[November 30th, 2042]
“You’re lucky I showed up at all, Mr. Cal. It was a complete coincidence. I often take walks around the area late at night, when I feel restless, as one does when one cannot sleep. Why not? It’s cool and crisp this time of year, and I have nothing to fear from anything that may want to bring me harm on this plane. So when I came across you…” (a cough) “-well, we can speak of that later. No, what I want to make clear to you right now is the circumstances that prompted our meeting at all, because it’s crucially important to determine whether our current situation will continue.”
Bridget let that hang in the air for a moment, her brown eyes distressed. Then she continued. “Has my lady mentioned anything about her family? I do not know in detail what you two have discussed in your talks — or not discussed. I understand this may not be for want of asking, but you have likely noticed that my lady is a proud sort of person, and she doesn’t readily volunteer information that she perceives might make her seem weak. I personally find that endearing about her, however, it would be disingenuous not to suggest this doesn’t result in some annoyance. I brush her hair every night before we go to sleep and we often talk about our day. Needless to say, my lady becomes clammy and obstinate when your name comes up — when I bring it up. I think it’s very difficult for her to speak about you because you represent a different sort of relationship than those she is used to. You are someone she cannot force to acquiesce to her or order her to acquiesce. You used the term “peer” before, did you not? I… liked the word, when you used it to describe the relationship between us two. Well, my lady has not had a “peer” before, not in a true sense. As a princess of Luvinia, every single one of her relationships is based on power, sometimes unspoken, but always weighty. It is… the same way with my own relationship with my lady, as sad as that is to say. We both know it, implicitly. So, I ask again, what precisely have you learned from my lady in those conversations you’ve shared?”
Cal brushed his dark hair back, tucking his coat around himself more snugly. It was beginning to get cold, and midnight was not far off. “I’ve learned bits and pieces, here and there. From what you’ve told me, from what she has revealed. I’ve guessed most of it, how she was raised and how she experienced it, the sort of effect it had on her.”
“And what is your opinion of how she was raised?”
Cal met her eyes. “From my perspective?”
“Yes.”
“Horrid,” he said. “She was never treated like a human being, or taught how to act like one. I feel sorry for her.”
Bridget’s eyes widened, like she had not expected him to use these particular words. “I’m… glad to hear you have such empathy for her. Most wouldn’t, considering her birthright. But I would like to make something clear. Whatever you’ve guessed, or imagined, my lady has suffered worse in her life on account of her family. I would also like to stress how traumatic the transition to living in this world has been. You know my lady: her pride and self-consciousness, and consider the effect it has had on her to be essentially exiled from that glamorous castle — a womb of both abuse and safety. She is on her own in an unfamiliar setting, with only me for support, her maid, whatever else our relationship may entail. Nobody else offered to go with her.”
Bridget sighed and shook her head. “It’s hard to explain how quickly it all happened. A matter of hours. I will not discuss the details of our flight — if my lady wanted you to know that, she will tell you one day — but we knew nothing about what would happen next or what would happen to us. We only knew that Lord Cormac, my lady’s grandfather, had some sort of relationship with the late owner of Otter Manor, Ms. Mel’s and Mr. Frost’s father — through that he was able to arrange housing for us, and financial support through the local banking services. I have a card that Lord Cormac gave me that seems to pay for whatever expense we accrue in this world. We stayed at a lodging, an inn, and I spoke with Mr. Frost with a phone Lord Cormac provided, to explain and introduce ourselves without raising suspicion about our true origin-”
“I’m sorry,” Cal interrupted, shaking his head. “The phone worked across, like, dimensions?”
Bridget almost threatened to smile, but then seemed to remember the tone of what she was attempting to impart. “I do not know the details. Perhaps it was a magic phone, Mr. Cal, I really cannot say. Lord Cormac would be able to explain it to you, if you ever meet him. You two…” She paused. “You two are not dissimilar. In your personality. He would take a shine to you, in his own way. That isn’t important. From the inn, myself and my lady took the carriage you saw across the planes. Time works strangely in those tunnels of the in-between, but it felt like many hours, and it was very dark. My lady was completely terrified at that point, hyperventilating, trying to figure out a way she could escape her situation and return to the castle. Then, she practiced for hours in that carriage, reciting her introduction to her new “servants”, as she said. You see, she hadn’t yet accepted the reality of the situation, nor had she been given the tools throughout her life to understand it. She wanted to be perfect and to be adored. That’s all she’s ever wanted. Once you, the first person she talked to, instantly rejected her position, that was the last straw, I think. I apologize if she has acted ugly at times.”
Bridget wiped her eye with a carefully placed finger, though Cal didn’t see any tears. “This is the crucial point, Mr. Cal. My lady is currently going through the most difficult period of her life — ostracized by her family, rejected by her world, and stranded in a new one where she has had to learn the principles of decorum and communication essentially from scratch. I am extremely proud of her. The strides she makes every day in empathy and expressing herself are wondrous — the change I have seen in her in just a short pair of months is extraordinary.”
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Bridget’s expression hardened. “But she is fragile. Exposed. Any little thing may pierce and wound her. I have relied on you, Mr. Cal, both for your own qualities and because I felt that you may be effective in catalyzing the required evolution in my lady. I wanted you two to learn from each other and get along. Because I like both of you. I like to see those I care for care for each other. You… may have picked on my clumsy attempts to bring that to fruition. So I want to ask this…”
Her brown eyes seemed almost black — a trick of the light. “Was I wrong?”
Cal swallows. “What do you mean?”
“Was I wrong to depend on you? Did I overestimate your stake in the situation? Would you rather be left alone?”
