Storm Sisters

Chapter Four

 ~1~

Kara

"What bothers my lady this evening?" the maid, June asked as she combed Kara's long auburn hair. Kara continued to stare mournfully out the window at the cherry blossom tree in the garden.

It had already begun to drop its white petals, which looked almost like falling snow as they fluttered to the ground below. In the past, Kara would've danced beneath them, but now that girlish sense of whimsical joy could not be found in her heart. For she understood that the falling of the petals meant that summer was over, and soon the weather would shift to cold winds and then eventually to bitter snows.

But for her, the bitterness had already begun and there was nothing so bitter in life as having to marry your lost sister's former husband. Sure king Orgon seemed kind enough, but with the mystery and pain of her sister's disappearance all those years ago, the match felt tainted by the whole ordeal. Not to mention the fact that he was much older and that she held no attraction for him.

Regardless, it was not her choice to make, for in the world of alliances and bloodlines, there was no room for the fantasies of childish girls who danced beneath cherry blossoms. She was a woman now, made queen and pregnant with child, both jobs burdened with seemingly unbearable responsibilities.

"I was thinking.." Kara started, "about that evening my sister left. You were her chamber maid back then, weren't you?"

"Yes my lady, I was.. she was a kind lady. The most kind that I ever served under." June replied, continuing to comb through the tangles in Kara's full and illustrious hair.

"So why weren't you with her when she left, or for that matter why wasn't any of her guard with her either?"

June paused her brush strokes now feeling trapped by Kara's sharp blue eyes. They were the kind of eyes that nothing escaped; that could seemingly catch a needle falling from across the room.

"My lady.. I.. I..," June stumbled on her words, "I don't know really. I didn't even know she had left until she was already gone."

"It's just strange though, isn't it? All these years and no sign of her as if she just vanished from the earth." Kara spoke still holding June captive with her stare.

"It's not my place to question such things." June turned her back to Kara now, but could still see those eyes watching her in the reflection in the mirror.

"Of course not..." Kara stood and placed a calming hand on June's shoulder, "but you must have heard things... rumors whispered throughout the castle? I know how servants like to gossip."

"I shouldn't be telling you this, but since she was your sister, you have the right to know.." June started, "I don't know much but this.. that she was afraid in those days leading up to her departure."

"Afraid? Afraid of what?" Kara asked earnestly.

Just then a knock on the door shattered the tension, immediately followed by the entrance of the king.

"My love!" he exclaimed as he burst through the doorway, arms raised high for embrace, "You look just ravishing." he said as he kissed her, the hairs of his beard tickling her face.

"The festival should begin shortly," he was referring to the feast of the new moon tonight. It was a long standing tradition to celebrate with a lavish costume party at which all the wealthiest lords made total fools of themselves.

"And this year my darling, I have a very special surprise in store for you."

Kara mustered the will to feign interest with a forced smile.