The Book of Dreams: Curious Things

Decisions and Choices Made

She looked around the room she was moved to, her thoughts drifting around like dandelion seeds on the wind. Since she told the prince that she might as well go by that name since she hasn't another to use the people who've interacted with her call her 'Lady Bes'. Bes, it held no meaning at all but feels so heavy with a burden, the real owner of the name must be lost somewhere for it to feel like this. She thought about it further her mind nearly made up. 

'If I were to take this name fully as mine, would it be mine to define? Or would the preconceptions of the name define me?' A knock on the door pulled her out of her reverie.

"Lady Bes, I'm to escort you to the Emperor's Offices." A familiar voice sounded on the other side, granted it's been nearly a week since she last heard it so she couldn't be certain.

She opened the door, mindful of keeping her eyes on the ground before her in case she was right. 

"I, Marquess Gervan of the Principality of Goethra, shall be your personal guard. My sword is yours to protect and defend you from this moment on if required, Lady Bes." A shadow over the spot on the floor she was looking at indicated that he was bowing. 

"There's no need to bow to me, Marquess. Please lead the way." She gestured for him to rise and then to go ahead with his task.

"Of course, my lady, please follow." Once his footsteps sounded she began following them keeping her eyes on the back of his boots.

"My lady, if I may be frank, you averting your eyes from me is worse than looking at me." The Marquess spoke up.

"I didn't want you to feel uncomfortable." She hummed. "But if you're certain you won't then I'll stop looking away."

"I'm more than certain. The people will see you as part of the Imperial family, you must act accordingly." His voice firmly hiding his discomfort at the issue. "So walk like you own where you are at all times."

"I could never be that proud. Perhaps only when I'm being watched, Marquess, should I look directly at you?" Her gaze shifted to his back and she watched it stiffen like he could feel the weight of it.

"That is a suitable arrangement, my lady. A ward of the Emperor should appear to be proud no matter who must endure it." His voice gained a tense note to it.

"I quite like you not being tense though, it makes the lies about your comfort more believable." Her eyes moved back to his heels, they continued in silence for the rest of the way to the offices. 

Once to their destination, Gervan knocked on the door to alert those inside that they were there. It took a moment for them to be allowed entrance. 

"So this is the young lady you pulled into existence." A voice holding both the fierceness of a storm and the gentleness of a flower.

"You make it sound off but yes this is she." That voice from her first solid memory said. 

She brought her eyes up to meet the gaze of the two men that were eying her. 

"What is it everyone has taken to calling you, dear?" The more extravagant of the pair asked with a mirthless smirk.

"Lady Bes, Your Majesty." She hummed maintaining the eye contact she grabbed.

"Dernik was right, she's not bothered by our family's intimidation. She is a special sort indeed. Now, Florence, we must keep in mind that she is to choose who's direct protection to be under." The Emperor hummed sliding his gaze to his brother beside him.

"Rivaln, what if the wrong choice is made?" the priest murmured holding the woman's gaze.

"Any choice she makes is the right choice, forcing her hand is the cause of the end."

"It feels as though you are speaking of a rowdy heifer since it is a matter seemingly most urgent I shall leave you two to it." Her words made the Emperor burst with laughter.

"Forgive us, my dear. We are of a generation molded by superstition, using the names of the gods for anyone other than the god it's meant for is a bit to get used to." Florence seemed to wilt slightly as Rivaln got ahold of his amusement.

"Stars, my patron didn't warn me that you would be this amusing." The man chuckled a bit more before he set his face to a more serious expression. "We were discussing you, my dear. My priestly brother here is just worried that things will go horribly."

"What is it that differs between you two as guardians?" Her eyes shifted to the large window slightly.

"Duties and expectations, under my guardianship you will not have to worry about the nobility as much," Florence said as his wilting demeanor corrected itself with a soft smile. 

"Which one will allow me to learn to fight and allow me to learn of this place unhindered." Her gaze returned to the pair before her.

"That would be me, you will, however, need to be sociable with stuffy nobles and endure the ire of the ladies around your age." The Emperor smirked. "They are a viciously ambitious bunch." 

