username ;; iBrevity
kalon's name ;; Zaylee
kalon's gender ;; female
her dream ;;Zaylee is soft and pale and pretty and constantly underestimated. She's built fine, like a dancer, with thin, slender bones and she has always had a quiet voice prone to going mousy. When she was young she was often overlooked, left behind in throne rooms and narrow servant hallways; and she collected the rumors and secrets and gossip she overheard with the enthusiasm of any child. She kept them close and wrote them down and used them for leverage when she got in trouble, once with the chef for sneaking in after hours, once with the stable master for much the same crime.
But as Zaylee got older she got smarter too. She could remain unseen for only so long, she realized, as her beauty became more obvious and her suitors intent; so she polished another persona, a helpless one, a docile lady-in-waiting to Rossore's king. Here she was untouchable--and here she tasted power. She fed secrets to her informants, stole secrets from others, and over the years spun a fine, sturdy thread that only her fingers could read.
She did not plan on becoming spymaster, on ruling the kingdoms with the weight of her words alone; but Zaylee had been a lonely child one too many times, and when opportunity came she seized it. She stepped into a position of power that only King Zevi and his council knew about, took the reins of all their far-flung spies, bought a few more here and there where their knowledge laid weak. Zaylee never imagined she would like this sort of power but she does. She holds dozens of lives in her hands and thrills with the importance of it, with what she's doing, with the truths she's telling. She hopes to do this for as long as she can.
[299/300]
her life ;;Zaylee is announced as King Zevi De Rossi's aide and walks into the room with her chin up. The twin heirs are there, bickering over breakfast; Kincaid gestures with a slab of bacon pinned to his fork, and Alaric watches him with his eyebrows drawn together in mute disappointment. Zaylee is only a few years older than the boys and she has known them since they were children; so when she passes behind their chairs she ruffles their hair, earning a laugh from the elder.
She walks into the interior of the throne room, where Zevi sits in the most uncomfortable chair in the castle and looks over bills and budgets. She stops beside him and tucks a lock of hair behind one ear. "I've found the pirates," she says.
Zevi's head goes up in surprise. "Really?"
"They're hiding in Maraka's port," she says. "Would you like me to send someone to keep an eye on them?"
Zevi waves a hand. "Yes, yes. God, thank you. If they would've hit us again..." He doesn't need to finish. The last raid demolished their food stores. "Send someone you trust, Zaylee. If there is anyone."
She smiles thinly. "Of course, my King."
[200/200]
