Title: Seams
Series: Quick, Painless and Easy
Author: Vashti
Rating: PG
Summary: Victory is in the eye of the beholder.
Length: ~900 words
Prompt: simmer
Author's Notes: See the first part for disclaimer and notes
AN2: Thank you to everyone who's shown interest in the series. I really am quite surprised! Truly it's been your feedback that pushed me to get this out sooner than later. Also, this is not beta'd, as usual (although I did delay a day in posting to at least give it a quick read-through). If you see something, please mention it. I'm always happy to have a spot beta.
Seams
by Vashti
The Queen's antechamber was surprisingly small. There was enough room to pace—as the Princess had proved—for a table not more than three, maybe four, feet long holding refreshments. There were also five cushioned chairs that were only comfortable for so long. Cain guessed they were meant for the royal pages, who wouldn't be sitting on them long enough to feel the discomfort. The food was probably for them, too, as well as the Queen. She probably picked up a sweetmeat or a glass of water before going into or coming out of her receiving room.
It wasn't a place meant for lingering.
He and Princess Azkadellia had been sitting (or standing or pacing) in the room for two hours. Pages had come and gone. DG had been through to see them twice. An agitated Ambrose had gone rushing through the room, a one man whirlwind that hadn't noticed them at all as he argued with himself and his notes. Ahamo had come and sat with his daughter for a spell before going back into the receiving room. None of the other men and women on the other side of those doors had come anywhere near, nor would they unless the Queen herself invited them.
They had not seen the Queen since she'd passed through antechamber into the receiving room beyond. She'd stopped, given Princess Azkadellia a kiss on both cheeks, then preceded the rest of the party (DG, the Consort, Ambrose, a Minister Cain didn't know and three pages) into the receiving room. They could hear everyone rising in the presence of their queen on the other side, even with the door separating them. They could hear the order to be seated. And they could hear the arguing.
Princess Azkadellia had still been wan and pale from her sleeplessness when she had fallen ill. The sleeplessness had returned after the incident with her father. It made her hesitant to be with company at night, which Cain didn't mind. He got to sleep outside the door. And she was once again wan and pale.
Her obvious lack of health had turned her eyes big and bright, like someone with a very high fever or a lasting sickness. She was always cool to the touch, or so DG fretted. She fretted that her sister's skin had taken on a luminescence; she seemed as fragile and fluttery as a butterfly fresh out of its cocoon. Cain thought she looked like someone who should be helped into and out of bed, who needed another's arm to make it down a hall. But she managed well enough. At any rate she refused all help, including DG's, whether she needed it or not. Sometimes that meant taking it slow. Sometimes it meant staying at a place longer than intended.
Standing next to the entrance to the receiving room, Cain watched the Princess Azkadellia perched in her chair. Her hands were folded in her lap.
Waiting.
The dark crown of braided hair and the russet gown the Queen had modified for her made the Princess seem paler than she was. She looked even more anxious. He was sure she was trying to hide it.
The door to the receiving room opened. Cain straightened and Princess Azkadellia rose from her chair as the Queen stood framed in the door. With an extended hand, she drew her daughter to her side. Cain fell in behind them. The rest of the royal retinue followed as the Queen set a brisk pace. She led them out of the room and into the narrow, back-halls that would bring them to the public areas of the palace. Cain couldn't follow their conversation. With no less than ten people behind him, none of them were very quiet even if they weren't making idle chitchat. They were the Queen's personal staff after all, and somewhere amongst them were the Consort and DG. But they could have been silent as the grave and still made too much noise, Cain reasoned. That many people wearing that much frippery just couldn't help themselves.
The Queen stopped just outside the door that would take them into the public area of the palace.
Cain raised a hand to stop the party before they could run into each other.
She turned to face the Princess Azkadellia. There weren't any true windows here, but the enchanted ones did a good job of pretending to let in daylight. Somehow, though, the princess managed to stand in her mother's shadow. The Queen took her daughter's hands and raised them to her lips before drawing her into a hug. The murmuring died down as everyone made an effort to disappear into the background.
When she pulled back, the Queen took Princess Azkadellia's face in her hands, framing it gently. "Now we can finally put this behind us and move forward. Rebuild the country. Rebuild our family."
Azkadellia smiled, limp and close-lipped. "Yes."
"Oh my daughter!" The Queen threw her arms around her eldest child again, pulling her into a fierce hug that the princess didn't have the strength to return. Cain watched as Princess Azkadellia closed her eyes, seemingly tired and defeated.
Disentangling herself, the Queen pushed open the door with her magic, setting the whole party in motion again. She tucked her child's arm into her own, patting the wrist.
From behind, it seemed to Cain that the princess lost some of her luminescent glow.