A Golden Cage

-Eighteen years later-

Soft, muted sunlight filters through the perfectly pristine window of Auden Yusinne's bedroom. The large four-poster bed has a layer of gauzy fabric that acts as a not entirely transparent, hazy curtain of the softest chiffon pinks. A fireplace has already been stoked, overnight, to chase away the late Autumn's chill of the grand chamber, its spotless marble flooring glinting with the gentle pink light of dawn. One would say it was peaceful, if not for the tossing and turning from the woman in the bed. With its downy white comforters drawn nearly over her head, her body drenched with a light sweat.

It's with a gasp she awakens, jolting upright as her pale, trembling hands pressed against the base of her throat as if making sure her heart hadn't leapt from her skin. One would easily mistake her in the throes of fear from some nightmare, that's what she told all the maids who clucked and fretted over her. Simple nightmares. And perhaps they were but Auden Yusinne could only ever recall the howls in her ears as she'd awake, some itching restless thing pacing beneath her skin.

Drawing her hands over her face, taking a deep breath Auden pads too loudly for her liking, across the chill marble flooring to the window of her room. The Yusinne Estate sat on the crest of the hill behind most of the village and from her room Auden could see nearly to the front gates of the walls that kept their territory safe from wild, prowling things in the night. Auden's eyes, one of them the lightest, shyest violets, the color of the sky just before the sun breached.

She had one of a deep dark brown that the butcher's son had one time told her it made him think of the ocean-slicked rocks beneath the waves, waiting to rip a sailor's boat to shreds, are fixated where she'd so often found herself staring these past few months. Beyond the wall.

A shiver runs through her small body, excitement and dread she couldn't name or explain. Soft, coppery hair fell in untamed, forgotten waves down the small of her back as Auden watched, and though she felt she was waiting for something she wasn't quite so sure what as she crossed her slender arms across each other as she gazed into the quiet, not yet awake settlement below her. Too soon, Auden's peace is shattered as her maids come by, helping dress her into some stiff, scratchy thing of a dress. Its skirts felt too big, too consuming and laced tight enough Auden feared she may faint. Worse still, the colors too dark and heavy on her pale skin makes the svelte redhead wrinkle her nose in the mirror.

She wanted to complain; but eighteen years of living with her aunt and uncle had taught her differently. Every chance she got, Auden's aunt reminded Auden of what terrors her parents had suffered beyond the wall. How her lowborn mother spirited away her brother, Auden's father, beyond the wall and how they'd both lost their lives. She'd been brought to the settlement, none knew how or why but they knew enough that only Auden would return from those afeared woods. 'You have always been a wild thing, too much of your mother in you.'

Auden's aunt would sigh with disappointment thick and stinging on her face.

Perhaps once it had hurt, but now Auden was simply numb. Trapped in a life caught between her aunt trying to prove sempiternally Auden was some wild thing. No matter how long she'd been raised in the settlement, no matter what nice clothes and luxuries that Auden was kept in; it was all too good for her. The Yusinne name was too good for her.

Her life had been an entire game, a bet where the goalposts continued to move, and it felt like with each step the ground shifted beneath her feet. It was clear Auden's aunt adored her father. Obvious in the way Laurel had told Auden every possible story that she could have about her father, at least thrice. But it was also clear how much she hated Auden's mother. The only things Auden ever heard spoken on her mother's memory from her aunt, were cruel, petty gossips and jabs at 'the lowborn whore'. Auden takes a shuddering breath, watching her reflection blankly in the mirror.

Some discontented scowl twisting the edges of her pastel pink lips as she observes her mismatched eyes. She'd always hated the dark and contrasting colors, framed by her sharp bangs that covered her forehead just beginning to grow into her eyes. She could have spent the morning brooding, something that Auden had been told she was exceedingly good at, but it did no good to hide. Not in this home.

Sharp knocks at the door cause the woman to stiffen as she exhales, trying to smooth down the unflattering dress the soft sound of Auden's bare feet slapping against the marble flooring as she flung the rich red door open. The antechamber was a picture of luxury. Plush, thick red carpets and furniture, recently swapped and each one finer than the last piece. Even if Auden's aunt hated her, she would have hated the rumors of the wealthiest woman in Rorshin, the third largest human settlement, keeping her niece in poverty more. But a golden cage was still a cage. Charles, Charlie to Auden, stands towards the edge of the antechamber, and it's clear that he feels as out of place as Auden does.

