Chapter 993: Living A Life In Service (Part One)
Heila’s story of finding love in the most unlikely of places provided the perfect note to bring the late-night gathering to a close.
Sybyll promised her people that in the days to come, she would dedicate herself to helping to rebuild Hanrahan Town from the damage of the storm and the battle, and that there would be justice for the victims of her cousin, Ian Hanrahan.
She also warned her people that, for a time, travel would be forbidden. Soldiers would be posted at the gates and along the roads to ensure that no one carried word of what had happened to Lothian City or anywhere else who might attempt to destroy their fragile peace with an attempt to ’rescue’ the conquered barony.
There was some grumbling about that, particularly from merchants who had been considering braving the winter weather to sell their goods in Lothian City during the Midwinter’s Night celebrations. Those grumbles turned into a string of stammered prevarications when Sybyll made her counteroffer.
"Do ye think tha’ longest night o’ tha’ year isn’a a special occasion fer vampires?" Sybyll asked with a sweet smile. "If ye wish ta’ bring yer goods ta’ market, consider makin’ a trip ta’ tha’ Vale of Mists. I’m sure Her Eternity would welcome ye with open arms an’ Her Dominion might even make ye’ an offer ta’ stay in tha’ city through tha’ winter ta sell yer wares," she said suggestively.
Even the most ambitious among the merchants balked at the idea of traveling to the most dangerous, most forbidden region of the entire frontier, and no one was willing to immediately volunteer to make the journey.
At the same time, no one wanted to reject Dame Sybyll’s offer. The inevitable result, with half a dozen merchants stumbling over themselves to ’consider it properly’ and ’make decisions in the days to come’ was fine with the crimson-haired vampire. It would be enough of a miracle if she could guide her people through a peaceful winter within her own borders. Anything beyond them felt like far too much to contemplate for a woman who had thought of herself as nothing more than an avenging knight for more than two decades.
While Sybyll tended to the departing townsfolk, Heila brushed off Diarmuid’s questions about Ignatious, telling him that there would be plenty of time to discuss her beloved on the way to the Vale of Mists. Instead, she took the time to pull aside the only two people from among the attending townsfolk who weren’t making their way toward the exit.
"I heard that your name was Cossot," Heila said, startling the slender woman who had been trying to make herself unobtrusive by the refreshment table. "I didn’t hear your friend’s name, though."
"I, I’m called Roseen, your ladyship, um, or, your Worship," the shorter, curvy woman said, stammering over her words in her haste to curtsy to the powerful witch.
With her head bowed low, she shot an intense glare at Cossot, as if to warn her friend from bringing up the topic of her skipped etiquette lessons after making a fool of herself trying to guess the proper way to address a witch. There was no way the old woman who taught them how to pour tea and speak to their betters would have known what they should be doing or saying right now!
"You don’t need to be that formal with me," Heila said with a light laugh. "Stand up straight and hold your head up high," she said, taking a look at both young women.
There were only a few hours left before dawn, and Heila suspected that both women had started their day early in order to be ready for the feast that Ian Hanrahan held. The two women were young enough to have forced themselves to keep going, despite being awake for nearly an entire day, but the intricate braids in their hair had begun to fray, and they were already looking a touch unsteady on their feet as they rested their hands on the refreshment table for support.
"Dame Sybyll has asked a lot from you tonight," Heila said as she reached into the pouch at her waist and withdrew two small, porcelain bottles, each sealed with a tiny cork and a bit of wax. "This is no substitute for rest, but it can push back the fatigue, at least for a few more hours. Long enough to greet the dawn. Once it wears off, though, you’ll sleep the day away," she explained as she gave each woman a bottle.
"Don’t drink it just yet," she said when she saw Cossot mechanically working at the stopper, as if she’d lost any ability to question instructions and was simply moving on to the next task that had been put in front of her. "Sit with me," Heila said as she took a seat on the floor and tapped the cold stones beside her for the young women to join her.
"I don’t want to be rude," Cossot said hesitantly as she looked at the diminutive figure of the witch on the ground. Despite the horned woman’s small stature, she loomed large in Cossot’s mind, rising nearly as high in her heart as Dame Sybyll herself had.
"Then don’t tower over me and get down here," Heila said, a touch more sharply than she’d intended to. "All of you tall people, standing when sitting would bring us closer together. You need to learn these things," she chided as the two young women bashfully took their seats on the floor beside her.
"We don’t have much time before everyone leaves, and I have questions to ask you before we start the last..." her voice trailed off as her lips twisted in an expression of distaste, as if just speaking the words filled her mouth with bitterness. "The last judgment we have to render tonight," she said solemnly.
It was clear from Heila’s glance toward the captive clergymen that she was speaking about Loman and Germot, but whatever it was that she was thinking about the two men, she pushed it firmly aside to focus her attention on the two young women before her.
"Cossot," Heila said, looking directly into the young woman’s hazel eyes. "Do you know why Dame Sybyll has been giving you so much work to do tonight?"
"Because I was the first one to speak up when she entered the great hall?" Cossot said hesitantly, though her tone made it sound more like a question than a statement.
"You answered a question," Heila said, frowning at the young woman. "That was all you did. How does that make you special enough to deserve so much attention from her now?"
"It... it doesn’t," Cossot said, hanging her head low. Her shoulders slumped, and her entire body seemed to deflate as Heila casually popped the bubble that had buoyed the young woman’s spirits the entire evening.
Now that someone was asking her, now that she finally had a moment to think about it, she realized how ridiculous she’d been behaving. Each time Dame Sybyll had given her a new task, another responsibility, even a simple order like standing at the ready in case anyone on her court needed refreshments, she felt like she was drawing closer to someone who was really special...
And in turn, she’d allowed herself to entertain fantasies that she was special, too. She’d let herself think that Dame Sybyll had seen something special in her that no one else had seen before and that maybe, just maybe, if she worked hard enough tonight, then there would be a tomorrow waiting for her when Dame Sybyll would need her help again.
But now that Lady Heila came right out and asked her what made her special enough to deserve Dame Sybyll’s attention... she couldn’t find anything to say at all.
"I’m no one special," Cossot admitted in defeat. "Th-thank you, for correcting me before I thought too much of myself. I, I won’t..."
"You won’t say another word," Heila interrupted, reaching out to the young woman and setting a hand gently on her cheek. "Since you don’t know, it’s up to me to explain it to you," she said as she lifted the young woman’s gaze to meet her own. "And you too, Roseen," she added. "Because in a few minutes, you’ll both have a decision to make, and it may be the most important decision of your lives..."
It might not be entirely fair to the pair of young women to put so much pressure on them, but Heila felt like she had little choice. When she entered Lady Ashlynn’s service, she had Madame Zedya there to guide her every step of the way as she transformed from a simple maidservant into someone that Ashlynn could rely on in the same ways that Lady Nyrielle relied on Zedya.
Now, inexperienced as she was, she saw these two young women, standing at the edge of the path that she’d been walking on ever since she ’volunteered’ to be Lady Ashlynn’s attendant, but there was no Zedya here to guide them, and no one else who knew what it meant to dedicate yourself to the service of someone as extraordinary and powerful as Dame Sybyll was.
And so, before they could be pulled any further along the road by sheer necessity, Heila took it upon herself to ensure that it was a path they belonged on... and if it was, she promised herself that she would help them as much as she could, just like Madame Zedya had helped her.