Chapter Text
Rosemary worked in the barn every morning before the sun rose. She along with her brother’s family and widowed father took care of the livestock. She was the youngest daughter, her mother passing in childbirth. Her brother married and had two children with a wonderful woman, Cathrine, who cared for Rosemary as if she were her own sister. Their patchwork family supported each other with love and hard work to provide not only for their own family but for the castle. The highest honor.
The castle needed much in terms of food, many cows for their fresh milk, numerous chickens for eggs and meat, and sheep for their wool.
They lived by the royal stable where Rosemary would have to pass by the training yard every morning as the sun broke over the horizon. And in the early morning light she would be able to watch her favorite guard, Bebin. He worked himself twice as hard to keep up with the excellence that was King Bosse’s army. And she couldn’t help but admire his fighting spirit.
She broke the ice one day by bringing a hard-boiled egg. So began the little interactions traded between each other. Day-by-day affections blossomed. A cup of water drawn fresh from the well after a hard work out. A whisper to a snake who can find the lost lamb who had wandered too far. Bebin and Rosemary would use their brief early mornings to engage in small talk of idle things. Both presuming much of the other still with the words not yet spoken aloud.
Yet together they sit side-by-side their pinkie fingers shyly overlapping. The desire to pursue one another shared between them and yet neither having the courage to be the first to act.
***
“Papa! I’m done!” Rosemary hollered, she was filled with energy, pushing through her chores in record time. She rushed home, shaking the hay out of her black hair, to change out of her work dress.
“Take care.” A weary voice answered after her. Her father lifting a hand up in a small wave and a smile as he watched her scurry home.
Today was the day she was going to give him the gift she has been working on for weeks with the assistance of her sister-in-law. A hand towel with little embroidered snakes at the corners. She had noticed that the towel he used after training had become tattered at the ends.
***
“Oh…yes, the snakes let me know already.“ Bebin tried to explain. Rosemary’s face burned red out of embarrassment and frustration. She had presented Bebin the towel after he had finished his work out. Instead of a delighted expression of surprise, Bebin wore one of obliviousness. Nodding his thanks as he took it and wiped beads of sweat from his forehead.
“But- but I wanted to tell you. Fr-from me!” Rosemary stammered, her stomach twisting up in knots. Feet frozen to the ground but her legs screaming to run away from the source of embarrassment.
“What difference would it make?” He asked incredulously, brows furrowed in confusion.
“I- what difference would it make?” She repeated back in shock. The wind knocked out of her sails. Dejectedly she cast her eyes on the ground. “If that is how you believe it to be, it seems you would much rather be alone in the matter.”
The finality of her words hit his gut in a way he hasn’t experienced before. Bebin reached out to stop her as she turned away to leave but closed his hand instead to let her go. Unsure what exactly hurt her but understanding it was something he said.
***
“H-how could I have been so stupid.” Rosemary muttered to herself as she swiped the tears away with her sleeve furiously but they kept falling from her eyes. She sat under a tree in the forest, knees hugged to her chest. “Of course he already knew…what I fool I made of myself.”