They say the eyes are the windows to the soul. But what does it mean when you peer through and find nothing?
I was as light as a feather. Floating up the stairs and through the corridor. I came to an abrupt halt at the sight of him.
He stood at his doors. Eyes wide and alert. Philip always had beautiful eyes. No, I can't return down that path.
"What happened?" He said, searching the hall for something that wasn't there.
"I was thirsty." But as I said it something seemed missing. Something I could've said but couldn't.
He nodded resolutely after a moment. "Sleep lightly." And disappeared behind his doors.
I lingered at my door for a moment until I turned in as well for the night that went by with barely any sleep. In bed I waited for dawn to arrive, just as I waited for myself to return.
The memory was too vivid, every second a record. I went downstairs in search of water. And water I found, drank and returned to my room. That didn't happen, it didn't. It did but I swear it didn't.
Morning came. I was directed to the bathhouse, by who I assumed were maids, and returned to my room where I was fitted into something clean and new. A plain white suit embossed along the shoulders and down the arms with inscriptions in golden Ogalsian characters. It had a way of making one look like a lifeless white block. Or maybe it was just me.
I was deep in thought, thinking through the events or the lack of an event last night when a knock brought me back to reality.
"Come in," I answered, expecting one of the maids.
But instead of a maid it was a little girl. Feeble and gaunt, her arms were thin and her cheeks were sunken so much so that it was alarming.
"I," she squeaked, eyes anywhere but on me. "I was told to do the Miss's hair." That was then that I had noticed the hairbrush in her hand.
"Is that so?" I tried to catch her gaze.
"Please take a seat before the mirror."
I stood hesitantly and relocated to the stool before the dresser and mirror. Standing behind me she only barely surpassed my height at sitting position. She went to work at once, brushing out my wet hair, skillfully untangling it with her tiny hands.
"Are you General Sorge's daughter?"
She bristled and our eyes met in the mirror. Words could never be able to describe the fear in the young girl's eyes.
"The General does not have children." She returned to her work, blanketing herself once again. "My mother is a maid."
"I see." I watched her nimble fingers twist and turn the strands of my hair. "And you are as well?"
I watched her jaw lock in the mirror. Hesitant and measured she replied, "the general takes great care of his servants and their families. And I am thankful."
"Do you work in the fields as well?"
She froze. Eyes glued to my scalp she didn't speak a word. "You have many questions Miss. It's best you keep them to yourselves during your brief stay."
"I'm not from Ogalsia."
And again our eyes met but this time I found a light ignited in hers, dim as it was I was no stranger to it, hope. And beacuse I knew it so well, I knew just how fragile it was. One moment it's alive and burning the next it's
gone.
"Welcome to Ogalsia," she said, returning to her work. "I hope you find pleasure and prosperity in our country." The next minute she was done. My hair tamed into braids that circled my temple. I marveled in the artwork only a second before I turned to catch her by the wrist.
She hissed in pain and pulled away the second I did. That's when I saw the bruises hidden beneath her sleeves.
"Who did that?" I reached for her again but she clutched her bruised arm to her chest and inched back, tears glistening in her eyes. Immediately I felt guilty. "I'm sorry, I didn't-"
"Leave while you still can." And then she was out the door and gone.
I paced the room, recalling all I knew about sunflower. For one, it was a powerful drug. A medication for the ill. And a booster for the soldier. All parts of the plant could be crushed up and consumed but the seeds were the most prized. Taken in moderation it had life—sustaining properties, abused—it could burn you inside out. You were extremely lucky to ever come across a seed, and even luckier if your soil could grow it. That was what Ogalsia had, they built their wealth upon the seeds of one plant. And upon those who grew them. Because it was no ordinary plant, every inch of it secreted the poison.
The door opened and I halted in my steps. But it wasn't the young girl. I sighed and sank onto the stool, avoiding meeting those beautiful eyes. The owner of which now dawned the same uniform as me, though his managed to transform him into a dashing gentleman.
