9. Chapter 9
October 29, 2025 at 7:29 PM
Blake returned to the house with Naliaka on her shoulder and walked inside. The raven croaked and Blake petted her head. She couldn't not have Naliaka with her now. It felt so wrong when she’d been told all her life to keep the raven with her. SHe simply couldn’t in public with the potential danger if anybody knew about her.
Ninlil walked over, her expression obviously unhappy. “Where were you? We saved dinner for you and now it’s gone to waste!” Naliaka let out a warning croak, her feathers puffing up. That was right. The raven hadn't seen how Ninlil treated her yet. The old woman gave a dismissive sound. “Oh, hush up, you overblown windbag. I’m not harming your mistress.”
“You should know how royal ravens are if my mother spent time here.” Yeah, Naliaka was only doing her job. It wasn’t anybody’s fault. She had been trained to keep Blake safe, so she would do that even if she lost her own life in the process. “Naliaka, this is Ninlil Busto, the Busto matriarch. I need to obey her so you can’t say anything against her.” The raven ruffled her feathers and looked off put, but didn’t disagree or anything. “I have someone I’m meeting for dinner at night. I apologise for wasting food.” She didn’t know what that meant monetarily, but she was trying. She was completely off her center
Ninlil didn’t look pleased but nodded. “Very well. We won’t count on you for dinner then. Let’s get to the family.” With that, they headed upstairs where a lot the women and girls were socialising after a long day of work. Blake could sense the ripple Naliaka sent through them, though. Most people didn’t have ravens.
One of the women approached and smiled broadly as she approached Blake. “Well, I’ll be! You’re Jatta’s daughter, aren’t you?” Blake blinked as she looked at the woman. She hadn’t yet learned everyone’s names, so it was going to take a while. She had only learned to recognise a few people in the past day or so.
She nodded. “I am.” She glanced around the room before sighing. “I’m Blake Donati, but I’ll be using the Busto name while I’m here. Naliaka is my guard.” She didn’t want to be kind to these people. They were commoners and not worthy of it, but she couldn’t afford to make enemies of them while she was here. If she did, her time would be absolutely miserable. She had to at least play nice if nothing else. A year and a half was nothing to sneeze at. A lot could change in that time.
The girls from earlier walked over. “Sothat’swhy you couldn’t tell us your last name. You’re a member of the royal family.”
Blake nodded. “I’m on my Peregrination. I’ll be here for a year and a half unless something drastic happens.” She doubted anything drasticwouldhappen, though. Things seemed like they would be quiet and predictable as the majority of her life had been. She was trying her best to keep her head down. “Try not to tell anyone.”
The girls looked at each other and nodded. “Okay. We won’t. You could be in real danger if anyone knew you were here, right?” Well, at least they had some common sense. That seemed like it was going to be rare to find. She was glad that she could at least seem to rely on the fact they hadsomesmarts.
“Yeah, I could be. I’ve heard about family members meeting terrible ends on the Peregrination.” It wasn’t uncommon but there was a risk of some dissident being unhappy and trying to take things out on members of the royal family that hadn’t done anything to them. Not everyone agreed with the royal family and she knew Queen Maryam definitely had her discontents. How far it went, Blake had no idea. But peoplehadshouted at her in the past over their discontent with the queen.
“Well… Would you like to join us for lunch tomorrow?” A few of the girls looked hopeful. Blake felt a bit uncomfortable but nodded. She really couldn’t stand to have these girls as enemies. It might end badly for her if she did anger one of them. They all knew her secret now, so she couldn’t risk it. It was so strange to have somebody else hold power over her whenshewas part of the royal family…
“What time is that? If it’s after one, I’ll be out and about. I should be able to start flying my eagle in a few days.” She hoped that Weiss would settle in quickly and they could go hawking together. She should probably take Kalena out and do some lure work with her at least. She didn’t want the bird to lose her fitness. That would be absolutely horrible.
“We usually take lunch about twelve thirty for about half an hour. Does that sound okay?” Blake looked at Ninlil who nodded. Blakehadskipped lunch today which had led to an order and a half of food at the Brass Eagles. She was absolutely starving after not having had enough for several days. But she would have to bear with it until the family went shopping again. She really didn’t like this.
