Dralin

Chapter 14

Pelya woke with the sunrise, disoriented.  It took her a minute to remember where she was and the events of the previous day.  At one point during the night, she had woken from a nightmare of dead eyes surrounding her.  She’d been so tired that she fell right back asleep though.

Ebudae was lying next to her, fast asleep.  Pelya normally got up to do exercises and drills, but she wasn’t at the barracks, she was at Lady Pallon’s manor with no practice weapons.  Ebudae shifted in her sleep and mumbled wordlessly.  Pelya reached over and ran fingers through the girl’s messy brown hair for a minute to return the favor of the day before.  Then she closed her eyes and went back to sleep.

They didn’t wake up until noon.  As they were getting dressed, Ebudae said, “This is early for me.  I usually stay up all night and get up in the afternoon.  Grandmother likes it because she goes to bed and wakes up early.  It means she doesn’t have to deal with me very often.”

“Do we get to eat?” Pelya asked hopefully.

“You like to eat, I’ve noticed.  It’s probably why you’re so tall and strong.  Maybe taking a break from all that drilling will be good for you,” Ebudae observed.  Pelya stuck her tongue out eliciting the first giggle she had ever heard from the little wizardess.  “Come on.  Tina will take care of us.”  She took Pelya’s hand and led her downstairs.

Ebudae had chosen a cream-colored dress a few shades lighter than her brown hair.  It was edged with black lace that matched black stockings and shoes.  “Why do you hate pink so much when your eyes are pink?” Pelya asked.

“Oh, I love my eyes,” Ebudae said as they went down the stairs.  “But I like them to stand out.  Plus all little girls wear pink and I hate doing what everyone else does.  Do you know what my favorite color is?”

“Black,” Pelya guessed.

“Yes, exactly.  I love black.  It’s the color of dark and spooky things and it looks really good on me.  I like silver, white and purple too, but black is my favorite.”

“Mine’s blue, but I like black and brown too,” Pelya said.

“Blue is the color of your eyes.  Black and brown are the colors of the City Guard, so that’s understandable.”  Ebudae nodded, leading Pelya into the kitchen.

Tina was Ebudae’s personal assistant.  She was a nice young lady with a very bad stutter and an eyepatch covering an empty socket.  The eye had been lost in some terrible childhood event no one would tell Pelya about.  Lady Pallon hired her because it would make Ebudae’s life more difficult.  The stuttering was bad enough that the girl would have to wait for minutes whenever Tina delivered a message from her grandmother, which would make her late for whatever her grandmother needed her for.  In addition, the eyepatch was a bit unnerving because Lady Pallon had ordered one with a painted eyeball on it and insisted the woman wear it.  Tina was a poor woman who had no other avenues of work so did what she had to.

“Pelya and I would like some lunch in the dining room, Tina.”  The woman brushed back her dull blonde hair and nodded.  Tina avoided speaking whenever possible, much to the relief of the girls.  They walked into the long, empty dining room and sat down next to each other in seats nearest the kitchen.  “Grandmother almost never uses this.  She always eats in the conservatory.”

“I’ve noticed that,” Pelya said.  “What do you want to do after we eat?”

“Are you going to do your drills like normal?” Ebudae asked.  Her face looked ready for disappointment if the answer was yes.

“I’m only allowed to do them for an hour a day and I really don’t feel like it right now.  Can we do something else?”

Ebudae’s face brightened.  “Yes, definitely.  There are all sorts of things we can do.  Umm . . . I have some ideas, but is there anything that interests you?”