DWC 2025; Day 3 - Serious / Crush
Our story continues from here...
The day had been quiet, it was the first long stretch of silence since Susan had been home. Noah and Elliot slept through the night without incidence and for that Susan was relieved. These last few days had been torturous to her resolve. Her soul and heart both ached at the agony of seeing her little ones at the mercy of their illnesses. But this calm experienced now had brought her so much hope that the worst was behind them.
She had just pulled both boys from a bath following another upset stomach episode from her youngest, but he had the energy to deny her going into the water willingly. He had his fight left still and that, too, was a sign that made the Madam smile.
Now, following a meal of nutritious smoothies from grown fruit from the forest surrounding her little home in the mountains, the boys and she laid in the great room together atop floor cushions.
The boys might have had the energy to sass, eat and speak, but that was the extent to their will to do anything. They had no real outlet to keep their brains active, so Susan had been asked again for a story, this time from Noah.
His voice was hoarse unnaturally but naturally botched in grammar from his inexperience in talking. Yet when he mumbled the words she understood him perfectly.
"What kind of story would you like to hear, my loves?"
"...what scary thing did the knight tell the princess?"
Her breath caught in her throat, peering into the eyes of her middle child upon his suggestion. Elliot met her stare with his own curious gaze one which Noah had matched, likely out of the habit of following his big brother's que. With a sigh the woman nods gently, reflecting to the history she shared about the wandering templar. She had considered long and hard how best to describe the following scene to her sons, they were so young that some details to both Susan and Castellan's affair were abit advanced for them.
But their expectant eyes would spur her to decide quickly. She smiles, brushing her thumb along Noah's chubby cheek as she settles down beside them, laying on her side with her head propped up by her down hand:
"The knight kept a secret from his princess, unsure if it was the right time to tell her. But he was running out of time."
The boys breathed easier as they turned on their sides to face their mother, bright eyes staring up at her as they envision her tale.
"She needed to know that night that by morning... He'd be gone. He needed to leave as a summons to battle lay tucked away in his breast pocket, a weighted reminder of his civic duty."
She didn't even wait for a confused Elliot to ask, she'd correct herself immediately, "The knight had... Serious responsibilities. Such that would take him away from the princess. Maybe forever, if the knight wasn't careful. He didn't know it yet, but it would crush the princess to hear."
He remained, kneeled, head bowed, and every muscle taught in case she did decide to flee. It did not appear that the crusader was fully trusting of her submission to this lounging state. Restlessness lay in her gaze, amplified by the slow pinching of her brows as she stares at him.
With her hand claimed she became all the aware of those gut twisting sensations, her brows beginning to furrow with thought.
His responses, his mannerisms.. Him.
She desired it almost as soon as she realized it was him walking through her office door-- everything he had ever promised her, she was invested. Wordlessly she leaned forward to meet the knight half way, the hand he'd previously kissed now clutches his chin and tilts his head back, pressing her forehead against his in a small show of her affection. But the truth of their disposition nagged at her mind, like instinct was reminding her that this was too perfect. Too good. Too much.
“Susan…” Golden hues closed, and squeezed shut, as her name fell from his lips like a prayer. Angelic features turned, just for a second, as wind was knocked clear from his frame. She'd decided then as her stomach clenched to hear her name on his tongue. She had to make him see reason, to save themselves the heartbreak.
"You are a man bound by an honor and duty I won't ever understand. Despite the yearning, the infatuation of a bitter whore... Isnt it better to not get attached to lessen the blow of your eventual leave?"
The letter felt like a heavy rock in his innermost shirt pocket- or was it his heart, sinking like a stone? Her words spurred some sort of chain reaction. Thin lips parted, for an answer that did not yet come, it hung in the silence. Even as she held his visage aloft to the heavens there was a choice here, and he knew it… The scales tipped, and demanded truth, his judgement.
He pulled away. His own resistance -- It was as if it were answer enough to her heart wrenching; Perhaps he understood exactly where she was coming from? The Madam makes no reaction outside of straightening her form when he pulls away, watching him closely.
“I…” A hush of breath and then he dropped a hand in the same movement. The parchment was collected from within the confines of his shirt and offered out to her betwixt a long pointer finger and it’s third in command.
He did not dare look at her, not yet. Not until she got through the bulk of what was this letter was requesting of him.
She opens it with some certainty to its contents - Which within the first few sentences seem to sate her curiosity quickly. He was being summoned to battle. The forces banded together for the reclamation of Lordaeron were making waves to push the undead forces back, and they wanted him back from his little vacation.
A war summons. Perfectly official, impeccable and irrefutable.
Exactly as she suspected. The fates had a real sense of humor, didn't they?
With a strangled laugh the woman's shoulders sag, her sadness evident as her mind became burdened with the expectations of the events to play out. Her eyes expressed her confusion when she looks to him, his inability to meet her stare seems to answer her unspoken question-- She folds the letter back up and shoves it into his chest.
His eyes closed as the ball dropped, the other foot- the truth, that he gave to her freely. There had been a moment where he considered the alternative of what could have been. He could have given her a simple lie, a way to elongate their time together.
