King of Tamer

Chapter Two - Anna Beathas

"Did it really go that bad again?" Anna asked her friend as the two were seated in cosy armchairs in the Tearoom of the Beathas mansion.
Lydya sighed in response.
"I don't know what to do, Anna! I feel control slipping from me every single day and I have no idea how to keep it all in check! One of these days, I will end up blowing at my father!"
The younger woman didn't have any idea on how to console her friend. After all, she had never been in a situation even remotely similar to what Lydya was experiencing.
Anna came from a rather wealthy family, her father being part of the King's council while her mother was the Head Keeper of the Great Archive. Anna's parents loved and sometimes even spoiled their daughter. It was to be expected, though, as Anna was the couple's only child and right after her birth, the doctors claimed that she would not live to see the morning. But, almost twenty-one years later, she still proved them wrong with every sunrise. Anna had been a fighter from the very beginning and it was the burning flame in her very soul that had caught the eye of a young lord: Perseus Tide, sole heir of the Tide line and Lord of Madaras, a rather large land spreading from the border of the Woodland to the Sea, as well as the best friend of prince Jacen Charis. At first, when the two were around sixteen, Perseus was truly infatuated with Anna while the girl simply considered him annoying at best and "a complete fish-brain" on the days when the boy would truly make the girl lose her minds.
But time passed and, by the time they were 18, the two had stopped fighting each other and started a more complicated yet far more annoying for their friends, dance around each other. And it was, after all, not such a big surprise that, at Summer's Solstice, the two finally admitted that they were long past the animosity of their first days. And an even lesser surprise was the announcement of their engagement a few days later. The surprise came a couple of months later, when in the midst of wedding preparations, Perseus vanished, only a week after his father, Lord Titus Tide was declared dead in a shipwreck somewhere just off the coast of the Far Isles, during a political delegation to the court of the Queen of the Isles, Keegan Livvy.
Afterwards, life seemed to be a downward spiral for Anna. She had lost all will to live, and had become only a shell of her former self by the time the official mourning period passed and she finally left the house.
It was around that time that Lydya and her parents left for Amaryl, leaving Jacen to rule for a month or so and, by the time they got back, Lydya was beyond shocked to see what her best friend had become. So, the princess decided to do whatever she could in order to help the younger woman.
Slowly, so, so slowly, Anna started to be herself again, but shadows now haunted her eyes, something was missing from her very core. She began going outside again, but spending more time with Lydya in the forest. She started talking to people and smiling and laughing, but she never again sang or dance, not at balls, not at festivals or around Maypoles and she altogether avoided the Solstice celebrations. But it was far better than the state Lydya had found her and, with every day, with every baby step towards the old Anna they were taking, the princess was thankful to the Creator for taking mercy on her friend's broken heart.
And now, it seemed that the time had come for Anna to return all the care and love Lydya had given so willingly, only to bring her back from that dark, dark place the disappearance of Perseus had thrown her in so long ago. And Anna would give her life for the friend she got when it seemed like all hope was gone.
The tea was growing cold, the cups untouched.
"Have you tried talking to Jacen? Maybe, if he knew all... this, he could help you and your father see eye to eye..." Anna suggested, concerned.
Lydya gave a shallow chuckle.
"And put in peril my brother's future? He has the full support of the people and most of the nobles, but how many will stand by him when word gets out about exactly what had laid dormant for generations in our family? About what awoke in me, singing in my blood? How many would still support him, and how many will raise against him, against my family the moment a whisper escapes about us? About the monster I am? Or can you guarantee that everything would stay the same, that no one will care? How many would stay because of devotion and respect, and how many would stay because they are to afraid to express their rejection out loud, but plotting behind closed doors and looking for the first opportunity to overthrow my brother?" Lydya said the last few words through tears.
Next thing Anna was aware of was her friend hiding her face in her hands and crying her heart out. Without hesitation, she held her arms out and nearly toppled over as Lydya threw herself in her hug. Gently patting her back, Anna held Lydya, who, in turn, held onto the younger woman as if she was the last thing keeping her from drowning.
"Shh, it's all going to be alright, you'll see! Your family will stay safe and sound, the people love you all! Remember how the kids always gather in that clearing in the woods to hear your stories? They would all fidget and try their hardest to get as close to you as possible, only to make sure they don't miss a word you say. And, believe me when I tell you this, you are no monster! A monster wouldn't care about anything beside themselves, not giving a damn about anyone. It would try to seize the power, not give it up for the good of the kingdom. It would have ripped your father to shreds the moment he had first raised his voice. And a monster would have never fought, tooth and nail, body and soul, the way you did, to bring me back from wherever it was that his disappearance threw me into. So, as long as I live, as long as, with every morning I rise, I defy all laws of nature and all sense, you will not call yourself a monster. Because you are as far from a monster as you get. And I don't care whether you accept it or not, but you have a gift and I will not let it go to waste. So, Lydya, I make an oath to you this day: I will stand by you, no matter what life throws in our way. I claim you, from this day and until Fate tears us apart. You are my friend and I owe a life debt to you. So if I have to lay down my life to save yours, I will not hesitate. This is my promise to you."
Anna didn't stumble upon the words she said and she could have sworn that something had awoken at the sound of her words. Something ancient and powerful, that would have frightened the woman, had every word not come straight from her heart, without doubt or prior thought. But as it was, Anna only felt refreshed by the sweet summer breeze that passed through the room.
Lydya raised her head, with tear-streaked cheeks, but eyes in which understanding bloomed.
"Thank you," she said, her voice steady and sure in what felt like years. "Sister."
The word fell between them and it was Anna's turn to be teary eyed. However, the chiming of the clock tower and the approaching noise of horses cut the moment short.
"I have to go," Lydya said, flustered, as she realised just what time it was.
"Go."
'He's waiting for you,' she wanted to say, 'and you don't want to tell me, afraid it might trigger that blackness again. You are so concerned for me that you would rather stand by and let your whole life pass by, only so I'll be alright. But I will be strong. I will be brave. And I will keep my word, even if it hurts like white-hot iron passing through my heart every time you get that dreamy look in your eyes, whenever he crosses your mind, even if it is only for a second. I will be happy for you. Sister.'