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Preface/Author's Note:
This roleplay was my absolute favourite of this year. This partner/dear friend, doesn't write any longer, which is a terrible loss for the creative world, but I did enjoy it when it lasted. The replies back and forth were ridiculously long and I would understand if one did not wish to read all of this. But here's the low down on the leading up to.
It's the Beauty and the Beast tale I had wished to weave anew, where Beauty places herself in the Beast's path to end the cursed cycle that has plagued both the land and the Beast. If she cannot break the curse, she will slay the Beast, or die trying. This is on page 67 of the story and she had just made it into Kalerin's cursed realm. I had really tried to push myself with the description of what Ember, the Beauty in this story, and there is my favouritest character of ALL time, Fred the Sunflower, who gets a moment at the end of this reply. It's a doozy, so if you plan to read it, I hope you have cleared a good few minutes. Happy Reading and Happy Holidays, to all that happen to stop by!
Climbing to her feet, she dusted off the back of her gown, her eyes catching briefly the goblin that had been introduced as Ms Pots. Ember noted how she carried herself and wondered just how someone of her stature managed to get around in a castle as large as the one they were venturing towards.
Ember's attention was drawn more towards the odd companions she now found herself in the company of, instead of her surroundings. Sure, the landscape's constant changing baffled her to no end and solidified the thought of being trapped here, but the man in which she had travelled with made her take pause in believing him to be the villain he had seemed to be before granting her something no one else could have.
Watching him as they walked, through lowered lashes as she was still listening to Ms Pots. The manner in which he strode spoke volumes as to the weight he carried. His face, unreadable yet, seemed lost in thought, but his eyes seemed to pierce into her soul when merely glancing in her direction. Summing her up, calculating her worth or when she would run away.
When the Lord of the Keep sleeps…
Ember didn't miss the way she had laid out the warning about going out after dark. Something had happened, be it to a past bride or to herself, there was a story there and Ember could sense it hadn't come to a happy conclusion. After having seen what happened during the daylight with the forest and the thorns that grew out of laughter, she took what Ms Pots had said to heart.
Ember could hear her clear enough through the mask as the goblin rasped on a few other things, dinner, for example, would be held in the dining hall and was required. An odd rule, but one Ember would consider for the time being. The day was still… What time of day was it, anyway?
Expecting to see someone or something behind the door as it opened, she felt she should have expected the something to be… Nothing, stood behind the doors as they widened before them, opening into a room that made Ember's eyes widen and her feet stop, as she looked around, taking in everything in all at once. It was more than she would have imagined with the height of the hall she was just about to walk into.
Ms Pots' statement, short and somewhat sweet, for her to step through the door, brought her attention to the fact that she had yet to cross the threshold. Looking down at the small woman, Ember closed the mouth she hadn't realized was open and gulped as her foot crossed. She had been holding her breath with that step and hoped no one had noticed that the princess who was so brave as to throw her name into a drawing, was terrified of venturing further.
Everything was moving in front of them as the door to the castle closed behind them. Even the characters who lived within the stained glass windows that lined the inner walls of the room seemed to burst into life of their own accord. This place was alive and that unnerved Ember beyond anything she thought possible, at least, for the moment. Chaos in its natural state or something to that effect and her presence seemed to excite or irritate this dwelling.
One word...
One word spoken in such a way that it shook Ember to the core. The walls rattled to a staggering halt, the room remembering who was in charge, it would seem. She looked curiously at Kalerin as the room stilled its movements, taking notice of the muscle that flexed in his jaw that belied the tension that he was emitting, or something similar to tension. It was thick, heavy, and surrounded him like a fog. She wasn't afraid of him, exactly, but there was something about him that made her a little more than uneasy.
Shadows of blue danced around the room, off the surfaces and gave Ember the impression of waves upon waves of the ocean. Having remembered the trips to the coast of the kingdom she was no longer a part of.
Her attention was drawn yet again to Ms Pots as she pulled a small silver object from her pocket, while speaking of when to use them. Taking it in her hand, she marvelled at the intricate designs that were carefully etched upon the metal. The craftsmanship that went into its creation alone was enough to pass for a Master Bellfounder. The vines and blossoms were so expertly drawn and in such a way that it seemed to enhance the sound. Unless it was enchanted, which it appeared that everything had some form of enchantment to it.
