Completed Guardian Angel

[Kristen Pirian]

As if the day's earlier spar wasn't enough!

Bull found Kristen as she was walking back to her room in the dormitories. A late night visit to the girls' privy room. The walk there had been torturous, for still she was sore all over from the beating she took from Bull in the afternoon hand-to-hand combat session. It was past light's out, and in the dimness of the night, only the low tones of the moonlight from sparse windows and drab magical sconces on the walls, at least Kristen didn't have to see the carpet of bruises she'd gotten.

In the privy room, the solemn thought had come to her. Why was she even here? What madness had gotten into her, to go along with her family's wishes? Did they truly have any idea about this place? Did mother and father even consult Evangeline first? She did not think so. And now Kristen was going to be stuck in a place she did not truly belong. She loved mother and father, but even they were not above making mistakes.

Weighed down on her return trek through the dormitory halls, she didn't even notice Bull until his hands were on her. Long fingers dug into her shoulders and he whipped her off to one side, slamming her into the locked door of an initiate's room.

"You holding back on me?" he asked. His voice low and calm.

Kristen's heart was in her throat. "I-I-I--Bull I do not know what you--!"

He flung her around and slammed her into the door on the opposite side of the hall. "Fight."

"W-what?"

One of his hands was on her cheek. Dirty nails digging in to her flesh. The other around her throat. "Fight. Do what you didn't do earlier." He pinned her to the locked door with his own body. "The strugglers taste better."

And he started to drag his tongue across her face, a satisfied moan rumbling in his throat as Kristen tried and failed to push him away.

Delaney Lennox

 

[Delaney Lennox]

Delaney didn’t like many people at the Academy and she was not one to stop an attack on anyone either. Her two tenants: no friends and no helping people. Easy peasy. She had always done pretty well to stick to these two tenants until she met Chasmine and now she would break them again. For Kristen Pirian.

The Initiate was heading back to her room when she heard a thud from ahead of her. Delaney didn't think much of it until she got closer and saw that Bull was tormenting the Pirian noble. She hated Bull and anytime he was up to something, she wanted to help put him in his place.

However, this was not her fight. Kristen needed to learn how to defend herself. End of discussion. Only you can protect her, her shadows whispered to her. No, she snapped back at them. Not her problem. Bull even flung her across the hallways into another door and Delaney only slowed slightly. No. No. No.

Bull dug his fingers into her cheek and the shadows started to swirl. Bull told her the stugglers tasted better and the shadows started to thickly wrap themselves around her hands. Bull licked her face and the shadows sprang forward on the command of their queen.

The thick tendrils crawled up his body and wrapped around his neck. He struggled unsuccessfully as they began to choke him while Delaney took long steps forward to meet him. She flicked her wrist and some of the tendrils separated to wrap tightly down his legs.

By this point, Delaney was standing right beside him. She leaned in and softly whispered in his ear. "I ever see you even look at Kristen again, I will disembowel you after I cut out your tongue." She gave one shove that sent the bully falling to his side.

He struggled to break free from her darkness but it was unsuccessful. He wouldn't get out. He tried to growl at her but it just sounded like a gurgled mess. Delaney kicked him in the stomach once and then square in the face. He stopped struggling and she smiled evilly.

Her purple eyes turned to stare at Kristen and she smiled an actual smile. "Are you okay?"

Kristen Pirian

 

[Kristen Pirian]

Kristen recoiled, insofar as she could, once Bull was pulled from her. She let out a small groan of revulsion and terror, eyes pinched shut and head canted off to one side, quivering hands up by her chin in some meager defense.

Then she heard someone else talking. Someone other than Bull. A voice she'd heard before but, in her present shock, couldn't yet place.

Kristen peeked through squinted eyes. Bull was down on the floor, struggling, his flesh rippling and contorting in accordance with his disturbing magic. He was kicked in the stomach, in the face, and his struggles ceased--voluntarily or not. Gods! The feel of his saliva (again!) on her, the haphazard track of it across her cheek, her nose, her eyelid. Funny enough, much like Bull's magic, she felt ready to jump out of her own skin.

Then Kristen gradually made herself look over to the person who'd taken down Bull. Purple eyes. White hair. Frightening aura. D-D-Delaney...!? It was akin to being saved from a menacing bear by a fearsome dragon, and now that dragon was looking at her, such was her initial feeling of the intervention.

