Collaterals

Such Pretty Grass

And yet not a wink of sleep had graced her. Instead, she'd dragged herself off her bed so she could get ready for dinner.

In Tain, Leila had one maidservant. Here...they buzzed around her, some stripping the bed, others bringing forth gowns for Leila to pick from. Around her were three more, tending to her nails, oiling her hair, bringing a bottle after another of perfume to smell. It was almost too much. Almost. Leila took a whiff of yet another bottle of perfume as she viewed a gown with a frown.

"Oh, don't tell me you're to wear that one!"

Leila was not sure who let Zarqa in...but it was not as unpleasant as she'd thought it would be. She frowned at the gown, "It was fashionable last I—"

"In Tain?" Zarqa interrupted, inching closer to the edge of Leila's bed, where she'd made herself comfortable. "I do wonder how they've come to rule so much with such stale sense in fashion. Perhaps it is the cold, stripping their eyes of sense."

A nod of Leila's head had the servants move away with the dress and return with another.

"Ugh!" Zarqa groaned. She jumped off the bed, moving to Leila's closet, "Let us see what mother picked out for you, hmm? I'm sure it'll be much better—"

"No," Leila said, almost too bitterly. 

Zarqa looked to her. Her frown was slow to form, eyes trailing to the ground in confusion.

Leila held back a sigh, "It is only...I had hoped to wear them later. For an occasion....better suited for such dress."

Zarqa raised an almost offended brow, "Such...dress?"

Leila gulped. It is not the there was such a huge difference in clothing between the Tainish and Aradian courts. Color, perhaps some of the tailoring. Mother made it a point to send emissaries to every corner of the empire so that, last Leila had heard, there was not a cloth or style one could not find in the Kingdom of Aradia. In fact, It was rumored the Queen of Aradia had a closet that rivaled that of the Empress herself. Leila shifted in her seat, not entirely sure why she was refusing. Stubbornness, likely. "Such fine dress. It feels almost too good to wear on my first night, is all."

Zarqa beamed and— not for the first time today—put a finger up playfully, "In Aradian!"

Leila sighed. 

By the grace of the creator Zarqa had finally approved of a dress Leila had brought with her from Tain. Their arms were interlocked, now, as they went on their merry way, moving through the halls. The Captain had been outside Leila's quarters, walking behind them, now, silently.

"Oh we're to throw the greatest of balls! You'll see. Mother throws the best of balls. Did you know, I heard The Kingdom of Cani is throwing a ball for their son, the eldest I think—"

Leila nodded along half heartedly. They passed guards, butlers, and now approaching them was a diviner. His hood was on, even in the halls of the palace. Liela frowned, squinting at something Zarqa said.

"...and I had so hoped they'd let me go.."

She had not felt him come so close, but suddenly the diviners grip was deadly on her arm, pulling her toward him as his face peaked from below the hood. He was young, face familiar, but his eyes were crazed.

Leila had felt fear a good few times in her life. She'd felt it when the Captain first swooshed his sword at her, felt it when she'd stolen some pastries from the kitchens, felt it the first time she'd weathered a storm atop a boat. But she could not say she'd felt terror quite as the one that struck through her heart now, holding her breath still in her lungs as her eyes widened, face pulled away from the Diviner's intrusion.