Ten of Swords (Draft Only)

Chapter 30

The schedule was set. Thinking that any kind of freedom would come with the morning sun was foolish. They were expected to have breakfast together in the tea room. Eating in their rooms would be unacceptable, as they had to be wakeful enough to begin work as soon as possible. The only exception was Samson, who was given the liberty to eat wherever he chose, but he wanted to be with the others. Special treatment disgusted him.

Rellane scooted over with her plate of toast and eggs to sit beside Elise. She had a look on her face that the older woman was none too fond of. "Sooo," the young woman started. Elise tried to ignore her.

"I heard," Rell began to whisper.

"No," Elise asserted quietly. She didn't want to hear about whatever rumour was floating around, and especially not what Rell's interpretation was.

Rell scoffed. "You don't even know what I was about to say."

Elise rolled her eyes. She had a pretty good idea. "A little story you heard from the servants, I assume. Unless it's the miracle answer that solves all my problems, I don't want to hear it."

That attendant from the previous night had looked like the chatty sort, so Elise wasn't at all surprised that the excuse that Maeve told her so that Elise could talk to the elf in private had traveled. It was embarrassing, but it wasn't much of an issue if strangers got the wrong idea. A little misinformation might come in handy, after all.

"Alright, you might not want to hear anything, but I do! Like, w-what is the courting process in elven culture? Are you serious about this? Or is it like what they say about elves, and he just wants a child? You have to tell me!" She spoke so fast that she stumbled over her words as she struggled to keep her voice quiet enough so that the others couldn't hear.

Elise absolutely could not continue eating. She almost choked while being subjected to Rell's questioning, so in order to prevent her untimely demise she put her plate down and gave Rell a particularly nasty side eye. "Nothing happened. We just talked. It's not like that."

"You can't be serious. I mean," she gestured as if to indicate her own face and lowered her chin to underline her point. The words just wouldn't come to her, but she was trying to indicate something about facial expression and how that somehow proved her hypothesis. The longer she looked at Elise though, the closer she got to the realisation that the older woman wasn't lying to her. "Gods, you are serious!"

Elise sighed and shaded her eyes with her hand. "Why's does this matter so much to you?"

It took some time for Rellane to put her thoughts together. Either she was trying to find a good enough excuse, or her motivations were a little more complex than Elise had first anticipated. "I guess I just want something nice to happen for you." She finally settled upon. "I mean, it's pretty obvious that he cares for you. Everyone saw how his thoughts just completely evaporated when you called him dear at that inn, and I can't imagine anyone talking back to a king unless it's to protect someone they care about."

"Ah." Elise had kind of been ignoring all that. Really there was a part of her that must have noticed, but it was just little things in isolation that couldn't really be considered proof. "I'm not so sure about that," she argued. "That first thing, he probably just wasn't expecting that. That second thing, well, there is a few reasons he could have done that. It's important to set boundaries with people like Hereskel. It can be dangerous not to. He might also not be as afraid of the king as most people."

"Elise, seriously," Rell growled. "Could you see yourself doing that at all for someone who wasn't your kid?"

She refused to think about it anymore. An attendant came over to ask is Elise was finished with her food. Seeing as her appetite wasn't returning to her, she nodded and let the servant take the plate away. "That's enough, Rell."