Without Darkness ✓

1 ~ Aislinn

***Aislinn/proper noun/dream, vision***

Aislinn

I stared hopelessly at my empty studio and for the first time regretted my decision to be an employee of the Gods.

Call me stupid, but I was getting nowhere. The Gods offered an accessible job, flexibility with timings, yes - but nowhere in the small print did they write 'may be bored out of your mind for long periods of time'. My workspace in the Kingdom of Sekaran was not just empty, it had been avoided like the plague.

My small shop had only been set up recently but was not exactly what one would call thriving. For the common people, it was far too expensive, and for the wealthier among us, it was quite a trek to travel all the way to the market centre from the outskirts. And that was just half of the apparent problem: I was a couturier. And how often do regular citizens need a tailored dress?

Exactly.

You'd have thought that recent events would change this. The Crown Prince Weylyn was in search of his future Queen; for King Conri was rapidly decaying in manner and age and would soon pass on the Kingdom to his heir. Due to this, a Formal Ball had been arranged for every eligible maiden to attend, and they were only looking out for one thing: the girl with the finest, most outstanding dress would be betrothed to him.

I leant forwards on my elbows, my head resting in my hands in deep thought. From here, in the workshop at the back of the building, I could just peak through the open door and out the windows to the open market square. It was almost completely devoid of people, and as the day drew to a close a grey haze settled over the deserted streets. It was just clear enough to make out the basic structures of taller buildings, like the spire atop the gothic chapel, yet somehow the fog was thick enough to conceal everything except within a two metre radius.

Luckily I had chosen that time to look outside, because seemingly out of nowhere a woman appeared, the fog curling in tendrils around the bottom of her crimson skirt as it flapped in the wind. I quickly adjusted my own humble clothing as she approached the front of my shop, not wanting to make a fool of myself to the only potential customer. From surveying her clothes at first glance, I could tell she was a Lady; that satin wouldn't belong to any commoner.

She opened the door alongside a cold draft just as I emerged from the back room. After seeing her face, her fair hair, and sparkling silver - almost white - eyes, I would be expected to know who she was. I racked my brain: of course! The scarlet colouring of her skirts should have given it away immediately. Lady Daciana Blanwen. Deceased husband, three daughters - one adopted - the title of Lady deriving from her marriage to the former Lord.

Daciana let the door shut softly behind her as I gave her a welcoming smile. She took in the entire interior before finally turning her attention to me.

"Lady Blanwen, may I help you?"

Her bright eyes flit around my appearance before meeting my own. "Aislinn, is it?"

"Indeed, ma'am."

She sniffed and stood up straighter, making me feel all the more inferior. "I have been informed of your services. I believe you are a seamstress, not of linens, but of spirit, soul, and elements?"

I smiled fondly at the way she phrased it. "Yes, ma'am."

Spirit, soul, and elements? That sounded about right. I should probably have mentioned: when the Gods employed me to be a watchman for the Kingdom of Sekaran, they needed me to fit in. There seemed no better way to fit in than to become a seamstress of the very magic that forms our world. Sekaran citizens were not unfamiliar with the magic, and being disguised as a new civilian meant I had to look as if I'd come here 'for a reason'. Any common person wouldn't travel across Kingdoms without good cause.

"Very good. Now, I take it you have heard about the Prince's Ball?" She doesn't stop to let me answer, but - saying this - she slides a small leather pouch across the counter. "My two daughters require dresses from pure sunshine and moonlight. For myself, nothing less than stardust will do."

I hesitated, thinking this through. Perhaps difficult, but it was manageable. "And what about your third daughter?"

"Oh, no. She won't be needing one," Lady Blanwen purred. "That pouch is subsistence. I shall return in a month to collect them, the morning before the Ball, and you'll receive the rest of the payment."

I opened my mouth to speak, but before I could even reply she had swept out the door, leaving nothing but the scent of her fragrance and a slamming door in her wake. The only evidence that she had ever arrived was the leather bag, which I fingered gently, feeling coins inside small enough to only be gold. Looking up again, I saw the fog envelop her, concealing her tracks as her crimson cloak trailed behind, a pinprick of blood on the grey skin of Sekaran.


Nyx

I could see Lady Blanwen approaching our house right from where the carriage dropped her off. My heart dropped a little; I thought she might take longer going into the market centre. My eyes stayed on her the whole walk up to the front, even from the distance of my attic bedroom.

A shrill voice sounded, "Girls!" as soon as she entered the front door. I sighed in desperation. 'My Girls' always excluded me, but 'Girls' meant I had to attend. I cursed under my breath, checking that my appearance was presentable in the cracked mirror before I rushed down the three flights of stairs.

Halfway down I realised that my raven hair was flyaway and had come lose from its updo. Too bad: they could deal with my non Blanwen bloodline or throw me out. I thought they might have done the latter already.

When I arrived in the ground floor entrance hall, my Mother clucked at my tardiness, and my two sisters eyed me with some vague, aloof interest, like I was a specimen at a museum they were just passing by.

"Girls, I have some great news. I made my decision on how you're going to stand out to the Prince, and the orders for our dresses have been placed."

Antheia, my oldest sister, made an excitable squeal. "What did you choose?"

She smiled at her two daughters, though once she glanced at me I saw the glint in her eye. "Theia, my darling - you are so radiant, always so optimistic. I thought there nothing better than sunshine to match your personality."

My sister acted as though she couldn't control her joy once again, gasping and flapping her face hyperbolically. It took all of my willpower not to roll my eyes.

Daciana turned to the youngest of the two, Lyssa. "And Lyss, sweetheart, always so calm, so serene. A perfect depiction of moonlight, the ray of hope in the dark."

Lyssa smiled sweetly, mirroring what Daciana just said in her actions.

My Mother grinned once again, and I was the only one capable of seeing the wickedness in it. "For myself, stardust was the only option - for I am present in the both of you."

Antheia shrieked. "Oh Mother, we will look perfect, but you the most beautiful of the three of us."

A pause, another deceiving smile. "I believe I will."

The whole time, I just stood there silently, knowing I wasn't really needed. I knew what my purpose was: she just wanted to show me once again how worthless I was. She just wanted to flaunt how gorgeous they would all look when they attended that Ball in a month's time.

"Nyx, aren't you going to inquire about yourself? Your silence unsettles us."

Of course it did. When Lyssa was silent, she was applauded for being calm, well-behaved and eloquent, but when I was, it became 'unsettling'. Though when I spoke up, I was accused of being 'rowdy', despite Antheia being commended for her confidence. And no, I didn't want to ask: I already knew the answer.

"My apologies, ma'am - I would hate to be a burden. And I have no wish to attend the Prince's Ball."

With that, I somehow managed to wriggle out of asking exactly what she wanted me to ask. I had already figured it out - she wanted me to ask what she had ordered for me.

And she wanted to relish the humiliation in my face when she answered: she hadn't.