“Everything was under control, I just blew up a bit more of the courtyard that day than normal,” Bermuda huffed. “You’re not remembering how it happened correctly, likely from that head injury that brought you here in the first place.”
“Is that so?” a harpy asked walking up behind her, the woman dressed in a white and golden skirt and frilly top that barely covered her bouncy bosom underneath. Her hair was held back in a fluffy pony tail while her raven locks had colorful crystals fastened to them, the same that decorated bands on her feet and on the pouch at her hip that had a red cross on it.
“Well I remember the event quite clearly, Bermuda,” the harpy gently accused. “After all I was the one tending to Lynn and Terrea’s injuries afterwards.”
“It wasn’t my fault they got hurt,” Bermuda scoffed in a fluster. “They shouldn’t have been hanging around so close when I was practicing such powerful magic.”
“So close? Dear, they were in the opposite wing of the monastery away from where you were practicing with your father on your rather lackluster self-control exercises. The blast knocked over practically everything that wasn’t nailed down in this place, as well as toppled a bookshelf onto those two poor girls.”
“It wasn’t… that big of a blast,” Bermuda shyly argued. “And Lynn and Terrea didn’t have that severe of injuries.”
“Lynn’s tail was crushed by the bookshelf and needed to be set in a brace,” the harpy dryly reminded her. “And Terrea’s wing was in no better shape, she’s lucky it’s still able to move and let her fly.”
Bermuda slumped down as the lycan and harpy gave her knowing leers, the young arachne blushing slightly before clearing her throat and quickly skittering off with a friendly wave.
“Well… today’s going to be different! Just you wait and see! I’ve got a good feeling about this upcoming lesson!”
“That’s what you said last time,” the harpy reminded her. “And that was when I had to remove broken glass from three of our patients who were unfortunate to be walking by the windows that day.”
“I’ve got it under control this time, Paka! I promise!”
“She’s said that before too,” the lycan sighed, shaking her head.
“Well, you have to admire her resolve,” the harpy reasoned with a shrug. “If nothing else, she’s at least determined to be as capable a caster as her father is.”
“Yeah,” the lycan agreed as she started walking away. “I’ll be admiring it from the far eastern court today. I’ll return to my room after the booms and screaming stop.”
“I think… I’ll go warn the other nurses that we may have a busy day today,” the harpy weakly said before trotting off as well.
“Today is the day, today is the day,” Bermuda confidently chanted to herself with a bold smile. “Today is the day I make my father proud! Yeah! What day is that? Oh, it’s today. Oh yeah!”
She skittered through the residence with a bobbing abdomen and cheery demeanor, waving to residents she passed who were up and about that morning along with a few other harpies roaming the halls while tending to their patients. The arachne moved along the carpet at a brisk pace, skittered up along a wall to pass overhead a group of goblins with covers over their mouths, waved to the monsters who waved back with muffled murmurs while a few harpies continued guiding them down the hall, then made her way around the corner and down onto the ground again. She passed an orc who had to walk with a crutch as her left leg was amputated below the knee, she moved aside for a naga to slowly slither by with a harpy helping her and reminding her to keep the section of her tail that had scars and healing sheets pressed onto it off the ground, and then resumed skittering along through beams of sunlight shining through the windows as she slowly showed a worried frown and less energy in her movement.
“I do feel a little selfish,” Bermuda sighed. “I shouldn’t be so cavalier in front of the residents like that, it’s not fair to them. Those poor women are going to be struggling just to get through the day, and here I am projecting so much happiness and personal joy in front of them because I get to spend quality time with my beloved father. I should be more considerate of their plights.”
She came to a stop and took a slow breath, pausing for a while before hopping to attention again.
“Nope, can’t get sad right now. I’ve been waiting all week for this day; there is nothing that can ruin that for me. I guess I’ll have to try and deal with how horrible a person I really am later, right now I’m just too excited! Yeah! Today is the day! Today is the day! Go, Bermuda, because today is the day!”
