Chapter Text
Quiet.
That was all that surrounded Diya as she laid back on her bed, staring up at the canopy over it. The quiet seemed to envelope her and her surroundings. The quiet was deafening.
And she hated every second of it.
Quiet was dull. Quiet was boring. Quiet was a pain.
The only thing that happened to break the endless expanse of silence were the sounds of her parents’ voices, echoing through the mansion’s long, empty halls and finding their way up the stairs to her. She could hear them ordering servants around, trying to ensure that everything was absolutely perfect for the party later. And that wasn’t exactly an improvement over the quiet.
Speaking of. The party was set to begin in— she glanced up at the clock to gauge how much time she had — a little over an hour. She groaned, covering her face with her hands. She’d already gotten dressed, and she wouldn’t dare to go downstairs, lest her parents turn their yelling onto her. So staying in her room it was.
With a flick of her wrist, she summoned a few books off of her bookshelf, causing them to levitate in the air. Another swift movement of her hand, and the books floated towards her, shimmering slightly and neatly stacking themselves beside her on the bed. Idly, she pulled one from the top of the stack, allowing it to float directly over her face, scanning the cover. She’d read and reread all of these books to death, exhausting the once vibrant worlds contained in the pages with how often she explored them. But she was bored. She needed something to do, and rediscovering old favorite books was hardly a bad way to pass the time. As she flipped through the pages of each book, keeping them suspended over her using a small amount of magic, she found that she wasn’t interested in picking any of them up, not even in her desperation to occupy herself. She let the books float down onto her other side, stacking them much more messily than they’d been before.
Reading was out, then. What else could she do? There wasn't much in her room, save for the shelves full of countless books and the displays of toys from her childhood, and neither of those things were particularly appealing to her, not then. Huffily, she stood up, moving to stand in front of the full-body mirror next to her dresser, the heels she’d been forced to wear for the party clicking against the hardwood floor and weighing her down.
Diya didn’t feel like herself.
Maybe it was something to do with the party that she was being made to attend, or just the sheer amount of boredom that was practically consuming her, but she felt off. She stared at herself in the mirror, looking into her own dark brown eyes and examining every part of her appearance with a critical eye. The outfit she had on, had been forced to wear, as per her mother’s insistence, didn’t feel like her. The bright white dress was a stark contrast from the colors she normally wore, and the several layers of lace and tulle that were giving the skirt its volume only made her want to rip it off with how they scratched against her skin. The pearl necklace, bracelet, and earrings she had on all belonged to her mother, and she’d been allowed to borrow them specifically for this occasion. They felt cold against her skin, constantly sliding and changing positions in a way that sent chills through her. The light yellow fur coat she wore overtop of the dress was somewhat comfortable, she supposed, and the way her frizzy dark brown hair had been styled was nice, but even then, she felt far too out of her element to enjoy that.
She didn’t even want to go to the party, not in the slightest. The big events her parents threw always overwhelmed her, and the fact that she was always forced to do without her friends only served to upset her even more. She was meant to make friends with the “proper” children, the children of her parents’ friends, but she’d never met a single one of them who she liked. She thought all of them to be rich, snobby brats who were too self-absorbed to ever be pleasant to interact with. It didn’t help that they all thought of her as “weird”, either, which only furthered the divide between her and them. Parties were loud, boring things that she was always forced to endure alone, without her friends, in some horrid outfit that her mother insisted she wear. It was no wonder she hated them.
A knock at the door pulled her out of her thoughts, and she didn’t even bother to ask who it was. Instead, she opted to open it with a quick motion of her hand, causing the door to glow lightly for a second as it swung open without her even moving from her place by the mirror. Standing in the doorway was a girl, no older than Diya, with dark brown skin and fluffy black hair that she’d tied back into two puffs on either side of her head. The girl was wearing a maid outfit, as was required of her, and to anyone else, she wouldn’t have been anything special.
To Diya, though, she was her best friend.
“There you are, Jade, I’ve been waiting on you!” She turned to face the girl, brushing her skirt off and manipulating a hairbrush with her magic, idly using it to smooth her hair down. “You were supposed to help me get ready, what took you so long?” If it’d been anyone else, she would’ve been annoyed, but since it was Jade, she gave her a smile.
“I know, I know, but I got stuck managing the littles when I finished my work, and you know how they can be..” Jade busied herself with taking her hair out of the puffs letting it fall and rest itself just on her shoulders.
“Honestly, I don’t know why Mother and Father insist on having such young kids work when they require so much supervision,” Diya huffed. “It’s not like we don’t have proper servants, either, they just want to punish those poor kids for existing.”
“It’s awful, but there’s not much we can do. Not without getting ourselves in trouble,” Jade pointed out. “I saw Ada earlier, too, when I was making sure the littles were all doing their jobs. She was working.”
Diya’s magic abruptly fizzled out, and the hairbrush clattered to the floor. “What? They still have her working? She’s been sick for weeks, they can’t just do that!”
“Do you think they care? You know your parents better than any of us, you know they’ll do anything if it means they can get things done faster and cheaper.”
“But– but she already has her mobility issues, and we all know her being sick has only made those worse! Mother and Father already complain enough about her and her crutches, why would they—?”
“Look, Diya, it’ll be fine,” Jade told her, offering her reassurance. “The littles never work for long, and since my job is just about done, I’ll keep an eye on her until the party’s over or until Alex can take her. She’ll be okay.”
“If you say so…” Diya muttered, turning her gaze back to the mirror and staring at her reflection.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing, I just– this day’s already been dragging, and I don’t think I’m ready for how awful the party’s gonna be. I mean look at me, Jade!” She gestured to her outfit, which she looked entirely out of place in. “I already feel awful, and I just want this to be over.”
“You look fine, Diya. It’s not what I’d call your style, but you look nice, and you’ll be okay. You know the drill. Just go down there, put on a smile, tune out the other kids, and it’ll be over before you know it.”
“Promise?” Diya looked over at Jade, her eyes full of worry.
“I promise.”
A knock at the door startled both girls. Their moment was over, it seemed.
“Miss Lydia, you are needed downstairs,” called the voice.
“Already? But the party isn’t due to begin for—” she glanced up at the clock— “—another hour!”
“There have been some changes to the schedule. The party is set to begin at 6pm sharp, and your parents have requested your presence. Come along now.”
Diya groaned, burying her face into her hands. “It’s like they can’t tell me anything!” she huffed, her voice quiet and thick with emotion. She hadn’t planned for such an abrupt change.
“Miss Lydia, you are needed at once. Hurry it up, young lady.”
“Diya. You’ll be okay. You’ve done these things time and time again, you know how they work. Chances are you’ll be able to sneak up here with me before the party’s even over, okay? Just go, we’ll have time to ourselves later tonight.”
“Miss Lydia! Your presence is required, move along.”
“Coming!” she replied, doing her best to keep her voice even and wiping a stray tear from her face. “Do I look okay?”
“You look perfect. Just go, do what you have to, and it’ll be over quick. Alright?”
“Alright.” Diya made her way to the door, but just as she was about to leave, she gave Jade a quick hug, briefly picking her up and spinning her around before setting her down again. “See you tonight!” she called out, waving at Jade as she left her room.
Just go downstairs, humor Mother, Father, and the guests, and it’ll be over. That’s all. Nothing more than that. She’d done it before. One more time couldn’t be so bad.
Right?