And yet.

Are you okay?

Kristen was puzzled. Terribly cautious, but with a dash of intrigue and hope. With guarding hands still held up to chin-level, Kristen gave a tiny, rapid wave.

"G-Good evening, Delaney. It is Delaney, yes?" Kristen swallowed. "I am...I am okay."

Then she just felt compelled to add, "Um, black truly is your color." Tiny nervous laughter punctuated the compliment. Heh, heh...heh? Everyone adored compliments. R-Right?

For the life of her, Kristen couldn't smooth out that 'Please don't put me on the disemboweling, tongue-removal list' look on her face, which twisted her eyebrows with the mirrored curves of strained hope.

Delaney Lennox

 

[Delaney Lennox]

Delaney cocked her head to the right as she looked up at the woman. She looked confused and Delaney had to agree that was she had just done was, indeed, confusing. Kristen was so adorable as she waved at the Shadow Queen.

“Yes, I am Delaney and you are Kristian Pirian,” she responded as a smirk curled on her lips.

"Um, black truly is your color."

Delaney’s smirk turned into a full-blown smile. “Yes, I do love black. It is my favorite color after all. For obvious reasons.”

She dissipated her shadowy tendrils hoping that would put Kristen as ease a little. She was unsure what it was about this incredibly tall, beautiful noble that made Delaney want to protect her. It was curious to her. She reached up and gently used her hand to wipe away the remnants of Bull’s lick. She really hated that asshole.

“I do not think he will bother you again, my Lady,” she did not say the last part with any kind of sarcasm. She was genuine and it surprised her immensely. What the fuck?!

Kristen Pirian

 

[Kristen Pirian]

Kristen's hands retreated from her chin, descending down to absently hover around her chest. Still in a defensive posture, but a half-hearted one at best. Could this truly be happening? The environment of the Academy was one of strict self-reliance, so much had Kristen gleaned even from her relatively short term here. No one was here to help you. If you fell, there was no helping hand, and it was folly to even hope for one. There were quite a number of initiates in the class she had been assignment who exemplified this harsh independence: Edric, Vance, Noel, Ignatius, Liliana, Jaxan, Beatrix, and certainly plenty of others that she'd yet to make some passing acquaintance with.

Delaney, as well, Kristen thought to be in this category. Of course. Other initiates had a habit of moving out of her way--Bull sure to join this collection of people after tonight. She scored highly on her magical aptitude tests. She had frightening aura, one of untouchability. The Proctors did not hound her as much as other initiates--the ones more like Kristen.

So, yes, it was something of a shock when Delaney came to her aid.

And even more of a shock when she wiped Bull's saliva from her face, cleaning her up. Kristen was speechless for a moment, just tracking the motion of her hand with her eyes alone. That measure of kindness...she would not have expected from her. A-And perhaps that was a shame upon Kristen, for making such a presumption about Delaney!

My Lady. Oh, my word, it had been so long since she had been addressed so that it came as quite the shock. A pleasant shock, but a shock nonetheless.

Kristen let her hands gravitate down to her sides and, pressed up against the door as she was, was only able to perform a tiny curtsy. "Thank you, Delaney. We've not been formally introduced, and, I-I must say, this has been quite the way to make an acquaintance! I should hope that Bull here has acquired some proper manners."

Still she was a touch nervous.

Delaney Lennox

 

[Delaney Lennox]

Delaney could tell that Kristen was nervous and uncomfortable around her and she, honestly, couldn't blame the noble girl. Delaney was not a nice person. She had murdered her baby sister when she was six years old and that had not been her last victim. Delaney lived in the darkness and the darkness was her only friend. The majority of the students thought she was insane because she talked to her shadows and they talked back. She thought it was perfectly normal.

"I highly doubt Bull will ever learn proper manners," Delaney stepped back to allow Kristen some space to move away from the door.

"My shadows told me that I was the only one who could protect you so I listened. They have never steered me wrong." That statement would depend on who you asked. Bull would disagree, her parents as well, and countless others who had fallen victim to the Shadow Queen.

Delaney didn't want to leave Kristen right now, but at the same time she didn't want to impose herself on the girls life. She felt her shadows creep up her back and wrap themselves around her neck like a choker. She grumbled at them and they dissipated quickly.

