"Okay, that's enough! The two of you are always at each other's throats, and it's getting old." With that, Mehrin stood and stalked out of the room. The door closing behind him, a wicked idea suddenly came to mind. As if he were doing nothing out of the ordinary, Mehrin drew the iron key for the door from the pouch on his belt and clicked the lock closed behind him.

 

Renalie's eyes widened in surprise at her father's tone of voice, and when the metallic clack of the key turning in the lock rang in her ears, she wanted to run and hide in the corner. He had left her with that woman! There was no one else there, not even Aldar; just her and that woman that wanted to replace mama. She looked bleakly around her father’s office, seeing large, heavy objects that Renalie couldn’t even lift, let alone throw. That wouldn’t work. Renalie filled her lungs to scream like some babyish six-year old, but a look at the other woman and she knew she would be more mature than that. It was up to Renalie to look after her father now that mother had gone. No one else.

 

The desk was an option. Maybe she could hide under it and ignore everything as though she had done on the journey to the Citadel in the first place. No! She was going to be a grown-up. It didn’t matter that her lower lip was sticking out fit to trip over in a petulant expression of poutiness. How dare he lock them up together like this? Suddenly, Renalie noticed the glints of steel from various places around the room and her eye fell on a pair of hooks on the wall that looked as though they would hold some massive blade. And that Drea woman had already drawn a sword on Renalie… That was not an option then. Deciding that was out of the question, Renalie looked around to see what else she could use.

 

She was small enough to hide most places, but there didn’t seem to be many places to hide. A couch lay at one end of the room, but that wasn’t going to be of any use unless they were going to fight with pillows. Renalie rather thought she’d be good in a pillow fight, well, a cushion fight, anyway. Sticking her tongue out at the other woman, Renalie furrowed her brow in concentration, and tried to work out what else she could use. The pitcher… That could be useful, if it held water. Of course it would hold water – what else would daddy drink? Fruit juice was hard to come by, and she could hardly see him drinking milk.

 

No, it looked as though it was down to Renalie to be the grown-up here. The other woman was stalking around the office, her arms folded across her chest and doing her utmost to ignore the little girl. Utterly exasperated, Renalie resorted to the one thing she hadn’t wanted to do.

 

She said a naughty word, one that daddy didn’t know that she knew, and then screamed regardless.

Drea stood in Mehrin's office and stared grudgingly at the little brat. Her dark eyes bore into the little girl's skull, thinking nasty, awful thoughts. Those thoughts were quickly interrupted when she heard the click of a lock. A spin about the room proved Mehrin had left and Drea rushed to the door. She yanked on the handle, praying it would open. It didn't. Her fist pounded loudly against the wooden door. "Mehrin, you goat-faced cur, open this door or I'll-" it was no use and she knew it. She was stuck there with this little brat. She turned quickly to face Renalie and fingered the dagger by her side. She wouldn't actually use it on the little monster, unless she needed to.

 

Drea walked carefully around Mehrin's office, never taking an eye off Renalie. The little horror seemed more scared than Drea was, of course, she should be. Suddenly, Renalie said a word Drea didn't even know she knew and an ear piercing scream made Drea drop her dagger to cover her ears. Then, without warning, cold rushed over her as if she'd jumped into the lake behind her Grandmother's house back in Fal Dara in the middle of the winter. Catching her breath through the frozen wetness, Drea opened her eyes and glared at the girl before her, holding the pitcher in her hands looking nearly as shocked as Drea.

 

"You little snot!" Drea spat, shaking off excess water from her body. "How dare you throw water at me. Do you know who I am?" The spoiled brat stayed silent. "I'm going to be your new mommy. So start obeying me now or I'll have you sent back to Lugard, or wherever you're from."

~Renalie~

 

As if this woman could be a replacement for her mother! She sniffed and poked her tongue out at the ugly old bat, and folded her arms stubbornly across her chest. She watched the water soak into her shirt with a satisfied expression on her face, particularly the outraged look of shock. But the woman had gone to pull a dagger on her! What else was she supposed to do?

 

“You’ll never replace Mama! You’ve wanted to do that ever since I got here, but you haven’t so far and you never will!” She turned her back on the woman, and threw the pitcher down on the floor. “I’ll never obey you, not even if Daddy tells me to.”

 

Renalie ran to the door and started pulling on the handle, screaming “Daddy, daddy!” She screamed over and over, but the woman only laughed. It had not been worth riding all the way from Murandy in the back of a cart, eating whatever bits she could pilfer and drinking something that tasted funny. It had been wonderful when her father had finally recognised who she was, and had admitted to himself that he had a daughter and tried to engage her, play with her, and maybe come to love her one day.

