Emerald Snowflakes

2 - Something Changed

Edmanda watched the soft rays of the sun trickled through the window of her study. It was probably one of the last sunny days before the cold fully set in.

Despite the beautiful weather, she could not help the frown that had edged itself on her lips.

Winter in Kian always snuck in with cold winds, before it fully introduced itself with monsoun rain - that would no doubt devastate the small villiges surrounding the Kiinu River. It would carry on for four cold and dark months, leaving the rich forest -and its people- on the brink of death, before the sun would decide to grace them with its heat once more.

Rain, floods, winds, and hunger.

She had barely gotten her people through the past six winters. Spring always showed its face when they were at the verge of starvation. And she knew better than to attribute her sucsess to any skill or knowledge of her own.

Was it not for her eclaimed, her and her people would've perished the first winter under her rule, and deep down inside she knew The High Assembly, an assembly made up by representitives from all the branches of Kian, made to support and assist the Stem, also knew this thruth. Which is why they had let Tou stay when she had first taken him in.

Tou had been om the verge of death when she stubbled upon him - quite litterally- as she was on her daily stroll. She had taken pity over him and his state, and had decided to bring him back to the castle - despite her better judgment.

She knew very well, the outrage there would be if this strange man was found under her care. Tou was not native to Kian, nor was he native to any lawful state. He was lawless, a danger to her and her people, a living proof of the cruelties the regime of Rawas was capable of, but also the proof of its failure.

It was written over the arch of his eyebrows, across his high cheekbones, along the straight line of his nose, and in the unforgiving glare of his hazel eyes.

Samuarian.

The lone surviver of his people.

She had known the risk off housing him, he was lawless after all, a fugitive wanted dead by The Mad King himself. No Samuarians were supposed to survive that day.

She could not bring herself to give him up, no matter how much she told herself it was in her nations favor. She could not let him go.

Not long after she found him, their bond was activated, he became her eclaimed. He had become a part of her, and she a part of him. Giving him up meant killing herself.

The High Assembly probably would still have given him up, was it not for the fact that Tou had proven himseld as an asset for the crumbling nation.

After the death of her father, Edmanda had stuggled to bring stability to her nation. Tou had brought her that stability.

The frown on her lips deepened as she forced herself to step away from the window and back to her desk. Letting out a breath she didnt know she had been holding, she sank onto the cushioned seat.

Sitting behind the large desk had always made her feel small, she would never be able to fill it like her father had. She was never suppoes to be seated behind it to begin with. Sbe was never supposed to carry the title Stem-Mother, there had never even been a Stem-Mother.

She sighed taking a sombre look around the dim study, the only source of light being the window behind her. Her eyes finally landing on the tidy pile of scrolls on her desk, not feeling inclined towards reading them she averted her gaze. She was not used to sitting behing the desk by herself, Tou always stood by her side, he was always there with her when she had work to do, he was always there with advice.