, after Edna transiting the intricate hallways of the Palace with familiar expertise, leaving Sorey in a room and telling him to stay put, he is here, alone, waiting patiently.
He guesses this room must be use precisely to have guests wait for audience or whatever reason they may have to come here, it's like a cross between an office, a living room and a library. It's long and spacious, the furniture is as opulent as he remembers and everything is in the blue tones of Hyland. The room is big enough to need three candelabras hanging for the high ceiling, the three are lit and the room is well illuminated, giving it a warm, comfortable feeling.
Even when the wait drags on he doesn't dare leave the room, the Palace doesn't exactly hold the most pleasant memories he has and he can feel, in whatever small quantity, that there's malevolence here so he doesn't want to wander around and risk encountering the source. Edna is probably okay because she has a vessel but he doesn't, so better safe than sorry.
He makes himself comfortable since Edna is taking her sweet time doing whatever she's doing. There's a nearby bookshelf and he entertains himself with the books in it.
Eventually, Edna finally appears. He hears the door opening and puts down a book, turning around to see Edna's secret weapon.
She enters the room with a young man at her side. He has fair skin, light, blond hair and his features are delicate, almost feminine. What catches Sorey's attention, however, are the man's eyes: they're a pale shade of green and with his firm gaze, they result somehow familiar.
Also, the man is pretty much looking directly at him.
Sorey watches him attentively while he and Edna approach. The man comes to him wearing a big, almost childish smile on his face.
"Sorey," Edna says when they stop in front of him "this is Chancellor Diphda. Chancellor, former Shepherd Sorey." She introduces with a slight move of her hand.
Sorey looks at Edna and then back at the man, suddenly dazed.
"Aurik Diphda," the man presents himself when Sorey doesn't say anything, barely containing his excitement "it's an honor to make your acquaintance, Shephard Sorey."
"Uhm, the honor is mine," Sorey says sheepishly, accepting the man's firm handshake and taking in the revelation of his identity. "Diphda?" he asks, just to make sure.
Aurik laughs wholeheartedly and nods.
"Yes, Shepherd, Diphda. I understand you and my four-great grandmother were good friends."
He certainly shares resemblance with Alisha, and more than his physical features it shows in the way he smiles, in how he presents himself with frankness. Sorey can already tell he's a good man and not only that: there's not even the smallest trace of malevolence in him.
"Yes, we were really good friends," Sorey nods.
"I didn't have the pleasure of meeting my grandmother," Aurik starts "but she made sure all her children and grandchildren would know of you, and all you did for our world. I've heard much about you, Shepherd Sorey."
"Yeah, that…sounds like something she would do," Sorey comments for lack of anything better to respond to that.
Sensing his sudden apprehension, Edna hawks lightly.
"I'm sure there's a lot to discuss, but we came for another reason," she says to Aurik.
"Ah, yes, forgive me for getting carried away," Aurik says like the small talk he did was indeed a grave mistake on his part "Lady Edna tells me there's something you need help with, Shepherd?"
"Yeah," Sorey clears his throat, "I'm sorry to bother you with this but a friend of mine is…missing in the city."
"Oh, that's terrible." Aurik laments with a frown.
"Well, not, missing exactly, more like we got separated and I don't have the means to look for her by myself. She's not familiar with the city and I'm worried she…may get herself into trouble."
"I see, because you can't ask around to find her." Aurik smiles and nods "I will have a search party set out and bring her here," he says with decision and walks towards a desk, producing a notebook, pen and an ink flask from it "please, tell me everything that will helps us find her."
Aurik sits in the desk and writes down the thoroughly physical description of Velvet that Sorey gives him.
"Anything else?" he asks, when Sorey is done.
He thinks carefully about his next words. The search party will probably be a bunch of guards and Velvet may not take it well when they go for her.
"She is…," Sorey starts, looking for a best way to phrase that Velvet is dangerous and has a problem with authority and may try to run away the moment she see the guards "tell the search party to be careful, she doesn't like guards and may try something."
Aurik looks at him with discerning eyes. Sorey hopes he doesn't ask him what 'something' may entail.
"All right," Aurik says slowly as he writes down some more "I'll tell them to have the utmost care."
"Thank you," Sorey sighs.
"Oh, we almost forgot," he exclaims "what's your friend's name?"
"Velvet, Velvet Crowe."
At the other side of the room, Edna, who had planted herself in front of a window to watch the city while distractedly twirling her umbrella, gives out the quietest sigh:
"Oh, boy," she exclaims at hearing that name.
Aurik goes out of the room, saying he will dispatch the search party immediately without paying any mind to Sorey telling him it can wait until morning; he's pretty sure Velvet will be just fine spending one night alone at the city, but Aurik is eager to help.
After he's gone, Sorey and Edna stay alone in the too big room. Edna closes her umbrella and goes sit at one of the couches. Sorey follows her.
"He sure is earnest, huh?" Sorey comments "kinda like Alisha."
"Yes." Edna answers with a nod "It drives me nuts but he's pretty okay for a human. I like him."
