Monique

Another night would pass, leaving two nights before the trial. Monique would convince Lee to let her into his room, a place she had never gone prior. She had felt that there were less things she knew about him such as his tendencies to feel jealous towards another person. At first he hesitated and tried making excuses as to why not but with just a simple look of plea in her eyes, Lee would have no other option than to agree. And so down the hall and to the right, just a couple more hallways from Terra’s room, lied Lee’s. His door looked to have been installed recently as it was just a simple dark walnut door. She had never seen a room with such simplicity before.

Though he inhabited a rather large room that was still filled with antique furniture hidden under tarps, there were some modern stuff off to the side. As if he was housing a roommate that never seemed to sleep in their room. He had explained that the room came with furniture he didn’t white like but the fairies refused to get rid of them so he compromised with them. He would ask only to have the simple luxuries in his side of the room, place the unwanted ones in the other side but he would do upkeep just so he could have his own stuff there. And the furniture that was new, was very minimalistic a queen sized bed with white comforter sheets sitting center with two midnight black end tables and lamps, and a modern chair that sat peculiarly just a few inches under a shelf of books. On one end of the room had a circular window that would peer out into the lake and one could see a garden that sat just in between. On the other side however, she found herself looking curiously at each book title. There sat 10 in total. Six of them were volumes 1 through 6 of “Small Pink Round Boy” while the other four were Tales of Eiridelium, History of Castle Faustus by Ersoi, Fairies of the Forever Forest by Ier, and Cults: an Oppressive Guide. Lee had panicked as she saw the books, as if she were to judge him on his tastes. But she just nodded her head, smiling.

Monique: I just never took you for someone who actually spends time reading.

Lee, jokingly: Ouch, do I really come on to you as a himbo?

Monique: N-no! I don’t know what that is but if it’s a mean joke, then no!!

He ruffled her hair while he laughed.

Lee: Still hard to believe you’re only eighteen, you sound like a grandma for not knowing half of the things.

Monique pouted: Geez, sooorrrrry. I was just surpirsed you even liked to read anything. I’ve seen the comics though.

She pointed to the “Pink Round Boy” series.

Lee: Yeah, I picked that up in one of the bookstores here. Though, I think the Leviathan Library holds almost everything from all across the realms. The libraries here though have just what you can’t find anywhere else on Eiridelium.

Monique: Why is that?

Lee: Some say it’s because Castle Faustus is its own land, not claimed by anything. Others say it's because this castle just holds contrabands that will no longer be seen as educational value but because the gods are extremely against the burning of any books, it's all kept here. Even if it was written by a cult member.

Monique: Why…

Lee: Is there so much animosity towards here?

She nodded. Lee looked at her with a sullen look, as if he hadn’t wanted to tell any of the stories but at the same time didn’t want to keep her from the truth.

Lee: It’s because of the legend of how the demon lord killed his wife.

Monique: The one Terra told me?

Lee: Yeah, but she’s probably heard the wrong version.

All at once, as if a flip of a switch had occurred, Lee was no longer here. Instead, the voice that came out of Lee’s mouth had been filled with an ancient sorrow that held no joy or contempt. His voice sounded as if it had lost all hope and meaning, as close to dead as one could get.

: Because stories aren’t always what one thinks of.

Monique: Lee?

He shook his head. And then he began to speak, without provoction, without so much as a reason…he would tell her his story while roaming around Lee’s room.

A long time ago, a goddess fell from the skies coverd in red. And when she fell, a tree sprouted. And soon, that would mark the beginning and ending of everything. She had no qualms of going back to the starry skies above, she had said the views from here were much better than up there. She had excitingly wanted to be with the mortal beings that resided here, at the rock floating at the end of the milky way. That when she had looked from past the world tree, she saw the stars that would all feel as if it was erupting from the ground only to have in a swirl at the end. And to her, this was a site worth staying for. And she would speak to all mortal beings as if they were equals. That there were no such things as race or hierarchies. Only the need for the strong to protect the weak, only the need to find familial bonds with each other. But there in lied a problem. For every good that comes along, evil daunts its every corner. While gods either fell from the skies or were born out of belief and necessity, demons were conjured to balance them. However, this world was made up of the leftovers, the castaways, and the cast asides. While it reigned true that demons do feast on souls, vanities, destruction, chaos, and all that was darkness in mortality, so did it reign true that some were just born in the wrong suits. And he would be born: a halfling of a demon and an elf.

