ONE
The very first night, after Azkadelia had been saved, the witch vanquished, everyone stayed in the Tower. DG found she couldn't sleep. Not that the room wasn't comfortable, it was, though decorated in a somewhat sinister way. She just felt like something wasn't right.
Opening her door, she was somewhat less that surprised to spot Cain, ever the protector, leaning against the wall across the hall. But he wasn't looking at her. He was looking down the corridor.
DG stepped out, but he halted her with a gesture. "Listen," he whispered.
The sounds of sobs reached her ears. Heartbroken, heartwrenching sobs. Now really concerned, DG slipped barefoot down the hall, following the noise, half-sensing Cain behind her. She came to the room she knew as her sister's chamber. The door was slightly ajar.
Peeking carefully, DG saw her mother seated on the bed, her father beside her. Kneeling on the floor, head buried in their mother's lap, Azkadelia sobbed out her heart. Their father gently stroked her hair, and now DG could hear their low murmuring voices, reassuring, forgiving, trying to comfort Az. The elder sister rocked in the throes of remorse from more than a dozen years of evil deeds.
Even as DG thought to herself that they weren't Az's fault, their mother expressed the same sentiment. "Not your fault, my darling, my jewel. You're free now….."
DG stepped back, not wanting to intrude on a moment she felt was so important. Her eyes met Cain's, whose grim expression was as sympathetic as he ever got. With a sigh, DG headed back to her own room, the Tin Man her silent shadow.
TWO
The Queen, having explained that Glitch, or rather Ambrose, was in fact family as well as loyal retainer, did her very best to find a few honest Alchemists. Several months after the Double Eclipse and the restoration of the Throne, they were now prepared to try and restore his brain to him.
Azkadelia had done everything in her power to support the restoration of the O.Z. Her Longcoats were absorbed back into the standing military, her resources thrown into the job of fixing the damage done. While DG struggled to get back her memories, and not a little bit struggled to fit into the role of Princess again, Azkadelia became the model of retiring modesty.
Actually, the older sister expressed fear at her reception at the hands of the populace, and so the Royal Family had refrained from making any official announcements about heirs and such.
But still, DG thought things were settling down well enough. She was getting to know her real family, everything was going well with the restoration of the Zone. Even Cain had stopped hovering.
So when DG awoke again in the middle of the night, disturbed, the night before the attempt to give Glitch back his brain, she was more than a little confused.
Rising, she again slipped out of bed, out of her room. This time, no Tin Man shadow followed as she ghosted down the hall.
Pausing, she placed her ear to the door to Az's room. Again, she heard moaning sobs.
Gently opening the door and slipping in, DG hurried over to the bed, pulling Az into her arms and holding her sister while she cried.
"Tell me, Az. Tell me what's the matter?"
Az gulped, trying to talk through her tears. "I did that to him! I ordered it, I stood there…." Through her broken words, DG learned more about the girl her sister had been. How Glitch, or rather Ambrose, had been the Queen's young cousin, a devoted retainer, a brilliant young man, handsome and charming in the elder princess's young eyes. How Azkadelia had felt the first stirrings of love for him. She'd studied and worked, trying to make him see her as a girl, not as a princess, or a child. And then how the witch seized on those innocent, pure feelings, twisting them, turning Azkadelia's heart bitter and black. How the witch made Azkadelia believe that seizing Ambrose, tearing out his brain, had been revenge for a rejection that had never actually happened.
DG hugged her sister close, trying to ease her regret. "It'll be OK," she whispered, dropping kisses on Az's brow. "Tomorrow, we'll make it all better…"
Az shook her head, shuddering. "But that doesn't mean he'll ever forgive me…."
DG hugged her tighter, unable to answer that one way or another.
THREE
DG laid back against the pillows, sweating and exhausted. Looking up at her husband, she snarled, "We are never doing that again."
Wyatt Cain chuckled a little at the determined look in his wife's eyes. Apparently, even fifteen hours of labor weren't enough to smother her wit. She'd done a tremendous job, he thought, although his fingers, crushed in her grip all these hours, might never be the same again.
The Royal Midwife and her assistants wrapped up their work, presenting the Crown Princess and her Consort with their firstborn daughter.
"Her Majesty the Queen, His Grace Sir Ahamo, and the Dowager Princess Azkadelia!" announced one of DG's ladies.
Soon the whole family was exclaiming over the newborn. The baby girl already had tufts of soft black hair, like her mother, and her father's startlingly blue eyes.
DG smiled as she watched her sister used the end of a braid to tickle the baby's chin. "What will you name her?" Azkadelia asked.
DG glanced up at Wyatt, who nodded. "We thought we'd name her Delia."
Az's head shot up. "For me?"
"Yeah." DG grinned. For her, this day couldn't get much better. Besides the birth of her child, the child made from the love she shared with her wonderful Tin Man, she was finally getting to see her sister cry for another reason after all these years.
Tears of joy.
END.
AN: ok, this isn't quite as fleshed out as I'd like, but I could write a NOVEL about Azkadelia, and her probable PTSD and recovery.