Welcome to Gaia! :: View User's Journal | Gaia Journals

"Home." whispered Lysile, her voice frail. The wind devoured her words as they left her mouth. She peered up at the towering castle that sat in the distance. Crimson tapestries hung along the ebony stone walls, their forked tails violently smashing into the castle with every howl of the wind, as if they were afraid and wanted shelter. A green flag swam at the tip of the castle, slivering perpetually without ever moving forward. It looks the same.
The air hissed and her golden hair coiled around her face. "Oh!" she screeched, brushing her light curls out from her eyes with quivering fingers. It's so angry today. she noticed, watching a leaf get dragged off. She glanced back at the tower and saw that the flag had vanished. Has it found freedom? Or merely a new master? She wondered whether the wind would actually care for those it ruled. It mustn't...It will simply use the flag until it's bored and then toss it aside.
She found herself frowning, and rubbed her face with cold palms. "Smile for them, for they will be smiling for me." she told herself warmly, continuing towards the castle. The path was just as she remembered. Smooth and cold with flowers of every color crowding along its sides, their vivid petals brushing the stone. She paused when she noticed a gap in the flowers. Lysile looked over the bare spot with a smile. "I had picked so many before I left. I guess father hadn't thought to replace them...I'll have to then. I'm the one who did it, after all." She nodded and pushed herself forward once more.
When she reached the castle doors, she bowed. "Hello!" she chimed happily, her neck bent before the wooden doors.
It remained silent.
"I am Lysile! Frine, do you remember me?" No answer. She raised her head and looked over the door. "Hello? Frine?" She frowned. She remembered him being a good guard, never leaving his post for anything, save for the time she had discovered a snake on the road and screamed at the sight of its slimy scales. Why isn't he here?
She neared the door and gave it a quick knock. "Hello!" She waited and rapped her knuckles along the wood once more. "Hello! It's me, Lysile il Tynia!"
Lysile heard nothing but the wind at her back, its howls louder than before. What? Do you miss me? I do not miss you! You threw my own hair into my face! She pressed gently on the door and gasped when it moaned. "Hello?" She pushed the door and stepped back as it slowly opened. "Father must have forgotten to lock it." She entered the castle and jumped when the wind screeched. "Oh, hush!" she barked, startled. The girl slammed the door and walked deeper into the castle with her chin raised. Father never liked it when I looked down. she recalled.
Shadows stood around her, as if awaiting her return. "He never did like the light much. Said it was too annoying." She heard a low click and something darted from one shadow to the next.
"Gods!" she squeaked. "Has father bought another pet?" Before she left, she remembered her father having countless animals in his throne room, all named after a different hero of the past.
Another click. "Are you father's?"
A shadow birthed another silhouette, and she caught it in the corner of the eye. "You cannot hide!" she giggled playfully, chasing it. "Come back, please!"
It raced into her father's throne room and she stopped. "You cannot hide with my father, I'm his daughter, after all!" she sprinted into the room and the howling returned.
"Father, why is the wind so loud in here?" She saw a shadow seated on her father's favorite chair, one gilded in gold and silver. "Oh, that's right! I'm back, if you hadn't noticed!" she laughed.
The shadow only stared.
"F-Father, aren't you excited?"
The wind grew louder.
"I-I came back! The prince and I...we decided the engagement wouldn't work. But he promised us his friendship when he takes his father's crown! So we still have the alliance!"
The shadow looked up and the howl filled the throne room.
"Father?"
"You weren't supposed to come back." croaked the shade.
"Father!"
"You were never supposed to have come back."
"Why!"
"Never supposed..."The shadow vanished, and the wind died.
Small eyes lit up across the room. "Father, please!" she murmured, backing away. The throne door slammed behind her and she screamed.
"Father!"
Beastly growls replaced the wind.
"Tyleon?" she wondered, trying to remember the names of her father's pets. "Releal? Vintri?" The snarls grew fiercer.
"Never supposed to have come back!"
"Please!"
"No daughter of mine! She is not mine!" cried the room.
"Father!"