Author's note: I do not own Trinity Blood or its characters. This is set about three years after the end of the anime and is a prequel to The Wedding of the Century.
Diplomatic Duties
Caterina sighed and curled up in the window seat of her state room. She was thankful that she had a room to herself for this journey. It was likely to be the only place she could get any peace. As important as this trip was, it was also a headache. She was leading a group of Vatican officials to the capitol of the Empire in order to open peace treaty negotiations. The party consisted of both those who were in favor of the negotiations as well as a number of hardliners who were completely against them. It was hoped that the trip would help change the hard liners' minds. Caterina wasn't that hopeful about it.
However, she was in charge of this circus, so she was going to have to deal with them. Caterina sighed again. It was times like these when she missed Abel the most. It had been almost three years now since he and Ion had left in search of Cain. Caterina hadn't heard from him in almost six months now. Of course, that wasn't uncommon. Letters from Abel were rare, but at least they let her no that he was still alive. She had sent him a letter or two herself, though that was harder unless she knew that he and Ion were staying in one area for awhile. Caterina knew it was something that Abel needed to do, but she still missed him. He had been her main confidant for years.
Since rescuing her that night, Abel had been the one that she shared her hopes and fears with. He was one of the few people who she ever allowed to see her vulnerabilities. Abel she trusted with both her life and her heart. Though, she had never told him about the last one. Abel wasn't ready to risk his heart in that way yet, and truthfully, Caterina could see far too many issues to bring it up. But she still found being in his presence soothing and comforting. She had the feeling that she would need both comfort and calm before this trip was over.
Seth was looking forward to the delegation coming from the Vatican for a number of reasons, but mostly, she wanted to meet Caterina Sforza. She didn't know much about the woman other than the fact that Caterina had been willing to take chances in order to make an alliance with the Empire and that Abel was very fond of her. That was enough to pique Seth's interest. Abel had credited this woman with being part of what pulled him out of the grief that had consumed him since Lilith's death. Seth wanted to know just what sort of woman could do that for her brother. When Abel had been in the Empire earlier, he hadn't been entirely healed from that loss, but he had been healing. Seth owed Caterina for that.
Of course, the matter of the peace treaty was important as well, but she could trust Mirka to handle most of that. They had already come up with some basic plans that should work. Peace hopefully would not be a futile dream. Still, Seth was much more interested in the woman who would lead the Vatican's delegation. This was going to be a very interesting visit.
Caterina bit back a sigh as her party wound its way through the streets of Byzantium. The guide who had met their airship was taking the long way around to the palace so they could show off the capitol city of the Empire. It was a very pretty city, and if Caterina wasn't quite so tired, she would be enjoying this journey more. They had just turned a corner when a little girl caring a tray appeared. She smiled at Caterina.
"Would you like a cup of tea, lady?" The dark haired child smiled up at her.
Caterina paused. There was something about the girl's eyes that seemed far older than they should be. Then a stray bit of memory trigger, and Caterina found herself smiling a little nervously.
"That would be lovely, Seth."
The girl laughed and poured her a cup of tea. "So you've been warned. That's no fun. I'll be seeing you later of course, but I wanted a chance to meet you without all of the hoopla."
Caterina did not get a chance to reply to that as the group had noticed her lagging behind. Seth pressed the cup of tea into her hands and winked before disappearing down the street. The rest of the trip to the palace passed in a blur. Thankfully, there wouldn't be a formal presentation at court until tomorrow. Caterina was quite happy to have a quite meal in her room, a hot bath, and then curl up in the window seat with a book. She wasn't quite ready for sleep yet, but she wasn't really up for company either. At least, not the sort of company the rest of the diplomatic party would be.
However, she wasn't too surprised when Seth appeared in her rooms. She had been expecting something of the sort since they had first met. Seth hopped into the window seat, settling herself across from Caterina.
"You aren't exactly what I had expected."
Caterina met the empress' eyes. "Oh?"
"Have you ever looked at the official information on yourself? You come off as a rather bland woman who is an effective diplomatic. There's no mention of that fact that you've ever been anything other than a proper daughter of the Holy See. I, of course, know better, given you've had some contact with my people to arrange joint missions, but really other than that and what my brother's told me, which really isn't much, I don't have much else to go on."
"What has Abel told you about me?" Caterina was more than a little curious about this.
