Healthy Progress, page 7
“Yeah, I’m learning all about that next semester,” I drawled. Then it hit me, and I stared at the freshman like she’d grown another head. “You want me to bless your dress like I would a marriage?” I waited for her to nod. “Why?”
Several people around me had a hard time stifling their reactions.
“It’s for the Vogel’s ball,” she whispered, fidgeting when she realized all eyes were on her. “People were saying if you blessed our dresses, it’s like the best magical luck to get the best matches and engagements.”
My annoyance instantly deflated even as Izzy sighed. “Someone is pulling your leg. I’m sorry, but that’s not a thing. Yes, it would bless you with magic, but there’s no real luck magic from what I know. Protection, good health—that kind of stuff.” I waited until she nodded and gestured towards the garment bag she held. “Plus, it’s not like I just say a Hail Mary over your dress.”
“What does football have to do with a dress?” she asked, glancing between her friends.
“Okay, so over break, look into humans more because you’re seriously behind,” I drawled. “It’s a prayer in one of their main religions. I think the biggest. So that came before the football reference.” I shook my head when she opened her mouth. “But the point is it’s not a quick thing. I have to take it to Faerie and do—it’s a whole process.”
“You could do multiple dresses at once then,” someone in the group suggested.
Now I was annoyed. “So I should take a couple hours with your dresses to bless them to the gods so you might get a better husband match?” I waited for her to comprehend how stupid that was.
She didn’t.
“Instead of governing or helping wake my people from magic, I should bless your dresses? That is what I’m hearing you say.”
“I would run,” Mel drawled from behind the group. “Run fast.”
They did.
I shook my head. “Just when I think there can’t be any weirder of rumors or ideas, people want me to bless dresses so they get better engagements. Un-fucking-real. Seriously.”
“Oh, not just dresses,” Mel drawled, nodding when I looked at her. “That’s what I was coming over to warn you about. Got a minute?”
“Sure,” I accepted, noting how quiet Izzy got. She had accepted Mel’s apology, but she couldn’t let her back in after all the pain the dragon had caused. I understood. She hadn’t done it just to me, but Izzy, and Izzy hadn’t done anything wrong.
We sat down and Mel gestured around us so I knew to put up a barrier. I nodded when it was in place.
“That freshman won’t be the last to ask you,” she informed me. “People have started circling now that they know an heir can bless like a fairy queen.” She shrugged when I winced. “They probably knew heirs could, but it didn’t matter when the queen was alive.”
“Because you’d want the most powerful blessing and a queen would be stronger,” Izzy muttered. “Yeah, makes sense.”
“Yes, but you don’t have a queen to protect you,” Mel sighed.
“I have a demigod. It’s better than a Hulk,” I drawled.
“For protection, but people don’t see Lageos getting all involved in fairy stuff like say, Queen Sasha. It’s different and—it doesn’t matter. It’s the perception.”
“So they’re getting ready to pounce? Is that why you’re warning her?” Izzy asked.
Mel nodded. “My family’s gotten word that people plan to make it a thing at the Vogel’s party.”
That left me with one question. “Why didn’t they tell me?”
She gave me a sad look. “They’re still debating how to handle it and what to do.” She shook her head when the fork in my hand shattered. “It’s not like you’re thinking. It’s not about controlling you. You’re not theirs, Tams. They don’t treat you that way.”
“They don’t,” Izzy muttered. “They treat you like some of the people who knew you before you were a princess. They have other things going on, and they’re used to being the bosses.”
“That’s fair, but anything about me should be reported to at least the commanders.”
“They’re going to,” Mel promised. “Hard stop. Already decided. This is new intel. We heard whispers about people talking like that freshman and bringing stuff you might bless. Idiot stuff.”
I sighed, stabbing my food harder than needed with the backup fork I always picked up. I’d shattered more than a few forks before learning to grab a backup. “So what’s the debate? That’s not acceptable behavior.”
“Right, but it puts them in an awkward position,” Mel muttered. “Yes, people have to act polite in their house, but it’s not asking for you to date their son or anything horrible. We can’t bless stuff like that, so it’s not like an obvious line for us. But of course they don’t like it. They would be put in the middle and people pressuring you both to play nice.”
“If she had come up to you at the Vogel’s party and asked you to bless her dress and you could have, you would have felt pressured,” Izzy agreed.
I snorted. “No, I wouldn’t have. It’s a stupid thing and waste of magic. Their baby? Yeah, I would have done that, but I’m not wasting magic no matter who or what is going on. But I also haven’t done it besides the crowns, and I’m not really supposed to unless it’s like…” I sighed.
“You have no idea yet, do you?” Mel chuckled.
“No, and it makes my head hurt, but I’m learning it next semester,” I grumbled. “It kinda sounds like how the US president can’t officially accept gifts. There are formal channels and all kinds of stuff. I can’t just go around blessing this or that as I want.”
“I see you keeping to that rule,” Mel drawled.
“Yeah, I don’t think so either, but for now, Onas made it clear that once I open the flood gates, they’re opened. And I do agree with that. Plus, what I said is true. It’s not like a prayer I say over a couple or baby. It’s an object I bless in our temples praying to the gods and a whole thing. Hell, it’s disrespectful to the gods to do it over a damn dress to find a husband.”
