Chapter 18: Chapter-17: Accursed Face

Aquilae removed her hand and stood up. The searing pain returned, though not as much as earlier. Celine pulled out another Monteith.

"I shall tend your wounds as well, Alenor. Without magic, of course."

"Winny, you can stop now. I shall get rid of them."

Aquilae asked. The air in front of them turned solid and broke like glass smashed into pieces. The army that had been standing still until now, had fallen asleep and was snoring on the floor. Alenor felt ashamed; she could not win against them. literal clowns who fell for illusion. Celine wiped the blood from her face. There was something in the cloth. Her face felt cool and fresh after being wiped off.

"Hah"

"What?"

"N..nothing," Alenor replied. and felt embarrassed.

"This cut is not shallow; it will leave a scar." 

"No, it won’t… All the scars and injuries on my face heal after I sleep. It always has."

"Well, isn't that a blessing?"

"A curse; I cannot get rid of this accursed face."

Celine went quiet and continued to bandage her forehead.

"Why?" Aquilae asked. Seemingly confused about her words.

"Why? You’re so beautiful. If you don’t mind sharing." 

"I was a slave. None of my master’s mistresses were happy that I was more beautiful than them. They first tried to take away my face… from tea to Hoary waters… My face would be back to normal after walking as if I were Devil. Every night I would wish this face would be left ruined and I would be left alone, but it healed every time. Scared, they would sell me to my next master, and the process would continue." Alenor narrated in a monotonous voice. She could see Celine tightly clenching the cloth in her hand. 

"Did you ever wish for revenge?"

"No… I just want to be left alone." 

"I don't understand.."

A red fox walked up to her side. Fluffy tail. One-eyed, the other was missing, only replaced by a scar. It looked beautiful. It stood in front of her and stared. Was she supposed to say something? Then it turned and ‘hmphed’.

"Don’t you sulk, little girl? She doesn't know how to express her feelings. She thinks you are the cutest thing ever. Right?"

Alenor nodded. Not that she had any argument with that statement. 

Aquilae picked up the fox, and somehow it got smaller and climbed on her, then sat on her head.

"She is Winny, my cute little pet and a very good illusionist. She can actually use potent illusion magic, contrary to your beliefs."

"She charmed the army on this side of the chasm into sleep. And Winny, she is Alenor, and she is Aunt Celine; do you remember her.?"

Winny shook her head. And closed her eyes. Turning her head to other side.

"She gets moody when she wants someone to compliment her and they don’t"

"I’m sorry. It would be inappropriate to compliment her. I’m a peasant."

"Ooh, will it, now? She wants you to flatter her. What’s so inappropriate about it?"

"I’m a peasant; directly complimenting anyone of higher status is inappropriate for us."

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"Don’t worry about such things. This is not some royal palace. Not that this thing is going to understand statues."

  Winny brought her paw down on Aquilae's forehead. "Oww," she said, rubbing with her bandaged hand.

"They are waking up. Now that my authority is no more, they can get on this side by flying and use magic from the other side too, as you have seen."

"Let them be, It will be another few minutes before they wake up. In the meantime, Why don’t you come out... Miss Rinn? "

"So, you can feel our presence."

"What can I say? I’m a Warlord. We have to be on top of everything."

"So you say. We are going to take our leave. What we wanted to see was her pleading with us to let her die. Nonetheless, it was an entertaining watch. What is even more intriguing is how you suppressed the natural outcome. It presents us with many new possibilities, and I shall seek some answers myself. It seems to us that we have fallen behind in the last millennium. And this artificial body of a bird is a shameful form; we shall properly introduce ourselves in our next meeting."

"I await our next meeting very eagerly. Huh, she left without hearing my reply."

"Aunt, you should stay by Alenor’s side. Winny will create an illusion so they cannot see you. I shall take care of them."

Winny jumped down Aquilae’s head and walked up to Alenor. And jumped on her head; her fluffy red tail brushed her ears. Aquilae looked at her; she was somewhat stunned. She pulled out her sword from the ground. It was a long, curved sword with no hilt; a hand grip was made on the holdable slab of iron where the hilt should have been, with three rings one after the other cut out on its end, and the last one was tied with a long red cloth. and an intricate design on the dull side of the blade. Alenor had not heard of such a sword. It did not look easy to use or practical.

"I'm off."

Aquilae dashed, leaving behind a green sparkle. Celine sat next to her. Her eyes were full of kindness.  

"Alenor, You can sleep now. Take a rest. Your duty is over."

"I... not many get to see a warlord in action. I wish to see with my own eyes."

"If that’s what you truly want. There will be nothing pretty about it."

 "I know"

Winny bashed her tail on Alenor’s face. It did not hurt, but it distracted her from focusing on the battlefield. She turned to Celine, hoping she could stop this tail.

"II think she wants to be flattered, now that Aquilae is not here. You should just do as she wants, or she might not stop anytime soon. Although this looks cute if not for all the blood"

Alenor tried to come up with something to say, but nothing came to mind.just her barren mind. She wondered how people complimented others; the only compliment she ever got was ‘Your father never knew how cheaply he sold a treasure’. She now understood what that meant, a long time after, along with why she did not want another compliment. And there was a bigger hurdle of complimenting someone of higher status. 

"I just can’t. I’m sorry but I cannot do it. I’m incapable of such social acts."

Alenor knew Celine would understand; she was kind. Yet tears started to fall from her eyes. Why? She asked herself. She did not have an answer. She felt stupid for crying at something like this. Quickly, she wiped her eyes. Fox stopped bashing its tail and jumped down to Celine’s side.

Winny gave her a pleading look. Celine rubbed her head gently, down to her back. not speaking a word.   

"You did not do anything, Winny. She is stressed from all the fighting. You come here and sit with me."

"And Aelnor, do you want to sit properly? That posture looks extremely uncomfortable."

"No, no, I'm fine."

Alenor hardly felt anything but pain in her body. ‘Like sitting properly would somehow make me less hurt.’ And she did not wish for Celine to touch her; just thinking of that prospect made her shiver. She would just wait for a distraction, and when she gets a moment, she will... . Just thinking of being a deadweight made her want to ram a knife through her neck. Aquilae was standing on the rubble and talking with a purple, fully armoured man. Most likely, the commander. She could not hear what they were talking about. Aquilae threw her sword at him…

"Miss Celine... " Alenor voiced in a pleading manner.

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