Chương 11: Interlude 1

The Greenwood Estates Rosalina of Greenwood"I've returned, Mother," she called out, reaching up to remove her helmet. The mithril shell pulled away from her head and allowed her golden locks to spill over shoulders and onto enchanted tunic. She let her gaze return upwards, towards the woman clad in fine white silks and ribbons, crowned in holly and haloed in her own curtains of gold.

The matured, slight beauty of her mother was something Rosalina had envied in youth, it was only much later that she realized that she had inherited it. All of them had, save their rambunctious brother.

"The house of Yig welcomes you home," Mother responded, stepping forwards and brushing aside locks that framed Rosalina's face. Just a hair shorter than herself, and yet bereft of the heels of her armor, mother was a towering woman.

"Gladdened are we, for your safe return. The front holds, we trust?"

"It does." Rosalina leaned forwards into her mother's gentle fingers, taking comfort in the old and familiar traces through her hair and over face. Hands cupped her cheeks, then brought her down to plant a kiss upon her brow before pulling back again.

"The front holds, at least another year more, and the power of another rising horde has been broken and scattered. The Elf-Eater banished below again, and her summoner fled to places unknown."

"Wonderful news to receive on this day," Lady Greenwood declared simply, ears and face as calm as ever, but eyes conveying a great deal more now that Rosalina knew where to look.

"A shame that you missed the visitation of Amaryllis, here from her studies in the capital for the waxing summer. Only Florella remains." She twitched her ears in a rueful fashion.

"Mary has little time for visitation these seasons, grown as she is," she spoke a gentle tease.

"Much too busy learning from Mistress Myr to speak to any save darling Rasil."

"Her apprenticeship shall be concluded shortly, twenty-nine years yet." Lady Greenwood pulled back, before letting one ear twitch in indication of direction.

"Come, the servants have prepared a great feast for your welcome."

"I suppose Flore has already started to partake?" She gave a little, laugh, tension already pouring off her shoulders with every passing moment in her home.

"She could never resist a proper feast, the foods and the festivities both."

"You suppose correctly," Mother confirmed, elegant, silent steps carrying her through the halls of their home and towards the feast-hall. The smells and sounds both told Rosalina to expect much fanfare with her return. Already her forces had been dismissed and allowed to return to their families, and now only her squire and mother's handmaiden followed them. The smell of roasted sweet potatoes, of spiced chocolates and caramels, of puddings and seed cakes. It was a sea of wonderful, beloved, and nostalgic smells.

They were long-lost in the decade of campaigning, and their return was almost hypnotic. Mother was absolutely spoiling her in little familiar luxuries, it seemed. The sound of harps and lyres carried through the arched halls, until eventually rising to a delightful crescendo as the doors to the feasthalls were opened, and they stepped through to greet the celebrants.

"Presenting! The Lady Greenwood, and Heiress Greenwood, now returned from war!" the herald declared from his place by the door, voice carrying over the gathered celebrants, the dancers, the feasters and into the arched roof of colored glass. The modest feasthalls of the house of Yig could not compare to the magnificence of other, grander halls. The halls of the Lord General or King were grander beyond imagination, and their majesty was almost overwhelming.

She preferred the halls of her home over them, simply because they were her home. She smiled and stood still as the feasters greeted her with smiles and cheers and applause, and she shook her head and waved her hand to calm them down. She'd be home for a year yet, more than enough time to greet and meet all of them in turn. Half were friends of the household, and the other half were probably petitioners seeking something asinine like betrothals. Either to herself or her siblings. Naturally, all would be refused.

She had more than enough time to wait for the ideal partner. She cast her gaze about, seeing childhood friends and familiar servants. Her sister was there at the tables of baked goods, devouring plates at a measured but unstoppable pace. Her ears waggled in merriment, and she took her mothers offered arm and strode over to greet her. Brother was not present, though that didn't surprise her overmuch, large crowds were overwhelming to his young senses.

He would always develop headaches, frustrated scrunches of his cute little face, and pained expressions whenever introduced to other boys his age. Nine years since last she saw him… He must have grown up so much in that time! Her ears danced in anticipation of seeing him again. They reached her sister soon enough, rapidly devouring a great slice of lemon seed cake with eyes closed and head tilted back in delight, ears bouncing up and down with each chew.

