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Chapter 1: I Am No Bird, and No Net Ensnares Me
Silver metal creaked on the marble floors as White Lily Cookie strode across the near empty throne room.
“I greet your eminence; light of the empire.” As her knee touched the marble.
“Rise, White Lily Cookie. I see you received my decree?” The veiled, behemoth of a cookie replied, their voice echoing throughout the halls.
“...I will not fail you, your eminence.”
Though the silky veil revealed very little of the figure, their light glowed so bright it could’ve only manifested their delight at her answer.
~~~
Pure Vanilla Cookie stayed up all night trying—and failing—to decipher the mysterious book the High Forkbearer entrusted to him. The pages were littered with sketches of rare herbs and flowers, and in a last resort, he decided he had to at least try the royal garden. Perhaps a pleasant surprise could be awaiting him, and a pleasant surprise he found indeed.
Still in yesterday’s robes, his hair tousled, face dreary, and voice lacking its usual soothing cadence, Pure Vanilla made the long journey from the forbidden tower all the way to the greenhouse. Once he stepped out, the sun was immediately blinding, but that didn’t bother him, it never did. He missed the feeling of light casting shadows behind him and warmth filling his veins—he had been in that tower too long.
Upon arriving at the greenhouse, he appeared unchanged, as if he didn’t spend an entire day trying to translate a thick book of what seemed to be nonsense. His robes were no longer wrinkled, hair was kept, and his voice somehow brought itself back from the depths of grogginess. Reminding himself of his initial goal, Pure Vanilla began roaming the empty greenhouse.
At least, he thought it to be empty.
In the distance, a lone figure caught his eye as he circled lines of blue and violet flowers. Standing just outside the greenhouse, a knight in shining armor leaned against the hardened wafer banister. Her frosting was cut just below her jaw, and a soft, milk colored braid swayed next to her fuchsian eyes. Though she seemed hesitant, her eyes gleamed with longing as her gaze bore beyond the glass walls of the greenhouse.
…It wouldn’t hurt to give her a peek.
~~~
“Sir Knight!”
A distant voice brought White Lily back from the dream world. Her head turned just as the first word was uttered, and she found that just a few feet from the object of her wanting stood a tall, lithe frame. The door was gently swung open, and the cookie inside started making strange gestures with his arm—perhaps it was time to leave. However, just as she spun away, a light grip wrapped around her braid and pulled.
Slowly, her head turned back and she found herself face to face with the greenhouse cookie.
“Oh, my witches…I am deeply sorry!” The poor, flustered cookie immediately released her. Her face must’ve been red as raspberries.
Without a word, she simply stepped back, too startled to respond.
“I—” She started weakly.
“Pure Vanilla Cookie,” He reached his hand out, “You are?”
“...White Lily Cookie, member of the Silver Knights…as of today.” A moment passed before she remembered to shake the outstretched hand.
“I wasn’t expecting anyone to be here.” Pure Vanilla began.
“I apologize, I shouldn’t have been loitering, it’s not pro—” He cleared his throat.
“I wasn’t expecting anyone here, but everyone is, of course, welcomed. Why don’t you come inside and join me?”
It was an offer she wouldn’t dare refuse.
~~~
Finally, the timid cookie stood before the blessed object of her longing, and she stood with the air of a cookie who had it all. Warmth flushed his cheeks.
“Earlier, you mentioned you were a silver knight?”
“Ah, yes.” Her eyes never averted.
“And you were assigned just today, I presume?”
That took her attention away.
“...Yes, just a few hours before.”
“That’s quite a promotion.” Finally, he’d found a subject.
“I…wouldn’t say so.” Her fingers gently brushed the petals of the flower, “I’d say it’s more of a death sentence.”
“I never thought of it that way.”
“Well, you’ve never seen the frontlines before.” She quickly corrected herself. “I…I’m sorry, that was…I didn’t mean to say it like that.”
“No, no! It’s perfectly—that was a perfectly warranted response, you’ve given me something new to think about.”
“Witches, I’m sincerely…deeply, sorry. I never meant to be rude, I’m simply—”
“I understand how you feel, or, well, I hope to understand at least a fraction of how you feel.”
A brief, shared look, and that was all he needed. His eyes drifted to the greenery before him. An array of pure, snow white painted flowers.
“These flowers…what are they called?”
