Gwendal held out his hand outside the window to let the courier pigeon alight on his finger. As usual, the little creature's foot had a small piece of parchment tied to it securely but not too tightly with string. Gwendal untied the band, took the small slip of paper and then set the faithful bird onto a small but well-kept feeding station to let it help itself to various grains and fresh water. When he saw that the bird had started to eat and drink, Gwendal started reading the note. It said, "We've found it, Your Excellency. His Majesty must set out at once."
Giesela softly knocked on the door of the room Yuuri and Wolfram were staying in at the infirmary and it was Yuuri who opened the door. Wolfram was still asleep and Yuuri didn't have the heart to wake him because after all, the king thought, pregnant men needed their sleep, never mind how utterly ludicrous that sounded in Yuuri's Earth-bred mind.
"Giesela. Just the person I wanted to see," Yuuri said amiably to the green-haired healer before he closed the door as softly as he could behind him.
"Your Majesty, about -- " Giesela was cut off by a loud "Your Majesty!" from one of the young pages who served as messengers around the castle.
Yuuri smiled at the young boy and asked, "What is it?"
"Your Majesty, Lord Gwendal is asking to speak with you. About His Excellency Lord Wolfram. He says it's an emergency!" the poor page managed between drawings of breath, his voice hollow after having run so fast. He even had his hands on his knees and he was panting heavily.
Yuuri turned to Giesela but she only shook her head and gave him a small smile, telling him that whatever it was she was going to say, it could wait in favor of Gwendal's demands. If this was what she was hoping it was, the thing she feared that she wanted to talk about with Yuuri will be settled.
"I'll be right there," Yuuri said to the boy. "Excuse me, Giesela,"
"Of course, sire. I hope that Lord Gwendal brings good news," Giesela ventured.
Yuuri smiled wryly. "I do, too. Anything but a war I'll be fine with," Yuuri answered.
When Yuuri and the boy had left for Gwendal's office, Giesela whispered, "I hope so, Your Majesty. I certainly hope so."
Gwendal never paced. He was a very efficient man and it showed whether he was making allocations from the national budget, surveying land for roads and infrastructure, or knitting plushy (and horribly disfigured) animals out of yarn. He was not one to waste anything, most of all his movements. All too often Gwendal was appalled at how people seemed to waste their energy doing senseless things like… talking or gesturing. Gwendal spoke; he expressed himself. Gwendal acted; he didn't just move about. Which is why Gwendal never paced. Pacing wasn't productive -- it didn't stomp away the apprehension; it did absolutely nothing to ward off the dread and the excitement he was feeling; but now he did it anyway, walking to and fro behind his desk, waiting impatiently for Yuuri.
Yuuri opened the door, thanked the page before he excused him from his presence and smiled widely until Gwendal asked him to sit down. Yuuri noticed the brisk movements his brother-in-law were making but without another word he did as he was told. Something told Yuuri he will need to sit down after he hears what Gwendal was about to say.
Gwendal turned his back on Yuuri and placed his hands on the window sill, his eyes watching the courier pigeon as the bird washed off the dust of the long journey in the birdbath beside the feeding-station.
"You wanted to speak to me, Gwendal?" Yuuri asked.
"Your Majesty, it is no secret to you that we allow marriages between people of the same gender in this world,"
Yuuri smiled, baffled. Gwendal was not going to tell him that the societal structure just turned on a dime and that his marriage to Wolfram was null and void now, was he? Yuuri clenched his fists. Intimidated or not, he was not going to let anyone come between him and Wolfram. Not now, not ever. In his head, Yuuri was already planning to take Wolfram to his original world. They would brave anything society had to say. They would –
"Have you also noticed that there aren't too many of them around?" Gwendal finished.
Huh? Yuuri thought. There really were not a lot of couples like him and Wolfram that he'd seen who were married and happy like they were. Wait. He'd NEVER met any other couples like himself and Wolfram. So? What did that have anything to do with anything? Was Gwendal telling him now that they were just more open-minded about that but that most people preferred to be heterosexual anyway? Where was this discussion going?
"What happened to them then?" Yuuri asked. He was of course concerned now. If anyone was a both-male couple here, he and Wolfram certainly were, and they were ruling the country!
Gwendal turned to him and looked him straight in the eye. "Your Majesty, do you want your baby?"
Yuuri's anger flared. Gwendal surely wasn't planning to put his baby, a royal one no less, up for adoption, was he?
"Of course I do! Why wouldn't I want to have a baby with Wolfram? Have you finally SNAPPED?" Yuuri roared, his face flushed with rage.
Yuuri readied himself for a brutal confrontation but he got none, and his face took on a bewildered look.
Gwendal cleared his throat. "It's good that you want your baby, Your Majesty, because I'd like you to remember that all the time during the journey you will be on to find it a soul."
