#also merciful

"Baaard!!" Knock knock knock knock. Silence. "Mr. Baaard?" Serene backed up. This was the right door, right? So why wasn't he answering?!

She pressed her ear to the wooden door. Ah! He was moving!

She heard the door unlatch and felt it nudge open. She stepped back, then plowed ahead as it opened fully. "Mr. Bard! There you are!" She attached herself to his leg.

He barely budged and didn't answer. She looked up to find his gaze lost. She followed it. Was there something over-? She gasped and hid against his side. "Is it a shadow?"

"No... No, Princess," he finally answered.

She peeked out. He was right. Nothing was there. Phew. She came out in front of him again. What was he looking at then? Did he think Dad was coming?

Bard was still lost in a daze. She watched him another moment.

"What's there?" she finally asked. "I don't see anything." It wasn't a shadow. Bard would've told her if it was something bad. So... what was it?

He sighed. "Nothing, Princess." He mussed her hair.

"Pbbpeh peh!" She spat the hair out of her mouth. He *always* did that! Why? She tried to comb her hair with her fingers even as he fixed it too. Hehe.

"So, what are you staring at?" Was there something pretty? Maybe the light was pretty? Sometimes she stared when it was really pretty outside, but this was indoors. Was there something pretty in here somewhere?

"Nothing..." He shook his head.

"Gotta be staring at somethinggg!" She rocked back on her heels. She stumbled backwards and he helped straighten her out. "Hehe."

"It really isn't anything, Princess." He pat the top of her head.

"You're lyinggg..." Why else would he stare? He must be holding out on her. "Is it invisible?" Maybe it was a gift...

"No... No, Princess." He shook his head. He was smiling though now. Hehe! It was working. "Though you shouldn't go accusing someone of lying. That's not very nice."

"But you are."

"Princess..." His voice became stern.

"Why won't you tell me what is?" She pouted. It wasn't like she was trying to accuse.

"I told *you* several times it was nothing. Why won't you believe me?"

"'Cause it doesn't make sense for people to stare if there's nothing there!"

Bard sighed.

"Can you give me a hint about what it is? Please?"

"Princess... Sometimes people stare not at things they can see. Sometimes people stare when they're just... thinking."

"Oh. It was a thought then? What kind of thought?"

She watched him look off at it again.

"I'm not sure I was really thinking of anything..."

She squinted at him. A likely story. "You just don't wanna tell me!"

Bardwyn sighed. "Sometimes people don't really think about anything either. Sometimes they just stare at nothing."

"But why?"

"Sometimes when *you* stare at someone, it makes them want to look away."

She stared at him a long moment. "Will you get mad at me if I ask why again?"

Bardwyn smiled. "Sometimes people don't want to be stared at."

..... "Whhhhy?"

"They're uncomfortable. Staring might make them uncomfortable."

She squinted. "But why..."

He just looked at her.

"Okay, okay." She folded her arms. Anyway. "Play with me?" She grabbed his hand and tried to pull him.

"Let me guess. Your sister isn't playing with you?" He walked forward in the direction she pulled.

"No! Nobody wants to play with me." She pulled him towards the courtyard. The only sound for a while was the sound of Bard's armor. She started imitating the sound as she skipped along.

"Well, what would you like to play?"

Serene stopped in her tracks. Huh. She guessed people really did stare when they thought about things. She wondered if the ceiling was uncomfortable with her staring. "Can we pretend to be clouds?" she asked as she skipped along again.

"Clouds...?"

"Yeah! Clouds in the sky. You can fly, so you could really be one!" She stopped moving again. "I wish I had wings."

Bardwyn smiled. "Perhaps you will get them yet."

"When did you get yours?"

"When I started working at the castle."

"Does that mean I gotta work? Living here should be enough."

Bardwyn shook his head. "I don't know when or if you'll get them, but what matters more is that you grow in your faith."

"So someone has to plant me?"

Bardwyn shook his head again. "You are already planted. God will give the increase in His time."

"No I'm not."

Bardwyn stopped moving. She glanced back. He was giving her a stern look.

"Princess."

"What...?" she tried asking nicely.

"Your tone."

Bleh. Stupid Bard. She turned away and kept skipping.

"Please do try to be lady-like..."

Serene stopped skipping. Happy?

"I meant more your expressions..."

'I meant more your expressions.' She mimed him.

Bardwyn sighed. She wasn't sure she felt like playing clouds with him anymore. She slowed, and Bard got ahead of her. He turned back.

...She was understanding why people looked away when someone stared. Meanie.

"Not interested in playing anymore?" he asked.

"I'm just gonna get told what to do." Or be told she was planted, to which she couldn't even say she wasn't. She was too mean to say it nice.

Bardwyn sighed again. She hiked her shoulders up.

"You'll get to call the shots for Clouds," he replied.

But... mm... She looked down.

She heard Bard's armor shuffle. She wasn't in the mood to mimic the sound of it anymore.

He knelt in front of her. "Listen. I want the best for you, Princess. Sometimes, people in your life must scold you."

"I don't like being scolded..." She kept her eyes on the floor, tucking in her chin.

"No one does. But I don't do so without cause."

"I don't understand..."

"I don't scold you because I like doing so. Hardly anyone does. I do these things to train you for your future."

Serene looked off. "A sad future, then..."

"It doesn't have to be. Not if you listen." He put a hand on her shoulder.

Serene shook her head. She gently pushed his hand away and turned towards the wall, bristling.

Bardwyn sighed. He stood up again. "I suppose there's no sense in belaboring the point..."

"Belaboring."

He gave that little sigh he made when he smiled. "Yes..."

"What's that?"

"Have your sister read it in a dictionary for you."

"Why won't you tell me??" She started following him.

He smiled and continued on towards the courtyard.