She quickly skittered off again while chanting to herself in growing self-assurance, something that lasted until she headed past a stairwell that had Syliandanchevas walking out of. The fey was carrying a book with what appeared to be hundreds of loose papers inside, the woman going through one of the pages closely while cradling the book in one arm and adjusting her glasses with her hand. Neither saw each other coming as they were lost in thought, which resulted in a hard crash and papers flying through the air over their collapsed bodies.
“Ow,” Bermuda whined, rubbing her head before jumping with a startle as she saw the fey sighing in withheld annoyance under her. “Oh, Silly! I’m so sorry, I didn’t see-”
“Bermuda,” Syliandanchevas sternly warned.
“I mean… Syliandanchevas,” Bermuda corrected with a nervous smile. She quickly scrambled off the fey and began collecting the papers strewn about around them. “I’m sorry, I wasn’t paying attention. That was completely my fault. I should have been watching where I was going.”
“All true points, Bermuda,” Syliandanchevas snippily agreed as she got onto her feet, holding her head with her hair dropping down over her face.
“I’m sorry, I’ll get these for you right away,” Bermuda promised as she hurried to pick up all the pages. “I’m all over it. Sorry again, I’m just a little excited. Today’s the day-”
“I know!” Syliandanchevas snapped, halting Bermuda with a squeak. “I’ve got the day circled in red on my calendar. I know what today is. Today’s the day you narrowly avoid blowing up Shadow’s Refuge again while training with your father who has shown unbelievable patience with you up till this point. Do me a favor and please refrain from obliterating more than the courtyard you’re in this time, will you? This is supposed to be a place of rest and recovery for our patients, not a tomb to bury them in under all the burning rubble you cast down upon us every time you practice your damned magic!”
“Silly?” Bermuda faintly asked, then gasped as the fey brushed aside her hair and revealed her face. Her eyes were glaring, her lip was flinching in her scowl, her hair was frazzled, and her hands sharply brushed down her clothes to straighten them out. But what Bermuda quickly noticed besides the fey’s sudden mood shift wasn’t the mean look she was now displaying, but rather another difference that quickly brought fear over the arachne.
She was missing her glasses.
“Oh… my,” Bermuda panicked before hastily searching through the toppled papers in search of the missing spectacles while the fey tapped her hoof with a flustered huff.
“What did I say about calling me that goddamned ridiculous nickname?” Syliandanchevas demanded. “You’re unbelievable, Bermuda! You never listen to me! Why does nobody listen to me around here? I’m trying to get an insane amount of work done and keep things running properly in this miserable place, all I want is a little respect in return! That’s not asking too much, is it? Answer me!”
“No, not at all,” Bermuda hastily agreed as she frantically flipped though the papers.
“Then look at me when I’m talking to you! It’s rude enough that you run into me while daydreaming about your stupid playdate with your dad, not to mention you scattered my work to the four fucking winds thanks to your lack of awareness, but you calling me that accursed name over and over again is making my blood boil! Are you listening to me?”
“I am so sorry, Sill- erm, I mean, Syliandanchevas
,” Bermuda insisted with a nervous smile.
“Oh I bet you are, I can really feel it right now,” Syliandanchevas sneered at her. She started swiping up the papers in a tirade, with each of her frustrated growls and shouts only causing Bermuda to flinch and hasten her search. After flinging aside a few more pages she found the glasses in question. She quickly picked them up, examined for any cracks or smudges, then turned to see Syliandanchevas tripping and dropping the papers again all over the floor.
“God fucking dammit!” the fey yelled, stomping her hooves and yanking on her hair. “Oh… oh, I am so through with this shit! Chaos is going to rain down today, you bet your ass it will! I am so through with this… goddamned… piss poor… fucking excuse for a… to hell with it all and…”
“Hey, Silly,” Bermuda called out. The fey twitched before turning to face her with a red face and snarling rage.
“What the hell did I just get done telling you?” she yelled, shaking her arms in a fit. Without pause Bermuda rushed forward and placed the glasses on the woman’s face, halting her rampage as she jumped a bit before looking at the lenses in front of her eyes.
