Exploring the castle

Cressida was a bit unsure if she was in the right place at first; there were no smells that indicated food. But the noise was another description that the Guardian of Shadows had given her. So she had followed that instead. It felt good to wear something other than a dress, and the uniform, at least that was what she assumed it was, was tight but not too tight. The fabric was not raw, but not too soft either and the fact that she was wearing pants made her day slightly better. There was, of course, the fact that someone had sent her over here to die. Which shouldn't have come as a surprise to her at all. But still, she now worried about her mother; what would happen to her now?

She rounded the corner and froze; the dining hall was huge. But only a small part of it was filled. One long table with chairs, all filled with rough-looking men. All of them looked at her, like a pack of hungry wolves.

One of them put his hand up.

"Cressida Seacoal, please have a seat with us."

The man in question looked like someone she used to know; she only didn't know if this might be the case.

But what did she have to lose? These men were now part of her world, and she had to learn how to deal with them. So she walked towards the group and sat down on an empty chair. She was, however, somewhat surprised that the Guardian of Shadows was among them. She had never heard of a Guardian eating with the common folk, not even when the common folk were a bunch of Nobles.

"So, Cressida, dinner will be out in a hot second. But can you help me out with something?"

The man who had called her over was sitting right next to the Guardian of Shadows, she believed that his name was Siward Rebeck.

"I do not know if I would be of much help; I just arrived here."

The man chuckled, and it was almost as if Porter was talking to her. The same warmth, gentleness, and apparently the same sense of humor.

She could swear that she had seen the man before, a younger version of him. But that would mean that he was sent here by the Orb a couple of years back.

"I have been here for quite some time now, but I swear that the Seacoal's were not part of the Noble families when I left."
So she was right; she had seen him before, on the rare occasions that Porter snuck her out of the house.

Porter always hated the rule that she wasn't allowed to go out, especially not without her cloak. So he snuck her out from time to time when he met up with some friends. Friends his mother didn't approve of, so that word didn't get back to her.

"You are right about that; they still aren't. My grandfather would have a heart attack if that happened. I am the illegitimate daughter of the Lord of the Tides. I might have beaten your ass in a few sparring matches while we were younger."

The man frowned at first but then started to chuckle loudly.

"Now I remember you, and yes, you did beat me back then. I doubt that you would be able to do so at this moment. But do you remember my name?"

She has been scratching at her memory, trying to recall his name, but it feels so long ago. So she shook her head.

"It doesn't matter; we were children back then. Isadore Calypise."

She wanted to slap herself; he was one of Porter's closest friends before he was sent away. His golden blond hair was longer then, and he hadn't had that many scars on his face. So that might be the reason why she didn't recognize him at first.

"It has been a while Isadore..."
She wanted to say more to him, but the doors, which she hadn't seen before, opened up and the food was brought out into the hall. The ones who served the food were all men wearing the same uniform she was wearing.

"Here, let me fix you a plate before this unwashed bears gobble everything up."

Isadore stood up and walked off.

Another man chuckled slightly.

"Siward, can you remember if Isadore has ever fixed a plate for anyone?"

The man with short brown hair said, his hand landing on the shoulder of the Guardian of Shadows. Who shook his head.

"Me neither; must be because she was a girl."

The Guardian of Shadows was about to say something, but she shook her head.

"No, that is not it. He knows that back home, I wasn't allowed to grab anything before the others were done taking theirs. So he is making sure that I have some food."

Both of the men looked a bit puzzled.

"Well, I just told you that I am the bastard daughter of the Lord of the Tides. Which, of course, didn't go over well with the Lady of the Tides. And she came up with a whole list of rules to punish him, without touching me. Restricted food, not able to sleep at the mansion at night, not able to get out during the day. And if I ever broke a rule, my mother, who is still a maid in their household, was beaten instead. I was forced to watch, which made me fall in line. Porter, my big brother, didn't agree with that at all. He often broke the rules for me, dragging me out of the house, snuck me some snacks and food. And whenever I was out of the house, he made a point of telling his friends to do the same thing for me. So that is what he is doing now. He is looking out for me, like Porter would have done."