Accepted from neither side, Faustus would grow to be unkind to all. Only keeping to himself and the flora that never gave a single thought for his existence. And it was not until she came to his view, uttering the very words he would hold onto, that he would begin to crave for more. But that craving would be his downfall. It would doom his beloved as well as his comrades…

And as he uttered the last word, he sighed.

: And perhaps if I hadn’t craved for so much, Persi…and Sorei…and everyone…

Monique: F-Faustus?

Faustus: Perhaps I was too eager to be more than what I already was. And perhaps…I wanted to be enough….

He looked back at her and wearily smiled, only to stumble and fall as Lee would regain his consciousness. Monique would catch Lee before he fell to the ground, trying her best to hold him up. She panicked, what was she to do? She furiously looked everywhere before she heard a groan.

Monique: Lee?? Lee????

Lee: Sh-shit. What happened?

Monique: Y-you tell me you’re scaring me. Are you okay? Do you need water or anything??

He shook his head. She still held him up.

Lee: I’m fine. I just…I think I just blacked out.

Monique: That’s not good.

Lee: I didn’t hurt you, did I?

She shook her head.

Lee: Well I should stop leaning on you, I might be too heavy.

Monique: Not really. If anything I can actually carry you.

Lee: What?? Nah no way. You can’t carry me. I’m far too heavy.

Monique: Want to bet?

Lee grinned: What are the stakes?

Monique: If I win I sleep with you in your room.

Lee: I was already going to let you do that, aim higher dear.

Monique: fine! Um….

She looked at the piano in the room.

Monique: Play something for me.

Lee: Alright, and if I win?

Monique: umm…. I kiss you?

Lee: Hmm with your arms wrapped around me?

Monique: D-Deal!

As he stood there, waiting to be picked up, her face turned red. She had signed up for something she hadn’t done in a long while. Granted, last time she had done it, Ezekiel was not too pleased to be picked up by a girl, thus stage fright was settling in. She also couldn’t figure out if Lee would react in such a way.

Lee, jokingly: Stage fright?

She shook her head and in one fell swoop she swept Lee off his feet and held him in her arms. She had manipulated the wind and gravity all around to be able to do this with ease. But she had to concentrate. Lee making small “eep” noises wasn’t helping.

Monique: Shh.

Lee: H-how!?!!??

He was blushing, with his fists balled up and his entire body not sure as to what was going on. She then proceeded to walk around his room till she plopped him in front of the piano where she would sit next to him.

Lee: Y-you cheated!

Monique: Magic isn’t cheating!

Lee: Is too!

She couldn’t tell if he was joking and hadn’t wanted to infringe on anything. Before she could apologize he just busted out laughing. It was so cheery and light it overwrote the last time she had done anything like this. She looked at him with confusion.

Lee: If anyone else were to see that I might as well die from embarrassment.

Monique: W-would that make you mad at me?

Lee: If anything, it just means my tiny girlfriend is super strong and no one should mess with her.

Her heart grew fonder hearing him call her that. Her face flushed at the sheer thought of it all. He patted the sit right next to him, inviting her to sit beside him and she would plop down.

Monique: I was just afraid you’d be upset for me defiling your ego.

Lee: I’m well aware that the male ego is quite small and fragile but worry not, this genuinely made me happy.

He stared at the piano in annoyance, dust had accumulated on it once again. She hesitated to ask anything, was he so vehemently against being in front of this instrument that she shouldn’t have asked to begin with?

Monique: If it’s too uncomfortable with you, perhaps we should do something different?

Lee: No, no, I did pledge myself to this, even if you are a cheater.

He stuck his tongue out at her.

Monique: But I am not one to force someone to do something that displeases them.

Lee: Just bad memories. I don’t practice as much as I used to.

He opened the key covers and started with playing a simple melody. It was in the tune to Twinkle, Twinkle. She just stared at him, waiting for more.

Lee: You did say to play something for you.

She pouted. He laughed and went to playing Prelude in C major by Bach. Each note he hit made her heart flutter with a memory she couldn’t quite piece together. Of just two children sitting in a room where the only thing that lit the entirety of it was the amount of light protruding into a singular 12 x 36 coloring in the window that had sat on the other side of the room. And when he had switched to playing something softer, she had noticed a difference…there was lingering in some of the notes, how often he would find himself lost to the piece itself. And when he was done, he didn’t want to talk at all and slowly put the cover back on. He hadn’t left his spot, and she hadn’t left hers. She would find herself leaning on his shoulder, as if waiting to see whether he was going to come back here. To this space. And when he did come back, he would take her hand and hold it, drawing small circles on the backs of it with his thumb.