For nine long years he'd been her faithful friend, and when he'd joined Auden's aunt's guards, one of her protectors. He stood in a watery ray of sunlight, and his richly golden-wheat hair fell just above his shoulders. Standing beneath the golden sun it was illuminated to the point that Auden may have thought it to be a piece of treasure. His shoulders are tense, but confident as he waits for Auden, his gentle earthy brown-and-golden flecked gaze practically cradling Auden's as he bowed.

"Laurel has requested you take lunch with her." The statement is quiet, wistful and Auden groans loudly.

"Really?" Her words, a sarcastic mix of apathy and annoyance are palpable as Auden pushes her lips to a pout.

"Well, first breakfast but you never came out of your room." Cheeky and quick Auden is thankful for the dry-wit of him, and for Charlie. One of the few that Auden had come to rely on, and the one she'd bonded with most closely. It's an easy closeness the two enjoy as Charlie opens the door of the antechamber, leading her into the bustling hallways of the estate where maids and servants rush by each with some task that was honestly below Auden's interest.

"Forgive me if I lacked the motivation to pull myself out of bed for a morning of backhanded insults." A bland, apologetic smile touches Charlie's face. He could protect Auden from swords and bows; but not the insipid and petty dislike of her aunt.

Auden can see in the way his eyes linger over her arms, her hips that he wants to comfort her, like he had on occasions before but Auden just shakes her head.

"It's my eighteenth birthday. I should damn well be able to do what I'd like to do today. And I'd still like your help by the way." At once the amusement is gone from Charlie's eyes.

"Going beyond the walls for someone like you is a death-wish." At once his rebuttal is stiff and Auden whines, she'd have stamped her feet if she thought it'd of worked but Charlie just looks amusedly unimpressed at her display.

"It's my right! Everyone gets to go beyond the wall if they want to once they turn eighteen!" It's almost desperation that makes her grab Charlie's wrist, stopping him immediately. "You've been beyond the wall, for fucks sake even my aunt's gone. Why can't I just... See? One time?" In the silence that follows her question, Auden can feel the crimson flush break on her face, the way her breaths feel ragged and heavy in her chest. Auden's entire life had been in this damned settlement. The same people, the same faces and streets with those ancient rough-hewn stone walls keeping supposed danger out, but Auden only felt like she was kept in. Even her aunt, when she traveled to the other settlements, went beyond the wall.

They had stopped a few halls away from their destination of her aunt's dining room, Auden's hand gently curled around the guard's wrist. Charlie squirms beneath her multicolored gaze, and she can see he's trying to wrest up the will to deny her. It's cruel, but Auden knows his feelings for her only make it easier to convince. "Charlie, please. And you'll be there the whole time!" Charlie meets Auden's gaze, his eyes filled with concern. He hesitates, conflicted between his duty to protect her and his desire to fulfill her wish.

The silence stretches between them, filled only by the distant sounds of the bustling estate. Finally, Charlie releases a deep sigh. "Fine."

It can't be helped as Auden flings her arms around his neck squealing her thanks. Entirely unladylike, but neither had ever cared for such honors and stuffy etiquette before. Beneath her touch Charlie goes as still as stone, and when Auden pulls away she notes the way his cheeks burn crimson.

"Thankyouthannkyouthankyou!" Auden practically hops about but quickly stops at the look of trepidation on Charlie's face. His lips are pushed into a thin line and Auden sighs rolling her eyes before softening, giving him a gentle prod in the ribs. "This is the best birthday gift ever." That seems to cheer him up, if only a little before he sighs.

"I'll take you, but you have to meet me by the barracks, after dark. If you can make it I'll take you." There's a light challenge in Charlie's voice as Auden gives a playful, confident toss of her hair, waves of fire beneath the sun.

"Easy. Done." The words burn bright with her excitement as she manages to quell her near-jumping joy to something more mute, more hidden in the depth of her mismatched gaze.

"And you'll stay close to me, and listen." Charlie practically hisses the last word with emphasis and Auden gives him a faux look of innocence that might have had him believing it, had Charlie not known Auden so well.

"I would never dream of anything else." Charlie just grumbles, running a hand through his hair, the armor of the estate's guard steel gray and cold, glittering beneath the sunlight that filtered into the Estate's window and into the hall. The rest of the day doesn't even matter to Auden, who can scarcely contain the buzz of excitement that had settled into her bones. This excitement doesn't escape her aunt Laurel, as Auden finally enters her dining chamber.