She was dressed in reds and golds, in silks and tresses, which plunged low and revealed long strips of flawless pale flesh. Florella loved the fineries of their position most of all, and dressed herself accordingly.

"I see you're just as famished as ever, Flor," she greeted merrily.

"Are your seamstresses paid well?" Flore's entire body twitched with the sounds of her voice, and she paused in her chewing just long enough to crack open an eye at her. Observed, she closed her eye again and chewed ever more rapidly in an effort to clear her throat and make a reply. Eventually, she managed to swallow and set her plate down.

"Rosalina, back from barbarian lands at last. How many squires have you driven off with your boorish lusts?" Rosalina grabbed her sister by the shoulders and slammed her into a bone-crushing hug. Flora yelped only for a moment, before returning the hug with equal ferocity. Rosalina inhaled the scents of her sister deeply, face buried between her shoulder and neck, then exhaled slowly. She could feel and hear Florella doing the same.

"I've missed you," they said at once. Several long moments passed before they pulled apart, Rosalina planting a kiss on her sister's brow as she withdrew. Neither smile nor ears could be contained at the moment.

"You're just as ugly as the day I left." That is to say, not at all.

"And your presence just as unwelcome." That is to say, not at all. She smiled and shook her head.

"Amaryllis has already returned to the capital, I've heard." If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

"From mother's lips, then. You heard correct. She was quite frustrated by brother's recent camping trip." Florella's ears expressed her amusement well.

"Camping… I suppose the quiet of the woods would be agreeable to him, how sensitive his ears are," Rosalina expressed with faint humor, knowing that the real reason was probably more to avoid Amaryllis' playful badgering than anything else.

"I believe mother mentioned this habit in one of her letters to me."

"We did," Mother responded between quick bites of a dainty apple fritter.

"In the autumn of your third year of campaigning against Sorceress Mala. Rasil first announced his desire to learn woodcraft, and Dame Titania was agreeable to expanding his tutelage, and we were persuaded by his argumentation."

"Did he argue?" Florella mused, reaching up a finger to tap her lower lip.

"I seem to recall solely a blunt declaration, then a long period of quietly staring holes into the side of your head."

"You remember correctly." Mother nodded, finishing the fritter and taking up the tea cup held by her handmaid.

"It was exceptionally persuasive." Rosalina and Florella shared giggles at that.

"I suppose Titania has yet to ask for a betrothal? She's already wrapped around his fingers, with how much she indulges him." Rosalina shook her head at the antics of the family friend, someone blessed with an abundance of strength and too little self-awareness. She'd make for a fine sister, powerful and of noble line, but completely toothless as a real rival.

"Please, Rosa, she isn't even aware of how much she dotes on baby brother." Florella giggled.

"In a hundred years she'll still be just as helpless as she is now. We'd have to push them into the same bed, and it still might not work."

"Titania is currently pursuing Rasil," Mother declared, bringing both of them to a stop. Rosalina looked to the placid matriarch, sipping tea, then back to her sister. Both of them shared a rather concerned expression at the declaration.

"I- I suppose you've arranged a betrothal then?" Florella asked with ears upright and alert.

"We have not."

"Mother, it's one thing to plan for the future, but Rasil is but twenty, twenty one perhaps this year!" Rosalina stepped away from her sister and towards their mother.

"And you say she pursues him? S-she's- and you are aware of this? And haven't stopped her?!"

"She informed us as soon as she discovered it," Mother replied, setting the tea aside and turning to face them more directly.

"We see no reason to forbid her."

"No reason? Mother! Our brother is a child!" Florella declared, waving her arms about even as she kept her voice low.

"A child! Precocious and darling as he might be, he is entirely too young to be romanced by any woman- he- he doesn't even know what romance is!"

"We agree." That made the sisters stop short, glancing at each other with baffled expressions.

"S-so she is pursuing him but… you agree he is too young to be romanced?" Mother tilted her head.

"This is correct."

"... Where is our brother?" Rosalina asked bluntly, dropping any pretenses.

"I much desire to speak with him."

