Give Me Your Riches: Chapter Six

Sofia had not slept.

From the time Baileywick had silently left her at the door to her rooms to the time the sun finally, finally peaked over the horizon line, Sofia had been unable to rest. She still felt too small, her plush room too large. Her bed only made her feel smaller, so she dragged her impossibly fluffy duvet and a pillow to the window seat and curled up there. She was still unsettled, but more comfortable. She found herself vacantly staring out at the night sky and replaying the evening's events in her head.

Even though she hadn't mentioned it directly, it was painfully clear that something about the wishing well made her father extremely angry. It had driven him to become enraged and forbid her from visiting it again. Sofia had never seen him act so ferociously. Was the cat incident that upsetting to him? She tried to delve into her memory of that day. Unfortunately, those memories were so colored with the relief that she was no longer a cat that she had trouble recalling anything else about the event.

Sofia reclined and let her forehead press against the cool glass of the window. She watched the stars as they faded, one by one into the dawn sky. Morning had come and there was nothing to do but stand up and face the day. She got up from the window seat and wrapped the duvet around her like a bulky cloak, holding it to herself against the chill of the morning. She hopped from carpet to carpet in a well-practiced dance, her bare feet avoiding the touch of cold marble floors.

In her closet, Sofia selected a simple, midnight-blue gown that she could dress in without assistance; it would still be a few hours before a maid would come into her room, draw the curtains, and help her dress. This dress had a high neckline, cutting straight across her collarbone and leaving her neck and part of her shoulders exposed with the fabric meeting in a shallow "v" between her shoulder blades. The sleeves were tight to her skin, which was good for sorcery work, and extended all the way down to her wrists. The day wouldn't be cold enough to truly warrant the long sleeves, but Sofia felt an unusual need to be comforted and the soft fabric would do a fine job doing that.

"Robe-draped arms would be more comforting than yards of silk…" her thoughts teased her and Sofia felt herself blush as she selected a pair of elegant mid-calf boots that complemented the delicate silks of her dress. In spite of everything said yesterday, she believed Cedric was still her friend and her Master. There was no way he would ever think of her as anything other than his Apprentice. He was brilliant and powerful and experienced she was just a student. The idea of being with Cedric romantically was an impossibility, a girlish flight of fancy. It meant nothing beside the thrill and importance of her studies; she didn't want to run the risk of endangering those.

Even so, Cedric had had no right to use such a condescending tone with her, not when she had done nothing to deserve it. Sofia welcomed constructive criticism but that didn't mean she would be a punching bag.

"Except for last night. But that was...different…" The fury shown by her father still had Sofia rattled. She had no idea what she would say or do when she faced him next.

She finished lacing her boots and shook her head as if to loosen the uncomfortable thoughts and let them fall away. Sofia needed to concentrate on the task at hand which, this morning, was regaining Cedric's good graces. If that happened to cause her to avoid her father for most of the day, so be it. Sofia ran a brush through her hair and spared herself a glance in the mirror. Her hair fell past her shoulders to the middle of her back in soft, auburn waves. She took a moment to arrange her Amulet to lay evenly over her dress and made a conscious decision to leave her tiara on her dressing table. Today she would be a Sorceress, not a Princess. Sofia took a deep breath and put on a genuine smile. Her reflection glowed back at her with her trademark confidence and positivity. She checked the concealed pocket at her hip and slipped her wand inside, picked up her basket with yesterday's findings still nestled inside, and left her room, heading first for the kitchens.

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Daylight streamed across Cedric's face as he slept in his study. He blinked weary eyes against the light before waving his hand in its direction. Far off, he heard the sound of curtains snapping together and the light was gone. He sighed lightly, content again in the darkness and settled farther into his chair, pulling the blanket closer around him. Seconds later, light very rudely reintroduced itself to the room. Cedric grumbled aloud and pulled the blanket over his head.

In his blanket cocoon, Cedric opened his eyes and wondered briefly where the blanket had come from. He slowly peered out from under it and the picture pieced itself together. The room had all the touches of Sofia. The fire had been rekindled to bring warmth to the room. A tray sat on the unoccupied foot rest with, based on the smell, a pot of black tea prepared just as he liked it (steeped for far longer than it should be with just a touch of honey) and apple scones, still warm from the ovens. The book he had been reading was sitting neatly beside the tray, the page marked with a spare piece of parchment. And a blanket covered him to keep him warm as he slept. Sofia, no doubt, was the one who opened his curtains after he so determinedly shut them from afar.