Lee: Haven’t played anything in a long, long time. Didn’t think with the whole episode I had a while ago that I could still do it.

Monique: Where were you just now?

Lee: In the last place I ever like being…

She felt him sigh. Words to accurately describe a person’s feelings were always the hardest to come by. Especially when one does not want to detail it, bring it to life, give it any acknowledgement that it ever crossed their mind. And perhaps he was debating whether to tell it all to her, or to just let it be his own traumas to deal with it.

Monique: You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.

Lee: I just don’t think I can handle it without being a broken mess.

Monique, kneading her eyebrows: I’ll be here to help hold it together.

Lee, softly smiling: I think it would be too much for you to do so.

Monique: But, if I’m strong enough to hold you, I’m sure I’m strong enough to hold you together.

Lee: That’s not something you should be doing.

Monique: What if I just help point it out for you. You don’t have to tell me, but you shouldn’t have to hold it in. A-and I know I’m one to talk b-but…

He got up only to sit himself on the floor next to her, leaning into her thigh.

Lee: I understand the sentiment, believe me. And one day, I hope to tell you. Just not right now, is that okay?

And she would place her hand on his head, running her fingers through his hair reassuring him she’ll always be here. And all would feel alright in the world.

Lee: I feel like I’m just outright showing all of my uncool sides to you today.

Monique: Don’t say that. You’re human, you’re bound to be flawed.

Lee: Yes and the biggest one I have just made me lose precious Momo time.

Monique: Oh heavens no, we have to rectify that don’t we?

He looked up at her, eyes pondering what could be done. She felt him peering at her lips and she couldn’t resist, so she planted them onto his forehead. He then got up and sighed, making his way to his bed and just lying there, his face staring up at the ceiling. Monique followed in pursuit, getting as close to him as possible proved to be a momentous mistake. She was now trapped in his arms, laying on top of his chest.

Lee: Now it’s rectified.

Her face was so flushed red, her ears started feeling a tad bit too warm.

Lee: Is there anything else you would like to know about me?

She hadn’t quite thought of anything. When she was dating Ezekiel he pushed her around and made her like things she wasn’t comfortable with. She was always his doll, to shape, to mold, to be someone who was enough in his eyes. Made her do things she wished she could have said no to. But with Lee she knew those days were long gone.

Monique: I want to know everything about you.

Lee: That’s far too broad.

Monique: Fine, why wouldn’t you let me see your room till now? You seemed to be hesitating.

Lee: I…don’t know…I was embarrassed. I’ve never really shown any girl my room.

Monique had risen up to look at Lee, trying to gather if he was lying or not by making direct eye contact.

Monique: Not even Alice?

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Lee: Alice forced her way into here then laughed at all of my choices.

Monique: How rude!!

He smiled, collected strands of her hair and kissed them.

Lee: How rude indeed. I count myself very lucky to have you.

She blushed.

Monique: I’m the lucky one for running into you that day.

Lee smiled: The more you stare at me like that the more I’m going to want to do things to you that’ll make you redder than that.

Monique: Yeah? Like what?

He pulled her in, lips finding themselves and not parting ways. Leaving her breathless and without strength to keep herself up. He would find himself unable to move someone so adorable as her from himself, he would rather be crushed by every fiber of her being than to ever be without her. And she wouldn’t be far from the napes of his neck, from the softness of his chest, every part of him felt much like it was hers. Fabrics of their clothes would lay on top of each other and deep down she had wanted to know what it was like to feel his skin on hers, yearning for more and feeling impatient.

However she savored every moment she had because perhaps this is what she had wanted the most, to find comfort in a man who would show her nothing but what it meant to feel longed for and loved.

Lee

Voices would trickle inside his head. All throughout his mind, gentle whispers of “You look as alone as I do.” Suddenly he’d find himself chasing after that voice, what could it have been and who was it who? His eyes would flutter open, existence streaming in one molecule at a time. Thoughts of questioning the legitimacy of the event would go unanswered. He was far too distracted with a messy little red head in his arms to find the time to think about anything else. He wanted to enjoy this silence, this peace, with her. But when the morning sun came there was absolutely no peace. Terra’s echoing scream found its way throughout the hallways, causing Lee to peer his eyes open as Monique jolted up.

