Genealogy of a Flower

[TreeFolk]

The Bellamy name was very old indeed, having been established when the provinces were first created. Apparently her family had been known for their generosity of spirit, and the subjects of their territory were described as being healthy and full bodied. The men of the Bellamy line were just and fair, and made fierce fighters and loyal friends. Their family name was rather literal, referring to their fair complexions and what fine friends they made.

When he told her he did not know, she was not perturbed in the least. She was so full of optimism and hope for the future. She now knew where to begin looking for her family! It might take her weeks to save up enough coin to travel there, but it didn't bother her. She would spend the time learning as much as possible about her family so that when she met them she could fit right in! Plus, it would give her more time to spend with the young lord who was helping her so much. Her life was looking so much brighter, even with the task she still had yet to complete looming over her head.

The task to deal with the changeling. She had been given a years time to complete the task of tracking down the changeling and forcing it to return to the Otherworld. If she didn't, well, she had been told there would be dire consequences. Tansy didn't want to figure out what that meant. But! She still had five more months left to figure all of it out, which seemed like plenty of time at the moment.

She caught him looking at her when she had finally finished flipping through the sparse pages, blushing and looking at her lap. Glancing up from beneath her thick eyelashes, she felt flustered by his attention and asked the first thing that came to mind "W-What of your family, m'lord?""

[Zero]

It really wasn't a conscious effort to allow his eyes to keep being drawn back to study Tansy's face, but Keiran found himself gazing at the young woman beside him almost as much as he was the book before them. Those pages of valuable, if sparse, information were what he should have been focusing on, and of course Tansy would look up during one of his mindless examinations of her face.

Caught in the act, though why it should feel as if he had done something wrong was beyond his reasoning, Keiran cleared his throat and turned his attention back to the book. His rude behavior had obviously flustered his companion. That did not keep his eyes from being brought almost immediately back to her as she stuttered out a question that seemed rather frantically drawn up in how off-topic it was. They were there to discover and discuss her family after all, not his.

"My family?" Keiran blinked, nearly squirming at the way that Tansy looked at him, peeking from beneath those thick lashes. "House Fairhall is older than Serendipity. We trace our lineage all the way back to the elves that shared our name and lands. The kingdom swallowed our territory and humans first mixed with our elven ancestors, then dominated the bloodlines. Much the same happened to create many of the oldest houses of Serendipity. Our hold is in southern Ravensway, on the border of Adela."

Whatever strange discomfort Keiran had felt passed as he spoke of his own family - one he was quite proud of belonging to. "Our ancestral home is called Hall of the Wild Rose. The oldest parts of the manor and stables are living things, as both were grown by the elves many hundreds of years ago out of living trees, magically shaped as they grew into the dwelling we still occupy. Of course my human ancestors added to the estate, but were unable to recreate the living building techniques of our elf kin. Our property is also host to thousands of wild roses, hence the name. It is a very beautiful place, steeped in history and magic."

None of that was probably what Tansy had really meant, but Keiran hadn't known just what to say. He assumed she would ask more specific questions if there was more she wanted to know. At least he hoped the timid little maid would feel comfortable enough to ask.

Although there was one other thing that struck him.

"Keiran," Then for clarity he added with a gentle smile, "You may call me by my name, Miss Tansy. If you can manage it you do not have to curtsy to me either."

[TreeFolk]

Tansy sat still, fascinated by the picture he was painting of his home. It sounded like one of the homes from the tales she read in the Otherworld, and looking closely at Keiran made her realize just how perfectly he would fit into one of those tales. He was just as noble as any of the heroes, princes, and nobles of old, handsome, and chivalrous! In the few months she had walked amongst humans, she had been certain that the authors of those tales weren't taking character traits from real people, but now she thought that they must just be very rare. How lucky she was to have met a real life storybook man!

It was very evident to her that he loved his home and his family, and it warmed her heart to hear the pride in his voice. Perhaps one day she, too, could speak that way about family and home. The sketch of her family's estate was rudimentary, but her imagination could fill in the gaps. She imagined the gardens coming to life under the fingertips of her mother, and her father caring for the animals. There would be an orchard full of Serendipity's sweetest peaches, and berry bushes so lush that the birds grew fat and lazy off of them. Not that the Otherworld was ugly... It was much more beautiful than the human realm, but in a cold and dangerous way. She respected the beauty of the Otherworld, but the beauty of this realm was comforting and filled her with curiosity.

