Her return home didn't quite match the vision, she had in her mind, of riding upon the saddle of an armored hawkstrider. Instead, she was splayed out along the back of a traveling mercenary's wagon and staring skyward with a dazed look in her eyes.
At the helm of its wooden frame, he sat there with his head ducked down in the crevice of his shoulders. From behind, it gave his shadow a bit more of a menacing and unhappy look. But who could really blame him given the excessive beating of wings, loud and egregious cawing, and a large pecker seeking to scoop the matter from his eyes or ears every time it circled him.
"Incessant creature. Stay back now, honestly!" His frustration made that rigid look project in the spitting image of her father and she brought her arm up and swung downward with force. Her hand made contact in a loud smacking sound as his shoulders twitched from the shock and his head whirled around to see the Lady B'andtherion in a more disheveled state. Her hair that had been held back in a loose tail now had lost any sense of collective restraint as it bared down against her shoulders like a screaming banshee.
"You'reeeeee funny when you get mad. It reminds me of my dad. He can get really fired up and look like an ogre who had its toy taken. Sometimes I can see him like a kid more than a father. It's sad that I'm like the mom some days. Can't remember a time that I got to be like a kid. I mean I was at this party talking about not going to parties and having fun at home in sweatpants. I mean are they wrong?"
The armored mercenary shifted with a hurried shove of the reins from his hand and then swung one of his legs over the side of the wooden footing. He strode around the wagon with such speed, I had forgotten we had stopped. A blink and I'm staring at the sky instead of at him. My legs were pulled on and ... oh.
Feet now settled on the ground, the mercenary is under my arm and I laughed. More profuse squawking is made overhead of us as the bird I was gifted from Greatfather Winterveil insists on keeping its eye on me and seems to respond well when I call him Fruit Loops.
"Fruittttt Looopssssssssss!"
"Lady B'andtherion, would you please cease with this caterwauling wailing. People are trying to sleep, and I only agreed to bring you back to the estate. You insisted you would pay me a hefty sum, and I certainly hope you meant significant."
Kelz swayed with every step they took. Her arm was held firmly to his side as her head leaned into his shoulder as she began to mumble.
"It mwill be. Just mwask Haldir."
There was a glistening sheen of Kelz's indulgence dangling from the corner of her partially ajar mouth. There was no modesty expensed for this knight in shining armor.
"By the Eternal Sun, woman. You are more animal than lady, that I can assure you!"
"ANYONE PLEASE?! HELP ME WITH THIS!"
At the gates that led into the estate, two elite guards shifted from their station and made their approach towards the pair. Night had long since settled over the landscape. The few magically attuned light posts illuminated the grounds in small patterns of circles. So, the light really only exposed the feet on their pass.
"Mm... Guards, pay the man his dues. Let me walk into the manor unaccompanied. I have a task I must accomplish in this state. Failure to do so will be reported to the Patriarch. Your heiress has spoken!"
Whether or not the guards reciprocated her command was not yet made known. At least not until one guard turned to the mercenary to offer him compensation for his trouble. Errant flapping overhead caused her head to peer up as the small shadow of her new pet grew in size before settling on her plated shoulder.
"Caw-Ca-" The noise was quickly subdued as her left hand rose up to pinch the toucan's beak shut.
"Shh... We need to enter the manor quietly. No nonsense noise."
After speaking to her bird like another understanding individual, she realized her error in her way of thinking and burst into a fit of giggles.
"You don't know what I just said, do you, Fruit Loops? I was suggesting that you had a brain enough to understand me in there. Oh how dumb I have become."
With her sole free hand, she limply reached for the door. But a guard that was on post beside it would assist her in the endeavor, perplexed whether or not to remain posted or follow the heiress into the main foyer.
"I got it," Kelz said as if reading their thoughts and body language. "This bird is in my capable care. And no one must attack it or attempt to detain it. It is now an honorary B'andtherion pet and you will be fired if you do! So you better listen!"
A short laugh leaves her as she stumbles into one of the many corridors that lined their house. Her body was exposed to the wall mounted magical sconces as she hobbled onward in the direction of the wing where her room resided.
"So Fruit Loops, you have to be good while you are here. That means only pooping on staff when they are bugging me when I try to sleep or circling my father's head while he's angry and squawking. We're a team now and I so can't wait to see how you fit in."
"My lady?" A servant had emerged from their room and sought to appease her every need. "Would you like me to escort you to your room?" Her tone was so mousey, almost as if she worried if squeaking any louder would dock her pay. Her eyes narrow as she stares at the servant before becoming resolute in her posture.
"Very well. But we are making a detour to my father's study first. You will not speak a word about it. Do not tell the Patriarch that this was my doing, but rather that of Greatfather Winterveil. And that he has to abide by holiday spirit to let my pet stay. That's the rules and he promised to be nice. I should have asked Greatfather Winterveil if my father was on the nice list. But he's probably on the naughty list for firing that guardsmen Selithar Duskblade. And clobbering Allasticus. And breaking that table... And... being mean to Lady Naralinthe Emberdawn."
Her focus lessened a bit as the blurs in her vision made the lights blend together as they walked. She didn't even hear the servant answer her command. And was perplexed by the sudden silence of her assistant.
"Well don't be quiet now. I'm getting the chills like there's a ghost abound. Please."
