-One-
Albel Nox had military fallout written all over his face. Really, if Nel had pushed up those unkempt multicolored bangs, she wouldn't have been surprised to find it scrawled on his forehead. If his character were any more shallow, minnows would have trouble swimming in it.
Hell, the fact the psychopath had even helped save the world—planet—giant… galaxy thing was quite close to an embarrassment to Elicoor II. His bug obsession more so.
Upon being dumped back on Elicoor II, however, Nel was damned if she didn't keep getting thrown on the same 'diplomatic teams' with him. Clair—and Tynaeve and Farlene—were all asking if Albel had reformed under the guidance of his king. If he had, then they were willing to begin to forgive. If he hadn't, Nel should be under no circumstances travelling with him.
If he had, Clair indicated, perhaps redemption was possible. Nel had a dark suspicion about what that might mean – aside from the relations between their queen and Airyglyph's king, she was still one of the few Aquarians in government with an Airyglyphian… comrade.
Never mind this 'comrade's' idea of a good time was still killing porcupines and giant spiders and wolves and, oddly useful, clearing the area paths of bandits that had bothered both Airyglyph and Aquaria for generations.
She would be damned if they let that acquaintanceship push her into some misguided relationship with him though. She would be damned, also, if she gave up on keeping in contact with Cliff Fittir so easily.
–all right, so that plan was damned from the get-go; the man was clearly in love with Mirage, or Maria, or Fayt. It was honestly so hard to tell.
Which left her and Albel the only remnants of what had almost been the end of everything ever. It was probably why she had been assigned to continue clearing the Mountains of Barr of rogue Airyglyph and Aquarian soldiers (there were some Aquarians, not many) who thought the administration had lost its mind to the giant ship of doom and the strangers from offworld.
She was seriously considering killing Albel herself at this point.
And he didn't even have to SAY anything. That was more of the point.
They had been travelling in silence for the better part of the day when Albel suddenly cursed. This was about as surprising as a duck taking to water, but she glanced over at him.
"Problem?"
"…"
He kept walking past her.
"Love to know," she said, putting one hand on her hip. "We're alone out here. Anything that's significant to you…"
He looked over his shoulder, eyes narrowed, pouty lips pursed, and said nothing. He looked like a GIRL.
"…might be important to me," Nel led, gesturing slightly as if to say 'so spill the damn beans already. ' Albel 'hmphed' and kept walking, drawing his marathon of a sword.
"I sense maggots," he said and began to run into the fray. Sighing, she readied her knives and runeology and followed him over the craggy edge of hill that led into the next valley.
Ambush was the wrong word—he nearly knocked her down in his forward-facing retreat, the gauntlet splayed as he backed up, the katana still drawn. He had almost stabbed himself on her knives. That would have been ironic.
"What—too many?" she asked, sidestepping quickly around the man. The valley was empty: a bunch of rocks and brush studded the hill down. Her mind whirred with this information and she spun on her heel for an attack from behind, but no. Albel was standing there as if nothing had happened, purple skirt fluttering in the breeze. She took a deep breath.
"Was something ever there?"
"…"
"You don't need to preface everything with silence, Nox. Was. Or is. Something there."
He strode past her and moved on, down into the valley. It didn't escape her that his katana remained in hand, his shoulders tense, and he moved with a more calculated swagger. She sheathed her knives and strode after him. If she didn't know the story behind his behavior (well, some of it, anyway), she would have assumed at this point he was playing with her mind.
Gossip spread, even from Airyglyph to Aquaria (more so now that tensions had eased) and Albel's was one of the more amusing stories. Unable to 'release his emotions to blend with an air dragon,' raised into another brigade, left hand ruined and hidden in a gauntlet—if the man weren't a complete psychopath with a byzantine take-no-prisoners rule, it would have made a good novel. As it was, she slept with one eye open.
She still didn't know what he thought of her.
#
Albel Nox, strangely-dressed and homicidal character of children's nightmares, played 'Fake Ambush' two more times that day and Nel had just about had it with him. What was worse, they hadn't found any of the soldiers.
"Nox," she said, around evening. "We should start heading back."
"…"
"This far north isn't good for camping. Neither of us like dragons."
She saw him flinch at the mention of dragon relations. Which was weird and partially the reason she'd said it that way and huzzah, a reaction. He'd even stopped walking.
"You want to stay up here tonight, I want a really good reason," she said. And waited.
"Three members of the Dragon Brigade have defected. I am here to retrieve them."
"You don't retrieve," she said automatically. If retrieval or capture of enemies was ever an option, he might be less of a complete asshole. But he was looking at her, assessing.
Apparently, she failed some test because he 'hmphed' again, spun, and started walking away. Further up the damn mountain.
"You're going to take on three of that bridgade alone? On dragons?" She felt the overwhelming need to state the obvious. Maybe he needed it. "That's suicide, Nox!"
"They're maggots."
"The king will blame me if I come back alone!" she called and Albel laughed, deep and throaty and chilling. So many of her comrades had heard the same laugh in their nightmares.
"My blood won't be on your blades. My king won't mourn."
They had thrown him in the dungeon on nothing but suspicion of treachery. She could picture the king's severe face, lips pursing for a moment as he thought about the gory death of his former Black Brigade leader, face softening when he realized he just wasn't going to have to deal with Albel anymore, and then the world around him getting brighter and brighter. Like the sun coming out. She coughed. No, the king of Airyglyph wasn't going to be all broken up. Unless…
"What if they hold you hostage?" she called.
Again, the Laugh.
"It may not matter to you, but my queen will plead for mercy. She'll insist Aquaria pay the ransom, or call back Fayt and Cliff to rescue you. A whole platoon brought out to save you. That's how this is going to end."
He was looking back at her, something like extreme irritation in his face. She had a very good point, one that was hard to refute. The man admired Fayt and, to a certain extent, Cliff. Being rescued by them was highly embarrassing. Being paid off by Aquaria was ridiculously embarrassing. Considering the humiliating possibilities, it was surprising Albel Nox never took prisoners.
He thought a moment later, then turned to head up the hill again.
"You're going to chance it?" she called after him.
"They know me. They will kill me. If they can." His tone reeked of confidence. Nel thought about it a moment and wished she shared the man's certainty. A dead Albel would have been easier. But they might not and, distasteful and socially-stunted as the man might be, dying on the Mountains of Barr in the dirt and the dust was horrible. There was no telling when anyone might find your body and if they didn't kill him but almost killed him—
Maybe it would boost Airyglyph/Aquaria relations. Until Romeria and King Arzei posted the marriage bans, the two countries needed all the partnership assets they could get.
So thinking, she started up the hill after him.