Sequoia narrowed her eyes. "Will you be staying in the same wing as me?" It was a decent question. You couldn't pretend to be in some kind of love if you didn't see each other often. Different floors would be a clear separation between them.
Aniña sighed and nodded, “My room is right next door so poeple won’t ask questions.” She ran a hand through her hair and adjusted her dress with a frown, starting to head to her room so she could change into something she prefered.
Sequoia let her go scurrying into her room. Everything was good enough, though she could've used some better furnishings. This wood wasn't quite the midnight colored ebony she was used to, but it did a great deal to lighten the room. And her books were here, all set up on a dresser. She grabbed one of her favorite books in the ancient tongue and began reading it.
Aniña changed into some breathable lack pants and navy blue shirts, the hems lines with gold. She slung her bow over her back and grabbed a quiver with arrows and headed out of the manor to the shooting range to relax. She didn’t mind the slight breeze the ruffled her hair as she shot and found it quite calming. She tried not to think about Sequoia sitting up in her room a few meters away from her.
Sequoia flipped through a few more pages before giving up on her reading. She dogeared the page with a tender smile, setting the book down onto the chair. She had too much energy to read. She paced back and forth in the room until that got too monotonous. Maybe she could explore? Figure out if there were any horses here? She adored horses, and riding one would be the perfect way to jet energy. She wandered outside, hoping the stables were stocked.
Aniña shot another arrow, hitting the bullseyes easily. She flicked her hair out of the way and rolled up her sleeves. She lined up for another shot and hit the bullseye once more. Her mind wandered to Sequoia and as a result, missing the target. She mumbled a string of curses in her native tongue.
Sequoia heard a loud 'thwack' followed by several seconds of muffled angry words. Probably Aniña. She didn't want to ask her wife for anything, but she didn't know this house at all. What was the worst that could happen? All Aniña had was a very sharp, dangerous crossbow. No danger here at all. She walked up to the voice with an energetic spring in her step. "Are there any horses in this manor's stable?"
“Hm?” Aniña looked back over her shoulder from the tavern as she pulled it the arrows, and the stray one on the ground with a slightly frown at it, “Yes, there are. Feel free to take one for a ride.” She walked back to her beginning position and shot again,hitting the bullseye once more.
Sequoia watched the arrow plunge into the target with scary accuracy. She wondered how quickly her wife could dispatch a human with that before deciding that definitely wasn't a good thought to entertain and repressed it. "Thank you." She wandered over to the stables, picking out a lovely grey mare. She tacked up her horse, securing straps and padding with ease. She hiked her skirt up to her waist and hopped on, hoping no one would care. Even barbarians had some standard of decency, and she didn't want to breach them.
Aniña watched her wife go before shaking her head and focusing back onto the target, hitting the bullseyes over and over and over. Eventually, her arms were aching and she collected her arrows before heading back to the manor. She was sweaty, not that she minded but figured she should shower before Sequoia came back. Placing her bow and arrows away, she headed to the bathing chamber to clean herself up.
(Heading to bed after this post. Night!)
Sequoia wandered around the beautiful forest that surrounded the manor, urging her horse through shallow streams and over mild hills. After thirty minutes? An hour? She'd never had a good internal clock. After her legs started hurting and the saddle made her butt sore. She cantered the horse home, whooping excitedly when the house was back in sight. She hopped off it with a grin, re-tying the horse into the barn and heading to her rooms. She needed to strip out of this sweaty dress asap.
(Alright, night!)
Aniña was sitting in the library, the rows of books somehow comforting to her. Her hair was damp and clung to fresh shirt. She hadn’t been bothered to dry it and didn’t practically care. Her knees were pulled up to her chest as she curled on the couch in front of the small fire that was crackling in front of her. She sighed and smiled a little at the book.
Sequoia stripped off her dress and wrapped herself in a plush robe. She stumbled into the bathroom and ashed herself off quickly, throwing on a short nightshift. It showed almost half her thigh, but it was soft as hell. She hoped her wife wouldn't mind. She grabbed her old philosophy book off the chair and walked into the living room to read. She lopped down into a fire-warmed chair and reopened to her page, engrossing herself in the ancient words of wisdom. The gods knew she would need them.
After a while, Aniña was alerted that there was food ready, a mix of pastries and dried fruits for her and her wife. She nodded to the maid and headed upstairs to her wife’s room and knocked lightly, “Karrag? There is food downstairs in the dining hall if you wish to have some. Feel free to bring it up to your room if you want.”
