Rosalie's Kingdom {OLD VERSION- INCOMPLETE}

Chapter 22

Classes went swiftly that day. Having Twila with her was nice, despite the weird looks she got. Well, more weird looks than usual. They walked back to the ranker dorms in silence, content to enjoy each other's company. Twila had jumped off Rosalie's shoulders once they were outside and transformed into her more comfortable form.

"Deidra said that a woman is coming later today for a dress fitting," the cat said suddenly. "She's already gotten the designs done, there are just a few things that need to be tailored for each girl. The boys are all getting suits as well."

Ro shrugged. "One less thing for me to worry about. Oh!" she said, turning around. "I was gonna go see Lilith today!" They started heading for the girl's dorms on the other side of the school.

They were nearly there when she was stopped by-

"Oh. Hi, Will," she said, not thrilled in the least to see him again so soon. Sighing, she gave him a polite smile.

"Rosalie, have you thought about my offer yet?" he asked nervously. Oh, geez. This guy is going to be the death of me, Twila, she told the cat. What do I do?

Twila sat down and tucked her tail neatly over her front paws. She shrugged. How should I know? I've told you before, relationships are not my strongest point.

"Uh, Rosalie?" She snapped out of it.

"Sorry, Will. I was distracted for moment," Ro said, turning back to him. "Honestly, I haven't thought about it much today. I've been busy with school work." His face fell. He is terrible at hiding his emotions, she commented.

"Oh," he said, rubbing his neck awkwardly. "It's okay if you say no. I know that you and Corvin are good friends, so I kind of expected you to go with him."

She raised an eyebrow. "Good friends? He's my-" Twila shook her head quickly. Ro stopped herself and smiled again. "I really didn't want to go at all, but since the other rankers are just bringing each other, Corvin said I was free to go with him, too. It would be easier than going out to find another girl to go with."

He sighed and started to turn away. "Sorry that I wasted your time then," he said quietly.

"Will, wait!" she called out. By the gods, why can't I just leave well enough alone?! she berated herself. Ro put a hand on his shoulder, hoping to the gods that he didn't take this as anything more than platonic. "I can't say that I...return any feelings you might have, but I know that plenty of girls out there do." His eyes widened in surprise. "Maybe you just need to look a little deeper instead of flirting with all of them." Ro smiled warmly, knowing that it wasn't forced or fake.

Will gave her a small smile. "Thanks, Rosalie," he said. "I- I think this really helped me. I'm sorry for bugging you. I'm also really sorry for the whole thing after our duel. I was being dumb and unthinking. You're just so- so amazing."

"Uh, thanks. I think," she replied. "I'll see you around, Will." She waved and walked into the girls dormitory. That was almost a disaster, she told Twila.

You handled it well, young one. Like a queen, the cat praised. I'm sure there were better ways of doing it, but you got the job done with minimal emotional trauma. That's commendable.

I wasn't gonna just leave the kid a crying mess. I want my people to love me for my kindness and steady judgement, which I know I'll have as long as you and Corvin are beside me, Rosalie replied, pushing the door open.

She could feel the warm pride that Twila gave off mentally. Thank you, young one.

ε

"I'm doing your hair and makeup," Lilith stated.

"Lil, you really don't have t-"

"I'm doing your hair and makeup."

"Seriously, I have the other girls to help if I ne-"

"I'm doing theirs, too."

Rosalie rolled her eyes. "I doubt they'll agree to that, but-"

"They already have," Lilith countered smugly. Rosalie cocked an eyebrow. "I asked Deidra when I saw her in the library earlier. She thought it was a great idea."

She threw her hands up in defeat. "I give up." Rosalie flopped onto the spare bed. "I don't even know what my dress is going to look like."

Lilith shrugged. "It's going to be red, gold, white, black, or all four."

"Is there a specific reason for that? I got bored of the holiday book right around that chapter, so I never finished it," the ranker said.

"Peace Day is for the day that really terrible war a couple thousand years ago ended," she explained, flipping her flaming red hair over a shoulder. "It's black for the Unseelies, white for the Seelies, gold for the humans, and red for all the lives lost to the pointless war."

Twila scoffed. "It is much deeper than that, young one." She hadn't bothered changing into her smaller form again, and was lounging on the spare bed, letting Rosalie lay her head on the cat's body. "There is a fickle balance to the three realms. It's not one people acknowledge often, because it is simply a part of life. The reason the old war was so devastating was because it upset the balance of our realm. Without darkness, there is no light, and vice versa.

"That is why the Unseelies and Seelies are so important. Each one has the capacity to do good or evil, but neither can change their alignment. This is also why you being a dark and light weaver is so important. You can do anything now. There is a great potential for good in you, but of course there will always be an equal potential for evil," she said.

"Woah," Lilith said, her mouth hanging open in awe.

"Yea, woah," Ro repeated.

"It is one of my jobs to make sure you don't end up being a tyrant," Twila said. Rosalie looked thoughtful for a moment.

"Does that mean that I'll be fighting evil for the rest of my life?" Twila looked taken aback by the question. "Not from myself, but an outside force. You said it yourself, without darkness, there is no light. There will constantly be another foe for me to defeat, there will always be someone to fight against or keep away from my people." She sat up with a gasp. "'Light and dark are but two sides of the same coin.'"

Lilith looked at the two. "I am now realizing that I'm in way over my head," she stated.

"No no no, Lil! That's it! That's what the Seelie Queen was trying to tell me!" Ro whispered excitedly. "I didn't understand it, so I just forgot about it but now I know!"

"Rosalie," Twila warned. "You must tread carefully."

"Yea, that too."

Twila rolled her eyes. "You're going to be late for the dress fitting."

Ro looked at the cat in surprise. "What?!"

The cat shrugged. "You got distracted with your boy talk and then the story telling."

"Ugh, you're no help at all." She turned to Lilith, reaching down to hug her. "Sorry, Lil. I gotta go. I'll come back tomorrow and tell you all about my dress so you can start scheming."

The girl waved it off. "Nah, it's fine. See you later, Ro." She waved again as Twila and Rosalie shot out of the room. Lilith sat there and shook her head. "Such a dork."  

A/n: This a short chapter, but I've written a lot tonight, including most of the next two chapters and a few things for another story I'm working on.