8 Rhoswen Solone

_Rhoswen Solone_

"I heard about the other day, Rhoss." A male voice huffed out, making the girl turn on her bench to see the man it had come from. She was in the garden again, practicing her embroidery skills, though it was rather bland. Rhoswen liked the garden, there was a peace to it that people just didn't have. She wanted to learn botany but she was often told it was not a thing for ladies to pursue, only admire.

The man behind her was her father. He was a moderately thin man, muscular where it counted. He was a veteran of several minor wars and one great one. She took pride in knowing that she was the eldest daughter of such a renowned lord. She loved the man, all flaws included. "I am sure half of the estate has heard of it. Servants love their gossip just as much as the nobles." She responded to him with a half hearted shrug before she went back to her embroidery work.

Her father came and sat next to her on the white wooden bench, one that sat in front of an old oak tree, soaring high into the sky- its size challenging that of the castle they lived in. There was no special story about the tree- it was just old and admired. So admired that it was one of the few trees they didn't clear out to make the place. This had happened a good seventy years ago, making the castle one of the youngest in the Ashmore kingdom. The castle in Denheim the largest out of all.

"It has been a while since you had last been afflicted why you were awake." Her father pointed out.

"You say "afflicted" as if I am ill." She pointed out as she worked, weaving the needle delicately in and out of the cloth.

"You had bled from your ears, what else am I to think? Other times you had bled from your nose and so forth. Spontaneous fainting and bleeding is an illness, Rhoss." He tried to reason with her, but the noble girl would have none of it.

"Spare me you concerned explanations, I have heard them all before." She said in an irritated manner, her embroidery getting rougher with her emotions. "Next you are going to tell me I am mentally unsound because of the visions I see." She said now, looking up at her father with a pointed look before she carried on.

"Because I believe it true."

"Tell me then, why do they come true? Why do I see things, real things, that I should not possibly know about?"

"It is an illusion, a trick of your mind, Rhoss. The medicine practitioners have said so themselves."

    She shook her head in defiance. "The practitioners are nothing but old men. They know nothing of what I have."

"They know a great deal more than what you do, girl. They are men of science and history," He told her now, eyes cast down at the work she was doing. Angry work it seemed to be.

"My visions are not science," She grumbled now.

"And what are they to be then? If not the science of a sick mind then what? Magic? Sorcery? Don't be a child. I had thought you grown more than that."

Rhoswen was miffed now, silent for a while but spoke up before her father could again. "If that is what you must call it then I suppose it is that. I do not know how to explain it's works." She said in annoyance, shoving her needle in and out of the fabric now.

"It is not so. There is no magic in this world but that of life and death."

"Tch," She gripped her needle tightly, taking offense to his constant disbelief. "You would understand if you got them too. I know you would. But you don't. No one else does so they do not get it." She said with a huff.

"Those who are unsound never know they are that way, Rhoss..." Her father said quietly, a grim tone clinging to his voice.

She shoved the needle through the fabric yet again and hissed when it stuck into her thumb. She had been too careless it seemed. Setting aside her work, she inspected her finger and the drop of blood that swelled on her digit.

"Are you alright?" He asked as he took her hand to inspect her thumb. "You nicked yourself rather deep,"

She gently took back her hand, her eyes meeting the ground. "It does not hurt at all unlike like your not believing me does." She countered, trying to keep an attitude filled tone out of her words.

"I am sorry, my dear. If it were plausible, then I would. Right now the most plausible thing out of all is you have the fainting sickness and an overactive imagination."

She scowled, eyes finding the cloudy sky in irritation. "Let's not speak of this anymore. It is going to rain and I would prefer to retreat to my room by the fire for the evening." She said as she stood and brushed the creases from her pretty and elaborate dress. Rhoswen grabbed her embroidery work before facing her father.