 

“How DARE you? What do you know of my mother to be saying such nasty things?” Renalie’s voice started sobbing as she realised that no one could bring her mother back. No comforting shoulder would be offered to cry on if she hurt herself, no one would replace her. Tears wracked her voice as she collapsed, exhausted, at the foot of the door. “Mama … Mama isn’t coming to meet me. She … is with … the Creator now.” And tears claimed her.

Drea couldn’t help but roll her eyes at the little girl as she sobbed by the door. The only thing worse than a spoiled brat was a crying spoiled brat. Ignoring her as much as possible-light the child was a loud crier- Drea went to the opposite corner and started wringing out her clothes and hair. Lucky for her, she had stashed a comb in one of Mehrin’s drawers a few days ago. “Just in case Daddy and I ever got to wild.” Drea held the comb out to Renalie, winked evocatively and casually combed the water out of her hair. “Can’t let a tough reputation get in the way of a little fun, am I right?”

 

Not that she and Mehrin had ever done more than the one kiss they shared, and that was almost a month gone now. But the more Drea could lead the girl on, the more of an advantage she’d have over her. Light, but the child would listen one of these days. The girl continued to bawl for her mother, and a singe of sympathy hit her. Just a singe, then it was gone. She would not think of Mateo at a time like this. Her son would have been nothing like this rotten girl. He would have been like his father, strong, handsome and well behaved—something had to be like his mother, seeing as she would have raised him. He also would have been compassionate to the suffering girl in front of you, Drea. He lost his father, she lost her mother. Don’t you see a bit of similarity?

 

Dropping the comb back into the drawer and slamming it closed, Drea sighed and stomped over to the girl. She stood in front of her with arms across her chest and impatiently tapped her foot. “What do you want from me? Do you want me to say I’m sorry?” Her voice was emotionless, something she’d mastered over time. “Fine. I’m sorry.”

~Renalie~

 

“Sorry! You don’t know the meaning of the word!” Renalie sobbed at the nasty woman. There wasn’t a single thing that woman knew about her and she was trying to apologise when it was clear from how she was standing that she didn’t mean it. Not a hint of compassion lingered in her voice, or any understanding in her eyes. This was a hard woman indeed. Standing there impatiently tapping her foot like that. All Renalie wanted to do was stamp on it and go and hide under the desk, somewhere the nasty old battleaxe couldn’t find her.

 

Getting to her feet and giving the door handle another good tug to see if it would budge enough to allow her slight frame to pass, Renalie eventually gave up and glared at the woman. The stories were never like this. In the tales the Gleemen told the daughter heir (as Renalie considered herself once she had found out her father’s exalted status) was supposed to be brave and heroic, not crying and stamping her foot. Yet she wanted to be brave, and couldn’t. Her mother … Mama … taken too soon. She frowned again and tried to wipe tears from her eyes with her sleeve, but only succeeded in smearing dust across her face. Renalie threw her hands up in frustration and gave up trying to be like the daughter-heirs from the stories. Instead, she stamped her foot down and ran behind the desk, one hand on the smoothly polished wood ready to seek its protective cover.

 

“You don’t know what it’s like. You’ve not suffered anything like this before.” She collapsed against the side of the desk in tears, unable to continue being brave any longer.

Drea tried not to scream at the little girl just as loudly as the brat screamed earlier. Frustration was building and Drea didn’t know how much longer she could hold onto it before hurting Renalie.

 

“Renalie.” Drea tried to sound comforting through the frustration. Renalie continued to cry, only louder. “Renalie, listen to me, please.” Drea said again firmly, trying to speak over the girl’s tears. Light! Drea was trying, truly trying to be serious and the girl only continued to throw a fit! Thank the light you aren’t a mother. Instantly, Drea took that thought back. “Shut up and listen to me, Renalie!” She shouted. Drea would have used her middle and last name too, but she honestly didn’t even know it. But the girl stopped crying. She looked, horrified, up at Drea and waited.

 

Drea took a step toward her, sighing to gather as much strength as she could. “I do know how you feel.” Instantly Renalie started crying again—was she faking? She sure could turn those tears off and on quickly. “If you’d only stop crying and listen to me!” Renalie only cried louder. “Fine, I won’t tell you the story of a beautiful Princess and the two most horrible losses of her life.