Cedric couldn't help but smile. Sofia was unfailingly kind. Even when he was unnecessarily sharp with her, she came back and treated him with tender care. Cedric's smile faded a little as he realized he didn't deserve her kindness, not today. He needed to apologize. If nothing else, he would never hear the end of it from his mother if she ever found out about what he had said and done yesterday. Cedric sat up, letting the blanket fall and settle around his waist as he reached over for a cup of tea and a scone. He took a few bites and tried to come up with something to say before he faced the proverbial music.

Cedric nursed his first cup of tea for as long as he dared before he stood and slowly made his way up the stairs with leaden feet. He grimaced a little, remembering the rebellious little mess he left yesterday. A quick glance at the top of the steps showed the robe hung in place and his shoes sitting neatly below. Cedric hoped that Wormwood had found it in his heart to clean up, however unlikely he knew that to be. He looked over and saw Sofia in profile, leaning over his work table. The morning light was playing lightly over her skin, giving her an almost ethereal glow against the dark blue of her dress. She was concentrating: lips occasionally mouthing the words of what she was reading, eyes narrowed and focused on the book open before her. Small circles rimmed her eyes as if she hadn't slept. A flood of guilt washed over Cedric as he hoped his unkind words hadn't been the cause of a sleepless night.

Cedric faintly noticed a sour smell to the air as he took in the cauldron on the table. Sofia was slowly stirring the contents counterclockwise with her left hand. Her right hand moved down to the page of the book and she pointed to what must be the list of ingredients and instructions. She would read a line, give her head the slightest nod, and then move her finger to the next line. Cedric didn't realize he was staring, soaking in her every miniscule move, until Sofia spoke.

"I think you'll want to see this, Master." She reached across the table and delicately held up an albino butterfly, inspecting it in the sunlight. "Or is this not the potion you've been wanting to make for the better part of six months?"

"No! Is that?!" Cedric's long gait ate up the distance between him and Sofia.

"The Alabaster Spindle Wing," they said together, Cedric with a touch of awe and Sofia with a glimmer of self-satisfaction. Cedric didn't have to ask what she was brewing. A quick glance at the book she was referencing and the Alabaster Spindle Wing told him she was making the Ghostwalk Potion. The sleepy daze of the morning was instantly gone and he was rapt with attention.

"And that's 17 turns. Time for the butterfly." Sofia removed the stirring stick and looked down at the creamy white liquid. The sour scent it emitted was some combination of unwashed bandages and spoiled milk, but it wasn't even close to the worst smelling thing they had brewed in this tower. By comparison, this scent was akin to a bouquet of summer lilies.

Sofia held the butterfly by its abdomen above the cauldron, slowly lowering it until the wings had only just made contact with the liquid. Cedric leaned in closer to watch. Sofia released her hold on the butterfly. The liquid seemed to reach up and grab the delicate white wings of the Alabaster Spindle Wing and then ate away at them, dissolving them as though they were made of spun sugar and had been dropped into boiling water. It was gone in seconds, incorporated into the potion. The scent in the air faded to nothing and brew turned from creamy white to translucent.

The scent of the potion gone, Cedric became suddenly aware of the scent of Sofia as he noticed where he stood. To get the best look at her administration of the butterfly, he had moved to stand very close to her. He had one hand on the small of her back and the other on the work table to steady himself as he leaned closer to the cauldron and, by default, closer to Sofia. She smelled like jasmine and wild rose and vanilla and the small of her back was invitingly warm underneath the silk against his hand. She seemed to be leaning into him ever so slightly as Cedric thought the already slim gap between their bodies narrowed. He was struck by the need to make things right. He needed to apologize. Now.

"Sofia, I-"

"There's been a misunderstanding between us." She cut him off, voice soft and touched with wonder as she continued to stare at the potion and its minute changes with each passing second. "I don't come to you just to fill hours in meaningless magic tricks. I'm not here to fulfil a need for an impressive hobby." She broke her gaze from the potion and turned her head so she could look into Cedric's eyes. The move was slight, as they were already very close together. The intensity in her eyes would have made Cedric believe whatever words she said next, even if she told him the sky was green and fish could fly. "I am here to become a Sorceress. A fully fledged, fully trained, potion-brewing, wand-waving Sorceress. I will meet every task, every challenge you give me in pursuit of that goal. If I have to give up certain other expectations associated with my title, I will do it. My time is yours, Master. Assign it how you see fit."

Sofia picked up the stirring stick, drawing her attention back to the potion and giving the clear liquid one clockwise turn around the cauldron before removing it again. She read from the book, the melody of her words not missing a beat between her focused declaration and her announcement of instruction. "A stir like this every three hours for thirteen days with every sixth stir counterclockwise." She moved away, breaking the connection between herself and Cedric. But before she could get too far, Cedric grabbed her hand and tugged slightly, turning her to face him. He stared at her for a moment, still slightly dumbstruck by her for the second time in as many days. He broke the silence before he lost his nerve.

