Denial of the Whisper

Chapter Fifteen.

Chapter Fifteen.

Dylana allowed me to take a book with me, some novel about a cursed monster, nothing that held any valuable information. But I was grateful, nonetheless. Apart from the two book we had once owned – I sold them after mother had died because I needed money to buy food – I'd never read a book, let alone something like a novel.

Together, we walked back to my room, where I put the book on the bed, then we went to the dining room, as it was time for dinner.

Brayhd was nowhere to be seen, and when Dylana noticed me looking at his empty seat, she said "He's at an important meeting with Caaln and Nyshard. He won't be joining us tonight."

Silently I nodded and put some food on my dish. At first, we ate in silence, and I was still processing everything we had talked about and about what it could possibly mean for me.

"Dylana?", I said after a while. 

"Hm?"

"I'm sorry about your mother. And... your father."

She smiled at me, sadness clouding her face. "Thank you. Both... were very dear to me. My mother died when I was still at a young age, but father... we had a good relationship."

"That's nice to hear.", I said, not knowing what else would be appropriate.
"How was your mother?", Dylana then asked, softly.
I took a sip from my water and answered "She was everything. My whole world. My whole family, my only friend, and the only person in this world who was able to love me."

My eyes fell on my dish again and I ate in silence, to caught up in my thoughts, in my memories. Memories of her smile, of her laugh, of her, telling me bed time stories as a child, of her, hugging me, telling me that one day, everything will be better, brighter.

I was so caught up, I didn't realize Dylana was staring at me.

"Adriyele...", she breathed.

Irritated, I looked at her. "You've told me before that you had no friends, but... surely... there must have been...?"

Dylana blinked and tears formed in her eyes.

She pitied me.

I quicky averted my eyes and looked at my half full dish in front of me, my cheeks burning up.

Dylana pitied me.

Never before had someone pitied me, or cried for me.

And I didn't like it.

It was false.

Her tears were false, they had to be.

In utter silence, I put my fork on the table and pressed my lips together, forbidding myself to say anything else, pushed my chair back and stood up.

I left the dining room without looking back.

When I reached my room, I changed into a loose, white cotton dress to sleep in, undid the braids in my hair and brushed it.

I avoided looking at my reflection in the mirror for most of the time, but when I was finished and looked at myself, I simply stared at me, at my reflection, at who I was.

My skin had a healthy colour from the day outside with Caaln, my cheeks were fuller than they had been when I had first arrived here, my figure was more.... Not that haggard, anymore.

I looked more like a twenty-year-old woman now than a child. Maybe, I had looked like that before my mother had died and before the last bit of money that she had put aside from her services as a healer had run out, maybe that was what she had seen right before she died.