In The Mist of Shadows

Chpt. 4

The sun peaked out from the line where the sea meets the sky and filled Adela's room with light. She groaned at the time, shoving a pillow on her face to see if she could sleep just ten more minutes. But her stomach churned and she was rushing to the toilet. Emptying her stomach Adela was sure of one thing, she wasn't going back to sleep.

She rinsed her mouth out before getting dressed and heading downstairs to see if she could find breakfast. To her surprise the pub served just that. She ordered eggs with sausage and orange juice despite that being the cause to her sickness. While eating she thought about her days adventure. How hard can convincing a Lord who's lost everything to give up everything again so a stranger can conquer his home? Maybe she could play the betrayal card. Or the innocent princess card? Gods. Who the fuck was she kidding?

After breakfast Adela spent longer time than usual on her makeup, adding some color to her cheeks, darkening her eye lashes and putting gloss on her lips. All well wearing those blasted curlers Alis gave her. She walked towards her trunk and pulled out the dress. It was defiantly for a princess. Would Lord Tamlin take her seriously though? Maybe if she plays it off as a kind hearted female. Adela snorted. Yeah right.

After she slipped it on, cursing at the tight ties that squeezed her ribs, she unbound her hair and pinned back the top half with a flower pin. Nice touch Alis. Looking in the mirror in the bathing room, she couldn't remember the last time she wore a dress like this. She never attended any of her father's meetings or balls, maybe as a guard. But no one saw her as a princess.... Not even herself.

Taking a breath she walked back towards her trunk and pulled out the map of Prythian. She would winnow into the Spring Court, or as far as she could if it had boarders. It's been a while, too long since she winnowed. She needed to focus. She ran her fingers along the parchment, memorizing it before strapping a dagger to her thigh and closing her eyes. She pictured the Spring Court as it looks on the map, willed herself to be there and took a step.

She felt herself spin, becoming the 'twirl' as her and Roen used to call it. She hated this part. This part alone was the reason she never winnows. Soon grass touched the bottoms of her shoes, a jolt of pain being sent into her legs. She heaved over, threatening to throw up again. But when she didn't she straightened again and looked around. "My Gods." This place was not what she imagined. Everything was abandoned, overgrown, not cared for at all. There was also this immense sadness that filled everything here.

Adela began walking, looking around. No animals, no wind, no pleasant smells of flowers, no fae. This place was truly neglected. The trees looked as though they haven't had water in a while, the grass limp, and any flower bush had no flowers. Just thorns or leaves that were browning. Adela also noted that there was no barriers here. Anyone could just walk in and take what they wanted.

After looking for a moment she pulled out the map of the Spring Court. She tried to make sense of where she was but there was nothing but plants on the verge of dying. What Lord felt this much pain he let his Court, his Kingdom suffer like this? She began walking straight and soon she saw the manor in which the Lord must reside in. If he even could, the place was overtaken by vines, thorns, leaves, you could barely see any part of it. Did the Lord even exist anymore? Taking a breath she mustered up the courage to knock on the front door. Or to shout 'hello' as there was no door.

She was one step from the stairs when another pair of footsteps appeared behind her. "What do you think you're doing?" Someone called after her. She whirled around, angling her hand by her dagger as she saw a male. He had long reddish hair, tall, likely to put up a good fight, tan skin... And had a metal eye. There was a scar on that side of his face that told her he must have had the original carved out. She's seen it before as punishment in Ells. He walked up to her, hand on his own dagger after she failed to answer the question. When he stood merely two feet away he froze. He took in every inch of her being, stopping at her eyes. "W-what is your name?"