"Would you like me to walk you back to your room? Or wherever you were heading? I do not mind!" She quickly added the last part on so Kristen didn't think she was inconveniencing her.

Kristen Pirian

 

[Kristen Pirian]

Quite right. Some people would never learn adequate manners, and no amount of hoping would change that. In lieu of manners, perhaps Bull would seriously consider Delaney's threat whenever that abominable urge to lick (what in the world was wrong with him??) or otherwise harass Kristen came around again.

Yet it was strange. That Delaney would extend such a favor to Kristen. Thus far in her harrowing duration at the Academy, no other initiate had. Granted, though, Kristen was very much shy and kept to herself after her disastrous first week. She wanted to make friends, and there were a few initiates that she wanted to approach and speak with, but fear kept her paralyzed.

Now Delaney was here. Even initiates from the sister classes would refer to her as the "Shadow Queen," such was her reputation. Shadow Queen or not, it was refreshing, utterly refreshing, to have a hand extended in kindness. Struggling embers of humanity did exist within the walls of the Academy.

"The shadows...told you?"

...All right. So that nervous twitch she felt wasn't completely gone yet. Not after that.

She tried to cordially recover. "I, uh...well, do tell the shadows that I, Kristen Pirian, appreciate their stellar guidance as well." And she punctuated this with a nod that, she hoped, was more firm than awkward.

Kristen jumped quickly onto the more mundane topic that followed.

"Why, yes! I would be delighted by your company, Delaney. 'Tis late of hour, I know, so I'll endeavor not to keep you for too l--"

Footsteps from down the hall. Around the corner. Night patrol from the Proctor on duty. If they were caught casually conversating in the hallway when they ought to be sleeping, it wouldn't be good.

Kristen quickly glanced toward the sound, back to Delaney, then whispered, "We should hurry!"

Delaney Lennox

 

[Delaney Lennox]

Delaney chuckled when Kristen thanked her shadows. Perhaps the Pirian girl thought she was insane, but at least she was nice enough to not run away from her like others had. She supposed that was an unexpected surprise and the surprises continued when Kristen agreed to her company.

She heard the footsteps and took Kristen's hand to help her over the prone form of Bull. At least he would keep the proctors busy for a few moments. They were not on Delaney's level so Kristen's room was most likely the closest since she had been walking down this hall.

"You are closer, I believe! Lead the way!" Delaney's low whisper still held a sense of urgency. The proctors wouldn't punish them as bad now as a year ago, but that didn't mean she wanted to deal with them. The Initiate let the other girls hand go and waited for her to go first.

Kristen Pirian

 

[Kristen Pirian]

Kristen accepted Delaney's helping hand without protest. And, caught up in the nervous anticipation of the night Proctor's approach, she'd not even a moment to consider how abnormal it was.

Stepping over Bull. Doing the strange tip-toeing run one did when in a sneaky hurry. Kristen's room was closer. Right! Just around this upcoming corner. Kristen gave Delaney a firm nod and took the lead, not letting go of the other girl's hand as she continued down the hall.

No sooner had they rounded the corner when came the stern voice of the night Proctor behind them. "Initiate Bull, explain to me..."

Kristen pushed open the door to her room and guided Delaney inside and shut it quickly, as if she were sealing a hatch on a sinking ship.

Orderliness defined Kristen's room. Her bed was tightly made, perhaps with the sheets so tight that one could bounce a coin off of them. In the corner a trunk with her armor inside, her white tabard with the red cross folded neatly on top. Several sets of Academy fatigues, arming garments, and some extra evening gowns hung from a rack against the wall; boots and slippers meticulously arranged underneath their appropriately paired attire. On her desk were ink wells and quills, attached shelves with all of her notes stacked and filed, some books standing atop the shelves. The book on the center of her desk was titled The Romance of House Black--she'd not been doing much studying tonight. Starlight filtered in through the window, lining the edges of everything with a silvery hue and leaving a pool of similar light on the floor.

Kristen pressed her back to the closed door. Then started giggling, clapped a hand over her mouth, and kept it there until the laughter was suppressed.

She said with a mischievous and quietly exhilarated mirth, "We just got Bull in trouble! Serves that cretin ri--"

And she had to cover her mouth again, cheeks turning red with the effort to stay quiet.