"May I ask what it would mean if I were to hear its twin," Ember asked as she gently placed the bell into the pocket inside of her dark blue riding jacket.
There was no reply, but she noticed how the goblin looked towards Kalerin in the silence that passed. Following Ms Pots gaze, she noticed how the Lord of the Keep, as he was called earlier, glanced over his broad shoulder. Ember couldn't put her finger on it, but the bell apparently had more of a story.
"Another time, dear," Ms Pots said, giving her hand a small pat, with sandpaper rough hands that felt aged and that were surprisingly bigger in size than Ember had thought. "I believe he wishes you to follow."
Nodding and unable to help the small, but warm smile to Ms Pots that managed to appear for a moment on her face, she followed the walking mystery into another set of very odd and vivid doors that had once again opened when Kalerin approached.
Amazement shone in her eyes the moment she entered the room. The library back at her palace had been a place of escape when it was deemed improper for her to be in the training yards with Harold and a few others that were tasked with teaching her how to at least defend herself.
Long hours she would spend, curled up in her favourite window seat with its well worn cushion that she often found herself drifting to sleep in. Waking to a hazy silence of a setting sun's magnificent coral-oranges and the fading reds that changed slowly into the brilliant pinks of its dying light, giving way to the lavish lavenders and darker hues of the night's sky as the night chased away the brightness of day. A beautiful symphony of colours would burst through that open window and she had found some strange comfort in that setting sun.
The library she found herself in was just as odd as the entrance hall. Almost as if the rooms were added on at different times, with its less than pristine blues and fancy marble floors and more of a 'used' feel and look with well-tread wood and the tall, dusty warm wooden shelves that seemed to never end. Ember twirled as she walked, her eyes pointed skyward at the tall shelves that housed hundreds upon, goodness only knew how many. More books than one soul could read in a lifetime a hundred times over.
Once righted round, Ember looked on as Kalerin strode towards a long table, her eyes drawn to his hand that moved up towards his waistcoat pocket where he produced a peculiar object. She watched curiously as he placed the object and jumped when he clapped his hands and the book sprang to life.
"Someone ought to feed it more often," she muttered under her breath before Kalerin turned his attention towards her with the book in his hand.
Hoping that he hadn't heard her comment, she heard it before she saw it. The music box her mother had gotten for her before she was yet born.
'Your mother knew you were a princess...'
Ember heard her father's voice whisper through the tune of the box and she wondered if he had heard it too but doubted it as he seemed to only be paying attention to the object itself and unaffected.
'But why would he have been affected?' Ember reflected a moment as the images shifted. He wouldn't have been affected because it wasn't something dear to him. That was her music box, part of her life, that she held dear. Not his. With the image now clearing, she could feel the sting of tears that threatened hearing the tune and then…
Umbra.
The stallion that had been more of a friend to her than most people and more loyal than any mangy dog, especially the ones her father cared so dearly for. Ember had seen him at one of the auctions she was allowed to attend when she was younger and before the thought to enter the Drawing. Umbra had been overly spirited and had kicked one of the grooms, breaking their ribs in the process. Seeing the crop in the groom's hand, Ember sympathized more with the horse than the groom. A swift purchase of the seller's entire lot of three Clydesdales and half an hour later, the man left without the horses, without his license to sell and only a portion of his asking price for the treatment of the animals. Needless to say, the dear princess was not very popular with the local horse community after that.
The sound of his voice, soft and warm, soothing and even… sweet, had drawn Ember's attention away from the friend she already missed dearly. The choice of words, though unthreatening, held truth that he would indeed know her ending. Emerald hued orbs that not only locked onto her eyes but seemed to look straight into her heart and caused her breath to catch in her throat.
She blinked when he looked away, reaching for another book. This one looking less than pristine and overly used and read. The care in which a book should have been taken care of was sorely neglected. Watching as he placed the new addition to the table, her eyes now getting used to the tricks the objects she found herself encompassing,
He moved then towards her and spoke in that same tone that affected her once more. Having forgotten that Ms Potts was present as her thoughts had been very far away indeed. His choice of words had the butterflies that she had struggled to settle down, fluttering.
Why did that choice in wording affect her so?
This was no love match, nor had she any wants or desires beyond ridding the realm of that vile curse that had plagued them for so long.
Why had he used those words?
