Suzerainty

Tabula Rasa

Ragatha felt numb. She felt empty. She wasn't even sure words could describe the amount of emotional turmoil she was going through right now. Staring intently at the black void in front of her for minutes, though seemed like hours, maybe hoping for a sign that her beloved father was alive. Delusional, of course, but hopeful. I suppose that's what grief does to someone isn't it?

She couldn't feel anything on her cold cotton skin, pins and needles shot through her inner fluff as a desperate attempt to get her to move and even the tattered gloved hand of the bandit behind her, a small attempt to soothe her, felt like blades scraping her threads. She was sure her eyes had run out of tears, crying nothing but crying regardless. She didn't know when it had happened, but the tattered gloved hands of the very same bandit that was soothing her a moment ago had now lifted her up into his arms and began taking her away from the abyssal hole and right into the arms of the chief royal guard.

She took a glance up at the bandit, his handsome scarred face and his sorrowful look. She noticed he was beaten up pretty badly, she noticed the way his hands held onto her for a few moments, terrified to let her go. She remembered his plan, how he was going to hand her over to the enemy. The same enemy that had tormented her beloved father for years, the enemy that had destroyed her beloved home. She felt no hatred, no seething malice like she had expected. But the emotion sure as hell wasn't a positive one, perhaps she was too exhausted, too battle hardened to blow up in his face about how this entire situation was his fault because he refused to communicate his reasons.

So, in a wild turn of events that had even shocked the royal guard, she pushed herself out of the chiefs arms and onto the floor, where she stood up bravely with an expression completely devoid of emotion. The rabbit never saw an expression like that before, coming from the princess that is, and he could only look down to the ground with a guilt ridden look on his face.

"I will allow you to be healed in...what's left of the castle infirmary"

She began, her voice barely breaking past a whisper as it was incredibly broken from the hysterical crying she had done, her vocal chords practically destroyed. The tone of her voice had caused the scarred bandit to wince slightly, grateful that she had even acknowledged him in the first place.

"But once you have healed to full health. You are exiled from my kingdom. If I see your face here again, I won't hesitate to punish you severely"

Jax snapped his head up in shock, exiled?! Surely she didn't mean it right? There was nowhere else he could go! He was not returning to his old kingdom, he couldn't bare to show his face there after all the jobs he had been given by the now deceased black kings chess piece, all those lives he had ended...it made him shudder a little.

"P-princess please...don't-"

"My word is final, vagabond. Heal, then leave"

Jax shut up after that, noticing that the princess was now completely devoid herself of emotion, even her voice had stuck to a monotonous tone. So with a deep inhale and a silent exhale, he merely nodded his head and accepted her word as final, allowing himself to be escorted up to the ruined castle by two guards, looking back at her one last time and once he realised she wasn't looking back at him, his demeanour completely deflated and he turned back to the direction he was facing.

The princess herself bravely stood up straight, addressing the royal guard with a powerful voice.

"The enemy has been bested and the war has been won. Yet...we have suffered a great loss"

She began as the royal guard in front of her all knelt down in respect to the new queen, all acknowledging her as their new leader.

"We will not let this hold us back. Our new kingdom will be strong, it will overcome anyone who wants to overthrow it."

Her bottom lip quivered a little bit, a sign that her stern and emotionless demeanour was threatening to break but she was raised a strong girl, brave in every sense.

"My first decree as a new queen, will be that I will make sure a tragedy like this will never happen ever again!"

There were no cheers, no exclaims of excitement. Only a silent few nods from the rest of the guard and a thumbs up from the chief himself. He stepped up towards the princess and tentatively took her hand in his, reassuring her that he'll always be there for her. The princess merely gave him a grateful look, not even feeling in the mood for a simple nod.

Looking behind her at the half broken remnants of her home, she let out a deep deep sigh. They had a lot of work to do.




Six months. That is the time it took to restore her kingdom to its former glory, for six sleepless months Ragatha had spent hours upon hours overseeing all the rebuilding of houses, and reimbursements of everyone's damaged goods. The poor queen had dark circles under her eyes as she worked tirelessly to make sure all of her subject were comfy and safe in their new homes.

It had taken Jax a total of two months to fully heal from the injuries Kaufmo had inflicted on him. Several broken ribs and bones littered his body, how he was still standing had genuinely shocked the nurses alongside the firmness of his body. He had nervously chuckled and simply told the nurses that he took a lot of strenuous jobs that had shaped his muscles. He did not know how to explain to the poor kind nurses that he was in fact an elite assassin.

Of course, the stubborn mule he is, he attempted to talk to Ragatha several times once he was released from the infirmary. The first six times she had been lenient, simply ignoring him and informing him where he would find the exit to the castle, the seventh time though? She personally grabbed him by the ears and dragged him right to the gates of the castle. He gave her little resistance, of course, he didn't want to stress her incredibly worn out body even more.

"If I or the guards catch you here, I will throw you in the dungeon myself!"

She had scolded him, not even looking at his guilty puppy expression.

This is where the current time leads us to now, a chilly autumn night and the poor queen had had it completely with the amount of work she had to do. She was doing her best to work to everyone's happiness but complaint after complaint was being sent into the castle non stop and she felt like ripping her yarn out.

Alas, she kept her award winning smile and a calm demeanour, and waved off the worried complaints of a very annoying snooty toy before bidding a good night to the rest of her maids, guards and butlers and heading down the now lonely walls of her home. Walls that she desperately hoped were filled with the insane ramblings of her late father, walls that she desperately craved for the kind laughter of her mother.

The funeral hasn't happened yet, she's had no time to even plan the event out. Nor was it going to be a normal funeral since...there was no body to bury. Ragatha shook her head and decided to not think about it too much. Despite hiding it, her emotional state was incredibly fragile and she spent most of her free time weeping in sorrow for her late parents.

Entering her cold room, her bedsheets had gained a thin layer of dust due to the lack of usage in the past six months. She pulled her royal cloak tighter around her body to stop the icy chill of the room from seeping deep into her cotton skin. Of course the maids had kept her room fairly clean but upon her request, they didn't mess around too much as what was left of her room was a memory of a time before the tragedy.

With a deep sigh she looked at herself in the mirror, wincing at the depressing state her body was in. Despite being made of cotton and fluff, she still somehow seemed to have turned sickly pale, like a frail old woman. Perhaps the stress affected her thread the same way it affected hair?