Delaney Lennox

 

[Delaney Lennox]

Delaney shouldn't have been surprised by Kristen's clean and organized room, but she was. Perhaps Delaney thought that a noble wouldn't be able to make a bed because of servants. Kristen proved her wrong though.

Delaney was looking at her desk in admiration. Everything was in its place and she smiled when she saw the book she had been ready. She looked over Kristen when she started giggling and the cracked a smile.

"It does serve him right. I should've killed him years ago when he went after Chasmine. He shouldn't even be alive still." Her voice was matter of fact and she thought about taking care of him after she left Kristen's room. One less problem to deal with. "Don't feel like you have to stiffle your laughter around me, Kristen. It is entertaining. It would be more entertaining before the rebellion."

She turned back to the desk and debated sharing one of her most closely guarded secrets. She picked up The Romance of House Black and turned towards the noble girl again. "This is a great book," she said with a smirk.

Kristen Pirian

 

[Kristen Pirian]

Bull went after Chasmine? The revelation was shocking for precisely one second, then it fell into place. Well, of course he did. The boy was little better than a wild animal, and like a predator in the wilderness he busied himself most voraciously with hounding whomever he perceived to be the weakest. Until someone like Delaney checked him.

And how wonderful it had been to see him so forcefully checked! Rarely could one be present at the exact moment some scoundrel received what he deserved.

Kristen fanned her herself, nibbling on her bottom lip to try and keep the giggles down. "I shouldn't laugh too loudly, lest I draw the attention of the night Proctor."

More entertaining before the rebellion. When things were far different...

Kristen didn't dwell on it. Didn't dwell on the sheer fact that the Shadow Queen herself was in her room, whether on amicable terms or no. She wouldn't have believed it if some fortune teller had told her such would happen. What next, hypothetical fortune teller, would the Academy host a lovely Ball? Ha, perhaps in her dreams.

Kristen was, however, enamored that Delaney not only knew of the book she was reading, but had finished it. What a night, full of fantastically pleasant surprises!

She stepped toward the desk. Touched with the tips of her fingers the top part of the book, this with the giddy smile of an excited fan. "It is! I am half way through it, right at the point where the Heiress of House Black is betrayed by her own father."

"I know that I have quite a lot of catching up to do if I should dare hope to graduate, but..." Her smile became a touch guilty, bashful eyes sliding off to the left, "...I try to find time here and there for fun."

Before the rebellion...was such a thing as 'fun' a foreign concept in the Academy?

Delaney Lennox

 

[Delaney Lennox]

"You will definitely want to finish it," Delaney smiled at Kristen. Her lavender eyes sparkled even in the low light as she looked at the other Initiate. She set the book back on the desk and then looked back at Kristen. She was really adorable especially when she had that bashful look.

"Fun..." The word was still a strange one to Delaney. At least in the true spirit of the word. Delaney had fun when she killed and tortured people. She did not know what normal people did for fun though. Perhaps reading was fun...Delaney liked it because it made her forget the Academy for just a little bit. She couldn't wait to graduate and get the fuck away from Vel Anir and the Dreadlords.

"Why are you here, Kristen? It seems silly to send a noble to be a Dreadlord. I feel like you have much better things to do than be beat up by your classmates..." Delaney's voice trailed off. She had never been forced to spar with Kristen but she had been forced to go against many others who were weaker than her. Before the rebellion she had even killed a few without a second thought. Now she was protecting Kristen against Bull.

Kristen Pirian

 

[Kristen Pirian]

Why are you here? It was the first time anyone had asked her the question. Kristen had come to slowly realize, though, that it wasn't because nobody cared (they generally had better things to not care about), but because it simply wasn't much of an informative question to ask of the normal initiate. Everyone else had been here for many more years than she had. She didn't know exactly how young her peers were brought into the Academy, but knew their duration to be long indeed. They were children when they had come, gosh, perhaps even as young as ten years old. This, combined with the sole fact that they possessed magical potential, spelled out the why for every other initiate's admission here.

For Kristen, sheltered away, her magic kept hidden until the Revolution, it was different.

"My family bid me to be here," Kristen said. "There is a new era upon us now, Delaney. The Revolution has changed much. The Republic promises to make all of our lives better, noble and commoner alike. And...my House wishes the prestige of first noble Dreadlord of our new Republic."

"I felt that I had a duty. I simply could not tell them no." This last was spoken with a heavier air than what had come previous.

