The Jewel of Orlegon

Chapter 28: Talk under the rain

"I really don't see why you're going through so much trouble for this poor animal," Rymian declared as he saw his sister desperately trying to feed drop by drop the kitten she held in the palm of her hand.

The skinny cat that the imperial princess had taken in and abandoned immediately had given birth as soon as the novices had returned to the palace's quarters they occupied. However, the poor creature did not survive despite all of Saosa's attempts to help. From its litter, only a tiny ginger male kitten had been born alive, and even that term seemed poorly chosen. The minuscule creature weighed barely as much as a sparrow and could only emit weak, sporadic chirps to express itself. Yet, Saosa persisted in trying to save the kitten, getting up several times during the night to patiently make it drink a few drops of milk.

"I'll return it to the princess when it no longer needs to be fed so often," she replied without even looking at her brother.

"Given Miss Eliryn's reaction when we arrived at the palace with her mother, I doubt she wants anything to do with the offspring," Alteria retorted, turning the page of the book she was studying.

"Unlike both of you," Saosa replied, letting the metal straw fall into the milk bowl in front of her, "I was with her in the rain outside the palanquin when she found its mother."

"And we were all in that same palanquin when she threw it into your arms like a bag of trash," the nimean replied.

"I think she had no choice," justified the Thenean warrior in return, "the Empress would never have let her keep a stray animal found in the street."

"She had the choice not to offer it the hope of being saved only to be abandoned again a few minutes later just because it came from the street!"

"And maybe she was hoping that we would take care of it when she couldn't. That she didn't have the courage to let another orphan die in the streets."

"So, as usual, the future empress decides what she wants for a clear conscience, and it's others who have to bear the consequences!"

"That's enough, both of you!" thundered Rymian.

Alteria slammed her book shut, stood up, grabbed her rain cape, and headed for the door of their quarters.

"Where are you going?" asked the young man, holding the door she was trying to open.

"Take some air!" the interested party replied, glaring at him, "it's our only day off since we arrived; I'd like to be able to walk alone if I want to!"

"Think about coming back in time for tonight."

"Thanks, I can manage my time!"

The young woman angrily slammed the door behind her and strode quickly through the small dark corridors of the part of the palace where they were housed. She practically encountered no one on her way; the servants who lived here were all busy with their daily tasks. The corridors widened a bit, and she could begin to hear the sound of water pouring from the sloping roofs of the palace, drenching all surfaces and turning the sand of the training courtyard into mud. Alteria continued her path, then, spotting the entrance of a staircase, climbed the steps and found herself on the battlements that surrounded the palace. A few meters away, she found the shelter of a watchtower where she took cover from the downpour that came from the sky. Her walk through the palace had expelled the anger she had felt during her discussion with Saosa, giving way to the true emotion that had tormented her for days: fear.

Alteria had not been able to explain to her comrades what had happened at the monastery during their visit. Certainly, she had talked about the cell with bare walls, the friendly and attentive Terlid, and the ominous old man who had come to see her. But she had not been able to find the words to express the abyssal terror that this encounter had plunged her into. The impression that the old man knew everything about her, could read her like an open book, and that the only reason he did nothing to her was that he had not yet found the utility he could have from her. A primal fear was nestled in the pit of her stomach since then, a feeling of narrowly escaping a danger she did not understand. The young woman wanted to return to Agathil, to find the protection of the walls of the mountain fortress, the security of being among people who, like her and the twins, just sought to learn to live with their exceptional abilities.