LIRO || completed

• 6.2 •

Every person in her way was a nuisance, a living, breathing reminder of how many obstacles stood between her and the Queen. All of them, if commanded, would lay down their lives for their sovereign, Liro knew it without question. In her short time, she'd already given up the redemption she wished for.

What was one more hitch in her record?

The Queen, while being infuriatingly meddlesome, had an untouchable perch. Her sturdy throne, a sign that she was above every other human in the kingdom. That that forsaken golden crown that looked at home among her red curls.

Liro couldn't let Kier get away with thinking that he was in charge. That he had finally shoved her back into the shadows. She knew that darkness well enough, had worked with it before. 

Liro didn't mind reacquainting herself with the shadows.

Absently, she found herself walking to the kitchens, her stomach seemingly a pit that her hunger was scratching at the sides of ferociously. 

If she were unlucky, she would be met with curious stares and perhaps given hard bread and cheese. If Olenna were there, she would at least get a warm tisane to help wash the bread down.

Olenna filed in just before Liro, yelling at the top of her lungs about organization and the temperature of the Queen's soup. Liro had almost forgotten how well the old woman performed her tasks. There were no stares when she entered, sitting at the table opposite where Olenna was working. It seemed as if the amount of help the woman got had decreased since Liro had left.

"Ah, there you are," the woman said, catching sight of Liro perching quietly in the corner. "Finally got tired of the gruel they were feeding you?"

In fairness, Liro rarely ate what they gave her. Rations were to be handled by the head of each service. Kier was in charge of making sure that those under his command were fed at least once by the time they left the palace in the evening. Liro would nibble and pick, and then sneak her rations into someone else's pocket on her way out.

Then she would make her way to the kitchens and scoop herself a bowl of soup and break a piece of bread, sitting and eating at the foot of the stairwell. Liro wasn't sure if she hadn't been caught, or if she simply hadn't been kicked out.

"It's certainly a dramatic change," Liro lied. She'd taken one bite of the bread that Kier handed out and knew that she could have hit someone over the head with something so tough. 

Surely he let it grow cold in his bag all day before distributing it?

"Well then, sit down girl." Olenna fetched a cup and filled it with broth, handing it to her along with a crudely cut chunk of cheese. "Eat. Perhaps you'll be at your best tomorrow, and you'll have to tell Kier that the secret to having good recruits is to take care of them."

Liro bit off a piece of cheese and took a sip of the scalding broth. "I don't think he'd listen," she said, talking around the food in her mouth.

"Mhmm." Olenna arranged fine china on a tray, pouring sugar, honey and tea leaves into a pot of boiled water. Biscuits half the size of Liro's palm were stacked high on an accompanying plate, the brown of the treat contrasting with the white of the plate. 

"But you can tell him that particular trick works for me. I give what I want to get," Olenna said, her tongue poking from between her lips in concentration. "Respect."

Liro had to agree. If Kier wasn't so scalding, so manipulative, she might have still had a chance at coming to respect him. Yet he pushed and pushed and pushed, and as much as she hated it, Liro found herself pushing back as hard as she could.

I give what I want to get.

Liro chewed, mulling over the words. She could have tried harder, that much was obvious. There had been steps leading up to what she'd done to Kier, yet for some reason, she'd found herself abandoning the staircase and simply leaping to the top floor. Her intensity level had rocketed from zero to one hundred in almost five minutes.

It was too late for either of them now. Their conflicting prides would never let them settle things properly, not without some show of power. She couldn't believe that they were squabbling for attention like small children, yet here she was.

No. It wasn't some petty disagreement. Not anymore. Not since Liro had wheedled from Kier that the Queen was behind his threats. 

The sovereign had claimed that Liro would be the only one who knew of her own position under Kier's command. Kier was far smarter than Liro had originally anticipated, yet any respect for the Queen had vanished the moment Liro had realized the truth.

For even though she was as lethal as she was striking, Liro had thought that in a game of power plays, you could always trust the person with the least to lose. 

How wring she'd been.

"Olenna, the staffing looks a little low," Liro said, swallowing. Her eyes flitted up and over the contents of the kitchen and those milling about inside of it. "Where did all the others go?"

Olenna made her final adjustments to the tray before looking up. "The Queen wanted to take into account that there are very few in the palace, and that many of those in service could be utilized in other fields."

Liro stopped chewing. "You let them go?"

"I did nothing of the sort," Olenna said sharply. 

Liro set her bowl of broth down. "If you ever need help, come find me. I've done this before. And there's nothing that Kier will teach that I can't brush up on during my free hours." She shrugged, picking back up her food. "If you ever need me."

Olenna considered the girl with ink black hair and dark eyes, her face so sincere that it was astonishing. "I'll think on it, girl. I suppose you'll know if I need you sooner or later."

Liro nodded. "I suppose so."

The old woman left the kitchen, and Liro downed her soup and chewed on the the cheese ravenously before rising. As she exited, she couldn't repress the smile that crept onto her lips.

She'd just found her closest angle to being alone with the Queen.

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