~ A Minute Before Dawn~
Blooming Moon Arc
Chapter Eleven: Letters from Sister
Shing!
It was a hollow sound, almost lost amongst the drills being meticulously practiced in the vast front courtyard. The un-mounted cavalier girl scrambled in the dirt for the training sword just beyond her grasp. The teal woman quickly walked past the felled Cavalier and kicked the sword away towards the ring of their surveyors.
After ridding the girl of her only chance for survival Teresa held the blade of her training sword to the edge of the girl's gorget, just at the break before the back of her neck. A light press down made the girl whimper, maybe she feared that Teresa would slip and hurt her.
"I yield!" The girl panted, raising her hands and placing them by her side. With a neutral expression Teresa removed the blade and knelt down to help the girl up. She was a new arrival; perhaps it had been cruel for her Paladin mentor to send her against Teresa in what was probably one of her first proper spars.
When she saw the soft young girl's spoiled face and defeated pout she sympathetically smiled. Everyone had been down in the dirt at some point, and unlike most she remembered what it felt like to be clumsy with a sword. She extended her hand and began to help the girl up.
"You did well." Teresa humbly whispered, letting the cavalier lean on her for support. It looked like she had knocked her down a little bit too hard after disarming her, but she would have to get used to being hit like that. It would be even worse when she was knocked off her horse by a real sword or lance.
"Sorry if I struck you down too hard. It's better that you get used to it early on. Nobody would fell me hard enough when I was still green and once I got to a higher level I wasn't used to the feeling. Got me sent onto my ass quite a few times, I'll tell you that much."
Their surrounding crowd laughed at the statement, and the young cavalier girl, perhaps as old as twelve, nervously joined in. Her blue eyes glanced down at the place Teresa was supporting and then anxiously jolted away. Without drawing attention to her discomfort, Teresa let go of her arm and took a step back.
In time she would hopefully get used to the camaraderie that Teresa promoted amongst her citadel's residents. Amongst the nobles and royals she knew, none of them really socialised with their soldiers much. Xander was an exception, and as well loved as he was he was still somewhat rigid.
However, sharing a slap on the back or sitting down to eat with the rest of her soldiers was fine by her. All her warmth and affection for her fighters was worth it, because they all treated her as their friend. She could tell that it was genuine by the look in their eyes and their laughing, hearted smiles. Even by the way they drank and sung songs with her at supper.
The Paladin Captain, Porcia, proudly strode up to the cavalier and began to show her how to better handle a sword. The tall, slightly bulky blonde woman also gave a demonstration to the rest of the group whilst Teresa stared into space.
She had been itching to train with tomes today; in fact, Felicia was still standing in the crowd with them, waiting patiently. When Teresa had casually sauntered into the yard to practice she had been met with requests to help with the cavaliers. A model of what some of the highest swordsmanship looked like.
On the other side of the bustling yard she could hear the fighters training, Cassandra, the resident Berserker Captain, was polishing her brood's ability to throw hand axes today.
A brief glance through the crowd showed that she was helping a beautiful girl with her throwing angle, adjusting her stance and grip whilst her tumbling blonde hair ambled down her back. Teresa pursed her lips and searched her mind for the girls name, when she found nothing she turned her gaze away to the archers on the wall. That girl must also be new.
Amongst the petite and darkly dressed force she could see two guards pointing at something the grand, imposing fortification blocked from sight. She peered at them, almost as if she would somehow see what they were interested in, but no vivid mental images came to mind.
Through pursed lips she turned to Felicia, beckoning her over with a finger. The pink haired maid hurried to her side, almost clumsily stumbling on a minuscule piece of rock before arriving by her side.
"Get the stablehands ready. It looks like we might be getting visitors soon." She guessed. The only real action the sentries got was minding who crossed the bridge and stopping those that were not worthy.
"Yes, my lady." Felicia agreed, hesitating before she left. "The tomes?"
"Return them to the mages armoury." Teresa ordered, leaning over to place the training blade down, then returning to a casual stand. "Go on now."
Felicia scurried away through the flesh wall of troops, disappearing in the blink of an eye. Without hesitation Teresa turned to Porcia and waved her hand to get her attention.
"I'll be up on the battlements for a bit, call me over if you need me to take on the rest of them for you." Teresa cheekily grinned whilst Porcia nodded a dismissal.