"Were you expecting someone else?" He asked this with an obvious hesitation.
"I wasn't expecting you."
He swallowed and looked away when I looked his way. "Cyr wanted to make sure you were ready."
I stood and made for the door. He reached behind him and pushed it close.
"Mo"—
"Philip"—
Our gazes met for what felt like a million years later. I hated that I couldn't look into his eyes and find joy bouncing about.
"You told me," I began, "that I had three options. One, visit Damdam Island. Two, find another mage just as powerful." His jaw lowered in realization. "And three, become a knight. The first and third options have—"
"I never said I'd stop helping you." He stepped forward and I stepped back, the back of my leg hitting the bed. "A promise is a promise, and I won't break it."
"I'm saying its OK."
"I'm saying I'm not giving up on you."
I let his words hang in the air so he could realize his mistake.
He cracked. Sighed and ran a hand through his hair that had grown neck length. "I didn't mean it like that."
"I figured." I brushed past him and hurried down the hall, each step accompanied by a deep breath.
I couldn't be certain that the head mage could and would help me. I couldn't be certain I'd survive long enough to meet the head mage again. I couldn't keep relying on Philip. I couldn't keep hoping.
Something caught me by the elbow and pulled me behind a door. Pushed against the door, a finger came up to silence me and I was met with eyes like gemstones.
"You're Kreatian aren't you?" She said just below a whisper. Her features were delicate and had an uncanny way of resembling a certain small adorable creature. One I couldn't quite place at the moment.
"Who are you?" I asked back just as quietly.
"The general has been expecting Kreatians. You're one of them aren't you?"
I hesitated but nodded.
She stepped back. She was small and slim, fragile almost. If not 14, she had stopped aging by 14. Dressed in a maid's gown that barely fit her, she seemed somewhat wispy in the darkness.
But her eyes were what kept her from floating off into the afterlife. The color of spring and bright like sunshine, as large as the sky and as deep as the ocean. I had never met a presence so alive and yet so fleeting.
"Don't you want to save the children?"
I blinked and the world came back into focus. "The children?"
Like a spark of light it all came back to me. The cries I heard. And the general muttering something in a language I couldn't comprehend. His dead dead eyes that twisted my mind to his words. And the young girl whom I had met only just a few moments ago.
"Does the general make them grow sunflower?" But it was obvious wasn't it?
"I wish that was his only crime." She pulled away a curtain and I swear she flickered, only briefly, in the light. I followed her gaze to a kneeling young boy defenseless to the guard's whips that struck him. Silent to the pain that must've been coursing through him.
"He stole the leftovers that were to be given to the dogs." She touched a hand to the glass. "And that isn't the worst part. With every strike he's thinking, 'I deserve it. I shouldn't have stole. It's all my fault.'" She turned to me. "Do you understand now?"
"But—" But I couldn't say no, I wouldn't even dare. "What can I do to help?"
"Buy us time, until I can convince them. Till I can bring them back to their senses, stall." She closed my fingers around something.
"How will I know that you've succeeded?"
"I'll send a message. By the time you receive it, you'll already be awake. Come to the fields."
I didn't peel back my fingers till I left her. Tucked into the crook of my hand was a tiny sunflower seed.
Cyr, and the general stood at the foot of the stairs. Philip stood among them, arms crossed over his chest, eyes glued to the floor. For a brief second he saw me and I didn't look away. I smiled. He didn't smile back. I swallowed the seed and descended the stairs.
At first I don't feel a thing. And then fire like I've never felt before travels the tip of my tongue to the pit of my stomach and my every breath diminishes till my vision flickers and I fall. But just before I lose all sense, I remember what creature the girl reminded me of. A rabbit.
A/n: oh man it just hurts when that one ship breaks up. And hurts even more to write it. Anywhoo, I have very important exams coming up so I will be studying my ass off and won't update too often so bare with me friends.
💓💓💓💓4U