Kristen could not tell them no. After she had tried many, many times. After the pressure put upon her made her fold to House Pirian's will.

Delaney Lennox

 

[Delaney Lennox]

Delaney frowned as she listened to Kristen. Man, they had brainwashed her and her adorable little noble brain. The Republic had made lots of promises to make the lives better, but they hadn't asked the kids in the Academy what they wanted. They had been raised with one goal and that goal had been shattered a year ago. Dreadlords would never be the same now that they had been put on leashes.

"Duty..." Delaney mused as she turned the desk chair, sat down, and crossed her long legs. "Kristen...do you know why everyone hates you?" Okay, that was a little harsh and Delaney felt a twinge of regret as soon as the words left her mouth. A small, tiny twinge but still a twinge.

"It is because we have been here our entire lives. I was given to the Dreadlords when I was six years old. I barely remember my life before the Academy. We were beat, tortured, attacked, killed, forced to kill..." Her voice trailed off for a moment before she continued. "We were made into a singular weapon made to serve a House...made to serve you."

Should she continue? Was she being too harsh? Had everyone just been mean to Kristen with no explanations as to why? She was still so naïve and she would get killed because of it.

"Now after the rebellion, our lives have changed. Everything has changed and then you waltz in two years before we graduate and expect to learn what we learned except...nicely." Her last word was kind of spit out.

Kristen Pirian

 

[Kristen Pirian]

"H-Hates me??"

Her stammering response came out all of its own accord. She felt foolish immediately after she'd said it. She knew...she knew that many of the other initiates weren't particularly kind. The Academy wasn't a particularly kind place. And even before her admission was finalized, Kristen knew well how unorthodox it had been. Why, if Kristen was a regular initiate, she'd be mad at herself for such flagrant disregard of the established norm!

Delaney went on to state precisely that. Kristen squeaked out a small, "...six??" when Delaney shared how old she was when she came to the Academy. The horrors that followed, even while summarized in brief, were too ghastly for Kristen to contemplate long. And what struck home the hardest, was this:

We were made into a singular weapon made to serve a House...made to serve you.

Color drained from Kristen's face when Delaney said as much, perhaps rivaling the other girl's own paleness. Her mind scrambled for some feeble refutation, but came up with nothing. Delaney was not wrong. Kristen did not command Dreadlords--did not command Evangeline, say--but she was nevertheless a Pirian, and benefited all the same from it.

She didn't completely miss the word rebellion. It clung to the back of her mind. But it was superseded in precedence.

Unbeknownst to Kristen, what she would say to Noel in the future on this very subject was first formulated here in speaking with Delaney. She lowered her head, her gaze, and said, "You are right, Delaney." Her lips pulled long. "Since it is clear that they intended to, I wish that my family had the wherewithal to send me here when I was younger--as it should have been. Instead they forced an exception. They bent the rules. It isn't right!"

She looked back up in an ashamed manner. "It isn't fair. To you, and all of your peers, most of all."

Delaney Lennox

 

[Delaney Lennox]

Delaney stood while Kristen spoke and she pulled the taller girl into a hug once she had finally stopped. She had no idea why she felt the need to hug this girl but she did. "It isn't fair, but I will protect you...always." It probably would have been more comforting if she was the taller of the two but Delaney didn't care. Kristen needed a hug.

"And I don't hate you...for what it is worth," she told the noble with a smile. She pulled out of the hug and sat back down in the desk chair.

"Tell me something about yourself, Kristen."

Delaney wasn't sure why her shadows had told her to protect Kristen but she didn't tell them no. They were scary even with her and she had the scars to prove it. Little fuckers were needy. They had told her once that Chasmine needed her protection because Chasmine was like the baby sister she murdered. Innocent. Perhaps that was the same with Kristen.

Delaney didn't forget that the shadows were the ones who told her to kill her baby sister. Needy fuckers.

Kristen Pirian

 

[Kristen Pirian]

Kristen stiffened with surprise at the sudden embrace, her mind simply going blank in its wake. Perhaps the pinnacle of strangeness, one of the last things she would have expected to happen tonight--and to think it had all started with a mundane trip to the privy room. Shock soon gave way to something else. Longing. The Academy today had a coldness to it (as opposed to yesteryear's coldness and unforgiving brutality), and with this coldness the lack of genuine human warmth which she had taken for granted.