Terra: WHERE IS IT!?

Monique had rubbed her eyes, looking all around.

Lee: Just go back to sleep, I’ll go find out what’s happening.

Monique: Y…you s…sure?

Lee sleepily nodded as he tucked her back into bed. He walked outside of his bedroom and trotted over to Terra’s, rubbing his eyes as he was trying to steady himself awake. He walked over to the entrance of Terra’s room and noticed everything was a mess.

Lee: Wh-what’s going on?

Terra: I can’t find it!

Many things were either floating around, thrown across the room, or in a disheveled mess. Books were sprawled all over, clothes were moved from piles to stretched out on the floor, and papers had either found themselves in the air or just scattered.

Lee: Find what?

Terra: My diary!

Lee: Y…your diary?

Terra: Yes, my diary!! I…It was the first gift Dad gave me.

Lee: You mean your uncle Bear?

Terra: YES, he’s the only dad that matters to me! And I-I-I

She started crying.

Terra: I can’t find it!!

Lee: Take some deep breaths, step outside for a second, okay?

Terra nodded and tried to, but Ken had just arrived. He had some more information to share, and Terra just turned all of her frustrations and sadness into sheer anger.

Terra: It's your fault!

Ken: Wha?

She stormed towards Ken, hatred filling her eyes while her body tensed and trembled.

Lee: He just came in; how can it possibly be his fault.

Terra: You took me out of the house! While I had already taken out the diary. You did this because you’re working with your fucking sister!!

Ken: Wh-whoa whoa wait a minute! I-I didn’t take anything! I-I thought you needed a break!!

Terra: No! What I needed was space from you!

Ken: What the fuck did I do??? Look I’m sorry but I don’t know where your diary is, and I wouldn’t dare talk to my sister let alone take anything to her.

Terra, angrily: Yeah right, you’ve been playing the long con you’ve always hated me!

Ken: That’s not true! I-

Terra: I don’t want to hear your fucking excuses just get the fuck out of here.

She started walking away towards one of the libraries. Ken tried stopping her, but she whipped around and glared at him.

Terra: I don’t even want to see you after this entire fucking affair.

She then stomped off, leaving Ken to just be beside himself with Lee.

Ken: I-I was just here to inform…her…that Juniper will be residing as council.

Lee: That’s not good….

Monique had popped her head out of the hallway leading up to Lee’s room and looked at the scene with curiosity.

Monique: Who’s Juniper?

Lee: Dragon Goddess of Chaos.

Monique: D-Dra- wha???

Lee: Exactly how you heard it. Don’t ask me. I was just as surprised as you are.

Ken: M-minorlings usually show up to give council. Which normally means judge, jury, and executioner but the last is normally one who executes the punishment rather than just un-aliving someone. I-I was just going to tell her that because Juniper is mostly impartial and knows how stupid this entire thing is.

He slumped over to the ground.

Ken: I didn’t even touch her diary. I-I know how important that is to her.

Monique furrowed her eyes as Lee just shook her head, trying to signal to her to let him deal with Ken. She nodded and went to find Terra. Lee went to pick up Ken from the floor.

Ken: I don’t even like my sister; I hate her fucking guts and its just so disheartening.

Lee: I know, she knows.

Ken: Does she?

Lee: She’s probably upset over the diary and doesn’t want anyone to see her break apart. Not even you.

Ken: I-I guess…y-you don’t think she meant it…right?

Lee proceeded to walk him over to the dinning room where Ben had been putting up a small breakfast for the gang.

Ben: Trouble in paradise?

Lee: Not for me.

Ken gave a disgruntled sigh.

Ben: What’s up with him?

Lee: Terra can’t find her diary and is blaming Ken here and now Ken is upset.

Ben: Why would she be blaming him?

Lee: Because he innocently took her out on a walk around the house yesterday and now, she’s so upset she thinks he’s behind it.

Ken: I-I was just looking out for her…I-I didn’t…

He just groaned.

Ben: But you’ve always looked out for Terra. That’s what makes you two one of the cutest-will-they-won't-they couples.

Ken: I-HUH?

Lee, nodding in agreement: Yeah, you both totally deserve to get together.

Ken: Look now it's…

He sighed.

Ken: Uggh, it’s just…everything is so complicated.

Lee: Ken, you’re the stupidest guy I’ve ever known how is this complicated? Just tell Terra you like her.

Ben, looking at Ken’s face who’s face planted onto the table, then back at Lee.

