The only sound that could be heard in massive and empty dining hall was the sound of Elissa rapping her fingers on the table. At the other side of the needlessly long table sat her wife, Anora, eating her dinner in silence. Elissa had already finished her food, in record time in fact, but figured she’d stick around to keep Anora company. Even if they weren’t close, Elissa didn’t think that a person should be alone in such a big space.
Slowly, one after another, Anora raised spoonfuls of stew up to her mouth. Up and down. Up and down. Tap-tap-tap-tap. Tap-tap-tap-tap. Tap-tap-tap-tap.
“We can talk to each other, you know.” Anora said, suddenly breaking the silence. She usually never said anything when it was just them.
Elissa almost jumped out of her chair from the sudden outburst. At least that was what it felt like with how quiet it was. “O-oh, I didn’t—”
Anora ‘tsked’ and look down at your stew, moving the pieces of meat and vegetables around in it with her spoon. “Of course you didn’t. You never do.” Elissa heard that a lot.
With a drained sigh, Elissa leaned back in her chair. “Look, I know we don’t love each other, I know this is all for show, and I know we have a sordid past together. I don’t, however, know why that means we can’t get along.”
“Neither do I, yet here we are. Struggling with small talk. I may be your wife and you may be mine but we do not belong to each other. No one is making you sit across from me.”
“I’m making me sit here! You know why? Because I’m a decent person who cares about other people!”
“Oh, and I’m not?”
“I didn’t—”
“Of course you didn’t. You never do.”
Once again the room fell into complete silence. The estranged couple simply staring back at each other. A minute passed and Anora resumed eating. Two minutes later Elissa started tapping her rapping her fingers on the table again. Up and down the spoon went. Up and down. Up and down. Tap-tap-tap-tap. Tap-tap-tap-tap. Tap-tap-tap-tap.
“Should I have died instead of your father?” Elissa said, staring down at her empty plate. “I could have made the sacrifice instead of him.”
Anora was quiet for some time, and Elissa assumed that Anora hadn’t heard her, and was grateful out of fear of the answer. Then, “No.” She answered. “My father’s crimes… he could never have atoned for them in life. I hate that this is the way it had to be, but this is the way it had to be.”
Elissa cracked a half smile. “Well, at least we both prefer a world where I’m still alive.” She almost couldn’t believe it, but that actually got a laugh out of Anora.
“Yes, I suppose we do.” Anora replied, looking down so that Elissa couldn’t see her smiling.
Reaching forward toward the middle of the table, Elissa grabbed herself another dinner roll. She took a bite out of it, chewed, and swallowed. “Enjoying your stew?” She asked. This was the closest they had ever come to an actual conversation that wasn’t in the public eye.
Ferelden needed a leader. Loghain was dead. Alastair wanted to stay with the Wardens. They didn’t trust Anora to rule alone. So, Elissa offered to rule beside her. She was of noble birth, and was going to save Thedas from the Blight. Eamon spoke on her behalf, vouching for her noble deeds to save both his family, and all of Redcliff. So it was decided that they would be wed, and jointly rule the kingdom. Elissa didn’t think that Anora actually needed supervision, and trusted her to rule on her own, but this was the only way she could rule at all.
In public they played the part of the loving couple; holding hands, sharing the occasional kiss, but when they were alone they were little more than perfect strangers. “I’m not exactly a fan, but it tastes good enough.”
Elissa had eaten another two dinner rolls by this point. Her dress began to squeeze her tight around the belly, but that was nothing new. Since the wedding, Elissa had been packing on the pounds since she spent most of her time lazing around the castle. “I know I’m just a princess-consort, but do you think I have the authority to have this table switched for one that’s more practical? I mean I can hardly see you from over here.”
“You can be very persuasive.”
“Think I could persuade you to push our beds together tonight?” It was a silly question, since they didn’t even sleep in the same part of the castle, let alone the same room, and the answer was always no.
“Not tonight.” Anora answered.
View Portfolio
Visit Notebook
Send Gift Points
Awards
Badges
Send Email
Community Newsfeed
General Discussion
Sponsored Items
Book of Trinkets
Static Items
Books
Groups
Interactive Stories
Audio
Campfire Creatives
Community Notes
Crossword Puzzles
Documents
Folders
Images
In & Outs
Madlibs
Photo Albums
Polls
Product Reviews
Quizzes
Survey Forms
Web Pages
Word Searches
More by this author