"I've got the feeling I've endured worse than the ambitions of the discontented before. It will be of no concern." She bowed her head slightly. "I would like to be under the guardianship of the Emperor."

"Wonderful. You have yet to see the gardens or the rest of the palace right?" Rivaln watched as she nodded her head with a kind smile. "The day is still young, go explore your home."

The younger pair nodded and left with a bow, leaving the older pair to watch after them.

"You know I've always wanted a daughter." Rivaln hummed.

"You must've been jealous of my dear Veris," Florence smirked at his brother.

"I'm jealous that you, the priest under the patronage of the god of chastity, have had more children than me." Rivaln huffed with a slight glare at his chuckling twin.

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Bes stood next to Gervan who waited for her to pick where to look first, she hooked her arm through his and asked to go to the gardens. She needed the fresh air and he was now stiffer than a board.

"This way I can better see where we are going without making you feel my eyes." She hummed which did ease his tenseness some.

 "Right, of course." He cleared his throat before he began guiding her to the gardens.

"You know, I've yet to see what's wrong with my eyes. I thought it was the color like Sebrin said, but then Anrey, the young lady that usually helps me in my chambers, has the prettiest brown eyes I've ever seen. They look like a riverbed with gemstones in them. She even said that brown eyes are revered to an extent because of how rare they are. So that's not the issue." She opened up to the man who sent her a look of disbelief while they walked.

"Haven't you looked in a mirror?" He asked in an apprehensive tone. 

"They were removed from my chambers by the older ladies that visit throughout the day." She sighed looking out a window as they walked past it, mumbling something about 'too many damn suns' as she squinted at the disks in the sky.

"Superstition. That's what they did that. Your eyes are a pretty brown too, it's just that- your whole eye is the pretty brown. Like looking into pools of swirling chocolate and gold with no border." He said not noticing the look she sent him.

"How are you not married yet?" Her voice held the tone of a sister exasperated with the prospects of her brother.

"Kind of difficult to convince myself that I'm attracted to the people I've seen as my family my whole life." He sighed.

"I'm off-limits, you hate my eyes. You can't really justify pursuing someone if you hate their eyes." She chuckled as they stepped out onto the veranda that had stairs leading to the lushest of the palace gardens.

"You're basically Dernik's sister now, it can't happen anyway." He grumbled as she paused to feel the suns on her skin.

"Legally yes. Emotionally and physically, no. Mind you, he'd be a great brother, just not mine." She detached herself from him as she made her way to the stairs. "Come, Gervan, you know more of the plants here than I do."

The pair walked through the gardens pausing to allow Bes to look at the plants that catch her fancy. Gervan, the patient man he is, answering what he could of her numerous questions, most of which here about the edibility of different plants. They walked around leisurely for nearly an hour when they agreed that it would be wise to return to the palace and explore there before she got too tired to do much else today. The first stop though was going to be the library, she was adamant that that was the most important thing for her to know the location of. She paused, tensing like a cat about to pounce.

"Get down." She rasped as she both pushed him away and whipped around, her hand clutching onto something firmly.

It took a moment for it to register in Gervan's mind what had happened before he pulled her to the ground, alerting the guards. He barely registered her hiss as another arrow stuck itself in her shoulder on her way down to the ground. Soon, three guards jogged to the pair to help them to the healers. The Marquess waved the hands offering him help and had them help Bes instead. He watched her fiery gaze shift in the direction the arrows came from before she held her chin up and walked unassisted to the healers seething that this wasn't something she could fix on her own. The three guards followed her to either catch her or act as a shield if needed. Gervan found his feet as Dernik stormed to the scene demanding where the guards that were posted in the area were. The answer he received almost sent him into a rage if Gervan didn't place a grim hand on his shoulder. The prince huffed an order to the guard before him to arrest the offending guards for interrogation before he nearly ran to the healers with his friend.

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Ona and Sebrin were muttering to each other as one examined the wound and the other tested the first arrow for a poison to see if they needed to find an antidote as well.

"For someone who almost died, you are awfully calm," Ona said to get Bes out of whatever headspace she's in.

"I'm trying to keep hold of the one in my hand. It's thrumming, I feel its need to hit its target." Her eyes didn't leave the arrow in her hand.

