Chapter 2: Ties of Friendship
It seemed to take forever. Squall sat as patiently as a six-year-old could, taking in his surroundings with grudging curiosity. Stone walls, stone floor covered by a red rug. The furniture was hardwood, expensive.
And then a girl's voice spoke to him from the doorway. "Are you the one Seifer was supposed to see?"
He turned around, and his eyes fell on a small girl no taller than his ear-level. Her hair, honey-colored and tangled, spilled down her back with careless abandon. She regarded him solemnly out of large, cerulean eyes.
"Yes," He said shortly, climbing off the chair he'd been seated in.
She shrugged thin shoulders. "He's too tired to come, and asked me to show you to your room instead. Are you to stay with us always?"
"I think so." If Edea had said he was to school with them…
She smiled. He couldn't help noticing how that smile changed her rather serious face dramatically, as it had with Edea. It came to him that this must be Edea's sister.
"I should like that. There's only Seifer around now, and he's busy training most of the time. And we always fight anyway. He never wants to listen to me." She pouted a little. "Perhaps you could be my friend."
He looked at her in surprise. "Why would you want to be mine?" She doesn't even know me yet…
"I like you." Her answer was simple and decisive. His eyes followed her hand as she pushed one tumbled lock of honey-colored hair back.
"I see you've met my daughter." Rheon came into the sitting room and laid an affectionate hand on the girl's head. "Quistis, this is Squall. He's to stay with us."
"I know. He's going to be my friend." She smiled again. "Come, Squall, your chamber lies this way. It's right next to mine." After allowing herself to be kissed by her father, she moved with all the studied decorum of a little lady towards the door, with Squall following hesitantly behind.
***
"Here we are." Quistis had led him through one of the two doors at both ends of the central chamber, which opened to a stone hallway set with wooden doors. She'd stopped in front of…the fourth door. Yes. He had to be sure – the doors were all similar, and he had no wish to walk in on someone else by accident.
"My room is just next door," the small girl said cheerfully. "You can come look for me when you want."
He nodded, feeling a little strange in her eagerly offered friendship. He couldn't even remember how it'd felt like to have friends – all he remembered was feeling bewildered, alone, and wary. Because he could not remember, he had take extra care in safeguarding himself against the unknown.
The room was square, with a bed bearing a blue wool coverlet, a chest of drawers, a small table, as well as a mirror on the wall and a rug on the floor. "Thank you," he said, the words feeling foreign on his tongue. "I shall be comfortable here."
Why, he had nice manners, more so than that pest Seifer, who pulled her hair whenever he was feeling spiteful. "The bathhouse is further down the corridor. I could bring you there, if you like – my sister insists I bathe before dinner." She wrinkled her nose. "I am not so dirty, am I?"
He looked gravely at her long windswept hair and earth-stained skirt. "Just a little, perhaps."
She looked in the mirror and smiled, conceding. "A little, maybe. And surely you would like a bath – traveling is tiring, Edea always said, and she always likes the hot water to soothe her muscles. Come – I cannot show you everything myself, because I am a girl and you are not, but the attendant will help you." She took his hand and began to tug him in the direction of the entrance. "The evening meal should start in about two hours. We'd best not be late; my sister is not known for kindness towards laggards."
***
Two hours later Edea was pleased to see that they were ready to begin dinner. Even the children were clean and present.
She watched as Quistis, now dressed in a clean blue gown and white tunic, dipped her hand into the meat dish. Squall, she noted, was quick to follow suit. Ah, Quistis would be beautiful someday – as beautiful as her mother Lenore had been before she'd died trying to give Rheon a son. Lenore had been all angelic white and gold – compared to Edea's and Raine's own mother, who had been a dark beauty, they were as different as night and day.
No, not angelic but fey. Lenore had been of the fairy blood, the fey who had practiced the Old Magic. Tall, blonde, and violet eyed, she was the fairy queen Niniane come again…
And Quistis favored her. Quistis of the Fey. Perhaps it was the fairy heritage that gave her such allure, then…
On Quistis's right Conri served her stew first, smiling benevolently down at the young girl. Ah, they all lived for Quistis's smiles, did they not – young Conri, barely eighteen and still her disciple, the servants, and even Griflet and their lord father who had been hardened by seasons of battle, and she herself. It seemed Conri had been paying special attention to Quistis of late. Conri still had far to go as a Seer. In the meantime, while Quistis grew up…
It is still early to be thinking of my youngest sister's marriage, for the love of Hyne! Quistis herself might be a seeress – it was too early to tell; the Sight usually manifested itself on the onset of puberty. If so she should be highly esteemed – seers were rare nowadays, the Sight dying with the powerful Old Magic.
Her eyes shifted to the Squall sitting on Quistis's right, to find that he was watching her too. That was fine, then. Squall had taken to her half-sister as she'd hoped he would. Now he would have someone else to spend his days with, instead of Griflet who might let slip some court information, which would trigger his memory…
He must not know. Before the time was right, Squall Loire must not know his true claim.
She'd expected the amnesia when she'd assessed his wounds. So be it, then – it had made removing him from court so much the easier.