Earlier that day….
Melda stood just outside the grand door to the princess' main chambers, her hands curled into tight, clammy fists The corridor felt a hundred miles long, the marble too loud under her trembling footsteps. Ask around for direction? She didn't even know how to ask for directions. Talking to people was already bad enough, how was she supposed to go around this sprawling place asking soldiers where she was meant to go?
'Gods! I should have just gone with the execution.'
She shut her eyes tight, mustered courage and forced herself to start walking. She was smart enough to figure it out. Her Highness had mentioned something about training? For the army? Maybe there was a training ground. That was all she had to do and find that Lillianne woman. It couldn't be that hard, right?
Wrong.
She turned a corner too quickly and collided, full force with someone. Her body slammed to the floor, her head knocking against the marble with a dull thud.
"Oh I'm so sorry about that! I'm just trying to- oh my! My foot hurts-" she mumbled in panic.
A blade was drawn and pointed at her neck before she could even sit up.
"Wasn't your execution passed today?"
Her heart skipped a beat. Her breath hitched. Her eyes darted up. That deep blue hair....that face...he had seen it somewhere...
"Y-yes.. but the princess- I mean…"
"She was pardoned." A new voice chimed from behind him. Lazy. Annoying. Familiar.
"Why should I trust you?"
"Kris, why would I lie to you? Especially about such matters. The commander told me about it."
"Riiiight." Doubt was all over his tone.
"Speaking of commanders, your council brother is looking for you."
"What for?"
"I don't know about your family issues."
Kris popped a vein and sheathed his sword, gave Oliver a glance, sighed and went to the direction where Oliver was from. He definitely did not want anything to do with Oliver.
Melda let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding. Oliver watched Kris disappear, then turned to her and took the paper she held tightly in her hand, and took an almost theatrical sniff of it.
"Smells like Iris." He said dreamily and sniffed it again. Melda stood up and snatched it from him, glaring.
"You are the last person I hoped to ever meet again."
He laughed. "That's unfortunate. I hoped to meet the girl who fell in love with me-"
"I am not- you know what, think what you want."
She brushed past him.
"Lillianne is not that way." he called after her.
She turned and started walking the other direction.
"I. KNOW."
Before she could go on, he was already at her side, grabbing her wrist.
"Hey! What are you-"
"You go that way, you die." He said flatly. "Listen, you weren't officially pardoned. The guards don't know. The public doesn't know. One wrong move, and they'll gut you on the street."
He was right.
The whole city probably considered them, especially her, a criminal and would kill her on the spot if they found her.
"I'll take you to councilwoman Lillianne. Come on." He said letting go of her hand.
Melda thought about it for a while and decided, since she had no choice, and she was petrified of asking for directions, she chose to follow him.
The path they took didn't feel like the main route. The gate was small, discreet. But it opened up into something grand and beautiful- the city.
Her breath caught in her throat.
Towering story buildings, that she didn't understand how they worked. Cobbled streets, people bustling, carriages, sounds, smells. She felt overwhelmed.
This was what she always dreamt of. No hiding. No ducking into alleys. Just...natural light. And people.
'Eliara would have loved this.'
Her vision blurred, and before she knew it, she was crying.
"Are you usually like this?" Oliver asked.
She wiped her tears away and sniffed. "How?"
"Always crying. You remembered my sad story?"
She ignored him and he shrugged.
"Why exactly does the princess want you to join the army?"
"I have no idea."
Seriously, she had to find that out too. There must be a deeper reason than her just being a pet.
"Ah, these are the training grounds."
He pointed at a massive courtyard just outside the city. Soldiers, guards, volunteers...hundreds of them. Maybe a thousand. Too many for a normal recruitment
"This kingdom is always brewing something. "He said clearly annoyed "Is there going to be a war? We don't need this many recruits."
Melda thought the same. How dire would a situation be to require this many fighters?
He kept on walking for a while and slowed down.
"I don't know where she is." he said rubbing the back of his neck.
What? What does he mean….like he did last time in the castle?
"You got lost again?"
"No she must be- ah, there she is." She said pointing at a tall woman who walked with high shoulders assessing some youth. Probably, to see if they fit or not. "My captain."
