Siene thought it was weird that she felt slightly refreshed even though her head was slightly pounding. Refreshed maybe, but extremely muddled. Shaking her body, she decided that pulling her self together and collecting her belongings would be the best thing to do. A quick wash would have to do since she was clueless where to go.
Pulling her fingers through the slightly greasy straight plaits in her hair she realized a bath was actually a necessity. This last week she had ridden almost nonstop. As an excuse she concluded that her horse needed the break, so she unbraided the braided parts of her hair in preparation for a hot bath.
A small memory tickled the back of her mind. The barmaid said the room came with a bath, like that was something special. Regardless of the fact that she couldn't remember the name of the maid, she intended on demanding that bath.
Stepping out into the hallway, Siene found herself midway between the two ends. Since she couldn't remember how she got into her room, she was at a loss. She decided to sniff the air. Perhaps she'd be lucky and get the direction of the dining area. Walking slowly down the right side, she listened for noises of serving and customers talking. It was strange, but this was the quietest establishment she'd ever stayed at.
Taking a chance she descended the steps at the right end of the hall. Within 8 or 10 steps the ceiling raised up and the stairs spread out. It was the open air steps that were near the end of the long bar. She smiled at her good luck. Although there were no patrons at the bar there were several tables nearby that were filled with people apparently finishing their meals.
"Ah Me Lady," said the rosy faced barkeep as he wiped his hands. "We didn't think you'd be up this early, " he said with a mischievous look, "what can I get fer ye?"
Seeing the slight amusement in his eyes, Siene knew he was aware of her drunkenness the night before. Shrugging off her embarrassment, she pulled her hair to one side and cleared her throat, "I'm ready for the bath that came with my room" .
"Ach... Well, that'll be hard since the girls are washing the beddings already," said the barkeep as he walked out from behind the bar. "But anyhow, ye might want to eat breakfast before that closes down as well."
Although Siene could hear the light chuckles behind her, she was determined to get her way. She opened her slightly lidded eyes and stared directly into his eyes.
"I'll take bread, eggs, and bacon on the way to my room and my hot bath," she said trying to make it clear that she wasn't giving up on either.
The men behind her chuckled even louder as they prepared for the barkeep to tell her off.
"Well now," The barkeep said, raising his hand to scratch into his gray beard, "I reckon I can get one of the girls to empty their wash into the others and haul up the water for your bath. Won't be quick though," he said, looking around and then pulling out a chair at the nearest table, " why don't you set her and I'll bring your breakfast first."
As the barkeep strode off, the murmurs of men discussing what just happened could be faintly heard.
"Aye, she is pretty, but ain't anything Fergus ain't seen. Why you think he's changing the rules for her? " One male voice could be heard above the others.
"Ain't no sense to it. I been coming here for years and never heard of him bending for not a rich man even," voiced another.
"Maybe she's royalty or something," interjected another. "She does got that funny silvery white hair. "
When she heard the last comment, she winced. She usually tried to hide her hair, face, and eyes because they did have the same characteristics as the royal family. If her mind weren't so muddled she would have stopped herself or at least created a good reply to end the discussion. But when she tried to concentrate, sharp pains in her head only made her wince even more.
"From her clothes and her grimy appearance it's obvious that she's not royalty," intoned a low rich voice. Before Siene turned around she felt her skin thrum with vibration. Her eyes went wide in slight fear. She only experienced this feeling when she met with one type of being. Demons. She slowly took a deep breath and turned completely around.
Before she could speak, he was standing almost beside her. She knew there were many ancient demons who preferred the company of humans. There were more here in the North than anywhere else. She had hoped to avoid them by riding hard and fast as she had this last week. She hadn't seen or felt any tracking her, but then she had noticed her second sense had been working inconsistently. Obviously her second sense wasn't working at all.
"Cat got your tongue young lady," the demon spoke softly.
"Not at all," Siene responded quickly. She knew pretense was moot since demons have an even higher sense of every kind, definitely more than a mere half vampire.
"What brings such a beautiful young lady such as yourself, to a place such as this?" He threw a quickly covered disdainful look at everything and everyone around them.
Trying to sound nonchalant, Siene shrugged "It has it's good and bad points. A fresh hot bath being one of them. "
"Ah, so that's why you made plans to stay here?" He asked as he settled into a seat at her table. She couldn't help but notice that the smoothness of his tone made nonresponse almost impossible.
"It was quickly made plans due to the impending weather," she said rapidly trying to cover her nervousness. Her mother always said you could never lie to a demon, so always say something that at least partial truth in it.
Thinking about her mother caused Siene's mind to wander.
Siene never expected to have to use the special training on demons that she got from her mother. As the only daughter, she spent whatever time she could at her mother's side. Her mother loved to tell her stories.
That all ended when the Queen was attacked by enemies of the King. With her health severely damaged, and another attack possible, she was advised to return to her family castle. Protected by generations of vampires, no human assailant had a chance.
It was hastily decided she would leave and return as soon as she was well. Unfortunately, it was also decided in short order that Siene would accompany her. However, Siene would not reside in the castle, but rather attend a school that specialized in training Imperial Guardians. So, at ten years old, Siene had been pulled from the royal palace to train as an Imperial Guardian.
Siene knew that as the fourth in line to the throne, she was either going to be used as political tool and married off to whomever it was deemed necessary, or she would be trained to serve the Queen. At ten she only knew she'd been pulled from everything she had ever known and loved. But now at 19, she understood more about why the Queen had made the choices she did.
Aside from that bad part of her memories, she thought being a part of the House of Shiudrai had been wonderful as a young child. She had no real responsibilities. Beyond learning to read, write, play an instrument, all she had to do was learn to read the ancient texts. She wasn't fond of playing any instrument and went through quite a few before her mother advised the music teacher to just teach her enough lute playing as to not be an embarrassment. Because of this, Siene was able to spend more time with Master Gan'drai. Master Gan as Siene nicknamed him, wasn't fond of her brothers. He often tightened his lips at their disinterest of the ancient texts. Siene, however, was his prized pupil. She poured over the ancient texts and constantly asked him to clarify words or phrases that didn't quite make sense. Her mother often smiled when Master Gan'drai praised her concentration and focus. Once he even had her read aloud one of the oldest and most sacred of texts, the prophecies of Shiudrai.
Siene never expected to remember the texts, but she did. It was as if hearing them out loud committed them to memory.
Siene shook her head, what an odd time to be thinking of her past. When she looked up at the face of the demon, she saw a glint in his almost black eyes. She immediately knew why she was daydreaming at this weird point in time.
"Please stop doing that," she asked practically glaring at him.
"I apologize, your highness," he said quietly enough not to be heard by the others. His sardonic smile grated on Siene's nerves.
"Should I be concerned that you've taken an interest in me?" Siene asked boldly. Her mother said it was never worth it to dally around the point with a demon. A demon with any real power could pick out of your mind what you were thinking and possibly your intentions.
Siene shuddered a little when she remembered that she thought someone had been through her stuff. Could this be the culprite right in front of her?