The Lady of House Adia (Cross Post)

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Kira Adia
Proven Adventurer
Proven Adventurer
Mistress of House Adia

Posts: 227
Joined: Sun Dec 06, 2020 9:38 pm
Location: Adia Estate, south of the city on the border with Skoggard

The Lady of House Adia (Cross Post)

Post by Kira Adia »

Kira stood outside the entrance to the Riverside Inn once again. Luna was, hopefully, still asleep, and with luck, Kira would be able to jump back into the same moment she left. This trip would be short enough, and she felt she had unfinished business in the inn.

It was not as bright and welcoming as the last time she was here. There were no bright lights, no welcoming fire. There was no pleasant chatter of conversation or smell of warm food and pleasant drink. As the huntress stood at the door in the cold and dark night, the only thing coming from within was the light of a few wall sconces and a single candle at a table directly ahead. The friendly old bar tender seemed to be going about the process of closing up shop for the day, well before the hour other taverns would be making their last calls.

But then again, Kira had already made her visit. The single other visitor to the in had stayed well past the end of her allotted time. It did not matter. Both women knew this score must be settled.

Kira pushed her way into the inn. The bar tender nodded gravely in her direction, as though relieved she had finally arrived. She gave a nod back as she slowly crossed the room to the single table. The woman sitting at the other end of the table was tall. Her hair was dark and long, wavy like that of her child. It should have fallen in graceful ripples down the length of her back, or tied up in a simple formal bun as her status would have warranted. Instead, it fell as a back waterfall, only more gracefully than that of her daughter by virtue of length and weight. Her skin was fair as though it resisted the very thought of sunlight in its surface. In the lights of the family common room, it had appeared beautiful and regal. In this dark and simple scenery, it only made her seem more ghostly and hollow.

The one thing the years had not changed one small bit was her eyes. There was a gentle glow to them, such that the deep violet hue would be immediately recognizable to those who knew her daughter.

Those eyes would not meet the girl who crossed the floor to join her table now. They stared regally, distantly, just to Kira’s side. The nobility had long passed from this woman, but she still carried the weight of a thousand years of Adia blood.

Kira sat across from the woman at the single empty chair. Her eyes had not left her mother. She regarded the woman closely, with no sympathy and no affection. Instead, Kira's gaze flashed with contempt and resentment.

Tonight would be the night she would make peace. She needed to put this woman to rest once and for all.

“It would be a lie to say it is a pleasure to see you again, Imiriden.” Kira's mother sat with her hands on her lap, legs crossed at the knees. The only motion she showed was the gentle rise and fall of her chest and shoulders as she breathed. “It has been, what? About four years since I last saw you. Or maybe five? I don't remember if you ever actually saw me at the Royal household. I went where the king went, but he rarely had me at court.”

There may have been a blink. The Lady Adia continued to look past Kira, impassive and stoic.

“Then again, why would the king bring his playthings out in public? I only held his favor for so long, you know. Within a season, I was just another girl for him when he desired a bit of variety. I consider myself lucky he kept me to himself. Some others were often... used as favors. For honored guests and special occasions. Maybe my favor lasted a bit longer than I give myself credit for.”

The rage within Kira only grew. This woman who did nothing could only sit. Was she even listening? Could she not even acknowledge the presence of her own daughter?

“Do you truly care so little? Was I ever nothing more than a tool? Did our family mean nothing?” As the silence stretched, her anger only grew. “Do you have nothing to say?”

“What could I even say, Iskira?” Imiriden continued to look past her daughter, even as she finally broke her silence. “What could I say that would set things right?”

The woman was interrupted by a pair of fists slamming into the top of the table. “Anything! Say you're sorry, say you never cared! Tell me I played the part you intended for me! Tell me I fucked up! Tell me anything, just say *something*.” Kira was half standing now, fingernails digging into palms.

Only now did violet eyes meet violet. Kira realized just then it had been at least a decade since she'd ever made eye contact with her own mother.

“You acted exactly as you believed you should have. You were the daughter I raised you to be. And for that, I was punished.”

“You? *We* suffered for what you did. *Your family was slaughtered.* Our allies were purged.” She fell into the chair. “He used me... for three years. I couldn't say no.” Kira closed her eyes, determined to hold back tears in front of her mother. “You weren't punished for your sins. We were. You never saw the worst of it.”

If she had looked, she would have seen the beginnings of tears in her mother’s eyes. The first cracks in that stone facade. By the time Kira did look, it had passed.

“I know you can do nothing to undo the choices you made. I know I am stuck with the burdens you left me. I don't know what I expected coming here again. Maybe I only wanted to have a chance to say these words, the last chance I'll ever have.”