Kristen gingerly returned the hug. Indeed, it was restrained--just her hands touching Delaney's back, only light pressure. She seemed to fear that it was all too good to be true.

And I don't hate you...for what it is worth.

She smiled in demure fashion. "That gives me much to take heart in."

And then she was put on the spot. Oh, but normally it would be quite easy to speak of herself! Yet, so preoccupied was her mind with the totality of what had occurred tonight, and a rather large portion of that focused on the hug from a moment ago, she was having trouble summoning anything to the tip of her tongue. Recounting Celestial lore, speaking about her practice of calligraphy and the idiosyncrasies of her instructor Master Cullaghan, her dabbling in equestrian affairs, her love of dance and practicing with other noble girls, her fascination with dwarven ingenuity (clocks that keep such precise time too, down to the minute!), tales from House Pirian--there was such a large number of wonderful things (and even not so wonderful things) she could have brought up.

But instead, having trouble with conjuring to mind any of these, Kristen's eyes ended up settling on the hair brush which sat on the desk.

"Umm...I enjoy brushing other people's hair?" she said, offering a guilty, awkward smile.

Delaney Lennox

 

[Delaney Lennox]

Delaney felt a little bad for causing Kristen some stress with the hug. Pirian had no idea what to do with Delaney. The scary dark lady had saved her from Bull and now she was hugging her. Yeah, it was weird. Kristen finally relented though and that caused Delaney to smile. Not many people had ever received a hug from her. Actually...no one had.

Delaney raised a brow at Kristen when she finally answered. "Brushing people's hair..." The Initiate laughed out loud before she realized that Kristen wasn't joking. "Oh, you are serious. Sorry," Delaney felt awkward now.

"Why?" The question wasn't cruel or mocking. She was really curious about how someone figured out they like brushing other people's hair. Although, maybe it was normal. Delaney had exactly no friends.

Kristen Pirian

 

[Kristen Pirian]

Well, she was committed to her answer now. It wasn't a bad thing. Kristen found that Delaney's laughter didn't even cut into her, and the question which followed confirmed what she thought. Delaney just didn't know. So many of their fellow Initiates, and Delaney herself included, missed out on so much whilst enduring the harsh rigors of the Academy. Small acts of warmth and kindness were trampled underfoot of ceaseless and brutal training. It was tragic.

Kristen wandered to the desk and picked up the brush, holding it close and running her thumb along the bristles. "It's just something nice you can do for someone else. My elder sister, Amelia, used to brush my hair quite often when I was younger, and I would brush hers in kind. It was sooo relaxing." A wistful sigh punctuated this. "Oh, how I miss those days."

She looked up from the brush and to Delaney. A shy smile.

"Would...you like to have your hair brushed, Delaney?"

Delaney Lennox

 

[Delaney Lennox]

Delaney forgot that Kristen had only been at the Academy for a short time. Of course, she had spend time with her older sister and had fond memories. Delaney did smile as Kristen reminisced. It was adorable.

And then Pirian turned to face her with the brush in her hand. Oh...fuck...ugh....

"Sure," Delaney finally said after a very pregnant pause. She was clearly caught off guard and she wondered for a moment if this is how Kristen had felt since she had been saved by the scary girl.

"I have never had anyone brush my hair..." Her fingers pulled some of her white hair through her fingers and gave Kristen a shy smile back. Delaney also couldn't ever remember a time she truly relaxed so a part of her was a little excited.

Kristen Pirian

 

[Kristen Pirian]

Kristen, funnily enough, was as surprised by Delaney's answer as Delaney was by her question.

"Oh! Wonderful!" She checked her volume then, bringing it back down, lest she be too loud and summon the wrathful attention of the night watch Proctor. She gestured to the chair. "Please, have a seat."

Once Delaney was ready, Kristen would take her place behind her. She collected all of Delaney's long hair and draped it over the back of the chair, smoothing it out first with her hand. Then, gently, she began to brush, slow motions all the way down the length of her hair. The soft scratching sound of the bristles made for quiet ambience in the room.

As she brushed, Kristen innocently brought up the subject: "I do not mean to intrude, it is my presumption that this is a sensitive topic for many, but...do you miss your family, Delaney?"