Ben: You…you do know why Terra’s parents are dead right?

Lee: Yeah, because they turned into demons, and he killed them.

Ben, in shock: THAT’S WHAT YOU’VE BEEN TELLING EVERYONE???

Ken: Uhh, yeah??

Ben gets up from the table and proceeds to do the hand sign of the cross.

Lee: What are you doing?

Ben: PRAYING TO JESUS.

Ken: He doesn’t exist on this world though.

Ben: I DON’T CARE SOME GOD HAS TO HELP YOUR DUMBASS.

Monique

She wandered the hallways until she found herself hearing the soft blubbering sniffles coming from a library she had yet to discover. As she walked around, passing by shelves and little hallways of books that were messily stacked high and inside every shelf. And there sat Terra in a corner, hiding behind all the tower of books.

Terra: Please go away, Lee.

Monique found a fairy who was in the process of bringing a tissue box, took it from them, and proceeded to ask for some privacy. They flew away as Monique walked over to Terra, giving her some tissues.

Monique: Sorry, Lee’s not available.

She softly smiled at her.

Terra: Oh, gods I’m-I’m so sorry.

She took the tissues from Monique and used them to dry her tears and blow her snots away.

Terra: I’ve just been super upset. I-I can’t find the diary my dad gave me.

Monique: Dad?

Terra: Uncle Bear. The only dad that mattered. I-It was the first gift he gave me. Funnily enough, he gave me a magical one that can expand to accept new paper. He said it was a form of therapy in case I couldn’t talk about certain things. A-and I-I-

She started crying again. Monique didn’t really know what to do other than just offer a hug.

Terra: I-It’s just one of the last few things that he ever gave to me, and I-I treasured it. Its everything to me.

Monique didn’t know what to say. Parental love? Being cared for? All those were things she had only read about in story books. Never once did she think they could be real or hold any truth to them, but the more Terra cried about missing her surrogate father, the more she realized she had felt something familiar. Something from a distant past trying to surface itself back up. But that was neither here nor now. Now, she had a friend who was in a crisis, a crisis she had no idea how to resolve. So, all she did was pat her back and let Terra cry it all out.

Terra: I fucking hate this, I shouldn’t have gone out with Ken yesterday.

Monique: Is it really that bad? I mean, Ken was trying to help you, wasn’t he?

Terra: I…I guess…he said what Alexis always told me, just get a breath of fresh air. That everything will work out. Oh…oh gods…I yelled at him.

Monique: He’ll recover, he’s pretty much hard to make sad.

She then sat herself down next to Terra and noticed the crystal she was wearing that she had helped Ken retrieve.

Monique: You didn’t hear it from me, but I went and helped Ken get your necklace back.

Terra: R-Really? Wh-why would he do such a thing?

Monique: Perhaps, part of him really does care for you. Why would he spend all this time guarding you?

Terra: Because the village elder chief asked him to do this. It wasn’t his choice.

Monique: But he didn’t have to get you the necklace back, he didn’t have to fight his sister on it, and he didn’t have to keep coming back to the castle. Especially since he’s supposed to be restricted from entering.

Terra: But…no one can really be restricted…

Monique: But I’m sure he was specifically told to not come in, yet he did it anyways. He does care about you, more than you know.

Terra: All I’ve done was just push him away. I’m….so afraid you know…wh…what if…he leaves. I…I mean he…he’s allowed to. Everyone is.

And Monique’s eyes would widen in a mixture of shock and familiarity. Memories buried so deep between the things that were pushed back and forgotten had a way of resurfacing once more.

Terra: I…don’t deserve any of this. Maybe this was the universes’ way of balancing everything. I wasn’t supposed to live this long, I wasn’t supposed to be here. And now everything else…everything else feels like a punishment.

Monique heard an echo from the past climb it’s way up to the forefront of her mind. And though she never meant to breathe a word of it she looked to Terra and asked something she shouldn’t have as the flood gates wouldn’t close.

Monique: Are…are…you always waiting for the other shoe to fall?

Terra: Always. I…wondered when it was…did…did I ever tell you about my old man? Not the sperm donor who’s name I never bothered to recall or remember…but the one who took me in?

Monique: Uncle Bear?

She nodded. With the next word she breathed, her tears dried away and she spoke with so much melancholy and bitter happiness of a man who’s life was taken too soon.

Terra: He was…a soldier…a helluva good one.

She sniffled.

