Heir of Fire and Ice

Broken (Two)

Elentiya just cried. And cried. Every time she was about to stop, she thought of what Riki had said. It just wouldn't settle in. She didn't know how she had managed to get back to her room, but she locked it. It would be the first time she had missed any lessons. A knock on the door.

"Please, 'Tiya, let me in. I'm sorry." Riki. She couldn't answer, just hid deeper in the bedding. Eventually she left. Another knock.

"Elentiya Galathynius, please open this door." Hafiza herself. "Elentiya, we can help you." No, she couldn't. Not looking like this. She could hardly tell why she cared, but some part of her could. Hafiza's voice softened. "Child, we can help you. Let us in." She just lay there, tears pouring down her face. No, they couldn't. Riki was right. They couldn't help everyone, and she didn't want them wasting it. Soon Hafiza left, too.

She lay like that for hours until another, more demanding knock came.

"If you don't let me in, I'll break the door down." Who...? "It's Xenia. I left my key, so please open the door." If only because she didn't want to let her room mate down, she opened the door. 

"Thank you. Now - Oh what happened to you?" It was hard to believe that Xenia had once feared her. Through heavy sobs, she recounted the story. When she was done, Xenia just stared for a moment. Two.

"It's good that you're crying. That you can cry. It means that you're not bottling it in, that you can cry." Elentiya just blinked at her. "Now, let's go down to the baths. You can't go to dinner like that." 

"Dinner?"

"You have to eat. And you'll be dehydrated, too. Wait. Keep going. It won't be better tomorrow, or the day after, but it will get better eventually. You have to believe that. Now, you are going to go down and bathe. Then, we shall go to dinner together, and you won't break down or cry. I'm sorry about what I thought about you. It's just -" Her voice caught. "My mother was raped by a visiting fae warrior. Repeatedly. She complied until she was able to send me away. I was very small, and didn't realise anything was wrong. I thought I was visiting a distant aunt. Then, when I was gone, she fought back. She did not expect to survive, I know that know. I don't think she could live with what had happened. She wanted to die fighting, though.

"When I saw you, I froze. I couldn't help it - they caught the fae warrior, and he looks nothing like you but I just saw your teeth. How teeth just like them had ripped into my mother, ending her life. So I am sorry if I was not very accepting towards you, but you must listen to me." Elentiya nodded mutely. Spirit that could not be broken. Such a lie. And yet, maybe it was true. Maybe she could, with Xenia's help, put herself back together. Then be stronger than before.