The Rugged Edge

Chapter 17: A Birthday Full of Absences

In new found friends I trusted,
grey in my heart ebbed away,
and emptiness soon rusted,
for it no longer reigned.

. . . . .

The birds were chirping outside my window, and I even felt like chirping with them.

It was very early, and the sun wasn't up yet. Last night I hadn't gone to camp, and for once I'd gotten a good night's sleep. I felt refreshed, but didn't want to get up. I decided to stay in bed until I had to go to breakfast.

So there I lay, thinking. I thought about how my life had changed since I'd become friends with Geraint and Quinnie. Since the day I'd really considered them so, it had been two months. Everything had suddenly seemed less gloomy and lonely. There was so much more to live for. I was even excited for this turning of age, since I would actually have someone to celebrate it with. It didn't matter that barely anyone knew that I had turned fifteen today. The hope that I could maybe be happy this year kept me going.

I thought about one thing that seemed to be continuously on my mind.

Act CXII. I couldn't stop thinking about what Geraint had told me. He'd said it after I'd told him and Quinnie... well, everything.

"Ise," he'd said. "Act CXII. You want to know what happened to it, of course, and what I did with it. But I don't know what happened to it.

"Collum told me to burn it, that night when Bessy heard us. I reported the ordeal to Rufus that very night, because obviously it was of importance. If Collum wanted it burned, then it must have said something of significance that he didn't want proof of. At that time, I didn't even know what it was about. But when I told Rufus... it was the first time he'd gotten that strange look I told you about. You described it as a lion's. For some reason, I didn't want to trust him. He looked as if there were more to him. But he composed himself. It was the first time I'd gotten out of Rokenfort by climbing the wall, and I didn't tell him about it. I told him that I'd taken the servant's entrance, even though I couldn't have because I'd have had to go through the towers, which were guarded, or through the kitchen, which I assumed was locked. But this is what he told me to do with the document," Geraint had continued. "He told me to find it and steal it, but not burn it. I was told to bring it back to camp and tell Collum that it had been burnt. So I went to the Hall of Records the next night, which was Thursday, and looked for it, but it was gone. It had been torn out. Someone had gotten to it before me."

I had been speechless. Someone else had known about Act CXII and stolen it before Geraint, and before me. There was a third element to the mystery. There was no way of knowing who had it or whether it even existed anymore.

At first, this news had shocked me, and I'd felt a sudden hope. If Act CXII still existed, and if I could find out who had it, then I would be able to be queen. No more of this rebellion; all I'd need would be that piece of parchment.

But then I'd realized that if the document hadn't surfaced in the last four years, it was very unlikely that it still existed. After realizing this, I'd been very hopeless again. Still, after consideration, I was able to let it go. I'd already decided that I'd have to take my place on the throne like this. Why did it matter so much that the Act was gone... again?

Now, it was just a matter of curiosity. Who else could have known about the document, and what did they want with it? When had they stolen it? Could it have been before Collum decided to have it destroyed? If they'd destroyed it, were they on Collum's side? Or had they destroyed it for their own purposes, so that they might be the rulers of Rokenmeine themselves? And if they hadn't destroyed it, why did they still have it, but not use it in any way? Why hadn't it resurfaced over the last years?

For now, I could only puzzle the mystery. Maybe, when I was queen, I would be able to figure it out. And I would be queen.

Then I realized it: I was fifteen. I was the queen.

There was only one problem: there was no Act CXII to prove that this was true.

. . .

Breakfast seemed to drag. It was as silent as usual, and Collum completely ignored me, which wasn't unusual, except that he usually congratulated me on my birthday, no matter how grudgingly he would do it.

I didn't care. When I was finished, I went to the kitchen to talk to Bessy.

It was warm as usual, with the oven fire going strong, and the smell of rising bread wafting out the windows. There was a pail of milk on the counter, ready to be poured into some delicious pastry, and there was a large pot filled with raw stew, being readied to be cooked at dinner.

There was only one thing missing, and this was Bessy.

I stood there, puzzled, for a while. I had never entered the kitchen on a morning like this to find Bessy absent. Never in my life.

"Gracelyn," I said to the kitchen maid, who was doing all of Bessy's usual tasks. "Where's Bessy?"

"She went to Runa, Your Highness," said Gracelyn, "to do some errands."

"But... Gracelyn, don't you usually do the errands?"

"Yes, Miss, I do," said the maid absentmindedly, kneading the risen bread. "But she said she needed to get out more. She told me to do the usual tasks and let her go, for once." She paused, and then added as an afterthought, "She said she'd be gone all day. She wanted to get a new pot."

I blinked. Bessy had made it clear that she hated visiting Runa in its present state; it always made her miserable. And how was she supposed to buy a new pot? I was sure she didn't have any money of her own, and the money the kitchens got weekly to keep stocked up surely wouldn't let her afford a pot in addition to flour and eggs.

"Thank you," I told Gracelyn, and left. I wandered towards my room, where Geraint would be waiting to escort me to my riding lessons, like every other day (in case of attack, Collum said. A personal bodyguard must escort me everywhere).

But when I got there, Geraint wasn't standing outside my door. Instead, a different guard stood there. He had red-brown hair and his nose was covered in freckles. I'd seen him with Geraint sometimes, and supposed they were friends.

"Your Highness." He bowed. "I will be taking Geraint's place today, in being your personal protector. My name is Cadence."

"I see," I said. "And where's Geraint?"

"He has another duty to do," said Cadence. "Apparently. He asked me to do this as a favor for him... even though it's my free day." He didn't look too happy about that. Still, he'd done it.

"I didn't know you had a free day," I said.

"Well, I'm not really..." Cadence faltered, "high ranking. So I don't have too many jobs."

"I see," I said. "And when will Geraint be back?"

"I think he said for the day, so I guess he'll be back tomorrow."

"Alright," I answered, slightly disappointed. Oh, well. Geraint had no clue it was my birthday, anyway. "Let's go, then."

He followed me down the stairs and towards the stables.