Returning to Sarvas Part 2 - Sisters' Spat

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The day Ahsch and Kirasiel had agreed upon for their date - two days before their departure - arrived, and Ahsch came calling at House Celes at midmorning. After waiting a moment, he was startled when the door was opened not by a servant, but a young, blonde teenager in a fine dress.

After getting over his surprise, Ahsch gave a small bow. “Miss Stella Celes,” he greeted his betrothed’s younger sister. “I wasn’t expecting to see you.”

A slight expression wormed its way onto Stella’s face, a mix of annoyance, suspicion, and curiosity. “You were expecting my sister,” she stated. Ahsch hesitated, then nodded slowly. Stella stared at him for a long moment. “She changed when you… died.” She snorted. “‘When you died,’” she repeated, her voice thick with disbelieving amusement. “I can’t believe we’re actually saying that.”

“Miss Stella, is there something specific you want of me?” Ahsch asked.

The girl opened her mouth, then closed it, then opened again, then heaved a breath. “I never knew my sister,” she finally said. “Some of the older servants told me about how she used to be, before she was even my age, but I never met _that _Kirasiel. I only knew the cunt that she’s been all my life. And then you… you… happened, and now she’s… she’s changed. Different. She’s not the bitch she’s always been, but she’s not… the servants say she isn’t who she used to be either.”

Ahsch crossed his arms and tried to keep the impatience off his face. “MIss Stella, that doesn’t answer my question.”

“Now you’re marrying her,” she continued, “And even though she refuses to tell me anything - she thinks I’m too _young _for all that ‘grown up stuff’ even though I’m only two years younger! - I’ve heard a lot of things from the servants about what Unc… what Byrdrek and Fauna made her do and what they threatened…” She now glared openly at Ahsch. “Which makes me wonder what you could possibly…”

“I suggested - no, requested - the marriage, Stella.”

Both Ahsch and the younger Celes sister jumped as Kirasiel entered the vestibule, her gaze neutral as she looked at her sister. “As you said, for years I’ve been… well, a terrible person. A poor royal. And M- Lord Ahsch has demonstrated to me that he is capable of… keeping me in line, I suppose.” Kirasiel set her jaw. “I do _not _want to go back to the _beast _I was, what that bastard Byrdrek molded me into.”

“So you’re just going to _marry _him? And throw thousands of gold into his little refugee project?”

“Lord Ahsch has saved me - in several ways - multiple times, Stella. He has asked little of me, and was initially reluctant to agree to the engagement at all. However, he eventually came to see the benefits, and agreed that it would be beneficial for me as well.”

Stella crossed her arms, an angry frown on her face. “Beneficial how? You said he keeps you in line, but you are of a High House, and he’s not even a proper royal, so what-”

“Stella!” Kirasiel exclaimed, her eyes darting to Ahsch with a flicker of embarrassment before she scowled at her sister. “What manners have you been…”

“Oh fuck you!” the younger sister shouted. “I learned from you, you fucking bitch! You might not have screamed or shouted at me like you did the servants, but you treated me just as poorly all my life, like I was just pond scum you had to deal with. I’m shocked you didn’t jump at the chance to hand me over to Byrdrek just to get out of being married to the old shit, you self-serving-”

A loud slap echoed through the vestibule.

Kirasiel stared at her hand in shock. Stella tenderly touched her reddening cheek, tears brimming in her eyes as she slowly turned to look at her elder sister. Ahsch took a step forward, but hesitated, unsure what to do.

“I hate you!” Stella screamed, then bolted from the vestibule, deeper into the Celes suites, and after a few moments, there was the distant slam of a door.

Kirasiel collapsed to her knees, her reddened palm fisting tightly enough to turn white, and quickly a streamer of red blood slipped between her clenched fingers.

“I’m sorry…” she whispered, her voice choked. Ahsch knelt down beside her, hesitated again, then gently embraced her, pulling her into his arms and cradling her head. “I… I’m… this cunt…” she began.

“No,” Ahsch said, gentle yet firm. “You don’t get to run away from what happened like that.”

“I fucked up,” she hissed between shuddering breaths. “I… I’ve never… I don’t know what came over me, she just… what she said… how could she…”

“People often say the harshest things they can think of when they’re angry,” Ahsch soothed. “I doubt she really believes that you would do that to her - she’s not an idiot, so I’m sure she knows how hard you worked to protect her, the risks you took. But she was angry, and frustrated, and confused, and - let’s be honest - young. She’s only two years younger than you, but two years is a lot of time, and honestly, you’re young too. I might have the brain of a teenager now, but I have the memories of several decades, over thirty years of life. Even such a short amount of time can change someone greatly, and the young don’t always think before they act.”

Kirasiel clung to Ahsch. “What do I do?” she asked.

“Give her time to cool down - and yourself time to come to terms with what she’s feeling and what you did. Then you apologize; hopefully she will too, but she didn’t strike you, though what she said was a verbal attack for sure. After that, if you can both stay calm, honest, and earnest, you try to talk things out - _without _escalating to a screaming match.”

“But what if she… what if I…” Kirasiel took another shuddering breath. “She’ll never forgive me,” she despaired.

“Maybe,” Ahsch admitted. “And if so, all you can do is your best to make up for what you did. That’s all any of us ever can do - our best.”

She shook her head. “I haven’t for… gods, I don’t even know how long…”

“It’s never too late,” Ahsch reassured her. “Doing good doesn’t erase the bad that you’ve done in the past. But that doesn’t mean that it’s not worth something. You may never get forgiveness from those you’ve harmed, but you owe it to them and yourself to try and right past wrongs and become a better person.”

“But what if I can’t?”

“You can. Anyone can. But it’s not easy. And that’s the hard part, because you’ve built up the habits of cruelty, and it’s easy to slip back into those habits - and at the same time, everyone will be watching you, ever-ready with a criticism of your efforts. You have to struggle both within and without.

“But that’s the price you pay for committing so many wrongs in your life. And it’s up to you if you want to make up for them, or carry on down that road.”

Kirasiel chuckled, then looked up at Ahsch. “But it’s not my choice, is it? Not with you holding my leash.”

Ahsch huffed an amused breath, but shook his head. “No, it is. If you choose to redeem yourself, to make what amends you can, I will support you all the way. But if you decide to remain the petty, cruel person I first met, then there’s little I can do but keep you where you can’t harm others - I can’t make you change. Not really.” Kirasiel blanched slightly at that realization, then a little more when Ahsch drove the point home.