"A VERY SPECIAL DAY" - SEILE
As promised, here is the special prompt for SoJ's birthday!! I enjoyed making it, so I might consider doing another one if I see that you've enjoyed it, too!! ^^
(As usual, if you feel like you've spotted an error in the writing, please do not hesitate to tell me, it helps me greatly improve my writing!!)
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The sun was still yawning in its bed of mountains when the heir opened her eyes, greeted by the escaping stars that were about to leave the sky’s dark mantle. How long has it been since she last saw sunrise…? After she came back from that hellish trip, the beauty of a good night’s sleep kept Seile in bed until servants started sieging her room’s doors, worried that the princess will miss her breakfast to His Majesty’s big displeasure. Royal duties and tight schedules weren’t made to enjoy one’s noble life – and yet, after her wanderings in the real world, Seile saw life slightly differently than she did before.
Ah… she’s beating around the bush, isn’t she? Such memories were used to prolongate her rest, still laying on her soft, wide bed. There was no time for this today. Not today.
Standing up with a tired yawn, the princess allowed her bare feet to touch the castle’s naked stone floor, waking up all of her senses with a strong shiver from the cold marble’s stroke. With a wry face, she quickly made her way into her bathroom to bring her face a decent look, refreshing her closing eyelids with some water and brushing her blonde hair into its proper place. Five minutes later, a new, gorgeous woman left her chambers with a calm smile, keeping her feelings under a mask of gentle happiness required by anyone who grew among the never-sleeping Court. Today, however, she needed to avoid as many people as it was only possible.
She had other plans in mind.
Stealing a loaf of bread and some jam from the kitchen – left there by a thoughtful chef – the princess made her quiet way into the eastern side of the castle, where an abandoned tower stood, closed to both visitors and servants. Once the Magician’s tower, now it had no use in the royal palace, as the Seers’ full monopolisation of Hero’s monarchs cut the ancient link between the men of magic and the crown. A heavy lock now hanged above the old, metallic door, one that Seile didn’t take long to break with her own power. It was all oxidated, just like the door itself… no one was there to take care of this side of the castle, completely forgetting the history that hid within.
Screeching sounds of old wooden planks welcomed the heir into the ancient tower, keeper of many secrets, including her own. The spiral staircase that led towards the tower’s ceiling stood firmly despite the state of its deteriorated steps, creaking with only slightly ominous sounds each time Seile put pressure on one of them. Slowly but confidently, the princess made her way towards the tower’s top, ignoring the half-ruined levels with locked shelves and destroyed chairs. The old pupil’s class, the library, the archmage’s office… all of that now existed far away from the main castle, locked in the academies, away from the common world. Mages enjoyed their new degree of mysticism, their self-inflicted segregation for years of draining studies: Seile, however, never understood the beauty of travelling afar to learn something she could learn here, at Capital, with teachers just as skilled as the main mages of those schools that nonetheless allowed the nobles to interact and still carry their duties besides refining their abilities…
A shiver went up Seile’s spine, making her shrink her eyes, her lips pursed tightly. Yeah, she was.
The adventurer’s sweet voice sounds increasingly impatient as they continue to walk, their bandaged eyes unable to peep towards the surprise spot where Seile’s taking them. Their hand, locked in a tight grip with the woman’s hand through their long fingers, remains as the sole link that the princess left for them to their surroundings, guiding her old friend with gentle pulls between the rocks and grass of the hill’s pathway.
“We’re almost there, just a bit more,” purrs the blonde woman with a wide grin, letting her voice become a second anchor by which the guided guest could stabilise its pose. “Careful here, you have a step in front of you.”
“…You should work as a guide.”
Laughter disturbs the peacefulness of the nearby forest, whose ominous branches shake in brief disgust in front of such pure feelings. Seile, taking the second hand of her companion, helps them jump off the last bit of the way, finally stopping near a deteriorated wooden door with chains and locks hung all around it. At first sight, it looks like the whole race of demons was sealed behind it – and yet, it is, however, just a trick to scare thieves off, so no one dares to enter the main castle through the back door of the old tower. Knocking off the already broken ‘security’ that she destroyed beforehand, Seile opens the path with a strong creak of rotten wood, smiling with just a bit of mischief towards the doubtful expression that forms upon her guest’s cute face.
Although the adventurer doesn’t seem quite convinced by Seile’s reassurance, they don’t protest when the woman takes their hand and guides them inside. After all, it’s Seile – she’ll never put them in unnecessary danger.
The screeching sound of the old stairs brings shivers to their skin, and Seile notes how her friend’s lips get pursed from slight, unconscious nervousness. Slowing down even more, the woman stands next to her companion and pulls them into her soft embrace, her gentle hands covering the adventurer’s waist as she provides a safety net for their stability.
Seile whispers these last words into their ear, feeling her own lungs shrink from sudden expectation as they overcome the staircase of the tower. With new, silent planks under their feet, the mage steps aside from the warm body of her guest, placing herself right behind them and starting to untie the bandage on their eyes.
“We’re here?” the curiosity within the adventurer’s voice brings Seile’s smile into an even wider grin, full of excitement.
As the piece of cloth falls from her companion’s eyes, an audible gasp accompanies their first reaction, dying the heir’s pale face into shades of dark pink. In front of them, the highest level of the tower has been renewed into a wooden attic, with a wide, circular window embedded into one side of its conical ceiling. A small lamp hangs from the top of the tower, its dim light barely lighting up the entire room: that is, however, solved with many small lit candles, placed all around the attic upon stocked piles of books and on the floor. A pair of carpets lie right in the centre, with short-legged tables standing next to them: upon those carpets, two bags made of soft fur rest peacefully waiting for their new owner, their fluffy texture making them comfortable even for the pickiest guest. A corner of the room holds a small wardrobe with some tea and sweets, prepared for that occasional hunger that doesn’t bother one too much to go and seek some proper food. The window, decorated with some runes, lets the stars’ shining reach one’s eyes with all its beauty, losing no sky spark to the illuminated room and letting thirsty contemplators enjoy their constellations without seeking the realm of total darkness.
“Do you like it…?” Seile’s voice trembles as she watches her most loved creature walk around, inspecting each small corner of her most hidden secret.
Their voice makes Seile’s heart stop, her blue eyes staring without a blink into the depth of the most beautiful of pupils. She feels her lips dry instantly, together with her throat…
“Oh, Fate, you’re so cute,” the adventurer’s sudden laughter shifts Seile’s expression from fear to slight confusion, as she feels a pair of hands wrap around her waist and pull her forwards.
“I love it. This is amazing,” purrs the adventurer locking their gaze with her blue sight, and Seile feels how all her worry gets washed away with the sweet feeling of fulfilment. She’s ready to look into those eyes for the rest of her life, to lose herself in them and make them her reality. With only echoes left of past shyness, she reciprocates the warm embrace as they come even closer, their noses touching each other’s tips. Seile knows that her lips are smiling way too widely for her own sake, yet she cannot do anything about it: instead, she just closes her eyes and rests her forehead against the forehead of the adventurer, her blood boiling within her from a well-known, thrilling, overflowing feeling.
“Happy birthday,” she murmurs, accompanied by yet another laughter from her friend…