"Are you two friends?"
"More or less. I've known him since he was a child and sometimes he asks me for advice, he has a lot of faith in the seraphim."
"That's good," Sorey says smiling "if someone like him is the Chancellor, I guess Ladylake is good hands."
Edna nods again and stays silent. She's looking at him very carefully, like she's calculating some ethereal quality in him and it puts him on edge, it looks like she's seeing right through him and right now, Sorey doesn't like the idea of her knowing too much about him. A weird thought, considering she is his friend, isn't she?
"You know, Sorey," Edna says, her sweet but flat voice creeping around him "there's a lot of things I want to tell you. I guess, since you went to sleep I've had a lot of things I'd like to tell you."
"I would imagine so," he offers prudently.
"But, for now," she continuous "I'd like to ask you one thing. You said that when you met your friend, Velvet," she says the name with a weird infliction to her voice that Sorey doesn't know how to interpret and he considers, for a moment, that maybe lying to her wasn't that good of an idea "you said both of you were about to go in a journey across the world."
She makes a pause and Sorey thinks she makes it so he can say something but he has nothing to add. Edna sighs discreetly at his silence.
"I want to know," she says then "why are you on this journey to being with?"
That is not the question Sorey was expecting. It must be obvious why he would embark himself on such a journey, he missed centuries of the world passing by while he was sleep it's evident he would want to see the changes for himself. It should be obvious too, that he would go and look for his friends, the ones that are still around at least.
It should be obvious.
Edna's old, calculating eyes tell him otherwise. She wouldn't be asking this if it really was and maybe it isn't that obvious, not even for himself, considering how much it took him to decide to go out of the Throne to begin with.
"I want to see the world," he says at last, almost tempting "the world we all created together and I want to see you guys too."
"I see," Edna says "so you're going to look around for Lailah and Zavied."
"Yeah, of course," he nods, more confident this time.
"And for Mikleo too."
Yes, of course, he wants to say but something like fear and confusion and even anger gets stuck in his throat and doesn't let him talk. So he nods instead but even that small gestures appears half-hearted and doubtful and Sorey hates himself for it.
"All right," Edna says in a tone that suggests nothing is all right "we can keep talking about this later." She's looking at him with a certain compassion and understanding she didn't quite possessed before.
"Okay," Sorey agrees, thinking it would be indeed better to talk about this later, preferably never.
"Instead, let's talk about your friend," Edna continues and Sorey feels like he was just punched in the gut.
"What you want to know about her?" he asks too quickly, pretending nothing about this whole conversation is fazing him.
"She seems quite the character," Edna remarks "does she know you were the Shepherd?"
Once again, a question Sorey couldn't have imagine that Edna would ask and which relevance he doesn't want to understand at all.
"Yeah."
"And she's okay with it?"
What an incriminatory question, Sorey thinks.
"Why wouldn't she?" He asks tilting his head, simulating he's not getting it.
Edna looks at him dead in the eye with a neutral face of displeasure and Sorey starts sweating.
"You're a terrible at this, you know that?" She says, jaded.
"Terrible at wha—?"
"Drop the act," Edna demands and Sorey closes his mouth with a thud of his teeth "you're lying to me and you're not good at it."
Obviously not. Sorey grimaces, feeling ashamed about it under Edna's stern gaze.
"I'm sorry," he sighs, truly apologetic "it's just…I wasn't sure how to approach this whole thing."
It's interesting to notice he isn't sure if he's talking about the whole thing with Velvet, or the whole other thing.
Edna watches him, musing something beyond Sorey's comprehension.
"Since I'm a benevolent seraph I will let it slide," Edna remarks, though by his stern face it doesn't really look like she will.
Sorey nods energetically and puts his hand as in prayer in front of him.
"It won't happen again," he assures her, looking at the floor.
"Good," Edna carries on. "Now, tell me about your friend, I want to know why she's here, now."
"You…you know who she is?"
"I know who she was." Edna answers.
Sorey thinks this over.
"How did you know it was that Velvet, though?" Sorey asks, truly intrigued. "I mean, it could've been just a girl with that name."
"Because you can't lie to save your life. There wouldn't have been any need to lie to me if she was just a girl."
"I guess," he complies.
"So tell me," Edna asks for the umpteenth time "why is she here? Did something happened?"
"Everything is fine. I'll tell you what Maotelus told me, I take it you know about Innominat?"
"Yes."
"And you know why he isn't around anymore and there's Maotelus instead?"
"At large."
"All right," Sorey sighs and dives into his explanation.
Edna listens attentively and without interrupting him while he repeats what Maotelus inferred about Velvet's appearance. He tells her too that Maotelus wanted her to go and live her life and that since he was already going to go in a journey (he omits rather than lies of his insecurities about leaving) Maotelus put them to travel together. Everything was going relatively fine, Sorey tells her, until they got to the city and Velvet robbed a guy, Sorey couldn't turn a blind eye to it and they got into an argument and here we are.
