"Why?" Her doe eyes widened in devastation and shock, a veil of water adding to their already extraordinary luminosity.
She wanted to see the world.
20 years, almost 21 years - she had spent confined in the castle, surviving in rags and on watery bland food. How much longer did she have to remain here? Why would Bersa not let her leave? Did she do something to deserve this?
The thoughts swirled endlessly, making her chest ache.
Bersa sighed through her nose, pursing her lips she shook her head, her hold on the rag she had been using to clean the windows tightening in restraint.
Seeing Bersa's reaction to her only request, Naeva couldn't stop her bottom lip from trembling, her brows drawing together in sadness and her tears almost spilling over.
"Naeva" Bersa started, adopting a calm voice used to placate a child.
"It's not allowed – you're not allowed. I have never once proposed you leaving the castle's premises, why would I not let you if I had authority to let you explore the outside?" her wrinkled brows drew together, seeing the fae she raised as a daughter expressing such sadness for the very first time.
Although at times she saw the fae as her daughter, she would never forget the strict orders given to her, drilled into her when she was but a child. Naeva would never leave. She couldn't allow it. As cruel as it was, there were powers at play that she could not hope to provoke.
"Who? Who is it that isn't allowing you to let me out? I want to see the world. How much longer will I have to stay here?" Naeva voice rose with each question, her usually smooth voice growing raspier and cracking – something Bersa had never heard or seen before.
Noticing Bersa's flabbergasted expression and sudden silence at her outburst, Naeva looked down awkwardly, wiping the wetness from her eyes and biting her lower lip before looking up.
"Please - just once, I want to see what it is like. I will come right back, I promise" the fae pleaded, her expression sincere and desperate, eyes watering like ice under the sun.
Bersa closed her eyes and rubbed her temples, looking more haggard and aged than before. She shook her head, "I'm sorry Naeva, but no. I can't allow you to leave... it's for your own good." and with that gloomily muttered sentence, she left the room to resume her duties, leaving a behind tense and sufferable silence.
And a fae who felt her life, all she had known to be true - falling apart.
After a much-needed cry laying in her bed, Naeva wiped her tears with her small palms and slowly leaned against her bed, taking deep breaths in and out.
She couldn't help but think this all ran deeper than she previously thought. The mysteries – hidden in plain sight. She would be lying if she said she never had suspicions of Bersa's existence in her life... after all, who would take care for an abandoned child in an abandoned castle and work till death? And as a maid too?
Repeating the conflict earlier with Bersa in her mind, she mulled over Bersa's suspicious words.
She didn't have the authority to let me leave... And there were powers at play that she couldn't hope to provoke... Naeva's brows drew together in concentration as she fiddled with her fingers deep in thought.
Heaving out a sigh she closed her eyes.
For now, she had no knowledge, no abilities and would surely die if she left in this violent winter. For now... she would forget, for now - she would wait.
Wait and find out just what Bersa has hidden from her. And then, she would find a way to leave.
Surely.