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The chink of the fine tea set echoed through the cold manor halls, my breath visible as I take a shaky breath. I head forward to her workshop—my wife’s workshop. Hope and fear bubble to the surface with every step.
Knock…
Knock…
Knock…
I don’t wait for her response as I open the door. “Sandrone? I brought you some tea… Would you like some?” I watch as her back is turned to me, hunched over in focus on the schematics laid on her drafting table.
A sigh escapes her. She doesn’t even take the time to look at me… “I told you not to bother me, Columbina.” Her cold response sends a shiver down my spine. Even in the cold of Snezhnaya I find myself shrinking away further by her words… My wife’s words.
“I- I was hoping to share these cookies with you!” My voice suddenly grew in pitch, betraying my true feelings. My hope starts to waver. “I even brought you your favorite tea… If you would like, I’ll pour you some now and you can rest with-”
“Enough.”
I shut my mouth as quickly as the words left them. My anxiety reaches its peak as I look down at the floor, avoiding her gaze as she turns to face me. Her eyes possess no warmth as always.
“Columbina, I do not have the time nor the desire to skirt my work for such frivolity with you. As director of Snezhnaya’s entire engineering division, my work is paramount to both the Tsaritsa’s goals and the nation’s survival.” Her words rang with finality and left with no room to argue. She returns to her work, her eyes not even looking once at the set I prepared for her.
Wordlessly I take the set with me and exit the workshop. The chink of the cups echoed once again against the manor’s halls. My steps mask the sobs my wife will never care enough to hear.
FORLORN LOVE
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COLUMBINA POV
“Sister…. It’s so cold…” I tugged gently at her dress, shivering at the unfamiliar cold. My older sister Canon gently picked me up and propped me on her hip, the warmth bringing me comfort. “Shhhh, child, once the servants have set up the heating furnace you’ll be fine…” Her unsure tone betrayed her the calm front she was trying to put up for me. My heart tugged as I felt my tears sting my eyes. “I miss home…” My words only caused her to hold me tighter. I could hear her muffling the sound of her oncoming sobs…
KNOCK!
KNOCK!
KNOCK!
Our heads both flicked to the main door as my sister put me down and quickly wiped her tears away. She composed herself to answer the door. “Yes? Who is it?” Her tone sounded worried, especially since our arrival hasn’t been good thus far.
“Hello! We’re from House Guillotin, if you know of us. I come to welcome you!” A jolly voice erupted from the other side of the door, a far cry from how people have treated us since we arrived. I watched Canon open the door, feeling the freezing cold blasted back into the room. I could barely make out a silhouette of an old man with… A doll?
No, this doll was looking right at me! I sheepishly raised my hand to wave at the both of them as they entered while I hid behind Canon’s legs.
“Hi, young miss, my name is Alain of the house of Guillotin.” He smiled warmly at me as he bent down to meet my eyes. “Sandrone, say hi to your new friend!” He nudged the doll - who I now knew as being called Sandrone. She really looked like a doll, her skin soft and smooth like porcelain, and her outfit was full of frills like the kind of dolls I saw in shops around town.
“What?” Sandrone’s irritated tone snapped me back to attention as I just realized I’ve been staring at her for too long. “Oh! I- Sorry my name is Columbina of the house of Hyposelenia,” I said automatically. I bowed curtly as my sister taught me to do when greeting other members of the nobility.
Her eyes bore through me as her gaze intensified. “Do you have a problem with my dress?”
My eyes widened, heat rushing to my face. “NO!- It just looked so pretty! I’ve never seen such garments in Nod-Krai.”
As Canon and Mr. Alain continued talking, I kept to my own devices. I could feel her staring at me, almost like she was studying me as I played with the hem of my own dress. Suddenly I found the floor super interesting. Her sudden sigh caused me to flinch as she slowly curtsied back. “Sandrone of the House of Guillotin. It’s nice to meet you too.” Her accent was hypnotic. I’ve never heard anything like it before.
“Sendrune?” I tried to replicate the way she said her name.
“No! It’s Sandrone! Not Sendrune!” She looked annoyed as I mispronounced her name… I couldn't help it, but before I knew it I was already giggling.
