Just two words: Flapping fish.
I didn´t know where Mary got her fascination for this food from, but it certainly didn’t die down after her reincarnation. I could only watch in horror how two otherwise gentle humans massacred their food as if there was no tomorrow. There was definitely a good reason for that as this fish tasted like fried chicken if done right. And if done badly, it tasted like the portion Aska and I got from McFly.
But still, as the good girl I was, I swallowed … ate it. It wasn’t the best … but whatever. At least I could eat it without worry.
Luckily Luna gave me one of her white satin gloves which did hide my ring outing me as the saint and queen. Mary´s ring on the other hand was in plain sight. She was married, that much was obvious.
“Mrs. White, you have a very beautiful ring there.” I enthused after eating the last bit of my flapping fish.
“Thank you very much. I can still remember the day Paul decided to marry me.” She said with a gentle smile.
“You didn´t marry politically motivated?” I asked swiftly afterwards.
“Oh, no. We have a deeply rooted tradition of marrying out of love in this family.” Deeply rooted? That was probably the old Mary who made sure that the marriage customs of her family wouldn’t change anytime soon after her death.
“It is nice to hear that a ducal family follows feelings rather than money and influence in this regard.” I said happily.
“Let us say we learned out of the mistakes of the past. Your namesake helped us massively in that regard.” Mary admitted which made me realize just how far I influenced this family already.
“The saint did? Woah, I didn’t know that.” I said while scratching my cheek.
“Mum, can we go now?” Luna interjected, probably not feeling too good that I was forced to lie so brazenly.
“Sure honey.” Mary said and stood up.
“Can she sleep over here?” Luna asked indignantly.
“Hmm … if her parents agree.” Mary answered while frowning slightly.
“I will write them a letter immediately and I am sure they will agree.” I said and lowered my head a bit.
“Then she can stay here for a night.” Mary said.
“Thank you.” Luna said happily and grabbed my hand to pull me out of the dining room. Before she could do so, I stopped her and turned around once more.
“Mrs. White?” I asked, really unsure if I should even ask what I wanted to.
“Yes?” She said and looked at me with interest.
“The question may be a bit sudden … are you happy?” I asked.
“… I am.” She stated after a little pause in which she frowned a bit. At least she didn´t lie to me, which meant I really did have no reason to disturb her life. Seeing her and talking to her once in a while would be alright for me … as long as she was happy. It may have been a bit unfair for her, but I didn´t want to drag her into the mess I would eventually create.
“I see.” I said and followed Luna out of the room with a smile around my lips. Feeling happy about Mary´s happiness, I trailed Luna through familiar corridors into an even more familiar room.
“… I heard you lived in this room once.” Luna said while I looked around. The furniture was a bit different from what I had, but the general look of the room was exactly the same.
“I did. It feels like yesterday for me.” But, two hundred years went by where I didn´t set a foot into this room. Even then though, I still remembered the smell of trees in this room, how Hannah and I frolicked around in here, and how I experienced some of my best cuddling in this room.
“I … I can talk to mum about it. You can have it back … if you want.” She proposed to which I could only shake my head.
“It is your room now, isn´t it? I like the personal touch you gave it.” I said and marvelled at the red stripe on the wall. I didn’t have the freedom to repaint my room, but I was glad Luna did. Red is a fascinating colour after all.
“But …” She said, still not sure about my feelings.
“Luna, the best memories I had in this room was because of those who were with me. Without them … it is just a room.”
“Does it hurt to see my mum? I mean, the former duchess you knew and she look insanely similar and … she has the same name.” She mumbled, clearly uncomfortable with the current situation.
“No, not at all. Deep down in me, I know that the Mary White I knew lives her new life happily.”
“It is great that you have so much faith in the gods.” Was she kidding me? The only bit of faith I had in one god was that he would do the dishes if I kicked him often enough. “I am honestly struggling right now … the only person I could ever see as remotely godly is you … and you are like a human.” She said bitterly. I really did shake her faith in the gods by acting like a normal being would. Truly, the expectations the people had to the saint were immeasurable. Reluctantly, I picked up the glasses from my nose and presented her my red eyes.
“I am neither human and neither vampire. I am undead, and yet I grow. If you want me to, I can tell you countless more contradictions about me. But there is one thing that I know what isn´t contradicting. Having feelings and being a link to the gods … who themselves have feelings as well.”
“They do?” She asked in wonder.
“You can be sure of that.” They had fucked up feelings for the most part, but feelings nonetheless. “If you want me to act more saintly and inspire you to go on a spiritual journey or even fight for your faith, I can do that for you. I know very well that being aloof of mortal affairs is my task as the saint, but deep down I have feelings, I have desires. And there is nothing un-saintly about that.” I said in a gentle voice.