They did not sound venomous or hurtful but instead something else that Ember could not quite put her finger on, yet, his choice had flustered her somewhat. She was sure he could hear her quickening heartbeat before he stopped a safe distance away. Silently, she thanked whichever deity happened to be listening at that moment because if he happened to step any closer…
His eyes locked onto hers once again and she could feel him as though he were standing but three inches away, not the feet that separated the two of them. She could feel the heat from his skin, roll over her in waves that had left her knees unusually weak. His breath, a soft brush of warmth against the sensitive flesh of her neck that was exposed, caressing her in a way that she had never experienced and she felt the lids of her eyes grow slightly heavy with a new sensation that had washed over her.
He hadn't moved an inch, yet it felt as though he were standing right in front of her as he spoke in that silky tone of his. Tilting her head slightly to the side, letting her heavy lids close for a moment, she listened.
Thump, thump...
Thump, thump...
Thump, thump...
Ember's eyes had returned to his, having forgotten that Ms Pots had followed her into the library, and she was only just aware of her presence at that moment when Kalerin started to move towards her. An enigma moved forward, cutting the distance in smooth, confident strides of one who knew himself and what he was capable of.
'A hunter,' she thought until she felt his fingertips brush her chin and ever so gently pull her head to look at him. She couldn't resist him and she realized that the moment her head moved... Willingly, in the direction he led her.
He was so close she could smell him. A soft, clean scent mixed with a spice she could not quite place, filled her lungs. She held his gaze as he raised her chin just so, letting her eyes lower when his head started to lean in closer.
A delicate sigh escaped her when the brush of his silky, warm lips graced her forehead for the shortest of moments. A disappointment, or something akin to longing tugged at her heart when he pulled away from her. Raising her eyes back to his as he continued speaking his words.
'He thinks of me as... Brave?' Ember was curious now since most had thought her foolish for her deed. There was an underlying meaning she had sensed in his turn of phrase that made the butterflies rally in her belly.
Before she knew it, his large frame that had so close only moments before, enveloping her, was gone, drifting away towards the exit. She felt cold with the distance, having felt a comfort she couldn't describe in his presence. He had left her in Ms Pots care, but she had never felt so utterly alone in all her years.
"Come now, dear," Ms Pots spoke up in a raspy voice that sounded a little off from the previous encounter. "Let's get you squared away so you may rest a while before dinner is served. You've had a very long day, no doubt."
Ember blinked from the trancelike state in which she had found herself in at the raspy words of the goblin that looked at her through the odd mask. Her eyes held sympathy that Ember wasn't expecting to find there.
"Yes, um, thank you," Ember said after a moment, finding her voice. "It has indeed been a very long day."
With a nod, Ms Pots turned on her small heels and headed towards the same exit the Lord of the Keep had just disappeared through. Ember turned to follow when she noticed odd tracks of dirt that looked like tiny footsteps.
"What in the world..." Ember's curiosity getting the better of her, she bent down a tiny bit as she followed along the miniature trail.
"It looks as though Fred has taken a liking to you," Ms Pots said dismissively, waving one of her gnarled hands. "He only moves from the sunshine when something has grasped his curiousness. It seems that you, my dear, have gotten it going enough that he actually came inside."
"Is that so? He is an inquisitive little fellow," Ember chuckled, spotting the sunflower that looked as what he was, but had the actions of a child. "Such a wondrous place this is here."
"Wondrous, yes, but it is not always pretty," Ms Pots stated, seemingly producing a ceramic pot with dirt already inside out of nowhere. Placing the pot in front of Fred, where he struggled with one of the stairs, Ms Pots grunted. "In ya go, Fred. I am sure the new Mistress wouldn't mind some company."
With an expressive nod that said more of, "Well, it's about time you showed up," Fred hopped into the pot and shimmied his roots into the dirt therein. Ember couldn't help the chuckle that escaped, earning her a stern look from the newly potted plant, errm, Fred.
"My apologies, Fred," Ember said with a hint of laughter in her voice. "I have just never seen anything so remarkable as you are. I hope you will forgive the chuckle."
"That's up to you," Ms Pots answered to the flower when he turned his petals to the goblin and then back to Ember. "She did apologize without being told to do so."
