The Emperor's Arrow

Chapter 2: Living Together

Humming quietly to herself, Evony crossed the courtyard, ignoring the fact that everyone still there was watching her. It seemed to her that since she'd arrived at the palace just a few horas ago she'd been stared at near constantly, and at this point, she was getting used to that fact. She wondered if her people and their ways were really so different from these mainlanders.

She pushed her idle thoughts away as she stopped in front of the serving girls who stood under the partial shade offered by the position of the wall and the sun. The three of them glanced at each other, one actually paling. Evony smiled and her gaze went to the brown-haired girl the only one of them who didn't seem completely terrified of her. "Would you mind accompanying me briefly?"

The girl looked at her companions, who both glanced away, before she swallowed and nodded. Evony smiled again and tried to project the assurance that she meant no harm. The way everyone reacted to her was beginning to make her feel like some kind of beast, as if she was a wolf that someone had let into the flock and that everyone was hoping would pass them by.

The serving girl trailing behind her, Evony made her way towards the dais, where Rakin still stood. The man tracked her movement, his face a mask of polite interest. Closer up, he was older than Evony had thought, the light lines around his eyes betraying him. He gave off an aura of capability and properness she could practically taste. She struck him from her list of potential sires for her children, having the distinct feeling they wouldn't get along at all, even for as short a time as she'd heard it took to lie with a man.

Evony's gaze flickered briefly towards the guards who stood closest to the dais, not that much could be seen of them in their uniforms. All she could tell was that the guard on the left had blue eyes, while the man on the right had brown. She wondered at the sheer number of guards that seemed to be everywhere in the palace. Realizing what she was doing, Evony focused back on the task at hand.

She halted in front of Rakin and waved her hand in the direction of the girl she'd brought with her. "The most important aspect of an empress is her people. Without your people there wouldn't be an empire. Without them to support you, to grow food for you, to fight for you, to do the things you can't, you would have nothing. They are what makes an empire."

Rakin stared at her for a moment then he blinked twice rapidly and inclined his head. "Thank you for your answer," he said slowly. "It would be best if you would wait here until the other candidates return."

Evony nodded and gave him a quick fist to shoulder salute. Then she turned to the serving girl. "Thank you for the help." She smiled. "I appreciate it."

The girl ducked her head in way of reply before scampering back to where she'd been standing previously. Evony watched her for a moment and then turned towards the breezeway she'd entered the courtyard by. In the corner where the walkway met one of the buildings was a large tree.

Approaching it, Evony recognized the leaves of the huge, spreading tree as those of an oak. Smiling up at it briefly—it reminded her of the massive trees of her home—she settled down beneath it with no care to her dress. Leaning back against the thick trunk, she spotted a chunk of branch a little longer than her forearm and as thick as her thumb and pinky put together at the thinner end only a passus from her foot.

She reached over and snagged it, dragging it into her lap. She ignored the way the bits of bark clunk to the fine fabric of her dress and pulled out one of her shorter knives off her ankle. Using the knife and her fingernails, she began peeling the bark carefully from the pale wood inside.

Once most of the brown casing had been removed, Evony dug into the wood. It didn't take long for the skirt of her dress and the grass around her to acquire a veritable snowfall of wood shavings. She hummed absently as she worked, feeling at least partially at home for the first time since she'd left Silvinsula.