As The Poets Say

Lannia II (The Ashes of Who I Once Was)

Celesse and Kivan Rane had a perfectly comfortable home, all things considered.

It was a small home, with a door that opens onto the street leading directly into the main room. On one side of the room was a small, cramped kitchen, but Celesse had herbs hanging from the ceiling, drying in front of the window. Lannia wondered where she got them, but thought they made the inside of the Rane house smell wonderful. The other side of the room had a dining table in one corner, with two simple wooden chairs, and a tall cupboard in the opposite corner. In the center of the back wall was a curtain, which led to the bedroom, which was small. Everything was clean, though, and cozy in its own way.

It took no time at all for Lannia to find her way there, weaving in and out of the alleyways and streets like her life depended on it as she descended further into the city. She was running on pure adrenaline, half convinced that this wasn't real, and she would either wake up back in her own bed with Sansa still safe in the Keep, or in a jail cell. She couldn't believe she made it out of the Keep and all the way to Flea Bottom, but she did, and Celesse had let her into her home without question.

From what Lannia knew of Celesse, she and Malina had grown up together as good friends, and had simply ended up living very different lives. Celesse fell in love with a poor man, Kivan Rane, and was disowned by her family when she became pregnant. Malina was the only one of her friends who didn't quit speaking to her, even though it was hard to safely come visit her. Lannia had met Celesse and her husband many times; when Malina was too busy with her duties in the Keep to watch Lannia as a child, she spent a lot of time with Celesse in the city. (Lannia also remembered Celesse's child, a pretty pale girl with her mother's hair and her father's green eyes named Bryna. She was four years older than Lannia, and had married and moved away from her parents house two years ago.)

Celesse was almost Malina's age, and Malina was past thirty, but Celesse looked younger; Lannia remembered her beautiful curly black hair, and how she used to tug on it everytime Celesse held her when she was a baby. She had a round face, and full lips, and her eyes were dark in a way Lannia was almost jealous of. They caught the light when she stood by the window and looked like shining black jewels.

When Lannia had shown up at their door in such a rush, Kivan had been at work. Celesse, though, had seen Lannia's tear-streaked face and had known something bad had happened, but didn't rush for Lannia to explain. Finally succumbing to a state of shock, Lannia had simply entered the house and sat at the handmade wooden table, her hands shaking in her lap. By the time Celesse had poured her something to drink and sat with her, asking her what was wrong, Lannia had long since stopped crying. Coming back to her senses slowly, she relayed her story to Celesse, who sat quietly and listened the entire time. Lannia wished she would say something, but she didn't, not until Lannia's story was finished.

"I believe you, child," Celesse told her as she had taken Lannia's hands in her own and squeezed them gently. "Of course we'll help you. But we need to keep you hidden until Malina writes to you– I believe I have an idea, but I don't think you will like it."

As it turns out, Celesse's first idea was black hair dye. Black was the complete opposite of Lannia's golden hair, and Celesse assured her that it would help her blend in and look less like herself.

"It's only temporary," Celesse had assured her as Lannia was bent over a bucket, and Celesse washed the dye out of her hair. "It will come out after a few washes, and you'll have your lovely golden hair again. I know plenty of girls who use it all the time." Lannia had thought better of asking who.

Of course, the promise that it was only temporary didn't stop Lannia from bursting into tears upon seeing herself in the mirror for the first time, her face framed with inky black locks.