Araman

~ 16 ~

   Kassen left the ballroom after Raliena to look for her. Her distress was obvious; it must have been something the advisor had said to her.

He decided to go left on instinct to the end of the corridor and round the corner. He could not see her but carried on anyway until he reached the end of the walkway and came across another long corridor. He looked left and right and just before he decided to turn back, noticed that all the curtains on the windows were open except the one at the far end on the left.

As he neared he noticed a shimmer of blue behind the purple curtains where they hadn't been closed fully.

Kassen pulled back the curtain slightly and poked his head in the gap. Raliena was curled up in the window seat, her dress draping elegantly over it, staring out the window at the night spreading over the treetops.

"Has he said something to you?" Kassen asked stepping into the little alcove and closing the curtain behind him, creating a safe sanctuary.

Raliena lifted her head from the window but did not look at him.

"They were only words." She said quietly.

"Yes, he seems to have a way with them." Kassen said sarcastically, then sighed when he noticed she had tears on her cheeks.

"May I sit?"

"It is not like you to ask."

"You bring out the gentleman in me." Kassen replied and was pleased to see a small smile appear across Raliena's saddened expression.

She nodded and he was careful not to sit on her dress as he perched on the window seat.

"Is this another of your hideouts?" He asked.

"It will do." Raliena replied.

They sat in silence for a while, both content with the others company.

"He mentioned my mother." Raliena said finally. Kassen shuffled round to look at her better but she still had not looked up.

"What happened to her?"

"She threw herself from a cliff."

Kassen was not sure what to say to that so kept quiet until Raliena continued.

"She was named an Araman like me, but she never caught a Unisayan, it was just a title. Both the King and Queen were very fond of her. She helped Baynil to recover after the Queen died and grieved just as fervently. No one knew much about her past. She just appeared one day, pregnant with me, with an accent they did not recognise.

"Some thought she was a Queen herself who was bearing a child that was not her husbands, but they never judged her for it. Even when she took her own life the King saw that she was given a proper burial and the priests did not have the heart to protest."

Raliena smiled again despite the tears coming down her face.

"I do not remember her in detail. I was too young and the King made sure I was well looked after, especially by him. I do remember she always wore a necklace. It was just a simple chain, with alternating gold and silver links. It went round her neck, then came down her arm like a spiral." Raliena drew it on the window where their combined breath had made it misty.

"She never took it off, but always tried to cover it over."

"Perhaps someone she had fallen out of favour with gave it to her?" Kassen suggested. He had been listening intently to her story.

"Perhaps." Raliena said and shivered.

"You are cold." Kassen said. He had no jacket to give her so instead wrapped his arms around her shoulders and she allowed it.