Fred seemed to contemplate that for a moment, bringing one of his leaves to the place that would be his chin, tapping just there. Making his mind up finally, he gave a swift nod, seemingly accepting the apology.
"Well, now that that is taken care of, let's get you to your chambers, shall we?"
"Here, I'll carry him so you don't have to, Ms Pots," Ember said as she followed the housekeeper, for that is what she was, up the stairs. "I really don't mind at all. Especially if the reason he came inside is my fault."
Ember had noticed the way the Ms Pots seemed to struggle up the stairs, carrying Fred in his new mobile home he was sitting happily in. The short woman stopped mid-step and turned what Ember suspected was a raised brow in her direction and dark bloodshot eyes sparkled through the holes of the mask she wore, stared back. Fred, being the curious type, placed his leaf on the goblin's arm and leaned his stem over and seemingly stared at the newcomer that had interrupted his daily sunbathing.
"Interesting," Ms Pots mumbled thoughtfully. Turning to Fred she asked, "Will that do for you?"
Fred turned his blossomed head up to the masked woman that held him, then gave Ember a thoughtful look over before glancing back to Ms Pots giving an affirming nod.
"Alright, if that is what you both wish, I don't care either way," she mumbled, handing the ceramic pot over to Ember with a hit of a smile playing on her crooked, cracked lips. "Any dirt that you manage to track, you get to clean up. Understood, Fred?"
Fred, being the amazing Fred himself, looked up at Ember, thumbed a leaf in the goblins' direction and shook his blossom as if to huff, "Can you believe this lady?" After a moment, Fred placed his leaves on the edge of the pot, turned his head back to Ms Pots and gave her a firm nod.
"Hmmph," the housekeeper mumbled once more, turning her attention back to the stairs. "Mind the stairs, as they like to change. Chip will bring you tea to your rooms, or the garden if you choose, although, I would be cautious of it unless you bring someone with you. Fred here," she said, looking over her left shoulder at the content sunflower. "He would be a decent guide for the garden."
Immediately, Fred's blossom perked up at his name. Fred, a 'decent guide'? Being described as only 'decent' seemed to rile the wee lad up. One of his leaves came up to his stem, pointing as if to declare himself, 'The best guide for the garden,' and then firmly nodded as if to say he was finished. For the moment.
"If you expect me to apologize, I wouldn't hold your breath," Ms Pots huffed as she made it up to the clearing and started down a long hallway.
"Stairs that like to change," Ember mused softly behind the goblin, looking behind as she stepped off the last stair at the top. Pausing, she watched as the stairs seemed to stretch out, laying flat at an angle to form a slide rather than stairs in which one could walk down.
"It seems they are behaving today," Ms Pots said, unaffected by the shifting of wood.
Stopping in front of a large door, normal looking enough to Ember's eyes. Nothing out of the ordinary as to the handles or the wooden door itself. Whitewashed with a brass handle that she had remembered from her own bed chambers.
"This is your room," she said, opening the doors and moving to the side so Ember could enter. "I will leave you, and I suppose, Fred, to yourselves while I make sure that dinner is underway. Chip will be up shortly to fetch you for dinner since he apparently already brought you tea."
Ember looked down at the goblin housekeeper and nodded. "Thank you, Ms Pots. I am sure Fred and I will get along quite nicely."
"Just be sure to keep that bell on you at ALL times," she said as she turned away to leave. The tone in her voice made the hairs on the back of Ember's neck stand on end, but before she could say anything in return, the conversation was over and Ms Pots was already on her way down the corridor.
"Well, it looks like it's just you and me," Ember said, looking down at Fred. "Let's get you situated in the window and I shall get us both a drink. Tea for me and a lovely spot of water for you."
Fred seemed to preen in his pot at her words. A drink did sound lovely and he was quite parched after the day he had had. Wiggling just a little more in the pot, Fred seemed to sigh as Ember placed his pot in the window and to his surprise, it was a good spot. Looking up at the woman who had rudely decided to interrupt his day earlier and had sparked enough curiosity for him to venture forth into the castle, he had decided that he made the right choice. It isn't every day a sunflower such as himself walks into a castle where the very floors could open up and devour whosoever happened to be standing there.
'Yes', he decided as he opened his petals towards the sun's warm and glorious rays.
It was good to be Fred.