"I see," Edna says with understanding "I'm glad. I had thought Innominat was back and the world was ending or something equally troublesome. That would've ruin my day."
"No," Sorey says with a smile "the world is fine and it will be like that for a long while, if seraphim such as yourself keep things up and running."
"Flattery will take you nowhere," Edna warns him, but she's smiling "but I'll let it slide, this once."
Sorey laughs.
By then, the door opens. Aurik comes marching in with a smile and walks towards Sorey.
"Everything is being take care of," he says "we should have news of your friend soon."
"Thanks so much," Sorey says, getting up "I'm really sorry to bother you."
"Not at all, not at all," Aurik dismisses with a gesture of his hand "I'm glad I can be of any help to you Shepherd Sorey, like my grandmother was." He finishes with a warm smile.
The smile reminds Sorey tremendously of Alisha. It's kind of a naïve smile, given to him in earnest and it in draws out in Aurik's face the fascination he feels towards Sorey. It puts him a little nervous, that Aurik looks at him almost in reverence.
Sorey knows why he would feel like that towards him, if what he said it's truth then Alisha made sure that her family would know of his deeds. However it feels almost inappropriate to be holder of such praise, when even if he's the one that did all those things, even if he's the one that changed the world, it isn't really he who did at, not at all.
"You're a lot of help," Sorey decides to respond.
Aurik beams.
"Do you have a place to stay the night?" Aurik asks suddenly.
"Not really," Sorey says. It hadn't occurred to him until now to think about that.
"Then it's settled!" Aurik exclaims "I'll have a room arranged for you at the manor."
Sorey thinks of refusing, but he guesses that's better that whatever place he may find in the city and he wouldn't want to ruin Aurik's enthusiasm with a decline.
"Thank you," he simply says.
"We shall go immediately then!" Aurik says happily "Will you be joining us, Lady Edna?"
"I'll walk with you," Edna says as she gets up "but I won't be able to stay the night, I have to go back to the Sanctuary."
They get out of the Palace and walk in silence the streets of the noble's district. It's late at night but there's still plenty of activity and they encounter a number of people, some of them stop to greet Aurik and he seems to be well liked among them, though Sorey can't help but notice some greet him with tight smiles and roll their eyes after they're gone, sure no one can see them.
He guesses that it's to be expected. He has never quite get the political world, but he knows it's a intricate, messy one, and that it's inevitable to wind up with a few enemies, so even if the world is at peace now it must be the same for Aurik. Alisha didn't have it easy, being so far down in line for the throne and still getting so into politics, he wonders if Aurik had similar problems to become the Chancellor.
When they get to the manor, Edna bids them farewell at the house's fence, saying she will come back in the morning.
"Goodnight, Edna," Sorey says "and thanks for the help."
"You're welcome," she answers "I'll see you and your friend tomorrow morning."
That sounds almost like an ultimatum but Sorey doesn't let himself get too caught up on that.
Sorey follows Aurik to the manor's interior. A butler comes greet them and asks Aurik if he would like to have something for dinner.
"Just some tea for me," Aurik answers and then turns to Sorey "would you like to have something for dinner?"
The butler seems confused at first but he quickly recovers.
"Is Lady Edna accompanying us tonight?" he asks.
"No," Aurik answer, smiling brightly "actually a friend of Lady Edna will be staying tonight. Please, have the guest room ready."
"Yes, my Lord, anything else I can do for you?"
"So, about dinner…?" Aurik turns to Sorey.
"I'm fine," Sorey shakes his head, but thinking it would be rude to decline he adds "but the tea sounds perfect."
"Just the tea for now, our best blend for our guest."
"As you wish, my Lord, excuse me." The butler bows slightly and then it's off to carry on his duties.
When he's gone Aurik has him follow him.
"Does Edna come often?" Sorey asks while they walk.
"Not as much as I would like, to be honest," Aurik answers in good spirits "between my work and hers there's not much spare time, but she comes for supper every once in a while."
"Is that so?" Sorey comments, smiling a little, he must be dear to Edna if she bothers to come to his house, even if she says otherwise. She always did like playing it cool. "And, doesn't people find weird you can talk to seraphim?" he asks, thinking on the butler's reaction to his presence.
"Well, some find it disconcerting," Aurik admits with a slight frown "but most people have faith in the seraphim and they have no problems believing I can talk to them."
They have arrive to their destination then. Aurik opens a double door to a cozy living room, floor covered with thick carpets and walls with bookshelves, at the back there's a crystal door leading to the garden and in the middle there's a lit chimney, casting dancing shadows over the couches and the center table in front of it.
Aurik invites him in and they take a sit. Once there, Sorey notices the large portray hanging over the fireplace and gets lost on it.
It's a painting of Alisha. She looks older than when he met her, perhaps in her thirties, her hair is accommodated in a more discreet style, a ponytail at the back of her head rather than at the side, with a single bang of her curly hair falling on her forehead. She's sitting in a large chair in the middle of a sober room, wearing a more modest version of her armor, sporting the blue of Hyland rather than pink. At her side, her spear rests on the chair's back.
