It took Sheilah and Fialla only moments to get ready to go hunting- long enough for them to grab their gear from the bedroom- but servants had to be summoned, and messages sent and received before they were told that their carriage was ready.
“Will you be bringing your spear, little sister?” Sheilah asked Fialla, who gave the human girl a complicated look.
“I like how you call me your sister, Sheilah.” Fialla admitted, “but I don’t think I should bring my spear. I made it as a family weapon, not...” She trailed off. “Not for hunting animals like this.”
She searched through one of her bundled packs and opened it, revealing slim and polished dragon wingbones, a spool of sinew, and a rugged bowstave similar to the one Sheilah had used in her original bracing, before switching to Dragon Metal. “I have a bow that I was originally going to craft, one like yours, but I haven’t assembled it yet.”
Sheilah rubbed her forehead. “You’ve had this all this time and you didn’t tell me?” She asked, frustrated.
“Things happened very quickly, sister.” Fialla rebutted. She gave Sheilah a wry smile. “Also, I was hoping for this sort of surprise.”
“Do you have enough dragonling teeth for arrows?” Sheilah asked curiously, examining the wingbones.
Fialla laughed prankishly. “Dragonling teeth? I paid Dragon Metal for the tribe to turn the shards of our dragon teeth into arrowheads.”
“...and you didn’t mention this at all, before.” Sheilah rebutted. “You even gave me a quiver of dragonling teeth arrows. You could have mentioned it then!” Sheilah unconsciously raised her voice in her exasperation.
Fialla pressed her lips together and turned her head away. “I’m sorry.” She muttered. “I should have said something earlier. I was really excited to see you, and I- everything went out of my head.”
Sheilah embraced the girl. “I’m not mad, you know. It’s just- surprising, vexing, frustrating... I don’t really know how to feel.” She paused. “There’s a lot happening, and it seems like my feelings are struggling to keep up.”
Fialla nodded. “I know the feeling.” She commiserated. “And the sense of the Dragon is so strong; it’s distracting.”
Sheilah nodded at that, too.
“Shall we assemble your bow?” She offered, to which Fialla nodded.
As Magdalene fretted and frowned at Sheilah and Fialla using the study to assemble a bow- a bow, of all things!- in the study, she regretted indulging her daughter in this hunting trip. Strangely, what was more vexing was that they sat on the floor of all things.
Just watching the two together, it was obvious the degree of affection and trust that they held for each other, and she could not help but feel a little jealous. It seemed as though there was no room at all in Sheilah’s heart for her own mother.
Magdalene knew she was being silly- they’d barely spent any time together at all, but still, she couldn’t reconcile that fact with the sense of jealousy. Sheilah and Fialla had grown up together. Shared whatever secrets together. Even now they were regaling each other with hunting stories, mentioning people Magdalene had never met, laughing about foibles and follies and praising successes.
Something had to be done to reclaim her daughter more fully from the barbarians.
That leather they wore- what was it? Fialla’s was patterned in dark gray and charcoal, with those spots that glowed like lambent coals.
Sheilah’s own armor was a garish crimson, like fresh blood. It was patterned with zigzagging yellow stripes that wrenched the eye against that red, and yet she wore that lurid outfit as if it were no matter at all.
“Sheilah, dear...” Magdalene began with a grimace of distaste, “Do you really have to wear... that?”
Sheilah blinked a few times at this statement in confusion. Her mother was looking at her with disgust.
“It’s dragonhide, Magdalene.” Sheilah replied. “There is no finer armor.” She added, which was true. It could turn aside anything aside from her and Fialla’s dragon weapons.
“It...” Magdalene couldn’t finish her sentence.
A smile spread on Sheilah’s face as she began to understand Magdalene’s discomfiture.
“Many animals have hides and furs that allow them to blend into their surroundings. Hive Lizards, for example, can easily blend into the dirt and stones as they wait for unsuspecting prey.”
Fialla nodded at that.
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
“But the Tyrant Dragon needs no such measure. It demands to be seen. It forces all to look at it. It dares all to challenge it, it terrifies all that cannot. It is a mark of fear in the hearts and eyes of all that oppose it.” Sheilah concluded proudly. “I slew the Tyrant Dragon, and I make the same accusation to any that dare to-” She continued, her voice becoming more challenging, when Magdalene cut her off.
“Stop! Stop! Just- just stop, please!” She begged. “I get it, I understand, all right? Just- just stop sounding like...”
“Like what?” Sheilah asked, her voice cooling.
Magdalene shuddered, shaking her head.
“Like what, Magdalene?” Sheilah repeated.
“Like a Light-blind savage!” Magdalene yelled. “Your behavior, your posture, your attitude, your speech- just where is the lovely Sheilah Stormheim in there that is mine?” She wailed.