Imiriden nodded to her daughter’s words. “Kira... I failed you as your mother. I made many mistakes. I know even if I had succeeded, I would have made more and worse. There is no situation in which I would have done right, by you, by our House, or the Kingdom.” She closed her eyes. “Your pain and suffering are something I cannot take away, but you will be stronger than I ever was. And if I can do nothing else as your mother, I can endure your wrath until you are satisfied, so that you no longer carry it.”

Kira felt tears come now. She could no longer hold them back. Her mother continued. “You have found love, and you will find more in time. Do not let your love become obsession. Do not let your desire become a chain. Obsession is what brought our downfall, both me and Jamusa.” She made a move to reach across the table, the hesitation in the motion showing an immense uncertainty. “It does not have to be yours. Hate me if you must. Love the woman you have found. But let neither control you. *You are better.* You are Mistress of House Adia now.”

Kira could not forgive her yet. “Mother... mom, I do hate you. I resent what you've done. But...” she again closed her eyes, though not to hold back the tears she could no longer control. “I will try to be better. And as long as I stand, so does our House.”

She reached across herself, but neither of the two women touched. Fingertips hovered close, they had met in the middle, but there would always be a gap they could not cross.

Imiriden opened her eyes, her tears flowing gently at her daughter’s halting sobs. In death, she found she was proud of the woman her daughter would become. She could accept her fate freely, knowing some good would come from her, even if that good came from elsewhere.

“Little Huntress,” Kira softened at the old affectation, “all of our family that passed have found peace. They lingered only long enough to say goodbye. But it is not my fate to join them. I lingered too long to wait for you and give you this chance for healing. The last action I will ever do. Maybe the one good thing I could do for you. It is time for me to go, to fade, as there is nothing left of me. I have given you all I have left. Kira, I love you.”

Kira opened her eyes, but she found the room empty. There were no candles, the tables and chairs falling apart. There was no bartender and the shelves lay bare save a few empty bottles, long emptied by squatters. She allowed herself a moment longer to finally grieve.

Some time later, Kira emerged from the dark common room into the chill night air of RhyDin. James stood leaning against the wall next to the door, as if waiting for her emergence. “I hope you found some peace tonight.”

Kira shook her head. “I don't know. Maybe I can start to properly grieve now. I don't know how much of what she said to take to heart.”

“Take all of it for what it is. The last words of a dead mother, making one last attempt to set things right.”

Kira leaned against the wall on the other side of the door, looking up at the stars, just as he now was. “Did you ever make peace with her?”

James gave a laugh that lacked humor. “I saw her here once, not long ago. She accepted that I was the one who killed her and that I had that right. She also accepted that I had left the family behind. She told me she hoped I could find peace one day.”

“You haven't already? You seem quite content in your life as The Exile. The boogeyman of the Royal Court.”

James thought for a long moment. “I went back to my Thendozal while I was looking for a way back here. There was a civil war after Mother died. The kingdom split, but the new kings were rebuilding. Things are getting better. I don't know how it will be in your home world in five hundred years. I hope it also gets better.”

She gave him a sidelong look. “And that answers my question how?”

He laughed again. “It's about as close to peace as I've been able to find. That and helping you get free. You will not have to live with the mistakes I did. It will have to be enough.”

Kira nodded to this and took a moment of her own to consider. “Mother’s words gave me little peace. But they will stick with me, I think. They give me some encouragement.”

“That's good. What do you plan to do now?”

Kira smiled to herself. “For now, I'll go back to Luna to continue our hunt and work some more on Syl’s journal. When I get back, I'll see if Mathian will allow me to visit her. I need to see her and know that I can hold my head high next to her. I need to know I am the woman I want to be again, and I want her to see that. After that? Who knows? Maybe write our family history. How about you?”

James had retrieved a cigarette from a pack in his pocket. With a snap of his fingers, the end flowed a warm orange. “First, there's a bottle of ale somewhere in the Red Dragon with my name on it. Maybe I'll visit this Lady Shadowsoul myself one day soon, as what about her has you so smitten.”

Kira cocked an eyebrow at him. “Those things will kill you, you know.”

James gave a hearty laugh, this one full of humor. “I've been doing this for three hundred years. My healing magic is more than up to the task, I assure you.”

Kira laughed with him. “I should head back. Luna won't even know I was gone, but I shouldn't stay too long regardless. There's healing to be found out there. Stay safe, James.”

He gave a nod, and she vanished in a flash of indigo. James stood straight and walked up to the main road, ready for that drink. He hummed to himself as he went, enjoying the chill wind of the winter.
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