I Followed Fires

X. Bash

Home.

To Bash, his home was his bedchambers. Even after years nurtured by his mother within palace walls, hatred and betrayal lurked in the shadows. A home is not a place for such things, regardless of how comfortable it may seem. Regardless of how much food he was served, the warm bed he slept in quiet twilights, or the joyous occasions where the queen held balls, royal dinners, and parties.

As Jean-Michel, son of the second most fortunate family in France, spoke with his father, the king, Bash could not help think why he would leave the palace after such a short amount of time. He assumed that Adèle, his supposed to-be-betrothed, was to leave as well, since she seemed so dependent on her brother. Bash quietly left the throne room as queen Catherine tried to prevent the king from bursting into his infamous rage. The king was discussing Jean-Michel’s leave as calmly as he could, but his wrath burned in his eyes. Bash would be vexed too, for one of the richest nobles of France, who seemed so comfortable in French court, asked to leave the castle only after two days. As he imagined, the king would spend a number of days thinking of various untold reasons as to why a noble did not enjoy their time in the king’s home.

Bash entered the halls outside the throne room expecting servants and staff lingering outside the doors, and they were. The only sound in the hallways was the sounds of the whispers of servants, chambermaids, and kitchen staff and their predictions of the days that were to come.

“The king will fire one of us,” whispered a young chambermaid. “He will think that one of us may have done something so that his guests found life in French court unsatisfying,”

“He won’t fire anyone. He’ll chop of their heads,” a male servant spoke next.

Bash grew weary of their whispers, and so left scurrying through the massive crowd before the throne room’s doors looking irritated. He wanted to run back to his bedchambers, lock his doors, and doze off on his bed until he was to continue his duties in and outside of the castle, but someone who he had not intended to meet, stopped him from doing so.

“Lady Adèle,” Bash said. “I did not expect you outside of the throne room.”

Her expression indicated an empty reaction. It was obvious she was not impressed by Bash at all, nor she would ever be, he assumed. “I’m going to the stables to ride to the lake near the castle. I need some time to think, that is all,”

“You are not packing for your return?” asked Bash.

“No, my brother and I have agreed that I shall stay in the castle until the trouble back home is dealt with. Meanwhile, I will find things to do and hopefully not bore myself. Although, that is unlikely,”

“Why don’t I join you? Stepping outside of the palace grounds is dangerous,”

Adèle gave a soft chuckle. “What danger is there? It is a body of water sitting on an empty field of grass,”

“If you need to know, I need to speak to you in private.”

“Is it of great importance?”

“You could say that,” spoke Bash.

“Very well.”

Bash followed Adèle as she paced through the hallways, through the kitchens and then finally reaching the stables. As the afternoon sunlight bathed her skin, Adèle could not help but smile in front of Bash. They both thought in unison that the great outdoors were their true home, not inside the castle where they were entrapped by tedious, yet important matters. Adèle chose the horse that she regularly rode with, the large steed for which she has affectionately named Midnight. She immediately charged off to the courtyard and into the verdant fields, leaving Bash to race her from behind. He repeatedly asked her to slow down, as Francis and Bash did too. It came to Bash’s mind that Adèle was not a timid woman at all, but an adventurer at heart, a chaser of the sun.