Samantha’s Mother

Elin had been starting to doze in the afternoon light, as she listened to Samantha practice playing the harp, when she was startled awake with the announcement. While she was happy to know what the next challenge was, she didn't really care too much about heading out for it right now.

She'd discussed with Kim earlier about taking time to work on their skills. Elin didn't mind doing that, especially if it helped them when it came time to get in a battle again. Although, Elin wished there was a way to get her level up, at least when she was so close to it. She doubted that she'd be able to do that while she worked on her skills, but at the same time, she'd at least be getting herself stronger anyway, so it wasn't like she wouldn't be able to get her level raised when they finally started out again.

Rubbing her eyes, she yawned and stood up. She wasn't sure, but she thought that the king would want them to move over to his palace by the end of the day. Or at least that's what she thought Kim had told her, but couldn't really be sure, since she didn't actually hear it herself, just as secondhand information from Kim.

Not that she didn't trust Kim, it was more that she had slept through the discussion with the king earlier that morning, so she merely had to trust what Kim's interpretation of events was, rather than being able to evaluate what was said herself.

"Huh? Mother is back!" Elin heard Samantha say, causing her to turn her head to see the girl looking out the window of the room they were in.

Samantha had been practicing the harp next to the window, in the corner of the room, largely because she had told Elin that she had been told by her tutor to play it at least an hour each day. So, she always made sure to do that, although Elin hadn't been assigned to play an instrument by any of her tutors, so she really didn't know if that was normal or not.

Still, the music that came off the harp under Samantha's fingers against the strings had been very pleasant. Almost to the point that she really didn't look forward to continuing on to the king's palace while they continued on in their journey with completing challenges.

"When was she supposed to return?" Elin asked, unsure if the return was supposed to be about this time or if Samantha's mother was early.

"Next week," Samantha said as her fingers stopped their dance over the strings of the harp. "Unless she somehow heard about the attack last night, I can't imagine what might have caused her to return this early."

"Where was she?"

Samantha turned to look at Elin, worry etched across her face. "She was managing our lands, making sure that everything was ready for the people on our lands to be able to bring in their harvest in a couple months."

"Why would she return early then?" Elin asked, not sure if she was following Samantha's train of thought.

"That's what I wanted to know!" she cried, sounding more frantic than happy.

Elin could only assume that Samantha didn't get along very well with her mother. Not that Elin really understood but she also knew that this was a different culture, so she couldn't say what may or may not be strange to her.

"Should we go out to meet her?" Elin asked, not sure if this was the proper thing to do, just that it felt right.

Samantha sighed as her fingers stopped playing across the harp strings, but she didn't stand up. "We should, but I don't really know if we should," she replied.

"Huh?" Elin asked, more than a little surprised and confused at Samantha's contradictory statement.

The girl merely sighed again in response. "I really don't want to go, but I know my mother won't be happy if I don't go," she said, but it sounded to Elin like she was talking to herself more than to Elin. "But if I go, then she'll know that I was aware of her returning and would complain about whatever came to mind, but if I don't go, I can pretend I didn't see her arrive and she'll just complain about how I need to be aware of what's going on, even when I'm completely swamped with other things that are happening."

"Why not go with the king?" Elin asked suddenly, the idea popping into her mind as she said it.

Samantha looked at Elin in confusion. "Why would I do that? It won't change anything."

Elin merely smiled at her new friend. "Simple. I'll get the king to say that you were with him and he wouldn't dismiss you. Therefore, any problem your mother might have with not showing up, regardless of what you did or didn't know, will be on his shoulders." Elin paused for a minute as she waited for her words to sink in. "So, unless she's willing to complain about that to the king, she'll have to back down."

Samantha looked at Elin suspiciously. "You sound like you've done this before."

Elin shrugged. She had a few times, pitting some of her tutors against each other, each of which had been given full, and equal, authority over Elin. Some she got along well with while others she would as soon not have to deal with at all. Even now.

"I might have done something like this once or twice," Elin admitted. 'Nothing on this scale though."

Samantha gave Elin a mischievous smile. "Alright. I believe he's down near the captain of the guards' office. I'll show you the way."

Elin nodded, feeling a little more excited than she had expected. While she didn't feel in as much danger of Samantha's mother as Samantha did, she couldn't help but get the sense that she was courting danger in doing this in the first place.

Samantha started to show Elin the way, and while she didn't now where their destination was, she had expected that it would take a bit of time to get to. She planned on using that time to figure out what she would say to the king and how to say it. She wanted to get the king to agree and felt she needed to get it down before they arrived.

