Flight of the Five Swans
Flight Chapter 16

Thaleia

For thefirst time in her life, Thaleia felt a distinct sense of pleasure at watching agarment take shape. She’d alwaysconsidered the pastime of sewing or knitting to be beyond boring, preferringinstead to undertake activities of a more active nature. But now Thaleia could honestly state toalmost enjoy the new nightly routine of making nettle yarn with her sisters, inspite of her stinging hands. She wouldeven go so far as to say that the hours they spent crushing nettles had becomerather the highlight of her day.

Then again,considering she spent most of her days sporting wings and feathers, perhapsthis wasn’t saying much.

Still,Thaleia couldn’t help feeling proud as she looked at their ever-growing supplyof yarn. Having five of the six sistersspinning ensured that Raia was never in demand for more thread—a tall order, asshe also spent several hours knitting during the day as well. Raia completed the first of the five shawlsafter eleven days’ work, and the princesses could not help cheering softly whenshe cut the thread. This smallaccomplishment seemed to light a fire under them, and they returned to theirwork with increased vigor.

Theprincesses felt this renewed enthusiasm throughout the following day. Both Callia and Cliodne had managed to filltheir pillow-pouches to the brim with new nettles, and the five swan princesseswere almost eager to get their hands on them. Petra had managed to steal several pairs of sturdy gloves the day beforefrom the Deturian royal gardeners. Whilethe thick fabric made it slightly more difficult for them to handle the nettleleaves and bark, the gloves were effective at protecting their hands from theplant’s stinging.

Yet theirenthusiasm for their task abated upon entering the bedchamber and seeing thatfor the first time, Raia was not there waiting for them. Thaleia’s heart clenched.

“What ifSoran’s found out about us?” She all butwhispered, gesturing towards Callia’s bulging bag of nettles. Her sisters’ faces mirrored the worry she wasfeeling.

“I thinkthere’s only one way to replace out.” Petrasaid, and knelt down on the floor to peer under the bed at their hidden cacheof nettles. She gave a yelp of triumphas she pulled the dress out. Their stashremained untouched.

Petranodded decisively. “That was by far ourworst hiding spot,” she said. “If Soranhad found anything, he would have found that.” Thaleia was still unconvinced.

“Thenwhere’s Raia?” She asked Petrastubbornly. Cliodne was the one toventure a guess.

“Soranprobably held just her up at dinner.” She said. “I’m sure she’ll be heresoon. And until then, there’s no harm inspinning a little thread to take our minds off of our worry.”

Thaleia’ssisters nodded in agreement, moving to remove the supplies from their differenthiding spots. Thaleia followed ratherreluctantly. She shimmied to the top ofthe furthest bedpost and helped Petra remove the spinning wheel from where ithung around the curtain rod. This spothad been the only place they’d found to hide their largest tool, though they’dinitially been afraid that the wheel might break from hanging in such away. Thus far, however, the wood of thespinning wheel had proven itself to be stronger than it appeared.

Once thespinning wheel had been firmly placed on the ground, the five princesses fellinto their yarn-making routine—with one notable exception. Eurielle had been given a different task forthe time being. Armed with a singleglass, the youngest sister was given the responsibility of listening at thedoor for approaching footsteps.

“We’ll needextra time to hide our supplies before any guards see them.” Cliodne shot a pointed look at Thaleia andadded, “After all, when Raia comesback, she likely won’t be alone.”

Cliodne wasright. The moment Eurielle warned themof approaching footsteps, the sisters sprung into action, shoving supplies outof sight. Thaleia had only just finishedconcealing the spinning wheel once more when the door opened, admittingRaia. She let out a small gasp of reliefat the sight of her twin, followed by a hiss of rage upon seeing the person whoentered next.

It was LordSoran, in all his hated glory.

Thaleia stretched her fingers, andshe had to fight the urge to scratch out the man’s eyes.

Soran positively beamed at themall.

“Good evening, m’ladies!” He greeted them cheerfully.

Thaleia mentally pictured herselfpunching him in the mouth. ‘Bet hewouldn’t smile so much if he was missing a couple of teeth.’ She thought, tempted almost beyond her ownrestraint.

Soran seemed to notice nothing ofThaleia’s inner turmoil. “I know youmust all be wondering for what purpose I’ve come tonight,” he said. “And Iwouldn’t dream of leaving you hanging for long!”

Thaleia’s attention was suddenlycaught by Raia. Her twin’s eyes held ahint of panic, and Thaleia felt a sudden stab of dread.

