by R J Kaldanis
Aardriyah frowned at this, suddenly becoming aware of her unsavoury table manners.
“I’m sorry, I just haven’t eaten in a while, that’s all.”
Rachida’s soft features suddenly dropped into a face of worry, she seemed to be assessing the woman in front of her, looking for some clue as to why she was so famished. Then it dawned on her, the black choker around her neck - she was unblessed, most likely a criminal servant or at least treated like one for being unblessed.
“No no, I’m sorry. I should have realised sooner. I just thought that, well, being an unblessed servant not detained with the other unblessed servants, you know -”
Rachida looked around before whispering,
“-the criminals.” She resumed her high pitched, fast paced tone,
“I assumed you must be highly qualified or knew the royal family personally. I just thought it would mean you were treated better than most other unblessed and fed properly.” She sighed and made a tutting noise with her mouth.
“I can’t imagine how hard it must have been for you - I really wouldn’t wish that upon anyone, being unblessed that is.”
Aardriyah sighed, looked down into her bowl and took a deep breath in, there was so much she wanted to say. She wanted to correct the assumptions that had just been made of her, but she knew her smartest option was to hold her tongue.
“Anyway, that doesn’t matter now, your past and all. This royal family treat all their servants as equals, regardless of blessing or not. In fact rumour is the new chef on board worked for the royal family as their private chef on Veros, so the food is going to be amazing!” She exclaimed with such excitement that anyone in the mess hall still awake, turned to look at the woman, confused by her sudden outburst of excitement. This made Aardriyah laugh, seeing someone almost as clumsy as her with their emotions and expression of them, perhaps this trip wouldn’t be as dull as she had initially expected. It surprised Aardriyah to no end that the first kind person she had met on the ship had been a fire blessed - the very people she had been taught to resent her whole life. Then it dawned on her,
“If you’re fire blessed, why isn’t your hair red?” She asked, looking over the tight bun of dark tresses. Rachida looked at Aardriyah confused, before stating,
“If you’re from Veros, why is your hair red?”
The two women laughed a little, realising in what would have been considered an otherwise rude and abrupt exchange of words, was anything but. They knew from that very moment that they understood each other, no pretences or formalities required, which was a huge relief to Aardriyah who had been so worried she would have to take on a whole new identity to go with her new name.
“It is, by the way.” Rachida said. Aardriyah crooked her head, unsure of what Rachida meant.
“My hair, it is red. It’s just not as vibrant as yours and it’ only really noticeable in the peak sun or when I actually use my fire blessing. Think of it like a fine dark red wine, aged to perfection, like me really.”
As they finished their stew, Aardriyah listened in to only about half of the ramblings that came from Rachida, every now and then giving a nod of acknowledgement to show that she was paying attention. In truth, now that she had a bit of sleep and a hot meal in her, she finally had the capacity to think over what Pateras and Old Man Teme had told her. Pateras ran the only library and archive in all of Veros which made Aardriyah curious as to why it had taken him so long to reach the conclusion he had this very day. All magic was chartered long ago and noted accordingly, any new form of magic discovered would have brought fame and glory to the person who uncovered it, surely. Unless, she hesitated, breath faltering, unless it was a magic that needed to stay undiscovered, untapped and unused.
“Rise and bow your head. NOW.” Rachida spoke through almost closed lips, before performing those very acts herself. Unsure of what had gotten into her, Aardriyah opened her mouth to reply in defiance before a large hand, covered in burn marks, slammed the table beside her. She realised her mistake immediately and rose as much as she could and bowed her head before addressing,
“Pardon Master Keelie.”
The man snorted a little, looking down at the unlikely companions before telling Rachida to leave them be. Rachida smiled coyly at his instructions before giving a small wink to Aardriyah and leaving quickly, Kit by her side.
Keelie found a seat right next to Aardriyah, the warmth of his skin so close to hers made her more uncomfortable than she had been in a long time. The only men she’d really been this close to were Pateras and Old Man Teme. It felt intrusive and entirely unwarranted for him to sit as his did now. She felt his eyes examining her from top to bottom and decided she had been silent long enough, turning to him she exclaimed,
“What?”
Keelie flinched at the sudden outburst.
“Do you need a reminder on courtesy towards your superiors, Riyah?” He leaned into her, warm breath hitting her face. She gulped.
“I apologise.”
“For?”
What kind of game was this, she wondered? Was it not obvious that she was just apologising to meet his needs, his desire for total control over all on board the ship? Still she figured he wasn’t going to leave until he had received exactly what he came to get, so she tried to finish the sentence to her best ability.
“For not following common courtesy?” Surely that was all he was after. But the sarcastic laugh and shake of his head told her she was wrong.
“Of all the things you have done wrong, that is my least concern and not what you need to apologise for. Though, I’ll admit if you wish to apologise for your insolence or obnoxious attitude, I will accept the apologies as they come.” Aardriyah’s face was burning, all she wanted to do was slap this man in the face, tell him to stay away and just get to wherever she needed to with as little interaction with him as possible. She began rising form her chair before his strong arm pulled her back down.
