Chapter 3: Carried with Love
Asta stared. She stared some more. Nope it's still there. She finally concedes. "Allyria, what is that supposed to be?"
The older girl standing next to her in the training yard just laughs at her confusion. "Don't be silly Asta you know what it is."
She stares again. The thing stares back. Nothing has changed. She is force to concede again. "No, really Ally. What is that supposed to be?" She asks pointing one hand in its direction. "I'm pretty sure you said something like, Asta I'll show you how to ride. Horses are great. You will love them." Now she waves her hand at it to emphasize the thing. "So what is that?"
Her young aunt crosses her arms over her chest to look at her sternly. Definitely a move copied with mixed results from Evelyn. "Don't be mean. Sunbeam is lovely." She reaches out with one hand to pet the think on the head. "I got him from brother when I was a little younger than you. I have told you about him"
That was certainly not true. Asta is sure of that. "You told me you had a horse named Sunbeam you learnt riding on. That is not a horse." At her accusation Allyria become a little red around her cheeks. She was certainly told about a horse and she had been in the stables before, just never with anyone else there. She was apparently too young to enter the stables and seeing the mighty hoofs and sheer size of some of the war horses she understood why. They are dangerous. They almost seem like completely different animals than the merchant and farmers wagon pulling horses she was used to.
How does she know? She had snuck in of course. She just never bothered to figure out who each horse belongs to. This leads to her current argument where her aunt insists, "It is a horse." And shortly looks away from her. "Just not a very big one."
Asta arches an eyebrow at that. The one over her violet eye for better impact and they hold each other gazes for a while before finally Allyria concedes for the first time. "Fine. It is a pony." She says weakly and adding a little annoyed, "Are you happy now?"
"That remains to be seen." She still hasn't let her questioning eyebrow down. "What are we going to do with a pony?"
Now it is her aunt's turn to lift a challenging eyebrow "For someone so smart you sure act stupid sometimes." That comment surprisingly hurts so it must be true. Sometimes she wonder about her reasoning, but then remembers a green streak running by her inner eye screaming about youth and she is sure she acts perfectly reasonable. "You can have him to practice riding. Brother told me I'll get a real horse for my tenth nameday in a couple of days"
"Ah." Asta doesn't know how to feel about that, but her unclear sound of agreement can't hurt for the moment. She stares at the thing. Doing so had helped previously. It's barely taller than her and she is a little girl. She also never rode a horse before. Horse drawn wagon during escorts sure but never a horse, not even talking about a pony. Shinobi had no need for them. They were faster and had more stamina than any equine creature. She stares at the girl beside her and meets eyes so full of excitement and expectations it hurts. "Thank you, Ally."
Her aunt beams a wide smile as response. "You are welcome." Her excitement visibly increases. "Come! I saddled him today so you can try right away."
"Ma. Sure," is the former shinobi`s response. She isn't certain how to proceed though. Sunbeam looks at her, pauses a moment then lowers his head to nibble on some grasses growing there. It was definitely mocking her. Stepping forward she pulls herself up the saddle like she has seen others do many times.
The breeches she is wearing give now resistance and she safely lands on the beast. Asta normally wears them. It's not that she has anything against wearing dresses for formal occasions but the mobility in them is just too hindered for general purpose wear. She is positive that is her reason and if questioned she will not falter. Allyria disagrees with her, as does Evelyn, but they don't mind it either.
Seeing her goal accomplished she grabs the reins with her hands and holds them. She continues to sit there, Sunbeam still grazing. Asta gets a little annoyed with waiting and waves the reins about. Nothing happens. She pulls the reins and the pony shakes its head a little and carries on grazing.
That was all Allyria could take. "Hahahaahaha." She falls to the ground shaking with tears in her eyes as she laughs and doesn't stop.
Sitting there upon Sunbeam, still grazing, with her feet not more than a foot above ground Asta realizes something profound. Ponies are tiny creatures and have no dignity and because they don't have any they steal it from others. Therefore it is impossible to keep any dignity while riding a pony.
Asta is asleep in her chambers when the noise of the door handle being used instantly turns her awake. Instinctively she reaches unnoticed to the knife hidden under her pillow. She finally nicked one no one would miss for her training. She would have done so sooner if not for the simple fact that if a knife disappears someone will be accused of having stolen it.
She is sure she would never be found out, but someone else probably would be at least suspected to have done it and so she held back. Then some time ago Eiric rode out with part of his guards to apprehend a group of bandits in the eastern mountains. They brought two back to Starfall with their equipment to question them and find clues to their origin. With that she had her prize now resting under her hand.
