Private Tales The Death of Innocence

[Houri]

In her innocence and inexperience Houri didn't catch the slight hitch in his voice or the way his smile faltered for a second. She was too fixated on the great news he had shared with her. A Republic! A changed Academy! Perhaps she wouldn't have to go back and they would leave her be. Or maybe... maybe if it was different they would let her come back. To the real Academy and not their castle of embarrassments. For the first time in forever it felt like she had options.

"How can I not focus on home Ollie?" Houri laughed and sighed all in one. "But for you, I will try. This fun best be exciting though," she waggled a finger under his nose and grinned. "Oh I don't know... those Gala's were fun when you were there. Do you remember when we tied your brothers boot laces to my brothers laces?" her nose crinkled with her broad smile.

 

[Olvir]

Olvir only smiled, not really having a complete answer for Houri in that moment.

He wished that he had something better to say, some truth that would mark and overwrite everything that she had gone through. Yet he knew that pain, didn't understand it...couldn't really, but he could at least sympathize.

So that was what he tried. Gave his best attempt to soothe and spare her the pain he knew would come soon enough. "I do."

Ollie said with a wide smile.

"I also remember replacing your sisters make-up with Beetle guts." He smirked at her. "You were particularly proud of that one if I recall.'

 

[Houri]

Houri couldn't contain the laughter that bubbled out of her at the memory. Outside the rainy, cloudy skies suddenly dissolved and bright sunlight began to stream through the inns windows to flood the room with light.

"That was brilliant - did I ever tell you she ended up sneaking it into our mothers room when she found out?" her eyes sparkled with mischief. "I've never seen mother so angry," but Jiya had taken the fall not Houri and the two had laughed over it in her bed until the early mornings over honeycakes. Why had she not thought of the memory in so long when it was so sweet.

At that moment the innkeeper and her assistant swept over with heaps of food, most of which landed directly in front of Houri whose stomach growled in anticipation.

 

[Olvir]

Ollie smiled. "You never did."

Those memories seemed so distant, so long ago that he was surprised she could even remember them. Even to him they were a fog, as though from another lifetime ago. "She must have been fuming."

The Noble said with a shake of his head.

He had never once in his life dared to do anything like that to his father. Sebastian would have seen him thrown into the smallest box on the smallest Weiroon property. His father had barely tolerated his presence, much less any sort of pranks.

It had been the same for his brothers.

"Start slow." He told Houri as he saw the ravenous look flicker over her eyes, a small smile touching his face.

 

[Houri]

Houri already had an over-full fork loaded with meat, potatoes and vegetables and it was almost to her lips when Ollie gently reprimanded her. A sudden blush seared across both cheeks and with a guilty expression she halved what was on her fork before taking a bite.

The groan from her lips was one of utter ecstasy and definitely not appropriate for a young lady at a dinner table.

"I don't remember food tasting this good!" she declared as she tore into the plates. If anyone had seen her then they wouldn't have thought she had eaten bread and soup before travelling here. The innkeeper who had stayed, hovering, to make sure all was well raised both brows in astonishment at just how much - and how fast - the slight girl was putting away. "It was just gruel at the Academy, and the Castle was even worse," she explained as she pushed away one clean plate and started on the next.

 

[Olvir]

Ollie gave his old friend a soft, sad smile.

He couldn't even begin to imagine what that place had put her through. Never once in his life had he suffered without his privilege. His father had specifically pulled strings to keep him away from the Anirian Guards. Even on his travels he had always eaten well.

Never once had he been denied what he wanted, never once had he been tossed in a cell, treated like a dog.

Watching Houri, catching only even the briefest glimpse of what had happened to her...it made Ollie feel sick.

He couldn't help but wonder if her family had known. If they had been told and simply accepted her fate. The thought made him want to vomit, and suddenly the food on his fork tasted as bitter as ash. "I can imagine."

Ollie lied.

"Just don't choke." He joked quietly, forcing down some of his own meal so Houri didn't feel self conscious.

 

[Houri]

Houri was barely paying attention to what Ollie was or wasn't doing with his own plate. At least that was until she was mopping up the thick gravy with a wedge of still warm bread. She also cast an eye at the two soldiers, one of whom very subtly edged his plate further away and put his elbow in the way. Her eyes creased with a small smile as the movement brought back a memory of her older brother doing something similar. Ash never liked to share his food.

When the glanced back at Ollie she caught the way he moved food about his plate and the tightness about his eyes.

You're making him sad, Tiri whispered darkly in her mind and her smile faltered a little.

"I'm sorry, I'm not..." used to talking to people, she finished to herself. "I'm a bit rusty with noble conversation," she begun to scratch at a little chip in the wooden table with one torn fingernail. "How's... business?"