But one of the seasoned cavaliers jokingly called out to her. "You should beat up Captain Porcia instead! It'd save us a lot of trouble."
It earned a soft eruption of laughter from them all, Teresa joined in as she replied. "Yeah, maybe. I think that she needs a good brawl, you lot aren't giving one to her."
She left them cackling as she cut through the crowd, all of them accept Porcia who stood amongst them with a slight mask of disapproval.
Teresa found the outer stairs on the side of the wall and ascended them two at a time, all the way to the top. Her legs complaining as she crossed the battlements to where the two sentries still keenly surveyed.
"Are we getting guests?" She grinned, turning to stand next to them. They both greeted her formally and began pointing to what they saw, but she had already found it, making her smile grow wider and her heart thunder with excitement.
A small party was coming their way and they already appeared pretty lively. Xander, Leo and Elise were all dressed casually and leading at the front, their retainers lagging behind. Lazward and Odin were conversing and the silver headed man held as many flowers as he could carry. Like usual Effie was eating and did nothing to stop Elise from irritating Leo, who was buried head deep in a book.
Niles seemed to be telling something to Pieri that made her argue with him in an animated way; Arthur appeared to try and support her, but was silenced by something else that Niles said. It looked in good humour because the three of them then laughed and whatever tension had been there dissipated like smoke from a dying candle flame.
Xander was the only one not doing anything. Siegfried was slumbering at his side and her brother's eyes looked dead ahead, deep in throws of his own mind.
Some wind swept through her side-ponytail and ruffled the thieves' coats beside her.
She took a seat on the edge of the wall as they progressed along the bridge, letting one leg lazily slink down whilst the other was bent at the knee. Some of them hailed her, Elise did in a rather excited way; standing up as best she could in her horse's saddle and waving both arms. In response Teresa waved coolly and sniggered when her younger brother gave her the usual, now half-hearted lecture.
"One day you're going to fall from there." Leo smirked, looking up to listen for her usual response.
"Like how you used to fall from your horse, brother?" She jokingly scoffed, even dramatically raising her hand to her chest. "Ha! Not likely!"
He shook his head with exaggerated amusement and sauntered in, the last of them to enter beneath her portcullis and the little indent in the stone above it that was her throne. Teresa stood and stretched before ambling down to the party, many of her soldiers were now distracted by their arrival. If she had been amongst them she would have heard whispering about her brothers. Above the clamour Teresa could hear that captains vying for their troops attention, and one by one their soldiers listened to their commands.
"My, my Lazward. That's quite the bouquet of flowers you have there." Teresa mused as she arrived, without breaking eye contact with Lazward she scooped Elise up into her arms. A task that was becoming progressively harder to do with her emerging growth spurts. The silvery foreign man blushed and handed her a flower that she accepted.
"For you, my lady." He said as Elise placed the delicate, white blossom in her big sister's hair, the same way a pink bud sat in hers.
"It's nice." She grinned before raising an eyebrow. "But most of these other girls will get jealous that they're not going to get one, right?"
Before he could answer Niles bluntly cut in with a suave tone. "They don't want your flowers Lazward, not when they could try and cosy up to a prince or two."
Her attention was drawn away to Xander and Leo, both of which were unaffected by the comment that now had Lazward and Niles conversing.
"And where are your flowers?"
They did not answer. Leo pouted and looked to the side with disdain and Xander softly smiled. If anything had been worrying him before he had passed through the portcullis he looked to have left it out there. But even with the smile she could feel a slight tense weight between them, Elise's quickly overshadowed it as she turned in her grasp.
"I tried to get them to bring something but they wouldn't listen." Elise frowned.
Leo dismissed it with a wave of his hand. "Almost the entire residency of this Citadel is female, you can't expect us to bring so many."
"You could at least give some to the girls at court." Elise sharply retorted.
"Oh." Teresa negatively jeered. "Looks like you haven't been listening to her. Don't you want a nice, suitable bride, Leo?"
"I don't need her help to do it." He grumbled with embarrassment. Suddenly, Elise reached out to swat at his face, but Leo missed it as he took a step to the side. Lately he seemed to be getting more accustomed to avoiding her disciplinary swats.
"We have letters from Camilla." Xander impatiently interrupted.
"Oh, good!" Teresa exclaimed, giving an apologetic look to Elise as she put her down. It was too hard to keep holding her.
