Vouchsafe this Truth
By:
The Caretaker
Author's note:
This was written for a friend based on a little talk. It is fragmentary and not meant to be taken or looked upon as a whole. What I present here is only an excerpt, and should be viewed as such before reading on. Credit goes to Winged for inspiration and provocation. I hope you'll all enjoy this little tidbit, written as a break from my current projects.
ϔ
Some say the land of Halael was a terrible place. Beyond the Great Divide and its ever-shifting sands, where wars long forgotten raped the earth and left it forever scarred; across the endless poisoned swamps that stand between those sands and the kingdoms of the east. In such places, it is whispered and even outright said that Halael is a place only of suffering. A place of tyranny and despotism, ruled by a triune imperial hegemony that dates back to The Schism.
Oh, but such things are hardly true. So untrue in fact, they are almost laughable. Frightened whispers propagated by folk that can scarcely imagine a way of life beyond their own. A land where one willingly accepts the yoke of rule? Where one happily forfeits their freedom for the greater whole?
Preposterous!
But, Halael is such a land. It is a place divided amongst three empires, not unlike its eastern siblings. However, the people herein know they are free in their bondage, that their sworn fealty grants them protection to pursue their lives as they wish. So long as they satisfy the merits to do such, of course.
Our story centers on two such individuals who, through force of will and strength of conviction, achieved the heights of their society in one of the empires of Halael. It is in Solaria their tale unfolds, foremost of the three and seat of all that is glorious.
One once known as the Ice Queen among her peers, born to the high and mighty to begin with, who sought only to bring honor once more to her family's tarnished name. She who pursued the liberating power of martial prowess, and thereby made herself a chosen guardian of her Empress.
One once little more than a peasant in the fields of the far-lands, born to dust and rock and dirt and famine, who sought to pull her family from that pitiable reality by her own hand. She who also pursued the liberating power of martial prowess, accomplishing much the same goal and becoming entrusted with the safety of her Empress.
They are now known as Hoarfrost and Scarlet. And in years now long past, when they first began their upward march into infamy—by way of slaughter in the name of the crown—these two fell deeply and fast in love. It was as much a force of nature how they fell for each other as how they themselves rent the earth in twain, by show of their prowess.
But, as is the case in so many other places, Solaria is not the kindest to a union that cannot bear offspring. These are seen as detrimental to the state, and are almost entirely forbidden lest they are held to the side of a true union—one which may bear children to further the land.
Oh, but the Empress these two protect, she is no such common ruler willing to suppress her subjects.
As we shall see.
Ͼ
It was one of the last days of the land of Halael, and the world Talaeya as a whole, that our tale begins upon. The sky was a dusty twilight, cast with the infinite blinking dots of the stars that lay above a canopy of bloody orange and whispering violet. Cold war-winds blew in staggering gusts, carrying the scent of uncountable bonfires and the oil of guns and the shavings of sharpened steel. Men and women both clamored in the valley below, settling into their seats and their meals. Chatting and swapping stories and dreams, laughing here and there to forget the tepid ease of the night before open conflict.
Above that valley where the soldiers clamored and gossiped, a small retinue had made the camp of Her Royal Eminence, Lady Anais the Small. Yet, one could hardly tell such from the outside as the tent was hardly anything of royalty, aside from its larger size relative to the soldiers' below. Banners of the Royal Family—grand things of deepest black depicting a shining white sun at their center—flew to either side of the tent's large entryway. Beneath each stood one of the Empress's Hands, the most feared and revered of her legion's warriors, handpicked to serve at her side until death.
This night, it was not Hoarfrost or Scarlet that stood there, watching the setting sun and awaiting any sign of conflict. Instead it was Mammoth and Whirlwind.
Mammoth, in his aptly fitting suit of armor (which looked not unlike a wall of iron), stood as stony as he ever did. Undaunted by the cold of the wind or the prospect of looming death on the morrow. His heart beat calm and steady, awaiting news from within the tent—much as Whirlwind across from him, standing equally calm and resolute in her sleek mail.
"Think they'll really do it tonight?" Whirlwind asked, shifting slightly to lean on her lance.
Mammoth grunted his response. Sounded like a yes to her.
"The Lady is kind as ever, isn't she?"
Another grunt, another yes sound-alike.
