Cloak and Scalpel

ABERLEEN ARC: Sitri Paxley

"Diana."

Aamon's voice.

I slowly opened my eyes and gave a small start of surprise. I was sitting up on Orion, leaning against Aamon. The sun was setting, and the skies were shot with brilliant hues of orange, red and gold. Around us, the trees seemed to thin out slowly. Where were we?

"Was I...was I out long?" I asked, looking up at Aamon.

"The whole day," Gusion answered from where he rode beside Aamon.

The whole day...

I glanced at the bracelet on my wrist. "I dreamed about Mila," I murmured.

"Did you, now?" Aamon asked. His elegant voice rumbled deep in his chest. There was no hint of sarcasm in his tone.

"She was happy," I said, running a finger along the bracelet. "She was...She was telling me to smile."

We all fell silent, lost in our thoughts and in the sound of the cicadas around us. "Say," I began. "Are we nearing Castle Aberleen now?"

"We aren't headed directly to Aberleen," Aamon said quietly. His arms tightened on either side of me as he adjusted Orion's reins.

"I thought-"

"We will stop by Thorncrest Hall for the night, and take a carriage to Aberleen tomorrow," he interjected, cold eyes fixed on the dimming path ahead.

I tilted my head so I could look up at Aamon again. The hood of his cloak was drawn over his face, but I could make out the icy blue of his eyes. "Thorncrest Hall?" I asked, racking my brains for any mention of such a place in the game. I drew a blank.

"It's a countryside manor belonging to our mother's family," Gusion answered. "Well, I guess, it's pretty much Aamon's now, since her side doesn't really have any male heirs or children."

"Oh," I said. Huh...That was something not mentioned in the lore at all. Surprising. For a moment, I wondered, what else might be in this world that was left out of the game lore?

"Wait," Gusion said slowly, as realization hit him. "By any chance, Aamon...Did you leave Sitri at Thorncrest?"

"Naturally," Aamon said, turning to him. "Do you really think it would be wise, leaving her with the likes of Vassago?"

Gusion visibly shuddered. "Heck no," he said, scoffing. "That idiot's bound to teach her the wrong things in life."

Sitri Paxley...

The youngest of the seven Paxley siblings, she had been a newborn when her parents, the former Duke and Duchess, had vanished in a sandstorm. If I recall, Aamon practically had to raise his youngest sibling when he was eighteen. In fact, he probably had to raise all his other siblings at that age, along with taking over as the Duke of Castle Aberleen.

I glanced up at Aamon, and he looked down at me. He was quite close. "What's Sitri like?" I asked, tilting my head at him.

"I'm surprised you're curious," he said.

I raised an eyebrow at him. "I may be your fake fiancée, but I am still your fiancée," I told him. "What kind of fiancée doesn't want to know her future in-laws?"

Aamon stared at me for a moment. "Gusion," Aamon said, turning to his brother.

"This, again." Gusion rolled his eyes and shook his head. "You practically raised some of us, Aamon, the fact that you can't even describe your own siblings wounds me." He said this with so much drama, Aamon almost looked as if he wanted to roll his eyes.