“Agreed,” Mel said gently when I ramped back up. “I just wanted you to know this was going on and the Vogels are struggling with it.”
I nodded and we were quiet for several minutes, simply eating. “What do you suggest I do?”
“If it was me, I’d take the out until you learn more,” she admitted. “People know about your telepathy. You shouldn’t be around that many people you don’t know and not on your own turf. Just in case because you believe in not encroaching on people’s private thoughts. This is more than you simply listening to what they put out. Take that as a concession and skip the party.”
“Which the Vogels won’t want because me being their daughter-in-law makes them untouchable.”
“They don’t want to ask you not to come,” Mel clarified. “It’s horrible if they told you to skip it especially because you and Hudson are taking a break. That’s their biggest worry.”
“Which is why you came and told me on the side.” I waited for her to half shrug. “Thanks, Mel.”
“I’m still, and always, on your side, kid. No matter how I’ve acted in the past,” she said quietly. “Or my hang-ups about becoming a sidekick instead of flying free.”
“Mel, you shine too bright to ever be a sidekick. An advisor isn’t a sidekick.” I let it go when she simply nodded, her shoulders a bit tense. She grew up hearing Trigger Rothchild was King Xavier’s guard dog and bullshit that affected her. It so wasn’t the truth, but we couldn’t always see our lives clearly because we were in the middle of them.
She’d made progress, and us having a nice breakfast talking about life was an improvement. That was enough for now.
Luckily for my nerves, I had tons of everything to do before my final and jumped right into it all. My midterm had been for the singing section, and the final would be my painting. Shael had outlined it all after finding out what I had been plotting in a crappy area of Theripolis.
When it was time, three squads made a big show of escorting Edelman, several of the deans, and a handful of faculty to the portal to Faerie. There had been some back and forth, but I agreed their mates should be allowed as well. I hadn’t even seen Professor Richardson all year but even if I would never like him, he did help me reach this point in my life.
Plus, I liked his mate. Same with Dean Collins.
Instructor Larson didn’t teach at Artemis or work with me much anymore, but he’d protected me so my people could come back. He and his mate—who I hadn’t met yet—received an invitation and were picked up as well.
The remaining nobles were invited that night to see the gallery opening after the private showing for my final. For once they accepted the circumstances and didn’t start shit. Part of me assumed they thought I’d fall flat on my face and didn’t want to be associated with that.
I doubted that would be the outcome. Even if my paintings were complete shit—which they weren’t—the renovated building was stunning. The construction company I’d hired to completely overhaul and restore the place to fit in with Theripolis did an outstanding job.
I felt like I couldn’t breathe when everyone was gathered. This was more exposing than any of my social media stuff or taking tons of pictures in bikinis and lingerie. This was showing them my soul.
I explained how everything had started and the process of getting the place done. People seemed to accept that and were excited to see the exhibit.
“This is what became of a mistake,” I said quietly. “Both in my painting and because of the warring fairies allowed. In that sense, it’s really a cumulation of mistakes, but as I stared at the painting I didn’t mean to make, I realized it was what weighed on my soul. What I went through to get Faerie and her people back was such a deep wound on my soul and my magic knew it.
“And more than that, it’s our history. This is a reminder of what our warring brings and I hope we never forget that. I hope this can be a timeline for people to see and feel what happened. I want them to see how close they came to never getting their lives back and many times. None of them have seen Faerie as I did and that has to change to accept our mistakes.”
I stepped aside and waved for the first people to go ahead into the main gallery. I held my breath as Edelman and White stepped through the doorway.
She gasped as she laid eyes on the first painting I’d done weeks ago. It was a shadow holding a lantern in suffocating darkness.
Geiger came through next with his mate, Cluym. Claudia was after them with some more of the faculty.
“You were so scared that it was heartbreaking,” Geiger said as the big dragon hugged me. “This is amazing, Your Highness. I feel like I’m back in that darkness and terrified it had swallowed my mate.”
“You saw this?” Cluym whispered, glancing at the paintings that were slowly moving on the tracks.
“There,” Geiger said, pointing down the line a bit. “That’s Claudia and I. It was when she brought us in and admitted what she’d found.”
Cluym narrowed his eyes and said a date. “You were there then?”
Geiger glanced at Claudia and they nodded. “Yes, that was the date.” He looked down at me. “Yes, that was the date, right?”
I shrugged. “I have no idea.”
Cluym did a double take. “You have to know, Your Highness.”
I frowned at him. “I could look it up. I can’t tell you off the top of my head though. I mean, I know it was the fall of my freshman year.”
“No, I mean, you know because you painted in the date,” he said as he gestured to the painting. He moved closer and showed me a few blended in symbols. “That’s the date in Faerie.”
“Princess Tamsin doesn’t know Faerie,” Shael muttered as she moved closer. Her eyes flashed shock and she moved to the next painting. “Here too. This has a date.” Her mouth dropped open at me. “Your magic understood what you were doing and put dates in to mark this historically as you wanted.”
