Kitty was what Iridesa called her favorite infant in the nursery-a tiny thing, with a tuff of brown hair and blue eyes that match her own. Other people would dismiss this as coincidence or merely not notice it at all, but Iridesa knew a secret, that the baby's resemblance to her was not a coincidence. When no one was around, she would whisper this secret to Kitty and felt that sharing this secret bonded them.
"Back again, I see?" one of the nurses chuckled when she saw Iridesa approaching. "A bit later than usual—why it's been a whole day since you last saw Katsa, oh, I mean Kitty." The smile on her face grew warmer toward her favorite child in the palace, since she had none of her own.
"Hello, Fauna! I also brought someone else with me to play with Kitty," she said, stepping a bit to the side, revealing a slightly sheepish looking Raffin.
"Well I'm sure Kitty will be thrilled to see her cousin." The nurse led the way through a small ante chamber and down to a room that branched off to the right from it. Toys were scattered about the carpeted floor, as were the toddlers who were all crawling or stepping about, being watched over by a few nurses who dotted the room. In the corner, a small toddler with blue eyes and brown hair was determined to make a wooden square cube fit in a triangular hole. "Lady Katsa, look who's here to see you!" The baby looked up and shrieked in delight when she caught Iridesa's face. Iridesa rushed forward and bent down to kiss Katsa's forehead. The nurse left the room, briefly glancing back one more time, deriving a sense of joy and warmth from seeing the two children gently try to persuade the toddler to place the square cube in its respective square hole.
"So the first thing that you wanted to do was to see her?" Raffin asked, a bit incredulously. He offered her a chance to do anything, and she chose to see a toddler. Iridesa nodded.
"I've been seeing Kitty almost every single day since she was born, and…I'm really going to miss her when I leave." The baby chose that moment to yawn very audibly, albeit adorably. But when her eyes opened again, there was something different about them… "Look!" Iridesa shouted. Raffin turned his attention towards the baby, and his jaw dropped from what he saw. One eye was blue as it had always been, but the other was now a startling green. Katsa was a Graceling
After that, things were different. The caretakers in the new nursery Katsa was put into wouldn't let Iridesa visit as often. In one instance, Iridesa bit one of the nurse's legs so she could sprint in while the nurse cursed after her. Before, Iridesa's mother, Vidia, never voiced any objection of her daughter's visits—if she had any, but now, even her own mother was advising against it.
The worst of it came a month later, on Katsa's third birthday.
Vidia did not attend the funeral, for she could give no explanation that would not arouse suspicion. Iridesa was obligated to go, because Katsa had to. And Katsa refused to go without Iridesa. The toddler didn't know that the funeral she was taken to was that of her own father's. Few people would think that she would care all that much. For although Lord Eliot loved his daughter, he was forever away on trips or journeys or simply preferred to stay in his northern estate-the palace held his grief over his wife's death and his guilt over his unfaithfulness. He had planned to take Katsa to live there with him, but the day her eyes changed it was clear that would not happen. The reason Katsa went was not because of her father, but because of her concern for the servant girl she had bonded with.
Iridesa lost a father. That day all the fantasies and hopes that he would one day be proud of her—proud enough to acknowledge his tie to her—vanished. She had lost her chance to win his approval. Lost her chance to get to know him. She tried her absolute hardest to hide her tears—her said tears, her bitter tears—for people in the palace would talk and ask questions if they saw them. But when she went to the nursery and Katsa looked up curiously at her, sensing something was wrong, she burst into tears. She realized Katsa, too, had lost her chance. The nurses came bustling in, for because Iridesa cried, Katsa cried too, and tried to separate them, but that only caused the two girls to cry harder.
"Control that daughter of yours!" they complained to Vidia, whose only response was packing up the belongings of her and her daughter.
"So, it's settled," Iridesa sniffled. "We're leaving tomorrow!" Raffin tried his best to hold back the lump that was forming in his throat. Iridesa looked toward her best friend, feeling a wave of loss and sadness, and then an idea formed in her mind. "Raffin, can we do one last thing together?"
In the early days of their friendship, they had discovered two loose floorboards in an abandoned and forgotten turret of the palace. This was where they place all the symbols of their friendship—an apothecary book, some of Katsa's toys, a towel, pens, quills, maps they drew up, and a list of all the promises they made to each other. The very first one listed was: We shall always be friends.
This was actually kinda depressing for me to write, and I usually dont write depressing things, but i think it ended on a very hopeful note. anyways, i hope you guys love reading it as much as i loved writing it
