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The jingling of iron chains in Tira's cell under Wolfkrone Castle were bored and miserable, mirroring her own mood. Her beloved ring blade, Eiserne Drossel, had been confiscated, leaving her nothing to toy with except the metal links of her bindings. She paced around the cramped space, occasionally glancing at the dusk light beaming through the barred window up above, far too high for her to reach, even if she had a way to slip her bonds.
Hearing the sound of metal sabatons striking stone, Tira turned to see who was visiting, and was surprised to see none other than Princess Regent Hildegard herself. Louring at the sight, Tira growled, "What? Come to torture me for answers you know you'll never get?"
"Come to feed you, actually," Hilde said, setting a cup of some kind on a nearby stool so that she could pull a key from a loop on her belt, resting on a different suit of armor than the one that she had been wearing that morning. "I saved half of my supper for you personally," she explained as she used the key to open a locked hatch at the bottom of the cell door and slid the plate under.
Tira looked down at the plate curiously, examining its contents while Hilde listed them off. "Lachs, baked with salt and herbs. A wedge of blue Schafskäse, and soft Roggenbrot. A cup of good Dunkel to wash it all down." Hilde gently set the vessel of dark lager down on the floor in the cell, letting her withdraw her hand and close the hatch without knocking anything else over.
Doing her best to look affronted, Tira gently licked her lips to stop herself from drooling at the salmon, bread, and cheese she was being served. It was most definitely not deeply appealing and far more tasty-looking than anything she could afford herself while on her own in the wilds. "A square meal isn't about to make me talk, you know," she said, making sure her scowl stayed intact.
Hilde shrugged. "Nor do I expect it to. Garibrand suggested that I only allow you gruel and water, but that does not sit well with me. You are still a person, and deserve to be treated like one, even if you tried to kill me. I would think myself better than that."
Tira glanced down at the food again. "...It's poisoned," she reasoned, and getting a small laugh from Hilde. "I get the feeling you would be too stubborn to die to mere poison, even were it Tollkirsche or Knollenblätterpilz in your drink." Her smile grew. "Go on, prisoner. Eat."
The smell of warm victuals invaded Tira's nose, and she couldn't help but let the slightest whine escape her throat. Her purple eyes met Hilde's brown ones for the shortest half-second, and she knew right away that Hilde heard it. "Not fair," she grumbled as she sat down, "tempting me with decent food like you care about me or something." Her manacles' chain was long enough to allow her to eat with her hands just fine, and she did so with gusto, wolfing down the salmon in just a few bites before tearing off a large chunk of bread in her teeth. Taking a swallow of the lager, Tira found herself moaning into her cup a little; even on her best days, she had never eaten so well in her entire life.
The cheese, easily, was her favorite part; the pungent mold set her tongue alight, and in her eagerness, she almost choked on the rich cheese and its potency. Once she was done with all of the food, Tira downed the rest of the lager, and looked back at Hilde. Her sour expression had gone, and in its place was wide eyes and a bashful smile. "Okay, that was yummy," she admitted. "I'm still not talking, though."
"I already told you, I do not expect you to talk just because I gave you food," Hilde replied with a shake of her head. "I just think you are a human being, and should be regarded as such."
Hilde cocked her head to the side, looking down. "I imagine the Azure Knight treats you like a tool, hm?" she queried, and Tira's face fell. "You are not a person to them, just a pawn on their chess board."
"Don't talk about my master like that," Tira warned, though her voice was sad.
"But it is true, little raven," Hilde continued. "You yourself do not matter, only the results you bring."
Jumping to her feet, Tira shouted back, "I kill! I have to kill! Serving my master feeds me, and I won't give that up! I can't!"
"You kill innocents, you kill what the Azure Knight tells you to, and all you ever get is more lives on your list to take," Hilde barked back. "More targets, more tasks, more work, work, work. Your efforts are rewarded with more work, and you will work until you are put in the ground and fed to Soul Edge. And once you are of no worth to the Azure Knight, you will simply be replaced. All of your loyalty will be betrayed by your master and their unending hunger, as though you had never mattered at all."
"Shut up! Shut up, shut up, shut uuuuup!" Tira wailed, backing up towards the wall and putting her hands on her head. "I'm not hearing this! You can't make me hear it!"
Hilde approached the cell, gripping the bars in her gauntleted hands. "You have a need to kill? Then come, serve me. Join my famous armies, lauded for their prowess, and kill with true purpose. Slake your bloodthirst against powerful malfested, and not only will you be satisfied, the kingdom, no, the world will hear, and will thank you for it."
"No!" Tira cried, clenching her hair in her fists. "No, I can't do it! You... you can't..."
Twisting her face into knots of rage, baring her teeth, Tira then screamed out, "YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU, AND MY MASTER WILL THANK ME!"
"Then prove it!" Hilde bellowed, taking the key and throwing open the cell door after unlocking it. "Come and try, and show me how much your ingrate master actually cares!" With the door open, Tira lunged from the wall, holding a sharp piece of stone that had fallen away like a crude knife. She shrieked as she moved in to try and stab Hilde in the neck, but the princess caught Tira by the arms, and swung her into another wall of the cell, the impact knocking the rock from her hand. Not one to let a whack like that deter her, Tira managed to lurch her hands forward, looping the chain over Hilde's head and around her neck. Before she could maneuver any further and pull the chain tight, however, Tira found herself lifted off the ground before getting slammed onto her back, hard. Such was Hilde's strength that every last breath of air left Tira's lungs, and she gave a vain wheeze to try and get it back.
Alas, it was to no avail, for Tira found Hilde atop her, angrily pressing her mouth to Tira's; between the shock of the body slam, the lack of air, and the raw emotion of her lip-lock with Hilde, Tira lost all fight, and tears began to stream down her face.
'Air, air, I need air, Master help me, I need AIR-'
Tira's vision rapidly filled with spots and throbbed in time with her head and heartbeat, and she felt like she was about to die from so many things all at once. Maybe Hilde would show her some twisted sort of mercy by letting her breathe before proceeding to beat her to death with her metal knuckles? It would certainly be preferable to dying to a kiss on the floor of a prison cell.
Then there came the sudden relief of Hilde breaking the kiss, and Tira drank in the stale, dusty air of the prison like it was water and she was baking in the deserts of Persia. Gasping, heaving, panting like a dog, the tears continued to flow from Tira's eyes as her world started to return from the blackness of oblivion. Though there was still apparently some anger in Hilde's eyes from the attack, what Tira saw more of was warmth, and even sympathy. "I cannot begin to fathom the horrors that have made up your life," Hilde stated, "but please, know that you need not suffer them anymore. Join me, at my side of the chessboard, and go from being your master's pawn to being my knight."
Hilde kissed Tira again, once the assassin's breathing had become semi-regular, gently darting her tongue in and out of Tira's mouth. This kiss was shorter, and when Hilde separated, she muttered, "Or if you prefer, be my queen. Stand among comrades, among people who truly care, and live a life that will get better."
Sitting up but not leaving Tira just yet, Hilde looked at Tira's softly crying face, and spoke with kind authority, "You gave me the offer of joining the Azure Knight's forces in exchange for letting you go, and even of joining you personally. In counter, I make an offer of my own: join mine and my kingdom's cause, and you will finally matter to whom you serve. You will matter to me. Would you like to truly matter?"
Her silent tears turning into weak sobs, Tira nodded, and when Hilde stood off of her, she curled and rolled onto her side, her crying growing louder. "I will let you recover first," Hilde said, "but when you are ready, I will see you freed from the Azure Knight's iron grip and resting in my open arms. And then, you can matter to the whole world, almost as much as you will matter to me."