Two Weeks Later: April 8th, 2115
† Serafina †
Rising for another day of lessons could not have been more disheartening if Serafina had known there was another option. But there was not.
So far, her days were monotonous. She rose at five o'clock every morning, spent nearly an hour cleaning the chapel and then attended mass, before enduring hours of lessons. From half past six to noon, she was taught only by Sister Margaret, taking the entire first week to accomplish the single task of lighting a candle and extinguishing it at will. They had not ventured further because Sister Margaret claimed it was pointless.
Once morning lessons were over, Serafina had a half hour free for lunch, which was generally spent alone, though Sienna and Lindley had returned twice to eat with her and talk about her progress. Elías sat with her a few times, talking about her lessons and trying to teach her how to harness her magic without the need for concentration or meditation.
Meditation, he claimed was only necessary for new spells or after days of not practising magic.
Serafina had no idea what he meant, as she had to meditate for half an hour at the beginning of every class before being capable of any hint of magic. Just this week, Sister Margaret had encourage her to try lifting the candle, but it had only ended in disaster, so far. Every time it wobbled into the air, it crashed back to the stool, both extinguishing the flame and chipping pieces of the candle away from the main, until she had barely half a candle left to work with.
It was all rather pathetic. A complete disaster.
So when her door opened that morning, as she lay in bed contemplating the horrible day ahead of her, it was the first thing that had ever happened outside of her now routine schedule.
Serafina lifted her head to find that mousy nun hovering in the doorway, again. She seemed to check the 'cell' every day, perhaps for contraband or perhaps just to clean, she had never been quite sure. "Yes?" she asked, before remembering that she was not supposed to speak outside of her classes.
The nun, however, bobbed her head and scurried inside to deposit a letter onto the small table by her bed. Then she quickly escaped without a word.
With a sigh, Serafina reluctantly sat up and settled herself against the head of the bed before opening the letter. She could not think what it might be, unless it was some change to her routine that the nuns wanted to inform her of. It would be just her luck.
But then she noticed the seal on the back and she swallowed in immediate panic. The Royal seal of her family. Which meant...it could only be a reply to her letter!
Terrified, Serafina tore the envelope open and read the letter from her papa, with a sense of growing shame and fear.
Serafina,
I have no words to describe the shame you have brought your father and I with such a letter. You have no understanding of the sacrifices we have made for you – you! and not your brother – over the long years you have done nothing but cause havoc and flirt with disaster.
I am almost of a mind to send you to live with your aunt Sienna, but even she has not behaved so disgracefully in long years. But your father and I – regardless of what you presume – will not give up on you!
You shame us with your behaviour and your treatment of those impoverished souls who could never even dream of the luxury you have at your fingertips. To think that you have such low opinions of the people who most deserve your kindness and compassion, truthfully, sickens me. You have learned nothing from your father and I, nothing of the things we have shown you, of the things we have taught you.
I do not know when your heart froze and you turned from the sweet, warm girl that would sit upon my lap and beg to hear the story of how your father and I met. I have no concept of how you could have heard that story so often and come to the belief that those without wealth are made to be stepped on and degraded. Your father broke his heart over your words, believing you saw him as the same disgusting creature you spoke of in your letter. Is that truly how you see him? A heartless, poor beggar with no worth?
Be warned, Serafina, if you return to us with this same attitude of blaming others for your own imaginings, I will make sure you learn the truth. You will not like it and you will not be asked to, but you will learn your place in this family and that you are the only one who has ever placed a difference between yourself and Jaycob.
Shame on you for speaking of your father in such a way. Shame on you for living your life behind closed eyes and a closed mind.
Grow up, Serafina. I beg you. If you do not, it will break your father's heart and I will be forced to take steps, but it will not be to see you treated as the delicate princess you seem to believe you are.
Your papa.
Tears fell before Serafina could stop them. She held the letter to her chest and sobbed, wondering just how she would apologise and whether her parents would accept it. She had not meant the things she had written. They were written in anger and frustration, but they were not – no matter what her papa now thought – her true thoughts. She would never think or say anything so degrading about her father. She loved him.
Yet, as she cried, she realised there was nothing she could say that would heal the wounds. She would have to prove herself with action. And that would begin with learning magic, returning home with a more positive and accepting attitude, and hopefully showing her family that she was not the same girl who had left them.
And there was only one person who could help her do that.