"I apologize." He blurted out. She looked back at him, a little bewildered. The silence lasted just a bit too long before he spoke again. "It's my fault that you felt like you had to say all this. I believe you when you say you have serious intentions for your training. I wouldn't have accepted you as my Apprentice, otherwise. Nothing in our routine need change. I treated you poorly yesterday and I am sorry."

Cedric could see tears welling in Sofia's eyes. Expecting to panic and push away from her at such a sign of emotion, he surprised himself by instead reaching out and sympathetically gripping her shoulder. He was rather distraught to see her upset. He felt guilty that he might be the cause of her distress which competed against a surprisingly ferocious need to protect Sofia against whatever had caused her to suffer in any way, even if it was him.

"What is it?"

Sofia looked over to Cedric's hand on her shoulder. Her voice sounded decidedly higher as she tried to keep her emotions in check. "Last night. My father-there was, um…". She looked determinedly upwards as though she was trying to defy gravity to keep her tears in her eyes. "Uh-uhm I'm just, I'm tired. It's nothing, really." She closed her eyes tightly and a tear rolled down her cheek. She stomped her foot once in frustration as she drew her free hand to wipe away the escaped tear.

"It clearly isn't nothing. Tell me." Cedric said sternly, supportively.

Sofia opened her eyes, still looking upward, and opened her mouth to speak but paused. Her eyes furrowed and her tone was sober and even. "Have those gargoyles always been there?"

"...What?" The non sequitur took Cedric by surprise.

Sofia pointed to the ceiling. Cedric followed her hand. There sat four gargoyles, evenly placed, that leered over the interior top level of the tower. They were made of a dark gray stone and each had a slightly different menacing expression, though it was had to see clearly from the main level. In a swish of skirts, Sofia was nearly flying up the staircase that circled the tower to get a closer look. Cedric followed a few paces behind. He hated these stairs. His bedroom was up there on the third level and, though he enjoyed being able to look out at the sky with an uninhibited view, the trek up stairs to get there never felt worth it until he got to the top. He had taken to foregoing the steps completely and either casting a spell to fly to the top or falling asleep in his study, as he had last night.

In this moment, however, he followed Sofia on foot. When he reached the top, she was scrutinizing the gargoyles with great interest, standing on her tiptoes as if an extra inch would get her a better look when they were stationed eight or nine feet above her head. Cedric looked up, too. Though he was uncertain as to what he was looking for in the statues.

"Did you put them there?" Sofia circled the landing, moving to look at each of the four gargoyles.

Cedric smiled up at the statues a bit fondly. "No, they've been there as long as I can remember. I've always rather liked them."

"There used to be similar ones that surrounded the castle exterior," Sofia stated, thoughtful.

"Mm, yes. Shame - your father had me turn them all into golden flying horses." Cedric grimaced slightly before correcting himself. "Rather, I turned one to a living flying horse on accident and your father told me to forget about the rest. I went back later, alone, and finished the task. Not that he ever noticed. I shouldn't be surprised, I suppose. He's the only one who still has me doing party tricks now that there's little around the kingdom that needs getting done."

"My father…" Sofia's face was consternated as she considered Cedric's words. "Did he ask you to change other things around the castle?"

"Well….yes." Cedric said, mildly surprised that he hadn't put any thought into it before. "Particularly in the beginning of my tenure here, after my father left. The castle exterior used to be a much darker color. Then there were the gargoyles. Let's see...he seemed especially averse to the color green, often replacing it with red. And I believe the stain glass windows were changed as well, though I only did one of those. As I recall, he decided to bring a specialist in for them."

"Did my father have tastes that varied so much from Roland the First?"

"Honestly..." Cedric tried to think back and came up with nothing. "I didn't notice."

"Didn't you live here while your father was Royal Sorcerer?"

"Barely. Almost all of my time was spent Hexley Hall. I came to prefer it, though. In the castle, I was only ever third best behind your father and my sister, if I was even ranked at all. My father sent me to board at Hexley as soon as they would take me. And you know my father, he took any opportunity for prestige... He went there to guest lecture around most holidays rather than having me come here. I barely called the tower home before your mother married your father and you came to the castle."

Sofia crossed her arms at this last statement, seeming to hold herself and make her presence smaller than it was.

"Sofia?" Cedric tilted his head slightly as he looked at her, concern in his eyes. The Sofia he knew could only be called small in regard to her stature. Something about her was different today and it tugged at him. He felt drawn to reach out and touch her again, but he instead schooled his hands at his side. "Is everything alright? Why are you asking after all of this?"

Sofia tapped her foot absently. "I...I don't know. Just something I'm trying to figure out, I guess."

