Instead of the expected food cart of breakfast goods, Magdalene’s maidservant Andrea showed up, and glanced at the two of them, then requested that the two of them move to the private dining hall, where Magdalene and Fialla were awaiting their arrival.
Sheilah was aware of Andrea’s approach before the maid knocked on the door, but Toril jolted in surprise.
Toril gave Sheilah a difficult look, sighed, and rose to his feet. Sheilah copied him, part of her still wary of both Toril and Andrea, calculating distances between herself and them.
The short walk to the private dining hall of Magdalene and Toril was uneventful; Fialla gave Sheilah a reproachful look when Sheilah arrived.
Toril immediately stiffened at the sight of Fialla, prompting Sheilah re-introducing the half-elven girl as her sister.
Toril grimaced at that, “There isn’t a single person in all of Stormheim that will accept an elven sister of the Princess of Stormheim.” He complained, and caught the exchange of looks between Sheilah and Fialla.
“We’ll have to figure something out.” He added, albeit reluctantly.
A servant came into the dining hall, pushing a cart that steamed with the scents of various foodstuffs.
“Right. Breakfast.” He announced briskly, clapping his hands and rubbing them together.
The servants placed various dishes about the table; Toril explained each food to Sheilah and Fialla as they were laid out.
“Leave us, leave us.” Toril flapped his hand at the servant. “Let me have breakfast already with the ladies; the food’s getting cold.” The servant withdrew with a hurt expression.
“Davian told me a little bit about the Clans.” Toril offered as he scooped food onto their plates. “You hunt animals that are important to you, right?” He asked.
She was going to correct him, but her explanation died on her lips. The clans raised and herded goats and other animals; the only animals that they actively hunted belonged to their Totems.
She smiled a little. “That’s ... right.” She replied.
“You don’t sound sure of that.” He observed. “Potatoes?” He asked, and she nodded. He spooned some potatoes onto her plate.
“We raise goats for wool and milk, boars for their meat, chickens for eggs, and...” She offered, and he nodded. “We hunt the dragons, and we defend ourselves against the gnolls and Stormheim.” She finished her explanations.
He frowned at her a bit while he chewed.
“I’ve heard of dragons. They’re supposed to be terrifying monsters.”
She nodded while she chewed. “Unimaginably terrifying.” She replied. “Their wings blot out the skies, their flames burn down to the marrow, their hides turn away sword and spear, their teeth and claws devour the unworthy.” She explained, the thin rings around her irises flaring alight as she described them. “There is no higher authority, they embody absolute supremacy.”
He leaned back away from her as she described them. Even though he’d never seen one, and all of those who had never survived the encounter, he could somehow imagine one, picture it in his head.
“What do you do with them?” He asked in a low breath.
She grinned for a second. “We eat them, of course.”
He tried to find a way of changing the subject. “And... that’s why you were climbing the wall under the window earlier?” He asked.
She nodded. “We like tall places. We can’t fly like dragons, but we’re very good at climbing.” She replied easily. “I woke up this morning and wondered what the highest point of the castle was.”
He blinked a few times as he mentally calculated how far she’d gotten.
“You climbed all the way from your rooms?” He asked, baffled and amazed.
She nodded. “It’s not very difficult at all.” She picked up a thick slice of bacon and stuffed it into her mouth.
“You went without me?” Fialla asked Sheilah curiously.
“I didn’t want to wake you up.” Sheilah replied, giving Fialla a nudge.
“From the balcony?” Fialla confirmed,. And Sheilah nodded.
“How was it?” Fialla asked, her curiosity and interest evident in her voice.
Sheilah shook her head. “I had to go all the way to the other side of the castle to find something worth climbing.”
Fialla replied to that statement with a disappointed look and a sympathetic gesture.
Magdalene and Toril exchanged looks.
Toril leaned forward. “It’s not appropriate for you- either of you- to be climbing the castle. You won’t be doing that any more.” He decided to adopt a stern voice for this. Sheilah and Fialla immediately adopted stubborn looks of their own.
He held up three fingers. “There are three reasons for this.” He explained. “First, it’s unladylike. Second, any guard sees you, they will think you’re an intruder or an assassin, and they will kill you.” He added. “Finally, there’s the risk of falling.” he finished, with a strong look at Sheilah for emphasis. “I cannot have my last surviving child falling to her death.”
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
Fialla rolled her eyes. “As if a Dragon would fall.” she mocked.
Toril didn’t reply to this, but continued to stare significantly at Sheilah.
“That one’s on you.” she finally replied, pointing at him with half a biscuit. “You startled me. I would have gone straight up if you hadn’t opened the window when you did.”
Fialla’s eyes opened wide at that exchange. “You fell?” She accused.
Sheilah rolled her eyes. “He startled me. Popped right out of the window.” She described, but Fialla shook her head.
