Fracture
by Trisana McGraw
Author's Note: Written for the livejournal community 31days, May 19: who's reflected in the broken glass?
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Raoul was certain that he had deciphered all of the signs that he experienced in his Ordeal; he didn't expect the Chamber to be especially subtle in depicting young men's weaknesses and fears. However, it was the last symbol that puzzled him as he emerged, shaking and disoriented, from the stone silence to the warmth and cheers of his family and the rest of the Court: the Chamber had presented him with the image of a stained glass window. The scene the window portrayed also did not confuse him; after all, few knights were as large as the one depicted and would have been flanked by a body of golden water. It was the meaning that eluded him.
As King Roald's sword touched each of Raoul's shoulders, a glimmer of light caught the youth's eye: one of the Grand Hall's many depictions of kings past, the colorful glass sparkling by the light of countless floating lamps. Raoul put the matter out of his mind during the celebration and resolved to puzzle over it later. He even allowed himself the complacent assumption that his future held such adventures that would award him equal renown.
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It was the smashing of his bottle against the wall that wrenched him from his drunken stupor, or maybe it was the terrified screech of the girl whose name he couldn't even remember. Stumbling over the damage, he beheld what the Chamber had meant for him to see all along: his ashen face, her frightened, reproachful eyes; reflected in golden liquid that burned instead of buoyed. The dazzling colors were multifaceted in the tears that blurred his eyes. He hated the man he saw.