"I go easy on you, unlike your siblings. You are at the age where you should learn the proper respect. Remember this next time we speak, yes?" He told her in a stern kindness. The lord was a kind father, and he left room for plenty of mistakes. He rarely got mad enough to yell, but that may have been better than his punishments. If he asked you something in his serious tone, you were expected to follow. Perhaps this is why he made a good lord and commander. The city of Faun Gaia had flourished under his rule, even with it being so close to the treacherous West. The west had been at war for centuries, it was a wonder there was anyone there still left alive.

"Yes father." She answered obediently.

He nodded, pleased. "Off with you then, I have work to get to," he said as he stood. "A medical practitioner will be sent to check on you this evening."

Rhoswen bit the inside of her cheek in annoyance but merely nodded and walked off, opposite from her father. She made haste to get back to her room as quick as she could- however she froze at the sight of a certain flower that caught her eyes. Or more correctly, a group of flowers that didn't belong. A cluster of Monkshood found itself along the other flowers lining the castle walls.

She frowned, having not seen it here before. She knew all the flowers in this castle but had only seen this type out in the wild. Monkshood was poisonous to consume but plenty of herbalists kept it around. The castle gardens were no herbalist's garden, however. But something else stood out to her as she thought about it's strange appearance in the castle grounds.

The flower was commonly thought of to be one of hope but this was not the case. According to the books she had loved to read, this flower meant to beware of something. A warning that something evil lurked. Rhosewn felt herself swallow, anxious as she turned and hurried even faster to her room.

The girl found herself nearly running to her chambers, bursting through the doors and running through the hallways. She rounded a corner swiftly but let out an "oof" As she hit a chest so hard she was flying back into the ground. With wide eyes she peared up to who she had ran into so carelessly.

"Briar," She gasped out in relief, seeing it was only her older brother of twenty.

He looked her up and down before letting out a chuckle, holding his hand out to help her up, which she gladly took. "You seem to be in quite the rush, what is the occasion?" He asked her as he bent down to pick up her embroidery.

Rhoswen struggled not to tell him the reason she had been so spooked. It was always easy to spill everything to everyone and be rid of it. But as she was coming to find out, this caused more trouble than it did help, so she learned to keep to herself. "I, uh," She started before looking past her blonde brother into the hallway before looking back at him. "I could not wait to get back to my quarters. I am reading this exciting book right now." She was a terrible liar but hoped her brother believed her.

Briar gave her an odd look, clearly doubting her words. "Oh?" He asked out inquisitively. "What book? Surely it has to be amazing if it has you running back to your chambers in such a manner,"

Rhoswen swallowed, thinking of a book, any book. She came up short. "I- uh, you probably wouldn't like it."

Briar shook his head, his blonde mess of hair flopping about his head. Green eyes kept contact with her blue ones. "Nonsense, I love a good read, just as you,"

Rhoswen said the first thing that came to her mind. "Botany." She blurted. "It's about botany."

Her brother gave her an odd look. "Well I suppose you are right, I do not think I would quite enjoy that... You know, mother loved her flowers too. That is why we all have flower names," He told her, and to Rhoswen's relief  it seemed as if he believed her lie.

"She told me," Rhoswen said with a nod, feeling a small twinge of sadness in her chest. Their mother had only died two years ago, Rhoswen had only been ten years old. It felt like forever since that time. "She said my name was after the roses and that your name was after the wild roses. Florian's is different though," She pointed out, confused why her younger brother did not have a name after roses like her and Briar had.

"Rosaline is after roses too, and so is Primrose..." She named off two of her older sisters, perplexed.

Briar chuckled, "I was there the day Florian was born, I believe father was not pleased with all the rose names."

Rhoswen only frowned. "But he's been left out in that case," She pointed out. "He is the youngest of all of us and his name is different,"

Briar only shrugged. "I do not think he gets treated so differently. Perhaps you should ask him if he feels left out," He proposed to her. Rhoswen thought it over before nodding. Her younger brother was eight, and unlike most of her family, he was very rowdy. He had only been six when their mother died so he had gotten the least amount of time with her. She had raised her children very well so his temperaments were thought to be caused by her lack of influence. She had been rather sick for the last four years of her life after all.