“That’s astounding,” someone else said, people abuzz about what my magic had done.
“Sometimes your magic is a bit over the top,” Darby muttered as he pulled me from Geiger and held me to his chest. “You okay?”
I sighed. “This is all still weird to me, Darby. You guys get freaked out because I do something new from what you know, but it’s all new from what I knew. I think I’m just numb to that stuff now after years of always being anxiety-riddled.”
Several people winced, but I ignored it and focused on what was in front of us. Dates were cool. Freaky because I didn’t consciously remember them but yeah, cool.
White gasped a few minutes later and looked at me with tears in her eyes. “This is what you did to bring back the sun. You almost died to do it, but you were so relieved there was big progress. I remember how—you were so relieved after so much struggle.”
I swallowed loudly and nodded. “Figuring out how to do it had been so much and then I just—that pain was unbearable.”
“I feel it here,” someone said near the painting of me lying in the sun among all my reservoirs and boxes of crystals.
“You put the pain in the painting,” White said as she moved to it. “I can feel it radiating. In a lot of these.”
Oh boy. I hadn’t meant to do that.
Then again, maybe people should feel the echoes of it so they understood it wasn’t simply a painting.
“I was here when you painted a lot of these, but seeing it all put together and positioned as you have is so profound, I’m speechless, agra.” He kissed my hair and we moved along.
I was really glad he said that because people weren’t saying much and had made me worried. Now I got they were just soaking it all up and maybe overwhelmed. That had been the goal, so it would be nice if that worked out.
Edelman found me after he finished, wiping his eyes with a handkerchief. It was clear it wasn’t the first time, and White was doing the same. “Well, that was… I don’t have the words. Soul changing.”
“Yes,” White rasped. “Needless to say, you aced your final, Your Highness. Excuse me, I wish to see my father. I need to be with him.”
I blinked after her as she abruptly walked away and out of the gallery. I looked back at Edelman with so many questions.
He gave me a soft smile. “She kept saying that she had almost lost him more than she’d known. It’s overwhelming for me who didn’t have fairy family. I had only a few fairy friends, and I had time to grieve their loss since I knew they had died before everything was sealed off. That is a much different position than White.”
I nodded, thanking him for coming. I was shocked how many people I saw crying… And hurried to leave after they saw the last painting.
“I’m sorry,” Neldor said from my left.
I jumped, not even having seen him in the group or known he was coming. “For?”
“A lot more than I realized I needed to apologize for,” he rasped. “Excuse me.”
Shocked wasn’t a strong enough word for what I felt when I saw tears streaming down his cheeks and his eyes were puffy. His whole damn sleeve was soaked, so clearly it hadn’t just started.
“He felt the pain, fear, and disappointment from his painting,” Taeral muttered as he took Neldor’s spot. “We all did. I’ve heard you tell him that was how you felt, but experiencing it ourselves even if an echo…” He lowered himself to one knee in front of me. “I am so sorry I did not understand or pay attention as I should, Your Highness. I am so very, very sorry.”
“It’s fine,” I whispered. “You were dealing with too much too. I didn’t…” I flinched when the other commanders came closer and did the same. “I don’t understand. I didn’t do this to make you feel guilty.”
“But we should feel that,” Morgan stated loudly. “I knew getting us back wasn’t easy, but I never—I couldn’t fathom this struggle. It’s not a concept I could wrap my mind around when the heirs and queens are so powerful. You knew nothing. You struggled through tar trying to drown you the entire time. I am sorry as well, Your Highness, and for my judgments.”
They all said something similar. Even Onas.
It did a lot to soothe my soul and the pain they’d caused me. I accepted their apologies and kind words, but like I’d told others, I needed more than time to forgive them. I needed to see their behavior changed.
And I thought that was fair.
Watery eyes and too many emotions to keep up with seemed to be the response from everyone. Darby quietly asked me not to stay when the nobles viewed it and I agreed. Shael did as well because she promised she’d handle them with Taeral and lock up.
Perfect.
I was pretty sure it was a win for the progress I wanted for fairies.
Maybe?
7
“Let’s get back to campus to pack,” I sighed as we came through the portal to Faerie.
“Not yet,” Darby muttered. “One thing first.”
I just wanted to go to bed I was so tired, but when he smiled at me with hesitation in his eyes, I would have agreed to just about anything. Darby went with the flow so often that anytime he asked for anything, I gave it to him because it was so rare.
And I just wanted him to be happy always.
He glanced over at my security and nodded, thanking the fairy when he opened a portal for us and went through first. We went through and then Darby led us down the block to a fancy-looking bakery.
“We have to celebrate the wins,” he said quietly. “We need to. Life is more than surviving.”
I nodded, tears filling my eyes this time that he was so good to me. “Thanks, my mate.”
“Always.” He opened the door for me and guided me over to the display cases. He pointed out a few suggestions of what he’d read was really good from reviews.
Of course, he checked out the reviews. Darby was so perfect that I sometimes wondered if he wasn’t real.
We loaded up a tray to eat there and some more to box for later. I tried to pay when we got to the register, but he beat me to it.