Inside the tent, it was a much different picture. There sat eight more fine warriors, in varying suits of armament and with varying weaponry beside them. These fine warriors—whom each could surely fell a hundred with little trouble—watched a group of four assembled at the tent's rear. One sat upon a simple throne of wood, which amounted to little more than a fancy chair. Another stood beside her, eyes hidden by a funny-looking visor that permitted her to see. The last two—Hoarfrost and Scarlet, wouldn't ya know—were knelt down before the one on the throne.
"You swear your loyalty to each other inasmuch as your fealty to me, yes?" The one on the throne asked. She looked so much like a child it was nearly laughable, though none gathered would tolerate such. Void-black hair lay pooled on her lap, glowing violet eyes stared intently at the two women knelt before her. Her pale skin turned gold in the dancing torchlight, covered with a flowing garment of fine lavender silk.
"I do." Said Hoarfrost.
"I do." Said Scarlet.
To the right of the throne stood another woman, this one with a tall pair of ears atop her head and a swishing tail dancing playfully behind her. Her lance hung on a rack some ten feet away, its head a depiction of a flying wyvern swooping in for the kill. The serpentine armor upon her moved like skin as she leaned over, toward her Empress, to whisper something.
"Ah, yes. I agree, Lady Talya." The Empress said. Then, to her kneeling Hands: "If you plan to do this, there would be no better time than tonight. We sit upon the cusp of war, and like as not, death for we and our world."
"Hail the Lady!" Erupted from the retinue of Hands, sudden and thunderous.
"Would the two of you swear your divinely ordained union before your fellow warriors this eve?"
Hoarfrost looked up. Her icy blue eyes were no longer hidden beneath the helm she usually wore. They met the Empress's bright violets for a moment. After this, she looked to her side—to her love—and met the silver eyes of Scarlet.
"I would." Hoarfrost said.
"As would I." Scarlet agreed.
Talya clapped her hands together and stepped forth.
"Then it's settled!" She exclaimed with unusual glee. "Everyone, spread the word and gather the mass! We have a promising to attend to this eve! Hail the Lady!"
"Hail the Lady! Hail Her Grace!" All Hands cried in unison, Hoarfrost and Scarlet included.
The eight stood and donned their gear, then left the tent with the wind at their heels. Hoarfrost and Scarlet remained, kneeling before their Empress.
Talya approached them and laid a hand on each of their shoulders.
"What you two have is nothing to be ashamed of, fine warriors." Talya said. Her own eyes—white and marred with blindness—began to tear up behind her glowing visor. "The Lady has ordained and blessed this. Be with joy, I beg thee."
Hoarfrost looked up first, eyes glistening with tears of joy and determination. Scarlet followed, equally as moved.
"May we use our given names?" Scarlet asked. Her voice quavered with a bit of fear.
Talya's face straightened with surprise, and a moment after, she stood and turned to the Empress.
"Lady Anais?" Talya whispered, deferring in surprised wonder.
"Of course I'll allow it." Anais said. She gave a most disarming smile. "What better way to seal your oaths to each other?"
Ϯ
"Hear you all this decree!" Shouted Brimstone, seventh of the Hands. "Tonight, ere the morrow's glow of war, Her Eminence Lady Anais hath ordained a union! In two bells' time, Lady Hoarfrost and Lady Scarlet, of Her Eminence's Hands, shall be sworn to one another under the eyes of our forebears! By the Lady's holy word, this union shall be attended by all here present, and duly celebrated thereafter! Hail the Lady!"
An absolutely mad burst of applause met this declaration, entirely filling the valley with thunderous echoes of joy and congratulation. Brimstone crossed his arms and smiled beneath his pointy hat. Oh, he'd known this would be coming for a long while now. Had he not been the one to push the lady Scarlet into approaching the lady Hoarfrost in the first place?
"You kids and your crushes…" Brimstone muttered to himself, still more than a little skeptical of such things.
But if it made them happy on this eve of death and destruction, he would certainly not complain. They were, after all, his sisters in blood and steel.
Ѩ
On the verdant fields of Kejaar, where the last of the elven kingdoms once stood, Scarlet had not been nervous. When the grand trees burned down around her and the verdant fields turned to soot, she had not been afraid. When the mad elves cried blood and war and death, charging in the hundreds to their doom at her hands, she had not been worried.
She knew Hoarfrost was by her side. She knew if she fell, she would fall into her lover's arms, under the will of her Empress. She knew what she was doing and why, and feared it not.
But tonight, though she still knew what she was doing and why, Scarlet was most afeard.
Hoarfrost would stand with her—and why not, considering the occasion—but Scarlet was truly, utterly, animalistically terrified of what another bell would bring. In one more bell's time, she would stand before fifty-thousand hardened men and women, her own brothers and sisters in steel, to declare something so very… unwarriorly to them.
