บท 8: Anatia
Cinis was ruffled after last night, Suzette seemed to notice and she invited her to come watch Lanora with her today. Cinis accepted gratefully, after everything that had happened she would welcome Lanora's unending positivity.
Lanora's rooms were at the top of a tower which of course meant a bit of a trek. As they walked up the stairs Cinis wondered, not for the first time, how a woman as thin as Suzette managed such a hike everyday, especially since the princess liked to wander the gardens making multiple trips a day to see the roses. Suzette was a reed thin woman in her early fifties with thin brown hair that she kept hidden under a cap. Suzette always seemed to look worried or annoyed or surprised and the thinness of her face made her look very sharp.
Finally they arrived at the top and the guards stationed at the door stepped aside letting them in. There was a little giggle and than-
"Cinni!" the little girl came rushing at her hugging her around the waist. She barely reached Cinis's belly button but she was only five. Cinis gave a warm smile kneeling down to look the princess in the eye. The girl was pretty, pale skin with dark brown hair and hazel eyes. Now it was grinning at her but the smile faltered as Lanora likely noticed her troubled demeanor.
"What's wrong Cinni? Do you not want to see me today?" Lanora's eyes seemed to start to tear up and Cinis fumbled to stop the tears.
"No- no it's not you, it's just-" she searched for a good explanation that she could give without endangering both herself and Axton. "I'm just a little sad today."
"Why?" Lanora tilted her head and Cinis guided her to the middle of the room where the princess had been playing with dolls. This room, this child, it was also so much like it had been. The thought made her own eyes start to well with tears and she thought for a moment that maybe this wasn't a good idea, being here in this room with this princess that was so like-
"I was reading a story." Suzette had sat back in a chair rocking back and forth.
"Really? What was it about?" before she could stop herself the truth, or part of it at least came out.
"It was about a princess." Lanora perked up, seeming to forget that no matter what the story was about it had an ending that supposedly had left Cinis very sad.
"A princess like me?" Cinis was about to say no, about to start off on one of the many tales she told Lanora when the princess wanted a story when she thought better of it. This girl would never know the truth, never know it was real, so what was the harm in telling her the story?
"Yes- yes, this princess was a lot like you." she gave a gulp and a breath, maybe it would be good if someone finally knew the story, even if they didn't know it was true.
And so for the first time Cinis Sarnifease told the tale of the lost princess.
"Stop being such a mother hen about it, it's just some rebels trying to stir up trouble." Ben had been fussing over her all morning, worrying over her and begging her not to go.
"I know, I know, but when you go on these missions and I don't see you, anything could happen." she lifted an eyebrow.
"I can take care of myself, you know? I'm the King's blade for a reason." More reasons than just her skill.
"Gods Cinis I know that but," the look in his eyes conveyed everything so she turned away and checked to make sure she had everything she needed. She couldn't look him in the eyes when he looked like that. She knew if she did she might relent to his wishes and stay here with him, the King's mission be damned. She checked to make sure she had all her hidden daggers and blades, just in case the visible ones weren't enough. When she turned back he was still gazing at her with that look. And for a moment she looked him in the eyes and she let herself walk to him and give him a short sweet kiss. Then she walked past him and straight out of the room, and towards Nocturn, and whatever rebels awaited her.
An abandoned warehouse, that's where the men at the tavern had said the rebels were. She prowled up to it on silent feet, her steps not even sounding on the cobblestone. The warehouse was old, it looked like it used to be a barn but had been converted into a place to store goods. Cinis climbed the fire escape on the building across the alley. Through the fogged and dirty window she could see nothing. The day was humid and miserable, the sky full of clouds that wouldn't bring a promise of rain, but a promise to block out the sun and make the whole day grey. She jumped from the roof of the neighboring building, landing silently on the roof. She glided to the nearest window and opened it praying for silent hinges and, yes, not one squeak. She dropped down silently onto the highest catwalk level and crouched looking down over the edge of the bridge. She froze when she saw who awaited her. Skin the color of warm coffee with milk and glacier blue curls that cascaded down her back turning slowly to the boundless blue of the auramin plant found in the mountains of Altoness. Eyes of lavender and lilac woven with the blue of the sky that covered fields and glens she had known so well.
Elexis.
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