Thank you a thousand times over for your lovely reviews! They've really encouraged me to keep writing. I've been having such a hard time lately with everything... writing is really my only escape. So thank you again for inspiring me! I've poured a lot of my own recent feelings into Diamond's character in this chapter, so who knows how it turned out. Hope you like it, and leave me a review to let me know what you think!
-Chapter Three-
The Morning After
Prisca found herself wandering idly the next day, no destination in mind, simply thinking. As time passed by, she found herself drifting slowly towards the river again, perhaps because of her visit to it with Diamond yesterday. She hesitated, considered turning back, and then changed her mind. Instead, she splashed through the shallows along the bank, her thoughts carrying her further and further away.
A dull anger was eating away inside of her. The previous night, when Diamond had told her all about Nob (The worthless use of space, she thought bitterly), her anger had been intense, almost uncontrollable. At one point, she believed she had pulled on her cloak and tried to leave, Nob's house in mind as her goal. Diamond had stopped her by with insistent pleading that she wanted nothing more to do with Nob at all, and if Pris was to speak with him, it may only cause trouble. Prisca had relented. The two sisters had cried most of the night together, and with the morning, Prisca's anger was toned down a considerable amount.
Still...
She kicked a stone up from its resting place on the bottom of the river, ignoring the minor pain that shot through her foot as she did so.
Still...
"He's not worth it," Prisca blubbered over and over to a sobbing Diamond. "Think no more of him! He's not worth it..."
Despite her hopes to forget Diamond's tale of what had happened, Prisca found Diamond's words floating back into her mind and, like a puzzle, piecing themselves together until the whole thing was replayed again with Prisca as the unfortunate audience. She fought most of it off, wishing to forget it all together, but pieces still remained.
"I wanted to surprise him, Pris..."
"Of course you did, Diamond, of course you did."
"He's a dim-witted cow," Prisca hissed aloud, pausing briefly. Her feet, numbed by the biting cold, felt oddly present as she stood up to her ankles in the water. The current drifted lazily past her, tugging only slightly upon her, not quite interested enough to drag her with it. She glanced around at the river, and then the surrounding foliage. She watched a bird hop from branch to branch of a large oak, chirping cheerfully. She wasn't sure why she had stopped. A minute passed, and then another, as she watched the bird without a sound. Finally, without much warning, it took to the air. Prisca trudged on.
"It was that Lila lass," Diamond said, voice oddly rigid at this point in the tale. She glanced up at Prisca, eyes bright and wet. "The one down the road..." a fresh wave of tears suddenly overtook the grief-stricken lass, and she hiccupped pitifully.
"Yes," Prisca found herself saying. "Yes, what about her?"
Diamond needed something to cheer her up, Prisca decided now. A trip, maybe. They could visit cousins or something of the sort. Diamond always liked to visit relatives.
Prisca left the river and headed back towards home. The morning was still rather new, and Prisca would bet anything Diamond was still around because of that. Diamond liked to sleep late, if their mother permitted -- not that Diamond had anywhere to go, anyway.
"He was kissing her," Diamond hissed fiercely, and Prisca was surprised of Diamond's change of emotion. She was angry now, just angry, no trace of grief left in her at the moment. "He was kissing her and I walked in on them and he jumped up full of explanations and apologies. Lila didn't understand -- she said that he had been doting upon her for weeks, months even. Months, Pris, months!"
"What did you do then?" Prisca asked, unsure of anything else she could say.
"I left," Diamond said, bowing her head, tears dripping from her cheeks to her hands, folded in her lap in kind of defeated posture. "I told him the wedding was off and I left. He didn't even try to come after me."
"Diamond!" Prisca yelled as soon as she entered the front door after arriving back home. She shed the cloak she had brought with her to ward off the morning chill. There was no answer. Prisca traipsed down the hall and poked her head into Diamond's room. It was empty; the bed was made.
She headed towards the kitchen. Peeking in, she spotted Diamond seated at the table, head in her hands as she stared at a piece of paper before her. Curiously, and a little bit worried, Prisca stepped inside.
"Di?" she asked. "What are you doing?" Diamond glanced up at her, face expressionless.
"Drawing," she said simply. Prisca's eyes flickered over the blank paper before her. There was nothing to draw with in sight. She quickly changed the subject.
"Where's Mother?"
"Out for the day with Father," came Diamond's response. She met Prisca's eyes, a ghost of a smile traced across her lips. It didn't reach her eyes. "I told Mother the wedding was off."
Prisca's eyes widened. "What did she say?" she gasped.
"She was upset at first," Diamond said with a shrug, lowering her gaze. "Then she seemed okay with it. Said she had to cancel the plans and such. She told Father and he had mostly the same reaction."
"Oh," Prisca said. She pulled out a chair across from Diamond and dropped into it. Reaching across the table, she laid her hand tenderly over Diamond's own, no words of comfort coming to mind. At last, deciding she had to know, she asked tentatively, "Did you tell Mother why the wedding was off?"
"I just said that it wasn't working. That we didn't get along any longer... she demanded to know if this was all over 'one silly fight', and I convinced her it was a long term thing that we had been trying to work through." Diamond stared miserably at the floor. Prisca decided it was time to change the subject yet again.
"Listen, Diamond. I've had an idea."
"Oh?" Diamond said, not really appearing interested. Prisca frowned slightly, but plunged ahead.
"What do you say to a visit to our cousins'? We could stay a few weeks and catch up with them. It seems like it has been ages since we've visited." Diamond didn't respond at first, only pulled her hand weakly out from under Prisca's.
"Come on, Di," Prisca urged gently. "It will get your mind off things," she forced a large smile to her face. "Perhaps you can even meet a new lad that will catch your fancy!" as soon as she had uttered these last words, she'd wished she hadn't. Diamond's face fell so far Prisca was surprised she wasn't picking it up off the floor.
"It will be good to see our relatives again," Prisca finished hastily. Diamond shrugged.
"I suppose so," she admitted. She rubbed her chin thoughtfully, a habit she had picked up from their Father. "Very well. I could use the outing, I suppose."
"Wonderful," Prisca said brightly. "I shall tell our plans to Mother and Father, and then send the word to our cousins." She pushed back her chair and stood, smiling down at her sister. "It shall be fun, Diamond."
As Prisca left the kitchen she glanced over her shoulder at Diamond once more, who was now idly tracing patterns on the paper with her finger alone. The look of gloom shadowing her face brought back Diamond's final words from the night before, words that made Prisca want to cry desperately for her younger sister, the sister she loved and cared for so much.
"I've given up, Prisca. I've given up."
