Chapter 13 Punishment

❄Snow❄

“I have no words.” her mother repeated, pacing back and forth.

Snow was sitting on a chair in the open space, surrounded by puddles of green tea and ceramic shards. Everyone else had left, leaving just them two. Her mother stopped just in front of her.

“Do you have any idea what you’ve done Snow?! Those men represented nearly thirty percent of the Mountaineer Republic’s noble wealth. You just ruined one of the biggest deals we would have ever made!” To say the high queen was furious would have been an understatement.

“They wanted to put Windram on trial and kill him! How could you even think about letting them do that?!”

“The business with Windram is none of your concern!”

“It is my concern, Windram is my friend!”

“If I don’t have this guild ready, the thousands of slaves that are going to be freed will just be forced back into their predatory work system. There won’t be any infrastructure to support them. The Republic will be more incentivized to rebel. At the same time, we lose out on a massive opportunity to increase our revenue. All of that lost due to your impulsive emotional outburst!”

“It wasn’t emotional! I was only-”

“Shut your mouth!” The walls shook from the power infusing the queen’s voice. The puddles of tea surrounding them began to freeze. “I have had enough with the backtalk and attitude! Did you do this to get back at me for warding you off from Randal? Is that it? Do you hate me for that, for forbidding your friendship with that useless boy?”

Snow looked away and said nothing, but her answer was obvious from the look on her face. That wasn’t enough for her mother though.

“Look at me and answer!” She demanded before Snow finally erupted, voicing feelings she kept contained for years.

“Why do you even care?! After I got back from almost being killed, you didn’t care one bit; you didn’t even bother to check on me! The only one who did was Lamille.

“Do not forget you’re the one who dragged everyone into that death trap to visit your personal, lesson-skipping hangout. You deserved that day: it taught a lesson.”

“Deserved? I deserved the wrath of the people that you pissed off? Just like how I deserve to be treated like I don’t belong in this family? I thought you were supposed to be a righteous hero, fair and just to all, but I’m starting to believe that is the opposite. You are nothing more than a glutton for wealth and self image. A mockery of queen that stole the crown and is a slave to those with the most gold-”

Snow was cut off again as chains of ice shot up from the frozen tea, snapping tight around her chest and binding her to the chair.

“Not. Another. Word.” Her mother was passed being angry, her crushing presence made each response feel as if she was poking at a lion. But Snow was also past the point of caring, years of bottled-up feelings driving her on in the place of courage.

“Go ahead Mother, I rather take a beating than allow my friend to be sent off to be killed, something I bet you wouldn’t understand!”

Her mother’s stood quiet, staring back at her. A suffocating silence filled the room as thoughts were being weighed.

“You will learn respect,

if not for anyone else,

then for me.”

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Snow left the tearoom hugging her sides. The guards appeared even more silent and still than usual, imitating statues as she passed by them.

“Why are all the guards out here?” Snow stopped as she heard a voice coming from further down the hall. It was Lamille. Snow tried walking the other way but Lamille being Lamille sensed something was wrong very quickly and caught up to her.

“Snow, what’s up? Why are you trying to avoid me? That’s not like you.” Lamille teased poking at her shoulder but then her face grew serious as Snow didn’t respond. Lamille got on her knees and took a hold of her shoulders.

“Snow?”

“I’m fine.” Snow muttered in shortened breath, but it sounded like a lie even to her own ears. Lamille’s eyes gravitated towards her sides and slowly moved her arms out the way, revealing the injuries she was hiding with her hands as blood began to stain more and more of her clothing. Lamille eyes widened in distress.

“What happened?! No. Don’t tell me,” She changed to a whisper. “Your mother?!” Lamille was in shock as she looked into Snow’s eyes, which told her everything she needed to know.

“Nothing. Don’t worry.. about it..” Snow uttered, trying to hold back her tears, but beginning to fail. She didn’t know why, but looking at Lamille made her want to cry, so she looked away.

“Come, I’ll heal you up dear. Elven healing is the best there is.” Lamille reassured, as she led her to the infirmary.

Snow sat on a bed in the infirmary while Lamille tended to her. The elven woman’s purple eyes were staring intently at the wound, and she looked surprised for a moment, something that Snow caught.

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“Is it bad?”

“No, it’s not bad. Don’t worry, I can heal this up quickly.” Lamille’s hands lit up with a greenish mist before very gently running them over the wounds.

“How does that feel?” She asked softly. At first, Snow felt a sharp burn that made her wince and then the pain was washed away by a rushing numbness, before that too faded away.

“It’s already starting to feel better when I breath.”

“Very good. I told you I’m a good healer.” Lamille smiled.

“Lamille, why does she hate me? Is it because I’m not good enough?” Snow had never been sure if her mother disliked her or was just apathetic, but after today’s events she was sure. She just didn’t understand where the contempt came from.

“Never ever say something like that! Of course, your good enough! Your mother is just stressed right now, that’s all. It is not your fault.”

“It’s not just this though-it’s everything else too. I feel like I’m not wanted. I feel like you’re the only one who actually cares about me.”

Lamille shook her head vehemently and looked into Snow’s eyes.

“That’s not true! You have a very caring family Snow. Don’t worry, I’ll speak to her. She went overboard with this.”

Lamille winced for a moment and then smiled again as she held up a finger.

“Can I tell you a secret? You must promise not to tell anyone though.”

Snow nodded. “I promise.”

She leaned in closer. “Out of everyone in this family, You’re my favorite.” She tapped her nose.

Snow didn’t know why, but she felt a lot better hearing that.