Delaney Lennox

 

[Delaney Lennox]

As Kristen moved Delaney's hair so it fell over the back of the chair, she smiled. She had never had anyone else even touch her hair before...well...not like this anyways. Kristen was so gentle as she started to brush the long white hair that usually resided in a ponytail or bun. Delaney had found that she had been wearing it down more as of late though.

The Queen of Shadows closed her eyes as she felt fiber of her body relax. This was quite possibly the best feeling that she had ever felt before. She could have easily fallen asleep right here and right now.

And then some of the tension sunk back in with the next words Kristen spoke. Delaney debated what she should share with the girl. She didn't know her well but she had this weird inkling to trust her. The shadows told her to trust her.

"I do not," her words were simple and harsh. She quickly added in a softer tone. "They gave me away after the shadows told me to strangle my baby sister..." Delaney let the words hang thick in the air. She said it so nonchalantly like she was ordering some dinner.

Kristen Pirian

 

[Kristen Pirian]

Kristen's brushing paused momentarily, her arm frozen with a mild shock.

"O-Oh..."

What was there to be said? Other than that such a thing was inconceivably horrid? There were many dangerous, enigmatic, and, in many cases, frankly evil things in the world: demons, the Fae, the corruptions of the Dark Ones. There were many magics and gods best left buried and unspoken of.

For Delaney, it was too late. These "shadows" of hers had gotten a hold of her and convinced her to do something unforgiveable. Why, if those selfsame shadows had tempted Amelia instead...

Kristen swallowed nervously.

Yet, it was not so simple, was it? Those same shadows had, for whatever reason, bid Delaney to help Kristen when she direly needed it. Had it not been for her, Kristen would've been subject to whatever disgusting whims Bull had taken a fancy to. Not just tonight, but whenever the impulse so struck him. Delaney had spared her that when no one else either could or would.

She resumed brushing her hair.

"You'll be graduating soon, won't you?"

Entering into the new paradigm of Vel Anir. The Republic, and most likely service within the Guard, unless there was an allotment open to one of the Seven Houses. The wide open future. Something that, for Kristen, even with her expected-to-be shortened training regimen, was further down the road.

Delaney Lennox

 

[Delaney Lennox]

Delaney forgot sometimes that not everyone was the same as her or Liliana's crew. She instantly felt bad when Kristen stopped brushing her hair but she did not say anything. She just let the words sink in and eventually Kristen started to brush again.

"Mmmm...yes," Delaney answered slowly.

Delaney was half asleep by the time the question had been spoken so her answer was a little slow in return. Once she had come to her senses a little bit, she elaborated.

"I plan to get out of this gods forsaken place as soon as I graduate. I feel like the world needs me more than Vel Anir..." Her voice trailed off.

In all honesty, she did not know what she was going to do but she knew that she was not going to be staying here. Wrecking havoc seemed much more entertaining, after all.

"Tell me about your sister, Kristen. I assume she is older?"

Kristen Pirian

 

[Kristen Pirian]

A small smile broke through Kristen's nervousness over the previous exchange.

"Funny, that. What you are planning is not so different from what Amelia did, not so long after she had come of age herself. She left Vel Anir and traveled the land." She could have elaborated, but then she'd have to fret over telling Delaney the false but official line of where Amelia went, Alliria, or the hushed truth of it revealed in Amelia's letters to her, Elbion.

Best to leave it at that. Traveled the land.

"She's quite a bit older than I. Gosh, she ought to be twenty-eight summers by now! When last she had laid eyes on me, I was but eight years old. I do believe that she will be in for a rather large shock when she sees me now, ha ha! Mayhap I've become her big little sister!"

Kristen giggled some more, caught in a small fit of it at the thought of perhaps being taller than her elder sister now. She kept brushing.

Her tone became delightfully reminiscent with memory. "I do miss her so. Mother would sometimes say that Amelia raised me as much as she herself did. And it is true. As much as we would play, so too would she instruct me on what it was to be a proper Lady."

Another thought struck her, and the giggles briefly returned. "Such a laugh! That in the morning we might come back into our home splattered with mud from some whimsical mischief or another, and by evening be pristine in our dinner dresses, seated at the table, minding our manners and our etiquette, prim and proper."

Steady brushstrokes. Just as Amelia used to do, and Kristen in turn for her.

"I like to think that her kindness is a part of me, a gift, and that I shall never be separated from it, no matter what."

Ghastly tribulations of the Academy notwithstanding, so she hoped.

Delaney Lennox