Oath of Steel

16 |A Tattered Swan|

It truly was incredible how the neverending pockets of a person could vary the life of so many, sometimes even completely severing it in half just like she'd done.

But that was all in the past now, her swift incursion had already happened over two rising moons ago, and now the lady-in-waiting to the apparent heir of the Rowlian empire was attending to her troubled master.

Pharah had been working non-stop from when the Empress had decided to invest her with the task of preparing for the upcoming celebration to commemorate the sixth century from the first ascension on the Des Reslows on the Rowlian throne, the Imperial Citadel never going to sleep as everyone rushed to prepare in advance for the upcoming ball that her majesty had come up with.

A ball would have started the week of festivities, and a ball would have ended the week of apparent joyous laughter coming from the yelling geese that hailed from high-society.

A chance to wed, to find an excellent match for the younger blossoms that the high families had been raising to please the crowd of expectancy, that was what balls were all about if they were organized from the Imperial Family.

"You've been awfully strange ever since coming back from your visit to the warehouse that lit up on fire while you and the rest of your team was still inside, don't tell me you actually feel bad for the ones that died - that would mean that something's really wrong." Pharah stated after an hour passed without speaking, taking a small break from the documents she'd kept on reading and signing before calling her aide to her side.

"Not much, you know my hatred when it comes to balls such as this one," Pharah chuckled in reply, finally taking her cerulean eyes off the documents she'd been reading to make them meet Rosalynde's usual smiling face.

Pharah waited until Rosalynde was mere feet away before slapping her lightly on the arm, making the other narrow her eyes in a sign of clear annoyance mixed with sheer confusion. But the other just laughed it off, her cheerful laughter slowly dying as she took another document in her hands.

Rosalynde never really knew what the lady she served thought when she sat down on that dark desk with blue dyed lace ornating the top of it, but she knew how the first heir acted when such tasks were given her.

She didn't eat, nor sleep, nor socialize with anybody except Rosalynde until she made the last document on her table meet her elegant stylized signature.

"Would you like some tea?" Rosalynde asked the other, who snapped out from the spell she'd already fallen prey of, nodding once as her eyes struggled to raise themselves off the papers containing the uncountable amount of budgets the Crown had provided her.

She was tired, slowly withering away with each forsaken hour passed reviewing what seemed to look as a neverending combination of money given in her capable hands.

"What tea do you have for me today?" Pharah asked with a strained tone of cheerfulness, making Rosalynde knit her brows together as she took out a small package of tea she'd bought the day before.

Black tea with sliced up pieces of peach and petals of sunflower, the delicate fresh fragrance making her draw a small sight of pleasure escaping her lips.

She'd decided to follow Grey's advice and had buyed a small package from the same shop he'd recommended close to Merchants road, the ingredients freshly picked from the Imperial Botanical Garden. He'd been right, the unique taste of that black tea had made her close her eyes for a mere handful of seconds, reveling in the feeling of the black tea.

"Oh, this is a new one! So sweet!" Pharah exclaimed in surprise, making Rosalynde sneer in reply.

There was still something that Rosalynde didn't like of the stalling situation she'd fallen into. The swan placed into the warehouse had been an obvious threat, but something told her that that wasn't the end of the message, a hidden second meaning that only few knew about - and she wasn't one of them, for now.