Selene smiled and walked towards me, taking my hand and pulling me to her. “I feel the cold, but not as easily as you, my pet,” she told me and took hold of my cardigan and began unbuttoning it.
“Hey, what are you doing?” I asked, and reached out to touch the exposed skin of her midriff, warm and taut under my cool fingers.
“I’m fixing your cardigan. You missed a button and are askew,” she explained as she easily and swiftly undid the buttons.
“Lucky you’re here to help dress me,” I commented, slightly embarrassed.
“Where would you be without me?” she joked.
“A scruffily dressed miscreant, causing mischief and up to no good,” I replied. She pulled away from me, having fixed my buttons and straightened my cardigan. She locked eyes with me and frowned.
“Explain,” she demanded.
“What?” I asked.
“Explain why you would dare to make such defaming remarks about yourself,” she clarified. Her tone was sharp.
“I, uh, I, I don’t know,” I stuttered. Selene didn’t appreciate my response and released a low growl.
“You know, now answer me,” she demanded. I gulped and looked away.
“I think… maybe I’ve just been thinking on what someone said. It’s nothing—silly—it doesn’t matter,” I answered.
“It matters. What was said to you?” she questioned, and lifted my jaw to look at her.
“Nonsense, really—about independent communities being outlaws during the civil war, untrustworthy,” I told her. Her nostrils flared.
“There are only a few communities like your own left in the Borealis Kingdom. Most have integrated into the House system. It is true that locally, in the north, there were groups of mercenaries who notoriously double-crossed the Borealis and the Auster forces on numerous occasions. Some of their leaders went on to lead independent communities, outside of the House system, not by choice but because none would accept them.It is also why some refer to groups like your own as being outskirt communities, as they were outcasted undesirables. Your community is highly unlikely to have its origins in such behaviour. You are not the descendant of lawbreakers, though you prefer to live in backward ways, under unnecessarily harsh conditions, simply because you refused to take the knee centuries ago. Given your heritage it is likely that your community grew from staunch Auster supporters, that while accepting they had lost the war, refused to accept the ways of Borealis and her allies,” she explained calmly, “You will not talk about yourself negatively again.”
“Yes, Ma’am,” I replied.
“You’re a good girl, yes?” she asked.
“Yes, Ma’am,” I answered and felt tears sting the back of my eyes. “I’m sorry,” I apologised as I wiped a falling tear away with the back of my hand. Selene replaced my hand and wiped the next tear that fell with her thumb.
“I—I don’t think—I don’t think that I realised how much what other people assumed about me and my home affected me. Before the spring, before you, I didn’t know people thought so lowly of us. Maria never treated us badly,” I explained.
It was a shock that every time I mentioned my home, it came with preconceived ideas about who we were—about my character.
“Those that lack experience with others different from themselves often misspeak, without thought, parroting what they have heard others speak, not knowing the truthfulness or the context of what they say,” Selene said, her thumb rubbing my cheek. “No one looks at you, my dear, and sees an outlaw,” she reassured.
“But you think I’m backwards and stupid,” I challenged, a wave of upset crashing upon me—upset I wasn’t even aware that I was carrying.
“You are both those things sometimes,” she said matter-of-factly, coldly. I took a stuttering breath, her words like a slap. “But so am I,” she added quickly at my response, wrapping an arm around my waist to stop me from stepping away from her.
“I too have misspoken. I have judged you unfairly at times—a symptom of my own stupidity,” she reassured. “I understand now that you prefer a simple life, living from the land and sea, providing as much as possible for yourself. Do I believe more modern ways are better? Certainly. But does that make your preferred way of living backwards or stupid? Certainly not. I do not understand why any would choose to live like you did before me, but that does not make it worse. Only different.”
She caressed my face soothingly and I leaned into her touch.
“You’re kind of the worst and best at making someone feel better,” I said after I managed to calm my breathing.
She laughed in response.
“The worst and best?” she asked.
“Yeah,” I answered.
“The worst is the best, depending on the view,” she said. “Now,” she removed her hand from my face. “Who have you been speaking with?” she asked.
