Rings

Summary: Incidents and revelations make for an interesting day.

Warnings: None

Disclaimer: I do not own Last Exile, no money is being made off this use.


Chapter 3: Something Borrowed, Something Blue

Muffled voices elsewhere in the house woke Alex up, out the window the sky was a clear vivid blue. He looked over to see Sophia sleeping comfortably pressed against him and smiled. He scratched his face wincing at feeling the coarse stubble over his chin. He'd never been able to stand the feeling of facial hair. Deciding he needed to get up, shave and see what all the commotion down stairs was about, he carefully moved away from Sophia. He rolled over reaching for his arm only to end up with a handful of something soft, and fluffy, that baaed at him. He blinked at the goat, his thinking still muffled by sleep, before he rolled over to search for his arm. It was no where to be seen.

Getting out of bed he showered, shaved, and dressed. He had gotten rather good at doing things one handed. He grabbed the goat tucking it under his arm before pulling the blankets over Sophia's shoulders, and heading quietly out the door. Down the hallway he paused at the sound of Vincent's voice in a parlor. He stopped at the door way and looked in. Vincent was on the phone, looking very stressed, and Wina was standing next to him glaring at him. "Emma, Emma! Will you listen to me for a minute?... I'm not here for the wedding! I'm here for the meeting! You know about the possible conflicts with two other planets!... I would have gone to your wedding but people started shooting at me! That tends to happen during a war!... I sent you card didn't I!" Wincing he pulled the phone away from his ear. Alex standing at the door could hear Emma's voice over the phone. Vincent covering the mouth piece turned to Wina. "Look, I'm sorry all right. I swear I did not know he'd never had coffee before. I always thought that was part of the problem." Alex had an immediate bad feeling about that bit. Vincent went back to phone conversation. Wina was still glaring at him. "Emma!... What?... They didn't have a ceremony to invite people to. No one was invited to anything! They just signed the paperwork, and bought the rings... I wouldn't bother Em, they wouldn't show up. They don't want a ceremony... Look you'll have to talk to Sophia about that... No I'm not going to go get her! I don't even know if she's awake yet..." Alex decided it would probably be a good idea to leave before he was noticed.

He headed into the hall where the reception was going to be held and found Dunya, in a chipper mood folding napkins. She smiled when she saw him. "Good morning! How is Sophia?"

"Still asleep. Where is Ingrid?" He asked the goat still tucked under his arm. Dunya hadn't noticed it.

She smiled more. "She's actually helping Mullin. He said he needed and extra hand with things in the garden."

"Ah, That explains it." He said setting the goat on the table. Dunya blinked at him. He raised his handless arm. "She took that a bit too literally." He answered.

Dunya brought her hands up to her face and groaned. "And things were going so well..."

"So she's calmed down about the sex talk then?" Alex asked sitting in a nearby chair.

Dunya glared at him for speaking so crassly, but knew better than to think saying anything would make a difference. "Aunt Eva called this morning to let us know they are going to be here early. She talked to Ingrid over the phone. I don't know what she said but Inga isn't treating boys like they are the enemy now."

They sat quietly for a few moments when Mullin walked in. He looked very irritated, and had some leaves and twigs in his hair. He was carrying Ingrid who also looked very unhappy, followed by Mischa, and Claus who returned the prosthetic to Alex.

Mullin set Ingrid down in front of her sister. "No one was hurt, but I think I killed some of the plants in the garden."

Dunya frowned at Ingrid. "Inga! You know better than to take things that don't belong to you without asking. What were you thinking?"

Ingrid pouted. "But Mr. Captain Alex was asleep so I couldn't ask...Mullin said he needed a hand, so I found one." She turned still pouting towards Alex who was putting the prosthetic on. Once finished he paused to flex the fingers as he did every morning. "I couldn't get it to work anyway." She said frowning at him.

"It doesn't work unless I'm wearing it." Alex said buttoning his shirt. "Everything is fine." He told Mullin and Dunya who relaxed.

