Fragments of Ash Vol. 1 (Urban Fantasy)

Chapter Four: A Gallant Knight

The mist had risen, it was a cold afternoon and the unforgiving glow of the sun was being magnified by the fog, it cast an ironically warm hue of yellow upon Ada's room. It was a good idea to stay on the upper floors; indeed, Ada made sure to stay in her room sat cross legged on her bed, and continue doing what she had been the past few weeks. Study, study and study some more. What was once a bland and unloved bedroom had now become a charming den of academia; piles of books from various libraries around the city were adorning her room, including a few key ones she had opted to buy with her meagre funds. She could feel her mind slowly patching together clues about the true nature of the spell carved onto her heart, but she was still too far away to claim any success.

There was a knock on her door, Eleanor walked in,

"Ada, a comrade of mine from the war has come to visit, would you like to join us downstairs?" she asked,

"Oh, uh, sure, the other knight you mentioned right?" Ada replied,

"Yes, Francoise Rochfort, you should really say hi, he's a close friend."

"Ok well, I mean, let me get ready, or something," Ada fumbled with her book, she wasn't really sure what to do,

"Shy around the opposite sex huh?" Eleanor said teasingly, a cheeky grin was plastered on her face, "how adorable."

"I'm not shy around men, I'm just, I'm-" shy around people, that's what she wanted to say, but how pathetic would that make her sound? The prospect of making a good impression on someone was quite alien to her, and honestly, quite scary. It was far easier to scare people away, and as a traveller, it was pretty much the way she'd lived her life for the past few years. She'd put in a lot of hard work the past few weeks to get Eleanor to see her nicest qualities, hiding all the insecurity, fear and regret that would no doubt be a burden to her host was difficult. Now she had to do it with someone else. Difficult.

Eleanor chuckled, "Listen, he's honestly an approachable gentleman, very friendly. You don't have to worry, and it'll do you a lot of good to make as many friends as possible!" she said, "perhaps digging your roots here instead of chasing a grudge will be a better idea, y'know?"

"I told you; if I dig my roots here I'll just let the truth slip away from me," Ada clutched her book, "when it comes to secrets, standing still and running away might as well be the same thing, they're both a way of avoiding the truth."

"Well, ok. I'm not going to bother repeating myself," Eleanor shrugged, "I'll be downstairs."

Repeating herself? Was she referring to the same old tripe about how she had the same problems as Ada and how she learned how to simply deal with them and move on? It was nice that Eleanor cared, but there was no way they ever had the same problems. And if they did, it didn't help that she never told them to her, or really mentioned anything about her past. Ada crossed her arms.

Ada met with Francoise in the living room, he was sat on the sofa opposite Eleanor, talking with her over tea. The fireplace was heating the room up nicely and made the rather spacious room quite comfy. Ada noticed Francoise was polite enough to take his shoes off so as not to stain the expensive red rug on the floor, or the solid oak floor, he'd made a bag of various cooked meals and placed them on the table, all sealed up in foil containers; it seemed Ada's food still didn't really stand up to Francoise's.

Francoise stood up as Ada entered the room, he bowed, as a gentleman would. Ada had never been bowed to before, it was weird. She also noticed how much taller than her he was, almost a whole foot. Dressed in formal blue and white knightly clothes, with perfectly groomed, golden locks, he seemed like the type of person to have a tendency to treat all women like princesses. Ada had no doubt he used such a skill to his advantage when out on the town. Then again, he looked like such a gentleman, despite his strong features, he had a youthful and gentle face, it almost felt like he'd be the type to be completely unaware of the concept of sex. He looked a slight bit younger than Eleanor, perhaps thirty or so, but it made sense, considering Eleanor had referred to him as her understudy several times.