I Want To See More Of Your City
Rukelion didn't say more because they had arrived and needed to check Daisy in and drop off her trunk in her room. He planned to take her around town and to a restaurant most of his squad liked before heading back for roll call.
They took a break to warm her up first. She had always gotten cold easily so he used his powers to warm the air around her while simultaneously using his own body heat to rub warmth back into her hands and face. Had to take advantage of being close to her while he could. It wasn't like he hadn't done it before either.
"I want to hear more about you," he told her. "I'm sure I'm not getting as many details from your letters either."
Daisy smiled. "Fair enough. Things have changed a bit since I've been able to hire on extra help—thank you again, by the way—primarily in how I spend my time. I've been able to go exploring more, which is how I found that meadow, and I've expanded the dairy business.
"That was partly because I needed a way to fill my empty hours and partly because I needed more money to buy Ira books. That boy should definitely be a scholar rather than a farmer. When he's old enough to go to an academy, he plans to use the money I'm setting aside for him to do that."
"How old does he have to be?"
"Thirteen. Another four and a half years before he'll be eligible to enroll for a fall semester. Though academia is definitely his true calling, he wouldn't make a half-bad butter churner either. He's certainly rather determined…though most of the time it seems more like he's fighting it than anything else."
Rukelion snorted. He could practically see it, knowing how the butter churn worked.
He was relieved the boy didn't plan to stick around forever. That meant he wouldn't get in the way of his plans.
"How did you find out he wanted to be a scholar? You mentioned he liked books before but not how you got him to talk. Didn't you originally describe him as 'a rather obedient shadow'?" he asked.
Daisy let out a small laugh before growing more serious. "Yeah. He didn't talk because he didn't feel secure. He was trying to figure out what he should be in order to win my favor so I wouldn't kick him out like everyone else did after his parents died.
"Then one day we were talking—about you, actually—and he asked me what he needed to do to make me love him. He thought that was the best way to get me not to kick him out, which is just like a kid to come up with.
"So I told him to be himself and that he could stay no matter what. He showed his true colors after that even if it did happen slowly. He's such a serious little thing! Way more so than you used to be. Poor baby."
Rukelion scowled. The only reason he was serious was because he had lost everything and didn't know if he could trust her. She had brought out his previously extinguished lighter side by having fun with him similar to how he used to with his siblings.
"I wasn't that bad!"
"Yes you were. You wouldn't speak to me either! Honestly! What is it with me and finding people who don't like to talk?" Daisy exclaimed dramatically.
He rolled his eyes. At this point, he knew she was messing with him. And it was comforting to know that she thought of the boy as a baby. Babies were hindrances despite people thinking they were cute. Even someone as kind as her wouldn't want to keep someone inconvenient around forever.
"Whatever. Are you all warmed up yet?"
"Yeah. We can head back out now," she said with sparkling eyes. "Thanks. I'm so excited to see where you've been hanging out! I've never been anywhere like this."
Daisy had mentioned in her last letter that she had never been anywhere else in Mirea but she had to have gone somewhere while running away even if she couldn't remember it well. Cloverfield wasn't a border area. She would have had to pass through other places to get there.
She also said she had come from somewhere very far away. Did they not have places like the capital anywhere she had traveled to get here? That didn't make sense. Sometimes he truly didn't understand her but he had no right to ask since he was keeping secrets too.
Rukelion kept those to himself and asked something else. "What are the cities like where you're from then?"
"Much different. A lot of the buildings are taller than you can imagine. There's a big river too with several large bridges connecting to other cities across it," Daisy said a bit wistfully. "While it can be nice here, sometimes I miss it."
Tall buildings, a river, and bridges that seemed impossibly large? What sort of place had she come from? Was the noble family she came from ruling over some fishing province?
"What do you miss most? You never talk about where you came from," he noted.
"How easy certain things could be, I suppose. Though I also miss some of the food. There are foods they just don't have here and that's kind of a bummer. I can't recreate them either since I don't have recipes. I wouldn't even know where to start."
How easy certain things could be…that aligned with how she had acted sometimes back on the farm when she muttered under her breath about certain things being inconvenient. It was what tipped him off that she was a noble in the first place. She was used to having certain things done for her the same way he had been.
"I'm sorry, Daisy," Rukelion said lamely. "You deserve to have things be easy for you."
A bitterness he hadn't seen before crossed her face. "Nothing has ever been easy for me. But thank you. I appreciate the thought…and the help you've been sending me. That has made things a lot less strenuous for me."
She was back to her usual persona by the time she finished speaking but he was unsettled by her cryptic words. Nothing had ever been easy for her? What exactly did she go through as a nobleman's daughter in Ohio? He didn't understand.
He also found himself wanting to destroy everyone who ever made things difficult for her. She was usually so cheerful that he often forgot that someone had wronged Daisy to the point that she abandoned everything she knew and started over in the harsh world of a farmgirl. Whoever had done it deserved to be punished for making her suffer.
She smiled and linked her arm through his. "Alright, Leo. Enough depressing talk. I want to see more of your city!"
Ha! As if the capital of Mirea could ever be his city. His city had been destroyed by the Mireans. But he did as she said and began giving her the same 'grand tour' that he had been given by some of his squad members on his first day off.
Daisy seemed genuinely curious and delighted about what they were seeing. She was so cute but he was still a bit unsettled from earlier. He didn't want her to suffer, ever. Anyone who hurt someone as sweet, kind, and cheerful as her deserved a fate worse than death!
Rukelion wasn't able to simmer down completely until they stopped by the famous bakery and got cream puffs. She had a bit of cream on the corner of her lips and staring at them made it incredibly tempting to kiss it away. That was enough of a distraction to get him to stop brooding about whatever she had been referring to earlier.
He was going to get himself in trouble if he kept thinking like this. He wasn't allowed to do something so impulsive if it would ruin the groundwork of their relationship that he had been setting for so long.
"You have some cream on your face," he told her before he could act on his impulse.
Daisy immediately pulled a handkerchief out of the small drawstring bag she always carried in public. "Oops! Thanks for telling me. It would have been totally embarrassing walking around like that."
"…no problem."
After stopping at the bakery, they continued on seeing various sites around the capital until it was time for dinner. He took her to that restaurant as planned and they enjoyed a delicious meal in each other's company, laughing and talking the way they did back at her kitchen table.
Rukelion was at peace for the first time since he originally left her. She was his safe haven. He was of half a mind to abandon his revenge since it had been fruitless thus far and seemed like it would remain that way.
Then he thought of his family. His friends. The servants. The citizens of the Katalya. None of them had done anything wrong.
He was the only person in the world who could correct this injustice or even cared to try. If he became complacent now because of a pretty face and a warm heart, he would never be able to live with himself.
He had to carry on. She would still be there when he came back. He had to believe that.