"She probably wrote them like last time." Leo huffed as he retrieved the thick parcels from his saddlebag. "Meaning that if each of us want a full story we'll have to read them together."
The stablehands had rushed over and were now tending to the horses. Once one had taken Ausdauer's reigns Xander commanded their group to the library. Her brother set a brisk pace and they managed to get to the library in record time, when they got there Xander dismissed their retainers to the divided gardens nearby, determined to keep the contents of the letters to themselves.
Teresa strolled over to her seat by the fire and slunk down into the comforting hug of the chair, watching the rest of her siblings walk towards the library's homely heart. Leo began to walk over to the armchair next to her but hesitated, instead taking a seat next to Xander on the couch.
Elise stopped as well, looking toward the armchair reluctantly.
"What?" Teresa playfully contemplated "Are we waiting on Camilla? If we are then we might be here for a while."
Her siblings remained silent; Xander even gave her a vaguely distasteful glance.
The armchair Elise looked to was typically where Camilla sat when she visited her humble abode. She still appeared a little reluctant, as if sitting in the chair might banish any memory of their big sister from their minds. With a sigh Teresa stood and hefted Elise over to her chair, then she sat down in the lavish comfort of 'Camilla's seat'.
"All right." Teresa dismissed, leaning over the bare table towards Leo and extending a hand. "My parcel, Leo."
In a nonchalant manner he handed the creamy package to her, a glance down onto the parchment allowed Teresa to behold her name dancing across in blank ink. Camilla wrote with a distinct swirling script, something powerful and beautiful.
The familiar weight of the packet and humbling thump it gave when she tapped her fingers against it told her that a book of some kind was inside. Slowly, she opened the mysterious package, inhaling a very faint perfume of peach. It was an unusual scent for a book and the brief perplexed surprise caused her brow to furrow.
From the cream outer parcel a rectangular object wrapped in orange silk emerged, falling onto her lap with an odd elegance. Her curiosity urged her to carefully unwrap the book from the protective silk, exposing a peach coloured cover to the amber light of the fire. The sweet perfume grew stronger.
It possessed a vibrant cover of fresh leather; it appeared to glow like a peach dawn with the radiating light of the fire behind her. The strange silver lock and buckle begged her to investigate them further. The lock itself was an ornate, shimmering orb with a dark canal in the bottom. A wide circle that seemed to travel upwards into the hidden heart of the globe, it did not look like any lock she had seen before. Teresa pondered the item and wondered how she might open it, her thoughts seemingly summoned Camilla's letter from the books clutches. Camilla would not send her a book to open without a key; the answer would be buried in her delicate writing.
Carefully, Teresa wrapped the book up in its silken blanket and placed it on the table. She took a moment to stare at it, almost as if its simplistic beauty compelled her to do so. It was difficult to peel her gaze away from the object, however she eventually managed to give all of her attention to Camilla's letter, revelling in that instead.
Camilla wrote that she had been doing well, as had Marzia, Selena and Beruka. She told stories of the people, most likely addressed to Elise, wrote of Selena's exploits for her brothers to tell to tell their retainers and of the strange occurrences in her day. The usual things she addressed.
It was a story halfway through that caught her attention. The tale of how she had stumbled upon the book that contently sat on her table. Camilla explained how she had been in the library looking for something to read when she had heard a loud sound. She had been by herself and searched high and low for the noise before it happened right behind her, scaring her. After she had calmed down she had found the book and opened it, remarking about the bloody surprise the lock apparently held. Then explaining something very, very strange that set her a little on edge.
"I was surprised to find nothing in it, sweetling. Perhaps it was one of the Rever ghost haunting this spectacular library that wanted me to have it. They tend to let books fall from the shelves, have done for centuries according to Hans. Anyway, the pages are beautifully pressed with yarrow flower, love seed and eryngo and I thought that you deserved such a fine journal more than I. I send it to you thinking that you could write poetry in it, I know that your current book is filling up quickly and I'm sure that you'll be done in no time."
Teresa briefly eyed the lock of the book again, apparently it was a 'blood lock' and she was supposed to prick her finger at the end of the canal to open it. She had never heard of blood locks before, Camilla had explained in the letter that they were very common amongst Rever books, tomes and journals.
So far her letter had also raised questions about why a blank journal had been left in her husband's library. It did not seem like a typical place to keep a virgin diary.
