by R J Kaldanis
While part of her heart longed to leave Veros, to find somewhere in the world that made her feel like she belonged, where she wasn’t treated like a disappointment or failure, she also doubted a place like this existed. So, she took the comfort she could in this small minded community as it held two people she loved beyond life itself - and that was all that mattered. Those two people made this place her home, the place she belonged was beside them.
Keelie was leaning against a solitary deep oak desk, his arms were supporting his weight and he tilted his head ever so slightly while staring deeply into Aardriyah’s eyes.
“Tell me.” he said in a much quieter, yet still commanding voice, reading the doubt and trepidation over her face. He tilted his head slightly, reminding her of Kit, of how he would often do so when she spoke to him as if trying to understand the foreign words pouring from her mouth. Kit nudged Aardriyah’s calf, his cold wet nose shocking her into speaking her mind.
“My little sister; besides my father I’m all she has and I just can’t up and leave her without an explanation, without saying goodbye, without-”
The tears she was trying furiously to hold back starting to leak down her face. She urged herself to stay strong, she needed to for Sonas’ stake. She knew what it felt like to be abandoned by someone she loved, to wake up feeling empty when the realisation hit her that she was alone in her feelings and love for that person. That even though she had loved them so unconditionally, so fiercely and so deeply, they couldn’t return that and so they left, taking their love, attention and time away from her. She couldn’t bear the thought of putting Sonas through that pain and the lifetime of questioning why she wasn’t good enough for the love of a family member. Sonas needed to know Aardriyah would always be there for her, would always love her unconditionally, eternally.
Master Keelie rose from his desk and walked closer to Aardriyah, his face softened and turned into one of acute realisation.
“Are you being held against your will? Enslaved?” He demanded. Every Royal Family had servants and staff, but slavery had been outlawed with the creation of the New Realm and Crystal Capital Convention. Though there were still stories from time to time of slaves being forced into servitude among the wealthy families. Master Keelie would never allow it to happen within his house, and was furious at the thought that this is why the clearly untalented, unblessed and untrained young woman stood before him now.
Aardriyah shook her head in response,
“No but I - ”
Before she could finish that sentence a series of loud knocks came at the door.
“Currently engaged, return later” Keelie said without lifting his eyes from Aardriyah.
The knocks continued accompanied by a monotonous voice,
“Master Keelie Fand, the royal guard requires you to open this door now.”
Startling Keelie, he gave Aardriyah a small look of apology before marching towards the door
“What is that is so darn important that requires me to - “ He paused the moment he looked at the envoy of royal guards taking up the hallway. Aardriyah turned and shuddered at the sight.
Not again. She started to panic, Chastion had promised her this was the safest place she could be. That the guards who had kidnapped her only the night prior, would not be able to find her here and yet the guards at the door stood with the same vague and expressionless face that would forever haunt her sleep for years to come.
“We require the company of Riyah Veros” The lead guard spoke, not even looking into Keelie’s eyes as he spoke the words. Aardriyah backed from the guards, Kit growling fiercely at them.
“On whose orders?” Keelie retorted, not moving from the doorway his large frame almost struggled to fit through.
“Princess Kibo” was the monotonous reply.
Aardriyah’s mind began racing, her heart beating furiously as she wondered how Princess Kibo could be controlling these entranced guards. Although somehow everything started to make sense, Old Man Teme’s bizarre appearance and seemingly entranced state like the guards, Princess Kibo somehow being able to find Aardriyah after she had been kidnapped and taken to an unmarked cell in a dark mountain. All of this right under Chastion’s nose, which out of everything was the least surprising given his blind affinity to his future wife. Now Princess Kibo had Aardriyah right where she needed her, away from anyone who would raise concern of her well-being and right under the princess’ control. She felt sick at the realisation, at how stupid she had been to trust the silent princess, to trust her brother who clearly was under whatever tainted spell the princess seemed to be weaving on everyone around her.
A small crash and jolt of pain startled Aardriyah, not realising she had continued to back away from the door and had managed to smash her elbow into the hard oak desk. The guards and Keelie all focussed their attention on the noise and without warning the guards pushed past the Master of Staff and Servants, moved into the room and grabbed her by the arms, hauling her away once more.
CHAPTER NINE
sorrowful truths
Two earth blessed guards walked in front of Aardriyah, as she was being escorted against her will down one of the winding corridors of the servant’s quarters. A bright and ever-growing fury grew in her, as she kept begging for an explanation, for an indication as to where she was headed. But as loudly as she yelled and as fiercely as she begged, the guards remained utterly silent as the questions fell upon deaf ears.
When the end of the corridor was reached, the two large earth blessed guards stood in front of what appeared to be a doorway. The two sides of the doorway slid open in time with the movement of their hands. Moving forward, they escorted Aardriyah into a large rectangular cell. With the same hand movement as before, the earth blessed shut the door, before focussing their attention on the ground beneath their feet. The white marble cell came to life, roaring upwards at a great speed. Aardriyah screamed, completely unaware as to what was taking shape around her. She wanted to collapse on the floor of the cell, hug it for dear life and beg for the unsettling sensation of soaring upwards to end. Only moments after the movement began, it came to a halt and the earth blessed guards once again slid open a new, much nicer carved set of doors opening into a light filled room.
