Mother has been too ill lately for guests, I have not been able to see her. The tedium of my duties is getting to me and Father has been relentless with my studies, pushing me harder and harder to strengthen my control. My sister has been exploring the mountains, I see her bring in all sorts of interesting finds but she refuses to tell me where she got them. I wish there were a way to sneak out. I would follow her or force her to show me but Father is keeping a close eye on me, making certain I stick to a strict schedule. This morning he brought in a detailed list for Rune, giving him direction through a series of tasks. He’s supposed to grade me on them, see which I excel most at so they can pick a specific field to concentrate on. I don’t know how extensive it was but I saw wind, water, growth, transfer, fire, and foresight written as it passed between them. We had already done months of fire. Pass it through water, see how large a flame I can create, see how hot I can go, test me on this, test me on that. And now he asks Rune to test me in the impossible, to see the future. He expects too much. Merely because I am different. My sister is different, too. But she never has to practice. He doesn’t expect her to stay in the castle, not even when we have guests. No doubt he prefers her not be seen then, embarrassed by her light hair and features. Ugh, it’s so infuriating. I wish I were as strong as he hoped. I could do what I wanted then.
I attempted slipping in to see Mother this morning but the doors were protected. Father found me trying to break though and sent me directly to Rune for practice. At least I got out of my duties in the throne room. We started with water. I was so exhausted I had to sleep through most of the afternoon before they brought me back to work again in the evening. Every muscle in my body throbs. I think I hate Rune.
A servant brought a letter to my room this morning. It was from my father, informing me I was to prepare for a banquet. I put on my formal attire and wondered what sort of tricks he’d want me to perform for our guests. How would he display my talents this time? I understand he needs to show strength in his position but it seems as if he’s being a bit obvious, check out my freak. I’m confident I’ll be too tired for anything but sleep tonight or I’d try sneaking out when he was occupied with visitors. Maybe he’ll give me a break from training tomorrow.
Father hasn’t left his room this morning, no one has seen him since the conclusion of the festivities. My sister has sealed herself in her room. No one will tell me what has occurred.
Late last night, a servant brought a note from my father. It was four words long… Your mother has passed. I am still in my room. I guess I am waiting. I don’t know what will happen.
I heard a noise in the front room and slid the book under my pillow, dropped my head, and pretended to sleep. I'd been so absorbed in the book I had no idea how long I’d been reading. There was a light rap on my door.
I tried to sound sleepy. “Yes?”
“Frey, I’m on my way to the ridge. We will be leaving in the morning.” Ruby’s words confused me, I must have read through the night.
“Okay.”
“Steed is here, you can stay with him or go with me.”
“I’ll stay.” I listened to her footsteps recede. When I was sure she was gone I slipped the book into my pack and hid it inside the material of the white gown. We would be leaving tomorrow, traveling to the peak. I laughed to myself, no matter how many times I said it, I had no clue what it meant. But now there was an urgency, no matter if it held safety, no matter if it held my family secrets, it held my escape from the bonds. It held my only chance.
I hadn't slept, and I knew would have to sneak a nap in at some point, but I had priorities. It might be my last opportunity for a real bath. And lovely soaps.
I sat with Steed for a while after I’d bathed. He was reclined on the bench, his feet propped up on the table. He didn’t seem as excited as Ruby had been about our coming trip so I asked him about it.
“I’m just riding the wind, Frey.”
“Oh, so you don’t know where we’re going either?”
He laughed. “No, I know where we are going. It's only that I don’t know where we'll end up.”
“What do you mean?” He didn’t answer. But I didn’t know what was going to happen either. I thought of the tracker and realized what a good distraction the book had been. “Steed?”
“Frey?”
I smiled at his response but quickly returned to graveness. “How will we get to council? I mean, how do we find them?”
He wasn’t smiling anymore either. “Well, there’s a good chance they’ll be looking for us.”
Of course, and they would all come together. It was clear we were too strong for one or two, they would need to attack as a group. Or pick us off one by one. I wondered how large their force was.
“Frey?”