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"Are we there yet?" she said.
"Not quite," Lucia replied.
She stepped forward, unseeing and clumsy and barely able to hold the laughter in. Lucia's ungloved hands were a blind across her face, and they moved in an awkward tandem, step by step to wherever Lucia had planned this. She trusted Lucia to catch her, to lead her on and soon enough, she felt the absence of Lucia's touch.
"Now."
Lucia was wearing a very tall hat, and a dress she'd never seen before. It was dark blue and edged in gilt, with a band of black across her waist.
"Lucia...."
She lifted up a deep forest green dress with an empire waist. Like Lucia's dress, it was also edged in gold.
"How long has it been since you had a moment to yourself? Since you weren't fighting a war, or meeting with dignitaries?"
She couldn't say. Even as she racked her brain, she couldn't remember a moment given to pure mirth. Those were gone with the days of her childhood, before this heavy crown of responsibility was laid upon her head.
Elincia turned, and slipped her queenly raiment over her head and laid it over the dusty chaise. The new dress was over her head in a minute, and soft against her skin. She had never seen this room, for even in the years she had. The pillars were of stone carved in intricate florets near the top. She ran her hand across the smooth, cool stone and took it all in.
A sitting room covered in dust, closed away through the years. It must be in the left wing, she thought, for that had been closed for some time, and she had not yet found the need to reopen it.
Sheets were set aside, like a pile of discarded ghosts.
"Can you imagine what living in the castle would've been like? The games of hide and go seek, braiding each other's hair..."
She could just see a vision of them, hiding behind a pillar and trying to stifle their laughter as Geoffrey counted down.
"Lady lessons, endless sewing, meeting the people who you would be betrothed to," Lucia said.
"Ah, yes," Elincia said.
She lifted up the teacup and took a sip. It had grown tepid, just as she preferred her tea, so that she could drink it in one gulp. It was most unladylike, but it was how they had fared as children, slurping their soup and giggling as Lucia kicked Geoffrey under the table.
There were small tea cakes filled with poppyseeds and tasting faintly of lemon imported from the south; bittersweet scones filled with dark blue berries; and a plate of cut apples fanning out to form a flower.
"Geoffrey helped with some of the organizing. He was supposed to be here as well, but he was called away at the last minute due to some chaos or other going on. I believe it was a code Kieran."
"Oh, I can believe that," Elincia said. "He's always so...meticulous with design."
Lucia had never brought dolls to tea parties, and Geoffrey was less a player in their parties than a bodyguard; unable to drop his pending knighthood and devotion to his cause. Lucia always made him shine the silver before they played—though make might be too harsh a word, as he gladly would clean up and straighten the centerpieces for her, and make sure that the silverware was just so.
Her tea slurped as finished the last of it, and as she lowered the cup, she covered her mouth in embarrassment.
"Oh, sorry—"
Lucia placed her hand over Elincia's. "You never have to apologize around me. There's nothing you could do that could offend me. Especially not tea slurping."
As if to punctuate her point, Lucia loudly sipped at her tea, even blowing bubbles into the cup.
Elincia couldn't help but laugh. It was just so naughty of her. Oh, they would've received such a stern talking to if they'd done it where their tutor could've heard.
"Are you saying we should turn this into a battle of uncouthness?" Elincia said, a smile at the corner of her lips.
Lucia raised her eyebrow, and then took a large, most unladylike bite out of a teacake. She didn't even bother to use a napkin right afterwards.
She placed a fresh wreath of little pink and white flowers on Elincia's head.
"Your crown, your majesty," Lucia said.
She got up gracelessly, and held her hand out. Elincia allowed herself to be led past the couches to the dusty floor. It was not a waltz, or anything so metered, but a harkening back to the days where they spun with flower crowns and were rulers of the villa. A time of mica dust brought back as gifts from Lord Bastian which they would rub over their skin and join with fairy wings.
With joined hands, they spun as the room blended together into colors around them. Once she'd found magic in small things, but that was a long time ago, a time of tree houses and fairy tales, stolen kisses under the shade of trees. This house felt like the closest she had been to the girl who believed, the girl who never who had known war, or how harsh the world could be.
Together, they danced until she was completely dizzy Then they collapsed on the chair, laughing and breathless.
"I haven't heard you laugh like that in a long time," Lucia said.
"Thank you. You always know me so well," Elincia said.
Lucia leaned in to kiss her neck, resting her hand upon Elincia's arm.
"You cannot push yourself too far. You're carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders, and you must know that you don't have to do it alone. Geoffrey, Lord Bastian and I will always be there for you."
"And without all of you, I would have surely fallen into despair long ago."
Even the thought of being without them made her feel panicky, they were so integral to her, it would be like going without air.
But especially you, Lucia.
Lucia brought Elincia's hand to her lips.
"I am but your humble knight. I live to serve you. Remember that," Lucia said.
"But you're much more, you're my friend and my...." Elincia blushed at this. Even saying words like girlfriend or lover was still new to her. "My...My precious person."
Lucia squeezed her hand tight. "For all of us that adore you, please be kind to yourself."
"I'll try," Elincia said.
"I won't allow you to allow yourself to be so overwhelmed. There, is that better?"
Elincia smiled. "Much. And I'll hold you to that promise."
She knew Lucia would never let her down, and never let her be bone weary again.