"I sent it to you because his sister, Bella, said that it would be a waste to have a beautiful journal locked up in the library like that. She also said that the ghosts tend to give gifts to people, I guess this was my gift. And to you I gift it because you know how terrible I am at keeping journals. Maybe it wanted to be found and used. I wouldn't want to be locked up and forgotten about either."
Teresa kept the story in mind as the rest of the letter became vaguely gloomy. She began to talk about how worried she was, it had been months and she still had not fallen pregnant with Hans's child. She wrote that he was patient and loving but was worried that if she did not grant that wish soon he would grow restless.
She ended the letter on a happy note, asking her not to worry and declaring that she would write to them all again very soon. Her big sister requested that Teresa write to her of her tome and strategy training. Finally she finished the entire account by telling her to inform Elise that all the drawings in her small book were done by her.
With a sigh Teresa finished, looking to Elise who eagerly gazed into her gift's drawings, each one of them hand drawn by Camilla. The artistry was impressive and soon enough Teresa found herself pleasantly leering at the drawings too, feeling the winds and shade of the caldera like she was actually there.
When Xander was done reading they all began to exchange answers to their questions. Elise was able to tell Teresa about her inquiry on daggers and Camilla even offered to send one to her next time. Leo also told her of Camilla's comment on the night sky and told her to look up at Ilygad, the central star to Anankos's series of eyes and the brightest orb in the sky besides the moon.
After the contents of all the letters were divulged, Xander briefly exited to allow the retainer's into the library, the presence of Niles compelled Teresa to pick up her new journal and hold it firmly to her chest. She had just begun her talk with Arthur and Odin when she heard her name being called as a summons.
"Oi, Teresa." Leo muffled voice impatiently shouted from behind a few rows of bookcases, specifically from the section of the library he had claimed as his own.
"Excuse me." Teresa pleaded, turning away. She briskly strode towards the fire and turned left to walk past three rows of bookcases arriving to an area that could have been entirely separate.
To either side of the space were tables, the one to her left was rectangular and was still left in the positions that endgame had dictated, her loss after a few weeks of play. It had been a long match. Next to it and in front of one of her bookcases was a black velvet couch; the one Leo usually slumbered on when he read himself to sleep. They were not there so she turned to her right where the table supporting the newest strategy board patiently waited; on its broad top it proudly displayed a more advanced game that birthed an intricate dance of wooden strategy.
A small smile twitched at her lips when she beheld the pieces. This board depicted the whole of Nohr and was set in a way that showed a raging civil war between east and west. Teresa had control over houses Nunn, Krakenburg, Glover, Lovelock and Stein. Iago had control of the rest and so far he was showing her how to set up a defensive campaign in farmlands and manage her supply lines more efficiently.
The smile grew a little more. She liked those lessons. They were less stressful than tome training because she was good at them. During play, when they were both thinking of what to do, they would usually drift to other topics that riled their combined interest. Last time had been a mock debate about which teas were better and how they should be served, their teasing argument had been inconclusive with no clear winner.
"New game?" Xander asked, leaning down over her side of the table, eying the pieces that signified her family. Unlike her casual games of chess, this game actually did depict her family on the board. They still looked somewhat generic but each of the six pieces had different traits so that they could be distinguished. Rickard was not old enough to have a piece yet.
"Yes." Teresa agreed, leaning down next to him and searching for his piece. She lightly nudged him in the ribs with a cheeky smile and pointed to it. "That's you. You're currently leading a defensive campaign against the Pyke in Stein lands. I need you to keep bread on my soldier's plates."
"Units." Leo corrected. Units were the technical term for the pieces in this strategy game and the word gave real numerical value to them. The small pieces represented thousands of soldiers; the medium tens of thousand and the large were fifty thousand strong. The mounted pieces with horses and wyverns worked the same way, but the castles and supply pieces had different values.
"I know, I know." Teresa dismissively sighed, reaching over to play with Leo's piece. "But when I say soldier's it makes it feel like actual life is at stake."
"You shouldn't think about it that way." Leo bluntly remarked, thoughtfully considering Iago's positioning on the western side of the board, holding his chin in his fingers and crossing his arms. "Tacticians on the field need to be able to make sacrifices with their units to succeed. If you think of the lives you're using it might hinder your decision and result in a more significant loss."
