To her embarrassment she found that no one was there.
Only the gentle glow of coals of the fire that had burned beneath a
black pot and the cooking counter that filled the center of the
kitchen. A large table on the far side of the room would be used for
the servants eat at. She let out a huff as she waited for a moment
to see if anyone would come. With
an irritated scowl she grabbed a nearby
bell and began to ring it incessantly.
Leena quickly came in through the servant's entrance
trying to rub the sleep from her eyes and her brunette hair in
disarray. “Yes, Princess? How can I be of service?” she said
softly. Re'ana could hear the remnants of sleep in her voice.
“I want something to drink, and while you’re at it,
make me something to eat as well,” Re'ana commanded before she
brushed off a stool and sat down on it, avoiding having to return to
her room. Leena quickly got to work pouring a drink and getting a
fire going for the cook. Hurrying through the door that she had
entered from she hurriedly woke the cook.
A man dressed in a hastily tied smock and a hat that sat
crocked on his mussed up hair arrived a little later with Leena right
behind him. He grabbed random ingredients and threw them into the
black pot to cook as the fire began to burn in the hearth. Only the
crackling of the fire and the bubbling of the food made any noise
between the three of them.
In her boredom, Re'ana began to think back on how long
she had known Leena. The woman had been made her lady in waiting
several years ago, but she knew almost nothing about her. What
does it matter?
she thought to herself. She is just a
servant afterall. She
dismissed the thought as quickly as it arrived to play with a rolling
pin, pushing it back and forth on the counter.
“Mmmmm! Something smells good,” Fang said as he
stepped through the door into the kitchen. He held a thick leather
bound book under one arm as he bit into an apple in his other hand.
His gaze fell on Re'ana sitting in the corner wearing her night robe.
“Evening, Princess. Still having trouble sleeping, I see.”
Re'ana released an irritated sigh and rolled her eyes to look as far
away from him as possible. “Still mad at me for disappearing on
you the other night, huh?”
“For your information, you have such little bearing in
my life that I hardly remember the incident,” Re'ana said
nonchalantly.
“Apparently, I had some barring. You're still upset,”
Fang said with a wolfish grin.
Re'ana ground her teeth at Fang's disregard for her
authority but she was too hungry to fight with him. Sitting at the
table and setting the large leather bound book down, he opened it to
one of the center pages.
“Didn't think a commoner like you would have the
ability to read,” Re'ana snapped.
“And I'm sure you already know every word written in
this book just by looking at its cover.” Fang retorted back as he
flipped through the pages.
She caught a glimpse of a drawing depicting a shrouded
figure on one of the pages. “Wait!” she cried, jumping up from
the stool. Fang and Leena both looked to her, a little startled by
her sudden unladylike outburst. She immediately regretted saying
anything in such a loud voice. “That book...What is it?” she
asked.
“It's a tome of different creatures that one might see
outside the wall. Sometimes they get inside and knowing how to deal
with them is the difference between life and death.”
“And the drawing on that page?”
Fang looked at the page and then back to Re'ana.
“That's an image of the T'vi. One of the few people that actually
saw one and lived managed to draw that before his mind completely
snapped.”
Re'ana swallowed a little at the description of the
creature. “Does anyone know anything about them?”
“Why the sudden interest? You act like you've seen
one of these things.”
“I had a dream about something that looked like that.”
Re’ana’s voice was laced with fear as she spoke. Leena looked
to her with concern as it was not something in Re'ana's character to
reveal her fear.
Fang's normally grin bearing face was suddenly serious.
Flipping to the page with the most information on the T'vi, he pushed
the book toward Re'ana. Only half of the page was filled with the
scrawling of information about the wraith-like creature. Fang took
another bite out of the apple as Re'ana sat down. “Not much is
known about the T'vi. They aren't seen much. Well, at least few
have seen them and lived to tell the tale or kept their sanity. The
small information that is known is that they supposedly have some
magical ability and will abduct people at night. What happens to
those that they take isn't known, but few are ever seen again. Those
that are seen are either insane or complete servants to the T’vi.”
Re'ana flipped through the pages idly. “How come you
know so much about them?”
“I knew a man who survived an attack from a T'vi.
Before his mind was completely lost he told me about them in broken
sentences.”
Re'ana nodded as she closed the book. “Well, I guess
I'm glad that you're so knowledgeable about them. Should they come
then you'll know how to drive them away.”
Fang huffed a little. “There is no driving them away.
You see one; you start running and don't look back.” He tossed
the apple core into a basket of food scraps before grabbing the book
and taking it out of the kitchen. “Just remember. If you really
do see one, don't let it in. For some reason they can't enter a
house without being invited in.”
She let out a frustrated growl as Fang disappeared into
the hall. “God I hate him.”
“He didn't seem all bad,” Leena idly remarked as she
placed the glass and steaming bowl in front of Re'ana.
“Such disregard for social standings. He has little
more manners than a pig.” Re'ana held the eating utensil between
her index finger and thumb, as she had been taught to do for years.
She would champ down on the food in a most inelegant manner in her
frustration with the night clad guard. After a few moments, the food
in the bowl was reduced to crumbs and the glass sat empty. Re'ana
reluctantly returned to her room, leaving Leena and the cook to clean
up the mess.
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