Cedric didn't push her further. They shared a comfortable silence as Sofia continued to gaze up at the gargoyles. Cedric eyed his unmade bed through the slightly ajar bedroom door and considered how he needed to go in there and tidy up. He needed to tidy up, for that matter. He absently reached up to his hair and was pleased to find it relatively in place, if a little tangled. He could use a change of clothes, and probably a shave, too.

"I have some things I need to write down before I forget them." Sofia's voice interrupted Cedric's contemplation. She made her way down the steps, still lost in thought. Cedric watched her descend. Once on the main level, Sofia reached into the basket she must have brought with her and pulled out a palm-sized book. She opened the book and started writing in it with the quill Cedric had given her on Wassailia last year; he had enchanted it to never need a dip in an inkwell. Only years of walking around his tower kept Sofia from bumping into a single thing as she made her way down to the study, nose buried in her notes. Cedric felt a weight land heavily on his shoulder and Wormword nipped him once on the ear. The bird called this affection. Cedric called it assault.

"She's in a bit of a strange mood, today, don't you think?" Wormword asked, just loud enough for Cedric to hear.

"She is. I can't quite determine why…." Cedric's train of thought was interrupted by another, "Tell me you're the one who put away my robe and shoes?" He asked imploringly.

Wormwood made a sound somewhere between a caw and a cackle that Cedric took as a definitive, and disappointing, 'no.'

Cedric cleaned himself up and joined Sofia in the study soon after. They only got up to tend to the potion as required, both engaged in their reading. Sofia stood to leave briefly for the library but Cedric stopped her, urging her to challenge her skill with sorcery and summon the book she wanted instead. Sofia almost looked relieved not to have to withdraw from the tower and Cedric saw her first smile of the day when "Architecture of Enchancia" by Sir Robert Conference appeared in her hands after only two attempts.

The clock chimed and Sofia looked up to the sound. Cedric eyed the clock, sighed, put down his studies and made his way up the steps. He stopped when he noticed Sofia wasn't following behind him.

"The mid-day meal?" He said, his tone asking why she was still seated.

Sofia opened her mouth to say something but decided against it, pressing her lips together instead before finally saying, "I'm not hungry."

Cedric was about to protest; if he had to go to these family meals at her insistence, he certainly wasn't going without her. A knock on the door interrupted him. Not expecting anyone, Cedric walked up the rest of the steps and to his tower door, opening it to find Baileywick.

"Is Princess Sofia here?" the Steward asked crisply.

"Yes, Baileywick," Cedric said with a forced civility. He and Baileywick had only ever tolerated each other. Cedric looked back towards the study. Sofia had moved closer to the steps so he could see her. Her eyes begged into his. Cedric's response faltered slightly. "But...I'm afraid I cannot be without her at the moment. We're in the midst of quite a complicated potion as you can see," he gestured to his work table behind him. He flicked an unseen hand and an illusion of smoke began to peal out from the cauldron holding the Ghostwalk Potion. "I require a second set of hands."

"Indeed…" Baileywick said with an unusual understanding in his tone. His eyes, carefully calculated behind his spectacles, gave nothing away. Cedric expected a protest against keeping Sofia from the meal but none came. "I'll send up food for the both of you. Good day."

"Good day..." And Baileywick was gone, the door neatly closing behind him. "Well that's never happened," Cedric mumbled to himself as he waved his hand and the smoke illusion vanished. Sofia lingered on the bottom step of the study. The morning sunlight had abandoned the room and it was now only brightened by candlelight. Sofia had pressed herself against the wall, almost blending with the shadows that the fire flickered in and out of existence across the stones. She looked up at him with indebted eyes.

"Thank you, Cedric." Sofia's voice was controlled but soft, as if she was forbidding herself from showing the emotions she was truly feeling. "I just...I can't. Not yet. Thank you."

Cedric couldn't deter the compassionate, though slightly confused, smile that warmed his face as he looked down on her. "Of course, Sofia." He let the smile fade away as she returned to her patched armchair. Cedric chided himself internally as he slowly walked back down to the study as well. He had made a commitment to himself in that moment to be Sofia's Master, not some haphazard attempt at being her...anything else. But that train of thought pittered away at the sight of her curled up in her chair, wearing a spare robe of his as a blanket over her waist and legs with her nose buried in a book while she absently twirled her wand between her fingers. Perhaps it would be alright to get lost in the daydream of her, just for today.

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A/N:

Thanks for reading and reviewing - it's so nice to hear that I'm not writing to an empty room!

And a second big thanks to those of you who haven't reviewed but have followed or favorited this story. I get such a thrill with every single notification. Thank you!

Updated: 7/25/17