Author's Note: I wanted to develop this relationship more, so this is a re-edited Chapter 2. Chapter 3 will be re-edited and re-posted as well. Comments/criticism welcome.
A few weeks had passed since the child's arrival, and Ravenna had grown accustomed to catching sight of her around the castle. As of yet she hadn't needed Faolin for lifeforce or council, but Ravenna could feel her strength fading and knew the time was near. It had been years since her last feeding, and she could feel the energy begin seeping out of her limbs.
She paced quietly in her chamber contemplating taking life from the child. Would the magic work as Faolin had suggested? Would she be able to stop herself once the lifeforce began flowing? Would Faolin truly recover her age?
All these queries circled her mind as she stepped quietly across her stone floors. Resting her hands on the windowsill, Ravenna looked down into the courtyard, watching the servants' children prance about the grass. And there, among them, was Faolin, her midnight hair floating like a dark shadow. What was she doing? Surely she had no interest in children's games.
Ravenna watched carefully, tracking Faolin's every move. Faolin traipsed around a young boy with fiery red hair, seeming to whisper something in his ear. He then darted to a group of boys while Faolin rejoined a small group of girls braiding flower crowns in the grass. Soon the boys sauntered over to the circle of girls, the red-headed boy in the front jeering and teasing the girls. He kicked one girl in the back and she leapt up, angrily facing him.
"I didn't know children entertained you so," Finn's voice echoed from her chamber door.
"It's not the children in which I'm interested," Ravenna replied, continuing her survey from the window.
She watched curiously as the red-headed boy shoved the girl onto the ground and began kicking her again. Suddenly Faolin was there, and in a dark blur her fist flew into the red-headed boy's face. As he collapsed onto the ground, she straddled his body and began pummeling him with her hands and elbows. A dark satisfaction sprouted in Ravenna as she watched her child ruthlessly attack her target. Perhaps there was indeed more to the child than met the eye.
While the boys jeered and chanted and the girls looked on in shock, an old maid finally waddled over to the fight, dragging the brawling young ones apart.
"Go retrieve Faolin and bring her to me," Ravenna ordered Finn.
"Yes, majesty," Finn replied before scurrying out of the room.
Soon Finn returned with Faolin, her fists bloodied and her eyes ravenous.
"My Queen, your pet is out of control," Finn growled as he thrust Faolin into the room with a tight grip on her arm.
A satisfied smile grew on Ravenna's face.
"I would beg to differ," she hummed. "She's quite in control."
"But she should be under control," Finn retorted hotly.
"You may leave us now, brother," the Queen replied, not taking her eyes from Faolin.
Finn angrily released Faolin's arm, stalking from the room.
"Are you going to punish me?" Faolin began, quietly. But no fear shone in her face, only cunning satisfaction.
"Child, you know I see all," Ravenna replied, beginning to pace across the floor. "Now tell me: why did you do that?"
"I needed a way to win the approval of the young girls," Faolin stated bluntly. "They didn't trust me. I believe they sensed my abnormality."
Ravenna lifted an eyebrow in curiosity.
"So I prompted that idiot to tease the girls, convincing him that we secretly enjoyed that kind of attention," the girl explained, shrugging. "And when he took it too far, as I knew he would, I protected the girls and now they trust me. It worked rather beautifully, if I do say so myself."
The Queen grew more and more pleased that she had decided to keep Faolin by her side.
"And why did you need the girls to trust you?" the Queen probed further.
"The adults are uneasy around me and I need some allies in order to survive in my current state," Faolin responded, gesturing to her small body.
"And the boys? Are they now your enemies?" Ravenna questioned.
"On the contrary, they respect me," Faolin answered with a grin. "Even the red-headed idiot realizes I was just in my actions because he knows he went too far."
"Hm, I see," Ravenna hummed. If the child's actions were any indication of her abilities to reason with regards to matters of the kingdom, Faolin would prove to be a valuable asset.
"I'm impressed, child," the Queen continued. "Let us walk together."
Faolin paused meekly as Ravenna approached the door. "With respect, my lady, being seen strolling and discussing strategy with the Queen will likely inhibit the delicate social bonds I've created."
The child was right; her endeavors to gain the trust of her peers would be offset by perception of abnormal interactions with the Queen.
"Well, then let's conjure a more palatable relationship," Ravenna offered her hand in a patronizing gesture. "Come, little wolf."
Faolin begrudgingly took the Queen's hand, realizing her role as the Queen's adopted, little lost girl. Her little pet. Faolin yearned for return to adulthood and escape from this powerless child-body, but she dared not push the Queen on the issue.
The pair wandered through the castle hallways, their immense ceilings and stone walls echoing their footsteps. How much larger the world seems when one is so small, Faolin mused, her gaze flitting to the Queen's solemn face far above her own.
"Where are we going, my lady?" Faolin asked quietly.
"It's no matter. Let us enjoy ourselves," Ravenna replied nonchalantly, her tone revealing neither hostility nor amiability.
