The castle was silent.
It's too silent.
Not the quiet serenity that follows a busy day, but the fragile, uneasy silence of a site that is still healing.
As they walked past Sayori in the corridors, the servants averted their eyes. Their gaze shifted. Their pace increased. The walls around her seemed to be holding their breath.
Sayori didn't like it.
She hadn't requested that anyone be punished by Fenris. She didn't intend for her shadow to be followed by fear.
Nonetheless, it occurred.
---
The dryad kid, who had previously been laughing while breaking herbs, froze as Sayori entered the kitchen.
"Forgive me, Miss," the warlock youngster said in a hurry while hiding his hands behind his back in the library after having previously mocked her for not comprehending enchantment scrolls.
Miss.
The word was too big. Too incorrect.
She remained simply Sayori. A young woman with healing ribs and worn fingertips. The chores had given her a sense of security, normality, and utility.
She currently felt like a ghost floating around in her own narrative.
---
She stood outside Fenris's chambers for a long time that evening.
The guards had fled the moment they saw her coming. She was no longer stopped by anyone.
Before knocking, she paused.
Before she even reached it, the door creaked open.
He was waiting.
---
"You shouldn't have done it," she whispered as she entered. "They're scared."
"I want them to be afraid," Fenris said with enigmatic eyes. "Not of you. But of letting you down."
"I don't want to be the cause of other people's pain."
Because they overlooked the fact that you are more than a servant, I won't let you endure.
Her voice choked. "I don't know how to be more."
Then, gradually and cautiously, he approached her until he was directly in front of her. Near enough to feel his warmth, but not touching.
"You already are," he stated. "You just haven't seen it yet."
She gazed up at him, taking in the sharp angles of his face and the storm raging behind his eyes. The curse that has followed him since he was born.
He still stared at her as though she were the one who would cause empires to fall.
---
Later, she sat by his fire, sipping tea she didn't remember asking for.
The shadows on the walls danced, just like the thoughts in her head.
She wasn't sure who she was becoming.
But for the first time, she was starting to wonder if that wasn't something to fear — but something to choose.