~ * ~ * ~

Ellie cut into her slice of pheasant with more force than was necessary, her knife clanging against her plate.

It was later that night. She sat across the dinner table from her mother, Hilda. Normally, they'd sit at opposite ends, but Hilda had changed her seat so Ellie followed suit. The close distance made her fidget in her chair.

"Good evening, Mother," Hilda said. Her bitter tone didn't go unnoticed. "How was your day?"

"It was alright, daughter. I had a ministry meeting and took care of administrative work." Ellie gestured to the uncorked bottle of red wine. "You usually bust out the burgundy when you've got a ministry headache."

Ellie wondered how long it would take for Hilda to reel her anger onto her. The best thing for Ellie to do was to drag out this ministry subject for as long as possible. She speared some more game bird into her mouth.

"There's a project on the table that they're at odds about." Hilda winced, reliving the memory of that meeting. "There are disagreements about whether or not it's a worthy project for us to invest funding into. I estimate that we'll be deliberating over it for months."

"What is it? Is it something top secret I can't know about?"

"It's revolutionary. You should shadow me at the next meeting to find out what it is," she replied. "Words don't do it justice." Hilda poured herself some more wine. "There will be meetings like this one in your future."

"Frustrating and annoying ones?"

"I suppose you could call them that. That's why it's best that you learn how to negotiate and navigate these kinds of discussions early on. It'll help you prepare," Hilda said. "I wasn't that much older than you when I became Chieftess."

Not this again. Ellie used her fork to nudge her potatoes around her plate. "Maybe... But it's not like you and Dad are dying any time soon. You'll be Chiefs for a long time."

"You could be crowned sooner than that. You need to act like your title. You're inheriting a legacy."

Ellie mumbled, "okay."

"I'm aware that you weren't in the fields this morning. I stopped by Aunt Una's." Una Maxime, née Dietrich, was Hilda's youngest sibling and only sister. Her husband had died from an infection years ago, leaving her with two small children to raise on her own. Ellie didn't know how she did it.

"I was with Uncle Kier."

"Ellie, don't even go there. Lying is a disgusting habit." Hilda narrowed her eyes. "Your cousins miss you. You should pay Julien and Astrid a visit some time." She swirled the wine in her glass to aerate it. "Don't you think it's time you've come back?"

"I'm here, aren't I?"

Hilda didn't say anything back for a while. Just kept sloshing around the wine in her glass. "What happened to Sunflower? I noticed the bandages when I went to feed the dogs."

"We were playing and she tripped. Hurt her ankle." Ellie stopped to chew on a potato chunk. "Dr. Cuthberht took care of it."

They spent the rest of their dinner quietly, the loudest noises being their silverware tapping porcelain. Once they were finished, Ellie gathered the plates, and put them in the sink. She was glad they lived in a piped water zone. Imagining having to journey every day to a well made her cringe. Even with the piping, though, her mother still lectured her on not leaving the tap on, as if an extra few seconds would lose them a river.

A knock at the door. Ellie busied herself with scrubbing the plates as her mother answered it. From her place in the kitchen, she listened to the door open and the voice of their visitor. Henrik Stenberg, her father's nighttime attendant, saying something about Dr. Cuthberht having a message for Chieftess Hildegarde. Something he couldn't be told.

Her mother immediately guessed it was about Vicente. Henrik apologized in his usual over-the-top way. He didn't know. Just that when he went to report in to the doctor, she asked him if Chieftess Hildegarde could come to the clinic and speak to her. Perhaps it could wait until tomorrow.

Ellie imagined the look of death Henrik must've gotten for suggesting that. Her mother said something back to Henrik, then left out the door. No doubt bewildered, Henrik closed it after her. He came into the kitchen as Ellie was finishing up with the dishes.

"Hey, Ellie." He waved. "You look tired."

"It's been a long day, that's all." Ellie fit the plates on the drying rack. "Did Dr. Cuthberht seem upset?"

"She was her usual self."

"Okay." Ellie wiped her hands off on the drying rack. "Okay, well, I'm due for bed so I'll have to talk to you later. Tell Agnes I said hello."

"Agatha."

"Mmhm. Good night." She excused herself and went upstairs.

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A/N: This is an interactive fantasy serial. Voting takes place on Thursdays through Sundays on the story's main site. The most up-to-date chapters can also be found there, but uploading will happen in parts on RRL as well.

The next post will be Chapter 8.3.

Chapter 15 is out now on the main site. This week, voting will end Monday at 11:59 PM EST. Comments on the main site are especially encouraging to the author.