The Tower of Nearness

Chapter 10: What was True

She paused in the act of tugging off his boot. Seren knew she would have to tell him. Yet, she found it difficult to organize her thoughts well enough to even start. No, that wasn't strictly true. She wasn't used to explaining herself to anyone. She didn't like it, but what choice did she have. No more lies, it was time for the truth.

"I am Princess Seren of Vano." She uttered quietly, managing to pry his boot off. The ankle was swelling and already starting to bruise. "Can you move your ankle?"

She glanced up and saw his eyes burning into hers. She was taken aback by their colour. Even in the low candlelight, she could see their colour and their sharpness. Blue, dark blue like the lakes in winter before the snow.

"Can I believe you?" his tone although soft, showed his tightly reigned anger.

"Yes, that much about me is true." She said turning back to his leg. She wanted to do what she could before it got any worse. "Let me take care of your leg and then I'll tell you everything."

He contemplated her for a while before nodding his head tiredly. She went to work checking his leg. It wasn't broken by any means, small mercies. If she had to hazard a guess, she would say it was a very bad sprain. A doctor would probably know how to best treat it, but her medical knowledge and books were all they had to go on right now.

Thus, she picked up the vegetable she'd brought from her kitchen, the cabbage. She picked it up and began crushing the leaves. She would make them into a compress to help reduce the swelling, and then she would wrap his ankle and prop him up. Part of her wanted to point out that it was unnecessary to go so far for him, but she felt guilty about hurting him. She could blame him for coming back when she didn't expect it, but she knew the blame was on her shoulders.

He didn't say a word as she put the leaves on his ankles, wincing only when she began to put the bandages around his ankle. She placed a cushion under his ankle and turned to face him.

"There." She said, "That should at least help, a bit. How does it feel?"

"Sore." He answered wryly. "Seren, please just explain what's going on. What were you doing outside?"

She sighed deeply and shivered as she remembered her damp clothes. She moved to the fireplace, checked on the wood, and lit a fire for them. The fire changed the atmosphere instantly. She could almost imagine she was about to have a chat with a long lost friend.

"Lucian, I am a princess," she began in a whisper. Her eyebrows tugged down. Seren wasn't a childish miss. She would answer him clearly, she decided, annoyed with her previous tone.

"And I do live here, but the rest of it... it's all a lie." She continued in a firmer tone. A movement out of the corner of her eye caught her attention. Ian sat in the corner, watching Lucian with a wary gaze. Ian stood and waddled to her side.

"The curse?" Lucian queried in a low voice, "the witch? Ioin the Dragon? All of that was a lie?"

"Yes." She replied and then continued, her conscious egging her on, "Well, except for the Ioin."

He glanced sharply at her, "What? The dragon is real."

"Sort of..." she placed her hand around her arm above her elbow. She rubbed her upper arm with her thumb, "You've actually already met him and his name isn't Ioin."

"What?" he repeated, his jaw-dropping, his blue eyes wide with disbelief. "I think I would remember meeting a dragon."

"Well," she drew it out, "Ian's not actually a dragon."

"Ian? His name is Ian?"

She nodded once.

"Let me get this straight," he closed his eyes, "Ioin the Dragon of Gywim is not actually a dragon and is actually named Ian?"