"Nobody told me that." Ingrid said sitting in another chair still frowning.

Alex turned to her looking rather amused by the whole thing. "If you had asked, I would have told you." Remembering why he had paused on the way he turned to Claus. "How did Dio like the coffee?"

Claus blinked at him. "...How did you know about Dio drinking coffee?"

"Overheard Vincent talking about someone having coffee for the first time, and made a lucky guess. Where is he?"

"Lucciola took him for a walk around the area hoping it will help calm him down a little...He was..really hyper before they left. He was talking so fast it was hard to understand him."

Alex snorted. "So that's why Wina is in there glaring at Vince like she's hoping she can make his head combust?"

Claus nodded. "Other than that it's been very calm even with more people showing up for the meeting. Oh! Miss Hesperia is here, she has some things she wanted you to see before the meeting. I think she's in one of the sitting rooms with the Mad-Thanes."

Alex nodded standing up. Just then the door oped and Vincent walked in followed by Wina, both of them looking highly annoyed. He glared at Alex. "It's about time you woke up." Looked about to say something else but stopped himself sighing.

Alex walked past him ignoring him. Wina still standing beside Vincent elbowed him in the ribs and glared up at him. "Ow! What?...Oh.." He turned following Alex. "Er... Emma might be planing a baby shower for Sophia... I'm not sure exactly what she's got in mind.. But ah,... Don't be surprised if she shows up on the Silvana with a bunch of people you've never met... And please don't kill her if she does, it would upset Mom."

Alex rolled his eyes. "That is something she's going to have to discuss with Sophia. I don't want to hear about it."

He had to stop in the hall because Dio, who had apparently returned as fast as he could, nearly shoved a tiny foal into his face. He was grinning widely. "Look!" Lucciola trying to catch his breath behind him gave Alex an apologetic look.

"I don't care how small it is, there will be no horses on my ship. Put it back where you found it." Alex said moving to the side and walking past him.

"You let Wina keep birds!" Dio said pouting.

Alex turned and looked a Wina. "You have birds?"

Wina nodded. "Finches, Campbell looks after them for me when go somewhere. I though you knew."

"I had no idea." Alex replied. Dio standing between them, tiny horse still in his arms glared from one to the other. Alex turned back to him. "You already have a cat, Dio. I never said you couldn't have a horse, that isn't any of my business. You can have as many as you want, You just have to find somewhere else to keep them. There will be no horses on my ship." He turned to leave again but stopped looking back over his shoulder. "You will take that back to wherever you found it, and apologize to the owners before you cause any more trouble."

After he was out of sight, Dio sighed looking down at the foal. "I suppose you have to go back now." He walked back toward the door lost in thought. Lucciola followed him. They got to the door when Dio stopped grinning again. He turned to Lucciola. "Immelman has a farm Lucciola! I bet he wouldn't mind looking after a horse for us!"

Lucciola nodded. "We'll have to talk to them when we get back. Right now we should probably get him back to his mother."


Alex and Vincent eventually found Hesperia, David, Elisabeth, and Nestor, along with the guilds people who had accompanied Hesperia. They were setting up a small machine on the table. Some of the others nodded in greeting as they entered.

"Where is Lady Sophia?" Hesperia asked as she finished.

"Still sleeping. She may not be up for a while." Alex answered.

The woman nodded. "We will have to begin out her then. I'll show her what we have later if she wants to see it before the meeting. Lady Mad-Thane, will you please close the curtains"

Elisabeth nodded doing so, a guild's man turned off the lights. It the darkened room as they sat around the table. The small device lit up, an image appearing above it. "These images were recorded by our equipment from Exiles exterior cameras." The images showed small satellites in orbit over Earth being captured by almost thread like mechanical tentacles, and carefully taken apart by Exile. Hesperia paused the machine, and enlarged two separate images. The images were of two different satellites. Each had a different insignia on it. "With some research into the matter we discerned that the first satellite shown on the left is of Venusian origin, the second is from Mars. We noticed them before, but until recently we thought they were only part of the debris left from ages ago."