She's not smiling but her expression isn't stern either. She looks, in a way, just as he remembers: strong, earnest, sincere, and somehow innocent, but wiser too.
He stares at the painting for a long while, wondering.
At some point a maid comes in with a tray and serves the tea silently over the center table, only speaking to ask Aurik where to put the other cup and then leaving with a small bow.
Aurik holds his cup and takes a few sips before finally rising his voice over the quiet cackling of the fire:
"I wish I could've meet her," he comments, staring at the painting too.
"I bet she would've like to meet you too," Sorey smiles, dragging his eyes away from Alisha to look at Aurik "wasn't it difficult to become the Chancellor? I remember the Council wasn't fond of Alisha."
"Indeed. They weren't happy when I got a position in the Council, especially the older members, but even so I had the majority of the votes for the charge, if just slightly."
"I see." Sorey nods and looks at his cup of tea.
"I honestly think that my high resonance is part of the reason I got the job," Aurik continues with a sad expression "the people like that about me, and even if I'm the Chancellor I don't hold that much power. They wanted someone that could be the face of the Council, more than anything."
Sorey contemplates this for a moment.
"Are you in line for the throne?" he asks.
"Yes, the farthest one can be for it but yes, I'm a prince and I can become King, but I don't think that will be happening."
"Then, why did you decide to get into politics?" Sorey says "As I understand you wouldn't need to."
Aurik puts down his cup and gets up.
"I didn't, at all," he answers as he walks towards one of the bookshelves "but I guess I couldn't just sit down and live the easy life fate had given me. I'm ungrateful like that." He laughs, mostly to himself and browses the bookshelf, picking one of the books "Even more so because I read this."
Aurik goes to Sorey and hands him the book. The leather cover is old and it feels smooth under his fingers, worn out for all the times it was read. It doesn't have a title on the cover so he opens it and it the first page it reads: Alisha Dipdha, memories.
"She wrote it herself," Aurik explains "and it has been passed in the family ever since."
Sorey passes to the second page and reads the dedicatory:
For my Kingdom, which I love.
For my Master, even still.
For my Friends who held me when I couldn't.
For Sorey, all the adventures we didn't have and all the dreams we'll make come truth.
He smiles, sighs deeply, closes the book and turns to look at the painting again. He hasn't seen much of the world yet, but he has seen Edna as the Lord of the Land, has seen a flourishing, peaceful city and has seen a good man as Chancellor of Ladylake and thinks, yes, look at all the dreams that have come truth, Alisha.
"You found inspiration in her words, I take it," Sorey says, putting the book carefully on the table.
"I did," Aurik nods "she really loved Hyland, and the world in general, and she did everything in her power to safeguard it. Reading all she went through…it really made an impact on me."
"I guess you know but," Sorey starts "she also found inspiration in a book, the Celestial Record."
"Ah, yes, I read it too," Aurik smiles "when my grandmother lived people thought it was nothing but old legends. I'm glad we all know better now."
"Me too," Sorey smiles, looking at the painting again.
"I also read," Aurik continues, somehow insecure but masking it well "of all you did. My grandmother wrote about how you vanquished the Lord of Calamity and then went to sleep, so Maotelus could give us his blessing once more."
"I didn't have the chance to tell Alisha all that," Sorey casts his gaze down, a little sad thinking of Alisha's dedicatory.
"I don't think she minded at all," Aurik offers at seeing his reaction "she understood you had a duty to the world, just like her to our Kingdom. If anything I think your actions made her even more confident on what she had to do."
Sorey doesn't say anything to that. He knows that to be truth, knowing Alisha she probably refused to be sad or shocked at the news of his fate, and used that to fuel her own fire, matter not what she thought or felt at the moment.
He thinks of the dedicatory and feels a certain kind of melancholy, for the adventures they didn't have, indeed. Fate had different plans for both of them but they weren't bad plans, he muses. She helped her Kingdom to be what it is today and has inspired the man in front of him to be the best he can be for his people too.
It's more than enough.
"You know," Aurik says, timidly "when I was a boy and I read of all my grandmother did and all you did, knowing you were to wake up someday, I always dreamed of meeting you," he laughs, embarrassed at his shameless confession "I never thought it would actually happened."
"Oh, well, that's…" Sorey sputters, embarrassed himself. He never got used to be praised after all "that's very nice," he finishes, awkwardly.
Aurik laughs at that and Sorey can't help but follow him. The sound of their laughter fills the silent of the night with merriment and Sorey feels lighter for it.
"I'm sorry, it's sort of ridiculous I know," Aurik offers, still laughing a little.
"Not at all," Sorey assures him shaking his head "we all have dreams when we're children. I'm glad I could made yours come truth."
Aurik looks surprised at his words and for a moment he just stares at Sorey, like he's seeing him for the first time again.
"You really are something else, Shepherd," he says slowly after a while "I'm very honored and grateful for being able to meet you."
He says it with such unabashed sincerity that Sorey finds himself at loss of words too. At the end, he simply decides to say:
"Just call me Sorey, I'm not the Shepherd anymore."
