Two Bodies, One Soul: A Damsel Fanfiction

Chapter 1: The Proposal

Centuries had passed since the king and his men had tried to slay the beast and its daemon. Our story now, takes place in a small kingdom, far to the north. By summer, it is blessed with beautiful trees and blossoming wild flowers. By winter, the kingdom is ravaged by harsh winters and the people are pushed to the extremes of starvation. The winters have gotten much worse.

The grunt of a young maiden was heard as the wood of a cut down tree was split in half. Elodie Bayford, oldest daughter to Lord and Lady Bayford, breathed heavily with exhaustion as she cut the last of the firewood. Her daemon, Xena, taking the form of a snow leopard, lay next to her mistress's feet, a bit away from the axe and the wood pile. Elodie glanced at Xena.

"Xena, you could be helping me, you know." Elodie said. Her red, intricately braided hair blowing in the cold wind. Xena looked up at her mistress.

"Oh? I thought I was helping you. You know, providing you with company so you don't get bored." Xena said, humor behind her words. A smile graced Elodie's lips.

"Oh ha ha." Elodie said. Xena chuckled. Her head turned towards the sound of a tree branch scraping across the ground. Elodie's younger sister, Floria Bayford and her daemon, Valerie, also in the form of a snow leopard, walked up, Floria dragging a dead tree branch behind her.

"The last Val and I could find." Floria said to her older sister. Xena stood, stretching out her front and back legs. She shook out her fur. Her fur seemed to have light blue undertones to the black spots and gray fur. Xena looked at Valerie.

"Did you and Floria take the tapestries into town like Lord Bayford and Kahlan asked?" Xena asked. Xena's voice was young, but still deep, filled with much wisdom and experience. Valerie nodded.

"This morning." Valarie said. Valerie's voice was young, filled with less experience, unlike her sister's. Though they were two separate beings, belonging to two separate people, Xena and Valerie still though of each other as sisters. Xena looked up at Elodie.

"We should take the furs too, Elodie." Xena said. Elodie nodded, looking down at her daemon.

"Right. And the drapes." Elodie said, leaning down to pick up the firewood. Floria frowned.

"Not the drapes!" She protested. Valerie looked up at her young mistress.

"Floria, we hate that pattern in our room anyway. We keep begging Lord Bayford and Kahlan to sell them." Valerie reasoned. Floria sighed and looked down at her daemon.

"They serve a purpose." Floria said. Elodie sighed.

"Floria," she said, making her sister look at her. "Our people are freezing. And starving." Elodie said. Floria sighed. She looked down at her daemon and stroked Valerie's head. Valerie closed her eyes and let out a purr of comfort. Xena's ears twitched, hearing something in the distance. She looked up and saw a golden carriage, being pulled by a team of horses, heading towards the castle where the sisters lived.

"Elodie." Xena said, not looking at her mistress. Floria, Elodie, and Valerie all looked in the direction Xena was looking. Floria shielded her eyes from the sun with her hand. The two sisters looked towards the carriage in confusion.

"Who'd come this far north?' Elodie asked. Xena looked back at her mistress.

"We should take the supplies back into town and check in on your father." Xena said. Elodie nodded.

"Right. Let's go." She said.

The sisters, holding hands, and their daemons, walking on either side of them, walked up a muddy, snowy road, towards a small village. A group of people and their daemons, in various forms of snow leopards and wolves, walked away from the village.