"So then, those are what's blocking the signal Exile is trying to send?" David asked frowning thoughtfully.

"We believe so. There are hundreds of them in orbit. Exile seems to be trying to find a way to shut all of them down. Look at this." She switched the images to one of Exile's interior several of the satellites from both planets could be seen completely taken apart, and still being examined by the ships computers.

Alex leaned back in his chair frowning himself. "Mars, and Venus must be using them to suppress Earth technology, but Prester technology had become so far removed from its Earth origins the satellites aren't having an effect on anything but Exile... And even then the effects are minor." He paused before turning to Hesperia. "Alvis has said she's trouble communicating with Exile, Could the satellites be causing interference there too?"

"It is possible, but Miss Hamilton's connection to Exile is in itself nearly impossible to comprehend. It is... almost as if they have a bond like some suggest exist between twins, only on a much higher level. We still have no idea how any of this works, or how it was achieved. Too many records from Exile's first departure from Earth have been lost." Hesperia answered. She switched off the machine.

"I suppose there isn't much more to discuss here until the Earth delegates arrive, and we can learn more about the relations with the other planets." Nestor said as the lights were turned back on. Several others nodded.


Early in the afternoon, Dio was asleep laying on his stomach on one of the sofas. He'd 'crashed' right after lunch. The mechanics had gone with Tatiana and Alister to visit the farm. The children had gone with them so they would be out of the way while Dunya, and the others stayed to continue preparations for the wedding.

Vincent looked about frowning. Alex and Sophia had vanished after lunch. He'd looked everywhere with the exception of the guest room they had been given, and the more he thought about he wondered if perhaps it would be best just to wait for them to show up again. Sophia after waking up had been in a very pleasant mood, and very...affectionate to Alex when she thought no one else was paying attention. Alex's response to her had been enthusiastic to say the least. Vincent decided to wait for them to show up again, and did his best not to think about it.

He was soon distracted by a commotion outside, and went to investigate. When he got the front lawn, he saw that the group from the farm had returned now accompanied by more people he hadn't met yet. Seeing how happy Dunya was at their arrival, he realized they must be her relatives. Having nothing better to do he walked over to greet them.

"Ah! Aunt Eva, Uncle Peter, this is Admiral Alzey. He's here for a meeting they are having but he'll be staying for the wedding." Dunya smiled as she introduced them. Eva, and Peter were both tall, and broad figured, with dark but greying hair, Peter had a long, thick beard. Vincent gave a small bow in greeting.

"Ah!" Peter gave a wide grin. "A ship I was on was in a battle against you before I retired!" He gave Vincent a strong, handshake that left his arm aching a bit. "Your skills are quite impressive, You'll have to forgive me I'm afraid, for expecting you to be much older."

Eva roughly elbowed her husband in the ribs. "You will not spend all of your niece's wedding talking about the war." She said sternly.

Peter, apparently used to this continued smiling. "Of course, of course."

"Why don't we all go inside and relax. It must have been a long trip for you." Dunya said turning to the house.

As they went to the door, Vincent found himself partly surrounded by the mechanics. "Where are the captain, and XO?" Kostavi asked looking at Dunya's uncle a bit nervously. Vincent could understand why, there was a good chance many of Dunya's relatives had fought, and been lost in the war. The Silvana had more victories, and kills to its name than any other ship. While Peter seemed ready to let the war stay in the past, others might not be so willing. Peter was also a good deal larger than even Godwin, and from what Dunya had said most of her family was like that.

Vincent shook his head. "I haven't seen either of them since lunch...they might be...napping or something." He whispered back, the mechanics who had all been listening closely all started snickering knowing from his tone that he didn't think they were 'napping' at all.

In the siting room they group discussed the wedding, most of the talk concerned other members of Dunya's family who would be arriving closer to the wedding.

