A part of him felt embarrassed to be witnessed in the game. The High Fae were watching his movements, but the High Fae were like the sky. Always there and always overhead, and almost always just as impartial. But Kane was different. Kane was here. Kane was here and saw him like this. Had Kane seen him suffer under the lowlings mock sparring?
It was strange, Daniel mused. There was a part of him that was delighted to see her. The betrayal seemed too...otherworldly, unreal. Surely his friend had some end game in mind. Then he saw her in her new position, and he knew.
She had joined the Enforcers a year ago. Lordlings were placed together when young in cadres, called Circles to train and establish connections between houses and courts. She had been a member of his Circle, called the Red Circle, but had been the first to leave. She was born into a crowded house, with too little authority left over to grant all of its younger members good positions. Despite being the same age, while he was reaching the end of Lordling, and almost had enough authority gathered to ascend to proper Lord, she had been decades out.
In fact, many Lordlings remained Lordlings all the days of their life, aging faster and dying before their peers if their fates were bad. Many Lordlings found it preferable than the cut throat world of high politics of the Seelie Court. But Kane had always wanted more. She wanted to do so much, explore, learn. Change the world.
As young Lordlings, that had drawn Eliswith and Kane close. So different in status, yet with the same needs and drives for success. For Ellswith, anything less than that would see him slain by his own house. The Red Lord had no time for weaklings, and no patience for fools. For Kane, anything less than her maximum effort may mean she would be forever barred from being a Lord in her own right.
As they grew older, Elswith and Kane grew closer. There were many times when they had watched the stars in sky and spoken of their dreams. The responsibility and burden of his duties of being the Heirling of the Red Sword forced them to remain close friends, and nothing more. Once he was Lord, he would be free to pursue a relationship, but who knew when he would be able to achieve that. The Law of Fae would not honor a liar, and Elswith knew he needed all the power he could have, to escape his Lordly Father.
So he could promise her nothing. Despite at one point she meant the world to him.
So when an opportunity for advancement came from the King's Enforcers, Kane had left the Circle and received the position of squire. Elswith had understood. He had been proud of her. She had not waited for anyone to help her, but seized her own opportunity.
He did feel it was shortsighted, because while being the equivalent of a Lord was guaranteed eventually, it was by no means certain and no means swift, and fraught with dangers. She would be a squire for perhaps another decade. True, her aging would slow, but she also cut herself off from the success of the Circle which had just begun to bloom.
And the Circle had started to accomplish great feats. Elswith and the remaining Circle had saved several rural towns, defeated three ogres, and interacted with a human king and brought glory to their courts. Another Circle member, Hollis, had invited Kane to rejoin at this point. It would have been in slightly bad faith to the Enforcers, but many Squires returned to their former Circle for a time, especially when a good adventure seemed promising. Kane had hesitated, as she claimed she was earning the favor of her commanding officer. She had asked Elswith his opinion.
The way she touched Hollis' hand told Elswith perhaps...they had spent just as much time together as she had with him. Perhaps while he was away with his studies, she had sat next to Hollis looking at the sea and shared her thoughts to the only other male heir of any political worth in the Circle. Like she had with him during those last few years. Hollis was from a less powerful Court, but he was still the heir. They could have made an attractive match. Hollis was a good person, if a little weak in the lungs due to curse that befell his people, but kind. If she chose either one, the other would have blessed the union. But it seemed to Elswith, in that moment, she had chosen the best opportunity for herself at every interval.
Uncomfortable with this suspicion, he had stated that she should be the one to chose her loyalties, and he would not decide for her. She stayed with her squadron, and the Red Circle went off to campaign again, riding their griffin steeds to the wild places. In a way, he was glad.
Then the Red Circle began to make Achievements, with a capital A. Something accomplished that the Law of Fae declared worthy.
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Meanwhile, Kane was still just a squire with no more authority or fame than she had had before. She had never forgiven him after that. She had joked that he should have forced her to come back. That with those Achievements, she could have just enough to be to forgo the rest the of her squire-hood and move to full Knight, the equivalent of a Lord. But there were barbs under her jests and her relationship with the Circle after that point was strained.
