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A YEAR OF GROWTH
━━━━.⋅ ⊰ 4 ⊱ ⋅.━━━━
"LORD dion, you made it!"
eighteen year old dion agriche squints his eyes, making out the blinding silhouette of aelia pherion flinging herself on him. in this past year, he's learned that she's quite the touchy person.
"of course, i'd make it. i have never once missed one of your... tea parties, now have i?"
aelia shakes her head, beaming. "never," she reaffirms, taking his hand. "though, calling it a tea party is a bit... excessive. it's more of like a tea gathering with just the two of us..."
his eyes wander behind the girl, noticing that cassis pedelian is sitting and chatting amongst the other nobles attending the tea party. his deadpanning doesn't go unnoticed by aelia; she sighs, glancing back at the silver-haired male.
"my father sent out the invitations... and sent one for him to attend under my name. i didn't want him to be here at all after that stunt cass pulled last time, but he's pushing for..." aelia trails off, her eyebrows furrowed. she shakes her head, looking up at dion with a grin plastered on her lips. "it doesn't matter. i'll just be talking to you this whole time, anyways!"
dion hums, his heart thumping a little too hard. he raises an eyebrow at the little girl sitting beside cassis. "and i assume that's his little sister next to him?" his eyes then land on a girl with fiery hair and dandelion eyes. "they brought a maid with them?"
"she's cass' personal maid," aelia says, smiling. "i'm not sure what she is to them, but i overhead from sylvia that cass is not allowed to go anywhere without her... she's quite a lovely girl, actually!"
"is that so..." dion looks back at aelia who immediately grins at him. she tugs his hand, leading him to where the two pedelians sit.
it's awkward.
suffocatingly awkward.
but thank whatever higher deity there is because aelia focuses her sole attention on dion, distracting said male from glaring daggers at cassis, and thank sylvia for distracting her brother from doing the same thing because dion's positive that he'd have already stood up to fight this bastard pedelian for disturbing what was supposed to be just a tea gathering between him and aelia.
aelia's hands fly up, a bright smile on her lips. "did you get all that?"
dion blinks, and the girl frowns.
"you didn't, did you?"
"... do you want the truth or do you want... the non-truth?"
aelia coughs out a laugh. "neither. i guess. but what i do want is to get away from this stuffy place."
dion wears a small and amused smile, a quiet chuckle cutting the air. "well, if that's what my lady wants... i'll help her achieve that."
"oh really?" she asks, an eyebrow raised. "and how will my lord achieve that, hm?"
"well... you could convince some animals to cause a ruckus... and then we could use the distraction to slip away."
aelia grins, and dion thinks he's dizzy from her dazzling lips.
"i could do that," she says, laughing softly.
"you could."
and she does.
there's a hoard of birds that flock the sky above the tea party. everyone attending stares in confusion at the birds, and dion gently grabs aelia's wrist, leading them away from the disgusting gaze of the pedelian and the other nobles.
aelia huffs out a little breath, and rests her back against a tree. dion raises an eyebrow in amusement.
"is lady aelia not used to such physical activity?"
the girl shoots a glare in his direction. "not when my father has locked me in my room since my birth, yes."
his red eyes stare beyond aelia and to the pherion manor, his gaze hardening. "oh? and what is the reason for that?"
aelia scrunches her nose in distaste. "that's a story for another time, my lord." she sits on the ground, patting the space next to her, beaming at him. "come, sit down with me, dion!"
and dion does. he finds himself glancing at the white-haired girl every once in a while, watching her with amused, ruby eyes as she waves her hands in the air, excitement laced in her voice when she recalls a conversation she had with some random bird at her window. but he notices that her voice grows slurred, almost as if she's tired. it's when dion feels her head fall on his shoulder that he sees that aelia is tired.
was it from the running? no, it wasn't from the running.
dion sees the small bags underneath her eyes eyes. he frowns, tracing over them softly with a ghost-like touch with his gloved finger. his breath hitches, eyes widening when the girl nuzzles her head further into his shoulder.
his head feels fuzzy and dizzy.
what's going on?
"aelia!"
dion rolls his eyes, irritated at the voice of cassis pedelian calling out for his aelia, his friend. not cassis', but his. he frowns, crossing his arms across his chest. he's not going to wake her up just so she can go back to that pedelian bastard.
never.
but then he remembers his second encounter with her, and how she reminded him of something she's probably a victim of, too. dion sighs, glancing at aelia. he feels sorry for having to wake her up, but he won't let her get hurt over a matter like this...
"my lady," he whispers, his fingers brushing the stray hairs from her face. aelia grumbles, and dion lets out a breathy chuckle. "aelia, you have to wake up. you know what will happen if your father gets mad..."
and as her eyes flutter open, a leaf falls on her head. dion thinks that aelia looks so precious like that... but he picks the leaf, throwing it away just as she lifts her face.
"oh..."
they stare at each other, blinking once when they register just how close their faces are. close enough for...
"aelia!"
she frowns.
dion pushes himself up from the ground, stretching his hand out for her to take, which she happily does.
"thank you, my lord."
"of course, my lady."
they silently walk back to the tea party, and cassis pedelian does not miss the fact that aelia pherion's cheeks are flushed.
cassis pedelian is not sure whether or not dion agriche's ears are flushed as well, or if it's the sunlight playing tricks on him... he decides that it's the sun because why would the dion agriche have red-tinted ears in the middle of spring?