"As you wish, Sorey," Aurik smiles.
After that they stay silent again until Aurik finishes his cup of tea and then offers to guide Sorey to his room. They go the second floor and Aurik shows him to the nicest room Sorey has ever stayed in, he can barely believe this is just a guest room.
"If we have news of your friend, I'll come to wake you up," Aurik tells him.
"Please do," Sorey says.
Aurik bids him goodnight and then Sorey stays alone, feeling instantly the weight of the day over him.
The discussion with Velvet, the reunion with Edna, the search around the city, meeting Aurik and talking about Alisha, all of it has really drained him and he feels he needs to sleep.
He goes to the bed, notices they left bed garments for him but decides against using them and only takes off his cloak and shoes.
He feels the buzzing of many thoughts in the back of his mind but the moment he puts his head on the pillow, his tiredness overcomes them and sleep finds him quickly.
After taking her out of Adeline's house, Velvet was taken to a carriage where she and the knights had a very silent, awkward ride. She tried asking them why they were arresting her, a knight told her this wasn't an arrest and she asked then what it was; the knights exchanged a look and then stayed silent as a tomb. No one heed her questions after that.
When the carriage stopped and the knights came out, she listened to them discuss about where they were taking her and in the quiet of the slumbering city, she caught something about unclear instructions but since this was a personal request from the Chancellor and he had told them to be careful, it was best to lead her to the Palace's dungeon.
The Chancellor, Velvet had thought, not getting anything of what was happening, why the Chancellor would want to meet her.
After that, she was quickly taken to said dungeon, thrown into a cell and left alone with only one knight watching over her.
Now, she's sitting in her cell, considering all the possible ways she could get out of here, or if it's even necessary for her to do so. She's now more intrigued than ever as to why was she brought here but even if she wants to know that, she's low-key worried about Adeline. The girl is probably strong, since being a blacksmith is a pretty hard lifting work, but if what she saw in the alley is anything to go by, she won't fight against the guild if they go look for her.
She's kinda responsible, she guesses, if they attempt payback about what happened today.
In any case, even if she decides to escape, it doesn't look like it will be that easy. The knight is dutifully watching her every move and the cell, thought very old, is sturdy as ever. This would be a lot easier if she still had her deamon arm.
How things are it seems like her only option is to wait. She sits in the stone bed, legs crossed with her back leaning against the wall, as uncomfortable as one can be. They didn't even bothered to give her a blanket or something, she thinks bitterly, feeling the cold creeping around her; she can hear water running nearby so that must be why it is so cold.
Time passes and eventually the echoed sound of quick footsteps and arguing voices comes to her. She gets up and walks towards the bars, trying to see the source of the hassle.
"I'm so sorry," a man is saying "I didn't tell the knights where to take her when—"
"But throwing her into a dungeon!" another man says, and she thinks she knows who he is.
Finally the two men come into her sight. One she doesn't recognize but the other is, who if not, Sorey.
"Velvet!" he exclaims, getting in front of her cell and taking the bars with his hands. She steps back "Velvet I'm so sorry, I—!"
"So it was you who orchestrated all this," she says, crossing her arms over her stomach "you wanted to give me a lesson for robbing that guy?"
"What?! No!" Sorey screams, horrified. "That's not it!"
"Excuse me," the other man steps closer to the cell, noticing Sorey's distress "my name is Aurik Diphda, I'm the Chancellor of this city and a friend of Sorey." He introduces himself with a pleasant smile, so out of place considering where they are "Sorey told me you two got separated in the city and asked for my help to find you. I had the royal knights look for you but I wasn't clear about what to do once you were with them so they brought you here. I deeply apologize for this, I'm the one to blame."
Velvet stares at the man. He seems to be saying the truth and, not only that, he really seems ashamed for all of this. She watches him carefully, assessing him and his too kind words. His smile doesn't waver.
"All right," she says calmly "thanks for clarifying that. Though maybe you should've told them to explain some of this to me, I—!
"AGH!"
Velvet and Aurik turn at the sound of the knight's sudden screech and find the man pointing his spear at Sorey, though from the knight's perspective he's probably pointing it at thin air.
"Where are the keys?!" Sorey yells at the knight.
"The keys," Aurik says to the knight then "open the cell."
"Ye—yes, sir," the knight sputters nervously putting his spear aside and looking suspiciously in Sorey's direction, but following the order without major delay.
He opens the cell and Sorey shoves him to the side to get himself in. The knight screeches again and Aurik awkwardly apologizes for it and tells him to leave them alone.
Meanwhile, Sorey gets into the cell and takes Velvet's hands.
"Let's get you out of here," he says, "I'm so sorry," he apologizes again and practically drags Velvet out of the cell.
"Hey, what's gotten into you?" Velvet asks "calm down," she says more softly.
"I don't know how to apologize for this," Sorey is saying gravely, like he didn't hear her.
