Chapter 2007: The Man Without Guile

Ollie kept his promise.

Once Jocelynn finished a breakfast that felt far too large to have fit in her stomach, he drew a warm bath for her before leaving Ashlynn’s chambers and returning to his own in order to prepare for the day ahead.

For several minutes after he left, Jocelynn stared at the steaming hot water in the bath and tried to process everything that had happened this morning.

Not everything that had happened since she read Ashlynn’s letters last night.

Everything that had happened this morning.

For the first time in months, she’d let her walls down completely in a way she hadn’t even been able to with Eleanor.

Ollie had no guile. He had no hidden agenda. He’d come to her intending to help, and he’d done exactly that. And he’d asked for absolutely nothing in return.

For a moment, she wondered if that was because he didn’t need anything from her, and he never would. The instant the thought crossed her mind, however, she cast it aside. It was true that he was a witch in the coven of the Evergreen Empress. While his current title might be as humble as Warden or Gardener of the Village of Refuge, it had been made abundantly clear among the new and rising aristocracy of the Bloodroot Empire that Ashlynn’s coven and Nyrielle’s progeny commanded authority far greater than their secular titles.

Lesser men in Ollie’s position would still attempt to curry favor with the sister of the Evergreen Empress. Trained aristocrats would do it as easily and with as much thought as breathing.

A favor now in return for a kind word in her sister’s ear later was a currency more common among the nobility than silver pennies or gold sovereigns, or whatever she ultimately chose as a name for the Empire’s currency. Leaves and feathers, perhaps, though she hated making one a lesser currency than the other, and she’d made no progress on better ideas.

But Ollie didn’t think in terms of favors owed and debts to be collected. He didn’t think about his prestige or position, and he didn’t pay much attention to hers either.

He came to help, and that started by cooking her a hearty breakfast first thing in the morning, served hot and fresh from a hearth not five paces away from her.

And then he drew her a hot bath and bowed his way out.

"Did Ash know he was like this when she pulled him out of the kitchens in the Summer Villa?" Jocelynn mused as she slipped out of the robe and nightdress. "Or did she only recognize it afterwards?"

Ashlynn had told her that she spent several days in the Villa before Owain arrived there with Samira. During that time, she’d worked side by side with Ollie in the Villa’s kitchens, so she must have seen something in that time to make her trust the kitchen boy enough to bring him along with her.

"How is it that you’re so good at reading people, Ash?" Jocelynn said as she slipped into the deep copper soaking tub, sinking all the way to her chest while her long, slender legs still didn’t reach the opposite end of the tub.

Her sister had understood Owain far better than anyone else. She’d known that there was no love to be found in a relationship with him. Now, the people who Ashlynn surrounded herself with were each remarkable in their own ways, but to Jocelynn, Ollie was the most impressive of them all.

Ollie had been fierce and brave the night they’d met. He’d charged into the Great Hall covered in blood, fresh from a duel with Sir Franc, and he’d put himself between her and Owain like an immovable fortress wall.

If he’d done nothing else, that alone would have been enough to set a younger Jocelynn’s heart aflutter. But in the days since then, he’d come to be a steady, reassuring presence, even when there were no enemies in sight, and the greatest dangers she faced were the nightmares lurking in her own heart.

"Is it his witchcraft?" Jocelynn wondered.

The Cypress Witch was supposed to be a guardian, and Ollie was certainly that. She always felt safe in his presence. But did he really need witchcraft to make her feel that way?

Suddenly, she paused, stopping mid-motion with her hand hovering just above a bar of lavender-scented soap.

"Is that why I slept so well last night?" Jocelynn wondered. "Is it because his chambers are just down the hall?"

The notion that Ollie might have protected her sleep produced a complex wave of feelings in her heart. Part of her was deeply touched and maybe even charmed by the idea.

Another part of her, a part that had grown up her whole life in the Kingdom of Gaal and the shadow of the Church of the Holy Lord of Light, felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up while alarm bells rang in the back of her mind.

"Is it Ollie who makes me feel safe?" Jocelynn wondered. "Or is it his power doing the work?"

She didn’t know. Maybe it was impossible to separate the two in any meaningful way.

"How much does the witch shape their power, and how much does their power shape them?" Jocelynn wondered as she started moving again, gently washing herself as she thought about the things Ollie had said over breakfast.

"Everyone changed after becoming a witch," she said, furrowing her brow in thought. "But, from what Ashlynn wrote about Heila in her letter, the changes Ollie noticed are changes that Heila wanted. She hated being helpless when they were attacked in the High Pass, and she wanted to fight at Ashlynn’s side... The Willow Seed gave her a way to do that..."

"And Ollie always wanted to be a knight," Jocelynn said as she sank deeper in the tub, all the way to the tip of her chin. "The Cypress Seed just helped him to be a better one."

"So what is it that I want from the Olive Seed?" Jocelynn asked herself.

Nyrielle had talked about gaining the power to protect herself from men like Percivus and Owain, and she wanted that. She couldn’t ever fall into a position like that again, and even if she had the greatest knight in the world at her side, Sir Ollie couldn’t protect her from everything. Besides, he was Ashlynn’s knight, not hers... She would have to rely on herself.

But what kind of power did she really want? Did she want to be like Ashlynn, fighting in a suit of armor with a sword in hand? She struggled to see herself doing that, and she didn’t think she had to. Ollie and Virve were the warriors of Ashlynn’s coven. Heila could fight, but she was also a healer, and Isabell... Isabell had her own methods that were very different from fighting with swords and armor.

"I don’t even know what’s possible," Jocelynn said with a sigh before she slipped completely underwater, letting the warmth of the soapy water envelop her while her mind drifted through the possibilities.

The things she’d seen during the Southern Steppe’s confrontation with the Aleese flickered through her mind as she let herself float in the warm water. The Southern Steppe followed the sacred constellations...

Warriors, hunters, watchmen, scholars and musicians... And from what Aspakos had demonstrated when he sounded the Trumpet of Dawn, even the musicians could possess unique powers to protect themselves and fight for their causes.

She came up for air long before her mind arrived at any kind of conclusion, but that was fine. At least now, she had a direction.

"I need to talk to Aspakos," she concluded. "He showed the greatest variety of powers that night, and Ash says he’s one of the most powerful sorcerers in the Eldritch world. I’m sure Ash knows more about witches, but since she’s busy preparing the seed, he’s probably the next best person to talk to."

Before that, however, Ollie said he’d be waiting for her in the courtyard below. There were other things that Jocelynn would need to prepare for the trial ahead, and he’d promised to be her guide. And, if she was honest with herself, she was looking forward to spending more of her day in the company of the handsome young knight.

Whether it was his own nature or the effect of his power, she felt comfortable and at ease when she was with him, and at the moment, she needed that comfort more than anything.