steel your heart

     valene had been working restlessly for days in preparation for the royal visit. as had the rest of the servants. the castle a mass of motion, cleaning and preparing whatever bedrooms would be necessary, and planning and prepping meals. she’d been assigned to the kitchen, and she was sure her hands were going to smell like a queer mix of parsley and saffron and mace until the end of her days. attending to her duties, tea tray in her hands, keen ears caught the sound of a foreign melody and rustling papers drifting from the cracked open solar door. years of service in the castle had etched it’s every twist and turn into valene’s mind. and the solar was definitely the queen’s. the queen of nohanwan was not known to hum lullabies, so curiosity quickly evolved into alarm and silent steps hastily pad to the partially opened door, taking in the dim candlelight that she was meant to put out after delivering the chamomile tea to the queen’s chambers. her quick scan of the room only drunk the silhouette of the intruder, the blurry outline of pointed ears and a glimpse of sleek hair. an instinctive, ill-advised, sharp intake of breath as she finds her suspicions confirmed, eyes snapping to the infiltrator’s back.

     valene’s hand immediately move to support her back, eyes scanning the well dressed woman for any clue as to what could have happened. “’m afraid not, miss, i was just walking and i saw you lying here in the snow,” any question that came to her seemed useless, as the lady seemed just as clueless as she was about this entire instance. “i’m no healer, but, do you faint often? or perhaps the cold air got to your head?” her arm is wrapped around her shoulder in an attempt to keep her upright and warm, concern clear in her eyes.