Two walked free of Lancet’s lair and shut the door with all the care a beast of their pedigree demanded. A number of thoughts rushed her, each vying for her frayed attention. So many thoughts yet not one was worth considering

The sheer wealth was overwhelming. The governor’s waiting room was as luxurious as all else she’d seen. Smokeless lamps burned near the ceiling, filling the room with a clean white light that was tinged with the faintest orange. The same servant she’d met prior waited by the side. They shot her a dubious look huffed then walked away.

Two followed.

Luxury after luxury passed them by each so awfully indulgent that all began to blend into a haze gaudy and bright. Their footfalls were the only sound. This place seemed rich of all save people.

Two didn’t know where she was. The staircases they descended with regularity didn’t help her, but she certainly wasn’t headed to the room she woke in.

Her guide’s emotions churned, perfuming their path-shifting sentiment. Their mood matched Two’s. She had so very many nipping questions, and her mind throbbed in time with her new pendant’s bounce, “Girl, you are to meet Emissary Ignis.” The snappish tone of women who expected obedience cut through the silence like a knife.

Two held her sigh and readied herself, but trepidation clung to her. The old servant’s scent and voice were harsh but their distrust had softened into suspicion. It stirred her with hope, too much for comfort. She felt as if she hung by a thread and she’d not even spoken. Not even begun to confirm what could.

Voice soft, pitch high and with the slightest hesitation. Young and prim and just a little bit stupid. That was the mask Two selected. “Yes, ma’am. That was what the governor told me, but I’m uncertain what precisely she wants me to do. I would be really grateful for your experience and wisdom.”

It worked excellently. The old maid huffed and her ear twitched. “I can’t fathom why the lady would grant you the task. Why, I took you for trouble at first glance. I thought she’d pulled you off the street but perhaps I overjudge.” The woman continued hemming and hawing but Two was busy trying not to gape. “Nonetheless you’re going to clean up your act for the Emissary. You won’t have that angel think any worse of our lady or our city. You hear me, girl!“

Their final statement was snapped like a whip, and two met the woman’s stern stare with doe eyes as she tried to piece together what was happening. They, they almost sounded like a mother telling of a particularly dim child. She’d eavesdropped on many conversations just like it but couldn’t remember being subjected to such a gentle rebuke.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Daisy was soft barbs, the suffocation of a silk noose. All others had been soaked in contempt and varying levels of disgust. Most had simply been blows.

Two replayed the words in her head and another drag of essence left her just as confused.

“Do you understand girl!”

“Yes! Yes ma’am. I-I’m just a bit overwhelmed.” She stumbled through her words and would’ve been quite proud of her acting if half of it wasn’t genuine.

A grin tore across the old lady’s face. The gleeful expression made her a decade younger. “I understand girl, but you have to be strong! It’s not every day you meet an old story come to life. Why I remember telling my grandkids not to sneak into the cookie jar lest the winged folk come down and smite them. It seems silly given how polite the three of them are. None like the other guests have sometimes. They won’t even smile at you!”

Like the breaking of a great dam, the old servant spoke and then didn’t stop. Two composed herself to speak, then found there was no room for her words. After many minutes she realised she didn’t need them. The old woman could carry the weight of a dozen conversations with nary a bated breath. All she needed to was hum and nod on occasion. It was… a pleasant current.

The woman glanced after a particularly long tangent about the odd dietary habits of nobles from the crystal sky. She had known aquatic lines ate strange things but ritual cannibalism seemed a bit far to her. Two put on a smile. “Is there something wrong ma’am?”

The old mouse squinted her wrinkled eyes and pursed their lip. Suspicion re-entered her scent and an irrepressible stab of worry shook Two and was hidden with practised ease. “The governor didn’t give me your name what is it, girl.”

Her stomach churned but she pushed down. Where it would soon find company with disappointment. Frustration simmered behind her smile. “Two ma’am.”

“Two,” the woman tsked and walked to her oozing distaste all the while. Then Two found herself in the spindly arms of a woman heads shorter than her. She went stock still like a clock with a slipping gear. Her brain functioned perfectly it just happened that it was perfectly running into a wall. “Such a terrible practice, numbering orphaned siblings just because they couldn’t be bothered to come up with something. I’m glad the governor put an end to it.“ the woman talked and swayed pulling a stiff Two in their wake. They oozed disappointment and derision but not a single drop of it stuck to her.

They were angry… on her behalf?

“You should pick a name, a polite girl like you deserves a proper one.”

Her spinning thought found traction. “I-I’ll think about it.”

Mercifully the old woman relieved her and Two could think again. They fuffed, wide ears twitching angrily. “When you decide come to old Evadney. I’ll sort you out.”

“Yes ma’am,” Two said more from habit than thought.

Humming in satisfaction the woman returned to guiding Two through the labyrinthine halls and Two returned to thoughts, though she faced frequent interruptions.

One thing was clear to her though. Her fingers snaked to the crystal— a pure diamond if she recalled correctly. She clenched it tightly until she felt her fingers might bleed. It worked.

She’d borne this stigma and curse for half her life. Her attempts to escape it could fill a book. It had cost her everything but she’d down it. Yet a bit of crystal and loop of metal did away with it all. She wanted to laugh to cry and, for reasons she couldn’t divine, stab someone. More than anything she wanted to lie down and sleep until the world didn’t feel like such an absurd place.

The simple knowledge that she could sit somewhere without being bothered. The luxury to linger in another presence. She felt weightless as if the boundless sky was her only border. She wanted time to savour the heavens. Time to accept she wasn’t just falling.

Time did not wait for her.

Evadney opened a door to an out-of-the-way room containing nothing but a spiral staircase. Despite that, the room was drenched in excess. All the stairs were carved and landed with precious metal. Two considered the building’s height and suppressed a shudder.

“Well, these will get us to the first floor. It’s all killer on the knees but you’re a young lady I’m sure you’ll do fine.”

Two once more thought of the manor’s height. She couldn’t suppress the following shudder.