The other men looked shocked and looked down at their plates, which were still empty as well. But they didn't say anything, not even when Isadore got back with her plate.

She thanked him and slowly started to eat the salty meat covered in gravy. But she stopped the fork halfway to her mouth when she saw that none of the others were eating.

"What is wrong?"

"You sounded so casual when you told us about the fact that you were being abused. What was your mother thinking? Sleeping with a married man."

The man who said it seemed a bit young, but that wasn't an excuse.

"Kent, watch your mouth."

Isadore snapped, as he looked shocked at the boy.

"Well, Kent. What made you think that my mother had any say in this at all? Don't get me wrong, there were plenty of options to protect her from pregnancy. Or to get rid of it. But other than that, she didn't have much choice in the matter. He was her boss, the one who paid her salary, the one responsible for the food on my disabled grandfather's table."

Kent stared down at his plate, and Isadore's hand landed upon her shoulder.

"You don't need to explain all of this, especially not against this young, idiotic pup. Most of us in here are noble-born, and we know that your mother was taken advantage of. And we all might eat this food before it gets cold."

The others started to eat, and the soft murmurs of conversation started to fill the room. Kent however, still didn't look convinced.

"Sorry, but my father would never betray my mother like that."

Isadore and the Guardian of Shadows wanted to shout another warning.

"Then your mother is a very lucky lady, and I am glad to hear that your father treats her right. The Lord of the Tides does not treat his wife that way. He betrayed his wife by sleeping with my mother. The Lady of the Tides is not right in the way she has been treating my mother or me. But she is a woman scorned, and she placed the blame for it all on the other victims. So, with that said, for the love of the Seven Realms, I do not want to talk about it anymore. I am in another realm, and all I want to do is leave that part of my life behind me."

"Amen."
The Guardian of Shadows raised his cup and motioned towards the other to do the same thing. Which they did.

"Tomorrow your first training session will start right before sunrise. Please rest up well."

He then said to her before he walked out of the hall.

*********

Cressida twisted and turned inside her bed; it was too soft, and the room was too dark. There was just so much going on for her to be able to sleep. And she knew that she wouldn´t be able to get some sleep at this rate, so she got up, light a candle. And walked out of the room. With her sword attached to the hip.

She had seen inside the castle of the Guardian of Oceans, just before the ceremony. But this castle looks nothing like it. This building was made out of dark grey stone, and there were barely any windows. Did this mean that there was no form of light inside this realm? She wasn't sure what to think of that; she wasn't allowed out of the mansion that often. And the garden was most of the time off-limits as well. So back in the Realm of Oceans, she was not able to step into the sunlight that often. But when she did, she always treasured those moments.

There was a soft, dark red carpet on the floor, but other than that, there was no hint of any color. No statues, no paintings, nothing. Besides the light torches, for some reason, the flames were not red but a soft grey. And now that she thought about it and looked at the candle in her hand, she was surprised to find the same thing over there. Briefly wondering why she hadn't noticed it before.

Most of the doors were closed; they were probably other bedrooms where the men of the Voiders slept.

She did her best to be as quiet as possible until she found an open door. And she was not surprised to find the armory, which was in such disarray that she wondered how, in the Seven Realms, they were able to find something. She blew out the candle, which was made redundant by the torches that lit up the room. She wasn't able to sleep, so she'd better make herself useful. She rolled up her sleeves and started to grab all the weapons from the ground.

"Didn't I tell you to rest up?"

She quickly turned around and saw that the Guardian of Shadows was leaning against the doorframe. A smile was on his face; his almost black eyes were sparkling with joy. His short black, curly hair was a bit tangled up.

"I wasn't able to get any sleep."

She said as she placed the stuff in her hands on the right shelves.

"Was the room too dark?"

