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Chapter 6 - White Expressions

Nereyda

I made no secret night trips thereafter, putting Braeden completely out of my mind. Well, I tried very hard to but occasionally I would still find myself daydreaming of blue eyes and sooty black hair. A few nights after my last meeting with him I had found myself dreaming rather embarrassing things about his lips, things I would never admit to anyone.

I had not seen Lord Oscar since our first meeting and I found myself worrying about whether my father had acted on what he had seen occurring between the two of us in the mountain garden the other day. I was slightly concerned for Oscar, from what I had seen of him so far he was a very good man and I did not want his life opportunities to be slashed by my father.

My father had a way of getting exactly what he wanted, every single time he wanted anything. He wanted the crown, he went out and got the crown. He wanted a wife, he found himself a wife. He wanted silence, the whole city went silent for him.

I was in awe of his power but at the same time was very fearful of him. I saw my father about once a week and spoke to him directly about once every six months. I did not know him very well at all, although I knew my mother far better. Like Oscar, Fleta had come from a neighbouring city, and was not originally from Paladu.

Most of the old citizens of Paladu had been wolves but after the Quakes and after my father had taken control of the city, all of them died out. I had never met a wolf before but I had heard that they were a volatile and dangerous species, the world was better off without them.

My life returned to normal after my last meeting with Braeden and I went back to spending most of my time reading and painting. I wrote long sections in my journal about my thrilling escapes and meetings with Braeden, often reflecting on how he'd behaved or what he'd said.

In the evening of a particularly boring day, I stopped Amberly just as she was leaving my room for the night.

"Yes your highness?" She asked with a curtsy, always as polite as ever.

"I was just..." I trailed off, thinking about how I could phrase my question without it sounding very controversial. "I was wondering what you thought of he city."

She took a step back into my room, closing the door slightly behind her. She obviously understood that I wanted more than a one word answer.

"Well your highness, the city is very beautiful." She kept her gaze downcast, expressing her discomfort without actually having an expression on her face.

"I mean the people Amberly." My statement was sharper than I had intended, an outcome of my worry at her discomfort. "How are the people in the city?" I asked, now with a much softer tone.

"I am not sure what you mean your highness." She shifted her weight and a tendril of mousey brown hair fell from her slicked back bun.

"Just answer the question." I found myself speaking more fiercely, my eyesight sharpening as I did so. Over the past week I had had to concentrate a lot more to keep my emotions under control. Everytime my discipline slipped slightly it was accompanied by a throbbing headache. I felt the start of one now causing my jaw to clench slightly.

Amberly's eyes followed the movement. I forced myself to relax. All of this was totally Braeden's fault, my involvement with him had been a big mistake.

"The citizens are..." She trailed off, obviously thinking of how to phrase her statement without offending me. "They are poor your highness." She curtseyed again as she said this and I found myself pitying her. She was obviously scared of me and I was not making matters any better by shouting at her.

"I'm sorry Amberly," I sighed, not fighting the frown that made it's way onto my face. Amberly blinked at me in shock. "I just did not like what I saw that day when I visited, everyone looked so miserable. Is there anything I can do to help them?"

She stepped forward at my words, seemingly relieved at my response. "Oh they are miserable your highness, they have nothing and work has been so hard to come by since the Quakes. I thank the heavens every day that I have the job that I do." As she spoke her voice had become more animated, her hands coming up in front of her to gesture as she spoke.

She noticed me watching her hands and she lowered them hurriedly, a crimson flush rising in her cheeks.

"I don't mind Amberly." She met my gaze again. "We are in my chambers and I do not mind your expression. I know how difficult it can be to keep one's passion to themselves."

The corners of her lips lifted now, her eyes lightening dramatically. "Thank you your highness. You are such a good person." She flushed again but it was a happy one this time.

"Oh no, not really." I waved away her compliments, embarrassed. "So what do you think should be done for the city? I don't see how I can help them." My every move was restricted by the palace and my family, I did not see myself playing heroine any time soon.

"You can your highness, they just need to know that you are there for them." Her hands flapped erratically in front of her causing my lips to pull with a smile.

"So a simple visit will suffice?" I frowned. How could I let the city know that I was 'there for them' when in actual fact I really had no way of supporting them anyway.