However, she was surprised at how quickly they'd arrived. It hadn't taken even ten minutes. Not only that, but she hadn't yet figure out even what to say, let alone how to say it. Which left her in a little bit of a predicament.

Samantha knocked on the doorframe of the office as they arrived. Elin could see that the king had some of his guards searching through papers, although she wasn't sure if they were finding what they were looking for. Especially considering the captain of the guard had been part of the attempt on his life.

The king looked up from a stack of papers that were in front of him, although Elin suspected that he hadn't been listening to anything going on around him, and the knocking had pulled him out of whatever documents he was reviewing. Not that she had any proof for that one way or another for that suspicion. Mostly she was merely relying on the fact that that he didn't seem to pay much attention to any sound around him. At least until Samantha knocked at the door.

"What can I help you with?" the king asked, sounding rather distracted.

"Well, Elin had something she wanted to talk with you," Samantha said, turning to look at Elin.

Elin sighed, which came out louder than she'd have liked. The king clearly heard it and hid his smile behind his hand, making feel Elin that the king already knew what Elin wanted to say. Even though she wasn't sure what she wanted to say yet herself.

Taking a deep breath, she steeled herself as the king looked at her.

"I was wondering if you'd be willing to grant me a favor," Elin said, wondering if she was already making a mess of this.

The king regarded her for a minute, and Elin was starting to think he was going to deny her request, before he nodded. "Go ahead. I'll at least listen to it," he merely said.

While Elin had hoped that she would be relieved at him saying that, she wasn't happy to learn that she only felt more nervous and uneasy.

"Uh, um, w-would you be willing to say that Samantha and I were here with your for the past while?" she said, almost in a rush after her stuttering start.

The king looked at both Elin and Samantha before his face broke into a smile and he started chuckling. Elin wasn't sure if that was a good sign or not, but she felt she could at least take heart that he wasn't refusing the request right away.

"I can't say I expected that," the king said as his chuckling subsided. "I can't see a reason to say no to that, but what'll you give me in return?"

"I can play the harp for you," Samantha blurted.

Elin looked at Samantha, not sure what the girl was thinking. She couldn't help but think that Samantha was grasping at straws to keep her mother off of her back. Although, she wondered if Samantha had said the first thing that came to her mind.

The king regarded Samantha, his face not giving any indication as to what he was thinking. After what felt like an hour, but was probably merely a few minutes, the king opened his mouth to respond, when Jonas and Kim entered the room, walking around Elin and Samantha as if they weren't there.

"I thought you were going to leave me alone and not follow me the entire time," Kim accused Jonas as they entered.

"Hey, I just merely arrived at the same time as you. I was taking care of other things and didn't expect to see you here at this time," Jonas protested.

"Whatever," Kim grumbled.

"May I help you?" the king asked, his tone extra polite and Elin recognized the tone her father used whenever Elin as interrupting something he considered important. As such, it was clear to her at those times that she better have a good reason for interrupting.

Jonas shook his head. "Just passing through."

"I was looking for Elin," Kim explained.

The king sighed. "Well, as you can see, I was in the middle of talking with the one you were looking for, and as for you Jonas, that is the only entrance to this room. How you you expect to be 'just passing through' when you entered through where you'll be exiting?"

Jonas opened his mouth to respond when another voice echoed through the hallway outside the room, that carried into the room as well.

"There you are!" the voice thundered. "You better not be bothering Garret again and if you're not, you know he doesn't like others going through his things."

Elin looked at Samantha and saw her face had gone pale. Elin then turned to look at the king, trying to express her heartfelt plea for assistance.

The king didn't react, but he sighed, put the papers down and stood up. He then started to walk deliberately towards the door, motioning for his guards to accompany him.

A hand grabbed Samantha by the back of her neck and the look she gave Elin showed how scared she was. The hand pulled her back into the hallway and Elin could see an older woman towering over Samantha.

"What are you doing down here when you should have been waiting for my arrival like a good daughter?" the woman demanded.

"My apologies, duchess," the king said, startling the duchess. "I had no idea you were returning today. All your servants seemed to think that you'd be returning next week. If I'd known that, I wouldn't have asked for her and her new friend to stay with me, keeping me company while I conducted a thorough search."

The woman's gaze darted between Samantha and the king. "What do you mean, your majesty?" the duchess asked, her tone suddenly sweet and full of warmth.

Elin was sure she didn't like this woman, but recognized that it would be a mistake to let her know that.

"Well, there was an attempt on my life last night. Even your daughter was nearly killed. Since we started investigating the matter today, we've already learned that the captain of your guard was one of the ringleaders of the attempt."

The woman didn't seem to know how to respond to that, but looked at Samantha and demanded. "Where's your father? He should have let me know as soon as I returned."