“So who are you?” Blake asked. A round of introductions ensued, about a dozen in all. She would take time to learn all of them, not to mention the women she had yet to be introduced to. She was incredibly overwhelmed right now. “So…what now?” It was past dark, but she was used to staying up about ten. She had more hours to fill before she went to bed. The house was lit by magic, so there were no oil lamps or anything.
“Well, we usually come together to talk about what the gods had done for us.” Nassim smiled and Blake shifted back.
“Oh, uh, I can’t really talk about that stuff in my sect. I worship the Dark Father directly.” Some sects were open about a lot of things, but her sect was a mystery cult. All of their rites were done in secret with nothing recorded. As a result, her sect was very small and secretive. She wasn’t going to talk religion openly with anybody else. She had to keep things secret or else she could get tossed out. After all the work she’d put in to join, she didn’t feel like being sacked and forced to join of the more mainstream sects.
Nassim frowned. “Oh, okay. Well, I guess the evening is your then.” The group of girls bowed went back over to the women. Blake sighed. She wasn’t trying to be standoffish or anything. She had done a lot of work to track down her sect and be initiated into it. They probably wouldn’t know, but she didn’t want to risk it. So she settled down on the mattress and pulled out a pen and one of the leather journals. She started to write down her spice knowledge to pass it onto them…
✧
Once again, Blake found it difficult to sleep. She wasn’t used to having people in the same room as her. She tossed and turned but the sounds of the others made it too noisy to sleep. With a sigh to herself, she slipped out onto the balcony and located the shattered moon between the trees. It was very chilly, but she didn’t care. She could hear the symphony of the night which didn’t help matters. She lived deep in the castle which was sheltered from the noises of the outside. Her room had sound proofing spells to completely insulate her from all the sounds. She was used to pure silence, so between the couple dozen people in the room and the sounds of the natural world, it was incredibly hard to sleep. She heard the door open and saw it was Ninlil. “Something bothering you, Blake?” The old woman could be harsh but she wouldn’t be the matriarch if she didn’t have some sort of kindness. She still wasn’t sure what to make of that harshness though… Her own father was incredibly harsh with her, but he did show love and kindness toward her. It was so hard to know what to think of people that acted in such a manner. She just… It was so hard to know. “It’s too noisy in there.” What What would she get of lying to Ninlil? There was no point. It would probably earn the woman’s ire if she found out. “Ah. Follow me.” Blake blinked but followed Ninlil to the courtyard and past the men’s quarters to a small room isolated from anything else. “The Busto family has a long history with the Donatis. We constructed this room so the royal can have their silence. It’s completely sound proof, though there is a window to let in light.” Blake walked inside and instantly things were like at the castle. She could see outside but the only noise she could hear were from her and Ninlil. “This is great.” She wasn’t sure how well she would have been able to function without proper sleep. Her performance as a seamstress would’ve suffered without a doubt. Plus, it’d give her a place to talk to Weiss in privacy. She would still have to try to integrate with the Busto family, but if she felt overwhelmed, she had a retreat. She could hide the illicit affair more effectively. The royal family would be in a terrible state if it was learned she was seeing a human. “Sleep well, Blake.” With that, Ninlil withdrew and left Blake alone. She curled up and quickly fell asleep, her breaths soft, even, and deep.✧
A knock on the door broke Blake out of slumber. “Who is it?” She felt vulnerable. Having people see her without her veil was still off putting. In the castle, she had the privacy of her room to put it on before leaving. But here, she really didn’t have time for that. And she didn’t have time to put it on either. “It’s me. Can I come in?” Ninlil. “Go ahead.” The door opened and Ninlil walked in, full dressed. It was still dark out, but that was no surprise. They started off the day while it was still dark. Still, she didn’t want anybody to see her without her veil. It felt like such an invasion of privacy. She really hated all the changes the Peregrination had suddenly brought into her life. It was terrible. Ninlil sat down on the floor and looked at Blake. “Now just because you’re sleeping in here doesn’t mean you should think you can’t integrate with the family. You’re not on breakfast duty this morning, but you should still eat with us.” “I figured as much honestly.” She already had. The point of the Peregrination was to learn about the outside world. She still didn’t want to, though; it wasn’t something she