"Perhaps a few, regular visits y'highness. You could give out some provisions to help them on their way. Maybe take some sweets for the younguns." Amberly smiled at me as she spoke.

Now that she had outlined what she had in mind, it sounded like a pretty good idea. I could see the citizens growing to respect the crown more if they knew that my family had their best interests at heart. The only thing that was preventing me from making my final decision was the thought of my father. King Ryker would not be all too impressed to find his daughter roaming the streets all hours of the day. Perhaps if I kept my city visits minimal and on the royal 'rest' days he would be less likely to notice my absence from the castle.

I had been silent for a few moments as I considered Amberly's proposal and she was still looking at me expectantly. "I think that sounds like an adequate plan. I will take my first visit tomorrow." Tomorrow was Stymie, one of the royal holidays and I knew my father would be doing absolutely nothing.

Amberly's face split into a grin and I could not help but smile back at her, beautiful as she was when she smiled. "I will spread the word around the city right away," she curtseyed happily, "Of course I will make sure it stays quiet hush hush." Her eyes sparkled with delight and I half expected her to break into a dance of joy.

I nodded in acknowledgement of her enthusiasm and she bobbed into a curtsey once more before practically bounding out of the door.

I fell back against my pillows, a warm feeling spreading through my chest. I was incredibly hopeful for the coming day, I wanted to change the image of the crown that the civilians seemed to hold so disgusting. I had felt off about what I had seen in the city ever since my first visit there and only now had I begun to feel some relief from the heavy feeling of guilt. Tomorrow I would help people.

+++++

Amberly and another maid woke me early the next day so as to prepare me for the visit to the city. The palace was silent as usual but in my chambers it was a bustle of activity, maids running to and fro collecting the objects I requested. I wanted to give the children sweets like Amberly had suggested but late last night I had outlined a list of goods for me to take into town with me. Along with many flowers, food, clothes and jewelry, I also took a large sack of Paladian glass with me. With any luck I would be able to find some volunteers to save my money as trust of sorts. Then when any civilians were in trouble the volunteers could purchase food and clothes for them.

That was the idea at least. It would require some very trustworthy volunteers and I wasn't sure that I would find those people today but I had the money just incase.

I dressed in one of my nicer dresses but Amberly adamantly discouraged me wearing the wolf fur shawl that I otherwise would have donned.

"Paladu was a wolf city your highness," she explained. "Many still mourn the extinction of wolves." She looked a little sad herself as she spoke and I had to question whether she herself had know wolves. It was a question for another time however because I wanted to leave before noon.

Because it was Stymie, there was no breakfast, lunch or dinner hosted in the castle. This meant that I was free to spend the day however I wished without having to worry about being back to the castle in time for a certain social custom. Stymie was every half, full and new moon so it was a pretty regular occurrence. I had never had much reason to think of it before, it was just part of my life. Every Stymie I did not have any obligations and counting Stymie was how I kept track of time. There were fifty Stymie's per annum.

Instead of my usual wolf shawl, my maids draped a hooded white cape around me instead. I had never seen the silk article before and I was mildly intrigued by the small 'X' that had been embroidered on the front of the left lapel.

The piece of clothing was almost the same as my favourite white cloak, the one that I wore on my midnight adventures. However, the cross on the front of it was the main thing that characterised it as different.

I descended the hundreds of stairs down the front of the castle enjoying the view of the city as I did. A guard hefted my weighty bag behind me, descending the stairs close on my heels. The clean cold air spoke of winter's coming arrival and I knew that the whole city would soon be covered in a thick layer of snow. It was picturesque when the snow came, for the whiteness of the city was only emphasised by the purity of the snow. I knew my father loved it.

Keeping perfect posture and making minimal sound whilst descending hundreds of steps was rather taxing and I wished that I could have just hopped on to the goods cart like when I sneaked out instead of pattering down these stupid steps.

The stairs were actually rather dangerous, although they look rather grand to the untrained eye, and had been built a long time ago, back when the castle had been a shrine to the moon goddess. When my father had taken power he had rather fancied the white temple for himself so had converted it into a palace.