Aardriyah recognised it immediately, recognised the large portraits hung from the walls in silver and blue intricate frames. Before she had a chance to ask any further questions, she heard a child's voice to the right of her and turned quickly to embrace the white-haired child running at a fast pace towards her. The youngster crashed into her big sister, embracing her tightly while Aardriyah placed a fierce kiss on both of her cheeks and forehead.
“What are you doing here?” She asked, confused by her sudden appearance.
“Saying goodbye to Chasty of course silly!” Sonas responded in a completely oblivious tone. Aardriyah still aware of the guard’s presence around her, rose slightly glaring at them, while taking Sonas’ hand in her own. None of the guards spoke or indicated any sign of needing to hold either of them back.
“This way!” Sonas cheerfully told Aardriyah while pulling her down the hallway filled with large royal portraits.
Behind her she heard one guard mutter to another,
“Maybe a bit of music would make the elevation cell a little more pleasant?”
To which the two earth blessed guards agreed in hush tones.
Sonas had pulled Aardriyah into a sitting room overseeing the entire bay of the island nations. White marble adorned every surface as the sound of water trickling down the walls into small canals on the perimeter of the room, echoed within. In the middle of the room a large square recess had been carved out making a three tiered sitting area, while an ice sculpture in the shape of the United Water Kingdom’s sigil stood proudly in the centre. Upon several sets of large blue floor cushions were the Royal Family, sharing a glass of bubbly gold liquid as they laughed and joked with Pateras, Old Man Teme and Stella.
�
�Aardriyah, so glad you are here.” Chastion rose from his place and strode towards his sister, arms open wide for an embrace.
“What is this? What is going on?”
Chastion frowned at Aardriyah and lowered his arms in defeat.
“We thought you’d like a chance to say goodbye to Sonas and Pateras before we depart.” He said as if it were entirely obvious and not in any way reminiscent of the kidnapping she had endured the night before.
“But the guards, they said -”
“What they had to, to avoid arising suspicion.” Chastion looked down at Sonas who was eagerly trying to decipher the words spoken between her older siblings.
“Where is Kit, by the way?” He looked around, noticing the small canine was nowhere to be found. Aardriyah panicked, twice in one day she had lost the sole alibi for her being within the current employment of royalty.
“There he is!” Sonas cried and ran towards the white and red bundle of fur pouncing towards her. It nuzzled into her neck before giving her a long lick and sending the youngster into a fit of laughter.
“Chasty told me all about how you need to look after Kit for the Princess.” Sonas mused. Aardriyah looked into Chastion’s eyes, frustrated that once again her life choices had been taken from her and she was simply to abide by his rules, by what we wanted without any input from her. More so, she was frustrated that she wasn’t the one to tell Sonas, to apologise for leaving her and to assure her that she would return, they would be together soon enough.
“But who will look after my little water maiden?” Aardriyah would find any excuse, any reason to stay with her family where she belonged on this island she called home. She found the best excuse was also the only excuse she really needed - her family. After all, someone needed to protect her family and while Chastion seemed to shrug the responsibility and happily galivant across the realm, Aardriyah wouldn’t be so quick to do the same.
“I’m not little.” Sonas quickly chirped back.
“It’s true, she’s almost as tall as your Aardriyah.” Came Patera’s voice as he strode towards Aardriyah alongside Old Man Teme. Aardriyah rushed to her father's side and hugged him fiercely, afraid she wouldn’t get another chance. She couldn’t shake that everyone seemed so casual, so relaxed given the events of the past day, was there some information that they held, that she wasn’t privy to, that justified their demeanour? Or was this all a brave front for Sonas’ sake?
“We must talk a while, I’m afraid” Said Pateras, pulling himself from the warm embrace. Old Man Teme lead Sonas, Kit in tow, back to her mother, the Queens and the Princess, while Chastion, Pateras and Aardriyah entered a small circular room just off the main hallway of the Royal Lodge. They sat upon three marble benches and were joined by Old Man Teme shortly after. The men all took time to look at each other, not one of them ready to speak the words that clearly carried such an importance they needed to be handled with the utmost care. Tired of waiting, aware that ever minute she spent in here was one less to spend with her sister, she broke the silence.
“How are you all fine? Acting like nothing has happened? I haven’t slept at all this past day! I was kidnapped, taken to a hidden prison, somehow managed to be rescued by Princess Kibo and now am pretending to be some animal handler ready to set voyage to Undina knows where for Undina knows how long!” She looked at the three men, all with their head bowed, still not uttering a single word.
“Say something! Tell me this is a dream and I’m not going crazy.” She pleaded.
