Dusk [Death of Day]

After Dusk

An elderly woman shuffled through the heavy wooden door, looking tired and defeated. There were dark shadows around her small eyes, and her grey hair was flyaway. "Norna!" A young man's voice addressed her "What news?" All four people in the small room tuned to look at the newcomer. They sat around a table which was the only thing in the room, except a fireplace, where a kettle was boiling. The tired woman, Norna, crossed a small patch of tile, and sat down at the table, very slowly as if she ached all over. "The Queen," she told them, wheezily, "is dead." The young man gasped, but a motherly-looking woman only shook her head. "How?" Asked the man, his eyes wide. "No-one's really sure. Gill, be a dear and make me some tea, will you?" A smallish girl, barely a teenager, nodded and stood up to fetch the kettle. "One hears such terrible things." The motherly woman told them, barely concealing a sort of delight at the gossip, "She's so young, and was recovering well from her baby." She lowered her voice "I heard that the King didn't want her around for too long. Reminded him of his sister, probably."

"Leda, how could you? That's utter nonsense, and you know it." Snapped the young man, colouring. "Alesea, a bastard? Ridiculous. Tell them, Wynne." He turned to a short woman to his right, who crossed her arms. "Why are you asking me about her?"

"You knew her. You worked with her!"

"I barely knew her. She kept herself to herself, that one. Besides," She leant in conspiratorially, "Everyone knows how unhappy the Queen was. Almost never seen outside her rooms, didn't even smile on her wedding day. I heard that she died by her own hand." A silence stretched, as the young man looked outraged, and the two women sat back thoughtfully. Eventually, Norna spoke, in a warbling voice "It was such a pretty wedding, wasn't it?" Leda sighed, tiredly. They had covered this subject many times before. "Yes, it was beautiful." She said, resignedly. "Kali looked so lovely. So regal." Norna told them, and Wynne murmured "Only regal because she looked miserable." The young man elbowed her, but Norna was in full flow now, her cup of tea placed before her by Gill. "I shall tell my grandchildren about it when they are old enough to remember a story. They're not much older than the princess, you know." She smiled fondly and took a sip of her tea. Leda used this opportunity to speak before Norna cut across her again. "You know, there's a way we could tell if the King is responsible for killing-" here, the young man gasped, but Leda carried on anyway "-the Queen. If there's an arrest, it means that either that person really did kill the Queen, or King Seth did. If it's quietly hushed up, blamed on illness, then the Queen took her own life." She sat back, pleased with her hypothesis. Little Gill looked quite faint, and the young man quickly changed the subject.

The five remained in the room until the fire burnt itself out, talking, but the Queen's death hung over them like a dark cloud. Indeed, both Awendela and Colby mourned together, more united than they had been for a long time. Grief was rife, and people were glad to have someone to blame when, three days later, the young man was arrested, charged with the poisoning of Queen Kali

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