“And … what do you desire?” She asked timidly.
“Hmm … I´ll tell you a secret now, okay? I love to cuddle with my friends.” I admitted happily.
“I am your friend?” She said a bit shocked. Yes, the saint and eternal queen was her friend, even before she was born a second time.
“Exactly. My best friend! And I am sure that won´t change in the next decades.” Or in the next century. Or after that.
“O-Okay.” She said, probably unaware of the burden I just put on her shoulder.
“Shall we cuddle?” I asked in amazement.
“Uhm … yes?” She said slowly.
“Great! But first, you have to let me write a letter and answer me a question. Why didn´t your mother realize who I was? I was wearing sunglasses which aren’t really popular.” I asked while strolling towards my old desk which seemed to have lived through the time. I even saw the damage Hannah did with her blade as she stabbed into it.
“Nobody knows you need these glasses to see during the day.” Mary … my old Mary apparently kept it as a secret even from her children. There was only one reason for such a behaviour.
She wanted me to have a choice if I ever decided against taking up the role of the saint a second time. The church probably followed through as it was quite hard to explain why their saint needed sunglasses.
Well, I was grateful for these actions as it allowed me to have a bit of time without all the trouble. Happily, I picked up a quill, dipped it into ink and painted a triangle on a piece of paper. Next, I drew four lines going out of the triangle. Two were heading to the bottom of the paper and one each to the sides of it. Above the triangle, I made a circle with a cute little face in it.
I made a stick figure of a woman … or rather I replicated how Tom was drawing woman. And under that stick figure, I simply wrote:
‘Heyho! It´s me, Lucy! I´m staying at Mrs. White´s mansion for the night. Could you get me around twelve? In eternal love, Lucy.’
Tom would figure everything out. It wouldn’t be too hard. After putting the letter in an envelop and sealing it with a bit of wax, I wrote down the address Hannah had given Sofie and handed everything to Luna who swiftly brought it outside and handed it to a servant.
“To who is that letter?” She asked in wonder.
“An old friend.” I admitted.
“… someone who lived over two hundred years? Wow, that’s old.” Hey, I lived for four hundred and elven years. It was just the humans who died so early. Being called old was … it hurt.
“Elves do tend to live longer.” I stated and pulled her into my embrace. Humans died fast … which was all the more reason to spend every second I could with those I held dear.
Just two words: Flapping fish.
I didn´t know where Mary got her fascination for this food from, but it certainly didn’t die down after her reincarnation. I could only watch in horror how two otherwise gentle humans massacred their food as if there was no tomorrow. There was definitely a good reason for that as this fish tasted like fried chicken if done right. And if done badly, it tasted like the portion Aska and I got from McFly.
But still, as the good girl I was, I swallowed … ate it. It wasn’t the best … but whatever. At least I could eat it without worry.
Luckily Luna gave me one of her white satin gloves which did hide my ring outing me as the saint and queen. Mary´s ring on the other hand was in plain sight. She was married, that much was obvious.
“Mrs. White, you have a very beautiful ring there.” I enthused after eating the last bit of my flapping fish.
“Thank you very much. I can still remember the day Paul decided to marry me.” She said with a gentle smile.
“You didn´t marry politically motivated?” I asked swiftly afterwards.
“Oh, no. We have a deeply rooted tradition of marrying out of love in this family.” Deeply rooted? That was probably the old Mary who made sure that the marriage customs of her family wouldn’t change anytime soon after her death.
“It is nice to hear that a ducal family follows feelings rather than money and influence in this regard.” I said happily.
“Let us say we learned out of the mistakes of the past. Your namesake helped us massively in that regard.” Mary admitted which made me realize just how far I influenced this family already.
“The saint did? Woah, I didn’t know that.” I said while scratching my cheek.
“Mum, can we go now?” Luna interjected, probably not feeling too good that I was forced to lie so brazenly.
“Sure honey.” Mary said and stood up.
“Can she sleep over here?” Luna asked indignantly.
“Hmm … if her parents agree.” Mary answered while frowning slightly.
“I will write them a letter immediately and I am sure they will agree.” I said and lowered my head a bit.
“Then she can stay here for a night.” Mary said.
“Thank you.” Luna said happily and grabbed my hand to pull me out of the dining room. Before she could do so, I stopped her and turned around once more.
“Mrs. White?” I asked, really unsure if I should even ask what I wanted to.
“Yes?” She said and looked at me with interest.
“The question may be a bit sudden … are you happy?” I asked.
“… I am.” She stated after a little pause in which she frowned a bit. At least she didn´t lie to me, which meant I really did have no reason to disturb her life. Seeing her and talking to her once in a while would be alright for me … as long as she was happy. It may have been a bit unfair for her, but I didn´t want to drag her into the mess I would eventually create.