"As Iago's sure to remind me." Teresa grumbled; she beheld her own tiny wooden piece, currently guarding the Glover lands and gearing up for an offensive on Cutler. When she invaded she would have Leo join in briefly to try and capture as much of their part of the river as possible.
"I take it that learning strategy is going well for you." Xander huffed, standing up and wandering over to Danish territory, looking down at Camilla's wyvern piece with a sombre expression. It made her wonder if he could see something she could not so she looked to Iago's troops in Dane lands.
"Yes, I enjoy it a lot." She toothily grinned. "Gunter's taught me a great deal over the years but now Iago is teaching me new ways to command."
The conversations they had also helped. Having a friend to improve for made learning a topic much easier. And considering Iago her friend had spurned her on to improve in both tomes and strategy, she craved his approval.
"I'd be careful." Xander warned, walking over to gaze at Cawdorian lands. "He'll try to teach you dishonourable, sneaky ways of doing things."
"And what's so bad about that?" Teresa curiously mused. "Iago said that playing staunchly to traditional Nohrian war tactics is a dangerous thing to do. It makes you predictable."
"If you don't have the support of your soldiers then you don't have an army." Xander coolly began to explain. "A large majority of these men have been trained to fight honourably, and if you force them to continuously act against the grain of what they've been taught they'll rebel back against you – that's something these mindless pieces can't teach you."
Teresa pondered what he had to say for a moment. "That's true. But Iago amongst other generals that use such tactics have been greatly successful with good rallying speeches explaining why such actions should be taken."
"Rallying speeches can only do so much, sister." Xander looked to her, voice slightly raised. "Imagine putting Gunter into scenario after scenario centred around these tactics. He's a true knight, as honourable as they get. And I'm sure that if you made him do such things he'd turn against you too."
"Xander's right." Leo agreed. "Sometimes tactics that are dishonourable can not be avoided, I acknowledge that, but they shouldn't be relied on."
"All right." Teresa nodded. Her brothers had some good points.
"Only scum uses such cowardly tactics so freely." Xander flippantly remarked. Teresa could not help but leer at him, the brews of defensive anger stirring her veins and prickling her skin.
"You call him 'scum'?" Teresa defensively whined.
"Yes. If you knew what atrocit-" Xander began, but Teresa was quick to cut him off with her own sharp tongue.
"Have you ever had a conversation with him?" She abruptly asked, standing up and staring at Xander who was now leaning over Cawdor, casting a shadow over the land as he blocked the moon from kissing it.
"No. My relationship with him is strictly political. I wouldn't trust such a man with my life, let alone anything personal." Xander replied firmly. Teresa could tell that he did not like the way she currently challenged him, as he stood up and summoned an air of mild authority.
Just as she was about to speak Xander cut her off on purpose.
"You've been conversing with him, haven't you?" Xander scowled. "God forbid that you've tried to befriend him."
"I have, actually. I can assure you that he's very human, not the 'scum' you suggest he is." Teresa confessed, crossing her arms and tilting her head. "And you have that friendship to thank for my rapid progression with strategy."
"No, you have your own diligence and nobody else to thank for that." Xander retorted.
"He's put so much time into me." Teresa corrected, thinking about the longer hours with her he had recently committed to.
"He wants to please father." Xander quickly responded.
"Yes, he does." She briskly agreed. "But he also wants to see me succeed."
"He's using your training as a ploy to gain favour – to do the 'impossible' and raise your tome level." Xander bit back, wincing when he realized what he had said. She closed her eyes and sharply inhaled with disbelief, to try and calm down for their retainer's sakes so that they would not have to hear a potentially massive dispute.
"You lied about having faith in me?" Teresa quietly growled through gritted teeth, trying to draw back the shock of being struck that way by her own brother. Her heart began to mope and shudder as it belatedly registered what was going on. Not once had Xander believed she was incapable of doing something. Months earlier he had maintained his faith in her, even though she suspected he might think otherwise. It had comforted her even if it was fake, but to actually hear him say it hurt her.
"I didn't lie. I have faith in you, really, I do. It's just…" He paused briefly and awkwardly swept some hair from his face, unable to complete his sentence.
"You'll see." She angrily pointed at him. "When I get through this stupid tome block you'll see. And when I do you'd better thank Iago for dragging me through this shit. Oh, and in the upcoming summer tourney I'll wipe the floor with you in human chess. You'll have to thank him for that as well."