"It sounds so lovely, I should so love to see a place as wonderful as that someday. Do you return often? Do you have siblings? What about your parents? They must be very proud of you." His life sounded like a dream, and she loved hearing about it. It filled her with hope for her own future, thinking about how she might find that level of belonging, too, if she was good enough.

When he suggested she call him by his first name, without title or honorifics of any kind, she internally balked. Never in her life had she addressed her betters by their first names... If she had ever done so, she would have been punished quite badly. She twisted the hem of her skirt in her fingers, looking down into her lap. Biting her lip, she looked up at him and asked quietly. "Should I not address you as Lord Fairhall? I am just a maid, and it would be terribly disrespectful of me to address you by your given name..."

[Zero]

Ah yes, the tales of old. Keiran had been raised on such tales, and in the lands of Fairhall he had been held to rather high expectations. Too many families allowed the old ways to die, gave up too much of the regal heritage of their fae ancestors, but not his family. Some of the other families scoffed at them, claiming they were too full of themselves and far too proud of their old blood. His family ignored those people.

"It is a very lovely place. I try to visit home at least a few times a year. Perhaps you will get to see it someday. I would welcome you to visit my family hall someday." Keiran was almost surprised when she did ask more questions. He had almost thought Tansy might think it rude or simply be too shy to ask. It made him smile warmly that she exceeded his expectations.

"Yes, I suppose my family is quite proud of me." Not as proud as they were of Conrad, but that was really to be expected. As the younger son he had simply resigned himself to always being second best, and for the most part was content to live in the shadow of his brother. "I have one brother, Conrad. He is rather unlike me, though we squabble as much as any siblings might, we do get along for the most part."

Of course he should have known that asking her to call him by his name would make her uneasy. He had known it would. That didn't stop him from asking it. Keiran sighed patiently at her, looking down at her gently. "Who says that it would be terribly disrespectful? You have my permission to call me Keiran, should you choose to do so. I am uninterested in the opinions of those that would scold you for it. In fact, should anyone do so feel free to tell them that I said you could call me Keiran as much as you like and if they do not like it they can take it up with me."

Oh he was sure there would be plenty that grumbled about him allowing a maid to speak to him so familiarly, but he truly did not care. Tansy being a maid meant very little to him. She was still a sweet girl whose company he found enjoyable. If he wished for her to call him by his name then it was his business (and hers), not theirs.

"There is also the issue that while you claim that you are just a maid, you really are not. No matter how many years you lived in this Otherworld as a servant, in this world you are of noble blood. Knowing now that you are by rights a Marchioness regardless of whether you currently hold your titles in a legal sense, I feel that it is only right that I should offer to allow you certain privileges when in my company." Keiran smiled and turned his eyes back to the remaining books. "Besides, it seems odd to have my friends addressing me as Lord Fairhall."

[TreeFolk]

Curiosity got the best of Tansy, and made her overly talkative. When something peaked her curiosity, it was difficult for her to hold back all of the questions she wanted to ask. It was a trait that had gotten her into trouble on several different occasions in the past, and when she realized how talkative she had become she pressed the tips of her fingers against her lips, surprised with herself.

Her fears were alleviated as Keiran appeared to not mind, answering her questions in kind without chastising her. If anything, he chastised her for feeling uncomfortable with addressing him with such familiarity... Not only had she asked him a slew of personal questions, but she had challenged a request he had made of her!

About to apologize for being so forward, the words stopped in her mouth when he referred to her as a friend. Her light sea-foam green eyes widened in shock, openly staring at him for a moment before staring down into her lap. A flurry of emotions flew through her, mind racing at all of the implications of a friendship. She had never had anyone call her a friend! Certainly she cultivated friendships with animals, but they could hardly reciprocate. The word, the concept, was foreign territory.

Tansy's heart clenched and her cheeks grew warm, feeling a happiness unmatched to any other she had felt previously. A friend! A friend! Internally she felt positively gleeful, and would have danced around if it had been appropriate. Brimming with happiness, Tansy smiled as she trained her eyes on her lap.

Coupled with the happiness, though, was anxiety. What if he didn't mean it? How could a lord want to be her friend? What if he decided he did not want to be her friend? How did friends act, anyways? Not knowing the first thing about friendship brought about an equally powerful emotion. Not wanting to do anything to make him regret his decision to call her his friend, she responded with control, though she could not entirely mask the happiness in her voice. "I have never had a friend Lord..." She bit her lip, "Keiran." She said his name quietly in a rush, her voice hitching a bit. It would take her some time to grow accustomed to addressing him so familiarly. "I am honored." She glanced up at him briefly, unable to keep the genuine emotion of appreciation and happiness from her face.