Scarlet had chosen this path, though. She'd left her home in the far-lands and journeyed to the Holy City Yssil, capital of Solaria, and sworn fealty to the legion. She'd trained hard and sleepless, climbing the ranks feverishly like a woman possessed. She had even reached the pinnacle—being named Proselyte Magnus—and been conscripted by the Empress herself, to serve a calling higher than any other in all the lands.
She had become a Hand of the Empress and been titled Scarlet.
There she had met Hoarfrost, another fresh recruit from the legion. And there she had discovered something in Hoarfrost that she found in no others, a grand secret that led her to falling so pitiably in love. Oh, how that love had blossomed, and oh, how the Empress had encouraged it when they were finally found out.
Why then was she so afraid this night, of this thing she so desperately wanted?
"Are you ready for this?"
Scarlet turned. There stood Hoarfrost, looking about as worried. She held her elbows with her arms crossed, just beneath the point most women were shapeliest. If not for her armor, Hoarfrost would have nothing to show there.
Ah, but Scarlet did not notice that.
"As ready as I'm going to get, I guess." Scarlet sighed. "Are you afraid too?"
Hoarfrost met her eyes and smiled, then dropped her arms and walked closer. She took Scarlet up in her arms, squeezed her with unexpected strength, and whispered into her ear.
"Hile, Milady. I see you well and fear nothing in your presence."
Scarlet chuckled at that, returned the hug with equal vigor.
"Hile, I see you well also." Scarlet whispered. She planted one nip of a kiss on Hoarfrost's neck.
As they shared this embrace, the bell tolled the last hour. One more until midnight. One more until their promise was given before the masses, and before Her Eminence.
"I see you and I know you…" Hoarfrost whispered.
"I know you and I keep you…" Scarlet whispered.
Together they said: "In mine heart, I hide thee."
Then they kissed true.
Ϯ
The last bell of the day chimed and the soldiers gathered. A wooden platform had been hastily constructed after Brimstone made the announcement, and below it there now thronged a crowd of armored men and women. Beer and ale and wine was passed about in tankards. Chicken thighs and slices of pork and plates of all sorts of vegetables were handed out. Beneath helms and pot-hats and arming caps, faces were rosy with joy, parted with great smiles.
Men danced in a particular spot not far from the platform. A goodly sized bonfire had been stoked and now reached to the black heavens above. Arms interlocked and mouths chanting marching tunes, they swung round-n-round. Sloshed their tankards and stopped to have a sip. Some belched or farted to make room for more. Some laughed at this crass display, then went straight to it themselves.
In a word, it was utter elation.
Her Eminence had not yet appeared, but the mood was certainly set. Even the Hands had joined in.
Brimstone and Whirlwind danced the two-step next to each other. Some were actually frightened to see the dour Brimstone smiling—smiling, gods' sakes—but made no fuss for it. Whirlwind looked to be enjoying herself as well, giggling like she hadn't in nearly two decades.
Off at the stage, standing just at the foot of it, was the rock-like Mammoth. He'd kept his armor on but left his great hammer and wall-like towershield at the tent. Now, he stood there tapping his right foot to a beat being played by a few soldiers near the large bonfire. Under his mountain of a great helm, Mammoth too was grinning.
Throughout the crowd, the others were scattered about, equally enamored with the mood and enjoying themselves duly. Ballistus was so into it, she had gone and broken one of her favorite longbows. Trying to jam along with the band of soldiers strumming on their lutes and drums, she had snapped the string and broken the limbs in a brief fit of rage thereafter.
Oculus had gone about drinking and carousing with all the vigor in his young bosom. He'd abandoned his robes and hat, and now galivanted about in only his skivvies. Across his eternally tanned face was the widest, goofiest smile he'd ever shown. When they were opened enough to see, one could tell the depth of his joy in the twinkle of his deep blue eyes.
Dracos, Tsunami and Landslide were busy putting together fireworks and showing off simple magics to please the gathered crowd.
The oldest and youngest of the Hands, Titanic and Cosmos respectively, were putting the last of the raspberry pudding away. It had been meant as a treat for celebration if the day was carried in the looming conflict, but with the air about tonight they saw no reason not to go ahead and dig in. After passing portions out to all present—and setting aside some for Her Eminence, Talya, and the guests of honor—the two set to helping themselves to what was left.
