The Bluebird Of Adelion

Chapter 24 - Confrontations

I was sitting alone in the common room, at a bench behind a table in the far right corner of room. There was enough space for a dozen tables scattered around. In the left corner was a small door-like opening leading to the storage room where food was kept, bags of potatoes, vegetables and dry meat covering the floor and walls of the small room up to the ceiling.

I was holding a big wooden cup of a warm drink that reminded me of classic tea, pulling the long sleeves of my new knitted sweater I had gotten down to my hands to warm them. I had gone back to the sleeping rooms after the conversation between Cal, Gillan and me. We had come to the conclusion that an elaborate group of people that we would send on a quest to execute Amari, Lord Aris and the other three members of her council was the best solution and avoided all unnecessary bloodshed. 

Cal had gone without me to explain his arrival to the rest of the Keepers and letting them know what had happened to Cal and me these last days and what really went down after the Crowning. I didn't know if there was one leader for the Keepers but judging from what I had learned I assumed that they were all working together without a particular leader, a democracy of people, each with a role, for example on food duty or patrol duty. 

When I had gotten back to the sleeping rooms by myself there were new clothes waiting for me there, a long knitted sweater type shirt in a beige color, a closed brown leather vest and light brown leather pants. The clothes had fit me pretty well and they were certainly warmer than my former white dress, it didn't even have sleeves and was ripped and torn in certain places, on top of that the white had almost been covered up by dirt. The material of my new clothing was thick and warm which was convenient, considering I noticed the days were getting colder and soon enough winter would have to come.

More people had then entered the sleeping room, a group of four faces I didn't recognize chatting rather loudly about something I wasn't interested enough in to have had paid attention. I left the room in search for some solitude to gather my thoughts. I had grown so tired of the constant darkness surrounding me so I went to the brightest and only place I knew how to get to in this place; the common room.

Luckily for me I saw nobody there when I got to the common room so I sat down at the most unnoticeable table in the room; a bench and a table in the far right corner. Brystle had come and given me something to drink, hugging me tightly a second time to greet me again. After giving me the drink and making sure I was well fed and warm she finally left me to tend to other things.

My drink warmed my hand and everything it touched really, my throat and stomach too. Sitting alone in the silence helped me focus on gathering my thoughts, there was not much else I could do at the moment. There was one part of our plan I was most scared of, and it was surprisingly not really the most scary part; my role in all this. Could I really be a Ruler? A leader to people didn't know and probably wanted me dead? I had no idea what being a leader actually meant or what the job actually included. But I knew I still wanted to help and be a better Ruler than Amari and the first step to that was ridding the people of her. 

I rubbed the Bringer's burn mark on my right forearm when I thought about this, it reminded me of my role and how, according to Cal, every Ruler before me had bore it. How many I did not know, in fact I knew very little about the kingdom I was supposed to save and rule. I had no idea how to actually rule a kingdom. I remembered Sythel saying ruling a kingdom was the easiest thing in the world, things practically ran themselves. But how could I take Sythel's word for it? Let's be honest, he was a drunk. I knew that was definitely not what I wanted to be for my kingdom and sincerely hoped Sythel would come to his senses soon.

Just as thoughts of despair began to slide into my mind footsteps coming from across the room got me to snap out of it and look up.  Strolling across the soil floors came Cal. In his features I read that he was deep in thought, his usually curved lips were now straightened into thin lines and his thin curved brows were slightly frowned so that a wrinkle emerged on his forehead. I thought he always looked handsome and if I wanted to I could keep myself entertained just by studying his beautifully crafted face, curved chin, a few locks of usually swept-back wavy hair falling down to cover the lashes over deep eyes, his locks reaching down to his slightly chiseled jawline.