"I'll be right down," she called, setting down her book and jogging out into the hall. "And you don't need to call me Karrag." She hoped she wasn't pronouncing the word too terribly. Her stomach gave an impatient ruble, so she began walking down to the dining hall as fast as possible. She hadn't realized how hungry she was.
“Alright then.” Aniña rolled her eyes at the pace the other was walking and hurried to catch up with her, opening the doors to the dining hall for them both. The spreads were set out over the table, pastries and fruits of different kinds as well as some dried meats, “Feel free to take whatever.”
Sequoia scrunched her nose up a bit at the poor fare. She was accustomed to fine meals, at least 5 courses each, made up of the finest delicacies. These were certainly a few marks short from delicacies of any type. She turned on her most placating tone. "I don't mean to offend, but I was informed there was to be a chef."
“There is, the main meal will be later tonight.” Aniña waved her hand idly as she walked over to grab some of the pasteries, popping one in her mouth while she piled up her plate with the other food, “A meal that should be up to your standards.” She said once she’d finished the food in her mouth, frowning at her wife.
Sequoia picked at some dried pears hesitantly. She'd never eaten common food before. It was okay, she supposed. Sweet. Nothing compared to her chef's chocolate ganache, but still decent. Hopefully, this chef would be able to prepare a fine meal as well. "I can only hope so," she said, a wry smile twisting her lips.
Aniña rolled her eyes a little, “You need to stop expecting so much of people. I know what you’re used to but sometimes the plain is better then the fancy. Live a little and experience things outside you’re comfort zone.”
Sequoia shrugged. "I'm not here to live, I'm here to get your kingdom out of a mess. Platitudes are for the weak of mind." She set the fruit back on the table, no longer interested. This place was boring. Perhaps she could sneak off to town and find some fun there. Hopefully, there would be someone attractive enough for her to bed.
"Fine, whatever. I'm going hunting, feel free to join if you want some fun." Aniña said, placing her finished plate back on the table. She braided her hair loosely as she walked past her wife and out the door, heading to go grab her weapons.
(Question, are there like evil magic creatures in this world?)
(Yes, though they're few and far between. In a rural place they wouldn't be hard to find.)
Sequoia wondered if she should. She wasn't very strong, but she was fast and agile. She knew how to plan. Plus, what was the worst that could happen? It would give her something to do in this house besides finding someone to start an affair with. She followed Aniña, tossing her hair over her shoulder. "So, how does one go about hunting?"
(Excellent evil smirk)
Aniña looked over her shoulder at Sequoia and surprise liner her features, "Well, since this is such an isolated place, it won't be hard to find something like a deer or wolf out there. It's all a matter of fact of going out to find them. All you need is a couple weapons and armor if you want it." She shrugged.
Sequoia grinned, grabbing a curved sword from the armory. They were the traditional weaponry of royalty in her and the only type of weapon she could use. Everything else was too heavy, took too much skill, or would put her at risk. She didn't do well in armor, it just weighed her down, made everything stiff and heavy. "I'll just be using this."
Aiaña nodded, "Okay then." She sheathed two words across her back as well as a dagger at her side. She also didn't bother with armor if they were just hunting a few animals and nothing that could harm them. Hopefully nothing would but you never knew what lurked in the forest.
"So, how long are we going to be out?" Sequoia asked. From her experience, limited though it was -whoever said strong women were coming back into fashion had obviously never talked to her parents- she knew that hunting was an all-day affair. She hoped they could find something in the woods and they wouldn't be wasting their time in an empty forest.
Aiaña shrugged, "Depends. If we find anything early on we might be back quickly." She hoped they'd be out long since she loved hunting, but since Sequoia was coming they might be back quickly, "Come on." She led them out to the stables.
Sequoia brushed over to her horse, petting it along its nose and whispering cheesy things into its ear. She turned to her wife to ask "Will we be riding horses?" before continuing to talk to her horse. She was so sweet and good and kind and such a pretty girl. Sequoia had always wanted a pet, and she liked animals, so she was kind of going to adopt this horse.
"We wouldn't be here is we weren't." Aniña replied, walking over to a large jet black male horse. After saddling him up, she fed him an apple and smiled softly as he ate it before she climbed on and waited for Sequoia.