had factored into her leaving. But she didn’t have much choice. Most members of the Donati family had a moment they wanted to learn about the outside world. She had to some extent but not so much she wanted toleave.She simply wanted to talk to Weiss. It was so hard to accept all of these changes. “Okay, good. Do you want me to help you get ready and we can go back to the main family?” Blake’s ears flattened but she nodded. She didn’twantto but she didn’t have much choice. Ninlil helped her get ready and they headed back up the stairs to where most of the women sat. The girls about Blake’s age sat in their own area. She hesitated before she walked over to them, hands clasped in front of her. “Can I join you?” She felt so out of place here. She wasn’t used to asking to join people. In the castle, everyone knew each other and could just join when they wanted to. Of course, some courtesy was expected before entering another family’s quarters, but outside of that, people were able to join anybody else. It was all so strange to her to ask for this, but she didn’t want to impose. It was so hard to know what to do. She was still in her home nation but it felt like another planet. “Oh sure!” They moved apart and one of them patted a spot next to her. Blake hesitantly sat down and looked around. She had no idea what she was doing. She knew tons of different people, but they were all related to her. How was she supposed to deal with people outside of her family? Panic rose in her chest but she forced it down. She would have to try to roll with the punches. That was all shecoulddo. She listened to the conversation which largely sounded like gossip. They were talking about how each other had crushes or whatever, much to the mortification of the girl in question. But oddly, there didn’t seem to be malice behind it. He didn’t know what to make of that. Court gossip was almost always malicious. How could they talk to someone’s face like that and not be aggressive about it? She didn’t understand. “What about you, Blake?” “Huh?” She blinked. She’d been so absorbed in her own thoughts that she wouldn’t hadn’t been paying attention to the conversation. “Do you have anybody you’re interested in?” The girls looked hopeful, glancing at each other with bright eyes. She shifted a bit. How did people talk about their love lives so openly? It didn’t make sense. Blake shook her head. “No, not really.” There was Weiss, but she’d rather keep that under wraps. Plus, it wasn’t like she was romantically interested. They were simply getting to know each other. Plus, she was forbidden from dating anyway. It was uncouth for a princess to date. She could only court. That did lead to…complications though. “Really now? Why are you getting off so early then?” One of the girls looked at Blake skeptically. She sighed, her ears drooping. “It’s falconry season. I need to fly Kalena. If I get off at six, the sun will be down and I can’t hunt. A large bird that doesn’t fly enough will lose fitness and be unable to hunt.” She’d heard large falcons were as much as one put into them and the same was true of eagles. She couldn’t let Kalena sit around for too long unless she wanted the bird to lose fitness. Of course, therewasWeiss, but she wasn’t going to let that slip. The scandal of Donati seeing a human… She couldn’t imagine what would come out of that. “Could I join you at some point?” One of the girls looked hopeful. “I’ve always wanted to see an eagle fly.” Blake pursed her lips together. She didn’t want to be unnecessarily rude, but she also didn’t want to out herself. She needed time to be able to learn from Weiss. Again, she couldn’t let the fact she was seeing a human get out. The scandal for the family would be enormous. She couldn’t risk it. “Maybe in a couple weeks to a month. I’ve never flown without the royal falconer. I’ll need to establish a routine and learn the lay of the land before I can take anybody else out. Plus, letting Kalena settle in first is going to be important. Birds don’t like change.” They were honestly excuses for why she couldn’t take somebody else out, but she needed some plausible deniability. She didn’t want to be caught with Weiss if she could help it. She wasn’t sure how Kalena would take to being around a human, though… What a mess. “Oh, okay.” The girl’s tail drooped along with her head. Blake didn’t feel too bad about it. She had her reasons and they were good ones. She simply couldnotbe caught with Weiss. Three months wasn’t a lot of time, though. She had to make a decision based on just a few months. Would she spend her life with this human or not? It was a big decision especially when their time together would be so limited. She wasn’t looking forward to it. Breakfast was brought up and everyone sat around. Once again, Blake felt hunger pangs but said nothing. There was nothing she could do about the lack of food until she got to dinner. At least she’d get food for lunch… She hadn’t yesterday. Things broke up pretty quickly and Blake let out a breath. Well, time to start her second day at work.
