54 Tea with Father (1/2)
Harbit frowned down at her, still shaking her awake.
She brushed off her friend's hand, pushing herself up, yawning. Late afternoon sun shone through her window, the book she fell asleep reading, one from Mattin's private collections, still sitting on the blanket.
”Your brother and the Grand Avatar are coming to see you!” Harbit half shouted, panicked.
Isilla met her panic with her own. ”Why?” she asked the word simple enough to bread on her lips.
”They demanded it! Arren sent one of those little creatures with the order to get your ready immediately! They'll be in the garden in just half an hour!”
She threw the blanket off and climbed out of the bed. She had taken a bath before lunch but her hair flew wild and untamed around her head. Ilun stood, ready to take action at her sudden movement.
”I'm just getting dressed she said to the animal as she shrugged out of her sleeping clothing. Harbit presented her with fresh undergarments. She changed quickly before taking the deep, purple dress from her and pulling it on. She smoothed the fabric over her body before buttoning it.
Haribit placed a jewel encrusted belt around her waist before pushing her onto her stool and quickly brushing out her heavy curls, braiding it loosely and covering with a scarf, draped gently over her.
”We should add some blush, you look pale,” Haribit suggested.
Isilla shook her head. Arren told them I was ill, I should look ill, she wrote before standing. ”Follow now Ilun, and be good in the garden.”
Isilla stepped out of her bedroom for the first time in days and into her sitting room. Her heart beating hard in her chest she made her way into the halls and down to the garden. Haribitand Ilun at her sides.
She stepped into the garden, the false sunlight and heavy flower scent familiar. She took a deep breath, willing her heart to calm. It is only for a few minutes, she told herself as they walked to the center pavilion, the party's voices carrying through the sweet air.
An attendant spotted her as she turned the corner, announcing her presence. ”The Princess Isilla.”
The men at the table turned to her, a small party but her breath caught in her throat. Along with the two ambassadors from the Light Realm sat Arren, her brother Argia, the Grand Avatar, and King Ero. Arren and Ero sat on opposite ends of the table, the men from the Light Realm between them. Arren's shadows were absent while his father's twisted around him. At her entrance, the stretched slowly across the distance, reaching for her.
Arren is controlling his while his father displays his power, she thought. Ero is doing this purposely.
Isilla smiled and bowed even as Arren stood, the only man to do so. She crossed the space and took the seat next to him. The cold expression she had grown used to graced his features, if he was angry that she had been called from bed, no one would be able to tell.
It was not the the men from the Light who called me here, she realized, smiling softly at the table. At her feet, the touch of Arren's shadows wrapped themselves around her ankles, holding off the darkness of his father. Mine, they seemed to say.
Harbit stood to the side, slightly behind her, ready to read whatever she wrote. Ilun twisted around her seat, raising himself along the back of it balancing over her, wary of everyone before her.
”Down boy,” she said reaching up and scratching his chin even as lowered his head on a long neck so it could lay in her lap.
”What is that thing?” the ambassador asked.
”A pet,” Arren answered. ”To keep the Princess company. There are many strange beasts in our lands.”
”Someone caught that thing?” the man asked, stunned.
Isilla smiled, suppressing her own laughter.
Ero guffawed from his end of the table, ”My son is playing on your ignorance. That is a construct. He made it for the girl. It has been quite the talk of the castle. I have heard no less than ten stories about it eating some person or another.”
”A harmless joke, not an insult, my lord,” Arren said to the man. ”The beast is not dangerous but the Princess seems to enjoy it.”
The man nodded and sipped at his tea.
”And you, dear sister, how have you been in these past few weeks,” Argia asked speaking in the tongue of the Light Realm.
”I am very well, brother. I am just recovering from a long illness, you will have to excuse me for not joining you sooner on this delightful afternoon,” Haribit read.
”You speak their tongue? Have you been here so long you've forgotten the words of your own?” Argia asked slyly.
Isilla smiled as she wrote her response.
”No. I miss the sound of it but it would be of a great insult to my father in law and husband if I did not communicate so that they could understand as well,” Haribit's voice held no emotion.
”How surprising, your etiquette is better than your brother's. Perhaps we wasted too much time grooming you, Argia. We could have just left on the streets and you would have come out better it seems,” the Grand Avatar's voice held laughter, his smile showing white teeth against his dark, wrinkled face.
”I am surprised to see you, sir. It is such a long journey between realms,” Haribit said, reading Isilla's words.
”Yes, well, I have not been and I thought, why not see King Ero once more? How many years has it been? You look well, but your age, it is showing.”
Ero's smile faltered just a bit. ”We do not all have light to spare,” he said simply. ”But the street? What is Isilla's bloodline? Are you telling me that you have sent us an illegitimate daughter?”
”There are no illegitimate children in the eyes of our Emperor, you know that. Princess Isilla was raised in a quiet part of the city by a doting mother and educated by scribes. Do you have some complaint with her? Has she not been well suited for her role here?”
Ero smiled at her. ”She has been a dream.”
Isilla nodded slowly in thanks as Arren's shadows reached for her fingers, under the table.
”And where is your other son?” Argia asked,, still in the language of the Light, changing the subject.
”Resting,” Arren answered. ”He had a training accident with one of the great hawks.”