This roleplay was my absolute favourite of this year. This partner/dear friend, doesn't write any longer, which is a terrible loss for the creative world, but I did enjoy it when it lasted. The replies back and forth were ridiculously long and I would understand if one did not wish to read all of this. But here's the low down on the leading up to.
It's the Beauty and the Beast tale I had wished to weave anew, where Beauty places herself in the Beast's path to end the cursed cycle that has plagued both the land and the Beast. If she cannot break the curse, she will slay the Beast, or die trying. This is on page 67 of the story and she had just made it into Kalerin's cursed realm. I had really tried to push myself with the description of what Ember, the Beauty in this story, and there is my favouritest character of ALL time, Fred the Sunflower, who gets a moment at the end of this reply. It's a doozy, so if you plan to read it, I hope you have cleared a good few minutes. Happy Reading and Happy Holidays, to all that happen to stop by!
Climbing to her feet, she dusted off the back of her gown, her eyes catching briefly the goblin that had been introduced as Ms Pots. Ember noted how she carried herself and wondered just how someone of her stature managed to get around in a castle as large as the one they were venturing towards.
Ember's attention was drawn more towards the odd companions she now found herself in the company of, instead of her surroundings. Sure, the landscape's constant changing baffled her to no end and solidified the thought of being trapped here, but the man in which she had travelled with made her take pause in believing him to be the villain he had seemed to be before granting her something no one else could have.
Watching him as they walked, through lowered lashes as she was still listening to Ms Pots. The manner in which he strode spoke volumes as to the weight he carried. His face, unreadable yet, seemed lost in thought, but his eyes seemed to pierce into her soul when merely glancing in her direction. Summing her up, calculating her worth or when she would run away.
When the Lord of the Keep sleeps…
Ember didn't miss the way she had laid out the warning about going out after dark. Something had happened, be it to a past bride or to herself, there was a story there and Ember could sense it hadn't come to a happy conclusion. After having seen what happened during the daylight with the forest and the thorns that grew out of laughter, she took what Ms Pots had said to heart.
Ember could hear her clear enough through the mask as the goblin rasped on a few other things, dinner, for example, would be held in the dining hall and was required. An odd rule, but one Ember would consider for the time being. The day was still… What time of day was it, anyway?
Expecting to see someone or something behind the door as it opened, she felt she should have expected the something to be… Nothing, stood behind the doors as they widened before them, opening into a room that made Ember's eyes widen and her feet stop, as she looked around, taking in everything in all at once. It was more than she would have imagined with the height of the hall she was just about to walk into.
Ms Pots' statement, short and somewhat sweet, for her to step through the door, brought her attention to the fact that she had yet to cross the threshold. Looking down at the small woman, Ember closed the mouth she hadn't realized was open and gulped as her foot crossed. She had been holding her breath with that step and hoped no one had noticed that the princess who was so brave as to throw her name into a drawing, was terrified of venturing further.
Everything was moving in front of them as the door to the castle closed behind them. Even the characters who lived within the stained glass windows that lined the inner walls of the room seemed to burst into life of their own accord. This place was alive and that unnerved Ember beyond anything she thought possible, at least, for the moment. Chaos in its natural state or something to that effect and her presence seemed to excite or irritate this dwelling.
One word...
One word spoken in such a way that it shook Ember to the core. The walls rattled to a staggering halt, the room remembering who was in charge, it would seem. She looked curiously at Kalerin as the room stilled its movements, taking notice of the muscle that flexed in his jaw that belied the tension that he was emitting, or something similar to tension. It was thick, heavy, and surrounded him like a fog. She wasn't afraid of him, exactly, but there was something about him that made her a little more than uneasy.
Shadows of blue danced around the room, off the surfaces and gave Ember the impression of waves upon waves of the ocean. Having remembered the trips to the coast of the kingdom she was no longer a part of.
Her attention was drawn yet again to Ms Pots as she pulled a small silver object from her pocket, while speaking of when to use them. Taking it in her hand, she marvelled at the intricate designs that were carefully etched upon the metal. The craftsmanship that went into its creation alone was enough to pass for a Master Bellfounder. The vines and blossoms were so expertly drawn and in such a way that it seemed to enhance the sound. Unless it was enchanted, which it appeared that everything had some form of enchantment to it.
"May I ask what it would mean if I were to hear its twin," Ember asked as she gently placed the bell into the pocket inside of her dark blue riding jacket.
