Collaterals

The Light

Leila shifted underneath her cloak, hurrying down the steps of the Build so she could shrug it off in the courtyard and be rid of its added heat.

The weather had not much changed from its chilly, miserable, dark, and wet state. Rather, it was this heat that had overtaken Leila. She'd felt it, first, in the pit of her stomach, the night she'd eaten the boar. She'd thought that she'd regurgitated that terrible heat, thought she would not have to think long on it. That was before she'd met with the Empress, a week ago, and the story of her cursed birth had ignited flames across her skin that Leila was yet to shake off.

Still, appearances must be maintained. And so Leila forced herself to walk calmly, sweaty hands clasped behind her back as she moved about the halls underneath the wretched cloak. She did not know whether the liquid that slid down her neck was sweat or water from the bath she'd taken. Regardless, Leila did not fret, only nodding back to Davu in hello as he walked in step with her, in different attire than that which he'd donned at dawn.

He had not asked what had brought her to the courtyard in the hour of sleep, perhaps so she would not ask him the same. On that first night after she'd met with the Empress- when the initial excitement of her return home had morphed into a abominably anxious and anticipated clump of emotion, that woke her in the dead of night so she could do nothing but sit in her heated skin- Leila had decided she would run drills in the courtyard, only to find Davu already there. He'd only stared at her a moment- a sharp interest in his eyes that quickly turned to determination- before squaring up. And so, for each day of the past week, she'd wake before dawn, dress,  and spar with Davu till there was but an hour before the Captain's arrival. Then she'd sit in a bath made cold by ice her poor maidservant carried all the way up to Leila's quarters- only a floor below the Empress's- until the ice melted and the heat of her skin had cooled to an uncomfortable warmth. Then she'd dress once more, and return to the courtyard.

Neither herself nor Davu would speak of it, and Leila found she was grateful for it as she took a long stabilizing breath. Davu frowned at her appearance. He opened his mouth, as though to say something, only to look forward once more. Then he sighed, "Are you...alright?"

Leila looked to him. He was a man of few words, and sometimes she forgot how his voice sounded. Or that he could speak at all. She nodded, clutching her sweaty hands tighter behind her back, "Yes."

"It is only: you seam...uncomfortable."

That was one way to put it.

"I am well, Davu, thank you."

She did not mean to be hostile. And yet, this entire week, she'd been nothing if not brash, ill-tempered, and quick to snap. Even her maidservant had kept a distance, never in the room for longer than she could help it, quick to braid Leila's hair, tidy her room, lace the seams of her dresses.

Davu nodded, looking forward once more, "Very well."

The others had already congregated by the Captain, who scowled as he looked to them, "Perhaps a day shoveling away hay in the stables would restore your Highnesses's punctuality!"

Leila barely looked at him, teeth grit as she shrugged the cloak off all too eagerly, half-draping, half-throwing the cloak onto a chair. Davu glanced at her in warning before he put a hand atop his chest, "Apologies, Captain."

The Captain stared at Leila as she unsheathed her sword, placing the scabbard atop a table before walking down the three steps, onto the courtyard. She forced the words out, "Apologies, Captain."

He assessed her for long enough that Leila wondered if he truly was going to send her to the stables. Then, he sighed.

"A change, then. Qadan with Leila. Arun with Vichama. Davu you can sit this one out. "