Liridia

Chapter 22: Mother Dearest

Liridia
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After what I saw in that horrid room that smelt like death, I know more than enough.

Polaris Box is the key. Now I need to find it.

I shouldn't have told Aldwin about anything. I'm just supposed to save his sister and be done with it.

And yet it feels like it could be more than that.

What am I saying? That I have feelings that want to be set free from their hypothetical cage, and want to hypothetically settle themselves into Aldwin? He doesn't even know my name.

A crow squawks as it lands onto the windowsill, ruffling its feathers and snapping its beak at me.

I open the window cautiously, checking outside my quarters and hastily pushing it into the room. I nipped my finger and I slapped its tail out of retaliation.

"Don't be like that." I whisper-shouted at the sullen looking bird. It looked almost bored.

It held a thin scroll of parchment and I read. The words swim in front of me, the swirling scrawl barely conceivable into words, let alone a sentence.

My eyes land on the first sentence and I pick up enough words to nearly stop reading.

Liridia,
If you are reading this, you must make haste and come to the house.
I know you ran away because of me, but I know where you are. I can see you.
Come home, we must talk.

I frantically peer through the window, searching the crowded mass of people in the marketplace.
I don't see her pale skin or her brown eyes peering up at me. A wave of fear rips my mind into ribbons, and I think of every possible scenario before it has even happened.

Liridia, I know you hate me. But we have urgent matters to discuss.
Please, it is something of dire importance.
Come as quick as you can.

Mother

Oh Versiim. Not her. She ruined me, made me run away, made me sit with my thoughts until I cried them away into a fitful sleep every night.

I hate my mother. I loathe her, when even I know deep down, that I have hope for her in my heart.

But... I was only a child, just a babe surrounded by the big bad Land much too soon.

I grab my satchel and stuff the note inside. Actually, I grab it out again and rip off my name at the top, into many tiny pieces.

I hurry out the door, downstairs and nearly kill Hywel when we smack into each other turning a corner.

"Oh, my gods! Hywel, I could have killed you!" I blurt slightly annoyed that I follow rules much too easily. 'You must come to the house, it's of dire importance' or whatever it said.

"Well... sorry." He says absentmindedly, with a tinge of annoyance and nervousness. Like he's avoiding me. I learnt how to read body language and tone of voice in Drako's teachings. That and how to throw knives, master archery and kill someone in sixteen different ways with a fork.

I quickly hurry past him, cursing myself for wanting to talk to him about how he is feeling. His eyes fall to the floor and he almost thunders off, his feet pounding the ground with a rhythmic thump thump.

I walk past the throne room and run into yet another hassle. That imbecile from the hearing.

"Well, what a surprise. Knew you couldn't help yourself to fall at my feet like the damsel you are." He smiles tauntingly, wanting a reaction, craving. Oh how I want to rip your arms off and beat you to death with them as you bleed out in the most publicly humiliating way possible.