"I'll be there for you."
It echoed in Saeryn's head as a drip of water in the deepest caverns of the mountains. When had the lady ever had a true friend? The closest that came was Saeryn's twin brother Degas; the only member of her family she had contact with. When Saeryn's noble parents had died, her brother Fenrir, as hot-headed as he was large, tried to keep the four siblings together. His gruff affection was nothing compared to their parents adoration. Caelwyn, some five years older than the twins, had bolted three years back, leaving the broken family in despair and dishonour. Fenrir had decided that it was the interaction with "the common sort", as he called them, that had driven Caeli away. Henceforth, Saeryn and Degas were strictly banned from contact with any below their stations. Dressed in gowns with handmaidens and a seemingly unending parade of suitors, the once happy Saeryn began to hate the world. Degas, always her confidante, watched her grow paler, sicker... Eventually, seeing that his beloved twin would never flourish kept inside a gilded cage, he sent her away. She had travelled since, ever dreading the day that Fenrir found her; dreading the day she was forced again into gowns and dancing. What the lady Eowyn's fame had done for other noble ladies, Saeryn was excluded from. Fenrir was a conservative of the most stubborn variety.
"I'll be there for you." A sincere voice; an honest girl. The men in the hall cared for Saeryn's personal happiness as her former guardians never had. They knew almost nothing about her, but they would rush to her aid at the earliest sign of trouble. A single tear fell from Saeryn's eye, rolling slowly down her pale cheek. Clasping Ayeth's hand, Saeryn finally whispered a reply. "You've no idea what your offer means, friend, nor how much it is appreciated. I am in your debt. If there is anything..." She let the offer trail off, but by Ayeth's face, could tell it was understood.
Wiping her eye with the back of her hand, Saeryn composed herself. "Now before those menfolk come looking, let us get something sweet to appease their patience." She winked at Ayeth and began to pull myriad items from her bags.
|