Once out of the cell he lets go of her hands, skittish, and looks at her with such a distraught expression Velvet feels like she's the one that should be asking for forgiveness.
"I'm really, terribly sorry about this, I—"
"Stop apologizing," Velvet commands and Sorey shuts up "your friend here already told me what happened, it's not that big of deal—"
"How can you say that?" Sorey murmurs "They, they brought you here," he gestures to the walls around them "to a dungeon, a prison," he says, like it pains him to do so "and you, you already spent so much time in one, underserving it, I don't want you to be in that situation ever again and I'm so sorry…"
Sorey keeps apologizing but Velvet doesn't hear much of it. She has to take a mental step back to consider what Sorey just told her. She's too stunned to say anything for a moment but she eventually finds it in herself to smile softly, feeling warm at his display of empathy.
"That's what's worrying you?" she says and Sorey stops at the kind sound of her voice "that's why you scared that knight trying to the take the keys? You don't want me to be here?"
"Of course not!" Sorey says "I would never…"
"It's okay," Velvet says, smiling, trying to don't laugh "really, it's okay, it doesn't bother me to be here, I'm fine."
"Are you?" Sorey asks, to be completely sure.
"Yeah." Velvet says with confidence "I'm fine."
When Aurik went to wake him up and told him the knights had taken Velvet to the Palace's dungeon Sorey almost had a heart attack. He put on his clothes in an instant and he sprinted all the way to the Palace, Aurik hot on his heels.
They may had not talk much about it, but the moment he heard Velvet was being kept in a cell he couldn't help but think about what she said, spending three years of her life in prison plotting her revenge, feeding her spirit on the sole hope of killing the man that unjustifiably put her there. To think that she would be in such a place again, Sorey thought, it'd be the most awful experience and he felt terribly thinking it was his fault.
He had told Aurik to make sure the knights kept her guard up, after all, so they deciding to thrown her into the dungeon was, in a way, his doing.
He couldn't bear to think the pain it would cause Velvet to be in a prison cell again.
But looking at her, she really looks like it isn't that big of deal. He watches her and her soft smile and then lets out a sigh as all tension leaves his body.
"I'm glad," he sighs, finally smiling too "I really am."
They look at each other for a moment.
"Well, even if Miss Crowe doesn't mind being here," Aurik comments with a smile "we should still go somewhere more comfortable to talk."
"Yeah, of course," Sorey says, awkwardly "let's go back to the manor."
"Just one moment," Velvet says and goes to the place where the knight was watching her to retrieve her weapons.
"You got a new sword," Sorey notes.
"It's a long story," Velvet sighs
"What happened?" Sorey asks.
"We really should talk somewhere else," Velvet answer as she straps the swords "it's freezing here."
When they get back to the manor Aurik says he'll arrange a room for Velvet too, without asking if she wants or needs to stay the night here, and apparently he's gonna do it himself because he leaves without calling any servants. Velvet doesn't stop him.
"I didn't know you had such connections in the city," Velvet comments when Aurik leaves them alone.
They're at the living room where portrait of Alisha is hanging, the fire in the chimney even dimmer than when Sorey was here a few hours before.
"Me neither," Sorey explains "I just recently met him, he's the grandchild of one of my friends, the princess I told you about, Alisha."
Velvet hums at that, looking at the barely visible painting over the fireplace.
"Is that her?" she asks, just to say something.
"Yes, that's her, though older from when I met her."
They just stand there for a while, their silence brought to attention by the tic-tac of clock somewhere in the house.
After a while is Velvet who decides to break the quietness.
"I think I should give you this back," she says, untying his sword from her hip "I won't be needing it anymore."
She extended the sword to him and Sorey looks at it with sad eyes, thinking it means she doesn't want him around anymore.
"You won't?" he asks to be sure but taking the sword all the same.
"I borrowed this one," she says patting the longsword "and if everything goes according to plan soon I'll have my own."
"I see," he nods.
"Also…" Velvet starts, somehow awkwardly "you were looking for me."
"I was, yes I…I didn't like how we parted ways," Sorey admits sincerely, clinging at the sword with both hands in front of his stomach.
"Me neither," Velvet agrees "I guess we should get to that."
"I guess…" Sorey says and takes a deep breath. He dreads the conversation but he went through a lot of trouble to be able to find her and have said conversation so, "I stand by what I said. I think that what you did was unnecessary and condemnable, I don't approve it and I don't think I could tolerate you doing something like that again."
Velvet stares at him, nodding.
"I too, stand by what I said, sometimes you just need to do what's necessary and the world is not so kind to always let you make the right choice." She says with conviction.
"I understand that," Sorey concedes "I really do."
When he was the Shepherd he had to take some pretty tough choices after all, he understands that sometimes the right answer is not the most morally sound. It may be selfish and even hypocritical of him to judge Velvet so hard for a simply robbery when before he pretty much ended up endorsing Rose's assassinations, but now that the fate of world is not resting on his shoulders, now that the world is better than what it used to be…well, maybe he's allowed to be a little selfish and hang to ideals he never had the opportunity to truly embrace as the Shepherd.
