Notes: Part 3 of Conquest, takes place about half a year after Part 2.
Conquest 3
Elincia placed one last stitch on the hemline of her lady's gown before nodding in satisfaction. "All done, my lady," she told the blonde woman.
Leanne Serens, who had certainly struggled to keep still during the whole affair, heaved an exaggeratedly relieved sigh and carefully let the dress slide to the floor. Elincia picked it up and carefully put it away while her mistress pulled on the dress she had been wearing before the fitting. "Thank you, Ellin," she smiled, using the name Elincia had given as her own.
"Of course, my lady," the pink-eyed slave murmured, bobbing her head in a semi-bow, knowing after five months that Lady Leanne held an extreme dislike for subservience, much like her foster brother, Lord General Tibarn Hawk. "I promise you it will be done in time for the Summer Solstice."
"I have no worries," the golden-haired lady replied, idly waving Elincia's words away. However, her gentle green eyes stayed on Elincia as the slave began pulling out her needles and the box of vari-colored thread. "Ellin, you might find this, ah, impertinent, but… how do you come to speak so nobly?"
Elincia froze. If there was one question she had been dreading her mistress asking, it was one about her past, and this question certainly counted. However, she knew what to say so as to hopefully avoid suspicion. "My older sister was the lady's maid for Princess Lucia," she lied, eyes downcast.
"Oh," Leanne mouthed, shock and horror in her tone. "So then, when my people conquered your city…"
The former princess let her head bow down further as she elaborated, "she did not survive her highness' death." Letting tears gather in her eyes as she recalled her sister's last moments, Elincia continued, "she would not have wanted to, for she was very devoted to her highness. But it was she who taught me so much, in hopes that I might one day join her in service. Princess Lucia looked kindly on me, and so I had once thought… But that was a long time ago, and—"
"How horrible!" Leanne broke in, her tone so horrified that Elincia looked up at her mistress, surprised by the tears running down Leanne's pale cheeks. "How… how could we have been so cruel, that time?"
Elincia sighed, and gave the blonde the only answer she had been able to come up with. "Because war is cruel, my lady. Some say that it is a necessity, but if so then it is a vicious, brutal one. I can only hope that you never have to witness such a thing."