“Ow!” She said as she broke free from his grasp.
“I’m sorry. But you need to stay a little longer, I must have words with you.” His voice grew deeper and he seemed to be contemplating his next words carefully before continuing. Aardriyah didn’t really care to hear what he said next, in fact if she left now, she would be happy. She had heard him apologise, a man she doubted had apologised more than five times within his lifetime. Surely anything else he had to say would pale in comparison to those two words; I’m sorry.
“Earlier, in my office, you said you wanted to quit. You seemed fearful and I need to know that you are not being held against your will. You say the word and I will advise the Crystal Capital Court of this and free you immediately, on my life I promise this.” It turned out Aardriyah was wrong, hearing this strange giant offer to protect and free her on his life was sweeter than any, I’m sorry, he could utter. She didn’t know how to respond, how to clarify the misunderstanding between them now, particularly not without giving away her true identity.
“Did those guards hurt you? I was sure I wouldn’t see you back once they took you.” His eyes were pleading for answers, some clarity - any clarity really. He had found this whole situation odd, to say the least. As Master of Staff and Servants he was not only in charge of their allocations, health and wellbeing but he usually was the sole responsibility for employment intake. It had been quite suspicious that this woman was suddenly thrust into a role she was clearly not trained to do, but that she was only one of three new recruits on the ship - none of whom he had interviewed prior to their contracts beginning. He didn’t want to suspect slavery, but he had seen the fear in this young woman’s eyes as she was hauled away by the royal guards as if it wasn’t the first time it had happened to her.
“No. No they didn’t hurt me. Princess Kibo just wanted to see Kit before boarding in case we weren’t on the same ship, that’s all.” She tried her best to convince him, it wasn’t an outright lie after all, just a different version of the truth she figured. His do
ubtful eyes searched hers for even the slightest hint of dishonesty.
“You’re not just saying that to protect someone are you?” He muttered under his breath.
“No, of course not. Why would I protect the royal family, they’re a bunch of entitled -” she stopped herself from expressing her true thoughts on the family, cultivated through years of jealousy and anger towards them; towards her brother in particular. Keelie rose an eyebrow and sighed, perhaps believing her story finally. She had kept it short and simple to avoid getting muddled by the facts and perhaps kept it somewhat believable, she hoped.
“Fine. Tell me then, Riyah of Veros, what exactly will an animal handler do to keep her hands busy for the next month on the seas?”
For someone who had not been given a chance to put any thought into her alibi for her sudden appearance on the royal fleet, she felt that never ending anxiety creeping higher in her chest.
“I’m unsure of how that is of importance to you.” Was all she managed to say to avoid giving away too much or saying the wrong thing.
“Considering I oversee all staff employment, all servants rostered to this household and any other allocations of human resources necessary, I would say it’s of highest importance to me. I find it very odd that not only was I unaware that Princess Kibo had a new animal that needed space on our fleet but that this dog also required a new servant who has yet to show any merit or worth.”
Aardriyah felt her cheeks burning, red with shame and embarrassment. She knew she was worthless and had little to offer, but usually people just ignored her; no one ever went out of their way to tell her what she already knew about herself.
“Look, Riyah, I’m going to help you out a little because it’s obvious you have little life experience or knowledge of the world. Everyone you see on this fleet either earned their place here through succeeding in the trials and persevering through five long years at The Arcane Academy. The unblessed servants are all here because they committed a crime against The Crystal Capital and are serving their time as they must. So, how do you think any other person, blessed or not, will take you just floating on in to this role, no experience, no crime to pay for and definitely not having earned it from hard years of perseverance and dedication.”
It would have been easy then for Aardriyah to cry, to sob and hope that this man took enough pity on her to leave her alone. But something inside her told her not to, told her to prove his assumptions about her weakness, wrong. So, she glared into his eyes and asked,
“So what did you do then? To serve here. What crime did you commit, Master Keelie?”
She continued to stare at him, refusing to blink for fear it would somehow seem a weakness to him. After a large inhale, he finally said,
“I am unsure of how that is of importance to you, girl.” There were many things she already despised about this man, his ongoing tirade to bring her down being the top of the list. For all his flaws she could concede that he fought a verbal fight well.
“Master Keelie, I may not be blessed, I may not have persevered through the trials and the academy, but I have persevered my whole life being treated exactly the same way you have treated me since the moment you met me.” Although his face remained still pulled in the same taught manner, he did blink, twice, enough to let her know that she had thrown him off guard, bested him in a game he always won.
“And let me tell you this; through it all, all the hate, all the bullying, all the shame thrown at me, I have never fallen low enough to commit a crime to warrant serving my time on a stinking ship with a bunch of slaves and over achieving brats.”
