“Hello sirs,” Serriah bowed her head.
“Sorry to keep you waiting,” Daath said as they entered. They weren’t much taller than I was and I was just as fit as they were, but their presence seemed to take up most of the room when they entered. It didn’t hurt that they quite literally had shadow and light surrounding them. They both eyed me, and while I tried to discern any sort of contempt or anger in their faces, I found nothing. They were as expressionless as usual. I wondered if they knew what I had done earlier with their Queen? I wondered if it mattered.
“Kalian,” Daath nodded at me. “Thank you for keeping our guest company.”
“My pleasure. I’ll excuse myself so you can carry on.” I grabbed the plate I’d made and hardly touched as I headed for the door.
Syrion thanked me on the way out and shut the door behind me. I heard his voice as I left the room. “Where did you get that hideous coffee cup?”
I bit my lip as I reflected on what Serriah had said about the fae realm. It felt wrong to not be there… but would it feel worse to be there and feel helpless?
I began to make my way to the kitchen and rounded the hallway when I saw a mess of bright purple hair before me. “Myrcedes?”
She turned and smiled when she saw me. “Kalian! What are you up to?” She ran up to me and hugged me, and I wrapped my free arm around her.
Relief flooded my body when I saw her happy expression, and I returned her smile, which was more refreshing than I’d expected. So often, when she smiled at me, I found myself forcing annoyance or frustration, trying to keep a lid on anything I might have felt for her. For the first time, I felt free to express the fact that seeing her face brought a smile to mine. Of course, nothing had stood in the way of doing so before besides my own hubris, but the change still felt monumentally relieving despite being so innocent.
“I’m returning dishes to Gloria,” I informed her, holding up my plate as evidence.
“I’m starving!” she replied, “I’ll come with you.”
I nodded and continued walking, quickly engrossed back in my thoughts. It took me a second to realize that Myrcedes was speaking to me.
“… so I just wanted to let you know- Kalian?”
“Hm? Yeah,” I nodded. “I’m sorry, I’m still drained from the work we did earlier, at the bridge. Just… yeah.”
She stopped when we reached the staircase, and I looked back at her. “Coming?”
“Kal,” she tilted her head. I felt the word hit me like a pallet of bricks. Something about the way she said that was so… genuine. So concerned. I couldn’t remember ever being referred to that way in my thousands of years. “Are you really okay? Are you upset about…”
“No!” I said quickly, reaching to take her hand and accidentally knocking the plate. I just barely caught it before it shattered against the steps. She knelt down and picked up the fork I dropped and sat on the top step.
“No,” I reassured her. “I’m not, I’m not upset about that at all.” I placed a hand on her cheek and stroked it gently.
“You seem upset,” she frowned.
I looked down, dropping my hand and sighing. I sat the plate down and knelt on a step a few feet down, rubbing my face. “I’m… I’m not sure what to do right now.”
I left a silence in the air as I tried to gather my thoughts. Finally, she broke it by asking, “What do you mean?”
I rested my head against the stone wall behind me. “I’ve been in the army since I was old enough to join. I’ve been a General for about one hundred thousand years. And all that time, I served the will of one person…” I felt the heat in my face. “That person is gone. My position is gone. My home is…” I rubbed my face and sighed.
I felt her move against the wall next to me and place her hand on my shoulder. “Kal, how long has this been bothering you?”
I swallowed hard and rested against my chin. “Since the day I decided to turn against her. Mostly… since the trial. To have my whole life just…” I bit my lip to keep it from shaking.
Myrcedes’ arm slid around my shoulders, and she leaned against me. The small gesture fixed nothing, but it was the first small form of comfort I’d received in the midst of all of this. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, trying to keep control.
We just sat there for what felt like ages. I didn’t have anything else to say that wouldn't send me over an edge I wanted to stay far away from. Myrcedes probably didn’t know what to say, but I didn’t need her to say anything. It was relief enough to admit to how I’d been feeling and what had been consuming me for weeks and to have someone acknowledge it without judgment.
“Oi!” We heard a voice say after a while and looked down the stairs to see Gloria. “Is that one of my plates?” She gasped with excitement. “Is that my Myrcy girl?”
Myrcedes beamed and patted my shoulder before hopping down the stairs to throw her arms around Gloria. “Oh, I missed you!”
“I missed you too,” the short wraith cooed. “How come you’ve been gone so long? Isn’t Earth saved yet? How bad can it be?”
“I’m working on it,” the Queen laughed. “Kal helped me a lot today.”
“Oh, good boy!” Gloria smiled like she was talking about a dog. From almost anyone else that would have bothered me, but she was too sweet to take offense to. “Now, can you help me by giving me my plate back?”
I blinked before I laughed and handed her the mess of ceramic. “Sorry, Gloria. I
