Responsibility

Rahela couldn't honestly say that she was ever bored in this castle. She longed for that feeling again, that "what do I do now" feeling.

Nothing could be done about that longing, though.

The mornings were all lessons given by servants. The afternoons typically involved reading, dance practice, or whatever someone from the Imperial Family wanted her to. The evenings were similar to that. Some days involved more voluntary endeavors. Rahela had accepted this long ago, but she often worried about her poor maids-in-waiting. On some nights, she thought they seemed far too eager to hurry to their beds.

Those girls worked so hard for her. Rahela decided she had to promote them soon, but she wanted a little maid-in-waiting first. The next time she saw the Empress Dowager, she mentioned it.

Cool and almost uncaring, the Empress Dowager waved at the air as if she wanted to shoo something away, and she said, "Long ago, my Most Beloved Lout already chose a little girl to go to you. She'll be here soon."

"I didn't expect His Majesty to choose a girl for me," Rahela said, "but I'm grateful, as always. He must know of the perfect family to take a child from."

The next day or so, Rahela received word that the girl had already arrived. She was told to meet the Emperor and his boys at one of his favorite verandas. The weather was cold, but at least it wasn't raining. Rahela didn't mind putting on one of her cloaks. She even put a pair of gloves in her pouch, just in case.

At the veranda, she bowed to a standing, smirking Emperor. A bold and triumphant Emperor. It wasn't too different from how he normally seemed. However, there was a little detail Rahela didn't appreciate. That smirk, that shape in the lips, the amount of exposed teeth, all of that had her thinking of someone about to cut into a well spiced and perfectly cooked piece of meat.

His hand went to the back of an outdoor chair. He clearly didn't need any support, but he seemed to be so excited that he had to put his energy into something. His free hand trembled only a bit. "Little Princess," he crooned out, slowly, with ribbing tones, "I have a maid-in-waiting for you. She's somewhat old, but she's already served another. She won't have to being anew, although she does have difficulty with the Yahsin language and culture."

Eyebrows almost rising, Rahela said, "You've chosen a girl from one of the Empire's territories?"

He gave a nod. Then he seemed to look behind Rahela and call out, "Ah! She's here!"

Rahela turned around.

Standing behind a girl servant, who had apparently been an escort, there was a child. Not quite old enough to step into womanhood, but big enough to have some length in her limbs, it was indeed a proper little maiden.

A maiden with no surcoat.

A maiden with dangling, wing-like sleeves.

A maiden with her long, pale blonde hair in ribbon plaits hanging in front.

A maiden with large, tender blue eyes and a round face.

Rahela forgot the concept of warmth. Everything physical about her was frigid.

Gabi?

The new little maid-in-waiting practically skipped on over to Rahela. Her hands were elegantly folded before herself. Her smile was little and peaceful. She bowed to Rahela and said with the most delicate, faintest Testoan words, "I'm comforted by the knowledge that I'll be fostered by my honorable sister."

Rahela's tongue prodded and dug into as many spaces between her teeth as she could reach. Behind her, she vaguely heard Oksana whisper to Yana, "She resembles Her Highness. Are they related?"

Past the mental blizzard, Rahela thought she heard the Emperor say, "It was difficult to find her, but here she is. You hid her very well."

One of her hands folded. It trembled.

She took a little breath.

Her hand opened.

She looked down at Gabi's cute face and said, "My Lord is always mindful and considerate. He's reunited two sisters that have been apart for so many years."

Gabi's smile widened. Her teeth were shown.

"Ah, I love to see all the pieces in the world fit so well together," the Emperor said.

***

On the way back to Rahela's bedchamber, Gabriella Kadri Ekatarine tried her damnedest to seize all of Rahela's attention. The child talked and talked, on and on. She didn't understand the Yahsin language. She could only use Testoan. It was obvious who she was talking to.

"I haven't seen you in forever! I wasn't even invited to your coronation! Why didn't you invite me? You're so big now. You're still rather small, but to me you're big. I was amazed when I heard you were chosen by the Emperor. He must've been very impressed with Testoa. That's logical. Do you imagine you'll have many children? I can't imagine you with any children, even though I know you'll have to try."

Rahela wondered how she even breathed.

