Disclaimer: Escaflowne does not belong to me, the only thing I own in this story is the plot.

Author's Note: The title is a pun on Princess Eries' middle name, Aria, and the word for a vocal solo with accompaniment during an middle of an opera, usually to express the emotional state of the character singing it.

Eries' Aria

"Ahhhh!!!" The bellow that came from strong lungs buried underneath layers and layers of fat shook the room. It could hardly be called a note, more like a barbaric Tarzan yell that rang in the ears of her less than attentive audience.

"Bravo," said a weary, fifty-something year old man who sat in a high-backed throne in front of the makeshift stage. It was perhaps closer than it should've been, but then he thought this would be pleasing to listen to. Instead, it just made him feel ill again. "Thank you very much. You have my permission to go," he added, meaning "Get out of here now!" but, of course, far more politely.

"Yes, sire." The soprano curtsied awkwardly, then stumbled out of the room on her trunk-like legs.

"My God, that was awful," the king breathed, rubbing his aching ears vigorously.

"Now father, it wasn't THAT bad," his youngest daughter said diplomatically, her doctor's instincts guiding her hand to pull her father's pudgy fingers out of the depths of his ears.

Her fiancee shook his head, the shock of that horrible performance still showing on his face. "Maybe for a cow, Princess, but not for a human being. Admit it, she was terrible."

Millerna pursed her lips, then sighed, making her blond curls bounce around her pale neck. "I've heard sick animals that sound better," she confessed.

"Really? I don't know what you all are talking about, I thought she was wonderful," her elder sister Eries put in seriously. But no one bothered to look at her incredulously, as they might normally have done, or laughed at what was really supposed to be a joke. In fact, she may as well have not been in the room at all. Her family and their two guests (who would soon be family as well) all but ignored her as they critiqued the singer, while walking out of the room.

Eries alone remained, sitting in her own throne, placed next to her father's, as if she were frozen there. Still, no one noticed her absence. Or so she thought.

"Did you really enjoy that?" asked a familiar voice from behind. Eries quickly rose to see him. Allen Schezar, Knight Caeli and the only man she ever possibly loved though refused to admit it, stood in the doorway, dressed in his uniform. Eries suddenly remembered that a knight had been assigned to protect them during the performance (as if they really needed a bodyguard in their well-protected castle- but King Aston had gotten very nervous since the war), but she'd been too busy protecting her hearing and her sanity to wonder who. She'd never thought it would be Allen. Or maybe she was just tired of hoping.

"Of course not! I've never heard worse," she admitted. "And it's one of my favorite arias too."
"Do you go to the opera often?" he asked, surprised that the normally stern woman had an interest in anything.

Eries laughed bitterly. "Not as much as I'd like, what with all the things that keep me busy here, and all." Allen nodded slightly, knowing how busy the older daughter, though not the heir was kept. He'd made it his business to take note of all her comings and goings. "But when I was younger, yes, my mother took me all the time. No one else was really interested, except for the two of us. Mother had a beautiful voice." Eries' eyes filled with sorrow, as they always did when she talked of her mother. This Allen also understood- perhaps he was the only one that did. Even Millerna could not; she was too young to remember her mother's death, and in fact, barely remembered having one at all.

"Yes, she was highly praised for it," Allen commented, biting his lip thoughtfully, as if he were wondering whether it was wroth it or not to continue the conversation. As the princess didn't look annoyed that he was speaking to her, he continued, "do you understand what the song meant then?"

"Yes." The words tumbled out of Eries' mouth though she had no idea why she'd said that. But an opportunity was an opportunity, however masked, and for one of those rare moments, she expressed what she truly felt, what she'd been holding back for years. "The story is about a princess who's always been shunned by those she loves and whom no man ever cast an eye upon. In this particular aria, she expresses her forbidden love for her sister's, er, fiancee, with whom she always quarrels. He believes that she hates him- but she doesn't." Allen looked at her, seeming strangely amused. She hurried on. "After, because she realizes she loves someone else, her sister breaks the engagement, but the princess still can't tell him how she feels. So she swears never to marry, and locks herself up in a convent, never to be seen a gain, never to learn whether or not he loves-" her speech was cut off when Allen pressed his warm lips to her own. She gasped lightly, which he took for acceptance, and threaded her fingers through his long, silky blond hair. Later she would wish that the moment had been frozen in time, but right then she was lost in his embrace, in his lips, in the way his hand lightly touched her cheek…

If this is heaven, no wonder no one wants to come back from the dead, she thought wondrously. Unlike her sisters, she had no past affairs or hopes of affairs to speak of (which, coincidentally enough, were with this same man) and the experience was quite new to her, though her body responded where her brain did not.

It was just a kiss (well, perhaps a bit more than JUST a kiss) but to Eries, it made up for a lifetime's worth of loneliness. For once, she was the one who was the center of someone else's universe. For once, she could submit to her heart, rather than her brain. For once she could revel in the feeling that she did not just love but was loved in return. It was just one kiss, but it made a world of difference.

When they reluctantly released each other, breathless, Allen bowed genteelly. "I must get back to work," he said sadly.

"Yes, of course. I shall see you tomorrow, I expect?" she replied, with the dignity befitting of a royal, but her words had a meaning of hope behind them.

"Yes, of course." He took her hand, kissing it gently, though it made her skin feel like it was on fire. He slowly backed out of the room, but paused at the exit.

"Oh, by the way," he added, as if he had suddenly remembered something. "My mother loved that particular opera we were discussing. Knew all the story by heart, and what all the songs meant, too."

"Yes?" Eries looked at him, puzzled, unsure of what he meant to tell her.

"Yes, well, the story is about a hunchback, whose daughter is dying of tuberculosis. That aria is about her coming death. Until tomorrow," he said, closing the door behind him.

Eries stared at it, her cheeks glowing in the darkness. Part of it was embarrassment at being found out, but the other part… Somehow, her family's lack of attention didn't matter so much anymore.