Bound At Heart

A Risk

Ilyana winced and stirred in her sheets and once her mind caught on to reality, her eyes popped open and sat up abruptly, resulting in whiplash. Holding her forehead, she got hold of her bearings and regulated her breathing. She felt as if she had no time to spare. Although she knew Ronan came to save her in her dreams, Archimedes remained a huge threat and she had to face this threat head-on. Time grew short and his armies awaited world destruction. She knew needed to do something, and this something needed to be done alone.

Her shaking quelled, her breathing became thorough. Her expression turned firm and her eyes, too, were full of determination.

And into battle, she went.

She threw off her sheets and got dressed into her battle gear; she placed on a creme, off-shoulder chemise with sleeves that consisted of only a fabric that wrapped around the end of her shoulder, her brown leather pants, strapped on her leather bodice, and pulled on her arm-length fingerless gloves. She buttoned on a sleeveless, multi-flap coat that came with a twin-tail skirt that draped behind her as well as an attached hoodie. It was forest green with a caramel interior when the flaps are exposed. Once she buckled on the coat after securing the buttons, she pulled on her knee-high leather boots and strapped them in place, armoring her shin with an additional shin-guard smithed to fit her calves. She strapped on her gauntlets that were fused with her hidden blades.

She placed half of her hair up in a bun and whatever couldn't fit was tied in a thin braid. The bun kept falling, for it was too heavy. Ilyana grew frustrated and kept trying until she thought she had it. She framed the bun carefully with a simple golden crown with two singular, very short horns whose center on her temple was a diamond-shaped ruby. It was a gem that stood out from the earthly colors – apart from Ronan's necklace that glowed in semblance to Ilyana's ruby.

She paced back and forth, feeling her hair loosen in security and her rage towards her disadvantageous hair grew by the second. She knew she had lived her life this way but it has reached a point where trying to keep it tied was a tiring feat and it would fall apart no matter how hard she tried. She stomped out to the hallway and called a maid forward.

"Do you know a maid who can cut hair?" she asked the maid.

"Yes, ma'am, shall I fetch her?" the maid replied quickly, sensing Ilyana's impatience.

"Please."

Ilyana undid her bun, nearly throwing her crown to the side. Quick minutes came to pass when a different maid came into the room.

"You wanted to see me, madam?" she asked curiously.

"Yes. Please cut my hair," Ilyana almost begged.

The maid came to Ilyana with her mobile kit while Ilyana sat in front of her vanity, a bit wide-eyed to see Ilyana's hair touch the floor. The maid asked while examining Ilyana's extremely long hair, "To what length?"

Ilyana stared long and hard to the reflection of herself, worried about her appearance if she made the wrong choice of length until she sighed and dared herself to boldly command, "Towards the end of my shoulder blade. Do it as quick as possible."

The maid agreed accordingly, finding the new length and proceeded with the deed. Every snap of the scissors released the weight of what her hair used to be. It was a foreign feeling.

The maid was slightly on edge about the amounts of hair that fell. She asked, "What do you want me to do with all this hair, ma'am?"

"Sell it to the wig shop. I'm completely aware of the fortune that goes behind my length of hair. I do not need the money, so do what you wish with it, the money is yours as thanks for relieving me of this burden."