It was a near plea, and the servant - was only happy to acquiesce as she nodded vehemently. "Right, my Lady. What is it you want to discuss or talk about?"
"I don't know... Just tell me you will listen to me fully and take care of my wishes. And then talk to me about your Winter Veil holiday?"
"Of course, my Lady. I do hear you fully and will see to it that you arrive to your father's study. Which... we are about to arrive in a few steps. Was there something you wanted to do there?"
"Yes, that's Fruit Loops new home." She said with a finger crookedly soaring through the air towards the ceiling. "I think he will enjoy a high place on one of father's bookshelves. Overlooking the study like a multi-colored phoenix flamboyantly flapping its wings and greeting my father in the morning! I think he will come to appreciate my winged friend."
"My Lady, I-" The servant caught herself as if briefly forgetting her station, then promptly silenced herself from speaking further. Though the sound didn't escape Kelz's notice.
"What now? I assure you it will all be okay. My father wants me happy you know. And he promised he would do better. For all of our sakes. Oh, I could so go for some pancakes."
The servant smiled dutifully and made a mental point to arrange that for the B'andtherion daughter. "My Lady, we have arrived at your father's study."
Though, the servant didn't make an effort to open the doors. Instead, it was Kelz's doing as the wooden gates to her father's sanctum opened wide by the strength of his daughter's ambitious resolve.
Her voice merrily sang as the toucan tried to speak with its clamped shut beak as wings flapped erratically at Kelz.
"Oh right, I'm sorry." The hand on the bird released as it squawked and bludgeoned its nose against her ear roughly in annoyance. But it was loving too, she reasoned. Again, those wings flapped aggressively as it soared up towards the top of the bookcase just as Kelz had prophesized with the intoxicated workings of her thoughts and visions.
"Sleep tight, Fruit Loops!" She declared before turning on her heel and shutting the doors behind her. The lights fell away in the study as Fruit Loops settled on the bookcase's top ledge. In the hall, Kelz stumbled a few steps to the side of the servant awaiting further direction.
"Fetch me a guard. And request he dress himself as Greatfather Winterveil. Ask him to carry me to my bed and tell me what a good girl I have been this year."
"---M-M-My Lady, are you sure?!" The servant's voice was becoming quite annoying as Kelz irritably replied.
"Yes. And the pancakes, make sure they are there before we arrive!"
"Of course!" She snapped at an octave higher than Kelz had heard it before. With her escort dismissed to fulfill her wishes, Kelz swayed side to side before sliding along the wall into a seated position. Her hands coming to settle on her palms at her sides as she tried to hold herself up from leaning too far to her right. Her head felt so heavy, and she enjoyed closing her eyes and just humming playfully while she waited.
It would be a few moments later, but her head would lift to see a shadowy silhouette galivanting his way towards her. This guard was hard to make out as her eyes squinted to try to see past the shadows on his face. A hand took to raising on its own volition as her pointer finger lifted to point at him.
"Are you Greatfather Winterveil?" She called as she tried to sit up and felt her legs drift further away on the floor.
But there was no answer given to her as she watched the man take to a knee beside her. There was a gentleness she had never seen before on his features as she took note of his beard and face. Recognition was functioning at about half capacity as she knew who she was looking at but couldn't account for the word or name.
Without her asking of it, the man's arms shifted forward. One sliding beneath the base of her knees while his other slid behind the center of her back as she was compressed in against him and herself. She felt so small in his grip while glancing up at his broad shoulders. A hand raised to his chest as a sadness took hold of her unexpectedly.
"You look like the hero our world needs." She spoke lightly as tears christened the edges of her eyes. Her focus became increasingly lost as she felt him begin his progression down the hall towards her room. Idly, she rocked in his arms as he hesitated on any form of reply to her. But eventually, he would find his voice only to have her cut it off again with an impulsive interjection.
"What put me on the nice list, anyway, Greatfather Winterveil?" She would ask, as her tears ran down her cheeks in the curve of her cheek.
Her father shifted his arms so that he drew her closer to him before speaking.
"Just by being you, my child." His head pressed unexpectedly against hers as there was a tightness forming in her throat. "Now let's get you to bed."
More tears slid down her cheeks as an unbearable discomfort grew in her chest. She felt nothing of the sort for having failed so many people and others so often. Why did everything just seem to escape her in this single second? The unsteady tremble in her body began as her weeps carried through the halls of the Estate before fading to silence once more.
The light to her room was on as the servants had already prepared her bed and stood at the ready to help remove her armor as her father carried her in. Gently he eased her down onto the mattress and leaned forward to press a kiss to her forehead. A sign that he was glad that she returned home safe and sound. But his ever-present look of duty returned as he retreated from his daughter's sanctuary to see what other chaos lurked in his home. Despite her insistence that it was to be kept a secret; a little birdy might have let that slide. Or perhaps that was what she wanted to believe as her head sank into the comfort of her pillow. Every second was consciousness drifting in and out as the weight from her body became less and less until the light left the room yet again. And once the darkness took over, soon too did she fall asleep.
@grumpyoldfker - Dad thanks for putting me to bed. :)
@allasticus - Brother, I got a bird!
@themadamelioness - Thank you for inviting me out to a great time! <3
@succulent-tart - thanks for the rp event :D
@thehopelessyouth - you were the reason Dad was on the naughty list!
@kalren-daelish - not sure if you were watching me drunkenly stumbling home, but tagging in case you wanna be!
