longing

IVY loved watching the forest outside her bedroom window. She could see for miles around (or at least, she thought they were miles), and got to see dozens of birds and squirrels every day. The trees were taller than the tower, so she couldn't see the tops, but the Star-Lily Forest bloomed with so much interesting wildlife Ivy found it hard to look away even still. Besides, the trees weren't that much taller; if she leaned in far enough, she could see the tops of some of the taller trees.

A canvas balanced flat on the windowsill in front of her, and Ivy hovered a pencil above the surface as she squinted outside. Her room was covered with painted landscapes she saw from the window, but today she wanted to draw one of the Star-Lilies themselves, the flowers the forest was named for. They were beautiful, but hard to see from the tower, as they grew along the forest floor. But Ivy was the stubborn sort, according to Mother, and she wanted to draw a flower.

It would be easier to draw a Star-Lily if she was allowed onto the ground, but Ivy couldn't leave the tower. Mother forbade it, and Mother's rules were always obeyed, so in the tower Ivy stayed.

She wanted to leave. She knew what Mother said: that going outside the tower was dangerous, that she would be hurt if she left. But that did not stop Ivy from wanting to leave, from wanting to see the forest up close instead of through a window. She never brought it up to Mother, though. She did not want to make Mother angry. Ivy had never seen Mother angry, and she did not want to find out what that looked like.

There! Growing in a patch of shade closer to the tower, a beautiful little Star-Lily. Ivy could just see it, and she leaned a little further, squinting so hard her eyes hurt, and began to sketch. She couldn't get the view of it she wanted, but the only way to do that was forbidden.

One day, Ivy would leave the tower. Someday.

—

THEODORE only had a tiny window through which to see the world. He could see these things: a patch of sky, the branches of one oak tree, and half-dead grass clinging to life at the edge of the ground-level window in his cell. Only that little bit of the nature he spent his entire life learning about and exploring.

It was depressing.

He spent most of the day looking out that window, trying not to look as desperately longing as he felt. He did not think it worked, but he tried nonetheless. Theodore spent as much of his day as he could trying to get that pleasure of nature he used to surround himself with.

Theodore closed his eyes, resting his forehead against the stone wall beside him. Despite the season—summer, by his count—the stone was cold, very much so. It reminded him, no matter how hard he tried to pretend otherwise, that he was locked up. Put away. A prisoner.

He had expected to be dead by now. He knew, as soon as Aima married the King, that they both would be put to death if their affair—their love—became known. When it did, Theodore expected to die. But ten years later, here he still was, tucked away within the dungeon. He wondered, sometimes, if the King had forgotten him.

He knew he probably wasn't that lucky, though.

He knew enough about the King, from reputation and conversations with Aima, to know that King Dusk was a jealous, revenge-seeking sort of man. The King had killed many men for simply daring to disagree with his policies in public, and Theodore expected that malice to extend to himself. The fact that he wasn't dead yet worried him ever the more.

He gently slammed his head against the wall, then opened his eyes. The real world was out there somewhere. And hopefully, Aima and Ivy were too.

—

681 words.

Finally finished another chapter! Be proud of me, guys! Most of the chapters in this book are probably going to be short like this, so let me know what you think of it!