"Pete, and Catherine wanted to come with us, but work is keeping them a bit longer so they will be here with their families the day before the wedding." Eva said speaking of her own children who were both several years older than Dunya. "Oh! I nearly forgot!" Eva reached into the bag she had brought with her and pulled out a ring box. "Here it is." She said handing the box to Dunya. "We had to have them both resized of course, but I thought you might appreciate this more."

"Mom, and Dad's rings..." Dunya tears seeping out carefully closed the box and handed it to Mullin before throwing her arms around her aunt. Smiling Eva returned the hug.

"That reminds me." Lavie said looking around. "Sophia wanted to see Dunya's dress, but I haven't seen her since lunch."

"I haven't seen either her or Alex." Claus said frowning. "I wonder where they are."

"I think they went... to get some rest." Vincent said hoping no one noticed how odd he sounded saying it. "I'll..go see if they're awake. Probably best no to let them sleep all day anyway." He finished getting out the door before anyone else could say anything. Walking down the hall he ran his hands through his hair sighing. "Well if that wasn't completely obvious, I don't know what was.."

Reaching Alex and Sophia's room he knocked wondering if there would be a response. "It's open!" Sophia's voice called from inside. Sighing with relief that they weren't 'occupied' he went in. They were sitting on the bed Sophia sitting at the edge slowly swinging her legs over the carpet, Alex behind her running a brush through her hair, which looked a bit damp, a hair tie hanging out of his mouth. Ignoring Vincent's snickering, he mumbled something to Sophia. Vincent couldn't make it out but Sophia apparently understood. "Well,... I can't imagine it would be that difficult to find someone willing to come to the ship to teach." She said, careful not to turn her head as she smiled in greeting at Vincent. Alex mumbled something else, Sophia sighed. "You aren't nearly as bad as you like to pretend you are." She said rolling her eyes. "And will you take that out of your mouth? What if you end up swallowing it or choking?" She added with irritation. Setting the brush down, and beginning to braid her hair Alex mumbled something else.

Vincent looked at Sophia. "Er..."

Sophia rolled her eyes again. "He said he keeps losing them if he does that."

"Ah,... Please don't tell me you've been up here for nearly three hours talking about educating a kid that's not even here yet."

"Of course not." Alex said finally having taken the hair tie out of his mouth, as he finished braiding Sophia's hair. "Sophia wanted a bath."

"And?" Vincent asked raising an eyebrow.

"The rest is none of your business." Alex answered glaring. "We're talking about education already becauseit's important." He added changing the subject. "Just because Sophia, and I are happy to spend the rest our lives on the Silvana fighting pirates doesn't mean our child will be."

Sophia nodded. "There are plenty of boarding schools for when they're old enough, but until then no one aboard the Silvana qualified to teach. We'll have to find a teacher willing to live on the ship."

Vincent nodded thoughtfully. "Dunya's aunt and uncle are here. They're talking in the sitting room with the yellow walls. I think they're getting ready to head home soon. Lavie wanted to know if you still wanted to see Dunya's dress."

"Oh! I forgot all about that!" Sophia said looking around to search for her shoes. "Could you go tell them I'll be down in a few moments, please?"

"No problem." Vincent said getting up. "I'd like to see their farm myself while I'm here. I don't really get to see that kind of thing very often." He added as he stepped out the door.

"Will you come? We haven't had time to see the farm yet." Sophia asked slipping her shoes on. Absent mindedly she reached up to her neck and blinked finding the familiar chain with Alex, and Euris' rings not there. Before she could get anywhere close to worry Alex dangled it in front of her face.

