Dissonance

the eleventh chord - "blurred days"

"Alaeca!"

She looked around, finding Ronov nearly out of breath with a stack of papers in hand. She pressed a berry through her lips when their eyes met. He let out a deep breath and dropped the stack beside her with a thud. Alaeca slid the bowl of berries across the table as he pulled a chair to sit beside her. Ronov took of his off-white gloves and eagerly took a handful.

"What's wrong?" she asked, and waited for him to swallow the mouthful with dove-like fondness. He began to speak, but cleared his throat when his voice came out raspy. "Have a look. That's the guest list."

Alaeca smirked, eyeing the thick pile. "No way." The corners of Ronov's eyes crinkled. "The first ten sheets are, anyway." He proceeded to chew on another mouthful of berries while she fingered the stack like it was a dead animal. "What's the rest?"

"Nonsense, probably," Ronov said, his tone blunt. "Every ceremony involving a king entails nonsense."

"It's probably because I'm foreign," Alaeca said drily. "I'm sorry you have to handle all this grunt work for me." Ronov covered her hand with his own. "It's not your fault. We've gotten the affirmative from the High Derizen, so you have nothing more to worry about. Everything's been taken care of."

A splash of warmth and colour in her heart lifted the corners of her lips for a natural smile. Squeezing her fingers, Ronov twirled the tips of his moustache, and excused himself with a certain hop in his step. Alaeca chuckled, before descending into sombre silence.

It had been eleven days since then.

Yuna had flown across the room like a frenzied bird. Alaeca had taken the maid's hand to soothe her, finding it ice cold with sweat. Over at least twenty minutes, with the help of Alaeca's gentle prodding, Yuna told her about the king. How he'd come to see her. How he'd smiled.

As if she didn't have enough to reflect on already, Alaeca's mind was thrown into disarray. More than what Arventh had wanted to say, Alaeca was awake at night mulling about his decision to go to her instead of having her come to him.

The darkness had been far away that night. Her existence had been confined to a suffocating cage of anxiety. Taneiya's warning manifested as ever-changing black shadows behind her eyelids, forcing her to stare into the walls all night. 'But if there's a way to turn back, then I advise you to do so immediately.'

I'm not even a real princess. Why am I here? Why did they send me here? Hell if I care about what happens to Fyndan. The court is ineffectual, their resources are scarce, and the only thing remotely positive about the palace was how pretty its gardens were. I just want to be home and fool around with Sydelle. Is that too much to ask?

Her eyes burned - not from tears, but from staying open for so long. Alaeca sat up in bed and poured some water into a glass. The liquid swirled like a tornado before settling immobile inside the clear vessel. In two long gulps, she emptied the glass and wiped her lips with the back of her hand.

There's no way to turn back, Taneiya.

When that unmistakable fact had cemented itself in her mind, the crashing waves of cold fear subsided, leaving behind a blank, distant sky. Alaeca had fallen into unsound slumber, broken almost two hours later by a nightmare she couldn't recall.

The following day, Alaeca did not leave her chambers because the stress had finally caught up. A pervading ache in every part of her body kept her glued to the bed and chair. Though she felt markedly better on the second day, Yuna persuaded her to take it easy.

Arventh had not come again. She learned from Ronov that the king was flooded with work and appointments, which Alaeca took as a perfect excuse to avoid him completely. After many hours spent searching, Alaeca and Ronov held their daily meetings to discuss the specifics of the marriage celebration in an unused dining room. For matters of safety, Alaeca was not allowed outside the palace building - not even within the expanse between the palace and the outer walls.

It was a smaller cage than Fyndan, where she could force her will with the right words.

Oftentimes the servants spoke behind her in a rough dialect that Alaeca couldn't fully understand. But in this dining hall, there were no servants - only she and Ronov. Ronov, the sweet man whose countenance was bright and happy when he was with her. She'd quickly grown accustomed to his quirky character, but he still muttered unintelligible things and sometimes wore faraway, pleading looks that rattled her.

Alaeca hadn't seen Rivex either. She reckoned that it would be unfitting for her to search him out, and unless he called for her, Alaeca didn't want to jeopardise either of their reputations. But Rivex was the only person in this hellish kingdom that she could talk to. It was easy to realise that she missed him.

She pressed her back against the chair, scanning the list of guests with an air of indifference. The celebration would be simple: the guests would present their gifts and good wishes, the ceremony would take place, and after dinner, Alaeca would no longer be required to stay. Ronov had assured her that though the gathering would be large, the only ones who would directly approach the king would be either his friends or people he worked with. Aside from the traditional Xindinan ceremony that she was already familiar with from her studies in Fyndan, all Alaeca had to do was sit beside the king and acknowledge everyone who spoke to them.

Alaeca swallowed.

She should be nervous about meeting a whole kingdom in two days. About having to parade and act comfortable when she wasn't around people who would shape her life in Xindin.

But the panic had yet to set in.

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A/N: Sorry about the short chapter! The next 2-3 are pretty long, so I hope they will make up for it. As always, thank you for reading & comments/votes are greatly appreciated. :)