“You fell.” Fialla pointed out, a note of teasing in her voice.
Sheilah flexed her fingers like a cat. “I stuck to the wall, though.”
“A fall is a fall.” Fialla argued, but Sheilah shook her head.
“It’s only a fall if you hit the ground.” She replied.
The two started bickering in between bites of food, and Toril allowed it to continue as he wanted to see more of how Sheilah and Fialla interacted with each other.
Finally, however, he cut them both off.
“Magdalene told me that you arrived here with a sword.”
Fialla and Sheilah both cut off their animated conversation as if their strings had been cut, and the emotion slid from their faces.
“I’d like to see it, if you don’t mind.” Toril encouraged.
Fialla eyed Sheilah’s face, and then got up and left the room.
After several minutes, she returned with a leather-wrapped bundle, which she proffered to Sheilah. “I didn’t touch it.” She explained, “But I picked it up for you.”
Sheilah’s eyebrow twitched at that. “Did you bring yours?” She asked.
Fialla bobbled her head. “Can’t bring my spear everywhere. I have my knife.”
“I wouldn’t have minded if it were you, sister.” Sheilah gently admonished Fialla.
Sheilah unwrapped the sword and set it on the table; a slender, rapier-like blade with a dragonbone hilt and sheath.
Toril reached for it, and Sheilah stiffened. He caught the gesture and froze; looking towards his daughter expectantly.
“If you don’t mind.” Toril began, and picked up the sword laying on the table.
A feeling like insects crawled all over Sheilah’s skin, and it was all she could do to keep from snatching the blade from him.
Toril bared a few inches of blade and curiously inspected it, and then slid it back into its sheath and set it back on the table.
Toril blinked. “This looks more like a duelist’s blade than a Redstone sword.”
Both Fialla and Sheilah let out a sigh at this, then traded looks.
“I can’t believe you let him touch your blade.” Fialla muttered at Sheilah in the tongue of the Redstone. There were notes of reproach in her voice. “They’re not for outsiders.”
“I wanted to see what would happen.” Sheilah replied.
“And?” Fialla replied back.
“Like having a nest of blood hornets crawl all over my skin.” Sheilah replied.
Fialla shuddered.
“You won’t need to carry that around.” Magdalene interrupted their conversation. “You can leave that in your room.”
Toril rolled his eyes. “There are plenty of noblewomen that carry dueling rapiers, Magdalene. It won’t be a problem if she learns how to use it.”
Magdalene gave him a sour look. “Lower noblewomen, Toril. Not the princess.”
He waved his hand dismissively. “I see no problem with it.”
The frustrated anger Magdalene directed at Toril was visible to everyone.
“You won’t be able to keep her locked up, Mag.” Toril offered, glancing at his wife while he stabbed a bit of potato with his fork. “She’s going to be seen, for better or worse, and we need to prepare for that. Letting her carry her sword won’t be a problem, as long as she knows how- and when- to use it. I trust you- and her instructors- to teach her when it’s appropriate.” He stuffed the bit of potato in his mouth, and then pointed at Fialla with his fork.
“Maybe a head covering, for her ears.” He mused.
Fialla frowned, but he waggled his fork back and forth. “Anyone sees you as you are now, and they’ll think you’re a Dark-” He was interrupted by Fialla standing up, her hand going to her back, where her knife rested.
“Don’t say it.” Fialla warned hotly.
He gave her a nonplussed look, but his eyes were hard. “It doesn’t matter if I say it or not. Everyone will think it: You’re another elf to torment us.” He replied. “Threaten as you like, it’s an unassailable truth. Elves are not liked in Stormheim. That means we’ll have to find some way of covering your ears.” He stated.
He got up.
“This has been a very welcome distraction from my duties, but I have things that need attending, and you two need to start working hard- preferably on your Stormheim speech.”
“I think we speak it well.” Fialla complained to Sheilah.
Magdalene frowned. “I’ll explain on the way back to your apartments.” She finally decided.
*****
As they navigated the halls, Magdalene finally spoke up after a long silence. “Your pronunciation is atrocious of course, but the real problem is that you speak like men.”
Sheilah gave Fialla a puzzled look, who shrugged.
Magdalene sighed. “So we start there?” She asked the air. “It’s a matter of intonation in most things, but there’s some words that are used if a man speaks them, and other words if a woman speaks them. You sound like a pair of angry boys with a mouthful of food in your mouths.”
“I blame your father. He was the one that taught us, after all.” Fialla accused Sheilah in the tongue of the Restone.
“You want me to make fun of you in elvish?” Sheilah asked curiously, in elvish.
“Ugh! Stop! Your elvish is still horrible!” Fialla complained, putting her hands over her ears. “It’s not even that hard to learn!”
Sheialh laughed lightly at Fialla and continued following Magdalene.