A moment later she recognizes the soft steps and relaxes, but doesn't move till after Allyria finished climbing into her bed. She sighs a little and turns to her aunt. "Aren't you a little old for this?"
It's hard to see in the dark but the former shinobi is sure she can make out a faint blush on the embarrassed girl. "I am, but you are not," she deflects with an astute amount of determination.
At least it is well reasoned Asta has to agree. Ally used to come and sneak into her bed to sleep quite often when they were younger. Sometimes her young aunt was just lonely and Asta would be reminded that with all her cheerfulness she was a child that lost her parents and older sibling's way to early.
It's not really all that great to bother her newlywed brother and his wife in the night and that left Asta. Allyria took well to her surrogate little sister and found comfort in taking care of her as well as her presence.
Asta doesn't mind she loves her aunt and her antics remind her of her pack. When they were needy for affection or wanted to lift his mood they snuck into her bed as well. She suspected a deeper reason for the visit today nonetheless. "Ally? Is this about Edric?"
"Of course not!" Allyria whispers back in sharp tone that wasn't a whisper at all. "Why would you say that?" She seems really affronted.
Since the young hire of Starfall was born Evelyn had a lot less time for them outside their lessons. Newborns are fuzzy and she is the Lady of Starfall on top of that. It comes with its own responsibility in the household. Even Eiric seems to be busier now.
"It's not what I want to say." Turning to her aunt she places a hand on top of her head to pet her. It worked for her pack. "It's not bad to feel lonely because you want to spend more time with the people important to you." She gives Allyria a soft smile and continues, "Babes are just icky and useless and as soon as Edric grows out of it you'll have one more person important to you."
Her aunt's eyes have grown a little misty, but she returns her smile. A few moments moment's pass by with both of them just enjoying the peaceful silence of the night before her and gives her a smirk instead. "You are just still bitter that Maester Morten had you help deliver him. It's your own fault. You gave him your word to help with his duties"
"That never happened and you can't force me to remember," Asta quickly answers. It is not true though. Sadly she does remember it, very vividly at that. With her shinobi record she thought her promise to help non consequential. Injuries, blood gore, death, and all the other familiar things, but she had not thought about assisting the birth of her cousin. To be truthful it would normally not faze her, but somewhere in the middle of the whole ordeal she realized that it could happen to her in the future. It hammered some things home she didn't want to think about and so she didn't.
Her softly giggling aunt doesn't seem to believe her. "But of course. It must be as you say." The tone of her voice lets you conclude the opposite of what she just said was true. She takes her hand with her own and snuggles into her side. "Thank you, Asta. Sleep well"
"Ma. No problem Ally. Sleep well," She responds and soon the chamber is filled with the noise of soft breaths as the two girls drift off to sleep.
The next morning Asta wakes early like always. The morning is not yet dawned when she carefully frees herself from her still sleeping aunt. She takes a moment to strap her knife to her calve were her boots would hide it later and puts on her simple breeches and brown tunic from the day before.
She sneaks to her area of the gardens secluded by woods and begins her daily training. Her body is still young but fit enough for slight exercise. She does flexibility stretches and her daily run. Then she goes through her katas, training hand to hand combat. As Asta will most definitely go after her mother and become tall and slender, speed and flexibility will be the center of her fighting style.
Kakashi was a speed fighter more than a power one so many off the things he learned are still viable for her now. She needs to adjust the katas to her new body nevertheless. A woman's hips are wider compared to a man and their center of gravity is different as well. It's not an issue just yet, but will be soon enough. For optimal efficiency and power of her movements she would have to make use of her increased flexibility.
It would be easier if Guy was here. He was many things but doubtlessly he was a genius in training hand to hand combat. She lets out a barely audible sigh and her thoughts wander to her old friend as they often do while training her body. She refuses to honor him with anything but memories however. Neither the color green nor the power of youth suit her overly much.
Finishing her daily routine she focuses on her knife. She likes to train her handling and dexterity in her room. When she is alone she trains her fingers and twirls the knife between them. It was quite dull so perfect for that kind of training.
Here in the yard she trains her throwing skills with it. It's very different from the Kunai or Shuriken Asta is used to. She has seen other throw daggers though and what the former copy ninja has seen she will be able to replicate in time. There is no need for a sharingan for something this simple. It's not a throwing knife and therefore not balanced to be thrown, making the training as difficult as it gets.
Maybe she could get some of the tools and weapons she is used to when she is older and finds a competent smith. Be that as it may they would be really recognizable and potentially raise questions, so she would prefer to manage with knifes. They fill the same role as weapons as Kunai did. They are in essence midrange thrown, hidden, offhand support and very close combat weapons.
