The Iron Seer

Chapter 3 - The Court of Air and Darkness

All I had wanted for fifteen years was to leave Glassbarrow, and now that trip was looming on the horizon - along with the words I'd spoken to my father. Someday I will leave Glassbarrow and you will never see me again.

Not this time, I promised myself. But this promise was one that I wasn't sure I could keep, and I amended it, feeling a spark ignite in my chest as I turned the words over in my head. This time, I will come back. If it seems for one moment that I might choose not to return, I promise you that I will come back at once, father. I will come back to you. I promise you this.

It was the day before Elysium.

My nerves were frayed as I paced about my room, wanting to do something with my hands to occupy my body and my mind somehow, distract myself from what I had half-convinced myself was my impending doom. I didn't need to pack; we wouldn't be staying the night at Court. It was a half day's carriage ride there, and a half day's carriage ride back. I would only be there long enough to make an appearance, pay my respects to the Queen, if possible, and then I would return to Glassbarrow. 

There was a knock on the door, and it opened before I could ask who it was. A black cat with familiar eyes darted into the room, and I laughed in slight exasperation. "Ti!"

Tiaothin shifted back into her primary form, grinning that sharp grin of hers. She was an odd sight - beautiful in an angular, feline way, her hair twisted in tight dreadlocks.

"I'm coming with you," she said, hopping onto my bed and sprawling out like a cat in the sun. She always did that.

"Coming with me?" I repeated, incredulous. "To Elysium?"

"Where else?" She winked, and I felt a rush of relief. I wouldn't be going alone, after all. All the more reason for me to return to Glassbarrow. Not that Ti was much of a rule-enforcer. Rule-breaking was her forte.

Another knock on the door, and a gruff voice said, "Ariella, it is time to get ready."

Ti's eyes widened in alarm, and she turned into a black rabbit and hopped out the open window, straight into the snow, quick and eager to get away from Isolde. It was a good thing, too, because not moments later Isolde and a herd of maids crowded into my bedroom, carrying materials for a dress. If Isolde had seen Tiaothin in here, nothing would have saved the phouka from a brutal flaying while she was still alive. The housekeeper was still mad about the chandelier.

I sighed as one of the maids began yanking a brush through my hair while another tried to take the measurement of my waist, envying Tiaothin her escape.

***

"Nice dress," Tiaothin remarked, admiring the shimmering blue folds spread out around me on the seat of the coach.

It really was a beautiful dress, floor-length, with an understated but elegant design. The fabric rippled when I moved, like glittering azure water. Madame Isolde had spent all of yesterday muttering that if I were to go to Elysium I might as well look like a lady, if not act like one. It wasn't that I couldn't act like a lady; I'd just never had occasion to. Or wanted to, really, if acting like a lady meant being like my aunt, Lady Chillsorrow, who was cold and calculating and utterly despicable. I had impeccable manners, but it was true that I had a volatile temper and a problem with authority.

I was staring out the window of the carriage at the passing lands. This was farther than I'd ever been outside of Glassbarrow, and I couldn't take in enough of the icy forests and tundras, the unfamiliar mountains in the distance. I'd looked at maps, of course, knew the terrain and the names of places by heart, but nothing could compare to being outside of Glassbarrow and seeing it all myself.