Seth shrugged. "As I said, not much. I know you met shortly after you had lost your parents, and that you befriended him. I know that you made him a part of the AX. You've given him a home, and you've protected him. And he's awfully fond of you."
She found herself blushing a little. "Has he mentioned how many times he's saved my life or how much I rely on him? I honestly don't know what I would do without him. Since the night he saved me from my parents' assassins, Abel's been one of the few people I know I can trust completely."
"You're not afraid of him." It was statement, not a question.
Caterina shook her head. "How could I be? From the beginning Abel had been nothing but kind towards me. Besides, once you get to know him, no one could think that Abel wants to hurt you. It's not in his nature. He had fought when he's had to, not because he likes it."
Seth smiled broadly at her. "You'll do, Caterina Sforza. You'll do."
Caterina blinked, realizing that she just passed some sort of test. Seth just continued smiling.
"I'm going to look forward to getting to know you. I'll let you get some rest." The empress hopped off the window seat. "I'll see you around."
Caterina shook her head and finished her tea. It was definitely going to be an interesting trip.
However, the next morning, interesting wouldn't be the word she would use to describe things. Irritating, exasperating, obnoxious, overbearing, and frustrating were though. Breakfast with the rest of the diplomatic delegation had not gone well, and the day had only gotten worse from there. Caterina was more than thankful of the fact that she was the only one here who had the authority to negotiate terms. She was seriously contemplating asking the Imperial diplomats to simply confine the rest of the delegation to their rooms and ignore them. Even the people who were supporting the treaty were causing her headaches.
Breakfast was followed by their formal presentation to the court. Caterina managed to get through that without anyone causing any major diplomatic incidents. She was half certain that at least two of the courtiers had given her sympathetic looks. At the reception that followed, Caterina circulated around the room, doing her best to keep an eye on all of the troublemakers. She couldn't help noticing that there were some slight differences in the way she was treated versus the rest of the delegation. No matter who she encountered, Caterina found herself being treated politely and with wary respect. There were even a few courtiers who were down right pleasant. Her colleagues did not fair so well. There was nothing that could spark an incident, but Caterina was clearly getting a warmer welcome than anyone else.
The reception ended shortly before lunch. Caterina was sorely tempted to escape to her rooms and eat on her own, but she needed to see what the others were thinking now that their formal introduction was over with. She had a meeting after lunch with Mirka Fortuna to set the schedule for the rest of the negotiation meetings. Spirited discussion would be the politest way to classify the conversation at lunch. Caterina did her best to referee, but since her opinions on the matter were well known, more often than not she came under attack as well. It was almost a relief to escape to her meeting.
The Duchess of Moldova was a much more pleasant company. She provided tea and a number of sweets to nibble on while they hashed out the schedule of events. Caterina found this was easily accomplished and had the urge to linger afterwards, not wanting to go back to the chaos that she knew was waiting for her. Mirka seemed to understand this, and quickly engaged her in conversation about some of the people Ion had met during his travels. Caterina regretted having their companionable hour to end.
Her life quickly found a schedule here in Byzantium. Caterina took her breakfast with the rest of the delegation and then they were in negotiations until lunch. After lunch, Caterina had meetings with various members of both her delegation and the Empire's negotiators. She had tea with Mirka and Seth at four-ish, and most of the evenings were spent at some sort of social event or another. It wasn't particularly fun, but they were making progress. A number of the hardliners were starting to shift some of their opinions. Caterina hoped it was only a matter of time before they could get down to real work of creating a peace treaty.
The social events were the worst. Caterina did her level best to look interested as once again she had been trapped between a crotchety old priest and one of the varies Imperial nobles, trying to keep things from getting ugly. When she noticed Father Sassone making his way towards her, she hoped it was a potential escape. He interrupted the conversation and drew her off to the side of the room. Caterina smiled at the man. He was slightly older than she was and had been one of Francesco's supporters for years.
"What can a do for you, Father?"
He smiled at her, and Caterina felt an odd fission of nervousness run down her spine. A glint of metal was the only warning she had before the knife cut into her. Caterina didn't even remember screaming.
Asthe swore viciously as she tried to stop the bleeding. They did not need the head of the Vatican diplomatic delegation dying on them. Besides, she rather liked Caterina Sforza. But Asthe could see that there wasn't much she could do. The cardinal was beyond medical help at this point, and Asthe didn't think that she could survive the change either if turning the woman into a Methuselah was an option.