“Found them,” Bermuda weakly cheered with a nervous smile. “Good as new too, thank goodness. Can you see okay now, Sil-… Syliandanchevas?”
“O-Oh,” the fey murmured, gently adjusting the glasses as she appeared to quickly calm down. She paused for a moment before blinking and looking around with a gentle demeanor again. “Oh… yes, that… that’s much better. Thank you, Bermuda.”
“Of course, anytime,” the arachne breathed out in relief. “Sorry again for all the trouble. I really am. You… you’re not mad at me, are you?”
“N… no,” Syliandanchevas said, shaking her head a little before eyeing the papers all around them. She started collecting them into her book again, with Bermuda assisting her while watching the woman closely.
“No, I’m not mad at you, Bermuda. Sorry if I was a little upset with you just now. I’m just dealing with a lot this morning. I don’t mean to take it out on you.”
“It’s alright, I had it coming,” Bermuda insisted with a forced smile. “I’ll try to be careful from now on. I need to stay focused today, especially if I don’t want to fail father’s lesson… again.”
“You’ll do fine, Bermuda. Just… hold back a bit more than you usually do,” Syliandanchevas reasoned with a hopeful smile at her. “You have a great talent for controlling the magics of the ether, and your reserves are as plentiful as those from your father. You need only strengthen your control over the spells you cast, and then I’m sure you’ll make your father beam with joy from his daughter’s efforts.”
“I hope so,” Bermuda softly prayed. She took a slow breath before handing Syliandanchevas the rest of her paperwork, the two standing up again while the fey hopped the book a bit in her arms to better balance it.
“It will be okay, Bermuda,” Syliandanchevas assured her. “If I may ask, when is your lesson with your father?”
“This morning,” Bermuda squealed with a hop. “I’m so excited. He’s usually only available to tutor me after dark, but today he has an early opening and said we could practice within the hour. That’s a great omen for today’s lesson, right? It’s a bright and sunny day, father’s got time this morning to spend with his daughter, and I got my morning chores done in record time too. I’ve got a good feeling about today.”
“Well that’s fantastic, Bermuda,” Syliandanchevas kindly replied. “Say, do you think you could extend an invite to your newest friends to join you? I’m sure they would love to see it.”
“Um… I’m not sure about that,” Bermuda shyly said, looking away and slumping back. “I still need a lot of practice before I’m as good as father. I’m not ready to show them anything yet, I might just embarrass myself if I don’t keep things under control this time.”
“Perhaps having your friends nearby will help you. Plus I’m sure Max would love to see what you can do. Remember, he was unconscious during your… rescue of them at Trixton Pass. He hasn’t even seen what Bermuda Avelrian is capable of yet.”
“I blew up half of his house,” Bermuda moped. “I think he has a pretty good idea of what I’m capable of.”
“Please, Bermuda?” Syliandanchevas tiredly asked. “It would be a great opportunity for you and your new friends to grow closer. Not to mention it’s been days since they’ve arrived here, and so far Max and Lelu spend all their time either in their room or in your father’s observatory. It would do them both some good to meet new faces and see more of Shadow’s Refuge while they stay here. This is a perfect chance for them to see that not all monsters are as bad as they believe they are.”
“They share a room with Grace,” Bermuda dryly reminded her. “Nobody here is as bad as she is, and yet they sleep in the same room perfectly fine.”
“Then it shouldn’t be a problem for you to show them more of our lovely home,” Syliandanchevas quipped with a smirk, her hand slowly lowering her glasses to the end of her nose while her eyes conveyed a slightly threatening gleam that made the arachne gulp nervously. “Now, are you going to help your friends step outside of their comfort zone, or I am going to have to persuade you in a different way?”
“You wouldn’t,” Bermuda worried.
Syliandanchevas narrowed her eyes a bit as she began to slowly remove her glasses, something Bermuda quickly grew anxious from as the more distance they got from the fey’s face the more that chilling gleam in her eyes began to grow into a dark glare.
“Okay!” Bermuda cried out. “I’ll… I’ll ask if they want to spectate my lesson today. And then… we’ll take a walk around the gardens outside and maybe speak to some of the residents out there. How’s that?”
