Avoidence

Morgan was standing by her bear when her guards found her again. She had left the arrows in its body and was absolutely delighted at the looks on their faces. She knew her sisters had believed in her but it was always fun to shock those who thought she was kidding.

They loaded the bear on a cart pulled by two horses and then Morgan jumped back onto her horse and they set off back to town.

Passing back through the forest, they killed several deer. As Morgan scanned the treetops while they were loaded on the cart. She swore she scanned a face peering through the top branches at her but when she walked to get a closer look it vanished.

*****

Back at the fair, Astraea, Teresa, and Daphne were finished exploring the stalls and watched the sunset from the opening in their tent. They had found several things to be bought and brought them back to their tent to prepare for the dance and presentation of the prizes later in the evening. Teresa and Daphne were bummed that they were not permitted to attend tonight. They were not old enough and Daphne dreaded the time she would have to spend cooped up in the tent. Teresa was also upset that Daphne could not go because she had been looking forward to the quiet time when everyone was gone to read her new book.

The tent curtain doors blew open and in flew Morgan, her eyes still alight with adrenaline after hunting the bear. The hems of her pants were covered in mud from traipsing through the forest but even the dirt and grime on her face couldn't diminish the happiness she felt after her first successful hunt.

Mara, Leah, and Claudia carrying tubs of water and the freshly prepped dresses for tonight. Claudia's face paled when she saw the amount of mud on Morgan. She immediately turned around to ask the guards standing outside for more water and more washing rags from her tent.

Mara settled Daphne at the dining table with a drawing book full of sketches to color and some dinner and then helped Teresa out of her day clothes and undo her hair. While Mara finished with her younger sister's and Claudia started to scrub at the mud despite Morgan's protests, Astraea seated herself at the vanity so Leah could start with her hair and her face.

She looked up and watched Morgan fidget and squirm as Claudia wiped at her face. "How was the hunt, Morgan?"

Morgan's smile was broad as she suddenly stilled for Claudia. " Oh, Astraea. It was amazing. I am so glad I got to go this year."

"You are almost of age now and you've been training pretty much since their Royal Majesties died so it made sense."

The light from Morgan's eyes dimmed a little at the reminder of their parents. "It would have been nice to go once with Father."

"He never would have let you go… probably won't have even little you train as much as you are."

Morgan shrugged, "You don't know that for sure. We don't have any brothers so maybe he would've let me."

"Maybe." Astraea looked away from her sister to her dress. "Oh, Leah. It's beautiful. How did you get the dust to let go?"

Leah blushed a little, "It was actually Mara's idea. We beat it like a rug to get it clean since we didn't want to soak it."

Astraea stood, her hair hanging loosely to her waist, and walked over to it. She reached out a hand to brush one of the sleeves. "This will be the perfect distraction for anyone who wants to kill me."

Astraea was ready long before Morgan was and spent the extra time making sure that her knives were strapped in properly and poison needles in her gloves flicked out at the right time. She swirled once in the mirror to make sure the hanging knives couldn't be seen through the discrete slits in her dress. Then she swirled again, just for the fun of it to watch the royal purple fabric spin around her. Mara and Leah had outdone themselves when they found the dress in the attic when sorting through her mother's old dresses. They had tailored it to be more current but had kept the original style as a tribute to her mother. In the portrait's Astraea had seen of her mother wearing the dress, her mother wore a single strand of pearls which had stood out sharply against her dark skin. Leah had woven strings of pearls through braids in Astraea's hair so they could have a similar effect against the waves of Astraea's hair Leah had left unbraided.

Claudia had managed to convince Morgan to not wear maroon tonight and instead compromised on a crimson red that complimented Astraea's purple. They were dressed and ready to go at last so Morgan, also armed to the teeth under her dress, lead the way out of the tent and to the dancefloor from the previous night where the music and fun had already begun.

When they arrived, the music stopped and the royal fanfare began. Astraea and Morgan were introduced and the dancing began again. Astraea took her spot on the ornate chair set u[ on the side. It wasn't a throne because she had intended it not to be but it still was distinctly fancier than any other chair around her. She watched the dancers circle each other and weave in and out of lines but didn't see Morgan partaking. Instead, her sister was leaning against a pillar, her eyes scanning the crowd for any potential threat. Astraea had known it might be a mistake to let Morgan train with the bodyguards but hadn't been able to make an excuse for it since she was also training.

There was a flash of black in the sea of brightly colored swirling suits and skirts and Astraea zeroed in on Drystann as he made his way to her. It was too early for them to dance and she stood to make her way to the podium. He made to follow as she walked up the stairs but a flick of her fingers at the guards near the bottom had him stopped. She rang a bell and almost instantly the music stopped so she could hand out the hunting awards. Mara had prepared the list for her and she read them with no trouble, handing each paper and bag of coins to the winner until she reached her sister's name. She barely slipped up and as she handed the award and prize to her sister, she knew they would have words later. Positive or negative she couldn't decide.

The other name that tripped her up was the very last winner. She handed the award for most kills to Drystann being careful to not accidentally release the needles. There would be a time for that later. They had to close the dance with a waltz together so she would get him and end the dance with a spectacular finale.