"s**t. Don't let go of it, Sebrin we need a mage." Ona growled beginning to clean what he could of the wound without removing the arrow.

"I have good news, bad news, and worse-ish news." Sebrin huffed. "The arrow is indeed poisoned, it's gonna scar, you are not poisoned."

"How is-" "It's a demon-specific concoction that can't hurt humans." Bes was cut off by Sebrin, who looked over the wound in her shoulder with pursed lips. "I swear if we end up treating you more than we treat the prince I'm filing a complaint with the gods."

"We can't do anything without the mage to disarm the enchantment, please go get the damn mage," Ona growled.

"I know that you i***t, just thought I'd put in my two cents."

"GET THE MAGE!" Ona's demand earned a huffed 'fine' from the other healer as they left to find a mage, bumping into the prince and Gervan as he went. "What in the ten hells do you want?"

"How bad?" The prince asked as Gervan glared at the first arrow. 

"She would've died if she didn't catch that first arrow. They were both poisoned with a demon in mind and both arrows are likely enchanted." Ona sighed once he did what he could, moving to gather what he's going to need after the mage is done.

"Lady Bes," Dernik bowed slightly once he had caught her attention. "I'm deeply sorry for the failure of my men to perform their duty."

"I only wish to hear an apology from the fool who was practicing their aim near a garden." She waved off his apology her eyes glinting with that look from earlier.

"I must take my leave to report the incident to the Council. Let me know immediately if you need anything." He left with another bow to her.

"Three of Dernik's finest are going to be accompanying you for further protection at his insistence." Gervan's voice was soft as it broke through his silence.

"Told you he'd make a great brother." Bes's voice was lighter than expected.

"You were almost killed and you're trying to cheer me up." His voice was grim.

"Priorities, I demolished your pride as a man." She sent him a small wry smile.

"I swear she'd fight a dragon with her bare hands if left to her own devices," Ona spoke up. "Bes, don't be getting any ideas, burns are a b***h and that's only if you survive."

"I love the vote of confidence." She deadpanned, earning a morbid chuckle from Gervan.

"I must go give my account of the situation to the Council. I'll help you back to your room later." The Marquess bowed slightly before leaving as Sebrin returned with a mage.

"What in Follis's beard-" She was cut off by Sebrin who pushed her to get a closer look.

"Just do the thing. Infections are a b***h to treat without healing magic." He huffed.

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"An investigation of the guard is in order. We will have to up the patrols and use the arrows to find the person who shot my ward, then use them to find the person responsible." Rivaln sighed from his place at the head of the meeting table.

"How did she know the first arrow was coming?" Fenik, the minister of defense, huffed.

"Patrons do intervene when something of danger is about to occur, her's may have done just that," Dernik said, his face cool and calculated hiding his boiling rage at the man well.

"Who's to say she even has a patron!" Callis, the minister of internal relations, exclaimed. "This could be a ploy to waste resources!"

"She doesn't even have the funds for a shoe, what makes you think she has the means to hire an assassin?" Zevon, the minister of the treasury, hummed his question to the man across from him.

 "Well, I-" "If it's about her appearance the Mage's Council has determined that she is fully human," Florence spoke up, cutting off the paling man.

"Bes does bleed red if that's your worry." Gervan hummed from his place beside Dernik.

"Marquess! How can you trust her so easily? Magic is quite useful in deception!" Callis stood with a growl.

"I would usually agree with you Callis, unfortunately, magic does not work on her, and the energy required to spellbind an entire palace filled with staff and people who come and go every day is astronomical. Comically so." Gervan's cold silver stare bored into Callis who huffed in defeat as he slumped back in his chair.

Shortly after the Council dismissed and went their separate ways leaving Rivaln, Dernik, Florence, and Gervan in the room in a heavy silence. The look they shared held a determination to not allow such a thing to imprison her in her home they made plans, plans they hated making. They were going to hold her debut ball once she was adequately healed of course. They were going to flaunt her resilience and see if the person responsible for her wound would slip up and reveal themselves. Here's to hoping that Bes is on board with the plan.