The Queen of the Aerie – Part 2: Descent

The night above the clouds was long and cold and strangely tender. She made him kneel on a rug of grey wool at the foot of her black granite throne while her attendants lit a hundred small lamps along the walls. She gave him tasks, and watched them done. To carry a bowl of hot broth across the hall without spilling. To stand, with his hands behind him, at the open window, facing the sea of cloud, for a full hour. To kneel, silent, while she sat in her great chair and read aloud, in her low voice, from a book of mountain laws. She corrected him as she had promised, with a touch of cool fingers under his chin, a quiet word, a long steady look. Straighter. Slower. Again.

She was severe and unhurried and without a flicker of cruelty. When he faltered, she waited. When he trembled, she laid a hand on his shoulder, and the great warm weight of it steadied him as no rope ever had.

"Does the guide wish to continue?" she asked, at every watch of the night.

"I do, Majesty."

"Say it plainly."

"I do. Thank you."

"The Queen of the Aerie does not require thanks." But the lamplight caught the corner of her mouth.

Late, when the stars had come out in their thousands and the wind had dropped to a whisper, she dismissed her attendants with a lifted hand. They filed out. The doors closed. The great hall was silent, lit by a single lamp, and the Queen sat in her chair with her hands folded and her head bowed, as though listening to something very far away.

"Descent," said Ysolde, softly.

It was the word, and she spoke it for them both. The silver crown came off and lay on the arm of the throne. The feathered cloak slipped from her shoulders. She came down from the dais in her stockinged feet, sat on the rug beside him and wrapped the heavy cloak round them both.

"How are you?"

"Carried," said Kael, with a laugh that cracked. "For the first time in my life."

"You were a splendid servant." She laid a broad, weathered hand against his cheek. "The best I have had."

"May I stay?"

"Until the morning, if you wish. And, if you wish it, again." She smiled for the first time. "The Aerie has a great many passes that need a guide. And a Queen who requires someone to lead her down."

"I'll bring my rope," said Kael.

"You will bring yourself," said Ysolde, and the first light came pink over the white peaks.

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