"You left it on your bed side table." He smiled watching her obvious relief as she slipped the chain over her head. "I suppose I should go, to keep an eye on Vincent at least. Maybe it will get Lavie to stop sending those passive-aggressive letters." He was confused about that. While Claus was no longer hostile toward Alex, as he had been after finding out just how involved with the Valca family Alex had been, he still kept his distance. Lavie on the other hand was... Alex wasn't sure what she was trying to do. Sophia had suggested it was perhaps that Lavie's desire for family was stronger than whatever anger she might have toward him. She had also pointed out that Alex one of the few people who could, and would honestly tell her what her father was like. He wondered if the two of them ever argued about him.

Walking down the hall Alex almost literally ran into Vincent who looked a bit panicked. He grabbed Alex's shoulders. "You don't want to go down there."

"What is wrong with you now, Alzey?" Alex asked glaring. Sophia looked a bit worried.

Vincent turned looking back behind him before he answered. "Instructor Dalton is here."

"That old windbag is still alive?" Alex asked walking past Vincent.

Before following him Sophia sympathetically patted Vincent's hand. "I'm sure he can't still be that angry."

"I bet he can." Vincent replied morosely following them.

Reaching the sitting room, they could hear the conversation from inside. "I'm glad to have your support on this David. With the financial backing I've managed to get we may pull off some decent academies here yet."

"They way things are going. They will be a necessity in the future. Many countries are building faculties for airship construction." David said thoughtfully. He nodded in greeting at the trio as they entered.

Instructor Dalton turned to look and stopped going a bit stiff as he recognized the new arrivals. Seeing Sophia's obvious condition he glared at both Alex and Vincent who were on either side of her.

Vincent suddenly feeling like he'd just got caught trying to skip class again stepped away quickly. "He did it. He did it, I had nothing to do with it!" Sophia started laughing and Alex rolled his eyes.

"That is pathetic Vince, it's a wonder you got away with anything while we were at the academy." Alex said leading Sophia over to an unoccupied Sofa.

Nestor looked highly amused. "There seems to be some history here." He said grinning.

"They destroyed my office at the Royal Academy with a small steam cannon, and a jar of mustard." Dalton answered flatly giving Alex and Vincent a look that could curdle milk. "And that was one of their... uncreative offences."

Tatiana, and Alister sitting on another sofa both started choking on the cookies they hade been eating. After clearing their throats they both stared wordlessly at Alex and Vincent.

"No one ever proved it was us." Alex said unaffected by the accusation. Vincent on the other hand was looking rather sheepish. Sophia was still trying not to laugh.

Realizing things were about to go south quickly Dunya stood up. "Well it was wonderful meeting you, but it is getting a bit late. We really should be getting home... You wanted to see the dress didn't you Sophia?"

Still trying not to laugh Sophia stood, nodding. "Of course. I'd like to see the farm too, since we haven't had the time to visit." She turned to Instructor Dalton. "I'm glad to see you are doing well."

Dalton stood himself bowing slightly. "I wish you luck Your Highness. If your child is anything like its father you'll need it."

Sophia Smiled brightly. People usually said things like that after finding out Alex was the father. "Thank you. You were talking about building academies here, right? If there is anything we can help with please let us know."

"Thank you, Your Highness." He turned to Alex "I'm probably more surprised than you are to find I actually mean this, but I am glad to see you doing well."

"Thank you, Sir." Alex said smirking slightly. As the group heading for the farm left Alex, being the last one paused at the door. "I am sorry about your office. We were trying to hit the wall, but our aim was off."

"That's unusual for you." Dalton said in a surprisingly calm conversational tone.

"If we hadn't been as drunk as we were, we never would have thought it was a good idea in the first place." Alex replied before an irritated Vincent pulled him away.

Tatiana and Alis were looking at Sophia accusingly. Sophia was unfazed as she hooked her arm with Alex's still smiling. "You knew didn't you?" Tatiana said frowning. "That was one of most talked about things on campus, even when we were there, and you knew the whole time."

Sophia giggled. "Would you have believed me if I told you?"

Tatiana and Alis looked from Alex to Vincent, and then at each other before sighing. "No." They confessed together. Both girls seemed to have a bit more respect for Vincent afterwards though.