Tansy did not wish to make him feel uncomfortable, so she averted her gaze and pulled another book towards her. It was small with no writing across the binding. Opening the first page, she read the fading letters House Bellamy Fae Bloodlines & Magical Manifestations. She felt herself pulled into the first page:

The primary bloodline of House Bellamy is descended from Nature Devas, though they merged with sprites to gain their physical manifestation. As such, they eventually began to bond with the humans of southern Moonspear. The name Bellamy was given to the fairest and most prolific magic user, the maiden Elitha, upon the creation of the provinces, though the bloodline existed well before its namesake. The most prominent magic remaining throughout the generations relates to an affinity with light work and nature.

More domestic abilities began to manifest in later generations and dilute the bloodline. Our research leads us to believe this change came through Aurelie Bellamy, daughter of Marquis Acton and Marchioness Lucrece, and not through a marriage. We suspect the Bellamy girl was traded for a...

Half the page was missing after this sentence, along with several other pages. Frowning, she continued reading through the book. Turning through the rest of the book, she read in--depth descriptions of the various magical manifestations in the line, though when it came to her name she read:

Aurelie Bellamy: Invisibility (or near-invisibility) at the age of two. Small light work and nature affinity at age three. Age four talents dramatically shift to much smaller agriculture based gifts, no longer capable of invisibility or light work. Weakest magic user in generations, though extended youth and life duration appeared to be present.

Some of the gifts of her family were quite impressive! She wondered if her own gifts would have also weakened the line if she had not been replaced. All she seemed good at was blinking in and out of visibility, a few things with plants (though she did not associate it with her own magic, and assumed it was from the Erdluitle wand)... The light magic she had apparently displayed as a babe, though, did not seem apparent at all.

Eager to share, but not wanting to disturb Keiran, she gently placed it beside his pile of to-read books. She left the book open to the spot where the missing pages began, hoping for his insight on the matter.

[Zero]

One could argue that they hardly knew each other. It had been less than a full day since their first meeting and while hours had passed in each other's company, those hours had been largely filled with silence as each did their own reading. Some might say that calling them friends was an absurd notion given their brief acquaintance and very different stations in life.

Even Keiran had to admit it had been a very casually offered friendship. The young lord hadn't even thought about calling Tansy a friend. For whatever reason the words had simply poured out of him. Perhaps he had sensed that the sweet maid needed a friend given her situation.

"Never?" Blue eyes widened at such a revelation. Of course he knew that Tansy had been a captive slave for most of her unnaturally extended life in the Otherworld, but he had thought that someone would have at least been a friend to her. Such knowledge only reinforced the feelings in him to extend his friendship to the poor young woman. Keiran couldn't imagine his life without having a single friend. From the moment he was born he'd at least had his brother Conrad to call friend. "Well then I am honored to be your first friend, Miss Tansy."

It made him feel good to see such happiness on the young maid's face. Knowing that he was the cause of such happiness felt even better. She was a sweet girl and deserved some kindness and happiness after so much else.

Keiran smiled to himself as Tansy redirected her attention to another book. That was why they were there in the library together - for her to be able to study those books and learn more about her lineage. He'd been selfish, distracting her attention away from her goals, but couldn't bring himself to feel sorry for it. They had both gained a friend today, and that was worth a small delay - surely.

Turning back to his studies, the young lord forced himself to refocus for a while. It was impolite for him to stare at her, no matter how interesting it was to watch the changing emotions filter across her very open face.

Not sure how much time had passed, Keiran looked up from his notes when Tansy placed a book next to him. Immediately intrigued by what she had found, he put aside his own work to begin reading with great interest. That several pages were missing was both frustrating and fascinating. Surely the Royal Library would not have allowed one of it's record books be damaged lightly. Someone had ripped these pages deliberately from the binding. Perhaps someone with something to hide?

"Each new thing we find only strengthens your story. You must truly be Aurelie Bellamy, and with such mounting evidence I do not see how any could refute your claim. This is fantastic for establishing your identity, but it does not bring us any closer to your living descendants." Keiran sighed softly. "I hope we can find them, I truly do."