Hastily Oliver walked while grabbing her hand and halted in front of her. The woman turned to look at Oliver, who was grinning like an idiot and sighed.
"You again."
Oliver smirked.
"Yes! How are you doing? Good looking?"
"What do you want?"
"Will you give me what I want if I asked nicely?"
The woman did not hesitate to slap Oliver and that made Melda giggle.
"O-ok I get it. The princess sent this girl to you."
She turned to look at Melda.
"Reason?"
"Enlistment."
She sighed. 'I just arrived and she's already- aaaah! Why did Marco put me in charge this year?'
She calmed her nerves and, "Follow me. Oliver, I hate to say this, but thank you."
"You owe me-"
"GET OUT OF HERE!"
Melda noticed something odd about this woman. She wore something on her face. Transparent. Her intrusive thoughts won as she snatched it from her face and looked at it as if it were a gem she had found.
"What kind of invention-"
"How disrespectful… give it back!! How dare you!!"
Melda ignored her and put them on her face, upside down.
"I can't see. There's two of you-"
The woman slapped her in the face and took her glasses back.
"Teach me how to make them!"
Has this girl never seen glasses before in her life? She wondered. Anyways she just sighed and let it go.
"Just give me your details. Name and symbols?"
"I don't like my second name. Melda."
Don't like?
"Symbols then?" she gave her the symbols and stood back, thinking about what was on her face.
"Age?"
"Seventeen."
"Which catego-"
"Oh wait! No no no! that's not my age! That's my sister's made up age! I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry…please." She went to the ground. "I'm only fifteen!! Fifteen!!."
"Okay? I get it. What cate-"
"Natural!"
What the hell is wrong with this girl? That aside, why did that damned brat have to bring her in at the age of fifteen? Rules were, the minimum age requirement was twenty. Gods help this girl. She looked malnourished too….and not well taken care of. No. this was none of her business. And she knows better than to stick her nose into Iris' business.
Since she was a literal child, she had to let her go and rest. She gave her the direction to where their place to stay will be through training. She didn't reply. She just stared at her glasses.
With time though, she voluntarily left to go rest. It was almost sunset. When she arrived where that Lillianne lady had showed her, she immediately got inside and excitedly went up the stairs. This was such a weird and complex thing for her wrap her head around. How did this steps just float like that?. Without noticing, she just kept going up the stairs until there was no more. In her mind, she thought they were infinite.
There was literally no one on this floor. She thought, the better. She could sleep soundly. She went to the farthest end just to make sure no one finds her or disturbs her.
As she held the lock to open the door, she heard something break inside. Did someone already find this room before her? Either way she was going to stay there.
She opened the door slowly.
Her mouth dropped.
"Y-you…"
Was she dreaming? She definitely had to be. This couldn't be real.
"Eliara?"
"Melda. You are…"
Before she could finish the statement, Melda tackled her. They fell into each other's arms.
'She is alive!'
They both thought to themselves.
Eliara pushed her off her. "Don't ever hug me like that again."
Melda blinked. Her heart sunk. She then stood up. "I thought she killed you-"
"Long sto-"
"Wait what are you doing here?"
Melda then gave her the details of everything that led to her coming here. "She said she wanted to kill me and have you work for her, but she changed her mind when I made the antidote."
Eliara sighed. "You should have just let her royal ass die. Who knows why she kept you alive."
'She's not happy that I'm alive? Does that mean I really was just better off dead? Does she still hate me? Does she still want us to go our separate ways? Yes. She hates me. I messed up…I messed up…I messed up. I deserve it.. I deserve every single bad thing…"
"I…guess we'll share this room tonight."
"Yes! We have two weeks till training starts…we have a lot to do….a lot to catch up on-"
"No. I'm going back home. I'm not becoming a freaking guardian. I was gonna leave tomorrow."
Melda froze. "What?"
"You can stay if you want. I know I'm not."
Melda felt a sudden shift in the air. A strong shift. Her fingers tingled
Presence of a powerful spell.
"Did she cast a spell on you?"
Eliara's eyes narrowed. "How did you…."