***
That day, at their lunch break, Serafina grabbed Elías' arm as he exited their classroom and guided him over to the grassy area beside the building. "I need your help," she said, desperately seeking a way to resolve the mess she had made with her family. She had not been able to concentrate for the entire morning lesson because of the letter from her papa and all that it said.
"I am glad you have asked. You really are not improving as you should, but I can help," he promised, grinning as though he had won a prize of some sort.
Serafina only just resisted rolling her eyes. "Not with my magic. Well," she paused and realised that she may indeed need his help with that, after all, "at least, not just now. I need you to read this and help me find a way to prove that I am not that person anymore," she explained, handing over the letter she had received that morning.
Elías took one look at the seal before raising his eyebrows and nodding. "Very well. Let us sit down and have something to eat, as I read it," he decided, heading for the enclosed gazebo where the nuns served packets of food for their lunch breaks. He smiled warmly at the nun behind the small plank that made up a table, and lifted two of the packets, before heading for a nearby bench table.
There was no point arguing that he had no right to choose her packet for her, as they were all the same. The ones with a blue mark had meat, the ones with orange had vegetables only, and the ones with red marks had blood inside. Elías had been smart enough to choose a blue packet for them both. Serafina was not yet a vampire and blood would only make her sick, despite her genetics, and she did not feel like explaining that to him, if he had made a mistake.
As they sat at the bench and ate their hot chicken leg, with a sweet sauce that made Serafina's mouth water, she watched Elías read the letter, his facial expressions ranging from an unimpressed frown to a look of shock and the occasional shake of his head. She had no idea what to make of any of it.
By the time she had reached the small pot of fruits that accompanied her meal, Elías lay the letter down and placed his fruit pot on the corner so that it would not blow away. "Well, I would say that your father is right about that last part," he said, out of nowhere.
"I am not a princess!" The words burst forth from her, without warning. It was only when Elías raised an amused eyebrow at her that she realised how stupid that sounded. "Well, I am, but not in the way you imply."
"Then why are you here arguing with me?" he replied, his tone leaving something to be desired. How dare he say that as though he knew the answer already. "Actions speak louder than words, little princess."
The words struck Serafina dumb, for a moment. She had not realised just how important they were and how much she should have taken stock of them until now. Not only had she said the same thing to herself that morning, but; "My father says that." And did that not hurt more than the letter from her papa? That she had so ignored her father's advice just because of who it had come from?
"Your father? The one you claim much prefers your brother? I wonder why that may be," Elías remarked, though from the way his eyes roamed over the letter spread before him she thought he might not be speaking directly to her. "I find it interesting, little princess, that you complain so much of being 'unwanted' yet your father would offer you such advice. That your parents, as cruel as they are, would send you here...to learn, to better yourself, to help others. They truly must think very little of you," he said, glancing up at her, as he finally began to eat in earnest. The sarcasm was unmistakable, but still unappreciated, despite the advice he thought it may give.
"They sent me here, did they not? Away from them!" she argued, convinced that nothing more needed said, beyond that.
Elías nodded, however, which was not the reaction she had expected. "Yes, away from them. Away from their guidance, away from their watchful gaze. Does that not suggest something akin to trust? Have they ever sent your precious brother far from them?" he asked.
For a moment, yet again, he had stunned her. Serafina fought to find another answer, but, no matter how hard she thought, there was only one to give. "No."
"Interesting, is it not? That the one you claim they cherish above all else should be held close and watched so carefully. Yet the one you claim they do not care for is granted the freedom to venture far from home," he reasoned, stopping to chew a piece of chicken. Or, perhaps from the way he watched her he was really giving her time to think upon that.
It was so hard to fathom. Elías was the only one of her classmates that Serafina had failed to figure out. She could not read him as she could others.
"It seems to me, little princess, that your brother was more guarded and cared for because he required it," Elías claimed, giving her no time to voice the immediate protest that came to mind. Because, surely, that could not be possible. "Because he is so strong in magic and will that he is a danger to himself and others. You, on the other hand, did not need them. You did not need their guidance or steady hands, because you were already strong enough to support yourself."
Opening her mouth, no protest, no argument, no denial came to mind. Damn it! As impossible as it seemed, the more she thought on it, the more she realised Elías was right. "O-oh!" How had she never noticed that before? And why did Elías have to be the one to see what she could not?