[TreeFolk]

Among the fae Tansy had been bullied and none had granted her friendship, and kind words were infrequent and debatable in their niceness. Tansy interpreted the smallest of actions as kindness, even if they were not motivated by kindness. She had been bullied by the fae for not being as magical as they were, and she had been ignored by other human servants who knew it meant punishment to stray from their duties to interact with one another.

Even if Keiran had called them friends rather flippantly, it still meant a great deal to her. Even if this friendship was fleeting and short lived, at least she could tell others that she had been friends with someone.

Eager for his approval, she blushed when he told her that he thought her story believable and that this mounting evidence was strengthening her plight. That he cared whether or not she could find her family also warmed her heart. It had still not crossed her mind that she might not find the descendants of her family, as she was so filled with optimistic hope. She could have a family and a friend!

The thought of having friends had not even crossed her mind. Her expectations for her life were generally as low as her self-value, never expecting herself to be worthy of any great happiness. Simple pleasures were enough... A warm, dry place to sleep. The sun shining on an open field. The smell of these old books. She had never expected to have such a caring and impressive friend! The young lord was intelligent, kind, so very handsome, among many, many other things.

Reaching over to the book timidly, she accidentally brushed her hand against his. Withdrawing it a moment, a bright blush coloring her fair skin, she apologized. "Apologies, m'lord... Lord... Keiran." Again she reached to turn the pages, this time being careful to avoid rudely touching him. She opened to a chapter she had read a bit about the family estate. Her delicate fingers brushed lightly across a few sentences to highlight them for his inspection. "It says my..." She paused to work out the relationship, "great grandfather constructed a bridge that crosses a river into Jadenshine." Not wanting to seem like she thought much of her intelligence, she suggested tentatively, "Perhaps... Could it possibly mean that my family lives in southwestern Moonspear?"

[Zero]

Keiran was slightly startled by the young maid's reaction to accidentally brushing against his hand as she reached for the book they was currently the center of their focus. Although perhaps it shouldn't have been surprising given the other behaviors he had observed coming from the poor girl. It tugged at his heart a little even so, to think Tansy felt so uncomfortable by such a small little accidental and completely innocent contact with him.

The young lord was conflicted as he followed the guiding of her fingers across the page. He wanted to reassure her that he was not offended by the touching, but also felt it would be rude to ignore the topic at hand.

Sighing softly he settled for nodding his head pensively. "It would suggest it quite highly. southwestern Moonspear seems the most likely location for a fruitful search."

Finding the estate should be simple enough. The exact location should be recorded, but since he didn't know of any House Bellamy, it bore to reason that somewhere along the line that the original family name and bloodline had died out and married off into other houses. There would be records of all marriages and births. It was simply a matter of tracking down those official documents.

"I suggest that we make that region our primary point of focus. If your family is to be found, then that is truly the place to count on." It was something.

[TreeFolk]

Tansy listened to him, eyes wide and attentive. Lord Keiran was generous, kind, and smart! She wanted to be able to tell him how grateful she was for his help again, but was afraid that he would find it bothersome.

Suddenly realizing that she had been distracting him from his studies for quite some time, a new blush or embarrassment flushed her features. Subconsciously tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, she looked down into her lap. She felt selfish. "I... What should I do next? Perhaps visit the region? Or might I look into more books and records?" She pushed her hands into her lap as a stream of words flooded from her mouth, "My apologies... I've kept you from your own studies, I'm certain you have better ways to spend your time. I just..." She bit the inside of her cheek, "I know it is so very selfish of me, but I'm uncertain of what to do next... I know I don't deserve your advice..."

~~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
((OC: Hey, it's been a while! I hope everything is ok!))

[Zero]

Keiran raised his elegant, dark brows in surprise, then drew them down as his lips twisted into a soft frown. "What could possibly make you think that you do not deserve my advice?" He moved to gently take her hands, pulling them from her lap and holding them gently as he looked down at her with a kindly expression. "Miss Tansy, you are deserving of that and far more."

There was nothing about him that wasn't genuine. He truly believed his own words.

"My advice is that we continue our research until you feel truly prepared to go find what has become of your family. When you are reunited and restored to your proper place, things will become much different for you, Miss Tansy. I know that your life has not been an easy one, and it might be overwhelming to think of it, but you are a true born lady of high birth. My time could never be better spent than in helping you, because we are friends now, remember?" Keiran released her hands and smiled sheepishly as he leaned back a little.

"Forgive me, Miss Tansy." He had probably gotten just a little carried away.