Seeing the sun begin to peak over the horizon in the east she finishes up her training to swipe her body clean and throws on some fresh clothes with a sleeping Allyria still in her bed. The castle begins to wake up and it wouldn't be long until her family broke their fast, but she still had some time. She had to be careful not be found training as she wasn't quite old enough for it yet in her uncles opinion so she went to the library.
Climbing the stairs she found it filled with Starfall's aging Maester scribing on some parchment. "Good morning Maester Morten." Taking a fleeting look at the page being filled she adds, "I see you are still working on our massaging cypher."
Upon spending time with her teacher in the rookery sending and receiving massages she proposed the idea of using a simple code to preserve massage security. Ravens could be shot down and massages intercepted and read, maybe even as simple as by Maester of other keeps reading them before sending them of. There were methods of tampering with a wax seal on a massage to open it without breaking the seal in the process.
In the end they decided on the Morse code, adopted of course for the alphabet of the common tongue. Needless to say is that the old scholar didn't know that. It is a simple code that translates letters in a short series of dots and lines, which is exactly what the scholar was doing now. It has the added benefit of being able to communicate the code through short and long sounds.
"Good morning, my lady. I am indeed." Maester Morten says putting his quill down. "I fear that
I haven't contributed to new academic ideas in a long while and got excited. I couldn't keep to my bad."
Asta smiles at the old man before responding, "Ma. It's good that you found passion. Do be careful not to let it burn you out."
Her teacher huffs at that. He looks out the window to measure the time and grumbles. "I survived this long I think I know how to manage a little longer. I want to complete transcribing the alphabet today. It is not as easy as it sounds to find the optimal combinations for the letters."
She hums in agreement looking over his work sheet. He is presenting different options so the Lord could pick a preferred one. "We should consider adding set letter combinations for different situations. For example if something is urgent or there is an emergency."
The Maester ponders over her suggestion for a moment. "I feel we should wait until it is implemented. I would do no good to make it overly convoluted when it is still in testing, but it's definitely something to have in mind." He looks over his work sheet again and adds, "If I manage to complete the transcription today I will bring the cypher before the Lord. Without his approval we shouldn't plan to far ahead."
That was true enough. Asta didn't doubt her uncle's wisdom to see the benefits of this undertaking, but doing too much without his notice could seem like they went behind his back. "Very well. I wish you good fortune and begin my journey to the dining hall. It would not do us any favor if I anger my aunt again getting lost on the road of life."
Evelyn really was not happy with her missing meals. Maester Morten however just laughed. "Aye my lady. You do well in fearing the mothers of this world. They hold a special kind of power." With that last bit of advice from her mentor she made her way to break her fast with the family.
It was that evening, she had just brushed down Sunbeam after riding practice when she was stopped by a voice "Ah! M'lady a moment please."
Upon hearing the familiar voice Asta turns around to see her former and Edric's current wet nurse slowly catching up to her. "Good evening Wylla. Is something wrong?"
The brown haired woman finally reaching her responds immediately, "Good evening m'lady. Nothing of that sort. The young Lord is doing well."
She is relieved by the answer. It's not that something was wrong with Edric to have her worried. It's just that babes are fragile and the medical treatment here is far off from Konoha standard. Tsunade would be on a warpath. If she were here in Westeros in her stead she would have probably already taken over the Citadel in Oldtown and reformed all they knew about medicine. Alas they have her and she is throwing knifes around were nobody can see. She feels really underachieving right now and can't wait to be allowed to train and do something useful.
"What brings you here then Wylla? I don't suppose you left him without reason." As far as she knew for the next few years being with her new cousin is the servant's only task.
"No m'lady of course not," was the wet nurse's expected reply. "Lady Evelyn wished to be with him this evening. She bid me to find you. Lord Eiric expressed his will for you to present yourself."
That is not really unexpected to her. Maester Morten seems to have finished his work and brought in before my uncle. "I thank you for informing me. Can I find my uncle in his solar?"
"Yes m'lady. I would think so."
That was really all she needed to know. Mostly Eiric was a patient man and would just wait for whenever he and Asta would cross paths to inform her of things so it must be somewhat urgent. "I thank you again Wylla and bid you a pleasant evening. I should be on my way."
The servant smiled and gave a little bow. "A pleasant evening to you as well m'lady."
Not waiting for any more interruptions The Dayne bastard made her way to the lord's sola. She strolled through the hallways of the ancient castle thinking about how to sell her coding idea. Intel security was important. Reaching the door she knocked and waited for permission to enter.
It took a moment before she heard her desired response. "You may enter!" Asta enter the room and immediately takes in all the details like she was trained to do. Her uncle was sitting behind his large desk surrounded by books. The dry air smelled like ink and parchment. The former village leader felt a little sorry for the lord. It's seems the bane of any competent leader existed here as well. Paperwork was a vile enemy. The absence of her favorite Maester struck her as odd however.