"Teresa!" Xander disapprovingly hissed; he despised it when she swore.
"Sister, please don't be rash. Showing both of you up publicly wouldn't be a good idea." Leo quietly interrupted, but it was lost beside their brother's jeer.
"You're being oversensitive!" Xander said as if commanding her.
Teresa scoffed in disbelief and gestured to herself. "Me? Oversensitive? This isn't me being oversensitive, this is me being hurt, Xander. You'd know that if you were around me more often!"
She cut herself off and pointed a finger down onto the table. "In fact. In the four months I've spent training with Iago he's visited me more often than you ever did in the three years you just disappeared."
"He's obliged to!" Xander angrily snapped back. "I have a duty to father-"
"You had a duty to me too! As your sister who needed you!" Teresa whined back, perhaps it was wrong to make this conversation so much more personal, but it was already too late to back down from the topic now. "And you're doing the same to Elise and Leo! You're distancing yourself from us because you can't take one second out to listen and spend time with us!"
"You don't understand!" He barked in return, pointing his finger back at her. "I don't always have time to look after you all! If you weren't so selfish about it you'd fathom that!"
"Selfish?" She sneered, "You can't say that when you've been equally as self-centred. I made time for you, Xander. I spent hours waiting for you when you said you would come but you never did! I'd sleep up on the wall waiting – praying for you to come. It's like you just pretended that I didn't exist anymore and the worst part was that I still don't fully understand why."
Xander cupped his hands to his face and rubbed it before stroking back his hair again, cheeks now flushed with fuming intensity. She wasted no time keeping on her role.
She exhaled and calmed down a little before speaking again. "You fucked up with me, Xander. I know we've both been trying to fix this now, but it's so hard to. Do you want this for, Leo? For Elise? Do you want them to have to try and forge new links like this?"
He remained silent, pursing his lips and closing his eyes, tilting his head to the ceiling.
"You know you left me at such a vulnerable time. I was alone here, not allowed to come to the castle. I depended on your visits." She sighed, stopping herself from confessing everything she felt, she still did not think that he was ready for the entirety of it yet. "I had the others come visit, but sometimes I really just wanted to pick up a sword and duke it out with you, you know?"
Xander took a deep breath. She felt like she was shaking with a flurry of emotion. Anger, sadness, betrayal, the distinct feeling of wanting to forge strong bonds with her brother but not knowing how exactly to fix them, even fear.
"Look, whatever. If you're not careful, Xander, Elise will end up as upset with you as I am. She needs you now that Camilla's not here. She needs you to help nurture her. You have no excuse not to at least talk with her, her wing is directly next to yours."
"All right." Xander agreed, turning away from her and looking out of the window. Whenever he did that it meant the conversation was over, regardless if she wanted it to be or not.
After a brief pause and sigh she looked to Leo. He stood rigid and awkward against the wall, staring intensely at a singular spot on the board. His piece. He was not supposed to hear all of that. In fact, that was the first time he had heard her argue with Xander about their broken sibling bond.
"I'm sorry, Leo." She sniffed, picking up the silk wrapped book from where she had subconsciously placed it on the edge of the board. She could not remember when it had happened. "You weren't supposed to hear any of that."
"No – umm … that's ok." He uneasily replied, still not gazing at either of them.
She winced a little bit with the headache that had started to rumble forth, like the snarling thunder from an incoming storm. Teresa gently pinched the area between her eyes and soothingly rubbed the uncomfortable one with her thumb. But the left over heat from her angry outburst had left her hand hot and uncomfortable.
"I'm going to go to my room for a little bit. If you need me for anything just send Flora or Felicia." She swallowed, becoming aware of the dryness in her mouth.
"All right." Leo agreed, this time bravely looking to her.
Teresa simply nodded and turned away, walking towards the other strategy board where her card had been watching them on the edge, having placed itself there. Without much thought she picked it up and slipped it into the silk cover of her new journal, one that she might write angry words in later on.
She strode into one of the aisles the bookcases made and continued to the end where she turned left and progressed for the double doors. Not wanting to catch the glances of anyone that might have overheard she looked down to her boots and slid to the door, quickly opening it and slinking out without closing it behind her.
Nobody seemed to notice her go. That or nobody wanted her to feel any more awkward.
