[CW27] Rising Tide

Rising Tide

Rain falling against the large windows baths the hall in an eerie cold, echos of droplets hitting the glass reverberate through the room. The sun has already set, there is nothing to see outside, everything is shrouded in darkness.
Annabel is standing by one of these windows, staring out into the unknown. She knows what is behind this wall — it is the forest she grew up in, the hills she climbed when she was little, the paths she used to explore with her mother. Regardless looking out, into the dark veil surrounding her family home, she feels scarily comfortable not knowing the path ahead.
A sense of guilt arises from the duty she feels towards her estate, to weight all the risks, and to not jeopardize what those before her have built.
While she is lost in thought, just a meter to the side at the small table where he always drinks his tea, her grandfather finishes his cup and sets it down before finally addressing his concerns.
“My dear, are you still troubled about today’s meeting?”, he asks out of formality, knowing the answer.
Without loosening her gaze out the window, his granddaughter seeks to comfort him: “For the sake of our family, worrying at a time like this what I should be doing, don’t you agree?”
The man lets out a sigh, and from the corner of her eye Annabel sees him frown. He pours himself another cup of tea, taking his time to reply: “Then why did you choose to support her cause?”
“None of her words were dishonest, the facts she presented were evident, the risk for us is low, and the potential gains are high. It would have been reckless not to”.
“And yet you worry”, he takes a sip.
His granddaughter finally steps away from the window, and addresses him directly: “It is my duty to worry—”.
“Is it?”, the man chuckles. “I thought your duty was to lead our family”.
Now Annabel frowns: “And this is different how?”. She crosses her arms and pouts, foregoing the facade of fanciful etiquette: “Mom told you to help me with these things, but you haven’t given me one clear answer ever since we gotten home”.
But the man takes just another sip of his tea, proving her complaint.
Her childish resistance is slowly replaced with adult desperation: “She’s intimidating. Whenever I look into her eyes I can see five more schemes forming that I would have no hope to understand. I bet bringing her girlfriend was also just a ploy so we would let our guard down”.
“I don’t remember my granddaughter be this pessimistic”.
“Their city isn’t like ours, neither is their company. People slit each others throats over promotions, and I can only imagine how many bodies she has stepped over in her career. The age of her eyes doesn’t match her appearance”.
The rain outside grows stronger, the previous echo of droplets turn from a whisper into the foreground. Frustrated Annabel turns away, gazing back into the night again.
They remain in silence, while her grandfather finishes his second cup of tea, his last since he always drinks two in the evening. When he finally puts down his cup a final time, and the rain has grown weaker, he raises from his chair. “If we want to achieve things, we have to take risks. But you have to trust yourself and your judgment, only if you put your heart into relationships you can gain from them”.
He takes a few steps towards Annabel, who remains fixated on the window in front of her. “I am sure before she passed, your mother would have wanted to teach you many more things, diplomacy and trade, confidence and bravado. Unfortunately you are the youngest heir our house has ever seen”.
The man stands next to her, looking out into the same scene of a forest blanketed in darkness. He lets out another sigh: “But regardless, she could have given the house back to me, but she didn’t. And I agree with her”.
Now Annabels face softens, but frustration is just replaced with anxiety: “And what if I’m wrong? If I’m missing something, risking our wealth or our families standing in the company, risking my neck for a stranger with nothing to show for it?”
Her grandfather puts his hand on her shoulder, first she is startled, then mildly reassured. The man shares a timid smile: “You have things you want to achieve. You could play it save, not risk anything, and not gain anything. But that is not what youth is for, is it? The company… really the world is about to change, I can feel it in my bones. And it is up to people like you to step up and sit at the table when the time comes. She has already realized it, or maybe she is even the one causing it, and she has invited you to participate — and you answered the call”.
He steps away, heading towards his bed chamber. But on his way out the room he addresses his granddaughter one more time: “Your house is not a weight that you have to carry, it is the family that protects you. You can go out there and seize opportunity and take risk. Don’t be burdened by us, lead us”.
Before she can digest his words he is already through the door, deliberately avoiding any opposition.
While his words have a hard time reaching her, the warmth of them Annabel recognizes.
The rain outside is quieting down. A dense fog is gathering at the ground, enveloping the trunks of trees and covering the grass and paths beneath. But the sky is clearing up, stars in the sky are finally shining through the force field above the inner city, their light making their way through the large window. In the distance Annabel spots a small hill, a river flowing down. Farther out, in the distance illuminated by the full moon the large wall towering over the trees and enveloping her families estate all around.
She knows she is lucky to grow up in a family as loving and as rich, with the privilege to play in a forest reminiscent of the old world that not even the most affluent in many other companies are afforded. But regardless it always felt like a prison, the sky and the horizon were always obscured by the structures build to preserve the current world order. She wants to change, she wants the city to change — is it desperation? Clinging to a lunatic that seeks to overthrow the very world order her family has benefited from for generations? Even if so, she has decided to chase this fairy, so she wants to follow her elders advice and put the worries to rest — for now. Either she succeeds and sees a better world, or she will have not only been the youngest, but also the last heir of the Dahlia household; Nothing can be gained otherwise.

[CW27] Rising Tide