Aardriyah rose from the table continuing her glare down at Keelie the whole time. She expected some kind of retort, some kind of retribution for what she had just said and the dishonour she had shown him. She was sure that anything he had planned for her as punishment would make her wish she had committed a crime to earn her place on the ship. Instead, he continued to sit in the same place, in complete silence. Taking this as a cue to leave, Aardriyah didn’t hesitate the slightest as she left the brooding hulk of a man sulking in the mess deck. She had an unfinished date with sleep that she would rather be attending to.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
death of an empire
After returning to her room, Aardriyah found Rachida and Kit had both nestled in neatly to bed. One of them was snoring, but she couldn’t tell which as somehow Kit had managed to find his way into Rachida’s arms and the sighing and heaving of the pair was now a synchronized act. It wasn’t long before Aardriyah drifted into what she hoped would be uninterrupted slumber for at least another few hours. Unfortunately, her mind wouldn’t allow her to wallow in black nothingness and instead presented a new dream for interpretation.
Her eyes awoke and gazed into a looking glass as tall as two men standing atop each other and just as wide. It was the largest she had ever seen and she took the opportunity to look at her body, her whole body for the first time in her life. Except of course, it wasn’t her body, but the body of whoever she was in, wherever this was. The woman looking back at her was wearing a slip of a dress, white and flowy satin draped over her sun kissed frame. Her hair fell to the top of her buttocks in strawberry blonde locks and glistened in the sunlight coming in from a large window to the right of the looking glass. She made her way outside onto a balcony and gazed over a large city looming in the bay below. In the centre of the city was a large circle with some kind of festival in full swing. Excited to join the festivities, the woman ran to a closet, quickly changed into a flowing long dress of delicate red silk before she ran out of the door down into the courtyard below.
“Kallostoria, where are you going?” Boomed a male voice. Turning around, the woman frowned at the man staring at her. He was a burly man, tall as he was round. His thick black eyebrows sat upon a scarred face from what must have been years fighting. Upon his large bald head, was a circlet of gold with a single red crystal in the centre shining bright.
“Please, it’s the first day of the Solis Exitus!” The woman begged. Aardriyah assumed he must have been her father given how freely she spoke to the apparent king or emperor. Trying to make out the surroundings and the sigils of the palace, Aardriyah noted the castle was made from white marble and sandstone, reminding her oddly of Veros. The flags draping from the sides of the castle were a simple white flanked by red borders, with the house sigil inside - a beaming sun with a large triangle obscuring the centre. She didn’t know where she was but she knew when, for the sigil was not of any household in the modern realm. Any schooled child of the realm knew the United Realm only had three fire kingdoms and none had this sigil nor were they close to Veros. Therefore, Aardriyah deduced that this household had to be before The War of The Elements, over 250 years ago. The name of the woman, Kallostoria, it was familiar though Aardriyah could not recall why.
Moments later, Kallostoria was dancing in the centre of the festival while musicians played a variety of string and wooded instruments to a melody that seemed to ignite the whole crowd into a frenzy. The music was intoxicating and Aardriyah was sure if she was in her own body, she would be dancing and smiling just as much as the current body she inhibited. When the song stopped, the crowd reeled applause at the musicians who in turn bowed and accepted gifts. Kallostoria made her way to one of the musicians, a man about the same age as her with shoulder length white hair and deep blue eyes. Aardriyah felt a sensation she hadn’t before, an overwhelming desire to touch him, kiss him, embrace him and yet she possessed a dark fear of the implications of doing so.
The dream jumped forward to a feast in what Aardriyah could only assume was the same palace she had been in earlier. Kallostoria wore a long white dress with a red embellished cape and a tiara with rows of rubies, cascading down her forehead. Her hand was tied in a ribbon that was also wrapped around the wrist of an older man sitting beside her. Rising from the table, he announced,
“I am ever thankful to Solis for bringing me such a beautiful
, young wife.” The rest of the table clapped and cheered.
“I wish to make you happy every day for the rest of your life, as you make me right now darling. I present to you something I hope you can cherish forever; a song.” He motioned to the stage behind the long dinner table where a band was sitting; the same band that had been playing in the square. Kallostoria was taken aback, confused as to her new husband's gift - fear taking over her mind and body as she wondered how he knew. As if sensing her confusion, the groom continued, leading her to a space for dancing in front of the band,
“I heard they were the best in all of the bay - even if they are water blessed peasants.” Smiling sweetly, he twirled her on the spot the white dress flaring in red brilliance at the bottom. Putting her worries to the side, Kallostoria smiled in return, leaning closer to her new husband while listening to the words being sung softly into the night air.
If my love was not mine to hold
How could I continue to grow old?
If my love was not mine to keep
How could my life ever be complete?
If these words were never sung,
My whole life would become undone
For you, my love, my darling, my fire
Are all I have ever wanted, my eternal desire
Kallostoria’s heart sunk as her eyes fell on the singer, the same feeling of overwhelming desire to touch him, kiss him, embrace him, taking over her every thought. Tears fell from her eyes, to which the guests at the table sighed over;
“Oh to be young and in love!” Said one elderly lady.
“Not just a strategic marriage then” said another guest.
“I suspect an heir any day now!” Whispered the emperor to his wife.