Teresa took an immediate left and quietly ambled back, the headache was growing in intensity and made her feel a little queasy. But the cooling of her blood and slow, hurt beating of her heart in her chest and throat felt even worse.
She was not sorry for what she had said, she would never apologise for something that was the truth, but she did feel shamed that she had allowed the argument to stretch needlessly into that territory.
Lately her relationship with Xander had been better than it had been for a long time and improving consistently, to the point where he had began to visit her more often, even without the presence of Camilla's letters. But now she feared that she had set that progress back again and had unnecessarily ended up hurting them both.
As she angrily jogged up the spirals stairs of her spire, her hot breath irritating her dry mouth, she realized that Xander probably would not come again for a long time.
When she entered her room at the top of Maiden's Spire she placed the book down on a chair in the seating area close to the entrance. Instinctively she turned back to the door and acquired the pink ribbon from the inside handle to place on its outside twin. This ribbon would tell her staff that she needed some time to cool off. She locked the door with all the bolts and made sure that the other door that connected her spire to Felicia and Flora's quarters in the Sister Spire was unlocked for emergency use.
It would be unfair to bite the heads off of her staff if they disturbed her. It was not their fault.
Teresa did not bother to get undressed, she simply slung herself onto her bed, face down against the cold pillow to try and remedy her erupting headache. The fire in her room must have been dying, because it felt pleasantly cool and the curtains were drawn so that it was mostly dark.
For a while she just lay there, thinking of nothing but feeling everything, every pain and miserable flutter her body mustered. Even the twitching of her lower lip, but she battled back any tears that might want to crawl free and curled onto her side.
She distracted herself with thoughts of poetry until she fell asleep, the numb headache tumbling away into a void where she pranced around the fields of Windham's farming Halo, collecting rocks for no particular reason. Strangely, the sun had replaced the moon, but it was not bright like day, Nohr's sky still glimmered with stars. But it felt swelteringly hot like it could have been summer in a southern territory, far too hot for where Windham was.
She threw one of the rocks into the field of wheat and walked towards it. Once she had reached it she threw another rock far away and followed that one as well, she did that for long time until she noticed a distant figure clad in red. It was tall and despite not being able to see them all too well she could tell that they were facing away from her atop a hill, towards mountains that did not actually exist within Windham's sights.
Even though she felt this person to be dangerous and wanted to turn away, her body carried her forward as if they tugged at her with invisible string.
"No." She told herself, repeating it like a chant.
Wind began to beat at the wheat in the field that had started to thin, then grow in patches and later disappear beneath rocks entirely.
This person clad in red still faced away from her, away to where she could tell a cold, steely moon was rising. She walked up the small stone hill, snow gently fell from the stars like each one was crying, and they did not melt in the heat of the sun or warmth of her flesh.
She continued to tell herself not to go towards him whilst her heart thundered like it might fly away out her throat, the hair stood up on the back of her neck and her loose hair beat in the wind like a teal flag. Soon her loud whimpers and pleas not to progress were lost to a gale as it howled like a thousand angry wolves.
Wet, fleshy things could be felt beneath her feet, hot liquid painting them as she rose to the crest of the hill, but she was too frightened to look down. Teresa slipped and grasped something damp and hairy with her hand, but never looked as she stood up and continued to walk. Beyond the hill was tundra thick with short grasses of pale purple, dull green and grey.
Her heart beat fast when the person turned to her.
He was clad entirely in scarlet robes that hung elegantly from his bleached skin, and atop his head sat a red spiky crown. It appeared somewhat soft and velvety between patches of sticky red gore. The crown along with his incredibly long black hair clashed with his deathly pale skin and colourless eyes, even his pupil was a soft grey colour, just darker than his silver irides and sclera.
High cheekbones allowed his hair, parted down the centre to frame his face, to slither over his cheeks like a waterfall. Feminine features made him appear more beautiful than handsome, striking her with a strange type of awe. She felt the air around him; becoming lost amongst the pervasive regal manner it smothered her with.
The rainbow light of dawn beyond made him appear almost divine. It was odd to her, the moon was rising alongside the dawn and the servile sun was now setting with the claws of night, the celestial bodies had switched places and roles.
