The Matriarch's Daughter

Chapter Twenty: A Deal With Fate

Claudia sat stiffly, her gaze fixed ahead, but Rory caught the way her fingers curled into fists on her lap. She had seen Claudia frustrated, annoyed, even furious, but this was different. She had never seen her friend hunched, and her breath coming in measured, deliberate exhales. The woman was devastated. But that was Claudia, and she barely had time to process her own panic.

Mom is going to be furious. How could I have possibly failed?

The word felt impossible. Failed. What did that even mean for them? Did they wash out? Were they the first? Surely others had been in this position before. Why had she never thought to ask? She needed answers.

Rory shifted forward, ready to speak, but Deeprabbit cut her off before she could get a word out.

"One moment, Ms. Fox. We are waiting on someone."

She sat back, pressing her lips together, allowing her thoughts to swirl uselessly.

Would I still be conscripted? And if I wasn't, what then? Would I even be allowed to see my friends? Would I... be able to see Thepa?

The silence stretched on, and with it, her stomach churned. If the floor wanted to split open and swallow her whole, she wouldn't mind.

Then, the door at the back of the room creaked open. Rory couldn't see who entered, at least not at first. A moment later, a chair scraped against the floor as a youngling no more than twelve completions climbed onto it.

Rory blinked.

Like Deeprabbit, the figure was a halfling, but not one Rory had ever seen. Something about the smaller Youngling of the Trees seemed almost otherworldly. Her large blue eyes stood out against the delicate contours of her small, oval face. Her black hair cascaded in a silken sheet down her back, long enough that Rory half-expected it to pool onto the floor around her feet. Resting atop her head was a wreath of pure white roses, so pristine and unblemished that Rory was sure they had been plucked from a garden a moment before.

And then there was the robe.

It wasn't just fabric; it was a tapestry of the heavens. Deep blues bled into rich purples and reds, streaked with fiery orange, shifting ever so slightly with her movements. The stars within it didn't merely glimmer; they pulsed with magical light.

She sat forward, hands resting lightly in her lap, studying the two of them with an expression too composed for someone so young. A quiet moment stretched between them before she turned her gaze to Deeprabbit.

"Did you tell them yet?"

Deeprabbit gave a slight bow in her direction. "No, Madam."

Madam?

Before Rory could untangle her thoughts, the girl turned to them with a warm smile.

"Well, no time like the present then," she said with a giggle. "Ms. Fox, Ms. Silver, it's nice to finally meet you. You may call me Delphi."

The moment the name left her lips, Claudia shot to her feet, snapping to attention. Rory, caught off guard, scrambled to follow suit. Her chair scraped loudly against the floor in her haste, nearly toppling backward. She tried to right herself mid-motion but knocked her knees into the floor, sending a wave of pain up and down her leg, quickly followed by embarrassment. With a sharp yelp, she finally forced herself upright, her face burning.

A bead of sweat dripped down her face. She tried to stand tall, working through the pain in her knees, but for the life of her, she had no clue why they were standing.

Either ignorant of Rory's pain or sparing her further embarrassment, Delphi continued to smile back at them warmly. "There is no need for formality, girls. I rarely stand on it. Please, have a seat."