Maidens & Killers

Loyalty

    I wake to an empty bed beside me, but a small note that makes me smile.

Early Morning Leadership Meeting.
Yours,
G

    There’s a harsher chill in the air this morning even though the sun is already high up in the sky, and I have a strong desire to stay tucked into my bed and sleep the day away. It’s amazing how much a handful of hours of sleep can help you. The once throbbing migraine that I’ve had for the last two days has alleviated itself and as I stretch my legs out , my body seems like it hates me just a little less than it did after my session with Professor Carr yesterday.

      Despite my desires I get up out of my warm bed and head to my washroom for a quick soak in my tub. Even though I don’t have classes this weekend, my time with Professor Carr has begun to really take an effect on me missing classes in the afternoon, so I need to hit the books hard. I make a note to myself to see if I can get together with Violet today and find out what I’ve missed. At the last minute I swing over to my small desk and grab my History of Navarre book and take it to the bath with me.

     Any aches or tightness that were still there when I woke up immediately are eased by the scalding water that I slowly lay my body down into.  I flip open my text book to the chapter we were last studying and begin to read about the post rebellion government elections. It’s so funny to me that our modern government wants to pretend that they are so untouchable but our literal history books divide our history into Pre and Post Tyrrish Rebellion.

    I can’t help myself but back up a chapter or two in the book to the height of the rebellion and scan for the name Tavis. There’s agonizingly little information about the rebels themselves, and I skim it twice before I catch the name, listed next to Fen Riorson’s at execution. My breath catches as I read the next line.

All Tyrrish Rebel Children Were Present At The Rebel Execution.

This is not new information to me, but it hits me differently now somehow. I think of the large man that warmed my bed last night and how he stood there, so young, and watched not only his father but also his innocent mother be executed. Tears threaten to break through my eyes when I hear rustling in my bedroom.
“Hey killer, you in here?!” Garrick’s voice reaches me in the bathroom.
“Yea, in here!” I shout back. I quickly wipe my eyes so that Garrick doesn't think I’ve completely lost it, crying over a history book.

      Garrick tentatively opens the door and pokes his head in, “There you are. I didn’t see you come down to breakfast, so I brought you something.”  His gaze lingers at my chest level in the water before grinning.
Slowly he lets himself into the small bathroom and shuts the door behind himself. He notices the history book in my hands immediately.
“Getting some studying done while you relax?” Garrick asks, raising his eyebrows.
I set the book to the side and try to fight the urge to cover my naked body up. I know that he’s seen me naked tons of times now, but there’s something about the bright lighting in the room that makes me self conscious.
“I’ve been missing loads of classes with these signet lessons. I’m trying to catch up.”
Garrick nods, still trying to hide the fact that he is ogling me in the tub.

      “Tell me about your dad.” I say surprising Garrick, by the look on his face as he hands me a muffin.
“Right now?” He says waving his hand at me in all my naked glory, pink from the heated water.
“Well, yea.” I say laughing. “I was reading in the book about the rebellion and he’s barely even mentioned.”
Garrick seats himself on the bathroom floor with his back against the tub. I reach up and run my fingers through his hair as he begins talking.
“Well, that doesn;t surprise me at all. Most books don’t really go into detail about it. It’s definitely not something Navarre’s leadership wants their people to remember, other than the fact that the rebels were caught and punished. What to say about my dad though?”

      He pauses to scratch his chin. “ We look alot alike. That’s what people used to say at least. He was always larger than life to me. He was a loyal husband to my mother, and a loyal friend to Xaden’s dad. He believed that there was good in everyone, but to expect them to show you the bad first and I’ve always kept that rule sacred. He was a good dad to me, though he doted on the girls. I think that he would have been a great dad to them, if he’d been given more time with them. He was just always a bit busy for me.  The girls could get him to stop mid conversation to play for a minute though.” Garrick chuckles at this.
“About two weeks into the rebellion, things were already not going as planned and I could see how stressed dad was. I was about 14 and noticed more than my little sisters. So, he’s in his office with three other guys and they’re having heated words about something, a plan of some kind, and moms just trying to keep a baby and a 9 year old girl out of the way. Well Greta was sick, I told you that I think, and cried all the time. My sister Gayle wanted to make Greta stop crying so she brought a chicken in the house to make her happy.  Well, as you can imagine, the chicken got loose and now I’m chasing it through the manor house and wouldn’t you know it but it runs straight into my dads office. All discussion stops and these grown men with the weight of the world on their shoulder just stare at this chicken running around the office. I am standing in the doorway with Greta and I just know that I’m dead, he’s going to murder me for this, until one of the guys with my dad starts to laugh. Before you know it all three of them are laughing so hard they are having to hold onto their sides to keep from toppling over.”

I am laughing as well at Garrick’s story, “Oh my gosh that is hilarious. Did you get in trouble?”
Garrick shakes his head. “No. By the time they stopped laughing Greta had admitted to the whole thing and my father told her he couldn’t be mad at her for trying to make her baby sister happy.”

     “He was a good dad.” I say. “My dad would have beaten all of us girls just on principle.”
Garrick sighs, “He didn’t beat me very often. But when he did it was a lesson I needed to learn. One time Xaden and I were arguing, we were about 7 or 8. We were in the hall of Riorson House, and he pushed me and I knocked into this vase thing. It fell over and broke into a million pieces. Xaden picked up all of the pieces and was going to hide it, but my conscience wouldn’t let me, plus I was still mad at him and wanted him to get in trouble. So I went to Fen and my dad and I told them that Xaden had pushed me while we were fighting and broke the vase. I’ll never forget the look in my dads eyes. He said that we would handle it, so we went and got Xaden and he told Xaden to bend over the fence out back for his whipping. Then, I couldn’t believe it at the time, he told me to bend over next to Xaden.” Garrick stops his story here for a moment as though lost in thought.
“I remember I kept asking my dad why I was getting punished when I had been the one to confess the crime and I will never forget what he told me. He said that Xaden was being punished for breaking the vase, but I was being punished for a far worse crime. He told me that Xaden was supposed to be my best friend and that meant something, and that we owed loyalty to Xaden’s family. I had broken both of those loyalty’s when I told on him, and for disloyalty there was no punishment great enough. That was the last fight that Xaden and I ever got in. Sure, we disagree sometimes, but I will never forget that lesson that day. It’s why loyalty is so important to me.”

     We sit in silence when Garrick finishes his story. Me soaking in all that he has revealed to me and Garrick with his mind a million miles away. I continue stroking his hair long after my bath water has turned cold and leave him to his memories for as long as I can.
“Do you remember the day they died? Your parents?” I ask quietly.
“Vividly. I don’t think you can forget something like that.” He answers.
“Were you alone?” The thought of Garrick by himself watching his family be murdered sends my heart sinking to the bottom of my stomach.
“No, Xaden was with me. He and I have been by each other's sides since before I can remember and we were by each other’s sides that day just like we were at the fence.” Garrick says, finally turning from where he was sitting with his back to me to face me again.
“Come on, you and I both need to hit the books and there are far happier topics for us to talk about.” He says.
I cup his face in my hand and kiss him as he leans over the side of the tub. He hands me a giant towel and wraps me in it as we head back into my room for a study session and hopefully a little fun as well.