Faolin's small heartbeat leapt suddenly into her throat. She never forgot the sting of the Queen's nails in her cheeks from that first day in court or her threat to wipe her from the earth. She needed so badly for the Queen to fully accept her into her service, but she feared the Queen's volatile whims. She'd seen them executed on others in the court, and she knew that gentle hand she now held could just as soon rip her heart from her chest.
Faolin calmed her breathing and nerves as the Queen led her into one of the expansive courtyards. They strolled through the sunlit gardens, warm, spring-light filtering through the leaves of the fruit trees. They bore a strange sunset-stained fruit that Faolin hadn't seen before arriving at this castle. She studied it curiously; the sunlight caught on the fuzzy exterior of the round, little fruit.
Ravenna caught the child's gaze as they reached a small bench in the heart of the grove. With a warm smile, she plucked one of the fruits from the high branches and offered it to Faolin. "Peaches, child," the Queen said. "I found them at the southern border and was able to successfully grow some here."
The Queen glided to sit on the small bench as Faolin ran her fingers over the textured surface of the colorful fruit. She took a gingerly bite, confused by the texture of the exterior and delight by the nectar of the interior. She had never tasted anything so soft and sweet, and an uncontrollable grin graced her cheeks.
"This is delicious," Faolin said, her childish grin now directed towards the Queen.
Faolin watched in confusion as an uncharacteristic mirth awashed Ravenna's features. "Come here, silly child," the Queen laughed. "More nectar found your face than your mouth."
Faolin now realized the fruit juice dribbling down her chin as she approached the Queen. Ravenna produced a handkerchief and gently wiped Faolin's face, and Faolin was suddenly struck by the strangeness of it all. She didn't understand the reason for the Queen's twisted roleplay, but she knew she must play along.
"Come sit," Ravenna implored. The tone carried no imperative, but Faolin obeyed regardless. The child rested the fruit on the bench and situated herself stiffly on the Queen's lap. Her back was to the Queen's chest as Ravenna laid her arms gently around Faolin, and again Faolin felt her heart in her throat as she realized her utter vulnerability. But perhaps she could suspend reality for the sake of this manufactured interaction.
She was a real child. The Queen adopted her as her own. She was loved.
The gentle embrace no longer presented as a veiled chokehold. The calm rise and fall of the chest at her back was not that of calculated manipulation but of selfless care. Faolin conjured a memory of her beginning years. Not a childhood, for I was no child. A rare true embrace from her mother or a loving pat from an elder. It had been so long since someone had taken care of her. Faolin relaxed against the Queen's body, nestling her head against the woman's shoulder, and closing her eyes as she imagined the aura of incense around the sun-warmed skin of Ravenna's chest belonged to the character the Queen was now playing. A protector. A caretaker.
Faolin rested in the conjured scene as the Queen's arms encircled her. She let her physical sensations determine her perception. The spring light warmed her skin. The peach juice sweetened her tongue. The breeze rustled gently through the trees. The Queen smelled of spice and sun. Her body nestled snugly against the Queen's embrace. She was safe and she was the Queen's.
"My sister had a child once," the Queen's throat hummed. "She loved that child more than life itself. I envied her that love. That intimacy. But I fear fate does not favor my cultivating that kind of bond."
Faolin believed only one person in the Queen's world truly held her unconditional favor - Finn. She had watched carefully the way the Queen treated her brother. Although she was sometimes harsh, Ravenna treasured the man fiercely. Faolin was not blind to Ravenna's gentle touches and sympathetic glances reserved only for the snow-white man. And Faolin now envied that love. As she burrowed against Ravenna's warm body, she felt that this is what she truly wanted. Not power or long life but a semblance even of that quiet safety of childhood. She had never truly experienced it and had never understood when others discussed longingly their bright days of boyhood. But now she understood. She could imagine that her struggle against the world was over. Someone infinitely more knowledgeable and powerful now shielded her from life's tempest, and she could finally rest now.
Ravenna cradled the child against her breast. She began the patronizing facade as a means to wander the castle inconspicuously, but continued it privately because she sensed that it might ease the child and give her a taste of what holding the Queen's trust could be. Judging by how Faolin now nestled her small head against Ravenna's neck, she had been correct. But as the little ageling fell into the role of an adoring child, Ravenna felt an unfamiliar prick of warmth in her chest. She quickly suppressed the genuine reaction; that empathic connection was suitable only for Finn. And in all likelihood Faolin was simply flowing with the play of their unspoken agreement. She reminded herself that she held in her lap not a child but a cunning old woman.
But still she allowed herself to imagine what their relationship could be. Although their interactions were predicated on a service, Faolin could grow to honor her as Finn did. Her brother still walked that thin line between fear and love, as Ravenna preferred. But their relationship held the subtext of many years of struggle and trials. Perhaps this new pet might serve her not solely out of fear, but out of devotion as well. After all, if Faolin's theory proved true, Ravenna would be preserving Faolin's life with every service. Not a truly selfless act but more beneficial to another than most of her other endeavors. The Queen could rule Faolin with both fear and devotion - the fear of the threat the Queen had issued upon their first meeting and the devotion that Faolin would inevitably cultivate upon receiving eternal youth.
The Queen allowed herself a satisfied smile at the thought.