Hey pals! Thank you for everyone who reviewed! I feel so special ^.^ Sorry I didn't reply to all of them, I've had a busy few weeks.
QUESTIONS:
Who is Abigail?: Heh, can't say quite yet. But I'll have you know that she is one of the two people that David cannot betray
Who are the two people David cannot betray?: *smirks* If I told you it'll ruin all the fun of David's character development in which I make you love him before ripping out your hearts. :)
do you know, i always have a weird thought everytime i read david & bath's interaction. i always try to imaging sinbad in david's place and see how he will react and think about someone like bathsheba. will he acting like david or will he be more dramatic (expresive) ?: Me too! It's hard to say, I feel as though Sinbad would be able to cleverly banter with Bathsheba (like David can) but I doubt he'd be as creepy about it and definitely more expressive if he disagrees with her. I'm not sure if I'll go into the canon timeline...We'll have to just see how the rest of Catharsis pans out, hm? ;)
Catharsis
By Gold Sparrow
Chapter 8: Arba
"...What about you?"
A small smile.
"What about me, Mistress?" The rose in her mistress's hand is a pale white, the same pure color as the dress she wore at her wedding. The memory of lacing up the corset makes her fingers twitch. Two eyes, like two drops of the sky, turn to her. The smile she receives is so nice and warm it almost makes her falter.
"Anything, Arba." Arba takes this in, hands behind her back. She watches Queen Bathsheba push back a lock of hair, hair that Arba kneaded and pulled into place painstakingly just hours before the marriage ceremony. She had ran her hands through the blue strands so much she thought her palms would be stained the color.
She finds herself wondering who had undone the hairstyle. It was a complicated knot of braids and twists, clipped back with a golden hair ornament. It took forever to create, but Arba knows it could've been undone in a second by mere motion of a hand. Bath's hair had been loose the next day, slightly wavy from the braids, but Arba didn't ask whether or not she took it out herself. She wasn't sure she wanted to know the answer had Bathsheba even mouthed the word "no".
"I was born from a magician who was implanted with two artificial children. My sister and I were then taken into the custody of the church and raised to become the ever-loyal and ever-present servants of the King." Arba lowers herself into a kneel. She has given this spiel before, so many times she doesn't remember the first time her lips spoke the words. Automatically she presents a cheery smile. "I was born to ensure the safety and protection of not only you and your family, but of the whole Church. Every child of God is a brother of mine."
A hand cups her cheek, bringing her face upwards.
"Where is your sister?" Arba's mouth opens, and she blinks several times.
"I'm...Not sure. It's common for artificial magicians to be bred with a twin."
"Do you miss her?"
"..." Did she? Arba wonders. Maybe. Sometimes it felt like it'd be nice to have someone around to talk to. Instead, she shakes her head. "No."
"...I miss my brother." Bathsheba heads toward the next plant, eyes already shining and hands already eager to cup another rose. "I wish I could see him again...But perhaps that's not to be."
"Come, Arba," The voice is old and strict, coming from the young woman's mentor. Her hand is forcefully gripped as she's pulled forward, even though Arba isn't hesitant. She's walking as fast as she can, teenage dreams coming to fruition. She has always thought about the day she'd see the Elders for the first time, was allowed to finally become a servant for one of them. If she is lucky enough...No, she shakes her head. She shouldn't expect too much.
But wild, wonderful dreams plague her, and she's smiling by the time she and her teacher reach the grand hall.
Then she sees him for the first time.
Elder David.
Everything about him is...Breathtaking. His smile, his grace, his wisdom. His eyes which fly over the heads of everyone else in the room and land...On her. They stay on her, no matter how much she lowers her gaze. It makes her blush, because he's so handsome and she's so young.
Later, after that meeting, she becomes an attendant of Elder David.
And then she sees him everyday.
And then she talks to him for the first time.
And then she finally sees his cocky grin turn into a sincere smile.
(And then she falls in love with him.)
"Mistress?"
"Yes, Arba?"
