The Surprise - Part 1

Lunch was a tame affair, where a few questions about how the day went flew back and forward amongst the group.

The 'situation' at the general store was thankfully not brought up by Sylvia. While it was hilarious, even she thought it was better to let sleeping dogs lie rather than embarrassing Octavia further. Of which she was thankful.

This didn't help too much though, as the guards that helped resolve it were set by the lord, meaning he was told all about what had occurred when they returned.

So, while it wasn't brought up, most of the people at the table already knew about it.

…

On the topic of everyone else's day, while Octavia's and Sylvia's day had been eventful, the lord of the town was saddled with paperwork and problems to deal with, as was usual for someone in his position.

The lady of the house had tea with a few friends, gossiping about various rumours that had been floating about. The biggest rumour was about the new snake lady wandering around town, whoever that was.

The children on the other hand had spent most of their morning being tutored on various subjects, from history to maths, giving them an education and preparing them for the life they would have in their position of power. All of which Octavia could easily see on their tired and bored faces that they had thoroughly enjoyed their time learning.

…

As the lunch came to a close, everyone headed off to their next appointments. The children were back in the classroom, the lord was off to mediate another dispute and the lady also tagged along with him.

This left Octavia and Sylvia to their own devices again.

"So, what do you want to do now?" was the question brought up by Sylvia.

Now that Octavia had gear for her next expedition, the next thing was to figure out where she was actually going. That meant a visit to the library was in order.

"Have you been able to arrange access to the library for me yet?"

"…no, not yet. I told Lord Desmon about wanting to visit and he said it was fine. But, for you to visit you need access papers, which are being made for you. Given that the books are all one of a kind, and very valuable, this is how it has to be. I think you should get them tomorrow."

"I see."

Needing access papers to visit the library was a smart idea. Given the technology the town had, aside from the magic and all, it was likely that each book was handwritten. With all the time and effort needed to transcribe text from one book to another to make a copy, they would be very valuable. Both valuable as a commodity and from the knowledge they housed.

All of this meant that she still needed to figure out what to do for the rest of the day.

And then it hit her.

The garden.

It probably wouldn't fill the rest of the day, but it was a place to start.

…

Telling Sylvia this, they headed out of the dining hall and back into the maze of corridors.

Journeying through bend after bend and twist after turn, they finally made it to the rear of the castle, and out into the beautiful garden.

Just like from the view in her room, many vibrant colours were the first thing she saw as they entered. Flowers of various shades surrounded them covering the ground enough that they could hardly see the dirt beneath them.

They travelled down a cobblestone path, with plants and flowers on either side of them. In the distance the trees that framed the garden could be seen, masses of leaves blocking any sight through them.

At various places in the path, archways were present, ornately designed, adding even more beauty to the area.

…

After some much needing admiring of the many, many species of plants, they finally made it to the centre.

A large open area, with cobblestone covering the ground, was what greeted them.

Circular in nature, the area's entire circumference housed plant life. Even the entrances to this place had ivy clinging to the arches that stood there.

In the centre was a pond, large enough that you could easily call it a lake given its size.

Colourful plant life filled the bottom of it, giving hidey holes to the variety of fish it contained. Fish that ranged in sizes, from some you could hardly see to ones as large as catfish.

Like with the plants, you could tell this collection had been years in the making and was probably still being added to.

Off to the side were a few wooden benches, as ornate as the arches they passed through.

As she saw these, she knew that now was as good a time as any to take the weight off her tail, get some rest and bask in the sunlight and the gorgeous surroundings.

…

"So, I have a question."

Octavia looked over to Sylvia who had a pensive look on her face.

"Could this be about what's been bothering her?" Octavia wondered.

"You said you were going to visit a Lamia village. How do you know there are any? Have you seen one?" she asked quite rapidly.

Confusion quickly appeared on Octavia's face. "Why is she getting worked up over Lamia villages."

"Yes, I have seen one. When I first woke up, I found one nearby."

"What was it like? Was anyone else there?"

Given that it was in the middle of the forest with no paths leading away from it to civilisation, it would have been rather odd if there was someone else there. The only thing that did come to mind was the cabin and the body.

But in terms of anyone actually being there, was Sylvia looking for Lamia life in the village.

"It was destroyed. Rubble everywhere. Only a few buildings were standing, and only barely. The only life was the wildlife that had wandered in." The look on Sylvia's face dropped as she spoke as if she was expecting something else. "There was one building that was still standing, but it was empty when I went inside."