There was no reply, but she noticed how the goblin looked towards Kalerin in the silence that passed. Following Ms Pots gaze, she noticed how the Lord of the Keep, as he was called earlier, glanced over his broad shoulder. Ember couldn't put her finger on it, but the bell apparently had more of a story.
"Another time, dear," Ms Pots said, giving her hand a small pat, with sandpaper rough hands that felt aged and that were surprisingly bigger in size than Ember had thought. "I believe he wishes you to follow."
Nodding and unable to help the small, but warm smile to Ms Pots that managed to appear for a moment on her face, she followed the walking mystery into another set of very odd and vivid doors that had once again opened when Kalerin approached.
Amazement shone in her eyes the moment she entered the room. The library back at her palace had been a place of escape when it was deemed improper for her to be in the training yards with Harold and a few others that were tasked with teaching her how to at least defend herself.
Long hours she would spend, curled up in her favourite window seat with its well worn cushion that she often found herself drifting to sleep in. Waking to a hazy silence of a setting sun's magnificent coral-oranges and the fading reds that changed slowly into the brilliant pinks of its dying light, giving way to the lavish lavenders and darker hues of the night's sky as the night chased away the brightness of day. A beautiful symphony of colours would burst through that open window and she had found some strange comfort in that setting sun.
The library she found herself in was just as odd as the entrance hall. Almost as if the rooms were added on at different times, with its less than pristine blues and fancy marble floors and more of a 'used' feel and look with well-tread wood and the tall, dusty warm wooden shelves that seemed to never end. Ember twirled as she walked, her eyes pointed skyward at the tall shelves that housed hundreds upon, goodness only knew how many. More books than one soul could read in a lifetime a hundred times over.
Once righted round, Ember looked on as Kalerin strode towards a long table, her eyes drawn to his hand that moved up towards his waistcoat pocket where he produced a peculiar object. She watched curiously as he placed the object and jumped when he clapped his hands and the book sprang to life.
"Someone ought to feed it more often," she muttered under her breath before Kalerin turned his attention towards her with the book in his hand.
Hoping that he hadn't heard her comment, she heard it before she saw it. The music box her mother had gotten for her before she was yet born.
'Your mother knew you were a princess...'
Ember heard her father's voice whisper through the tune of the box and she wondered if he had heard it too but doubted it as he seemed to only be paying attention to the object itself and unaffected.
'But why would he have been affected?' Ember reflected a moment as the images shifted. He wouldn't have been affected because it wasn't something dear to him. That was her music box, part of her life, that she held dear. Not his. With the image now clearing, she could feel the sting of tears that threatened hearing the tune and then…
Umbra.
The stallion that had been more of a friend to her than most people and more loyal than any mangy dog, especially the ones her father cared so dearly for. Ember had seen him at one of the auctions she was allowed to attend when she was younger and before the thought to enter the Drawing. Umbra had been overly spirited and had kicked one of the grooms, breaking their ribs in the process. Seeing the crop in the groom's hand, Ember sympathized more with the horse than the groom. A swift purchase of the seller's entire lot of three Clydesdales and half an hour later, the man left without the horses, without his license to sell and only a portion of his asking price for the treatment of the animals. Needless to say, the dear princess was not very popular with the local horse community after that.
The sound of his voice, soft and warm, soothing and even… sweet, had drawn Ember's attention away from the friend she already missed dearly. The choice of words, though unthreatening, held truth that he would indeed know her ending. Emerald hued orbs that not only locked onto her eyes but seemed to look straight into her heart and caused her breath to catch in her throat.
She blinked when he looked away, reaching for another book. This one looking less than pristine and overly used and read. The care in which a book should have been taken care of was sorely neglected. Watching as he placed the new addition to the table, her eyes now getting used to the tricks the objects she found herself encompassing,
He moved then towards her and spoke in that same tone that affected her once more. Having forgotten that Ms Potts was present as her thoughts had been very far away indeed. His choice of words had the butterflies that she had struggled to settle down, fluttering.
Why did that choice in wording affect her so?
This was no love match, nor had she any wants or desires beyond ridding the realm of that vile curse that had plagued them for so long.
Why had he used those words?