Slowly, he brought his hand to her cheek, she shivered with the way he touched her, it felt intimate and invasive, and his icy cold skin only added to the feeling that she had been thrown into frigid water. Snow continued to amble down from the sky, covering the both of them with a thin crust of white.
He smiled and said something in a strange dialect that she could not entirely catch before moving a curled finger to her cheekbone, gently stroking it against the area whilst she began to sluggishly freeze.
He used his thumbs to draw open her eyes and gazed into them. When he was satisfied he tilted her head to the side to look at something else, then re-centred her gaze back to him. Lastly he stroked her lips with an arctic thumb before plunging it inside her hot mouth, recoiling when he nicked it on her sharp fang. Instead of scowling with pain he smiled with great happiness, as if he had found something exciting.
She could taste the blood in her mouth, it had the typical metal tang, but the colour from his thumb was much deeper than normal, a shade closer to that of garnet.
He spoke to her again with great delight. Somehow it brought human emotion to his Godly face and made him look mortal and vulnerable. Teresa could even swear that he looked like he might cry with joy and turmoil.
"You are not of my own blood..." She did not hear what else he said; it seemed to fall away behind the sound of her heartbeat and into his incredibly thick accent. Despite wanting to answer her lips felt like they were solid and cold air lay lazy and heavy in her lungs.
It looked like he might say something else.
THUMP.
The loud noise made Teresa start with an involuntary squeal, and in the near pitch black of her room she fumbled for the dagger beneath her pillow. When her quaking fingers found the freezing steel she crouched on her bed and peered into the darkness, trying to let her eyes adjust.
Intently she listened but nothing else happened. Nobody lunged from the clutches of shadow and from what light was available her room did not look disturbed.
Satisfied that nobody was lurking around her she warily left her bed and turned to tend the fire. It took her some time to get the flames burning brightly, but when they burst to life she relished the warmth. The room was a lot cooler than it usually was, especially now that they were approaching mid summer.
It took her a brief moment to remember what had happened earlier on. A fleeting look out the window granted her sight of the moon, which told her that it was around two in the morning. Most of her staff would be asleep, as would her siblings. Whilst she gazed at the falling celestial body, let the beams kiss her face, she decided that she would apologise to Xander in the morning. Not because of the truth of her words, but because she had brought the argument into personal territory. If she woke him now he would only become grumpy and would grow angrier with her, then she would have to apologise for that too.
Teresa let the curtain fall before her face, smothering the moonlight. As she stretched her arms above her head and stood on the tips of her toes she savoured the feeling of distending the tension in her muscles. With the stretch the last of the cold was gone, as if she had been thawed and was alive again.
After a yawn she slapped her tongue against the roof of her mouth and thought that she tasted a very faint trace of blood. Confused, she stuck a finger inside to feel around for a cut. Her mouth was almost entirely dry; her finger could not find any grazes.
It took her a while to remember the dream, the man that had cut his finger on her fang and had gleefully looked upon her when he did so. She tried to taste the blood again but all she could taste was the musty dry fur that came with lack of water and deep sleep. Perhaps the taste was just the last remnants of that strange place she had visited, nothing to worry about.
She looked to her bedside and saw a pitcher of water and goblet that had not been there before, meaning that one of her staff had tended to her whilst she slept. Some dried fruit, bread and cheese sat on a plate beside it. From the way everything was neatly positioned and the specific order of the food she could tell that it had been Flora.
Her thirst drew her forward to down glass after glass of water; eventually she finished it all and left the glass and pitcher on the table. Maybe the thump had been Flora closing the door a little too loudly.
The next thing she did was strip from her clothing and put on a nightdress, a slightly thicker one than she usually would have for summer but her room was cold tonight. When she was satisfied with the grey item she crawled back into bed and slept without dream till she was stirred the next morning.
She dressed quickly for breakfast and marched down to the mess hall, when she entered Leo and Elise were eating with their retainers close by their sides. Teresa took her modest throne and discretely leaned over to Leo.
"Where's Xander?"
"He left yesterday evening." Leo whispered; eying the egg he had scooped up with his fork.
"Damn." Teresa hissed to herself, massaging her temples and releasing a big, disheartened sigh. She had not even been able to apologise to him, or even say goodbye.
As she listened to her sibling's converse she pinched the bridge of her nose and ruefully lost herself in thought about when he might visit next. When they fought Xander would stay away for a long time, and the longer the period the more their crippled bond would suffer.