“I see.” I said and followed Luna out of the room with a smile around my lips. Feeling happy about Mary´s happiness, I trailed Luna through familiar corridors into an even more familiar room.
“… I heard you lived in this room once.” Luna said while I looked around. The furniture was a bit different from what I had, but the general look of the room was exactly the same.
“I did. It feels like yesterday for me.” But, two hundred years went by where I didn´t set a foot into this room. Even then though, I still remembered the smell of trees in this room, how Hannah and I frolicked around in here, and how I experienced some of my best cuddling in this room.
“I … I can talk to mum about it. You can have it back … if you want.” She proposed to which I could only shake my head.
“It is your room now, isn´t it? I like the personal touch you gave it.” I said and marvelled at the red stripe on the wall. I didn’t have the freedom to repaint my room, but I was glad Luna did. Red is a fascinating colour after all.
“But …” She said, still not sure about my feelings.
“Luna, the best memories I had in this room was because of those who were with me. Without them … it is just a room.”
“Does it hurt to see my mum? I mean, the former duchess you knew and she look insanely similar and … she has the same name.” She mumbled, clearly uncomfortable with the current situation.
“No, not at all. Deep down in me, I know that the Mary White I knew lives her new life happily.”
“It is great that you have so much faith in the gods.” Was she kidding me? The only bit of faith I had in one god was that he would do the dishes if I kicked him often enough. “I am honestly struggling right now … the only person I could ever see as remotely godly is you … and you are like a human.” She said bitterly. I really did shake her faith in the gods by acting like a normal being would. Truly, the expectations the people had to the saint were immeasurable. Reluctantly, I picked up the glasses from my nose and presented her my red eyes.
“I am neither human and neither vampire. I am undead, and yet I grow. If you want me to, I can tell you countless more contradictions about me. But there is one thing that I know what isn´t contradicting. Having feelings and being a link to the gods … who themselves have feelings as well.”
“They do?” She asked in wonder.
“You can be sure of that.” They had fucked up feelings for the most part, but feelings nonetheless. “If you want me to act more saintly and inspire you to go on a spiritual journey or even fight for your faith, I can do that for you. I know very well that being aloof of mortal affairs is my task as the saint, but deep down I have feelings, I have desires. And there is nothing un-saintly about that.” I said in a gentle voice.
“And … what do you desire?” She asked timidly.
“Hmm … I´ll tell you a secret now, okay? I love to cuddle with my friends.” I admitted happily.
“I am your friend?” She said a bit shocked. Yes, the saint and eternal queen was her friend, even before she was born a second time.
“Exactly. My best friend! And I am sure that won´t change in the next decades.” Or in the next century. Or after that.
“O-Okay.” She said, probably unaware of the burden I just put on her shoulder.
“Shall we cuddle?” I asked in amazement.
“Uhm … yes?” She said slowly.
“Great! But first, you have to let me write a letter and answer me a question. Why didn´t your mother realize who I was? I was wearing sunglasses which aren’t really popular.” I asked while strolling towards my old desk which seemed to have lived through the time. I even saw the damage Hannah did with her blade as she stabbed into it.
“Nobody knows you need these glasses to see during the day.” Mary … my old Mary apparently kept it as a secret even from her children. There was only one reason for such a behaviour.
She wanted me to have a choice if I ever decided against taking up the role of the saint a second time. The church probably followed through as it was quite hard to explain why their saint needed sunglasses.
Well, I was grateful for these actions as it allowed me to have a bit of time without all the trouble. Happily, I picked up a quill, dipped it into ink and painted a triangle on a piece of paper. Next, I drew four lines going out of the triangle. Two were heading to the bottom of the paper and one each to the sides of it. Above the triangle, I made a circle with a cute little face in it.
I made a stick figure of a woman … or rather I replicated how Tom was drawing woman. And under that stick figure, I simply wrote:
‘Heyho! It´s me, Lucy! I´m staying at Mrs. White´s mansion for the night. Could you get me around twelve? In eternal love, Lucy.’
Tom would figure everything out. It wouldn’t be too hard. After putting the letter in an envelop and sealing it with a bit of wax, I wrote down the address Hannah had given Sofie and handed everything to Luna who swiftly brought it outside and handed it to a servant.
“To who is that letter?” She asked in wonder.
“An old friend.” I admitted.
“… someone who lived over two hundred years? Wow, that’s old.” Hey, I lived for four hundred and elven years. It was just the humans who died so early. Being called old was … it hurt.
“Elves do tend to live longer.” I stated and pulled her into my embrace. Humans died fast … which was all the more reason to spend every second I could with those I held dear.
