1 THE VISIT

The sound of fast-paced steps echoed though the deserted hall, as the maid rushed to the open doors of the castle.

Outside, the birds were chirping, the sun was shining, and a little girl was playing alone in the grass, under an orange tree. She was holding a wooden doll in one hand as she tried to make it a dress out of a red handkerchief, tying it with a white thread.

"Miss Blake-

As she heard the maid shout her name, her head shot up, and her eyes filled with sadness. She knew what was coming.

"We must hurry inside! Guests are coming, you cannot be seen out here. Your mother is waiting for you in your room."

She got up, collected her things, cleaned her dress, and followed Miss Tasker inside the mansion, past the foyer, up the stairs, down the corridor and into her room.

Her mother was waiting by the window, her back turned to the door, her eyes focused to the Great Door of the wall, where a servant was opening the portcullis for the merchants to enter.

"You made it just in time! Blake, honey, you know you have to be quiet for a couple of hours. As soon as Mr. Limossec and the other merchants are gone, I'll come get you, okay?"

Blake nodded.

She was thinking about her mother's face.

Even though her back was turned, she imagined her expression would have been one of pure joy.

She wouldn't know, she had never been able to see her mother's face. Don't get me wrong, it's not like she wasn't able to see at all, she just wasn't able to see her parent's facial features.

Every time she looked at them, their expressions were empty and their eyes were lost in space. It was as if dense fog were constantly covering their faces, and Blake had never been able to see through it. The days inside the walls were just as foggy, monotonous and aloof as her parents, except on Supplying Day.

Once a month, merchants of all kind came from all over the country to bring the exiled food, wine, clothes and news from the outside world.

On those days, the air seemed warmer and the sun seemed brighter.

On those days, everyone at the mansion was as excited as they could be, their eyes sparkling, their hopes over the roof.

Everyone except for Blake.

On those days, while her parents and the servants were downstairs, chatting with the guests, having tea, buying and stocking goods, Blake was upstairs, hiding in her room, because no one had to know about her existence.

"Lara, if you don't mind, stay upstairs with my daughter for today. I'll have Zyla accompany me to entertain our guests." And with that she was already out of the room. She called for Zyla and the young maid came, followed her down the corridor, down the stairs, past the foyer and outside of the mansion.

The lady met with her guests by the Gate.

She was happy to see that the horses and the caravans had already been taken care of by the servants, so that she could procede to properly entertain their guests until the arriving of her husband.

"Gentlemen, I'm sorry for having you waiting. - she said in a calm, yet somehow excited tone

"Please, do follow me inside and enjoy a cup of tea while we wait for Lord Keiran"

Now, since the Keirans weren't used to having many visitors, they treated even the merchants as the finest and most noble guests they could have had.

They always offered them tea, Lady Lior would often sing or play the piano, and at times Lord Mavros would play cards with them.

Over the years, courtesy turned into routine, chitchats turned into long conversations- at times they would even fight over certain topics- and what was a buyer-seller relationship turned into a weird, somewhat unexpected, bond. The Keirans loved having someone around, and the merchants liked being treated as high-class guests. They learned to enjoy each other's company.

"Shall I play you something?" Asked rhetorically Lady Lior, as she sat by the piano in the parlour, her guests already taking a seat on the soft sofas and chairs. They always enjoyed hearing her play.

She readied her sheets, checked the tuning, and warmed up her fingers. Then she started playing.

It felt as if time had stopped running and had sat down with the other men, enjoying the beautiful symphony that was being played.

Lior's fingers moved fast on the keyboard, alternating higher and lower tones, mixing it all together, creating a beautiful, yet indescribable, sound.

The eyes of the men were sparkling, their emotions as mixed as those notes, as they heard a song they knew all too well. It was a song of hope and nostalgia, of loss and returning, of sorrow and victory. It was a song of a far away place, a place she could never return to, a place from which she was abruptly eradicated, exiled from the warmth and beauty of a place she once had the honour of calling home.

Upstairs, from the corner of the bed where she was sitting, Miss Tasker was whisper-singing the words to that overwhelming song, she, too, remembered from her childhood in the North.

"You know the song mother is playing?" Asked Blake, curious.

Suddenly, Miss Tasker's eyes were lost in the distance, she was looking at a time that was too far away for Blake to reach, and so the fog came hiding the maid's face too.

"It is a song from a faraway place, from long before you were born. It is the song of the Northern Regions, your family's native lands. Zyla and I were born there too."

Blake's eyes sparkled with joy

"You have been to the outside world? Tell me all about it!" She exclaimed, excited.

The maid looked at her pityingly "Miss Blake, you know your father doesn't want you to know anything about the outside."

Her smile faded, her eyes darkened, sh knew she wasn't allowed to, but the outside world seemed so vast! She wanted to explore it all.

"Well, I can't tell you about the outside world, but I can't tell you about myself" Miss Tasker said. Blake shot her a smirk, she knew what was coming.

"I was born in the Northern Regions, in the city of Palaga, near the capital of Savrton. The Northern regions are famous for their warm climate, open countryside and their beautiful seas, in fact-

"What are those?"

The maid wore a sad smile, only then remembering that the little miss couldn't possibly know what a sea or a countryside was.

"Well, Miss, a countryside is… how to put it… a countryside is a vast land, with little houses scattered all around, and lots of trees and animals. Instead, a sea is a never-ending expanse of water, and during summer, when the water is blue and warm, you can swim in it. You could swim for hours and you wouldn't see the end of it. The sea is so big."

"Do such things really exist in the outside world?!"

"They exist indeed"

Blake could no longer contain her excitement. The fog was forming around her face too, as she was dreaming of swimming in enormous puddles and running around infinite fields.

"I'm going to visit it all, one day- her smiled touched her eyes- I bet the outside world is really a wonderful place!"

"Yes - Miss Tasker's smile faded- I bet it is"

Downstairs, the piano had stopped playing, the guests all tuned to the entrance of the parlour, where a mighty figure stood in the doorway.

"I'm sorry for being late, gentlemen. I am sure Lady Lior entertained you well in the meantime."

The man took a seat by a small table and placed down a chessboard.

"I hope you would still like to play a game with me"

Mr. Limosecc smirked at his friend.

"Of course, Lord Keiran. We would love to."