Wasteland

Song by 10 Years

Written by burn to ashe

For the LJ community challenge_the

Author Note: Written as part of a 200 prompt challenge. This fic is based on the song "Wasteland" by 10 Years. Alexandra muses on her granddaughters, but is "ignorant to all the symbols".

I. ignorant to all the symbols

Alexandra stared at the girls, her granddaughters, and felt her eyes drift closed. They were beautiful girls, but as a Queen herself, Alexandra could have wished for more. She'd always thought that her heir would be of her line. The elder, Wilhelmina, was not actually her granddaughter, of course. Robert's daughter was a quiet, intelligent young girl, but certainly lacking the strength that would make her someone capable of leading anything.

Jaenelle, though… Jaenelle was her only true granddaughter, and she was the biggest disappointment of all. There had been such hope for the girl, once. When she was an infant Alexandra had hoped she might show signs of being a Queen. When that never happened (it hadn't, it had been a pleasant dream, but not reality) Alexandra had begun to realize she would need to look elsewhere for an heir.

But with Hayll's hand so close to her throat, she had few options. She felt the trap being woven around her even now, as she watched her granddaughters cross the entrance hall of her home estate. Wilhelmina was lit up and smiling, no doubt glad to be reunited with her playmate. Jaenelle had been at Briarwood for almost two weeks this time, the longest stint yet. Dr. Carvey assured her that Jaenelle was making progress, but Alexandra wasn't seeing any.

As if sensing Alexandra's thought, Jaenelle paused halfway across the room, as if she heard something. But there was nothing to hear. She stood that way for several moments before Wilhelmina tugged on her younger sister's hand, encouraging her to continue moving.

Jaenelle's eyes swung towards Alexandra, pinning the Opal Jeweled Queen of Chaillot where she stood. Alexandra found herself swallowing hard, seeing a strange something unspoken in the girl's eyes. She was quite grateful when the girl looked away, too. Yes, she was quite frightened for her younger granddaughter… because she wasn't about to admit that she was frightened of a six year old girl.