“What does that even mean?” said Cal, annoyed at her vague accusations. “Be clearer with your words.”
Bridget responded automatically, robotically, black eyes looking at Cal, looking through him. “You hate my lady, isn’t that right? You find her troublesome, and ignorant, and not worthy of any particular affection.”
“I never said that,” Cal said, almost stuttering from surprise. He wasn’t used to Bridget speaking like this. “In fact, me and her, we've gotten along a little better recently-”
“You find my own interference annoying, correct? You resist my advances at every turn: helping you cook, learning your surname, even naming me as a friend was something I had to get you to admit with reluctance. Like pulling teeth. I ask you the simplest questions about yourself and you will resist me. You will pretend you don’t hear. You withdraw from me physically, even a hand on your shoulder is enough to make you recoil from me-”
“Bridget, come on, that’s not-”
She continued, relentlessly. “I am not entitled to your friendship, or details about your life. Goodness, I certainly have not been forward with my own past. But the active resistance you construct against me at every opportunity makes me feel that you consider our friendship more of a hindrance than something you consider important.”
“Bridget…” said Cal. His heart was pounding. Something in his stomach was twisting making it difficult to speak.
Her mouth twisted. “I admit, coming upon you kissing that… girl was unexpected. I never would have assumed you were the sort of man interested in such late-night trysts. But I suppose I do not know you as well as I assumed. I suppose that was by design. Do you consider her a kind of confidant? You’re wrong. That’s only a monster in human form, a vampire born from the darkness. You may think it’s harmless to indulge in physical pleasure with such a thing, but she will kill you eventually, as is in her nature.”
“You misunderstand,” Cal responded harshly, trying to divert the momentum of the conversation. “I didn’t- it wasn’t… she kissed me, out of nowhere. I was surprised, that's all. That’s why I didn’t react.”
Bridget’s countered. “That’s not how it seemed. You seemed to be letting it happen, from what I saw. Not that it's my business whom you rendezvous with, of course.”
“Stop,” he said, his stomach twisting more painfully. “Me and her have no special relation. She just kissed me, I don’t really understand why. Please don’t misunderstand this.”
“You defended her,” Bridget responded coolly.
“Because you were going to kill her!” Cal snapped, his passion flamed even as his stomach hurt more deeply. “You do understand how that seems to me, don’t you? You can talk about what is a monster or whatever is common knowledge from where you’re from, but from my perspective, you were attacking a person for no good reason!”
This point seemed to make her pause. “She’s quite beautiful. Aren’t you being manipulated?”
“I hadn’t noticed,” Cal snarled. “You’re being quite hateful. Aren’t you ashamed of the way you’re acting?”
Bridget glared at him. “We’re getting off topic. Whether through herself or through the monsters she represents, I consider that girl a threat to the eminent safety of my lady and yourself, Mr. Cal. And yet once again, we are at odds. Always, even when we enjoy each other’s company, we seem to be at odds, and that makes me question whether it’s wise for me to bring you into the circle of those who have access to my lady and her emotions. In the end, I must protect her above all else.”
“I never asked for this convoluted evaluation.” Cal countered.
“I wanted it for you!” The spell of cynicism had broken. Bridget’s brown eyes were wide, emotive, as if scared about what she would say next. “I think highly of you, Mr. Cal! I thought so the moment we met. I wanted you to be my friend, and I wanted you to be my lady’s friend, even if it caused you some trouble, because I thought it would be interesting and enjoyable and would relieve some of the anxiety. I mean-”
She interrupted herself, her breath shaky. She adjusted a lock of her hair again. “It’s not like I have any friends here, either, so I thought… but maybe it’s gone as far as it can. Maybe my own feelings have compromised my judgment, and it would be better to take a step back.”
For a moment, the shadow cast along the ground behind Cal’s sitting form stirred, as if smelling a morsel of food. But neither of the pair noticed.
“Ram, that sweet yet resilient girl, she told me something interesting once.” Bridget said, getting slowly to her feet, breaking the intimate circle formed by the pair. “My lady was dragging her into something, as she typically does, and Ram ended up next to me, and between her stuttering and blushing, your name came up, Mr. Cal. She told me something that stuck with me. She told me that you once told her that you are a person who has an innate trouble with understanding others. That you are very good at pretending otherwise. ...I think I’ve arrived at that moment myself. I don’t understand you, Mr. Cal. Your motivations. Your feelings. How you conduct yourself. I can’t continuously compromise my lady to do so.”
She stared at him for a long moment, as if silently asking him to respond, to explain himself, to lay his heart bare at last and confide in her.
But he couldn’t. The air smelled like urine and dust.
“I’m sorry,” Cal murmured at last, almost too quiet for Bridget to hear. “I didn’t mean to cause you harm.”
Her jaw tensed. “I know that, Mr. Cal. At the very least, I can understand that about you. Thank you for apologizing, even if you don’t know what you’re apologizing for.” Bridget reached out a hand to him. “Come on, I’ll walk you home. To be safe, in case anything else unexpected emerges.”
Cal took her firm hand despondently, letting himself be dragged to his feet. It was the first of December, and it was cold.
“I’m sorry,” he repeated.
“I’m sorry, too,” Bridget said tiredly, in a manner that seemed to indicate she never wished she could fall asleep more than at this very moment. “I got emotional in regards to… I got emotional. It was unprofessional. It won’t happen again. We won't even speak of something like this again, if you do not want to.”
They walked back to Otter Manor together. It had started to drizzle droplets of rain. They did not walk side-by-side, instead, Bridget led the way with Cal a few steps behind. Neither of them said a word.