"I didn't want to leave my second Mistress," the girl went on, even as Yana and Oksana gave her almost condescending looks, "but I suppose when a big army comes you have to do what they say, or fight them, and we couldn't fight. But they told me you'd be my new Mistress, and that was grand. They gave me tasty food. I'll wager you were given the best. Would you please share some with me?"

Rahela kept cold. She didn't want to encourage so much blathering.

Inside the bedchamber, Rahela told one of the chambermaids to find certain scrolls from the tiny, private library full of mostly educational texts. Then, cutting one of Gabi's sentences in half, Rahela tugged on the girl's sleeve and pulled her over to the balcony outside. "Leave us be," Rahela told everyone. That was enough to convince the girls not to step over to the sisters.

"Hush. Hush!"

Rahela got the girl to stop talking. Then, in Testoan, Rahela whispered to her, "Had I made a mistake when I sent you far away? Did I choose a foolish woman to care for you? Why are you so naked to the world?"

The glee drained away from Gabi's face. She even pouted, but she didn't stop Rahela from continuing her scolding.

"Have you forgotten why I arranged for you to be plucked up and relocated? Have you forgotten why you were sent so far away? Or has nobody ever told you? As nobody explained the concepts of war and politics to you? I worried for your safety. I knew that after I surrendered to Yahsin that I could never protect you. Accordingly, you were hidden."

That child dared to question her, although she used a quiet tone. "Why was I taken here?"

"Isn't it clear?" Rahela paused then, as a chambermaid cautiously went to the balcony. Rahela let her come because she had a leather sack full of scrolls. Rahela took the scrolls and told the servant to go back in inside. When the sisters were alone again, Rahela whispered, "The Emperor is clearly using you to keep me from ever considering moving against him. You're his surety, his hostage. Your life is in danger here, and in fact that's why you're here, because of the danger."

Both of Gabi's little hands race up to her mouth. Her eyes were so wide. The pupils grew. She shivered. Rahela knew it wasn't because of the cold.

A sigh, a shake of her head, her plaits swinging, and Rahela gave what comfort she could. "It doesn't need to be said, but I'll say it. I have no desire to betray Yahsin. That would destroy Testoa. Far too many innocent people would suffer, and now, if I were to step onto that treacherous path, you would be killed."

One of Gabi's hands lowered, but Rahela knew that, unfortunately, her comfort would be diluted by a hideous truth.

With a single hand, Rahela put the joints of her curled fingers on one of Gabi's blushing cheeks. "At the very least, as cruel as His Majesty seems, he does seem to respond well to loyalty. As long as he knows of my loyalty, you're safe for now." Her hand drew back. "But ... we should move and speak as if there are enemies everywhere. Anyone could be deceitful. Anyone could trick the Emperor. A reason isn't needed. Assume it would be done for the pleasure of it and put the thought aside. Instead, focus on how to keep yourself safe."

Her nose wiggling and sniffing, more of her face pinkening, Gabi whimpered out, "Is the world really so scary?"

"It's worse than that." Rahela held the sack of scrolls closer to her chest. "You must, absolutely must choose your words carefully. It matters not that you only know Testoan. Never give anything away that doesn't need to be given. And most importantly, you must have fine behavior. Because you don't understand Yahsin, you'll be given more patience, at least until you know the language, but if it's clear that you're misbehaving, I'll personally beat you." She put her free hand back to the girl, this time on her shoulder. "One incorrect movement, and your head could be served to me for breakfast in a cell."

Gabi wasn't the precisely the same as Rahela. When she was sad or frightened, she often cried no matter who was looking at her. She leaned into Rahela, who had to move the case of scrolls out of the way. The girl's tears smeared onto Rahela's clothing. Her little body shifted with each cry.

That was when Rahela knew she hated the Emperor much more than she'd ever hated him before. She still had her respect for him. It was impossible not to respect a successful, impressive ruler. However, that respect was buried under a mountain of rancor.

***

The scrolls Rahela had asked for were for teaching a Testoan person the Yahsin language, from the basics all the way to more advanced grammar. She'd handed the sack over to Gabi and told her to study them every day. The first, most basic texts involved charts of the Yahsin alphabet, which was thankfully phonetic, along with Testoan translations and explanations.

Along with listening to all these native Yahsin speakers around her, trying to fashion together whatever clues she could, Gabi was meant to study the alphabet and practice her pronunciation. Even the servants could help her. They only had to point at a symbol and read it aloud to give Gabi the needed example.