“WHAT’S SO FUNNY?!” she demanded loudly. Normally I would’ve been terrified at being shouted at like that, but honestly I couldn't help it. She looked so cute when she was flustered.
I jumped as I registered Mr. Alain’s and my sister’s laughs, obviously amused at mine and Sandrone’s exchange. They shook hands after. “I greet you, Lord Alain. My name is Canon of the House of Hyposelenia. I’m so sorry we couldn't have prepared a better reception for you. As you can see, the manor is still under maintenance.”
He rubbed his chin in thought as he looked around. “Yes… I suspect the heating furnace hasn’t been properly installed yet?”
“Yes, it’s due to the fact that many of our household staff aren’t familiar with heating systems from Snezhnaya. We tried to ask for help from our other neighbors but…” Canon glanced away, trying not to look so discouraged.
A booming laugh echoed in our hall as Mr. Alain put his hands on his hips. “Welcome to Snezhnaya! Don’t take it to heart, Lady Canon. The people here are… Unique, for lack of a better term. It was a big shock for myself when we moved here a few months ago.” He set down a satchel he had on. “Come, young lady, bring me to the furnace and I’ll help you set it up.”
“My lord! I can’t possibly bother you with this!” Canon waved her hands in embarrassment.
Mr. Alain took a stride as he walked past us. “Nonsense! We are friends now and we will help each other when we can!” Canon soon followed after him, her leaving me with-
“So why did you all come to this godforsaken nation?” Her blunt question brought me back to attention.
“Well Sendrone-”
“SAN-DRO-NE.”
…
“Well, Sandy-”
“SANDY?!”
She really made it easy to anger her. I was barely able to cough my chuckle away. “Well, the house of Hyposelenia is a social noble family who thrive based on connections. It was the hope of our family’s current patriarch, Nibelung, to send his granddaughters abroad to establish our house in different nations in the hopes of building foreign ties. My other sisters Aria and Sonnet were sent to Natlan and Fontaine respectively to establish their own branches there.”
“And yet, you got sent out here. Poor old you.”
Her blunt remark surprised me but I couldn't help but agree with her. “I- I am the youngest of us sisters… Because I'm too young, my father had asked me to join Canon here in Snezhnaya since it's safer here.”
She raised her eyebrow at me. “Safest? In all this snow and political intrigue? I understand why he wouldn’t send you to Natlan with all its civil wars, but wouldn't Fontaine be safer? It doesn’t share a border with Nod-Krai, and it sure as bloody hell is better than here.”
I felt myself cringe a little. Right, she couldn't possibly know about our patriarch's feud with the current prime minister of Fontaine. “Let’s just say we're not exactly welcomed there. That’s why my sister Sonnet was sent there since she’s the politician among us.”
I watched as Sandrone kept her eyes on me, clearly wanting to ask more but she shook her head, keeping her own thoughts to herself.
The quiet between us unsettled me a bit as I started finding the marble floor quite interesting to look at yet again. A rumble deep within the manor caused me to jump as I felt heat start to creep in from the vents. Releasing a breath I didn’t know I was holding, I let the warmth seep through me as I sighed and sat on the grand stairs.
Sandrone sat beside me, a proud look adorning her face. “That’s Gramps for you. He can make even garbage machinery come back to life.”
“Is Lord Guillotin a mechanic by trade?” I asked, basking in the new found heat.
“Engineer.”
“Isn’t that the same thing? I mean, they’re both good with wrenches.”
Sandrone shook her head. “Engineers are cooler. They handle the theoretical work and experimentation that leads to new inventions and innovations. Mechanics are more like… onfield and hands on and are more concerned with fixing things than inventing.”
I tilted my head curiously but as I was about to open my mouth to ask-
“Yes, I know he’s pretty handsy with his tools, but he’s an engineer by trade, not a mechanic. He simply has a more complete training than most, that's why.” She scrunched her face, seemingly having read my mind.
“You sound very proud of him.” I studied her curiously, wondering what’s going on in that head of hers.
“I am.” She smiled softly, fidgeting with the hem of her skirt. “I want to be like him one day.”
…
“Do you want to be friends?” The words slipped out of my mouth before I realized I had said them.