Likely, they could have had hours together, intertwined, breathing in one another’s air. The bitter sweetness of it stung first his lips, his tongue, and then his own golden eyes still which refused to look at her.
Did he really have no choice?
She makes an effort to stand up from the balcony wall, her feet planted firmly between the railing structure and the knight as she rebukes, a bite to her tone to mask the hurt that began to swell, "Who woulda fucking figured. My point stands, huh? Better to not get attached since you're to run off to be a hero to the people."
It was so easy to fall back into her habit of anger to express her frustration and disappointment. But truthfully.... she was not really certain what about all this upset her most.
Maybe it was because she knew better, yet still leaned into this situation they had created?
Perhaps it was her misery realizing they had spent the last week tip toeing around eachother, wasting precious time...
Little did she realize... There was a metamorphic match lit, and waved over oil and fire alike. Her quip had wrought a response, eyes now lifting to peer at the Madam's face. “The people? You mean, my home- Susan.” That tone remained reserved, soft, and not yet harsh despite the rage that now flowed evenly from the other party.
Her voice carries an accusatory tone now as she attempts to walk away from him, back into the office if he lets her slip through his fingers. Either way her pain is evident as she inquires harshly, "Why did you even come up here, Castellan?"
Up his body went in one quick movement to close the distance between their forms. Hands rose to collect her by the shoulders, preventing her from running away and forcing her to face him. He'd voice in a frustratingly matter of fact tone, “Because I wanted to tell you the truth. And I wanted to offer you an alternative.”
When she is turned there is much emotion to her face, most of it a mixture of resentment and shame but her eyes spoke it the loudest. She felt sorry, her stare soft and quite unable to hold his for long when she finds it. His words had taken a moment to set in, and she was left feeling quite foolish as she was forced to confront what exactly she was getting huffy over.
Above all else she was frazzled and unsure. Even now, her mind would stray trying to understand where he was coming from. He had a responsibility to his nation, he was a man with purpose. She very well couldn't judge him for holding true to his oaths. It is now that she has, to some extent, quelled her frustrations. Just enough to see the facts.
"...were I you, Id follow through with the thing I swore oath to, as well. At times all we have to truly give to someone is our word. To betray it... Unthinkable," she relents, her eyes distant, hands lingering at her sides where they tense into fists.
His home on the other side of the world. It was a noble cause certainly, one she wanted to support-- Yet some selfishness tempered her reasoning.
Castellan carefully holds her there, fingers gentle against bare skin. As if beholding something forbidden, there is an uncertainty there. Thumbs rise, and carefully come to join at the harsh line of her collarbones. A shudder of a breath escaped then, it hitched its way up every rib as those golden eyes bore into the silver chains of her gown.
"I wanted to tell you the truth. And I wanted to offer you an alternative.”
There is an obvious deliberation here now, gauging the options before her. Flee, and save the pair of them much angst and aches... Or stay, test the boundaries of her comfort and dabble in something promising, substantial? Hes called every bluff to this point.
The Madam lifts her eyes to meet Castellan's, her voice even as she addresses him, "Alternatives... Rarely make the parties equal, only partly satisfied. Keep talking, Cas."
“We court.” No hesitation, there was a certainty to his choice of words. Golden hues rose, attention carefully resting on her face as the statement was presented, as clear as day. “I come home to you, whenever I can- as soon as I can. I’ll offer you this, as my vow. And while I am away, I will not stray.”
Thumbs ascended even further, to once again cup those features that were becoming so familiar with each passing moment. He held the Madam's face like it were delicate art.
“Stop running from me, please, beloved.” Those words were the softest yet spoken, hardly above a mummer, as that stalwart gaze fell to consider her lips.
Her confusion was palpable, made only to further question his sanity as he explained his alternative. With his prompting a heart warming imagine enters her mind -- A vision of her sitting on the steps of the home built for she and her children, watching as an armored individual tracked up the well worn pathway straight back into her arms -- She begins to shake her head, brows furrowing, massively overwhelmed with his reassurances.
There was just no reasoning with love struck fools...
Susan's story falls short as her eyes shot down to Elliot as he tugs on her tunic.
She'd smile wistfully then, casting a weary glance toward the windows of the den. It was a beautiful sunny day, a gentle breeze dancing frequently through the woods, tussling the tree canopy and stirring the flora of their yard. Alittle sunshine would do the boys - and herself - good.
Without a question she scoops Noah into her arms before pulling Elliot onto her hip. Then the trio are moved out to the front yard, the boys gently lowered to the soft grass, laid out to stare up at the beautiful blue sky, the sun nearly overhead.
Another reassurance that tomorrow was a better day came in the form of Noah and Elliot pointing, calling out what they thought the clouds resembled. To the tune of this innocent game, Susan would crawl down beside them, laying upon her back to stare at the sky aswell. The sun rays illuminating the exhaustion in her eyes, the bags beneath her eyes darkened, but her smile remains radiant.
She raises her hand and points.
"That one looks like a rabbit!"
A simple early morning...
Mentioned: @resolutedefender <3