Sheilah took a breath, and traded looks with Fialla while Magdalene burst into tears.
“There it is again.” Sheilah remarked to Fialla. “We’re savages.”
Fialla let out a pensive sigh. “Should we leave?” She asked in a low voice.
Sheilah turned to Magdalene, who was weeping, hands over her face. “Do you want us to leave?” She asked carefully.
Magdalene raised her tear-streaked face. “No, I don’t want you to leave.” She replied, her voice thick. “I want you two to behave like proper ladies. I want you two to dress, speak, and act like proper ladies. I want you to put this whole ... dragon business behind you. You are not a dragon, you are my daughter, and I want you... I want you to behave like you are.”
Sheilah and Fialla traded looks at that.
“Please stop doing that.” Magdalene added. “You’re behaving like you have some great advantage over me, when you can’t even write your own name correctly.” She complained. “What is it that-” She cut off, and pulled a ruffled lace handkerchief from her sleeve and wiped her eyes.
“There are-” Sheilah began, but stopped and then moved to a chair. Once she was seated, she tried again. “There are too many things that I cannot tell you.” Sheilah began. “They are ... secret things, sacred things. Things that are a part of me.” She looked to Andrea, and then looked away. “I can’t- won’t- tell you these things with strangers around. I can’t tell you these things with the thought that you will tell anyone else.”
Sheilah folded her hands and stared meditatively at her thumbs for a bit. Children in the Redstone were taught by doing. How to hunt, how to make clothing, how to work a forge, fix a tent, craft weapons, all of it was taught by actually doing the things they were told to do. At first you weren’t good at a thing, but you eventually got better.
It had barely been a day since she’d arrived, and Magdalene had barely taught her anything.
It was when Fialla sat next to her and embraced her that Sheilah noticed she’d curled herself up, knees to chin, arms wrapped around her legs.
“I remember the way home, Sheilah.” Fialla offered in a low voice.
“I did say- I did say you’re not leaving.” Magdalene remarked drily.
Fialla giggled a little in Sheilah’s ear. “Remember the giant''s city?” She whispered. “Watch her try and keep you while the castle burns down.” She squeezed closer. “We can leave whenever we want, and there isn’t a person that can stop us.” she added.
Sheilah wrapped her own arm around Fialla. “You’re every wicked impulse rolled up into one, aren’t you?” She asked, and Fialla chuckled.
It was telling that Andrea didn’t say or do anything during the whole exchange, and that made Sheilah trust her even less. Shouldn’t someone that lived in the same home as you have some sort of opinion about the things going on around them? Sheilah said as much to Magdalene, and that made the queen blink in shock.
“She’s a servant, Sheilah. She’s not supposed to. It isn’t appropriate.”
“You still haven’t explained what a servant is, or why they’re important.” Sheilah replied.
Magdalene rolled her eyes. “A servant of her caliber is usually the daughter of a viscount or so. Andrea here, her family is from a viscount in the southlands. She’s educated and quite capable of managing a household. I’ve explained it before, but she will be managing your servants for you.”
Sheilah rolled her eyes. “You’re not explaining anything!” Sheilah complained. “And we’re still not going hunting!”
Magdalene rolled her eyes ostentatiously. “I will take you where you want to go.” She gestured to Andrea, who nodded. “The carriage is prepared.”
Magdalene gestured while wiping her face; Sheilah and Fialla heading for the massive double doors.
“I still don’t know what a servant is.” Fialla complained.
“Me either.” Sheilah shot back.
Magdalene joined the conversation. “A normal servant- the normal responsibility of a servant is to take care of what needs to be taken care of. A steward, like Andrea, oversees them.”
“And what do servants do?” Sheilah repeated.
“Everything.” Magdalene replied.
“I don’t follow.” Sheilah replied. Fialla agreed. “It doesn’t make sense for a guest to stay in your home and require them to do everything for you. That’s poor hospitality.” Sheilah decided, and Fialla nodded.
Magdalene rolled her eyes again. “Servants aren’t guests. They’re the ones that cook your food, clean your clothes and bedding, tend to the flooring, and those, like Andrea, who will wait on you personally and manage your schedule.”
“I can cook my own food and tend and mend my own clothes.” Sheilah replied. “I do not need strangers in my territory- in my home- doing whatever they please; my parents and my Clan taught me every necessary skill.”
“They’re hardly noticeable, dear.” Magdalene replied. “You’ll get used to them.” She then added, “And Toril and I are your family.”
Sheilah frowned at that.
“You don’t have any sisters- you’re the only girl we had, and all your brothers are dead,” She muttered something under her breath at that, “But you do have a few cousins. You have family here.”