 

[Olvir]

Ollie let out a chortled laugh, not quite expecting the words that slipped from Houri's mouth. "Business is..."

How was business?

Aisling now controlled House Weiroon, the Republic had taken nearly forty percent of their wealth, but...but things were good all told. They were still rich, their trading operations had only increased even despite the turmoil.

It was...it really was good, but still odd. "Good."

He told her.

"Though I still don't really have much to do with that." Ollie said with a smile. "I mostly just go where my father or Aisling want me nowadays."

Olvir continued. "My brothers haven't been...cooperative."

 

[Houri]

Houri stretched the memory muscles and cast herself back to the few scant memories she had of Olvirs older brothers. What she could remember was very little and what she did remember was hardly helpful. They'd always been rude like her eldest brother and hadn't wanted to play four squares with her or Ollie.

"Aren't... I mean... Shouldn't they be the ones taking over?" Running things as he put it. She knew Ashur would be the one to take over from her father when he passed and if something had happened to either of them Diomedes would be next to inherit. Their father wouldn't even look at Jiya let alone Houri she was sure of it unless something horrific happened.

How had Ollie and Aisling found themselves leading?

 

[Olvir]

He frowned for a moment. "Yes..."

Ollie said with a small smile.

"But...but things have changed a bit since you've been..." For a moment he bit his tongue, not entirely sure what to say. "Gone."

It seemed the most tactful way of putting it. "There's a new Government now, a Republic. The people voted for who they wanted to rule and..."

He looked to the two soldiers who were remaining distinctly silent at the moment, clearly not wanting to be dragged into the conversation.

"It's changed a lot of how things work back home." More than most would have liked.

 

[Houri]

Houri's head slowly listed to one side as she listened to Ollie explain it in such a way that only brought up more questions.

He's hiding something.

He can't be trusted.

Something's wrong.

The voices churned their own conspiracy as every pause or change of tact. She violently pushed them to one side and fought her hardest to listen to Ollie. Her friend. Ollie. He wouldn't lie to her.

"And... your brothers don't like these... changes?" she asked slowly.

 

[Olvir]

Ollie shook his head. "No, a lot of people don't."

He had to remind himself that Houri had been gone for so long that she didn't even know how things actually worked.

Most of her time at the Academy likely hadn't been focused on Politics, and the bits that were had likely been...changed slightly. Houri probably didn't even know that the Houses had once controlled...pretty much everything.

House Luana in particular.

"A lot of people don't like changes like this." He said with a frown. "Big changes bring a lot of problems."

It was an honest answer. "And a lot of...chaos."

 

[Houri]

Houri's brows tugged down into a slight frown and she reached over her shoulder to grab a small fistful of black matted hair which she then begun to comb as she thought. Playing with her hair in such a manner had been an anxious habit of hers from childhood and it seemed even the Academy hadn't managed to beat it out of her before sending her here.

"Is it really that big of a change?" She asked innocently, her mind unable to comprehend anything but what had been before. "I mean... you're still a noble and doing things. You said my dad was too. I can't imagine the Virak's have disappeared either," she scrunched up her nose. Elise hadn't wanted to play either.

 

[Olvir]

"I mean..." Ollie smiled, a genuine smile, entirely because Houri's words were something that had flickered through his mind more than once.

"No." He answered honestly. "Not as far as I can tell. We're not...we don't have the same power."

That was a fact, even Ollie could recognize that. The Houses had been deposed, their strength a fraction of what it had once been. "But we're still rich. We still have land. We still trade and do everything else we want."

Generally speaking anyway.

"Some people...some people just have a more difficult time accepting that." He said with a frown.

 

[Houri]

Houri looked utterly lost and confused.

"I don't underst--" She didn't get to finish her sentence for the innkeeper and her helpers suddenly appeared at their sides to clear away empty plates. There were more than a few shared looks at Houri's polished and empty plates but nothing was whispered or spoken out loud and Houri was too busy still frowning at Ollie with her nose all scrunched up like a small mouse.

When the women disappeared Houri continued.

"I don't understand, Ollie. If you're still rich why are your brothers upset? They only ever wanted to kiss girls and buy expensive horses," she made a disgusted face at the very thought of kissing.

 

[Olvir]

This time Olvir laughed out loud.

He couldn't even remember a time his brothers had been like that. In his mind they had always been the angry...bitter men they were now. People obsessed with their own greatness, with the power of House Weiroon. That was who they were to him.

The fact that Houri still remembered them as...as that was more than he could bear.

He chuckled, shaking his head. "No..."

Ollie said with a smile.

"No they're..." His smile faded slightly. "They grew up a bit, Houri."