"You're sure it was empty."

"It was empty, I can tell you that much," Octavia replied. She didn't see the need to mention the weird totem thing or the golems as she was sure Sylvia was asking about a living and breathing people. "What's this all about?"

A long sigh came from Sylvia as she heard the reply. It was obvious to see that she was hoping for some sign that someone was in the village.

"It's just… I'm looking for my mum. She is a head researcher amongst the fox-kin. She has always been obsessed with the Lamia, who they were and how they disappeared. She spent years researching them, which is how I knew what you were when we first met."

She suddenly looked away in to the distance as she recalled what happened.

"One day, from all her cobbled-together research, she was able to find the location of a Lamia village. The general area of it really, which is in the forest near here. She left a short while after to go looking for it. She ended up telling us where she had gone in a note she left. The note also said when she should be back, but the date she said came and went. So, I went through all her research, find out where she was going, and decided to search for her."

Octavia's stomach started to go over as Sylvia told her story. A bad feeling had settled there as she thought she knew where this was going.

She knew she had to ask the question to be sure.

"What was your mum's name?"

"Her name was Marilyn. Marilyn Evangeline."

"…"

Octavia felt like she was going to throw up.

Her head was suddenly in her hands, holding it as she tried to order her thoughts.

"Octavia, are you ok."

Was she ok? No, she wasn't. How was she going to tell her?

A part of her thought it would be best if she just said nothing. But her morality cropped up and she knew that was not an option.

She sat there, thinking about how to tell Sylvia. She thought up various ways that she could say it.

All the while Sylvia kept calling out to her, asking if she was alright.

As she wracked her brain, she came to the conclusion that she just had to be straight with her. Waffling and beating around the bush would probably just annoy her, given her usual bluntness, so direct was the way to go.

She sat back up and looked right into Sylvia's eyes. The motion startled her causing her to jump slightly as she rose.

Octavia ended up staring at Sylvia for a good few seconds before she started to speak.

"I'm so sorry Sylvia. Your… your mum is dead."

"…"

"…"

"Wh-what. Why would you say something like that?" she said shocked at what she had just heard.

"Because... Because its true?"

"But that can't be. You don't even know my mum. How would you-."

"When I woke up, I was in a cabin in the woods. Someone had been staying there. When I left, I found a body and a bag. In the bag… I found this."

She took the journal out of the bag and handed it to Sylvia.

As soon as she read the cover, tears started to form in her eyes.

"This…This was my mum's." was all she managed to get out. Once she did, those were the last words she was able to say, as the tears fell like a waterfall.

She started to wail and cry now that she knew the truth. Her mum always carried her journal. For it to no longer be with her, meant that she was actually gone.

As Octavia watched her, she did the only thing she could. She reached out and held her.

…

Octavia was sure that the garden tour wouldn't fill the rest of the day. How wrong she was.

As they sat there in the garden, still in each other's embrace, the sun had started to set. The crying had stopped, and now they were just sitting in silence in each other's arms.

It was quiet.

Almost too quiet, Octavia thought.

She didn't want to leave her friend alone after the news she had just learned, but they couldn't just sit there all night. At some point they would need to head to their rooms and get some sleep.

She slowly pulled away to see Sylvia's face and see how she was doing. Feeling no resistance to moving out of the hug., she found Sylvia's face covered in tear marks.

She also found the reason for the silence.

At some point, she must have become exhausted from all the crying, causing her to fall asleep.

Octavia whispered her name a few times to try and rouse her, but she was really out of it.

She then realised it would probably be better if she didn't wake her up after all of that, so decided to put her increased strength to good use. As she pulled back, she laid Sylvia down on the bench, where she then proceeded to pick her up in a princess carry. As quiet as possible she then headed back into the castle and travelled through the halls back to their rooms.

The guards she passed did look a bit concerned, but once she whispered to them that she had fallen asleep, they went back to their usual no-nonsense look and stood guard. She got lost a few times on the journey back but eventually made it to their rooms.

Telling the guards what had happened, she was let into Sylvia's room and laid her down on the bed, removed her shoes, and then covered her with the bedding.

Once she was comfortable and snug in her bed, Octavia headed to the hidden door, pausing to look over her shoulder at the girl, where she whispered, sorry, before heading in.