Terra: Through the Dragon’s Nest, you can become a certified adventurer, meaning you could go off world whenever it was necessary. Extract people from different worlds who didn’t belong or even eliminate them if necessary. But Bear didn’t believe in the latter. He always saw the best out of everyone. However, there were some cases where he just…just couldn’t forgive anyone. And he would wear that sin on his back. Tallies of the lives he had taken for the sake of justice. And one day, he fell in love with an escaped cultist.

Monique thought to herself Alexis’ mom.

Terra: At the time, she had changed her name to Marianna Celestine and the two were inseparable. And when he proposed to her, she had to tell him the truth. All of it. From the fact that she was supposed to be the greatest sorceress between her and her twin sister. She tried so hard to break up with him, but he couldn’t stop the fact that he had already fallen in love with her. And they bore a child the same time my parents bore me. But something was amiss, something was off. When Alexis was born, Marianna lost her life that life and to this day no one can quite tell why. She was the picture perfect of health after all. However, Bear never blamed Alexis. Never once was he angry at the life that was taken far too early in exchange for the life that was brought into this world. And he loved Alexis deeply.

She looked off to the distance, in some form of trance that took her far from where the both of them were.

Terra: One day, while on a father-daughter outing, he found me…shivering from the blood that not only stained my body but my soul. I…at the time…had destroyed two villages and a city…because if I didn’t…mom…mom wouldn’t let me come home. And I was crying because it wasn’t enough. The amount of blood that I spilled was not enough…and I didn’t want to kill anyone anymore. He asked me so many questions that I couldn’t answer and sometimes I wondered if I had just taken his hand that day that maybe everything would have been different. But…my…my mom found me and forced me away from him. I-I can’t remember how much time actually passed but I remember seeing Ken’s face for the first time and wanting him so badly to just end it all. I didn’t want to live in a world that I had already stained. His blade was already on my neck…

Tears fell from her face again at the repetition of a story she had already told. A story retold with much more details, much more sorrowful feelings that Monique tried to tell her that it was okay, that she didn’t have to go through with this.

Terra: And he didn’t. And…I feel like he should have. But that’s not the story, right? This isn’t about Ken…this is about Bear…my father who held me so tightly when I was brought back. My father who let me lock my doors for my own privacy, who immediately brought me things that he thought I liked because I showed mild interest in them…who told me that knowledge isn’t forbidden but there are somethings that we couldn’t openly speak about…who took the time to explain it all…who respected me well enough that he gave me a journal to write down my own personal thoughts…that when I wrote down how much I should have really died that day and he called me into the office to ask me about something as stupid as who ate the last mangoes…and I just broke into tears because I thought he saw that…and…it’s not fair…

Tears rapidly fell down, there was no end to them. Years of just biting her tongue, of just swallowing every bit of her desolate despair came and resurfaced all at once.

Terra: It's not fair. He shouldn’t…he shouldn’t have died the way he did. A fucking mystery no one can ever fucking solve. And of all the timing too. Just…Just two weeks…two fucking weeks after he had told me how proud he was of me, that he was excited to see the improvements I’ve made. That he was proud of Alexis and didn’t hate her for the person she became. Why….why Monique, why do the most unfortunate things happen to the best of people???

She didn’t know how to answer, because if she did, she would reveal too much of her own tragedies.

Terra: You want to know the worst of it?

She looked at Monique, her face caked in tears.

Terra: I was blamed. It was my fault. For being the last Evergreen. For being a fucking ex-cultist. Because it was my fault for ever tempting him to come save me and I-I don’t want that for Ken. I don’t want him to get mixed up with me. I-I’m so scared.

Monique wouldn’t know this but, this would be the first time in Terra’s entire life that she was this vulnerable to another person. Small snifflings would be heard from behind the two of them and Monique would notice that it was because the fairies had come back with water and more tissues only to hear the rest of the story, they had already known…however…to hear their proprietor of knowledge sulk in her misery, crying over what is and what was just too much for them. Monique would blow away all of her oozy snots and in between each, she felt Ken’s presence who couldn’t bring himself to walk in. Who stood there just as he described to Monique the way he did when Terra had accepted her surrogate father’s fate. Unable to be there when it mattered the most, unable to console when he knew he should have. And all he did was whisper apologies that would only reach Monique’s ears, and never to the person he intended it to the most.

A bouquet of lily of the valley was left where he stood. With a snap of time, the day of the trial would knock down the last bit of peace the castle ever held on to.