Power Hungry

Chapter Eight

     Naya gasped as she jerked her head up to see booted feet, followed by long legs in trousers, and finally, the fiery hair and matching mask of the Summerian princess.

     "What were you doing around the palace the other day," Ceridwen asked, almost pleasantly, seeming unaware of her intrusion.

      Naya gagged on her words, unsure how to respond to her kingdom's guest. Yet, Naya had a sneaking suspicion that Ceridwen had something to do with the entry road being closed, and hopefully, the white hair Naya had seen. 

     "I, I was just hoping to see my grandmother. I used the Brick Road..." Naya trailed off, knowing her lie had many flaws, but she hoped the Summerian wouldn't know enough about Rintiero to know that the entryway that had been blocked was not the single way to any place in the city. It was a back-up, nothing more. Naya prayed Ceridwen didn't have enough knowledge of her kingdom to understand that.

     "What are you doing here," Naya asked, trying to reign in her hostility.

     The Summerian hmphed, didn't answer, but Naya understood that Ceridwen did, in fact, know that she was lying about her grandmother. "Interesting," the girl started, "but not what I was asking about." Her eyes pierced from behind her mask, and Naya stopped breathing. 

      "I don't know what you're talking about," she began hesitantly. "I just want to know why you're in my home."

      "I think you do know," Ceridwen answered, once again ignoring Naya's question. "It's come to my attention that you may have also had something to do with the murder of the young guard last night?" Ceridwen spoke casually, as if the conversation was one they could have over breakfast.     

     "Murder?" Naya choked.

     Ceridwen made the hmph noise again, and it irked Naya. Ceridwen clearly had experience lying. Naya wondered absently if it had anything to do with Ceridwen's brother.

     "I was wondering if the murder had something to do with your missing dagger? The one that just so happens to be magical?" Ceridwen had a vicious glint to her expression, although her tone remained neutral. 

     Naya gulped. "It isn't magical," she whispered.

     At that, the princess merely raised her eyebrow. "I don't much care about it at the moment, since I don't think you were the one who killed the boy, although I know some people who would be quite a lot more animated about it. And I assure you, if you do so much as one thing to prove to me that you cannot be trusted, I will also be more interested in your gift.

     "Alright," Naya growled, completely forgetting who she was speaking to, "you had better get out of here right now, before you get to see my other dagger-"

     "Don't," Ceridwen raised a hand, "threaten me." Her voice had turned icy, and it was a tone that Naya had never once heard from the normally carefree Summerians.

     Naya dipped her head, against all instincts, and bit down her retort. "I am sorry, princess."

     Ceridwen said nothing to that. She instead turned her back to Naya and proceeded to walk around Naya's humble pottery shop. Naya stumbled after her as the girl turned down a hallway at the back of the shop. "Uh," Naya was dumbfounded by the girl's intrusion, "wait," Naya called to no avail.

     Ceridwen wandered down the hallway, running her fingers along the walls as she had the statues in the glass gardens. "Why do you touch everything?" Naya couldn't hold back the question.

     Ceridwen turned, seeming surprised. Her eyes went wide for a moment and trailed to her hand resting on the wall. "Oh..." She was quiet and Naya didn't think she would answer, but then she opened her mouth again. "Your masks. They restrict my vision. I don't like it. I find it much better to feel the things around me. It helps."

     Naya hadn't expected that. She knew the other kingdoms didn't wear masks, but she'd never heard one of them complain about wearing the Ventrallan artworks. She supposed it made sense, though. She rarely took her's off, and she'd only seen one other Ventrallan without a mask, and that was Alan. He had always looked incredibly beautiful, even with the masks she'd grown to know, but even Naya couldn't deny that seeing his full face, completely exposed, was a rare treat. It was the real him: whole, absolute, unobscured. Naya wondered what it must be like for the people of the other kingdoms - how they saw everyone's face so often. For her, to see someone's face maskless - it was an honour. Exceptional and odd. Other people got to see people's faces naturally. The people in the other kingdoms must feel so exposed, Naya thought. How is it, she wondered, that they let anyone and everyone see them like that? For Ventrallans is a show of trust to see someone's face. Everywhere else it's a commonality.

     "Anyway," Ceridwen continued, snatching Naya away from her thoughts, "you still haven't told me who you were running from? It's why I'm here."

     "Is it," Naya asked drily.

     "Yes, as a matter of fact, it is," the princess replied smugly. She knows something I don't, Naya knew, and she's taunting me.

     "What do you want," Naya snapped, finally losing her composure.

     Ceridwen blinked at her, seeming to be looking at a complete idiot from beneath her flaming mask. "I've already told you, what, three times now? Four? I want to know who you were running from."  

     Naya sighed angrily. "That is absolutely none of your business!"

     "Actually," Ceridwen corrected with a steady tone, "it is."

     Naya didn't have the energy for rebuffing Ceridwen's questions, so she stayed quiet, waiting for the princess to elaborate.

     "I have no intention of turning you into the king. Do you really think that Jesse would approve of us meeting like this, no guards around me?" She scoffed, and Naya couldn't help but notice the way she said, Jesse. It was uncommon for someone to refer to the Donati king by his first name, but not unheard of from the other kingdoms. It was the timbre - the soft, gentle way of a caress - that the Summerian said Jesse's name that made Naya second guess the girl. The way that Ceridwen said Jesse's name was the way that Naya had always said Alan's name.

     "As I was saying," Ceridwen spoke sharply, noticing Naya's thought process, "this is simply my own curiosity. I wanted to only know who you were running from and how I could help, but you intrigued me. Now I'm thinking there's more to you."

     Naya ignored most of what Ceridwen said, focusing on one thought in her head: "If it was just your own curiosity, then how in Ventralli did you know about my dagger," Naya spat.

     "Oh," Ceridwen chuckled softly, "that."

     "Yes, that."

     "Is there nothing that you won't prod at, Ventrallan?"

     "When it involves my safety, no, nothing."

     "Well then, I guess you deserve an answer for your tenacity." The girl smiled, unexpectedly. It wasn't genuine, that was obvious, but Naya guessed that Ceridwen knew that all too well. The princess had certainly mastered fooling those around her, and this wasn't supposed to fool Naya. She was offering a tight-lipped 'smile', and they both knew it was fake, but that didn't matter.

     "So. You want to know what I know about you, and how," the Summerian princess asked. The Ventrallan peasant nodded. "Then you're going to have to tell me what you've heard about me and your king." Ceridwen spoke the words straight. She knew Naya had caught on to the way she spoke of Jesse. Naya didn't even feign confusion. She just looked right back at Ceridwen, waiting for her to speak some more. "Do we have a deal?"