The amusement faded even more. "After you left it wasn't about girls...it was more about..."

He took a breath. "More about who we were. Our place in the world. What power we had."

Slowly his head shook. "More serious."

 

[Houri]

They grew up quite a bit, Houri.

The young girls cheeks flamed red and she awkwardly lowered her eyes.

"Of course they did," she mumbled. Everyone had grown up. She had been seven when she had been given to the academy and she had been there for nearly six years before the accident, and how much time had passed since then? She supposed her brothers had done something similar. Jiya too. Would she recognise any of them?

They certainly won't recognise you, Ahdvi sneered and Houri's grip tightened on her hair.

"You... You don't seem that different," she said quietly and raised her eyes to search his face.

 

[Olvir]

Ollie smiled. The same smile that he'd had all his life. An expression that spoke of no concerns of worries. The kind only someone like him could wear. "No, no I guess I'm not."

Probably because for him, things had only changed for the better.

Vel Anir was different, the government was different, even the people were different. But Olvir Weiroon? Well, he was still the same boy he'd always been. A little more important, a little more looked after, but other than that?

The same.

"But that's not so bad." He said. "Is it?"

 

[Houri]

Houri's eyes softened, some of the fear and nervousness that had made her so tense melting away.

"No it's... it's a relief," she gave him a wobbly smile then looked down at the table in front of her. Slowly she begun to trail her fingers over the splits in the grain. "I just... I never considered people I knew would change. I knew I would in the Academy, father warned me of that, but I thought they would be the same and that was a... a comfort. But if things have changed like you said it just makes me wonder..."

Houri sighed and looked up at him as storm clouds seemed to roll across her eyes.

"What if they don't want me anymore? My family? The Academy?"

 

[Olvir]

Ollie's expression flickered for a moment.

He wasn't entirely sure how to take what she said, how to break the news to her. Part of that still eluded him, it still seemed...still seemed like something he shouldn't do. Lips thinned for a brief moment, and then gently he reached out.

Hesitation flickered over his gaze as he saw her eyes, but then gently his hand settled over hers. "Your family will want you back."

Luana had lost so many...they had to welcome Houri with open arms.

Ollie couldn't imagine anything else.

"The Academy..." He shook his head. "Fuck them. Forget about them, Houri. You're never going back there."

Not after they had tossed her into that place.

 

[Houri]

Houri blinked at the venom in his tone. Ollie she associated with laughter and pranks, not anger. She didn't think she had ever seen him cross.

"But... it's where I belong," she said bluntly and blinked at him as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. For the broken girl it was. She was a Dreadlord. She had magic. The Academy was where the magical children of Vel Anir went to fulfil their duty to the state. Her brows slowly drew down into a confused frown.

"I have to complete my training. To serve Vel Anir."

 

[Olvir]

A slow breath drew into his lungs.

How in the fuck did he explain something like this? How did he go about...how...lips thinned as he shook his head in denial. "No."

He told Houri.

"Not anymore Houri." There was...there wasn't any precedent for anything like this. Not in the law, not in the old day, not in the Republic. They would have to forge their own path, and Ollie would be at the head of it. "You did your time."

The Noble assured her. "We're gonna get you back to your family first, alright?"

 

[Houri]

Panic began to rise within her like the tide.

"I need to go back," she croaked, her fingers tightening on the edge of the table with such a grip her fingers begun to pale. If they didn't send her back, if they didn't let her graduate then what was she? What did she do? Leaving the Castle and her cell was one thing as she had hoped she could return to studying and real work, to prove she wasn't as broken as they thought. But having nothing?

Her breaths grew a little ragged.

"Ollie, I need to go back. Please. It's my... it's my home. Nobody else can... Nobody else can help me control it."

 

[Olvir]

Ollie frowned. A flicker of panic rising through his chest almost immediately as he saw the horror draw over Houri's features. His fingers scrunched slightly, catching her palm and trying to calm the ragged breaths drawing into her lungs.

"No, No, Houri." He has absolutely no idea what the fuck he was talking about.

The only thing he knew about Magic was having to deal with his sword, and even that was half a mystery to him. "It's alright."

He told her.

"It's okay." Ollie said softly. "I'll...We'll make sure you're alright."

His words were quick, rushed. "We'll figure it out, okay?"

Ollie said. "I promise. You'll be okay."

 

[Houri]

He's not going to let you go back, whispered the voices.

This will consume you, we will consume you until there's nothing left of...

Houri clutched Ollie's hand with the strength of a drowning man and forced herself to listen - to believe - his words. They would figure it out. She would go back to the Academy and learn how to control... how to control her fractured magic.

"Pinky promise?" she whispered. It had been their sacred promise as children and those memories - that life - was all Houri had left.