They continued their journey to the village and went in search of a library. The
people frowned and murmured whenever they saw Danika, but they smiled and
waved at Sally, who smiled and waved back.
Used to the animosity, Danika just bowed her head slightly to any elder she passed
and continued her journey, anyway.
It took a long time before they could locate an old library downtown. They entered
and walked to the counter. Sally talked with the library worker, got a card and paid
the fee. Then they went through the shelves.
Danika went through each row of books with joy on her face. Tears prickled her
eyes because the books reminded her of the life that once was hers.
Sally didn’t understand a thing about books and wasn’t really a lover of them, but
it didn’t matter. She was used to making her princess happy. Gaining her own
happiness from her princess’s happiness.
Danika read to her and tried to teach her to read unfamiliar words and how to
write. They spent a lot of time in the library.
By the time they left, the sun had almost set. They heard about a festival on the
other side of town, and Sally dragged her to it.
They watched people dance and celebrate. Happiness everywhere-the loud shout
of children singing and dancing. It was a beautiful night.
Danika slept with a smile on her face.
On the third day after her torture session, Danika was feeling much better. The
pain in her back lessened, too.
While she took her bath, Sally prepared to go to the mines. Sally already
complained that the slave trainer kept asking her about her princess.
“I don’t understand his interest in you, my princess, and it makes me so scared. He
seems dangerous!” she’d confided in her.
It scared Danika too, but she didn’t allow herself to dwell on it. If there was one
thing she had learned to do since she became a slave, it was to live one day at a time.
She finished bathing and dressing when Baski entered to care for her wounds.
Danika noticed that the woman was more on edge than usual. After she had dressed
her wounds, she asked Baski what was happening.
When the silence stretched, Danika decided Baski wouldn’t answer. But then she
did.
“It’s Remeta. She’s refused to eat for days now. She does it sometimes, but these
days it just gets worse. It’s been three days.” Her voice cracked in the end.
A wave of guilt filled Danika. The same fifteen-year-old girl her father brutalized.
“I’m sorry.”
Baski got up. “It doesn’t matter. She’ll get over it; she always does. Make sure to
take your pills after eating.”
“Alright, ma’am.”
“The king is going to the royal court, but he will request your presence in seven
round turns of the long pointer. I would come and get you, but I’ll be staying home
with Remeta today. I already informed the king.”
Seven round turns of the long pointer meant seven hours.
She nodded again anyway. “Alright, Madam Baski.”
Baski nodded and walked out the door. Danika was surprised when the older
woman came back again. “Danika?”
“Yes, ma’am?”
She hesitated. “There are some things… even the king has no control over.”
“What?” Danika asked, bewildered.
“N-never mind.” She turned and walked out again.
Danika cocked her head to the side, thinking of the woman’s strange words and
behaviour. She shrugged when it didn’t make sense and went for a walk.
One of these days, she would go to Baski’s home and see Remeta. She didn’t know
how it would feel to see the little girl, but she felt a sense of responsibility to do so.
The guilt riding her was too much.
You’re not your father. You’re Danika, she tried to tell herself in her heart to
lessen the guilt she felt.
It didn’t work.
Baski stood in front of the king, who had finished dressing in his formal garments.
“I dressed her wounds and applied new herbs on her. Her back looks better, and
her wounds are not infected,” she recounted.
The king said nothing. Baski didn’t understand the meaning of ‘no feedback’. The
woman purposely chose not to understand that particular command, and Lucien didn’t
know why.
“I already relayed your order to see her later, Your Highness. I hope there is
nothing else you want me to do before I go.”
He walked to the desk and started rolling the scrolls one after the other until they
were all organized on the desk. He didn’t look at her when he asked, “How is
Remeta?”
Baski’s heart broke a little at the sad question. “She’s n-not doing so well, Your
Majesty.”
He didn’t say anything for long.
“Be strong, Baski,” he muttered at last.
Baski knew what that meant. She should prepare herself; she might never get her
sweet lovely little girl again. A time might come when Baski might be alive, but
Remeta was dead.
Tears filled the woman’s eyes, but she blinked them back. “I’m trying to be, my
king,” she said hoarsely.
“Bring her to the palace one of these days.”
“Thank you, Your Highness. I will.”
Silence descended between them. Again.
“Does she know? The reason why she’s being summoned in seven round turns of
the long pointer?” he asked at last.
“I-I’m so sorry, my king. I tried telling her, but no matter how much I tried-”
“You couldn’t,” he finished for her.
She lowered her head miserably. “How do I tell her she’ll be having another
introduction, and this time around, the four kingdoms summoned her? Her father
made enemies with them when he was still alive-four kingdoms and still counting.
How do I tell her that it’s either she is introduced, or our kingdom will go to war with
these kingdoms?”
The king said nothing. He lifted his scrolls and started walking towards her and the
door, stopping in front of her. His face was devoid of emotions as he held Baski’s
eyes. “You shouldn’t have to tell her all those things, Baski. You should have just
informed her that the maids are coming in the evening to get her ready for another
introduction.”
Then he walked past her and out of the door.
When Baski allowed the tears to run freely down her face, she didn’t know who
she was crying for.
Was it Remeta or Danika? Or both?