“Thanks, Lamille.”

Lamille hesitated for a moment and looked like there was something she very much wanted to say but was unsure if she should. She looked down at the floor for a few seconds and then spoke.

“You know, back during the Great War, we fought each other.”

“Really? You and Mom?”

“Yes.”

“Who won?”

“Hm, she did.” Lamille winced in remembered pain.

“Why did you fight though?”

“Before I knew your mother, I used to be a guardian for one of the elven Sage Trees. If you didn’t know, the great forest gains all its mystical nature energy from the several Sage Trees located within, so overseeing one was a very prestigious and important position.” Lamille smiled before looking sad at the thought. “But then this really strong fire mage burned my tree down. I failed to protect it, I failed my most important duty.

“That sounds terrible Lamille.”

“Your mother showed up shortly after and her being a human, I assumed she was an enemy and we fought.”

“What happened then?”

“She could see I was hurt, and she held back. It was a long battle, but she eventually defeated me. She told me a story about where she came from and her vision, I saw that the people in her group where all people who had experienced loss and failure, like me. She made me see how the war had run its course for too long and so I decided to help her end it. I am not supposed to tell you this, but there is a reason she feels so strongly about this law and why she’s so determined to see it through.”

“Why?” Snow whispered, as the air felt heavy at the weight of what she was about to learn.

“Before your mother became queen, before she even became a warrior, she used to be a slave.”

“Seriously?!” Snow couldn’t believe it.

“Yes, it was a very dark time in her life that she never talks about. You wouldn’t believe it with the way she presents herself, but it’s the truth.”

“I never knew…”

“She’s a very kind woman underneath all that coldness, she just struggles to show it. She wants you to be strong early, so you will never have to go through the struggles she did, or deal with the problems she faces now. I think that’s why she sets her standards so high.”

Lamille patted Snow’s sides and hummed in content when she didn’t flinch.

“Ok, all done here. You are good to go.”

“Wow, Lamille you really are good at healing! I feel brand new!”

“Yeah, I told you I’ll give you the best. My healing is even stronger in this case, because I love you so much!” Lamille teased as she poked her again, smiling.

Snow left the infirmary with a lighter heart and smile on her face.

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It was the middle of the night and Snow was having trouble sleeping. She went to the washroom to wash her face and on the way back, she heard yelling coming from her mother’s bedroom. She walked up to the door as stealthily as she could and put her ear to it.

“You can’t treat her that way Dea, what the hell is wrong with you?!”

“What? Are you talking about the wounds? They weren’t serious and most likely healed up by now.”

“Yeah, because I healed them! So, your excuse for doing that to your child is that ‘she can take it’, and for what reason? Because she wouldn’t dance to some Lords’ requests? She wouldn’t wear a dress? For defending you? For defending a friend? You’ve completely lost touch as a mother! You had no right to do what you did!” Lamille was really letting her mother have it. Snow has never heard her this angry before. Her elven accent made her sound like a completely different person.

“Yes Lamille, when a massive chunk of revenue walks out the door in the face of a rebellion, I do need to issue some discipline when it is called for.”

“You and I both know that’s nonsense; you would never do this to your kid for speaking her mind. This isn’t about discipline, is it?! Do you just hate her?”

“Why would I hate my own daughter? I would never hate her. I love her dearly in fact.”

Snow had never heard her mother say that before. Maybe Lamille was right? Maybe her mother did love her and just didn’t know how to show it? She felt a smile start to form on her face, only for it to die at Lamille’s next words.

“Yeah, you love her to the point where you fracture her ribs her for just talking back?! Your chains, whose marks I could see on her skin by the way, squeezed her so tightly they broke the skin. Do you know I had to use sage magic for that! That was a serious injury! I felt like I was fighting you again in that infirmary!”

Snow felt her sides again at that…she didn’t know it had been that serious.

“She has been politically dragging this family down. I already have enough on my mind to worry about and now the Mountaineer Republic has more funds to initiate a war. Funds that should have been used to support the freedom of freed slaves. So yes, I love her, but I would love her a lot more if she helped instead of hurting this family for her own selfish reasons. If you want some compensation for taking on the pain of her injury than I can give you-”

“That’s not the damn point Dea! I can’t believe what I am hearing right now! You aren’t the same anymore, you’ve changed. It’s like you’ve grown cold inside to match the mask you wear all the time. Maybe that man was right, maybe you are a monster now.”

“Yeah, and war is the reason I am this way, so forgive me for doing everything I can to prevent another from happening. You know how horrific this world can be Lamille. If it wasn’t for me, we’d still be at each other’s throats or dead. You know firsthand what that is like.”

“That’s no excuse for being heartless towards your own children Dea. You’ve grown hard and cold inside.”

“And you’ve grown soft Lamille. If she wants to contribute, then I am happy to support her. If she doesn’t, fine, whatever. But I will not allow her destroy relationships that can affect the health of this peace that I sacrificed so much for.”

“I see…I know what this is now: you’ve grown scared. It’s obvious. You’ve grown so scared of the memories of war that you will sacrifice anything to prevent yourself from having to relive them. Hah, and you accuse me of growing soft. Let me tell you this Dea, you sacrificed so much for a war in order to end it. And now it’s over and you show more heart to strangers than family. What is the point of creating a peace that your kids can’t even enjoy! They aren’t tools. Even Michael wouldn’t have done what you did-“

“Don’t you dare mention that flying rat in my house! Get out before you find yourself in need of new employment.”

Snow heard steps coming towards the door and quickly returned to her room.