Eight Intertwined

40 - Arrival

The scene was a familiar one, a fragmented figure of a distant memory. The gardens of the Azelhart mansion in Noblecourt had been the backdrop of Primrose's childhood, the place where she met the first person she would ever claim to be her love, though those fragile words had long since crumbled away like ash on the sky. She fell to the ground with her hair blowing in the wind. Ten years later, she would take the breeze as a sign of a challenge from the gods themselves. As a child, she thought of it as a kiss to soothe her woes as emotions attempted to overtake her. 

"Primrose..."

The shadow of her father stood nearby, his face laced with kindness and paternal care in a way that felt magical to the only girl who got the chance to see him this way. He was worried as he watched her, concern unable to escape his gaze. Primrose was pushing herself too far, and as her father, he was the only one with the power to potentially talk her down from her own self-destruction. 

"Father, please... Let me try just once more!" Primrose cried out. She pushed herself to her feet, ignoring the way that her body attempted to tremble. She had been trying to perform this specific move for her father for what felt like an eternity, but she always just barely seemed to come up short, and her feet were starting to burn with past failures. 

Her father could see the way that her body was beginning to turn against her, and he shook his head. "You have tried enough. Now, you must be still and reflect upon why you continue to fail," Geoffrey instructed of her carefully. This was the closest he could get to forcing her to rest before she inevitably went for another round of rehearsals, and it was the best that he could do in terms of helping her to recuperate from the injuries that were simply waiting to happen. "You are my daughter--the lone daughter of House Azelhart. You must be strong. Stronger than you are now."

Primrose nodded as she looked down to the ground. "Yes, Father," she said softly, embarrassed at her continued failed attempts to perform the steps. Geoffrey had been teaching her to dance for as long as she could remember, an art that he first learned from Primrose's mother before she became an angel buried beneath the grasses of Noblecourt. He had decided to pass such skills on when Primrose requested such of him, but her young body was still clumsy and developing, not yet what it was bound to become. She had tripped over herself more times than either one of them had bothered to count, and deliberate care was necessary to ensure she didn't fall victim to any unnecessary injuries. 

Geoffrey took a few steps away from his daughter, and Primrose's eyes followed his ever movement. "Answer me this, Primrose--what is required of the head of a great house? The lady of House Azelhart..."

"The lady of House Azelhart..." Primrose echoed before she swallowed back her fears and stepped closer to her father. "...Must safeguard her family's success and glory. She must be strong enough that no other house overshadow our own."

Geoffrey stopped to think for a moment. "A fair answer. But hear me well, Primrose... Worth is not found in the eyes of others. That which truly matters most lies within. What the head of our house must value above all... Is faith."

"Faith..." Primrose repeated under her breath, turning the word over in her head silently. 

Geoffrey nodded. "'Faith shall be your shield.' These are our house words. And what they mean... Is that you cannot waver until you have done what you know in your heart of hearts must be done. It is the determination to keep your eyes fixed on the path before you, though a thousand indignities may seek to trip you up along the way. You must find that faith in yourself."

"Yes, Father," Primrose said softly, though if she was being honest, she didn't know what she was meant to have faith in. She was still so young, not even yet a teenager, and yet, the weight of the world had already been placed on her shoulders. Her family's legacy meant everything to her, but what was someone so young to do in the face of so much? The universe was relying on her to carry out her duty, and so were many others along the way. Primrose didn't know what she was meant to have faith in, because as it stood, she didn't think that she would be able to have faith in herself. Someone so small could hardly find the power to stand on her own two feet, much less do something meaningful with her life. And yet, her father told her the house words once more all the same, expecting her to internalize something that she only barely understood in her fragile youthful mind.