Upon her arrival Eiric's lips twitched a little into what people who know him recognize as a smile. "Good evening Asta. It is good you are not lost again."
Taking the comment in the spirit it was given she replied, "Good evening uncle. The path of life is treacherous. All must take heed who wish to tread upon it."
Her uncle looked no less amused as he stood up. "Aye, indeed" He strolls past her and holds the door open before he speaks again. "Walk with me, will you?"
It is a command rather than a question. Asta understands it and has no reason to protest. "Of course." She leaves the room again and her uncle follows and closes the door. After locking it he turns in the hallway starts on his way. She has no problems matching his stride with her small body. Her uncle is a very deliberate person
They walk through their ancestral home for a few moments in comfortable silence. Eiric gathers himself and picks up the conversation again. "You are kind Asta."
She was not really expecting that. She has a feeling this is not about her cypher project. It feels more profound than that. "I somehow feel like I should protest. What baseless accusation."
He halts a moment to glance down at her with an unreadable look before bringing his focus back upfront and picking up his pace anew. "You are. You like to hide your emotions behind a mask of indifference. Your kindness as well."
For some reason it occurs to her in this moment that her family does know her quite well and maybe this is what family feels like. She doesn't show any of it as her uncle carries on. "I don't know why you do it. Perhaps I was a bad example for you or perhaps it is your nature. You were always brighter than others. Bright enough to not let others know your insides."
They walk up a flight of stairs in silence neither knowing how to continue or feeling it needed not to. After several more moments Eiric is the one to break the silence again. "My lady wife informed me she found Allyria in your chambers again this morning."
"Ma. Is that so?" Asta didn't know where he was going with this but he is an intelligent man and the implication will not be lost on him nor Evelyn. They will probably take some time for her tomorrow if at all possible.
Her uncle seems to have found what he wanted to tell her. "People tell me you resemble your father in nature. I think you carry your father on the outside and your mother on the inside."
He comes to a stop in front of the door Asta knew was her late mother's but never went inside. Not because she couldn't of course but simply because she wouldn't. It was important to her uncle in a way she hadn't wanted to intrude upon. There are other rooms she hasn't entered out of respect, like the treasury and some ceremonial rooms but this was probably the most relevant for her family.
"You look like her too. Your colors are different but your soft features are all her" Eiric turns to her and puts a hand on her shoulder looking deep into her mismatched eyes. "I can see her willfulness and stubbornness inside you. The drive to do good. But most of all I can see her kindness in you."
Asta is not sure she agrees, but it is not her place to make that judgment. Eiric holds her gaze a little longer and then pulls out the key to open the door. They both step inside. Everything is in order but very dusty. Apparently not many people come here.
"These were your mother's chambers. I know you never knew her but she carried you with love"
He fiddles with the key between his fingers idly, his eyes on things she couldn't see. The former shinobi knows what it's like to mourn and so she only gives him her silent company in support. Time flies by but neither cares. When Eiric finally turns to her the light coming in from the window changed to a dark orange-red with the sun disappearing behind the Red Mountains. He holds out the key and presses it into her palm.
"Your Mother would be proud of you. I like to think about how much she would enjoy seeing you annoy lords and ladies wherever you find them." He makes to leave the room but stops inside the door. "This is yours now. Do with whatever you find as you desire" He gives her one last meaningful look adding, "I got everything I'll ever need of her already."
With that Asta is left in silence and it is her turn to fiddle with the key and stare at nothing. She never knew a mother. From what she could tell Ashara would have been a good one. The silence doesn't change until she finally decides it's stupid for a grown man inside a not so grown girl to mourn things that never were and never will be.
She inspects the room to see what she can find but there is not much here. There are a few useful trinkets she decides to keep like a finely crafted comb and hairpin doubling as a dagger.
She finds quite a bit of clothes she is too young to wear and bit of jewelry. She puts both of those back where she got them with a mental note that she had them if she needed them in the future.
With the accessories however she discovers quite the collection of scarfs. Riders in Dorne use them to not breathe in the dust of the dessert the harsh winds or the horse blow up. It protects the lungs from drying out.
Carefully Asta picks up a black one and binds it around her neck. She pulls it over her nose and breathes out a breath she hadn't known she was keeping. The scarfs she brings along to her chambers.
Eiric doesn't comment when she shows up in the morning with a scarf hiding half her face. Nor does he the next day, or the day after. It felt like home.
A/N: I just want to say a quick thank you for the reviews. I'm new at writing so I appreciate any comments and constructive criticism.