And then the night of his plan. When his loose ideas for how he would escape his Lordly Father and become a Lord independently.
And she had stood against him.
Kane, wearing armor the same shade of auburn as her hair. Kane, eyes always dancing with mischief and delight.
Kane, who had hauled him down in front of everyone during the Senate Hearing, who hadn’t stood with him, who perhaps caused everything. Her actions and inactions had been the first cut that stripped him of his power.
Kane, who had gained her new position due to her actions in his humiliation.
Daniel shook her head, realizing that he had stared at her for several long moments, lost in his own thoughts.
She was smiling softly at him now, bemused. "Thinking big thoughts again?" her tone friendly, just like the old days.
Daniel closed his eyes and bowed his head. Elswith may have once harbored love for Kane, but she did not know Daniel. “This servant listens to the orders of the King's enforcer.” and he followed her inside.
She looked at him, amused, like he was just playing being a servant. “What is your name?”
“Branch.”
Her tone changed as she realized he was not playing with her. “That is all you can keep? A branch of yourself?” Concern touched her words.
“My lordling,” Daniel said, avoiding his friend’s beautiful eyes and auburn hair. “This one has nothing else but a small branch to cling to.”
“Elswith.” He heard her murmur. He couldn’t blame her. He couldn’t afford to. He needed to escape. Any situations where he became entangled with the enforcers only prevented him from establishing stability. “Elswith, wait.”
“Lordling Elswith is dead.” He died screaming as they ripped his power from him, Daniel wanted to add. He wanted to scream about the humiliation, the weakness, the alien sense of not being who you thought you were. About being one of them. But instead, Daniel kept his face pleasant and nodded. “I must report to my other duty.”
“The Heirling Lordling of the Red Sword is here early.” Kane said, hair spilling over her shoulders as she started to take a step forward.
Daniel did not need her to clarify. He flinched. He was starving, from not eating since the day before and his muscles ached from the over working and the mock training.
He felt his hand shake but schooled it smooth. He wasn’t a horse to get spooked. He had known the Game was set against him to begin with. “Good day.” He nodded his head.
“I heard that they say he took your power in moments. That he understood it like a fish to water.”
He couldn’t turn his back to her, but he could walk away backwards, nodding his head pleasantly. “Good day, lordling, good day.” He paused. “Or is it Lord, now? My apologies, I wouldn’t want to diminish the effort it took to reach such heights of power.”
“They say that he is gathering information and will strike soon.”
Daniel didn’t even flinch, as he evaded her barbed words. “Fair well. I must work work work.” He turned into the entrance of the hall.
“Elswith! You coward! What are you going to do?”
“What can I do, Kane?” he said, matter of fact. But he was speaking to her like they were equals again, like he was Elswith again. “What can I do? I have nothing. I have no time. I have no power. My allies…” He said that last word hard “…abandoned me. I am bound and chained and barred entry. I cannot run. I cannot fight. I have only the Game left to me.”
Kane looked away, with tears in her eyes. “Why couldn’t you kill that thing? If you did nothing it would have bled out! You just had do to nothing, and let it slide!” Her voice shook. “Why did you make me do this? This is all your fault.”
Daniel straightened. Whatever intimacy between them destroyed, he said “Good Lordling.” Using the word Lordling purposefully, as he returned to a polite speaking pattern. His mask of Branch the Servant reestablished. “This humble one has never been powerful enough to control your actions. Even when he could bring storm and lightning upon the land, he could not force your hand to treachery. You overvalue this humble one too much.”
He looked at the device held in her hands, low in her palm but high on her wrist. “Do with the recording what you wish. If you bring new dirt on me too early, you lose your advantage.” Daniel’s voice called back in the room. “Really, you have to make them work for it, or else they’ll take it for granted.”
“Elswith! It’s not that! I’m trying to help you.”
“Good day sir. I said, good day.”
He left the room without permission. Had he stayed, he would have seen Kane biting her fingerstips. “I’m sorry.” She whispered to the place where he had stood. “I’m sorry.” She looked at the recording of his outburst, and lingered over her future actions.