"I should get back to work," Her older brother told her now. "You should walk through the halls instead of running. Your book is not going anywhere, alright?"

Rhoswen nodded politely and he ruffled her pretty blonde hair before walking off. She continued to her room, but at a walk this time. Her talk with her brother had calmed her down and she was grateful for it. The vision shehad seen the other day was messing with her head, surely. It was not like her to get so spooked so easily.

Her mind wandered back to what her father had said to her earlier. The part about being mentally unsound. She frowned. She knew she wasn't; she couldn't be. However, she was now doubting herself and nothing good could come of it. She needed to have another vision to be sure of what was happening. But how? She had never forced herself to see anything before. Rhoswen would not know where to start.

Once back to her quarters, she set aside her needlework and stared out of her windows into the garden. Her eyes scanned the flowers for any more of the purple-blue bell shaped monkshood but came up with nothing. Nothing she could see from her second floor room at least. With a frown she turned away from the window and reached to her personal bookshelf. Off she pulled an old book- one gifted to her from her mother before she passed. She opened the book, which had no dust to it from frequent use, and flipped through it to find the monkshood.

Once she reached the page, she allowed her fingers to trace over the fine hand drawn image of the monkshood flower and all its little bell shapes. Once she snapped from her admiration her eyes drifted down the page to its explanation. It went by many names and had multiple different subspecies, but it was entirely poisonous. Rhoswen frowned when she reread the meaning of the flower. It meant the same as she had originally thought. Beware of danger.

She was also to beware of foes that were near but she could not think of any dangers at the castle. Well besides her lord father's poor steward. The man was clumsy and had broken expensive glass items near her father before. And perhaps that old man, Bernan who was her father's chief advisor. It was clear the aged man was only working for himself- she didn't understand why her father was so forgiving and allowed that man to stay around.

She put the book back and glanced back out the window. She could not see the spot where she had seen the monkshood from her room, and for some reason, letting it out of her sight made her nervous. She shook the feeling away as quickly as it came. Now she was only paranoid.

She damn near jumped out of her skin when she heard a slam at her door. Spinning around she saw her sister, Primrose looking at her with wide and frantic eyes. "Rhoswen! Oh Rhoss it is an emergency!" She cried to her in a panic. Primrose was her older sister by five minutes, an older twin but the two girls hardly looked alike. Why Rhoswen was fare skinned, blonde with blue eyes and softer features, her sister was different. The girl had flaming orange hair, the color of autumn. To accompany this, she had slightly pinker skin, more angular features and she was a good three inches taller.

If that did not set them apart, their personalities did. "Prim!, what is it?" She explained in a worried tone, rushing to her sister.

Primrose gave Rhoswen a look of great despair, she even had tears welling up in her eyes. "I- i didn't mean to do it, it just happened, i had no control over it!" She whined.

Rhoswen gave her sister a look of concern, putting a hand on her shoulder. "What is it? What happened?" She questioned the girl.

The sister let out a dismayed noise before she spoke again. "Look, Rhoss, look at my dress," She said as she turned to expose her side, and the greatly frayed seam running along her waistline.

Rhoswen wanted to kick her sister. "You are distraught over this? You scared me and it is only your dress that is hurt?" She asked in a bland tone, her head shaking and her small hand coming to rest over her eyes as if she couldn't look at the other girl anymore.

"Yes! I am supposed to attend a ball in this? I cannot! It is ruined! It was my favorite too!"

"You are so dramatic," Rhoswen said as she tried to push her sister out of her room.

"I am not!" The ginger girl cried back, trying to push her way into Rhoswen's room.

