Summary: What was in the letter Danica wrote to Andreios? What was he thinking?
Disclaimer: Neither Danica nor Andreios are mine. Nothing is really.
Other: I like one-shots. They're so simple. You just write them and you're done.
To put things simply, Andreios was worried. He had gone in to his Tuuli Thea's room, but it was empty. She could be at the market, but it was strange for her to be gone so long.
Lost in his thoughts, Andreios nearly ran over Eleanor, Danica's seamstress and friend.
"There you are! I've been looking all over for you. Milady Shardae asked me to give this to you," she said, shoving an envelope at him.
"Have you seen her?" Andreios asked, glancing at the letter in his hand.
"Not since yesterday M'lord." She brushed past him. "Excuse me, I've been looking for you so long I'm behind on a dress I should have finished this morning." She hurried off the direction she had come, glancing back at him and shaking her head.
Andreios opened the letter carefully, fearing the worst. She loved someone else, she had been coerced by the enemy, something, anything-
My dear Rei, it read. I had hoped I would be back by now, but if you are reading this, I am not.
My old friend, I have something I must tell you, and I do not know how to be gentle. I will say this: if what I am doing succeeds, we will soon have peace.
Andreios stopped and put the letter on the ground with his foot over it. He didn't at all like where this was going. He wouldn't have had the courage to pick it up again, but for the fact that Danica still was missing.
I will now tell you where I am, but you must finish reading this to understand. Promise me Rei.
"I promise." He muttered, beginning to move.
I am at the Serpiente palace-
"No!" Andreios screamed and dropped the letter, coming to a halt. He could feel the adrenaline coursing through his body, the instinct to freeze, to run, to fight, but most of all, first of all, to find his Danica. He might have left the letter on the floor to rot but that he was sure someone else would find it, and panic, as he was doing now. But he was not like the other guards, and he overcame himself to finish the letter.
Andreios sat down heavily, staring at that so innocent piece of paper. Several times he put out his hand, drawing back as if the damn thing was a flame. Then all at once he called himself a fool and grabbed it, to resume reading.
-with Zane Cobriana.
Andreios swayed. Of course, of course, the Mistari, that evening so long ago- when the prince had been in her quarters, had they decided this then? Had they been planning since? Bitterly, he understood why she had not named him at her ceremony. She had decided then. This was the action, what "no one would expect." He might have tied her to a chair, no one would expect that, either.
Andreios, Zane and I have decided to take the Mistari's counsel. I am to be his Naga, and he will be my Allistair.
I'm sorry, I know we always thought we would be together, but I can't allow this to go on. This endless war- begun who knows when for who knows what reasons will end, if I have to sacrifice myself to do it.
Please, support me in this. If you wish to come, Zane has ordered his people not to shoot. Please come, and please come alone.
I have no more tears to shed.
Danica Shardae
Tuuli Thea
Andreios stood. He would leave at once.