Name: shadowsong26
Story: The Ward
'Verse: Feredar
Colors: Octarine #1. It is almost impossible for anyone to be in a street without breaking the law., Rose #20. But friendship is the breathing rose, with sweets in every fold., Platinum Blond #14. Wait a minute. You're able to cross the threshold of a church?
Supplies and Materials: graffiti (self-insert challenge), eraser, oils, charcoal, seed beads, novelty beads (lightning), yarn, glue ("Your desires are pulling you into new territory...You're motivated by your innate need for emotional security, but you are increasingly intrigued by the distant horizon. Even if you choose to explore the unknown today, don't abandon your present routine, especially if someone is counting on you.")
Word Count: 1493
Rating: PG-13
Characters: Keta, Reta
Warnings: References to slavery, previous character death, and the overall situation in Feredar.
Notes: Constructive criticism welcome, as always. And now, a more traditional self-insert. Reta's name is derived from my middle name.


Lives changed in moments. Destinies hinged on moments. And no one knew that better than Princess Keta.

It had taken only a moment to rip away everything she'd loved--a boating accident, taking her husband and her young son away from her. It had taken only a moment to push her father to the brink of madness, when her mother died.

It only took a moment to change her entire view of the future.

~ * ~ * ~

Princess Keta, as always, went down to the palace archives--but, unusually, this morning, there was someone already there; a young girl, maybe fourteen or fifteen, one she didn't recognize.

"Um. I'm sorry," the girl said apologetically, practically tripping over herself in an attempt to curtsey appropriately. She was off balance and nearly fell over. She flushed bright red and fished a paper out of her sleeve, presenting it without looking directly at the princess. "I...I have a letter for you, it's from my mother..."

Keta blinked, but took the letter--from a cousin of her late husband, who had found herself suddenly in dire financial straights, asking her royal connection to foster her daughter for a while. Not an uncomon request--Keta had never received one herself, but each of her older sisters had, several times. "I see," she said. She could easily afford the expansion to her household--she kept it small; she didn't need much, but one teenaged girl shouldn't be a strain. And if she explained the situation to her father, he'd help her if needed. "What's your name?"

"Reta, Highness," she replied, with another awkward curtsey.

"You know what's in this letter?"

She nodded.

"We'll try this for a few months. If all goes well, you'll stay with me until you marry, or your mother can take you home."

"Yes, Highness."

Keta nodded again. "Stay here and help me in the archives for today. We can make other arrangements later if you like."

Reta shook her head. "No, Highness, I like it here."

"Very well, then."

Keta sent her new ward off where she wouldn't be in the way, at least until she knew what the girl's capabilities were. She'd never actually met her mother, or any other cousin from that side of her husband's family, except briefly at the wedding, so she wasn't quite sure what to expect.

As it turned out, the girl wasn't much use for organizing--she kept getting distracted trying to read through what she was supposed to be neatly putting away--but she was eager to help with researching anything Keta's father asked her for. She was a girl after the princess's own heart, more than content to bury herself down here and avoid dealing with the social life of the court as much as possible.

But, Keta did have other responsibilities towards her, so she made her ward spend one day a week with her sister Sola, to gain a little bit of social polish. Reta didn't do nearly as well there--awkward and shy, and not much of a dancer--but she went every week without complaint.

For a year, everything went quietly, and Keta slowly grew accustomed to having Reta by her side. Reta rarely talked about herself--she would discuss what she'd been reading with Keta, sometimes, when prompted with a question, but generally they just--worked, together. It was a comfortable sort of silence, one that Keta was glad for. Despite what her sister Sola might have thought, not all friendships need to be active or involve sparkling, witty conversation.

Though it was a little odd, perhaps, to think of Reta as a friend, given how very little personal information she shared. For all Keta knew, the girl could be one of the Roses, though she didn't think her husband's family had such connections. And, of course, there was the fact that she was the princess's ward.