The night was just as cold if not colder than the day had been some hours ago. It even started raining. Rahela was listening to Gabi recite five separate sounds in a row when she heard someone knock on the bedchamber's exit door. A girl's voice cut through the air, prompting Gabi to stop.

"Your Highness? My Mistress, Princess Tuya, would like to meet your little sister."

Rahela almost frowned. She looked over to Yana, who was yawning into her fist. Beside her, Oksana was rubbing tight circles into her temples. Rahela even noticed that Gabi's eyes were irritated.

Stepping closer to the door, Rahela said, "It's grown so late. I wish Her Highness had asked of my sister earlier."

"It matters not," the girl on the other side of the door said, "for my Mistress has demanded that you bring her."

When she heard Gabi's weak little sigh, Rahela knew she wouldn't give in. "At any other time, I'd comply. Now, we're close to falling over. We must go to bed. Send Her Highness my deepest apologies."

And that was that, nothing terrible happened. Or that's what Rahela assumed.

Yana and Oksana both balked the announcement Rahela gave soon after that.

"In my homeland, even the wealthiest hate to sleep alone. My sister wants to be beside me, and that's where she'll be."

There wasn't any room for arguments.

It was the best decision Rahela thought she'd ever had in this castle, or she thought so at the time.

During those precious moments before bed Rahela volunteered her time to comb out Gabi's hair, and she allowed her some chatter. The child princess' body seemed to melt into a pleased little blob. Then she curled up on the bed. Thankfully, her hair was so long that Rahela felt no hardship.

Eventually, Gabi's voice faded into a mumbling, wispy thing. Soon, Rahela could only hear the tiniest snores. Rahela laid her comb on top of a nightstand and carefully pulled a blanket over Gabi's body. Then, rubbing a spot under her knee where a garter had made an imprint, Rahela tucked herself in a spot near the little girl.

Despite her fear, Rahela found a moment of peace. Someone was near her, and it was someone she loved.

Throughout her new life as the Emperor's Betrothed, Rahela behaved as if she didn't have a sister. She'd believed that was the safest option. It had been a futile effort. Her family had been researched enough, and it had been only a matter of time for her sister to be found. Rahela should have chided herself for underestimating the Emperor.

She couldn't do that.

She was too relaxed, too deep in a bath of nostalgia and comfort.

***

After breakfast the following morning, Rahela took all her maids-in-waiting with her for another lesson. This was the strangest, and most brutal, lesson of all. One might assume it was too horrible for children to attend, but Rahela didn't even let an eyebrow move. She insisted that all three girls must come.

Their escort was a man that always looked cold and smelled like charcoal. He was one of the guards that worked in one of the widest, highest towers in the whole castle.

It was the Loveless Tower. The prison for the greatest offenders in Yahsin, often higher class, actually. Working class people were usually beaten or forced into labor after they'd been found guilty of a crime. An exception to that rule would be with an Imperial Castle employee.

It was raining again. Vicious, often slightly damp breezes would sometimes cut through a window's crack. Rahela wanted to commend the maids-in-waiting for not whining. They certainly used drawstrings to tighten their cloaks' hoods around their heads, but that was all. Not even Gabi made a complaint.

When they first entered the tower, the scents of moss and old wood almost made Rahela sneeze. The stairs were fairly spiral shaped, with landings on each floor leading to rooms and cells, mostly cells.

Leaving room for Rahela to translate for Gabi, their guard escort gave a lecture about law and order and the responsibility of each ruler to judge appropriately. Sometimes, the guard stopped at a random cell and actually called out to the prisoner inside. If the prisoner was able, they'd answer the guard's questions, which were always, "What was your crime, or what were your crimes? What sentence or sentences were you given?"

Rahela was the only maiden that didn't react to the sight of the thin, dirty, sad prisoners with horrified gasps and a turn of the head. From behind the doors of bars, they looked like something they might see in nightmares.

And yet, when they passed one cell, Rahela happened to notice and think over a man. Since he was a prisoner, he seemed overall unpleasant to take in, but there was something wrong.

He was otherwise healthy. His figure was strong. His arms looked thick and ready to wrestle. His eyes were even vibrant.

Rahela stopped in her tracks. Then she stepped backwards and turned to face the bars between herself and the prisoner. The others in the group had to stop and go back to her. The guard asked what was wrong.

