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Olivia saw it. Of course she did. She’d have to be an absolute fool not to.
She took some pride in understanding the goings-on in the castle, in general. She tried to learn names, she tried to know what people were doing at every moment. Being in the position she was, she was often expected to move between stations and newts, keeping an eye on what everyone was doing.
Olivia’s job was to keep everything together. Recently, it was to babysit. It was never, at a single point in her life, to judge the King’s actions.
And yet, it seemed, she had gained a life outside of work, because that was exactly what she was doing.
Now, she wasn’t a revolutionary of any sort, and certainly not a traitor. She had never quite believed that Andrias was the greatest ruler, or even really the one the kingdom deserved, sure. That didn’t mean she’d entertain any wild ideas of trying to change that. The way she saw it, he was the King, and it was his rightful place. Her rightful place was to serve the people, so she would do that the best she could.
She was not a revolutionary. She was just a newt with a job.
She had a heart though. She had a conscience. She liked to think she didn’t just let bad things happen.
She was letting this happen.
There wasn’t much of a choice, to be fair.
He was the King, and he’d made it more than clear that this was important to him. Why, though, she couldn’t fathom. If Olivia were in charge, she would put her resources into getting this strange creature back where she belonged as soon as possible — not building statues and giving her gifts and taking her to events.
Maybe that was irrational. There had been some work made into getting the humans home, especially ever since that Anne showed up.
She still wasn’t happy with it, though. Something about the way Andrias doted on Marcy set her on edge. She wasn’t stupid. It was so obvious. So obvious, she wondered if the girl noticed it herself and just didn’t let herself think about it. Andrias had never taken on a project like that before, never acted like that with anyone (at least, for as long as Olivia had been alive. She supposed that left over 1000 years unsupervised.)
She wanted to believe he was just a great oaf who didn’t know how to care for a child, but the more she saw, the harder it was to avoid the truth.
He knew what he was doing. He was very, very intentionally keeping Marcy close. Keeping her docile, like a tamed pet, and Marcy was falling for it so easily. Marcy, who was desperate for affection, who was so clearly lonely and lost, grabbed at his love with both hands. And frog, did he offer it to her.
Olivia didn’t like to say the word that came to mind, so she didn’t. She let herself sit with that uncomfortable feeling, and she tried to do what she could.
It started simple. She’d give Marcy advice while she escorted the human girl around between meetings. Nothing that gave away how concerned she was, just simple advice. Telling her to be careful about trusting people, telling her that she needed to think more highly of herself. The hope was that, if Olivia’s fears were true, then it would get through to Marcy. That Marcy would, just maybe, be able to protect herself enough that it would all be fine.
That didn’t work, and things got worse.
Marcy had always been a little emotional. She was prone to bouts of sadness or anxiety every once in a while, the least of what they could expect from a child ripped from her home. When Anne and the Plantars showed up, things got better. She seemed more confident with another of her species around (a little too confident, maybe. Other kids to egg her on made Marcy a lot more of a handful). She still spent most of her time between the palace library and her classes, but the knowledge her friend was safe and nearby was enough to keep the worst of it away.
Then Anne left. Olivia was given most of the details, but left out of just enough to feel like she wasn’t being trusted, which was wonderful. If there was anything she hated, it was being kept in the dark about things that were clearly important.
Marcy didn’t take it well. The panic attack she had at dinner that day was the worst Olivia had seen from her.
She did not like how much closer she stuck to Andrias afterwards.
While before, Olivia had been left fairly aware of what was going on every time the King asked to see Marcy, she was now left in the dark. The first time she asked, she was told it was something private, in the sort of tone that clearly told her not to ask again.
So she didn’t.
Maybe, maybe, at that point she should’ve done something. But what? She didn’t even yet know if her fears were justified at all. Even if she was willing to risk her status, her family legacy, her life for this strange creature that had suddenly wormed her way into her life, she didn’t even know if there was anything to fight. Perhaps if anyone had bothered to keep her updated, if anyone in this castle was trustworthy at all, she could’ve taken action. She could’ve known if she was paranoid or not. She could’ve convinced the girl to talk to her properly.
Maybe she didn’t try hard enough. Maybe, in the end, she cared more about herself and her reputation than the hypothetical danger Marcy might have been in. So what? Marcy wasn’t her child. She wasn’t a mother. It wasn’t her duty. Who could blame her for keeping her head down?
Well. Apparently she could blame herself.
She didn’t do anything big. She’d never. She had tried to get some answers out of Marcy, but that girl was far too adept at changing the subject when questioned, so that was a lost cause. It was looking more and more likely that she’d never get the answers she wanted.
A part of her said she didn’t need answers. She already knew, it wasn’t hard to figure out.
She ignored that part of herself, the way she ignored all irrational, illogical thoughts.
Instead, she did what little she could. She tried to sit between them at dinner, stand between them the rare times she was allowed in the room, create space that would have to deliberately be crossed.
Sometimes she ‘forgot’ to tell Marcy when her presence was requested. She was busy, after all! Much more so now that Andrias seemed so distracted by whatever he was working on. Who could blame her for forgetting one little thing? If Andrias caught on that she was doing it on purpose, he didn’t say anything. Shamefully, she knew she would’ve stopped if he did.
It was a small and ultimately useless rebellion. Perhaps some part of her had hoped that if she stalled enough, nothing too bad would happen. They’d all be so busy, and before they knew it, Marcy would be going back home where she belonged, and everything would all go back to normal. The rest of her knew better. She’d learned not to ignore the tense feeling in the air, the way something in her knew that this had to be serious.
Olivia was not a saint. She was not anyone’s mother. Her duty was to herself, and to the land. It was not to protect anyone, especially not somebody who wasn’t even from the same dimension as her.
She did what she could. She made sure Marcy didn’t get herself hurt, she sent her off to her room if she caught her up in the middle of the night, she checked on her after missions. She tried her best to calm her down when she got to be too much, she answered all her strange questions, she acted as a barrier between them when she could. She tried, she told herself. She did everything she could reasonably do.
So why did she struggle to sleep at night, knowing what she was facilitating?