"Still camping, last I heard. Lady Titania has been-" Florella stopped short, realizing the same thing that Rosalina realized at once.

"... Acting as his escort…"

"... Mother. If she has been acting inappropriately with my brother, I am ending her life," Rosalina declared flatly.

"Damn any connections and damn our history, she'll die."

"Worry not," Mother declared, inspecting a berry-sweet before popping it in her mouth.

"Dame Titania has been acting as an ideal warden and instructor to my son, I would not allow her so much freedom if she were not."

"... Her pursuit then… It is chaste?" Rosalina asked for clarification.

"Entirely chaste?"

"More than merely chaste, it is without romance," Mother responded, popping another berry-sweet into her mouth and chewing placidly.

"... What?" Florella expressed their confusion.

"So, Titania pursues Rasil without romance?" Rosalina asked again, eyebrows scrunched together.

"I- Is he leading her on a chase?"

"Yes." Both sisters sighed mightly, shoulders slumped and tension leaving their frames. Mother had played them expertly yet again, winning the game of words and making them drop their guise of implication in the process.

"A footrace. Brother leads Titania on a footrace." Florella rolled her eyes.

"He remains my weakness, it seems, I was much too worried." He was her weakness as well, Rosalina was considering the murder of a long time friend.

"A footrace or a game of hiding and hunting. I suppose tis some game or exercise one or both devised, running throughout the greenwood to practice his abilities over greater distances."

"Neither game nor exercise." Mother declared, taking up her tea again and sipping delicately. Rosalina huffed and decided that she was much too irritable to try playing the game any more.

"I suppose he's still in the Greenwood at the moment. I'll have to wait till he returns to see how he's grown."

"Oh, he's grown into such a handsome boy!" Florella gushed, bringing up her hands for emphasis.

"Every day seeking something new and heavy to pick up and toss about. He's got arms like mid-decennial saplings and is almost as tall! His hands are twice as large as mine, and he makes such cute growls whenever you're affectionate with him! He's become such a delight to embrace!" Rosalina smiled at the thought, doing her best to picture him but only returning to the chubby-cheeked elfling that glared at his scrapes instead of crying, as if he could bully pain and injury away.

"He is not in the Greenwood." Florella sighed, rolling her eyes and one of her hands.

"I suppose he's run away from home or something like that then?" Knowing this to be another game of words, he was probably visiting another Wood at the moment or something, camping in a new location or-"Correct," Mother declared, bringing her line of thought to a stop.

"Rasil has run away from the Greenwood and past the wardstones, out into the wider world. He did not declare his intent to leave prior."

"What!" Rosalina yelped.

"W-why? And why isn't he being followed!"

"We already informed you of this. Dame Titania is pursuing him." Mother sipped her tea. Rosalina stepped away from the table, bringing her helmet up to cover her head again.

"I'm joining her."

"Nay," Mother declared, making her stop short.

"This feast has been prepared for you, you will enjoy yourself and leave the search to Dame Titania."

"To hell with the feast! He's my darling brother!" She swiped a hand back and growled, ears pulled back in irritation.

"He's my son." Lady Greenwood declared informally, emphasizing the words and locking gazes with her. Rosalina found that she could neither move nor look away from the hard emerald glare.

"Do not presume that you care more for his safety than I."

"I-" She tried, before choking out the words.

"I have to do something!"

"My familiar has been sent to Dame Titania. She will alert me when he is found. I will be summoned then." Lady Greenwood walked around the table and towards her daughter, bringing her hands up and cupping her cheeks. This was a far more firm hand than before.

"We will greet him then. Currently, there is little more that can be done but wait and gather strength for that moment. Do you hear my words?" Rosalina maintained a glare for some time, before finally dropping her gaze and sighing.

"I hear them…" The words were bitter in her mouth. Lady Greenwood came forwards and planted another soft kiss on her brow, then pulled her into an embrace.

"If you must do something, prepare yourself to hear his words, why he was so miserable to flee us rather than stay another year." Rosalina considered that for a moment, before squeezing her mother in a tight hug.

"I do not want to do that," she admitted softly.

"Then do not, and prepare yourself for the news of the next time he flees." Mother was as callous as ever.