Seeing them coming up the stairs, Anice stood up and looked down on them with displeasure from the top step. “What took you guys so long?”
“Anne,” said Alistar as he and Corrie tactfully turned their heads. “Your skirt.”
Noticing the situation, she hurried upstairs and then retreated against the wall as if wanting to stay as far away from them as possible. “Ahem. Forget what you saw.”
Alistar approached her with a curious look. “That’s not right. Usually you’d say something like, ‘stupid Alie,’ and then hit me before running off.”
Corrie nodded, maintaining a wary distance of about six paces from Anice.
“I—it was my fault. Why should I get mad at you two?”
Exchanging a look of skepticism with Alistar, the older boy abruptly excused himself and ran off. Evidently, he far preferred the prospect of examining his new belongings over the idea of tiptoeing around Anice in light of her strange behavior.
“Why did he leave? I wanted to see if you guys would play around in the snow with me.”
Seeing the bags beneath her eyes, Alistar felt a sudden surge of guilt. He had been so wrapped up in his own worries lately that he hadn’t paid as much attention to his cousin as he should have been. Looking closely, the fire that usually dwelled within her energetic gaze seemed to have dimmed by a slight degree, hinting that boredom wasn’t the only thing that had her down.
“Why don’t you and I go outside, then?”
Her crimson hair was about level with her breasts, neatly trimmed by an insistent Madeline so that their fringes were perfectly level. Long braids trailed down either side of her face, tied at the ends with silver ribbons where they nestled perfectly within her shiny tresses. Subconsciously twirling one of these braids, she said, “You really want to?”
“Of course.” Although he was supposed to meet Lessa at the Lawson’s tavern in a few hours, he’d be able to keep Anice company if he put off the swordsmanship training that he’d planned to do. “If there’s anything you want me to create, feel free to make some requests. I’m quite good at shaping water these days.”
Leading her down the hallway, he began to sort through his thoughts as he tried to create a coherent schedule for the rest of the day. Although he’d decided to put it off for the time being, he still hoped to sneak in a bit of training later on in the evening. There were also a few sheets of difficult questions that Mrs. Dawn had dropped off at the dining table during breakfast which he needed to finish before tomorrow’s lunch.
Hmm, it’ll be tight, but I should still be able to get everything done if I time things correctly.
So long as he wasn’t out too late with Lessa, he might even find enough time to practice activating the light-bending spell that Aglain had taught him. He would be leaving Distan in less than half a year, and it was imperative that he master the complete invisibility spell by the time that he set off for Melsian. With his current attainments, he would still be noticeably visible if he were to activate the spell while standing out in the open, something that wouldn’t change until he managed to learn its advanced version.
And then there’re those stupid magic crystals…
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As had become a constant characteristic of his life, he had too many worries and too little time to properly address them. Pushing such thoughts from his mind, he led his cousin through several hallways on their way to the manor’s western entrance. When they arrived at the open vestibule, Alistar realized that he had hardly spoken throughout the entire walk. This, of course, hadn’t gone unnoticed by Anice, who had also withdrawn into her thoughts behind a mask of absentmindedness.
“Aren’t you going to get a coat?” he belatedly said. “It’s quite cold outside.”
“Hmm? I was just following you.”
“At the very least, you’ll need some trousers. I can’t see us having any fun if you’re knee-deep in snow while wearing a skirt.”
She looked at the heavy, wooden doors before casting a forlorn glance over her shoulder at the distant halls that had led them here. “On second thought, Alistar… Never mind about the snow. I’m a bit tired, so I think I’ll go lay down for a bit.”
Anice hurried off without waiting for a response, leaving him standing in the vestibule area with only his thoughts for company. Mulling over Corrie’s words, he followed after her with measured steps, tracking her movements until it became apparent that she had indeed run off to her room to get some rest.
The closer he drew to her quarters, the stronger the guilt that was building within his gut. Who am I to judge Uncle for never being home? These past few weeks, I’ve spent most of my time away from the estate. Looking at things from a different angle, he had gradually made a habit of missing at least one meal per day, time that he’d used to spend with Anice. During this period, she must have been quite lonely.
“Anne?” he asked, giving the door a light knock. “Can I come in?”
Her muffled response didn’t come until a moment later. “If you want.”
He entered the room to find her lying along the edge of her bed, hugging one of the long pillows that she loved to sleep with. Raising her gaze up from the ground, she sat up in a cross-legged position with her pillow folded over her lap, silver eyes settling on him in a quiet stare.
Dragging a chair from the table that sat along the far wall, he pulled it over to her bed and took a seat in front of her.
Feeling a bit awkward, he searched for the right words to voice his concerns, though she grew impatient after about a minute of silence.
“Why’re you here?”
“It’s just…you seemed a bit upset so I thought I’d come and ask what’s on your mind.”
“I’m not upset,” she snapped. “Everything’s fine.”
“Don’t be mad, Anne. I know you well enough to recognize when you’re in poor spirits. You…you never call me by my full name.”
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
They faced one another for a time, Anice avoiding his gaze as she returned to her downcast state.
“I know Uncle’s been busy for a while now, but it won’t last much longer. They’ll be done with their main experiments within a few months, and he’ll be leaving Mr. Danper in charge of any future projects, so just try to bear with it for a little longer.”
“I don’t care what he does,” she huffed, a sudden fire to her voice. “He’s made it clear what he cares about.”
“Don’t be like that, Anne.” Thinking of the civil war that loomed on Civus’s horizons and the weight that this knowledge bore down upon his uncle, Alistar said, “You know him better than anyone. What he’s doing, it’s not out of selfishness. He’s trying his best to make things better for as many people as possible, and things like that take time.”
“I know. He’s always been that way, I’ve already accepted it.”
“Is something else bothering you, then?”
“It’s none of your business.”
“Anne…”
Why couldn’t she just be honest for a change? Whenever she was bothered by something, he had to dig and pry past the point of his own comfort just to get her to admit to it. He wasn’t particularly fond of this, as he had learned throughout his life that the best way to quell a storm of uncertainty was to confide in others and ask for outside advice. Dancing around his depressions could only ensure that they remained buried beneath a layer of inaction, enabling them to continue to eat away at him in an endless cycle of excessive self-depreciation.
“Is it because Lessa’s moving away?”
This drew her attention more than anything else he’d said up to this point, her pink-lipped frown deepening as she looked up at him with a mix of irritation and downheartedness.
“That’s part of it, I suppose.”
Thinking of his earlier conversation with Corrie, he understood a bit more where his friend had been coming from. Speaking a bit more softly, he said, “It’s not just you. We’re all upset about it. Just the thought of what she’s going to have to go through if she really ends up leaving makes me sick to my stomach.”