Ascendance // a DreamNotFound fanfiction WITH AN UNSATISFYING ENDING

Chapter 6: Bonding

[3632 words]

~Dream, Heir Guard of the Florean castle~

Yesterday's physical activity had not been particularly strenuous, leaving me with plenty of energy in the evening. After deserting my post outside the Prince's warm bedroom, settling into the dungeon distracted me from acknowledging how the chamber's temperature plunged with nightfall.

On my first morning as the Royal Heir Guard, I rose from my underground living quarters before dawn, adjusting quickly to the enclosed space's frigid temperature and eerie atmosphere. After conducting a standard check of Prince George, who slept beneath a pile of blankets in his enormous bedroom, I headed to the staff dining hall for breakfast.

The staff dining hall resided on the castle's second floor, up a narrow flight of stairs from the massive kitchen on the ground floor. Buzzing with anticipation, I planned scenarios in my head in which I associated with the castle's other guards. I had met nearly no one yesterday, for I spent the entire time receiving a grand tour from the Prince himself. My only interaction with the other guards occurred last night at dinner; unfortunately, my first impression had not gone well, for Primary and Secondary Guards Itan and Arwun requested I eat dinner after the other guards and eat breakfast before them. Hoping to maintain positive relations, I agreed without question, maintaining a smiling front despite their snorts of derision. I would prove them wrong.

Hairs lowered upon my arms as my body warmed with the exercise of climbing the steps to the staff dining hall. When I ascended into the room, long before the light of sunrise, I blinked at the nearly pitch-black room. Candles faintly marked where the outer walls and rectangular tables lay; carefully skirting the nearly invisible obstacles, I weaved through the dining hall, only mildly disappointed I was alone. However, as I neared the location where I remembered the stairway to the kitchen led, a spruce door opened. Yellowish light spilled into the dining hall; I halted when a single figure, wearing iron armor, shoved open the door, then promptly stuck a wooden wedge beneath it to keep it open.

Either the newcomer did not see me or he ignored me, because he turned away, then called into the stairwell, "Door is open!" His voice rattled like the splintering of ice. Waiting until a muffled reply from the kitchen responded, the guard turned and stared at me. In a lower voice, he commented, "Don't think I didn't see you. Nice to meet you, by the way."

"Hello." Without any idea how to interpret his brusque greeting, I simply nodded with a small wave.

My timid response surprised the guard, who narrowed his eyes to squint at me, then the eyes widened. "You're the new staff member, right?"

"I am. I started yesterday."

"Oh, okay, wait right there!" Charging down the stairs he emerged from, the guard returned with a new candle in one hand and two small plates of food balanced on another, one upon his palm and one upon his wrist. When I gratefully accepted one plate, he pointed toward the nearest rectangular spruce table. We seated ourselves upon the benches beneath the table surface, allowing me an opportunity to observe the guard closer.

"What's your name?" I asked curiously, eager to learn about the first guard I met who did not immediately judge me for my community of origin.

"Quackity." He extended one hand to shake mine after his first few bites of food. Breakfast consisted of a bread roll, an apple, and a serving of sauerkraut: almost too much food for the quantity I was used to consuming on a daily basis, but I had no intention of complaining. "You're from Orlan, right?"

"Yes. It's a pleasure to meet you! My name is Dream."

As soon as I specified my community of origin, Quackity's defiant scowl softened into an amiable smile. "That's awesome! I'm Orlanian, too."