Chapter 19 - Faithful

She woke up feeling very cheery, and very serene. Which she completely embraced, knowing it to be a good thing. And with the Joy in her heart, and still a little lost somewhere between being asleep and awake, She reached for Jasper… but he wasn't there.

Odd. she thought and slowly opened her eyes, and scanned the bed. when she she didn’t see him, she scratched at her eyes and laid on her back

Where was he?

She knew he was definitely somewhere around the house, but she had gotten so used to waking up in his arms that him not being there when she woke felt truly wrong.

And what exactly did that mean? She asked herself.

She turned on her side to look at the window. It was well into the morning now, she had slept in, and considered, perhaps that's why Jasper wasn't in bed, he was an early riser, probably took a glance at her and let her sleep.

She smiled at the thought of him.

She didn't really have female friends, but there was a maid back home, whom over time, she had taken a great liking to. Piper was her name, she would always talk about the man that held her heart in his hands whenever she came in and tended her hair. Or maybe- Hannah thought- swoon was the more appropriate word. Piper would alway swoon. Hannah had always smiled here and there so as to indulge her, but she had never truly understood what all the swooning was about. But here, lying down, her mind on Jasper, she thought she finally understood. Piper would have a fit if she ever told her. Indeed, she would have had a righteous fit of her own, if about a year ago someone had told her this would be her now- so in love, so unwilling to be anything but in love.

Her mind wandered towards home, and she realised that she'd never really thought much about the castle since she left. She wondered if she should have felt guilty about that, but she didn't feel guilty, and she didn't really see much of a reason to be guilty anyway. She missed her loved ones, however, but she was blissfully aware of how much this journey had begun to change her, was changing her views and considerable amount of her perspectives. To her, it was all worth it.

She thought some about her parents, about all that happened between them and Martha, about how it all ended. She thought it was unfair.

Martha had asked her to forgive them. Martha had Said she had forgiven them. But try as she might, it was not very easy to learn of such a horrible act and then let go, in such little amount of time, and even if- she thought, inwardly casting her eyes to the heavens,- there was a long stretch of time, that doesn't (in her thinking) make the wrong, any less wrong. But if what She needed was time, time to heal, time to forgive, time to let go -and she knew better than to force it- Then time she would take, not because she was unwilling. No, by all means, she didn’t want to hold onto feelings of anger, she didn’t want to hold on to a grudge toward her parents. There was a war coming and the last thing the people needed was a divided Royal family governing them, that would in turn make for a divided Kingdom. They did not need all that.

So she’d learn.

learn to forgive, learn to forget. She would. She wanted to and to her thinking, that was a good start. in her heart she'd chosen forgiveness, and now she was giving that choice a room to bloom.

Was there anger? from time to time.

Did she need to heal? Absolutely.

But ultimately, she indeed was willing to move on, to set them free.

And she knew, she knew that to be one hell of a start.

°°°°

She walked into the kitchen, and leaned against the door frame and her heart all but swelled. Their backs were turned to her, so they were not yet aware of her presence.

"You can not be picking out these bacon. Wait until they are on the table, and everyone is seated." Martha gently scolded, as she took bacon out of the skillet and set them on a plate. It was- to Hannah's thinking- like a mother to her young son who had been playing outside in the mud and now wanted to take cookies from the cookie jar with hands stained with mud.

"Ah, Martha, she'll sleep forever. You should have seen her, she looked so peaceful. I won't have the heart to wake her, if she doesn’t wake soon enough." She heard the warmth and gentleness-as well as the teasing- with which he spoke of her, and she wanted to tear up, not for sadness. But for the Happiness that enveloped her. He reached for one more and her grandmother patted his hand away with her free hand.

Wasn't the creator good, giving her this to wake up to?

It might have seemed small to other people, but it meant so much to her. She grew up in a castle, she didn't know how her meals were prepared, she had never known the rich scent of a kitchen in which good food had just been prepared. Of course she was grateful for being a princess, she wasn't blind or ignorant to how the poor of her people fared. But indeed, she was grateful to be part of this unique piece of ordinary day life, that was indeed extraordinary all in itself.

Martha turned around, plate of crisp bacon in hand, and a warm smile curved her lips.

"Good morning, dear."

"Good morning." Hannah returned her smile and turned her gaze to Jasper who had turned at Martha's greeting, and was watching her with some of the warmth and gentleness she had heard in his voice.

"Good morning." She said breathlessly, before standing upright and went to him. Martha had begun setting the table for breakfast. He brushed some hair out of her face.

" Morning." Was all he said, but for all she knew, in that moment he could have been telling her goodnight, for the way he looked at her refreshed her and her ears momentarily failed to connect to her brain. She smiled, standing on her toes, she kissed her cheek, before she began helping Martha set the table.

When they were seated and shared grace over the meal, she remembered the dream she had and shared it with them and was met by raised brows from Jasper and subtle nods from Martha as she recounted the dream, and if she was seeing correctly, the hint of a smile from martha from time to time?

"Sabryinth, the fair devil." Martha said and a hearty laugh escaped her lips. Hannah turned to her in confusion.

"Is that her name?" Hannah asked genuinely curious,

Martha nodded.

"If indeed were talking about the same doe, then I believe so." Martha looked wistful for a moment, lost somewhere in yesterday and Hannah had the desperate urge to reach out and cover the hand of the older woman which rested on the table, with her own. But she thought it best to let Martha have her moment. The older woman's expression soon cleared as she said,

"Sabryinth is a seer, and she thought me to embrace my powers at a time when I wanted nothing more than to throw it all away and be done with it." Hannah had a small inkling as to when this time was, and when sadness washed over, this time she did reach out to cover Martha's hand with hers.

"Oh deary, don't mind this old nostalgic one." She said and patted Hannah's giving hand with her free one. Hannah smiled a bit as she withdrew her hand, it hurt to realise her grandmother had been through alot.

"Sabryinth, aside from being a seer, is the keeper of the woods she brought you to. She is a kidemonàs. where sabyrinth is from, this means Guardian. they are the keepers of sacred grounds. A guardian doesn't always have to be a Doe. It could be a horse, or a dog, or a butterfly even. But a guardian nonetheless, and a very strong one for all that." Martha saw how Hannah took in everything she said with wide eyes and laughed.

"And this kidemonàs, guardian, talking doe, was able to connect with Hannah, pull her into a dream without any contact with her whatsoever?" Jasper asked, according to all Hannah had said, this Doe had posed no harm, but he still didn't like the thought of Hannah being dragged into a sleep state or otherwise without him being there to defend her.

"She is the princess of brone. The soil of this land flows through her veins and her blood flows through this land."

"And that's all it takes?" Jasper whispered and Martha could hear all he wasn't asking. She could see how he feared for the woman he loved.

"Yes. But remember one thing, this thing, right and true, Her blood flows through Brone, Brone is faithful to her. Brone will let none do her harm."