They did not sound venomous or hurtful but instead something else that Ember could not quite put her finger on, yet, his choice had flustered her somewhat. She was sure he could hear her quickening heartbeat before he stopped a safe distance away. Silently, she thanked whichever deity happened to be listening at that moment because if he happened to step any closer…
His eyes locked onto hers once again and she could feel him as though he were standing but three inches away, not the feet that separated the two of them. She could feel the heat from his skin, roll over her in waves that had left her knees unusually weak. His breath, a soft brush of warmth against the sensitive flesh of her neck that was exposed, caressing her in a way that she had never experienced and she felt the lids of her eyes grow slightly heavy with a new sensation that had washed over her.
He hadn't moved an inch, yet it felt as though he were standing right in front of her as he spoke in that silky tone of his. Tilting her head slightly to the side, letting her heavy lids close for a moment, she listened.
Thump, thump...
Thump, thump...
Thump, thump...
A heartbeat that did not belong to her beat soft and strong in her left ear. She felt him inhale, drinking her in, to the point that she could feel the draw of his breath, savouring her scent in a most tantalizing fashion.Ember's eyes had returned to his, having forgotten that Ms Pots had followed her into the library, and she was only just aware of her presence at that moment when Kalerin started to move towards her. An enigma moved forward, cutting the distance in smooth, confident strides of one who knew himself and what he was capable of.
'A hunter,' she thought until she felt his fingertips brush her chin and ever so gently pull her head to look at him. She couldn't resist him and she realized that the moment her head moved... Willingly, in the direction he led her.
He was so close she could smell him. A soft, clean scent mixed with a spice she could not quite place, filled her lungs. She held his gaze as he raised her chin just so, letting her eyes lower when his head started to lean in closer.
A delicate sigh escaped her when the brush of his silky, warm lips graced her forehead for the shortest of moments. A disappointment, or something akin to longing tugged at her heart when he pulled away from her. Raising her eyes back to his as he continued speaking his words.
'He thinks of me as... Brave?' Ember was curious now since most had thought her foolish for her deed. There was an underlying meaning she had sensed in his turn of phrase that made the butterflies rally in her belly.
Before she knew it, his large frame that had so close only moments before, enveloping her, was gone, drifting away towards the exit. She felt cold with the distance, having felt a comfort she couldn't describe in his presence. He had left her in Ms Pots care, but she had never felt so utterly alone in all her years.
"Come now, dear," Ms Pots spoke up in a raspy voice that sounded a little off from the previous encounter. "Let's get you squared away so you may rest a while before dinner is served. You've had a very long day, no doubt."
Ember blinked from the trancelike state in which she had found herself in at the raspy words of the goblin that looked at her through the odd mask. Her eyes held sympathy that Ember wasn't expecting to find there.
"Yes, um, thank you," Ember said after a moment, finding her voice. "It has indeed been a very long day."
With a nod, Ms Pots turned on her small heels and headed towards the same exit the Lord of the Keep had just disappeared through. Ember turned to follow when she noticed odd tracks of dirt that looked like tiny footsteps.
"What in the world..." Ember's curiosity getting the better of her, she bent down a tiny bit as she followed along the miniature trail.
"It looks as though Fred has taken a liking to you," Ms Pots said dismissively, waving one of her gnarled hands. "He only moves from the sunshine when something has grasped his curiousness. It seems that you, my dear, have gotten it going enough that he actually came inside."
"Is that so? He is an inquisitive little fellow," Ember chuckled, spotting the sunflower that looked as what he was, but had the actions of a child. "Such a wondrous place this is here."
"Wondrous, yes, but it is not always pretty," Ms Pots stated, seemingly producing a ceramic pot with dirt already inside out of nowhere. Placing the pot in front of Fred, where he struggled with one of the stairs, Ms Pots grunted. "In ya go, Fred. I am sure the new Mistress wouldn't mind some company."
With an expressive nod that said more of, "Well, it's about time you showed up," Fred hopped into the pot and shimmied his roots into the dirt therein. Ember couldn't help the chuckle that escaped, earning her a stern look from the newly potted plant, errm, Fred.
"My apologies, Fred," Ember said with a hint of laughter in her voice. "I have just never seen anything so remarkable as you are. I hope you will forgive the chuckle."
"That's up to you," Ms Pots answered to the flower when he turned his petals to the goblin and then back to Ember. "She did apologize without being told to do so."
