Look Beyond What You See

The Rooftop

 The journey to the roof takes me through another door or two and up a flight of stairs. I can hear him struggle with something overhead, and then I feel fresh air on my face.

"There's a ladder here. Can you climb it blindfolded?" he asks quietly. His breath tickles my ear. Why must he be so close to me?

"I think so. Where is it?" I ask, just as quiet. He guides my hands to the smooth wooden rungs, and I begin to climb without difficulty. I can feel the ladder shake and throb; he must be climbing behind me.

"How much room is there at the top? How will I get off the ladder?" I inquire as I reach the top rung.

"Just crawl over the top," he advises. I comply slowly, being careful to make sure he cannot see up my skirt. Perhaps I should have changed before coming up here. All this climbing cannot be good for my elegant red dress. Once safely away from the ladder, I stand up and brush myself off. Dmitri chuckles behind me, and a moment later his hands loose the knot at the back of my head and the blindfold flutters away in his hands. The world is darkness, a hazy shadow land of black mountains and trees against the dark blue canopy of sky. But oh, what a sky! Studded with more diamond stars than I have ever seen in my life, such is the complete darkness here, and the crescent moon like the reflection on a pearl.

"It's beautiful," I breathe, spinning on my toes to see the whole view. The roof is bounded by a waist-high ornate ironwork fence, and plants grow abundantly here, as in a garden. Indeed, I feel it must be a garden, everything is so well-kept. He smiles and sits down, patting the place beside him. I join him there, gathering my skirts around me in an uncharacteristically ladylike manner. I do not want to snag this dress on the roof.

"When my parents found out I spend a lot of time here, they started having the servants 'improve' it," he explains. "They wanted it to be a fit place for me to bring you."

"I would have come regardless. I spent an inordinate amount of time at the top of one of the towers of my grandmother's chateau."

"I suspect you kept that hidden from your family, as nothing of the kind was mentioned in the reports they sent us."

"They never would have permitted it. What sort of information came in these reports?"

"Your progress in your studies, your interests and talents, that sort of thing. And always a portrait of some sort. Your grandmother is quite vain of your looks."

"They say I look as she did when she was my age."

"Were you close with her?"

"She is close to no one but Grandfather. But I believe that I was her favourite granddaughter, at least until tonight. She does not take kindly to what she sees as disrespect."

"I do not see how you were disrespectful in any way tonight." I shrug. "I have heard that she is a sorceress."

"That much is true, though how she acquired that power is a mystery to me. I have seen her do magic, though."

"Really? Do tell."

"She turned a stool into an enormous rat and sent it into Zira's room on more than one occasion. She and Zira never got along," I remark casually. Dmitri guffaws.

"I can see why. Zira was not overly pleasant. I cannot see how her husband stands her."

"Nor can I. No one else likes her. Mother comes closest, but Mother does not truly like anyone except Father."

"How many siblings do you have?"

"Eight," I reply simply. Dmitri lets out a quiet whistle.

"So many of you, for as little as your father seems to like your mother," he remarks.