DWC Day 5: Restless & Faith
The Lord Manarose paced his apartments in the family estate, restless… the part that was laughable was his wife thinking solitude was still a punishment that effected him. The humiliation was the point he supposed, being cast out of his own Bed chamber into one meant for a guest on the other side of the household. It occurred often enough for him to have a comfortable arrangement in the space and for not even their staff to take notice.
Sleep however, was difficult alone when you'd been married centuries to someone even if she dictated everything about his appearance from head to toe having not really slept with you so much as the kept groomed thing she'd made of you… and made you forget to care or have an opinion.
Now he stood in a robe hair down and threaded with starlight white strands in what was the vibrant deep blue his family seemed to always pass down… and found himself… questioning what happened to the man who stared back at him in the dimly lit frame of his mirror.
What he had done was deliberate disobedience but damnit! It had been RIGHT to give that boy his prize. He had earned it with the odds stacked entirely against him. Where was the honor in disqualifying the only one who's crime was winning fairly against admittedly complacent competitors who had seen no threat in the fiery young elf.
This was punishment… he -knew- it was… So why did he feel so… -good- for denying his wife and daughter. Their desire to humiliate their only real participant made no sense!
'I hope only I may continue to… keep things interesting, and remind many that we are not always as we seem. Perspectives are not simply the way you see from an angle, I find they are often seen from the individual. Convey my humble gratitude for this opportunity and I will not squander it, not your generosity nor your grace.'
The words that youth offered replayed in his mind for the hundredth time and he had to stifle the smile that now reflected in his mirror. The muscles in his face and jaw remembered how but his mind did not… When had -he- forgotten how to smile. It was almost as if he was looking back at a stranger.
And like that it was gone. He'd forgotten how to do so many things… to speak his mind, to try, to simply allow himself an indulgence that was not at the bottom of a bottle.
Ah yes… that will help. He strode to the liquor cabinet and withdrew a crystal decanter and an empty glass. Surely that would help him sleep… help him survive and face another miserable day. Methodically he poured three fingers of the violet mana-wine liquid infused with a lavender and blackberry syrup for sweetness. A perfect drink to chase away this sense of sleeplessness, and stifle the unwelcome reminders of his self perpetuated stagnation.
Just as he brought the glass to his lips in his periphery he caught a blur of color light and motion and jolted, in alarm. "Who's there?!"
He hadn't had enough to drink at the bloody garden party to justify seeing things, and admittedly they had some guests taking advantage of their hospitality late into the night but his rooms were -his- rooms. NO ONE else was supposed to be in the family apartments within his estate.
Shakily he lifted his glass to his lips again, hoping it would chase the sense of unease from his nerves. He stood listening and peering about the rooms... a flutter of the balcony curtains caught on a breeze and he jolted again, just to frown. He hadn't been on the balcony, and the open glass doors indicated...
"I'll call my guards." He threatened the space out loud. The Lord had not used a weapon since his youth... and his wife had deemed his blade of office a gaudy bauble, and replaced it with a much more fashionable accessory. Right now though when he was being invaded he regretted heeding her.
A light caught in the curtains and beyond. A collection of glittering surfaces, of mirrored glass arranged beneath a dark violet hood that was a face. The figure attached revealing more cast off fractures of light that scattered like the catchlights of prisms set in sunlit windows. Before he could make out the full image of an armored intruder, from the balcony a graceful second figure, a counterpart to the hooded mask of mirrors and fractured light, appeared on the landing. They were an animated bloom... an acrobat that tumbled then righted themselves in the trappings and mask of a lily. They moved like liquid and adopted a casual lean against the balcony door, a living blossom given form; glittering with night's breath dew on gossamer panels of fabric that layered over a slender agile frame.
The Lily did not so much as stride as dance their way into Lord Manarose's space. It was not unlike being burgled by a court jester, or a circus act, only it evoked the majesty of the arts woven into such things. The lily moved with something otherworldly, as the other stalked forward hooded and reflecting shattered images of the Lord's face as he approached. It was a stark intimidating contrast as the Lily wore no hood only a diadem and mask that seemed alive with vines and hundreds of blooming lilies seamlessly woven into their hair.
"A gift-" The ethereal music of the Lily's voice chimed. Familiar and unfamiliar at once, "A gesture of good faith from a lesser known court."
The Lily held out a hand for the mirror masked figure behind him. The armored knightly being glowed brighter reflecting the glittering dew of the Lily's attire when he approached. It was as if their proximity to each other gathered light and energy between them. Into the Lily's hand the Knight placed a small token, a petal? A jewel? Both some how, rendered of glass or maybe crystal with a sparking echo of those prismatic lights within.
The lord Manarose trembled not with fear but awe, what ever these beings were, they did not seem entirely mortal. "W-who are you two?"
"I am the prince of lilies..." The Lily offered smiling from under his mask. He closed his hand around the crystalline petal and turned to gaze at the Knight, "And this my Lantern Knight."
The Prince of Lilies purred to the looming Knight, "Thank you, my love."
The prince brushed his temple to the shards of mirror that comprised the silent Knight's mask, vines and blooms from the prince's being seeming to creep and crawl into the plates of stained glass armor the Hooded one wore like they were constantly entangled. Lord Manarose even saw the Knight smile and wrap an arm about the Prince's waist eliciting a chuckle that sounded like bells from the Lily.
"And you deserve a favor my Knight insists... and... I trust him." The Lily added on the heels of his laughter.
Lord Manarose blinked as the Lily offered the petal that looked as if it had been plucked from a bloom off the Prince's attire, but was comprised of the glass the Knight wore. "Y-you aren't going to kill me?"
Another bell like laugh, "Not at all, just offering a gift for one who showed honor in a world sorely lacking it, who has not entirely lost himself in the cruelties of expectations and demands society makes of you. You are not alone, Lord Host."
At that the Knight lunged at the Prince, not the Lord, and pressed a grinning kiss into the Lily's shoulder giddy with some delight he could not contain or hold back. This evoked another helpless laugh from the Lily adding, "Not anymore at least."
The Lily tucked the crystalline petal into Lord Manarose's free hand.
The knight then offered a bow to the Lord before half dancing his prince away, back to the balcony. The pair of them moved like one soul through the apartment and effortless like phantoms on silent foot falls to music only they could hear. Lord Manarose wasn't sure what was -happening- anymore and couldn't help but cast an accusatory look at the unfinished wine in one hand and the glass sparkling petal in his palm.
"I-I don't understand-" He tried to get out.
Then finally the Knight spoke still half tangled up in his Prince's ivy and blooming night lilies. Wrapped like a shroud in the one he loved. The all too familiar and unfamiliar tone itching at the back of Lord Manarose's mind spoke, "Just keeping a promise, friend Baelynn. Keeping things interesting."
With that, the lantern wrapped himself about the lily with his cape and rolled them both silently off the balcony rail. Lord Manarose bolted for the railing in a panic, "Wai-"
He caught only the glittering streak of a comet built of shattered starlight and violet lily petals scattered in the wake of two laughing masks before they vanished into the spires of Suramar.
Baelynn Manarose was left standing there staring at the winking spark within the reflective petal, seeing himself gazing back. Then he saw the smile he'd forgotten return to his features... not so much a stranger anymore maybe... Maybe Baelynn wasn't a stranger or ever had to be. Maybe it just took him having a little faith in being noble in deed not just blood. What more could he do if he allowed himself to try, and remembered to remain a little defiant because he wasn't alone. He had a Lily Prince and a Lantern Knight in his court after all.
@daily-writing-challenge @erathir-violys