All in all, any outside observer could not possibly tell this was a legion gathered for war. For better or for worse, tonight at least, they were a crowd gathered to celebrate the union of two of their own.
Oh, and it was so very good indeed.
Ͼ
When midnight finally tolled, Anais was the first to mount the platform. She stepped up with all the grace and reserved elegance of her station, void-black locks carried behind her by the much taller Talya.
Anais stopped at the center of the hasty-made stage, raised her arms to the sky and cried out.
"My people, do your hearts swell with joy this night?!"
The crowd of armored soldiers raised a drunken, merry shout in response. Some managed the words of their oath—Hail the Lady—but others could only howl their agreement. Regardless, Anais smiled at this. Talya did as well, thankful her half-mask hid it.
"Raise your voices then!" Anais cried out. "Give the Gods your joyous cries, and let our forebears know why we are gathered in celebration tonight!"
Some did indeed. Some only howled once more. Poor Oculus—far too besotted to really know where he was by this point—slurred some sort of approval of his own. It sounded like a simple, drunken guffaw.
Anais turned to Talya and said, "Bring them, my friend. It is time."
Talya bowed and placed the Empress's hair at her feet, then departed to do as bid. A minute later she returned, Hoarfrost and Scarlet (nervously) in tow. They followed her to the stage and onto it, where all three stopped beside the Empress.
Her Eminence looked up at them—being only half their height, this was unavoidable—and gave a warm smile. Almost motherly it was.
"Are you ready, then?" Anais asked them.
Both bowed in response.
"Oh, come now. We're here to celebrate with you, happy fools. No pretenses tonight, I beg thee."
Oh, to hear a ruler even suggest deference was unthinkable. And yet, none too many were surprised by this. The neighboring Empires had long whispered of the young Anais, aptly titled for her stature and age, and how familiar she was with her subjects.
But that was neither here nor there. Thus, Hoarfrost and Scarlet swallowed their nerves and stood straight.
"Ah, much better." Anais cooed. "Now, approach the crowd. We'll get this underway, shall we?"
They did as bid, and Anais retreated to a dais at the stage's rear (which was little more than a box) to begin her decree. Once upon it, she raised her arms to the black heavens again.
"Hear you all, my faithful and loyal who gather with me this eve!" A hush swept the crowd. "Lady Hoarfrost and Lady Scarlet hath made a declaration most joyous unto me, their sworn Empress. With love and surety in their hearts, they hath spoken words of faith and fidelity before me. Thus, I offered they to accept a union, despite the callous rule of our senate!"
"Hail the Lady! Hail Her Grace!"
"Oh, hush that!" Anais cried out, then chuckled. She sounded like a squeaky toy.
"Hail Her!"
Anais sighed and looked to Scarlet and Hoarfrost.
"You have both accepted mine offer, have you not?"
"We have." They answered in unison.
The Empress smiled and said, "Then I will say this…"
She looked upon the crowd of her legion and threw her arms to the sky one last time.
"Under burden of my crown; under authority of my station; under the watch of our forebears; by the divine word of our Goddess! I declare these two to be reserved unto one another, from this day until the crown lies split! Until such time as our Empire crumbles and our people scatter, let every book and every mouth and every word declare this promise! Let this truthful union be vouchsafed by my word!"
Anais looked to her two Hands and grinned ear to ear. She stepped off the dais and pointed to it. They understood and mounted it after her.
"Your turn." She whispered to them with a wink, before leaving the stage entirely. Talya followed her—carrying her seven feet of hair once more—to sit among the Hands gathered at the foot of the stage.
Hoarfrost looked into Scarlet's eyes, deep and longing. Scarlet did the same, smiling wide and happy.
With a deep breath, Scarlet began.
"Weiss Schnee, who is called Hoarfrost of the Hands. Do you accept my offer of undying commitment?"
Hoarfrost smiled.
"I do, Milady." She said. Then: "Ruby Rose, who is called Scarlet of the Hands. Do you accept my offer of undying commitment?"
Scarlet burst into silent tears, smiling wide despite them.
"I do." She managed to choke out through the twin rivers of her eyes.
There was no more to be said; it was all now delivered in full and in true. Thus, Scarlet closed in first for what was left. Hoarfrost moved hardly a moment after, and they met together before the thronging crowd of the legion.
Beneath the star-speckled void of the heavens; in the glow of the bonfires and torches all about; before the eyes of every one of their comrades in arms and the gaze of their Empress…
Ruby and Weiss shared the first kiss of their union to an earthshattering applause.
Oh my, was it not good?
-A Fine End-