 

Renalie stopped crying instantly and looked up. Was she smiling? She couldn’t be, not at Drea. Drea continued to walk gently over to the girl and pulled up Mehrin’s chair. She could have offered Renalie a knee or her lap, but she wasn’t about to.

 

“Once upon a time there was a Princess who was young, beautiful and brave. She had everything she could ever want, except for someone to love. One day, a very handsome and even braver Prince came along and the Princess and Prince fell in love. Soon, the couple found out they were going to have a little baby! They were both very happy and couldn’t wait for their son to be born. But shortly after they found out, the handsome Prince disappeared. The whole kingdom went searching for him. They found his body but he had fallen off a cliff and was dead. The Princess was so miserable about her Prince that she had her baby too soon. He died too” Drea tried to hide the sorrow in her voice, and quickly sniffed away an incoming tear. “The Princess lost both of the most important things in her life in a matter of days.” She looked at Renalie carefully. “But the important part of the story is that the Princess was still brave. She embraced the good things she did have and moved on. She even one day became Queen of her kingdom. The memories of her Prince and her son will always be with her and she knows she will see them again one day, more perfect than they ever were on earth.” A real smile spread across Drea’s lips. She could only hope Renalie understood.

~Renalie~

 

Was the woman talking about herself? Renalie’s sobs had quieted as the older lady had continued telling her story about the Princess, but they did not stop entirely. The story had a sadness to it – Renalie didn’t like stories that ended with sad things, and if she had been telling it about herself then it was very sad indeed. Renalie studied her shoes. She didn’t know what to say.

 

“That was you, wasn’t it?”

 

A nod. Her eyes held happiness gleaned from memories, and sadness. Renalie wanted to go and give the other woman a hug, the way her own mother would have done but something was holding her back. Something kept Renalie from embracing the other woman – maybe it had been the readiness to use her weapon on her. Who in their right mind would attack a child?

 

Still, she couldn’t be angry with someone who had lost her baby like that. The woman that had been nasty to her was probably doing it because she was sad. That had to be it. Without thinking, Renalie got up and straightened her dress, the way Mama would have done. She crossed the floor thinking to herself that someone had to be the grown up here, and it looked like it would have to be her. And when she got to the woman she had once hated, Renalie threw her arms around her and hugged her tightly.

 

“I’m sorry.” She said in a muffled voice. “So very sorry.”

Drea jumped slightly in her chair as the small girl wrapped her tiny arms around Drea’s shoulders. Even someone with the coldest heart couldn’t soften at least a bit when those arms embraced her. Hers did a little. Drea bit he lip to stop tears.

 

At first she just sat there, being hugged by her most fierce competition. That’s exactly what the girl was to Drea: competition. Whenever she was alone with Mehrin, he always mentioned Renalie, if not talked about nothing else. Drea didn’t do well with competition.

 

Then learn to love her too.

 

Why couldn’t she? Mehrin seemed to be able to love them both.

 

Exactly.

 

Hesitantly, Drea smiled and wrapped her arms around Renalie. She could learn to like this little girl and perhaps one day she’ll love her too. Her heart ached for a child to hold, Renalie might have to do for now.

 

 

“Me too, Renalie. Me too.” Drea whispered against her hair. She smelled sweet, like fresh flowers in the late spring. She could get used to this.

~Renalie~

 

As the older woman’s arms wrapped around her to hug her back, Renalie realised she had used her name. She had called her by her name! Did this mean she liked her too though – that was the question that she really wanted to find out. True, Renalie was hugging her because she thought the woman was about to cry. Now, the tables were turned, and Renalie felt that her throat was very tight and that tears might follow too. It had been so long since she had been held like this. The last time had been her mother the night before Renalie had crept away in the wagon to try and find her father. Did the note daddy sent even reach mama before she had died? That thought made her cry.

 

“I’m sorry, Drea … I don’t know if mama even found out I was here with Daddy before she passed on.” She let the tears go on for a little longer, feeling comfort in being held so close by a woman that was the closest thing she had to a mother. Since it was obvious that her father liked the Raylin woman, Drea, Renalie amended, she could learn to love her too. For her father’s sake, she could do that much. The woman’s grip was stronger than her mother’s had been, and she smelt nice. Renalie buried her head against the woman and stayed there for a while.

 

“I’m sorry,” Renalie repeated, lifting her head briefly when the first time it had been spoken was muffled in the woman’s clothing. “I’m really sorry for throwing that water at you, and for being childish. I am a child, after all. Forgive me?”