"Bring her. Quickly."
Asthe was startled to find the empress beside her, but she didn't question the order. The viscountess followed the petite empress through a maze of corridors, keeping up only due to the speed granted Methuselah. Asthe didn't recognize the room they stopped in, but she set Cardinal Sforza down on the counter were the empress told her to.
"Make sure no one interrupts us."
Asthe nodded and went to guard the door. She just hoped the empress knew what she was doing.
Seth gently stroked Caterina's hair. They really only had one option to save her, and Seth couldn't let her brother lose another woman that he loved. She had to try this.
"Caterina?"
The woman blinked pain filled eyes at her. Seth couldn't tell how aware she was.
"There's something I can try that might save you. I can't promise that it will work. You may die anyway. And if you live, it's going to change things for you."
Caterina managed something between a grimace and a smile. "Go ahead. I'm not ready to give up on life yet."
Seth nodded. She hoped this would work; they were running out of time. While it took her mere minutes to get everything set up, Seth worried over every second lost. Finally everything was ready, and she began the process of infusing Caterina with the nanomachines. Then the only thing left to her to do was wait.
Caterina fought her way to consciousness only to find herself tucked in a comfortable bed under almost a mountain of warm, soft covers. The last thing she remembered was pain and Seth offering her a choice. Now she wasn't even sure were she was. She also found that she didn't have the strength to move more than a few inches. However, her movements seemed to have alerted someone to the fact that she was awake.
Asthe Asran's face came into view. "Are you awake, your eminence?"
"Caterina, please." Her voice was hoarse, but Caterina didn't think she could deal with formality right now. "Yes. I think so at least."
The viscountess helped her sit up, propped up against pillows then produced a tray with a cup of tea. "How are you feeling?"
"Tired. A little sore too."
"That's to be expected. You've been asleep for three days while you recovered."
"Three days?"
Asthe nodded. "You were very badly hurt. I'm still not sure how the empress saved you. Speaking of the empress, I need to let her know you've woken up. Will you be all right alone for a few minutes?"
Caterina nodded. She leaned back against the pillows and sipped her tea. She was pretty sure she knew what Seth had done to save her. It would change things for Caterina, but she was too glad to be alive to really care. She hadn't been ready to die, no matter how tired she was. There was still too much she had yet to do or experience. She just hoped that nothing had gone terribly wrong during the time she was asleep. Caterina could imagine all sorts of trouble that the delegation could cause or get into. Hopefully, Seth could tell her what had been happening in her absence.
Seth, herself, arrived an hour or so after Caterina had woken up. She'd fussed over Caterina some before settled down to the serious issues at hand.
"Your delegation is still here. We've let some of them see you while you were still asleep but always escorted. I don't know if the man who tried to kill you was working alone. We also didn't tell them just how badly you were injured. At this point, only you, Asthe, Mirka, and I know how extensive your injuries were. You and I are the only ones who know just what I did to save you."
"And the negotiations?"
"Stalled for now. I'm not sure if we'll be able to accomplish anything more on this trip quite frankly."
Caterina nodded. That was understandable. With this sort of incident occurring, people's focus would no longer be on the negotiations at hand. There were half a dozen things that needed to be done, including an investigation into the assassination attempt itself.
"You should be well enough to get up tomorrow I think." Seth frowned. "But I'm not sure I want you going back to your old quarters even then. We don't know if that man was acting alone, and I'm not about to risk you."
Caterina sighed. "But keeping me from them is not going to help matters either. It will foster distrust. There are a few people in the delegation that I know I can trust. I'll set up a discreet guard for the rest of the trip. Once I'm back home, I can have the AX look into the incident and set up something more permanent if necessary."
Seth sighed. "I don't like it, but I don't see what choice we have."
Then she reached up and cupped Caterina's face in her hands. "Be careful, sister. I don't like losing family."
When Caterina blinked at that, Seth just smiled.
"You were family before, you know, but you're doubly so now."
Seth released her and adjusted the blankets around Caterina's form. "Go back to sleep, Caterina. It will be another few days before your back to full strength. We'll talk again before you leave, so I can tell you what to expect in the way of changes."
After the other woman had left, Caterina sighed and closed her eyes. Sleep sounded good. She wasn't ready to face the changes in her life just quite yet. And Caterina knew that things were going to change.