The stairs were inconvenient for anyone coming and or going from the castle however I knew that it didn't really matter since my father never left the palace and we hardly ever had any guests. The towering staircase served as another factor that isolated my family from the world. Perhaps my father had chosen it for that reason, it was no secret that he detested company.

It was nearly an hour later when I reached the bottom of the staircase, my measured steps were certainly not the fastest way of travelling down those stairs.

Simon met me at the bottom, he had obviously taken the staff's chute down. If I had been thinking that the grand staircase was dangerous then the staff's chute was lethal. It consisted of a rope ladder to get up and a slide of sorts to go down. I knew for a fact that most of the staff favoured the goods lift when coming and going from the castle. Unfortunately the guards had to come up and down more often than most so they would still use the staff chute occasionally. We had lost more than one that way.

Simon smirked lazily when I reached him and I supposed that Amberly must have told him of my forgiving nature. He opened the carriage door dutifully, still smirking as he did so. I didn't really know what was so amusing but when he wrapped his arms around my waist to lift me into the carriage, I found myself uncomfortable looking at the expression on his face. It was so intense and seemed very personal and intimate, perhaps that was why my father preferred an expressionless city. He did prefer to be alone so perhaps it was easier for him if when he was with other people they were as blank as possible.

Simon's hands were strong and warm on my waist and I stared into his charcoal eyes as he lifted me into my seat. His smirk was gone now, replaced by a slight crinkle in his forehead. I wasn't sure why he found it so easy to express his emotions around me, after all he had served as my emotionless escort for nearly two years now. Perhaps I gave off an accepting vibe. Amberly had told me I was nice earlier, so perhaps it had something to do with that.

The journey was longer by carriage than it was when I ran it myself and the slow passing of trees made me itch to jump out of the cart and make my own way into the city.

"Are you alright back there your highness?" Simon called back to me over the wind, smiling as he did.

I attempted to return his smile hesitantly, nodding shyly in agreement with his words. His expression lightened further at my demeanor causing my own heart to lift. Maybe it would be this way with all the staff now and I would be able to express myself freely.

We arrived in town, Simon parking the carriage in a city alley. The roads were clean and paved but it was obvious from looking at them that they were hardly used by vehicles. Everything was within walking distance in the city, although the same could not be said for the more rural sides of Paladu. Although Paladu was officially a city, it was actually more of a province. The city was the main attraction of course and it was where everything happened but I had been told that further out there were green fields for farming and houses that were not white. I didn't know how my father allowed that but I guessed that for him it was more about whether the rebellious things disturbed him or not. If he never came into contact with them then I didn't think he would care much at all.

I paced hesitantly along the streets of the city, praying in vain that this public appearance was not like my first. I hadn't been out of the city during the day since the first day that I had met Braeden and I was worried about the reaction of the citizens. I hoped to appease them with peace offerings but it was still possible that events could turn violent. Simon had tried to persuade me to bring more guards into town with me but I had refused. I thought that the citizens would see lots of guards as a threat but if it was only one then they were more likely to accept that I came in peace.

The citizens had scattered as we had rode through the centre of the city despite us having purposely taken a less conspicuous carriage. We made our way slowly towards the grand city hall building that loomed behind the ostentatious statues of leopards and the like. A few citizens had started to show their faces now, peeking curiously at us to see what we were doing in town. Just as we were about to round the corner onto the promenade, a hand grabbed my wrist.

I gasped in shock, expression flooding my face but I was not too worried for I knew that Simon was right on my heel.

"Rey," the hushed whisper came from the person holding me in their grip.

My eyes darted from the large, masculine hand wrapped around my wrist up to the face to which the hand belonged.

Braeden stood in the shadows of the road, searching my face intently. There were a couple of thuds next to me and in the next instant, a golden leopard pushed its way between Braeden and I. Simon growled menacingly up at Braeden to which his own lip curled. My breath came faster at the escalation of events. 

--- A/N --- 

There you go! I know not much happened but I promise it will get more exciting soon. Again, this is unedited so sorry if there are a ton of errors. What do you all think of the relationship between Nereyda and Braeden? Any ships yet? Let me know in the comments! Love you all and thank you for reading! - Zoe :)