Sitting on a bench, his back against a rough wall of uneven stonework, the man seemed to gaze up at the ceiling. There was only a tiny square of a window, and it was pretty high up in the cell. The daylight was weakened by the rainy weather, but Rahela believed even if it was sunny there wouldn't have been sufficient lighting. There was a reason why outside the cells there were a few candles and lamps here and there.

"This prisoner," Rahela said rather slowly, "he must not have been here long."

"I don't know," the guard said. "I'll ask him. You there!" He asked the same questions he'd asked the others.

That prisoner softly replied, "Embezzlement. One year." He sounded like he wanted to lie on the straw piles on the cell floor and go to sleep there.

Rahela thought to ask the guard, "When was he sentenced?"

Shrugging, the guard answered, "I don't know." He looked back to the prisoner. "When were you sentenced?"

Still unmoving, the prisoner said, "Two years ago."

"There are inconsistencies in his answer," Rahela said. She purposely made her expression a little angry, but only a little. "He claims to have been imprisoned twice as long as legally allowed, yet he looks as if he hasn't been here for long at all, unless one could confirm that he's been given a king's diet."

With a firm nod, the guard told another to fetch the relevant records.

A few minutes later, Rahela was searching a scroll for a number that matched the one engraved on a plaque near the cell's door. When she found the number, she asked, "What's his name?"

The guard asked for his name.

The prisoner said, "Tarmo Ammas."

Rahela saw his name beside the number, along with the sentence date. "According to this record," she said, "this man was indeed put in this cell two years ago, but his sentence should have been a year. He's been kept an additional year." She easily remembered some things she'd learned when reading about Yahsin laws. "The maximum sentence for this crime is indeed a single year with financial compensation. The financial compensation was noted here. There's no note in the record justifying any more time."

The guard's brow furrowed, and he said, "We should go to the warden." That was the employee that managed the tower prison.

"Absolutely not." Rahela rolled the scroll closed and pressed it against her chest. "I'll send one of my maids off to find His Majesty. I don't have very much power in this world, but I have enough for this." She made a snapping gesture towards Oksana, who nodded, picked up her skirts, and hurried away. Rahela looked back to the guard. "If anything happens to this Tarmo Ammas, say, if he suddenly disappeared or was murdered before any proper investigation can be done, it would only raise more suspicion. If you must tell the warden anything, then it must be that."

Then, without any other warnings, Rahela had her two remaining maids-in-waiting follow her back down the tower, all the way to the earth below. They only had to wait outside a few more minutes, trembling under an overhanging edge of a building's second floor, for the Emperor to arrive with Oksana leading him.

Rahela wanted to compare him to a loyal dog running up to its master, but she knew their relationship was the opposite. This was more similar to a small dog yapping at something that wasn't right, alerting her owner with the loudest voice.

The Emperor had one of his squires with him, and he looked very irritated. The Emperor was even more so. Rahela even thought he might've been licking his teeth. Rahela went over to him, bowed, and explained the situation.

"Yes. I'll go to the warden's office. Come." The Emperor's words sounded tight. His lips were even tighter. His hair was in a braid that had apparently become messy and partially loosened. Rahela imagined he'd been having a wrestle with someone beforehand. Was he upset about being interrupted?

The warden's office was on the first floor of Loveless Tower. That made sense. Why would he want to climb so many stairs? Inside, Rahela learned the warden was dressed very well. In fact, he seemed pale and soft, like he was made of a summer cloud. This job must be very gentle to his body.

The appearance of such amazingly important people in his office had the warden's eyes popping and his knees nearly collapsing as he got up and bowed. The Emperor didn't give a greeting. He only took the scroll from Rahela and asked if he could swear by the accuracy of the records. The warden could only swear, it seemed. If he said the records were inaccurate, that might inflame the problem. Who would want to question every single prisoner's case?

The Emperor then let Rahela show him the issue at Tarmo Ammas' name, the section where the date of his imprisonment showed that he'd been kept for twice as long as was allowed. The Emperor closed the scroll, gripping it so hard that it seemed to vibrate. He made a noise with his bent nose, similar to a snort. One of his eyelids almost closed. Then, he inhaled very slowly, and ordered the warden to lead them right to Tarmo Ammas' cell.