“Madonna lilies, or Lilium Candidum—they’re my favorite, I never thought I’d see them here, or anywhere, really.” Her soft voice echoed throughout the glass walls before she abruptly stopped herself.
He glanced at the lilies, then back to her. The soft, outward curve of the petals to the silky curls of her frosting, the purple blush of their core to the fuchsia in her eyes. His eyes seemed to sparkle just as much as hers.
“They’re beautiful.”
~~~
The sun was scorching, the silence deafening, and the room started to close in. She needed to get out.
“I should be going, I must return to my battalion.”
“So soon? I thought it was a death sentence.”
Her face flushed once more, why wouldn’t he let it go?
“That was… a rash comment, and I can’t simply disobey royal decree.”
“I’m sure the High Forkbearer would understand, this is about your life.”
“It’s a royal decree.”
“That doesn’t mean—”
“You wouldn’t understand, I can not disobey their eminence.”
“Because I haven’t been on the frontlines?”
The urge to escape started pounding in her head, an urge she couldn’t help but give in to—with no warning, she rushed out of the greenhouse, leaving the healer by his lonesome.
***
Just a sunset later, she found herself on a horse, wounded, rushing straight into battle. Arrows flew from all sides, at some point she stopped trying to figure out which ones belonged to hers. Swords and spears clanged and grazed, shields crashed into each other, the roars of cookies and warriors echoed all over the valley. Warriors began falling off their steeds one after the other; from an unseen arrow, a sharp sword, a strong shield, and soon the plague reached her after an arrow pierced through her steed’s calf.
Desperately, she found herself sanctuary behind a large rock nearby from the stampede and onslaught of violence. Jam tainted the snow-covered fields, and before she knew it, jam began spilling from the cracks of her scratched armor.
Was this how it was meant to end? Hidden beneath the snow, having accomplished nothing, recognized and honored by no cookie at all? The pain, the suffering, the roars—all for the will of a leader who had never even seen a battlefield before.
One more breath, one more breath and she was free.
~~~
There she was. He was lucky to have caught a glimpse of her figure lying against the rocks. Never in his life had he sought to join a battalion on the frontlines, but this strange knight had managed to capture his interest, and he found that he couldn’t let her go, at least not until he could apologize. And so, he found himself before the High Forkbearer, asking to be assigned to the battalion evacuating the enemy village on the outskirts. Perhaps saving her life could even the playing field.
“White Lily!” He called out as he waded through the thick snow and ongoing battle.
He carefully removed her armor and, after a soft chant was spoken, her breath returned, and her eyes fluttered open to reveal the determined healer before her.
“Pure Vanilla…?” The shock of a near-death experience clouded her thoughts and vision, but that beautiful, golden frosting could belong to only one.
“Yes, yes it’s me, how are you feeling?”
“Like I’m burning…”
“We must return to the camp, you will find rest there.”
With one huff and heave, Pure Vanilla managed to get the wounded cookie on her feet, and together they carefully walked back to the camp, avoiding the warriors who seemed to be doing the same. They would have reached the camp together had it not been for the sight of two young cookies, clearly lost and frightened, being trampled upon by the once-steeds running driverless, and the cookies too absorbed in saving themselves to even notice.
He felt her pull away, then and there he knew no amount pleading would make her turn back.
“Someone will come for them! Now we must go, Sir Knight!”
“They are going to die out there!” She started to run.
“Their parents must be around here somewhere!”
“Their parents are dead, Pure Vanilla! All of them—they’re gone. No one is coming back for them!”
“They simply lost their way from the evacuated groups, when we return to camp we can inform the commander and they will return to help the children to safety.” His calm tone only disgusted her, but he couldn’t see that.
“Don’t you understand?! Do you not see what is being done before you?! The entire village is being burned, their population has been halved! How could this be an evacuation? This—This is a massacre!”
Winter fire blazed behind her, the embers shone in his eyes, and smoke engulfed the field. How could she be so careless?
“You are helping the enemy, their eminence could declare treason against you! The High Forkbearer will know of this, Lily. Please, reconsider, if you do this I can only do so much!”
His eyes began to glaze with tears as the smoke filled his lungs. The thick smog obscured any sight of the village. A horse passed by him, its brays grew near and far, and so did her voice across the field.
“I am no bird, and no net ensnares me!”