Her heart sank slightly, and she closed her eyes briefly. Not sure how to respond at first; would he think that she was weak if she replied in the affirmative? Maybe he would change his mind and send her back towards whatever danger may lie beyond the portal.

"I know I did, when I first arrived here."

This made her stop cleaning; he was not born inside this realm. She never would have guessed that a Guardian couldn't be someone who wasn't Realm-born. But on the other hand, this Realm has been through a lot. Which might mean that this Realm doesn't operate on normal rules; she wasn't really sure about that. It wasn't something that Porter's mentor touched on.

"Where did you come from, my lord?"

She heard him moan slightly; was that because she said something wrong?

"Please do not call me my lord. I am Siward, so please call me by my name. Otherwise, I am not able to predict how many would follow and do the same thing."

She gave him a soft smile and nodded.

"Got it, Siward it is. But the question still stands. Where did you come from?"

"The Realm of Light. My father almost had a heart attack when the Orb turned black."

Porter almost had the same thing; maybe that was better than what the Lord of the Tides had displayed. The zero show of emotions, only the glossy eyes that only she was able to see. She was not sure if she should bring that up, though.

He pulled himself of the wall and started to help her with cleaning the room.

"This is normally a task for all of the members of the Voiders, but the attacks of the Nightmares have increased, and when there is some downtime, they rather enjoy it than clean up after themselves."
Which was something she was able to understand. There were a few swords that showed signs of becoming dull. So she placed them near a small chair with a sharpening stone and some cloth.

Siward directly saw what she was doing, and directly started to check the state of all the gear.

Which was apparently much needed, after the room started showing the floor. And most of the stuff was in its right place; she sat down and started the mindless task of cleaning the swords.

"The last time my parents and I talked was about a year ago; my first duty as the Guardian of Shadows was going to every single household that lost a child during the Nightmare attack. The last Realm I visited was the Realm of Light, somewhere deep down; I hoped that they would have been proud. I had climbed my way up. At first, I became Captain of the Voiders, and now I was the Guardian. My sister Aramaita had a fit when she saw me inside the Guardian of Light's courtroom; she is the right hand of the Guardian of Light and it is whispered that she would be the next Guardian of Light. But her little brother had claimed the title first. And my parents also didn't hold back when they told me that I had brought nothing but shame upon the Rebeck name."

So the heart attack comment was not from grief, but from the shock that their son was going towards a realm that was the straight opposite of their Realm. Not only that, he was thriving in said Realm.

"I am sorry that they said that to you. My brother was the one who lost his mind when the Orb turned black. He and the Lord of the Tides were the only ones there for the ceremony. My mother wasn't allowed, and Devina, my sister, was kept away by her mother. Under loud protest, I will add. But the Lord of the Tides did nothing, said nothing, besides the usual make-the-Realm-proud speech. I asked him to take care of my mother, but I doubt he would honor my request. I think that Porter will on his behalf."

"You seemed to have a really close bond with your half-siblings."

A smile appeared on her lips; Porter and Devina were the only light spots inside that mansion. Not even her own mother could hold a candle to such a light.

"They were looking out for me; my mother wasn't allowed to do so, and you might have noticed that I do not call the Lord of the Tides, my father. He is just a man who sired me; he never did anything that warranted him the title. Yesterday it was decided that I would take Devina's place in the ceremony, and that is when he spoke up for me. He even invited me to his office, only to tell me that he has a small amount of money set aside for my dowry. Money that is currently inside my backpack, and that is all he has done."

Siward nodded slowly and then sighed.

"One of us was ignored, and the other turned out as a shame, we are a great pair, aren't we?"

She chuckled softly as she placed the sword she was working on down. Before she stood up and walked towards the board that was upon one of the walls. It was the only spot in the room that wasn't a mess before.

"Is this the strategy board?"

Her eyes already wandered over every piece of information on it. Putting it away in her mind, not even knowing why she needed the information in the first place.