Return
The leaves fluttered with the wind outside his office. Gwendal was advised to take it easy on the account of his hurt leg from the war. It was going to take another year before he could get back fully into active duty – possibly another year without Conrart.
Gwendal could not blame him. He would not be surprised if Conrart left Shin Makoku forever.
The chief commander of Shin Makoku's army sighed, feeling quite lonely. Wolfram was currently accompanying Lady Celi to the Wincott estate, helping her to manage political affairs. Though the blond brat would not fully admit it, Gwendal knew Wolfram missed their brother as well. He knew his mother did.
There was a knock on the door.
"Enter," Gwendal sighed looking up, fully expecting his prized spy, Yosak Gurrier, to walk in and give a report of their enemies. The person who entered last the last person he thought he would see today.
"Conrart..." Gwendal breathed. The young soldier bowed low with the items in his hands, many of them rusty.
"Lord Von Voltaire," the boy murmured, "these are swords of a few men from the battle Luttenberg to return to the families of their owners." He laid the carefully wrapped swords upon the desk. Gwendal was bewildered. He visited the site of his worst nightmare?
"And the crest of the enemy," he added placing a carefully wrapped medallion upon the swords, "They are remnants of those who sacrificed themselves in the Luttenberg division." He reached inside his coat pocket and took out a thin sealed envelope, "Here too is a report of my 'mission' and the crest of the Earth Maoh."
Gwendal looked at these gifts. Conrart kept his head low like an obedient officer though he had been promoted commander of the army. Conrart continued on, "They are gifts for the honour of our family and the people who..." he hesitated, looking for the right word, "are like me and their families."
Gwendal looked at the remnants and eyed the report briefly, uncertain of what to think or say. He dropped them on his desk with a clatter and pulled a surprised Conrart into his embrace.
"The greatest gift of this honour," Gwendal murmured as he slowly pulled away, "is having you for a brother." A tear leaked from one happy brown eye as the brothers hugged again.
"I missed you so much..." Gwendal murmured shakily, a tear trickling from his eye.
"I missed you too, nii-san..." Conrart sobbed into his shoulder.