"Yes! You are!" She said and pushed back, but her foot slipped and both of the girls fell to the floor in a flash, Rhoswen falling onto her back with Primrose on top of her. The blonde gasped and coughed in surprise, tring to push the other off. "You are as heavy as an ox," She complained.

"Take that back right now!" the older sister cried.

"No! Get off of me," The other complied with a pout, getting up and holding out her hand to Rhoswen, who allowed a sibling to help her up for the second time today.

"What do you even want, Prim? I cannot fix a fray this bad! What did you do, pick at the stitches?"

"Of course not, I felt them loose earlier but i thought nothing of it until i caught on something in passing, and when i had it ripped. Then I checked on it, and it is ruined!" She cried. "Please help me Rhoss, you are the best with a needle out of anyone I know!" She whined.

The blonde narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms. "Why don't you go ask sister Agestein? She taught both of us!"

"Sister Agestein will not only scold me, but if she doesn't make me fix this myself, she will keep it on hold for weeks!"

"And when is the ball?"

"Tonight!"

Rhoswen's eyes widened at the news. "Why had I not been told of this?"

Primrose froze for a moment, her body going rigid in realization of what she had done. Her hands flew to her mouth as her own eyes widened. "I was not to tell you! Oh no, what have I done?"

"Prim..." Rhoswen started slowly, her eyes narrowing. "Why had I not been told?" She asked slower than she had said before. Primrose squeaked and avoided eye contact.

"Well, I- they-... Everyone was instructed to keep the news from you. Father did not want you to go because of yesterday..."

"So you too know of yesterday? I wonder, does everyone know every little thing about me?" The blonde said with an exasperated sigh.

"You are fragile, Rhoss, we are only trying to look out for you..."

"You know I enjoy the dance just as much as you, Prim! I have never had anything happen at a dance!"

"Well there was that one time..."

    Rhoswen groaned, her head tilting back in an unladylike manner. "Prim," She groaned. "It was one time,"

"With yesterday's faint, father doesn't want you to overwork yourself..." Primrose tried to explain.

"Yes and I absolutely appreciate everyone's concern over me but I promise! I. Am. Fine."

The ginger sighed, her head shaking. "I know that, but they are worried, alright? You don't have to tell me, I would feel the same way."

    "It is not fair," Rhoswen said as she blinked her misty eyes in hopes of warding off the tears that threatened to spill over her cheeks.

    "It is not," Primrose agreed as she gave her sister an affectionate rub on the shoulder.

    "I am not a loon, Prim. I am not. I do not even have the fainting sickness..." She wiped furiously at her eyes, her sore throat swallowing the painful emotions that had been festering for a while.

"Rhoss..." Primrose said with concern lacing her voice. She pulled her sister close, rubbing her back.

Rhoswen quickly pushed herself away from Primrose and took a couple steps back. "No, do not give me your sympathy when you also do not believe me." She took a few deep breaths and shook her head at her sister before she could respond. "It does not matter, look at me, i am being more dramatic than you are," She said with a fake smile, her bottom lip quivering ever so slightly.

    "I cannot fix your dress so soon, but I can let you borrow my best one, since I will be unable to attend."

    Her sister shook her head almost violently. "Oh I couldn't possibly. I have plenty of dresses, I can find another. Besides, you will need your best one."

    "What? But I am not to go..."

Primrose snorted. "Everyone was told not to tell you, but no one said you could not go. The only one who did something wrong, was I. Because it was me who blabbed to you. Oops," She said with a smile.

    "I... I couldn't."

    "You can and you will. Who else will I dance with? No one knows me better than you do, sister."

    Rhoswen sniffed, smiling now. "Alright but i do not know what of my dresses is the best, will you help?"

    "Of course! But if I happen to see something I adore, there is no promise that it will still be in your closet by the night's end," Primrose said as she poked her sister's side.

    Rhoswen smiled at her sister, a genuine one this time. "I would not be surprised," She said with a chuckle.