They still didn’t utter a word. Pateras rose his hands, joining them in front of his face and blew deeply into them. He knew Aardriyah was prone to misinterpreting words, reading too far into things and reacting a little too emotionally to even the slightest of grievances. He had to think through everything he had learnt, everything he suspected and ensure that somehow his eldest daughter understood she wasn’t to blame.
Old Man Teme finally spoke, eyes looking to the light pouring through the hole in ceiling.
“It is hard” he paused, “to know where exactly to begin.”
Chastion chimed in, impatiently -
“We don’t have enough time to speak in riddles, Old Man Teme.” On this, Aardriyah and her brother could actually agree. The sun continued to rise with each minute and peak sun was only a matter of hours away. Aardriyah needed facts and needed them fast. If she was going to carry on with this idiotic plan, she needed to know why, and it had better be worth every second she spent in here.
“No, we don’t have time to speak in riddles. But what I say next, the information you will soon hold, will forever change your life, will forever alter your world and it is not something that can be spoken with haste and not handled with the utmost care.”
There had been precisely three events in Aardriyah’s life that had changed its course enough to make her wish of simpler times. She realised that changes in life circumstances often felt like a death, like the mourning of a cherished existence forever gone. Inevitably she had to learn to deal with the aftermath, but she still held such a fierce amount of resentment for the previous deviances to the path her life had been on.
The first moment her path was altered, was when Chastion was adopted into the Royal Family. Truth be told, she was still mourning the loss of her brother and the experience of suddenly becoming an only child. She had felt so lonely and so angry that the Queens had just came into their happy little family and taken what they needed, without even considering the emotional impact it would have. For a while they tried to mask the emotional pain with all the pretty trinkets, dresses and parties that money could buy. But there are only so many things one can buy to fill an emotional void before they all slip through and become pointless distractions.
That of course led to the second major change, the breakdown of her parents’ marriage. Although it wasn’t a shock when Pateras finally told his wife to enjoy her new found life of luxury, thanks to her sons royal stipend, without them. It still rocked Aardriyah to know that the foolish hopes she had for her mother to become that woman she once loved and admired, were forever gone. Who she had become, a bitter and jaded woman with a wicked tongue, was the person she would forever be - not the mother she once was. She was just some woman who almost died giving birth to Aardriyah. A fact Stella continued to remind Aardriyah every chance she had. She told Aardriyah time and time again she should be grateful she was ever born, and that one day her mother would seek repayment for almost dying during birth. Of course, the guilt Aardriyah felt for almost killing her mother during birth, was only exacerbated by the arrival of her little sister.
The third and only positive major change in her life was the birth of Sonas. At first, Aardriyah couldn’t understand how Pateras had crawled back into bed with that despicable woman once more. She constantly asked how he could even be sure the child was his own? She knew her mother now had many suitors, given her sudden wealth and links to the royal family.
Together, Pateras and Aardriyah were a team and now, they were to welcome a complete stranger into their family. She wasn’t ready to share the only parent she had left. Blood related or not, Aardriyah wasn’t ready to form a bond, to let someone else into her sacred home. It didn’t help that Sonas was born the traditional way a water blessed of Veros was meant to be born, in the Sea of Souls. Her mother remarked at how easy and seamless the birthing was, how beautiful the little girl had been from the moment she held her and how she had finally found a replacement for Chastion - a child worthy of the family’s last name, Kiokos.
Aardriyah resented her sister, resented how much her life had changed, how now she was the odd child out, unblessed and unwanted. Thankfully, with some solid advice and guidance from Old Man Teme, Aardriyah learned to turn that jealousy into pride. After all, no one had control over how they were born or who they were born, and she could either choose to love or hate her sister, but whatever she chose would always be repeated tenfold within her own heart. So, she decided to cho
ose love and over the years had become her little sisters’ biggest advocate and supporter. She had learnt to love the little water maiden and found that the anger and hatred she once held disappeared. Instead she had a newfound purpose in life, to protect her little sister from the cruelty of the realm they lived in. Though, at times the twang of jealousy would arise within her heart, as Sonas continued to excel at each level of the School of the Blessed, for the most part Aardriyah just felt pride. The love she was rewarded in kind was one of the most beautiful gifts she had ever been given, itself some sort of magic blessed by the gods.
Presently Aardriyah re-assessed her desire for answers, the solemn faces on the two men she trusted the most made her highly doubt it was set to be any positive change. What could possibly be said that would once again uproot her life, her understanding of herself and put her on a completely new path that she never foresaw. Sensing her hesitation, Pateras said,
“Aardy has anyone acted strangely towards you in the past day or so?”
“Anyone? Where do I begin?” She scoffed, before pausing to contemplate.
“Chastion was his usual heroic self at every opportunity, so no change there.” Her brother rolled his eyes, not taking the bait.
“Then I suppose there was Stella who just sat and drank her tea the whole time I was being kidnapped. But I suppose that’s also pretty normal for her, not giving a damn about anyone else’s well-being.”
“Don’t disrespect your mother like that!” Chastion took the bait now and rose to defend the words Aardriyah had just tarnished their mother with.