“Huh?!” She raised an eyebrow at me skeptically. I don’t blame her for her sudden outburst. I did just drop the question on her.
“Friends. Do you want to be friends with me, Sandy?”
When she turned away from me, I felt a pang in my heart, preparing for rejection.
“Sure.”
Said pang was overturned by searing hope. “Really?!” I found myself leaning forward towards her, the gesture surprising Sandrone.
She scooted away from me. Her eyes wouldn't meet mine, but the flustered panic look on her face really made her look cuter. Oh, I am going to enjoy teasing her bunches.
“Stop getting excited over something like this!” She pouted, crossing her arms.
I couldn't help but grin, the first real smile I’ve had since coming to this icy nation. “No take-backsies!” I raised my pinky finger towards her.
In response she made a face. “A pinky promise? How childish!”
I raised an eyebrow. “Aren’t you also a kid like me? Oh right, I’m 12! What about you?”
She sheepishly looked away once again, and raised her own pinky towards my own. “...” She mumbled something I couldn't hear.
“What was that, Sandy?”
“I’m also 12 years old…” A blush appeared on her face, her earlier comment seeming ridiculous now.
Quickly intertwining my pinky with hers before she could pull away. “It’s a promise! We're friends now!”
Sandrone pursed her lips, seemingly confused but intrigued at my own joy. “Yeah, yeah, we're friends now, stop being so excited!”
“Don’t lie now Sandy, I can tell you’re just as happy as I am!”
“AND HOW THE BLOODY HELL COULD YOU SAY THAT?!”
I grinned from ear to ear. “I can feel your heartbeat through your pinky!”
A full blush bloomed on her face as she hastily pulled her hand away from me. “IT’S NOT WHAT YOU THINK!”
“Oh I know, I was lying. You can’t feel a heartbeat through a pinky, silly!” My smile could not get any wider. “But you just confirmed to me you’re as happy as I am!”
“YOU!- YOU!- COLUMBINAAAAAA!” She rose to her feet, shrieking my name, a sight which was blurry to me through the tears forming on my face while I laughed until my stomach hurt.
My laugh and her incomprehensible rage echoed wildly along the manor halls. It felt at that moment the joy I felt that day would echo throughout the future.
SANDRONE POV
THE NERVE OF THAT GIRL!
My head felt warm as the carriage shook around us, Grandfather’s irritating smile plastered onto his smug face.
“I told you-”
“Ugh! You weren’t right grandfather! This trip didn’t gain our house a new ally, just some low standing Nod-Krai foreigners barely surviving as is!” Tugging at my cloak, my irritation rose as the temperature dropped the longer we spent out in the chilly snow. “That girl was also quite irritating! Calling me Sandy of all things?! It’s I! Not SEN-DRONE, not SAN-DRUNE, AND ESPECIALLY NOT SANDY!”
I tapped my foot quickly on the floor, my face feeling numb from both the cold and my incessant shrieking. My grandfather softened his smile, the look of someone who knew something I didn’t. A look that irritated me to no end. “Spit it out!” I huffed as I crossed my arms.
He looked at me gently, his smile never leaving his face. “Tell me about your new friend.”
“She is not my friend! She is nothing more than an annoyance! She laughs a lot, is touchy, and she makes fun of me! She even has the audacity to drag me into her games and make me run around her manor like some idiot playing some game called chase-”
“Tag, my dear.”
“Tag! Like we’re some Rifthounds running all sweaty and dirty! Archons, she’s so irritating, making me promise I’d be her friend- WHY IS YOUR SMILE GROWING BIGGER?!” I snapped. Grandfather smiled from ear to ear now.
“You haven’t noticed, have you?” His chuckle grated against my ears.
“Noticed what?”
“You’re smiling too, my dear granddaughter.”
My eyes opened wide in shock. I could feel my eyeballs bulging out of their sockets as I scrambled to the carriage window to try and get a glimpse of my reflection. A smile, satisfied and filled with energy, was on my face.
“Needless to say, I was right, this trip did bear fruit. My granddaughter just made a friend! A veritable win for House Guillotin." His smug tone made me slump on my chair.
“Shut up…” But now that it was made apparent, I couldn’t lie. I was really happy I met someone I can call a friend.