Archive of Our Own ^beta

There was a second knock at Oralies door, had Sophie and Fitz forgotten something?

She opened the door to find

"Ahh, councillor Alina what can I do for you on this wonderful afternoon." Alina shook her head

"Don't play coy with me Oralie what where you three talking about"

"Alina I'm tired it's been a long day can you please just tell me who you're talking about?" Alina's facial features seemed to soften but an instant later it was gone

"I'm talking about you letting the Vacker boy and the moonlark into your castle, do you not realize what a breach of security protocol that is?" Oralie laughed

"Are we not the people's rulers? If so why would we shut our selves out to them. Shouldn't we listen instead?"

"Always the mercy vote." Alina said rolling her eyes, it dredged up a horrible memory Oralie thought she had hidden from that night of Terik teasing Kenric

"Kenric's always chooses mercy whenever we vote-" Oralie shut the thought down before it could finish. When she came back to the presence it was to Alina snapping her fingers in front of Oralies face her face was a mixture of annoyance and concern

“Are you okay?” Alina asked her, her eyebrow raised. Oralie nodded her head

“Ye-ye,” she took a deep breath before being able to say “Yes.” Alina's emotions shifted from annoyance to concern as she took Oralie's arm and guided her inside to sit on the couch, then went into the kitchen she told her

“I don't believe you on either of those things, not that you're fine, and that you three weren't plotting something.”

“What do you mean? What are you doing” Oralie asked as she got up from the couch using the coffee table, or at least tried to because at that moment Alina came back into the room and immediately told her

“You shouldn't get up from the couch, you look deathly pale like a ghoul.” Oralie's mind still hooked on Kenric from earlier flashed back to when she found out the news, she tried her best to snap herself out of it but she had caught it to late. It was like she was a spectator in her own body having to hear those horrible words over and over

“Kenric-he's dead Oralie, we're so sorry.”

“he's dead Oralie, we're so sorry.”

“he's dead Oralie.”

“he's dead.”

dead.

Before the memory could loop for what felt like the hundredth time she felt somebody shaking her she tried so hard but she couldn't respond until she heard

“Oralie if you can hear me, just give me a sign anything!” She heard the desperation in his voice and it gave her enough clarity to be able to say

“B-Bronte? Is that you?” She felt him hug her, and she somehow found the strength to hug him back

“You worried me so much.”

“What happened?” She asked, still not being able to open her eyes but at least having some more awareness about her body and surroundings.

“You almost fainted opening the door and then when we were talking on that couch you did faint, and that's when I hailed Bronte and the others.” The voice sounded familiar but it took a minute for her brain to register

“Alina?” and with that she was finally able to open her eyes and look up from Bronte's shoulder. “That is a lot of faces.” she said slowly, all of the other councilors were standing in the room all with varying levels of worry, and it was at that moment the rest of her senses decided to come back sharpened. She squeezed her eyes shut and buried her face back into Bronte's shoulder, the other's emotions coming over her like the waters call is overwhelming for hydrokinetics. She heard Bronte telling her to just keep breathing and felt the others worry increasing, which did not help the situation. She took a breath and was able to tell Bronte quietly

“My ability.” She heard him curse but she was to focused on trying not to faint for a second time. She knew what would await her. The fire, the destruction, his death. Slowly the wave of emotions passed and she was able to open her eyes again.

“Where are the others?” she asked

“They're in the kitchen we didn't want to overwhelm you a second time,” he grabbed her hand “Oralie you really had me worried what was that? What happened?” She shook her head

“It was nothing Bronte, you don't have to worry I'm fine.” she tried to tell him

“No you're not Oralie, if you were fine you wouldn't have almost fainted twice, and actually faint once. That doesn't happen when everything is fine. Did miss Foster and Mr. Vacker do something?” She looked over and saw Alina leaning against the door frame with a raised eyebrow.

“Why were Fitz and Sophie here?” Bronte asked, Oralie took a deep breath knowing there was no way of getting out of here without telling them what happened

“That's what I was trying to figure out.” She heard Alina say

“It was nothing bad.” she assured them.

“Then you should be able to tell us.” Alina said, Oralie knew she was right and that she had a logical point but she still wanted to throw one of the very sparkly and pink throw pillows at her that were on the couch. They are called throw pillows after all.

“Something happened with the blackswan and they want an interview with Gethen to see if he knows anything.” That would work, short and concise, and everyone seemed content to accept that answer, and forgot about the fainting, even though she knew Bronte would want the whole story later, but she really should've thrown the throw pillow because Alina helpfully reminded everyone

“What about the fainting? If they didn't cause it what or who did.” Her frustration must've shown on her face, or maybe they'd just known each other and work together for so long

“We don't mean to pry, we just want you to be okay Oralie.” Emery told her “Please let us help.” She looked around and saw the faces of all her coworkers even more worried than before

“I don't want pity.” She tells them and Emery crosses the room

“And you're not getting it, we care about you Oralie, I mean sure you've committed some minor treason but everyone does that at one point or another.”

“I'm an empath I think I know when I'm feeling pity.” Oralie tells him, but he just shakes his head and holds out his hand,

“I don't think you're readings are very accurate right now, I mean you're senses just got overwhelmed you have to admit that might mess with what you're sensing right?” Oralie hates that he's right, but she takes his hand expecting to be proven right but she doesn't feel pity she feels worry, concern, and care. And with that she can sense it from all of the others in the room, even Alina who hasn't known her that long. “So will you please let us help and just tell us what's troubling you? We can figure out Gethen later, but please let us in Ora and let us help.” Emery asks, and she takes in the others faces some she's known since she was a prodigy some she met on the council, some she would trust with her darkest secrets and worst fears, some she mostly only talks to inside of work, but they all have the same look on their face. So she nods and tells them

“It was Kenric, and that night-” her voice breaks and her mind tries to take her back to the memory but the others understand what she's trying to say, and Bronte hugs her and then Emery and he tells her

“It'll be ok Oralie, we'll get through this together, you can always lean on us.” and that keeps her tethered to the moment, as the other councilors join in the hug. They could've been there for minutes, or hours, but it didn't matter because Oralie was home with her family.