Fred seemed to contemplate that for a moment, bringing one of his leaves to the place that would be his chin, tapping just there. Making his mind up finally, he gave a swift nod, seemingly accepting the apology.
"Well, now that that is taken care of, let's get you to your chambers, shall we?"
"Here, I'll carry him so you don't have to, Ms Pots," Ember said as she followed the housekeeper, for that is what she was, up the stairs. "I really don't mind at all. Especially if the reason he came inside is my fault."
Ember had noticed the way the Ms Pots seemed to struggle up the stairs, carrying Fred in his new mobile home he was sitting happily in. The short woman stopped mid-step and turned what Ember suspected was a raised brow in her direction and dark bloodshot eyes sparkled through the holes of the mask she wore, stared back. Fred, being the curious type, placed his leaf on the goblin's arm and leaned his stem over and seemingly stared at the newcomer that had interrupted his daily sunbathing.
"Interesting," Ms Pots mumbled thoughtfully. Turning to Fred she asked, "Will that do for you?"
Fred turned his blossomed head up to the masked woman that held him, then gave Ember a thoughtful look over before glancing back to Ms Pots giving an affirming nod.
"Alright, if that is what you both wish, I don't care either way," she mumbled, handing the ceramic pot over to Ember with a hit of a smile playing on her crooked, cracked lips. "Any dirt that you manage to track, you get to clean up. Understood, Fred?"
Fred, being the amazing Fred himself, looked up at Ember, thumbed a leaf in the goblins' direction and shook his blossom as if to huff, "Can you believe this lady?" After a moment, Fred placed his leaves on the edge of the pot, turned his head back to Ms Pots and gave her a firm nod.
"Hmmph," the housekeeper mumbled once more, turning her attention back to the stairs. "Mind the stairs, as they like to change. Chip will bring you tea to your rooms, or the garden if you choose, although, I would be cautious of it unless you bring someone with you. Fred here," she said, looking over her left shoulder at the content sunflower. "He would be a decent guide for the garden."
Immediately, Fred's blossom perked up at his name. Fred, a 'decent guide'? Being described as only 'decent' seemed to rile the wee lad up. One of his leaves came up to his stem, pointing as if to declare himself, 'The best guide for the garden,' and then firmly nodded as if to say he was finished. For the moment.
"If you expect me to apologize, I wouldn't hold your breath," Ms Pots huffed as she made it up to the clearing and started down a long hallway.
"Stairs that like to change," Ember mused softly behind the goblin, looking behind as she stepped off the last stair at the top. Pausing, she watched as the stairs seemed to stretch out, laying flat at an angle to form a slide rather than stairs in which one could walk down.
"It seems they are behaving today," Ms Pots said, unaffected by the shifting of wood.
Stopping in front of a large door, normal looking enough to Ember's eyes. Nothing out of the ordinary as to the handles or the wooden door itself. Whitewashed with a brass handle that she had remembered from her own bed chambers.
"This is your room," she said, opening the doors and moving to the side so Ember could enter. "I will leave you, and I suppose, Fred, to yourselves while I make sure that dinner is underway. Chip will be up shortly to fetch you for dinner since he apparently already brought you tea."
Ember looked down at the goblin housekeeper and nodded. "Thank you, Ms Pots. I am sure Fred and I will get along quite nicely."
"Just be sure to keep that bell on you at ALL times," she said as she turned away to leave. The tone in her voice made the hairs on the back of Ember's neck stand on end, but before she could say anything in return, the conversation was over and Ms Pots was already on her way down the corridor.
"Well, it looks like it's just you and me," Ember said, looking down at Fred. "Let's get you situated in the window and I shall get us both a drink. Tea for me and a lovely spot of water for you."
Fred seemed to preen in his pot at her words. A drink did sound lovely and he was quite parched after the day he had had. Wiggling just a little more in the pot, Fred seemed to sigh as Ember placed his pot in the window and to his surprise, it was a good spot. Looking up at the woman who had rudely decided to interrupt his day earlier and had sparked enough curiosity for him to venture forth into the castle, he had decided that he made the right choice. It isn't every day a sunflower such as himself walks into a castle where the very floors could open up and devour whosoever happened to be standing there.
'Yes', he decided as he opened his petals towards the sun's warm and glorious rays.
It was good to be Fred.