Arba wants to say something. It's on the tip of her tongue. It's flicking like a whip over her mind. Though Bath's eyes are still stuck to the paper she's reading, she tilts her head to show she's listening.
But that question disappears.
Maybe it was, "Do you love him like I do?" Or, "Is it strange if we're friends?"
Neither makes it past her lips.
Did 5 weeks with you change him more than 5 decades with me?
"How did the meeting go?"
Bathsheba looks up at her then. Arba knows the look in those eyes, the quick, millisecond-long look of disappointment. Like Bath knows, but was hoping Arba would have the courage to say it aloud. Then it's gone and Arba's convincing herself it was just her imagination.
"Well, Elder Joab tried to reject my new plans to implement better working conditions for the other species, but I pulled a passage out from Elder Nash's 'famous' book and turned them against each other." Bathsheba gives a wry smile, a smile of a friend. "It was entertaining."
Arba finds herself smiling at the other woman.
She stops.
"You shouldn't be rude to the Elders, milady," Arba softly advises. "They are the respected and loved leaders of the church."
"Yes, I'm aware." The Queen waves her hand as if blowing off the words of her attendant. Then her hand is taking hers and she's smiling brightly. "But isn't it funny?"
It is, and Arba likes it.
She likes it a lot, and it makes her feel completely guilty. Because she isn't being truthful to Bathsheba. Because she is letting her kind mistress believe that Arba is on her side.
Because she's in love with her mistress's husband.
She's stealing my magician, and I don't like it.
Bathsheba is so devious sometimes. Taking what isn't hers and blatantly disregarding my wishes. But I married her for a reason, and I will have to accept my wife's habits if I want Fate to continue forward in it's divinely inspired path. In truth, the best course of action will be to bless her with a child sooner rather than later; so that she'll relax for her infant.
But Fate is not kind, and as Bathsheba continues to tell me, I must complete my side of the bargain first. Hopefully I won't have to wait too much longer. I am a patient man, but it's hard sleeping next to a beautiful woman night after night without being able to touch her.
Ah, that didn't sound like something the "pure king" would say. Oops.
"Elder David?"
"Ah, Arba."
The first time David kissed Arba, she was twenty-five years old.
"I came as soon as you asked me to."
"Good."
He took her virginity when she was twenty-six.
"What is it you need, milord?"
"I'm glad you asked, Arba. There's someone important coming to the palace."
She realized she was in love with him was when she was thirty.
"Who's that?"
"Her name is Bathsheba. I'll need you to become her lady-in-waiting."
She accepted the fact that as long as she was his mistress, she'd never have a child at forty.
"Of course. Is she...Troublesome, milord?"
"Hah, you have no idea."
David asked her to spy on certain magicians and report back to him at forty-four.
"How long is she staying here for?"
"Hm? Oh, forever."
She killed a man who tried to hurt him at sixty-four.
"Haha...What do you mean…?"
"Isn't it obvious? Bathsheba is going to become my Queen. I'm marrying her."
When David asked Arba to become the servant of his beautiful wife, she was seventy-three.
Chapter 8: done!
Poor Arba *sigh*. You know, she's not actually insane in this story...Yet. But you can sorta see where the root of her problems begin to play; her deep devotion to David conflicting with her sudden affections toward Bath (the voices don't lie: soon you'll see how much Arba loves Bath).
I also feel bad for Jonathan, he had his own chapter like this ^^^ but I cut it a few days ago. Instead I lumped the sections of his chapter into a bunch of other chapters. I mean...If you want him to have his own chappie I can write it, but it really is mostly character development/world building/minor plot building. ALSO HOLY SHIT GUYS THERE IS MAJOR DEVELOPMENTS NEXT CHAPTER. Get ready for the plot to start moving...And for the players to start rolling the dice of fate. (Oh god shivers!)
Got any questions or suggestions? Something wrong about the chapter? Grammatical errors, something you didn't like? PM me or leave it in the reviews, I will reply and see what I can do to make the story better/clearer for y'all to understand. ILY MY DARLING READERS!
BYE~~~~~~~