“Congratulations are in order!”Soran exclaimed, placing his hand on Raia’s shoulder. “Your sister and I are engaged to bemarried!”

Thaleia’s jaw dropped. The rest of her sisters looked just asthunderstruck and horrified as she felt, with the obvious exception ofRaia. Raia’s expression was similar tothat of a doe trapped on all sides by hunting dogs.

Soran seemed amused at theirreactions. “Of course,” he saidplayfully, “Such an occasion should be celebrated with more fanfare--glasses ofchampagne at the very least! But thatwill have to wait until tomorrownight, after the official announcement has been made. Still, I simply felt that telling Raia’s family was the first and most importantthing to do.”

At Soran’s last statement, Raia’seyes connected with Thaleia’s. Sheseemed to be trying to tell her something, yet Thaleia could not think whatthat might be. Out of the corner of hereye, she saw Cliodne sit down heavily in an armchair, as though her legs hadsuddenly given out.

Soran clearly noticed Cliodne’saction as well. For a moment his smiledimmed slightly, and Thaleia thought she saw something in his eyes thatresembled…could that be regret? Soran removed his hand from Raia’sshoulder. When he spoke, however, hisvoice was just as mockingly jovial as it had ever been.

“I imagine that you will haveplenty to talk about,” he said, turning to leave the room. “What with new wedding plans to gossipabout. So I shall leave you fortonight.”

The door closed behind him, andsilence reigned in his wake. The sistersmerely stared at Raia, lost for words and eager for the explanation that theirsister was unable to give. Not verbally, at least.

Raia reached into the bodice of herdress and removed a piece of parchment that she had taken to hiding there. Already half-covered with inked-on phrases,the piece of parchment had become Raia’s sole method of communicating with hersisters. Thaleia handed her a quill,and she immediately started scribbling furiously. The princesses all gathered around to readover her shoulder as she wrote.

Eralie’sresponse came. My invitation didn’twork. She’s not coming.

Thaleia shrugged. They had all known that strategy for luringEralie to Deturus had been a long shot. Thaleia was rather surprised that Soran had thought that it would haveworked at all.

But Cliodne seemed to understandimmediately where Raia was going with her explanation.

“And Soran thinks that Eralie issure to come to Deturus if one of her sisters is getting married.” She concluded, closing her eyes.

Raia nodded, and the princesses alldrew in their breaths sharply. Thaleiafurrowed her brow as a thought struck her. “But if that’s what he thinks,” she said to Cliodne. “Why would Raia be the one he’d choose to getengaged to? I mean, I know she’s not aswan at all, but she’s still only just arrived a couple weeks ago. You’vebeen here for months.” The laststatement sounded almost like an accusation, and Thaleia felt a bit shamedafter she’d said it. After all, Cliodne was certainly not the one toblame for Soran’s choosing Raia as his purported fiancée.

Cliodne did not seem bothered byThaleia’s tone. She considered hersister’s words for a moment, and then started as though a sudden thought hadstruck her. Her face filled with fury.

“He read my letters!” She whispered in outrage.

Thaleia laughed a little. “And that surprises you?” She asked her elder sister sarcastically.

“It’s not…I just…in one of myletters,” Cliodne fumbled for words. “I mentioned to Eralie that there was…someone…here in Deturus that I…respected. She asked whether there was any danger ofme…of my not returning toKyoria. I told her no, that a couple weeks—oreven a couple months--wasn’t long enough to know for sure. I said that I wasn’t such a romantic that Iwould jump into such a big decision like shemight. Or…like Raia might.”

Cliodne looked at Raia, an agonizedexpression on her face. “I think that’swhy Soran chose you. Because of what Iwrote…and because he thinks that Eralie might actually believe that you would…that you might get engaged tosomeone you…didn’t know very well.” Cliodne’s eyes pleaded with Raia for forgiveness. Raia placed one hand on her elder sister’sarm, indicating a forgiveness that she could not vocalize. In that moment, Thaleia admired her twinsister’s mercy. She, herself, could nothelp feeling a bit angry at Cliodne’s admission, though she also recognized ahint of truth in what her sister had written. Of them all, softhearted, artistic Raia was the one who would have been most likely to fall in love with acomplete stranger.

Cliodne seemed to collect herself,and when she spoke again, her voice was practical once more. “Has Soran forced you to write Eralie yet?”She asked Raia. Raia shook her head andwrote again on her parchment.

Tomorrow.

Thaleia felt a sudden jolt ofdetermination. “Well, that’s nothappening.” She declared, glancingaround at all of her sisters before focusing her gaze on Raia. Her shoulders straightened. “Because we’re getting out of here.”