“It’s a start,” Syliandanchevas reasoned, putting the glasses back on and showing a calm smile at the arachne now. “Thank you, Bermuda.”
“That’s not fair doing that,” Bermuda complained. “You know she scares the crap out of me.”
“I’m sorry, but I have enough to be dealing with this morning. I didn’t feel like arguing with you any further on the matter.”
“Fine,” Bermuda sighed in defeat while turning around. “I’ll go ask them right away.”
“Before you go,” the fey quickly said. “Do not mention our special resident to them. Master VelRyan has omitted telling them thus far as well.”
“Special resident? Oh… you mean her. Right. But why can’t we tell them about her? Wouldn’t it make them feel better knowing… you know… that a real angel is here?”
“Introducing them to some of our other residents may be enough of a challenge,” Syliandanchevas worried. “But a real angel isn’t like most monsters and not one that they’re ready to meet just yet. Angels are indeed a special case, and her being here is something that has Master VelRyan a little concerned. We don’t yet know why she’s here or what hurt her so badly out there.”
“Yeah, seeing an angel bloodied up like that was a little worrisome,” Bermuda admitted. “But still, some of the other residents know of her. They saw her being brought in by the harpies. It’s not like we can keep it a secret from Max and the girls for long.”
“For now, try to downplay the fact that we have an angel from the heavens in critical condition here,” Syliandanchevas requested. “We’ve instructed the nurses to do the same, and to keep the residents who saw her at ease as well. An angel being here, especially one in such terrible condition, may cause some anxiety among the residents, and the last thing we want is for there to be a panic.”
“Alright, I’ll do my best,” Bermuda promised. She turned to skitter away before looking back at the fey with a worried frown. “Syliandanchevas? Is this why father is teaching me this morning instead of the evening?”
“Very likely. Expect Master VelRyan to be very busy while that angel is staying here. Healing her is going to be a bit of a challenge, and we have no idea if whatever caused her injuries is still outside our walls. You may practice your m
agic with him this morning as he has allotted the time for, but after that leave him to his work that demands his utmost attention. And that includes giving Max and Lelu something to do other than playing in his observatory.”
“I understand,” Bermuda softly agreed.
“Everything will be alright,” Syliandanchevas gently assured her. “We’ll get that poor dear fixed up and on her way soon enough. Things will settle down here again. You just focus on your duties, and helping Max and Lelu feel more at home here.”
“You can count on me,” Bermuda promised. She skittered off down the hallway, leaving the fey to begin her walk in the opposite direction while looking through the papers. She soon stopped as she saw a smudge in the corner of her lens. Setting the book down at her feet she removed the glasses with closed eyes and gently rubbed the lenses with her shirt.
“I swear,” she quietly said with a bite. Opening her eyes revealed a cold gleam in them while her lips twitched with a bitter scowl. “Whatever attacked that angel better not come snooping around here. If it dares go near my man… oh… I’ll make it wish the angel had killed it instead.”
Putting her spectacles back on she then picked up the book of papers and hopped it up close to her chest, a curious and somewhat nervous demeanor returning over her as she trotted off while going through the paperwork with worried eyes and a nervous stutter.
*****
Bermuda’s hasty movement towards her friends’ room was now filled with different emotions than just excitement for her upcoming lesson with her father and dread that she might once again screw it up like usual.
“Okay, this is fine, Bermuda,” she nervously said to herself. “Inviting Max and Lelu to watch me practice magic with father, there’s nothing wrong with that. Nothing at all… unless I make a complete fool of myself in front of them!”
Skittering around a bend she walked up alongside the wall and kept going forward while beneath her a harpy slowly guided a desuwraith with burns on her skin and bandages around the arms.
“This is fine, Bermuda,” she promised herself. “Today’s the day, remember? That means today’s the day you succeed with controlling your magic. And what better day could there be when my newest friends will be there to see it? This is fine. You’re going to do fine; you’re not going to fail in front of Lelu or Max.”
Chronicles of Eden - Season II - Act II Page 31