"However," Velvet continues, dragging him out of his ponderings "I can admit I acted hastily, and that it wasn't truly necessary. I can't promise I won't do something like that again and I can't say I regret doing it, but at the very least…" she sighs "at the very least I don't want to do it again."
That's a lot better of what Sorey was expecting, actually.
"So, if you think you can't keep traveling with a criminal in potential like me, I'll understand." Velvet says with easy resignation.
Sorey smiles and shakes his head.
"I want to keep traveling with you," he says sincerely "unless you don't one a goody two shoes like me as a companion."
"Honestly?" Velvet says, smiling too "I've had worse."
Sorey laughs, feeling a weight coming out of his shoulders at that, and by how relaxed Velvet looks he guesses it's the same for her.
He would honestly hate to do this journey alone.
By then Aurik comes back and takes Velvet to her room, which is conveniently next to Sorey's.
"Chancellor," Velvet calls before saying their goodnights "I hate to abuse of your hospitality, but could I ask you of one more favor?"
"And what it may be?" Aurik asks.
"I would like if you send someone to keep an eye on the house I was staying in, to look after the girl that lives there."
"Of course, that would be no problem at all," he says with a smile and then, a little more serious "is she in some kind of danger?"
"Perhaps," Velvet says "I'm supposed to be looking after her, I don't want to leave her alone for long."
Aurik nods.
"I'll send someone to keep an eye on her, don't worry about it, for now, let us all go to bed. Goodnight, Miss Crowe, Sorey."
He leaves again and before they enter to their rooms Sorey inquires:
"You're…looking after someone?"
"As I said, it's a long story," she says, patting her sword again "I'll tell you about it tomorrow. Goodnight, Sorey."
"Okay. Goodnight, Velvet."
A maid gently wakes her up and Velvet stirs in the too soft matters and too smooth covers, it had feel strange just to slip into bed last night, not used to such luxury. She's even less familiar with a maid coming to tend her every need.
The maid talks to her with a pleasant smile, unperturbed by Velvet's wary gaze, telling her breakfast will be served in an hour and that a bath is ready if she wants to take it. Velvet takes her on the offer but bathes with a vague sense of alarm knowing the maid is at the other side of the door, awaiting for her.
When she steps out of the bathroom the maid also offers to help her dress and to style her hair. Velvet immediately says no to the dressing part, it's not like she's getting herself into a complicated outfit anyway, but considers a little longer the part with her hair.
She knows it'll be faster if she accepts but the only people that has help her with her hair in years has been Phi (and Eizen, that one time) and decides she's not comfortable with a stranger messing with her hair, and declines in the end. The maid shows no opinion on her rejection and simply awaits for her to be ready.
Downstairs, the maid accompanies her to a medium sized dining hall that has a big picture window in one of his walls, showing a beautiful garden basked in the gentle light of the morning sun.
At the head of the table Aurik is already sitting, reading some official looking documents and drinking a cup of coffee. The maid shows Velvet her sit, a chair away from Aurik, and asks her if she'd like coffee or tea. Velvet choses coffee, the smell of Aurik's cup truly alluring.
"Good morning, Miss Crowe," Aurik greets, putting the papers aside and smiling at her "I hope you rested well."
"Good morning, Chancellor," Velvet answers "it was a pleasant night, thank you."
"I'm glad to hear that."
After that Aurik turns his attention back to the documents and the maid comes back with Velvet's coffee. They stay in silence for a moment, with Velvet sipping her coffee somehow clumsily; she really is a lowlife, she thinks, feeling uneasy in such a pretty house and having such good coffee.
"If you don't mind me asking, Miss Crowe," Aurik says casually after a moment, once again putting his documents aside "what is your relationship with Shepherd Sorey?"
Velvet carefully puts down her cup and looks at him. Last night he seemed like a pretty open, almost naïve guy, in the way he so readily seemed to trust her, but now she can see an inquisitive glint in his eyes that she guesses is a must have for every politician.
"We're friends," she tells him and doesn't really know what to add to that.
"He said so himself," Aurik concedes "but, and I hope I'm not being indiscreet, he seemed to believe you would put up…resistance when my men went to look for you last night. That's partially the reason they took you to the dungeon, Sorey told me to be cautious and I passed that onto them."
"He believed that?" Velvet says a little amused because, well, Sorey hadn't assumed wrong "I can see why he would say that to you."
Her answer seems to only confuse him more and Velvet wonders if what she saw of him last night was simply a front. Maybe the maid with her in the morning wasn't just there to help her, but to watch her.
She finds no offense in that, the man would be a fool allowing someone just like that in his house.
"That's why I'm wondering," Aurik continues then "what's your relationship with him."
"We really are just friends," Velvet assures him "but I know you heard our conversation in the dungeon and saw how worried Sorey was about me being there, I think you can make a few assumptions, Chancellor."
"I certainly can," he says, a little taken back by Velvet's statement "I just didn't want to jump conclusions."
