The Icon Unbound

Chapter Twenty-One, Part B - Saiph

Okay, now it is time for the reveal of Saiph and Rigel's heritage. Quite a few of you have guessed what it is! :) Hopefully the confirmation (or in a few cases, the denial) of what you believed to be true will be fun to watch! Enjoy, lovelies. Leave me some love in the votes and comments section. --Elizabeth, UPDATED 07/01/2017

Voices spilled easily from room to room, and Saiph heard his brother's drawl long before he could see him.

"I assure you, I have no idea what you're talking about. I've never been to the Red City before, and if there was a call to summon all of your wayward kin, I never heard it."

Saiph peered carefully around the edge of one of the support beams. The most prominent figure in the room was a dais with a wooden chair. Framed by spectacular drapes of silk and glimmering gold chains, it looked more like a throne for an Arbiter than a seat.

"Young man," The woman continued. "I have no time for cons or tricks."

"I am attempting neither. I told you, I came here with my family. We arrived just yesterday. We're here to visit some of my mother's family. Family business can get tedious and tensions were high enough to make me want some fresh air. That's when your captain found me. They're probably looking for me now."

"What is your family name?"

"Nickolidna."

The trembling little maid tripped over the ornate rug that ran down the middle of the room. Saiph flinched waiting for the crash, but it never came. Rigel rescued the tray, the tea things with one hand and the poor unbalanced maid in the other.

"Nice," Saiph whispered as Rigel set the maid back on her feet taking the tray away from her at the same time. With a hasty curtsey, the poor thing fled the room, shutting the door behind her.

Rigel looked at the tray he was left with and shrugged. "I'll just pour, shall I?"

"Nickolidna. That's not a name from anywhere in my district."

Rigel knelt smoothly onto the floor with the tray. Rigel poured the tea with the same nonchalance he would as if he were back home with their mother. Saiph wondered if he had indeed overreacted. "We live far to the west and north."

"A harsh part of the country these days, isn't it?"

Rigel shrugged. "I never found it so. May I pour for you as well?"

"You may, as you are doing it rather well for a farmer. Rather better than my stumbling servant girl, who has supposedly been trained. Who taught you?"

Laughing, Rigel continued to prepare the first cup, his hands all but dancing in the preparation. "My mother insisted. I thought I would never have an opportunity to use it. She will be pleased to have occasion to say she told me so."

Saiph studied the woman on the seat. Her age was impossible to determine, her face was smooth with only the faintest lines around her eyes. Bone white hair caught up in an elegant twist over her shoulder. Unable to tell the color of his eyes from this distance, though he could see how she made a study of his brother while her long fingers drummed on the arm of her chair. Her modest clothing draped her slim body without all the flounces and ribbons that had been so popular in the city.

Rigel finished and offered her the cup, which she accepted with equal manners.

She leaned back in her chair, curling her hands around the delicate teacup and crossing her legs. "Your story is... plausible I suppose. I'm sorry for the inconvenience."
Rigel returned to his seat and prepared another cup. "This is delicious. And there is no inconvenience. This has been a most congenial visit."