вlood & peтalѕ [ ĸoтlc - тιana ]

ch. xlvii

planting timeeeee....

.....I think. At this moment, I'm on autopilot, so I can't really predict what's gonna happen in this chapter.

Please don't hate me.

Biana couldn't believe there was a time she'd once loved the color green.

It seemed like so long ago, that the color had been something that reminded her of trees or grass. Now all that she could think of when someone mentioned green was still trees, but...the worst type of tree possible. Not because of what it looked like, but because of what it signified.

She couldn't look at her own reflection and take in the sight of the simple green gown she'd donned (despite various protests from her mother) without mentally flashing back to the surprisingly high number of plantings she'd attended.

Sophie's and Dex's. It might not have been the real thing, but she had still never cried so much on one day before.

Her father's. It had seemed finite, as if marking the fact that Alden Vacker couldn't have been fixed.

Thankfully, he had been fixed.

Councillor Kenric's. The way Sophie has been barely a hair's breadth away from being dragged to an ogre labor camp.

Mr Forkle's. Enough said right there.

And now...Tam's.

She wasn't even sure if she wanted to go, and at the same time she wanted nothing more than to go.

"Biana?" Alden called, stepping into the room. "Are you ready to leave yet? It's almost time."

She turned sharply away from the mirror, thrusting her hands into her pockets so he couldn't see the way they'd balled themselves up into fists. "Yeah, I guess..."

He smiled sadly, picking up the plain black cape that lay draped across the bedpost, fingering it thoughtfully. "I do understand how you feel...but are you sure you want to wear black today? The least you could do is wear only green. In Tam's honor, of course."

Somehow, Biana felt like he'd just tacked in the last sentence to make it seem like some sort of sacrifice, rather than attempting to blatantly force her to follow tradition. "Dad, do you honestly think Tam would care about the color of my cape? Even I don't. It doesn't matter."

"True, but trust me, you do not want to rebel at this planting today." A shadow passed over Alden's face as he sat down on the bed. "The Council themselves will be present. And they've chosen Sophie to give a speech in his honor."

Of course the council had pulled something like this. "And what does that have to do with my cape's color?"

"Well...you may or may not be on the podium behind her. Also, there are enough rumors floating around about the cause of the death and a good number of them are connected to us in a way. The last thing you need to do is egg them on by wearing-" he held up the limp piece of fabric "-this."

"I see." She took the cape back. "I'll change into something more appropriate."

i really don't like alden, and i'm pretty sure my bias is leaking into my writing.....does it feel like that? or am i just being paranoid AGAIN?