Even if he already has, Velvet ponders. He seems to think there's something fishy going on between both of them, maybe that Velvet is using Sorey or something, she can't really tell, but she can't tell him anything that will ease his worries without explaining the long story that ultimately put her here alongside Sorey, so she stays silent and sips her coffee.
Aurik watches her with pensive eyes but before he can say anything else Sorey finally appears.
"I'm sorry," he says "I kinda got lost looking for the dining hall."
"Good morning, Sorey," Aurik says with a smile, like he wasn't just interrogating Velvet "please sit down," he points to the chair between him and Velvet "I left you a note with the instructions to get here, wasn't it clear enough?"
"No, no, the note was fine," Sorey says as he sits down "it's just, I guess I didn't realize how big this house is." He says with a smile.
Velvet hears this and wonders if the instructions were perhaps wrong on purpose so Aurik could talk to her in private.
"Morning, Velvet," Sorey says to her then.
"Morning, Sorey," Velvet answers "being invisible is hard huh?"
"I don't mind much," he says in good spirits "but it does have its disadvantages."
Aurik calls his butler and tells him something. The butler disappears and comes back with a pair of maids behind him, who bring trays with the so expected breakfast.
"My Lord," the butler calls while the maids lay out the food "I believe Lady Edna has already arrive."
"Yes, thank you, I'll go get her," he says getting up "if you'll excuse me."
"Who's that?" Velvet asks to Sorey and the maids have a hard time deciding if she's talking go them or to the seraph they know it's there but can't see.
"She's another one of my friends," Sorey explains, watching with a frown the food in front of him "she's the Lord of the land here at Ladylake and is the one who introduced me to Aurik."
"Lord of the land?" Velvet inquires.
"A seraphim that gives their blessing to a certain area," Sorey clarifies. "I'm guessing Aurik went to fetch her because only he can see her."
She nods in understanding.
The maids finish serving breakfast and by then Aurik comes back with Edna behind him.
"Please take a sit, Lady Edna," Aurik says, moving the other chair next to him for her.
"Thank you," she answers, gracefully sitting down and having her umbrella rest on the back of the chair next to her.
The moment she sees her enter the room Velvet's eyes are dragged to her and she stares at Edna without trying to mask her scrutiny. She looks a lot like—
"Ah, Edna," Sorey calls, remembering Edna's almost ultimatum yesterday "look, this here is Velvet. Velvet, she's my friend Edna."
He thinks it would be best to just have them meet and get over with this and, besides, he knows Edna won't do anything weird with Aurik there.
Edna turns slowly in Velvet's direction and spares her a measured gaze.
"It's a pleasure to finally make your acquaintance, Miss Crowe," Edna says in a polite tone "Sorey has been talking about you non-stop, I could barely take it anymore."
"Edna!" Sorey complains, embarrassed because that's not truth! He has been talking about other things too.
"Has he?" Velvet smiles "It's a pleasure to meet you too, Lady Edna."
After that they have breakfast. They have an amiable, trivial conversation thanks to Aurik making small talk, he asks Velvet about how she's liking the city, how their trip here was and the like. Edna is good at keeping the conversation alive too, but none of them make intrusive or difficult questions and Velvet can't do nothing but admire their social expertise.
Meanwhile, Sorey is having problems pretending he's actually eating when in truth he has just been playing with his food. Perhaps he should've told Aurik before that he didn't want anything, he doesn't feel comfortable around food yet.
At some point, the butler gets near Aurik and whispers something. Aurik gets a serious face for a moment and then gets up.
"I'm sorry, but you'll have to excuse me, it appears my presence it's needed at the Palace. Feel free to stay here if you'd like." He finishes, looking at Velvet.
"Thank you," she answers and then he's gone.
They stay in silence for a moment, the butler went with Aurik and the maids are nowhere to be seen, but Velvet has the impression they aren't exactly alone.
"Why aren't you eating?" Edna asks suddenly, looking at Sorey with suspicious eyes.
"I don't know," he answers sincerely "I just haven't feel like eating since I woke up you know?"
"Even if you don't feel like it, if you do something physically demanding you should try to eat something." She lectures.
"I'll keep it in mind," Sorey assures but unceremoniously puts his spoon down all he same.
Edna elegantly takes a sip of her coffee and looks at Sorey like she'd like to add something to that, but notices Velvet is once again looking at her very intently.
"Is there something in your mind?" Edna asks to her.
Velvet feels like she has seen someone look at her with those same hard eyes that before. She considers for some long moments what she's going to say next, she knows her appearance, the umbrella and her name are too much to simply be a coincidence. She needs to know, anyway, so she decides to speak her mine.
"Are you Eizen's sister?" Velvet asks.
Edna's expression changes ever so slightly, showing her surprise. She puts down her cup and closes her eyes.
"Yes, I'm his sister," she answers "I guess it shouldn't be a surprise you could tell, Lord of Calamity."
haha so, what do you think? i debated for literal days if i should end this chapter here, well yeah xD
I hope you enjoyed this! Thanks for reading every comment will be appreciate!