Of course, Keta had never been particularly fond of calling things other than what they were, which may have been part of why she was utterly abysmal at court life, and had been incomparably lucky in the husband she'd had. Even if she hadn't had him nearly long enough.

So, by the end of the year, she, at least in the privacy of her own mind, called Reta her friend, and almost dreaded the day when Sola found someone for her to marry. And not just because, as her guardian, she would be responsible for the relevant negotiations. Frightening thought.

And then, after a year of comfortable companionship, it took only a second for everything to change.

It was an accident--or, rather, a series of accidents; an unlit spilled lamp, a dropped candle, and suddenly the table was on fire.

And then, just as suddenly, it wasn't--buried instead under a pile of fine stone dust and rubble.

And there was Reta, standing across the table, face white and frightened and uncertain, hands outstretched.

For a long moment, neither of them spoke.

"Did you...did you just...?" Keta said.

The girl flinched and dropped her hands and backed up several steps until she hit a shelf. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I d-didn't--I know I'm not supposed to--but everything was on fire and I w-was afraid you would get hurt and--"

"Stop. Just...just stop." A mage. Her friend--her ward--her husband's cousin--was a mage.

Dear gods. Did that mean...

The girl must have read the question in her expression. "From my f-father's family," she said, dropping her eyes and shaking. "I'll...I d-don't want to cause you any trouble, I'll do...I'll do whatever I'm supposed to, wh-whatever you say, please..." She sounded like she was crying, and the princess could hardly blame her. Gods.

"Does your mother know?" was all Keta could think to ask.

Reta nodded.

"And she sent you here?" The very thought was horrifying--and made Keta more than a little angry. Whatever her politics, that any mother would deliberately send her child into what was, in effect, the most dangerous place in the world for her to be...even Keta's own mother, for all her complex and treasonous politics, would never have done something so cruel.

Reta nodded again, and sniffled.

"Stop crying," Keta said. "...you can't ever do that again. Anything like that." As soon as she said it, she paused, wondering--what the hell was she doing? She should do the right thing, she should report this girl to her father, and--

But who knew what might happen to her? With all the knowledge she'd gained, living and working with Keta in the archives for a year...there was a very real possibility that Keta's beloved ward would be harmed, far more than she deserved.

"I'm s-sorry." She was still crying. "I won't, I promise, I'm sorry!"

"Are you here to spy?"

She shook her head. "N-no."

Well. That was a relief, at least. Keta took a deep breath. "All right. For now, nothing changes. I will..." She shook her head. "I will protect you, somehow."

It was a snap decision, perhaps, and one more worthy of her favorite brother than herself. She usually considered things so carefully, looked for all of the precedent and support for her decision, but--it was a snap decision, and Keta knew that, in the months and years to come, in the decisions she would have to make to support and follow through on this one, she would drift deeper and deeper into treason, into things she had sworn she would never do, into things that she was still half-convinced would risk the safety and security of her entire nation.

But in the end--she had to do it. She would never be able to live with herself if she let harm come to this girl she'd grown to love.

Reta slumped, visibly relieved. "Thank you. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to--you weren't supposed to find out, I didn't want...I didn't want to put you at risk, I s-swear..."

"Stop apologizing," Keta said. "We'll figure it out. I'll keep you safe."

She nodded, took a deep breath, and peeked at Keta uncertainly before very, very carefully moving the stone and dust off of the smothered fire and putting it back where she'd found it, as if there had been no mage in here at all.

~ * ~ * ~

Lives changed in moments. Destinies hinged on moments. No one knew that better than Princess Keta.

It only took a moment for her to choose to protect a mage--and it would only take a moment, later, for her to remember that everyone in a collar in her city had someone who loved them just as much as she loved Reta.

It took less than a moment to realize what Kellom was going to do, and understand that, someone, somehow, would need to stop him.

And while she would never--could never--agree to her aunt and the Roses and their radicalism...

It only took a moment for Keta to start on her own path towards lasting change.