Chapter 21 - Love

The candlelit dining room was a far cry from the splendor of the palace's vast and bright dining hall. Instead, portraits crowded every available wall. Here was a depiction of Allen and Celena as children, there, a stern-looking woman with severe brown hair in a high-necked dress, and opposite him, a young man with a bushy mustache and Allen's eyes. The candlelight made it look as if their eyes were peering back and forth at the strange visitors to their home. From what Hitomi knew about ghosts, she didn't doubt they weren't.

She slowly chewed her food. It similar to beef, but with a wilder flavor that was strangely delectable. It went well with the apple-like glaze. Hitomi ate it slowly, trying to savor it as she took in the conversations around her, her voice tired out from the story she and Van had told everyone during their time in the parlor. It was nice to sit back like that, attend to her own needs, and just listen. At times it was even entertaining, especially when Merle and Celena traded quips.

In spite of herself, Merle was warming up to the girl. It wasn't often she met anyone who wouldn't rise to her bait, and she seemed to be making a game of it, trying to come up with more and more outrageous things to say in hopes that Celena would get huffy or at least argue a bit.

"You want to learn to swordfight!?" she was saying. "What does a pampered little girl like you need to learn to fight for?"

Celena tossed ashy blond hair and grinned. "So I can fight off rogues and brigands when they threaten my honor! En garde!"

She picked up her dinner knife and speared it at Merle in a good imitation of a standard opening thrust.

"You're crazy!"

"Celena," Allen said warningly.

Shrugging, she put the knife down. "Anyway, I have to convince Brother here to pay for them first."

"I most certainly will not."

"Why?" Millerna piped up from the other side of Celena.

Her eyes, Hitomi noticed, where mischievous, and a teasing smile was playing about her lips. She'd been in a strange mood all night. Every time her sister spoke, Millerna would mention something about Allen, or about how she knew him so much better, and Eries would fall silent while Allen looked uncomfortable. Instead of apologizing for it, Millerna would just laugh and let the subject drop. She clearly knew that she was needling them, but to what ends Hitomi didn't understand. Millerna's attitude when they first met flashed through her mind. Back then, she'd been like this. Teasing, asking searching questions and giggling at how she could make everyone so uncomfortable on her behalf. In a way, Hitomi was disappointed. She'd come such a long way since then; why had she reverted to this? And why was she aiming her dubious skills at the people she loved?

"It simply isn't proper for a Lady of her station to engage in such rough arts. And with the reputation of our house as it is..."

He let the subject hang and took a sip from his glass, which was filled with an amber-colored wine he'd called souturnel.

"With the reputation as it is it shouldn't even matter," Celena countered, getting angry. "Why shouldn't we be pioneers? We've got nothing left to lose."

"Only that which I've built up in my service to the Caeli," Allen replied, his voice dangerous.

"You've got another kind of reputation too, though, don't you, Allen? Especially among women?" Millerna teased.

It was like she slapped him. His head actually jerked as he looked at her, his lips parted, and for the first time that night, Millerna's smile faltered. Celena looked from one to the other, confused.

"What is she-?" Celena began, but Allen stood up.

"Pardon me," he said. "I seem to have a sudden headache. I would be grateful if you would excuse me for a few moments to get some air."

He tossed his napkin on his chair, bowed, and exited. Eries stood, gave her sister a sharp look, and went after him before the door had closed in his wake.

"Millerna!" Hitomi said. "That was awful. How could you say something like that in front of his sister?"

"Something like what?" Celena pressed, but she was ignored.

Millerna tossed her proud head and glared at Hitomi. "It's not like he can't handle it. Why's everyone so touchy tonight?"

"Why are you being such a bitch?" Merle said, grinning as she easily voiced what everyone else was thinking.

"Merle!" Van snapped, but the action couldn't be undone.

Coloring, Millerna seemed to draw herself up without standing. "They won't talk to me. They've got this- this past together. Can't you see it? And they won't talk about it because they think I'm a child and can't handle it. I'm only trying to get them to say something, why can't I enjoy myself while I'm at it?"

"Gee, I guess they should have figured it out and spilled, then," Merle casually replied. "I mean, it's not like you could have asked them or anything. That would have been rude."

"You- you don't know- how dare you-"

"Merle, that's enough," Van said, and the catgirl began inspecting her nails.

"I don't have to listen to this!" Millerna got to her feet, gave them all one last imperious glare, and exited the room in the opposite direction of Allen and Eries.

"Millerna! Wait!" Hitomi cried. Hastily, she threw her napkin on the table, muttered an apology, and dashed after the departing princess, leaving Celena, Van, and Merle alone in the dining room.

The candles flickered and and whipped in the disturbed air, casting dancing shadows about their faces. Merle shrugged and kept on eating, while Van sat back in his chair, his arms across his chest, frowning hard. Celena, however, wasn't in the mood to sit in silence while he brooded.

"What did she mean," she determinedly asked, "By 'reputation?'"

Van suppressed a sigh. This was not how he had planned to spend his evening.

Hitomi pushed through what seemed like endless undergrowth in her pursuit of Millerna. She hadn't attempted to call out to her, knowing that she'd most likely be met with a snippy response, but she purposefully pressed on in her pursuit, knowing that the princess would have to stop sometime.

Finally, they reached a small clearing near the stables. Millerna collapsed on a stone bench and leaned on her hands, panting. Before Hitomi approached, however, she stopped and gasped at the beauty of the scene before her.

It was like a picture, or a movie. It may have been a trick of the light, but Millerna seemed to be emitting a silvery glow, from the crown of her head to the tips of her fingers. Millerna's hair was a softer blond in the moons' light, tinted with blue and silver as Earth and her moon shone down, their beams filtering through the hole in the canopy above them like the moment when the sun bursts through the clouds after a rainstorm. The leaves tangled in her hair and the dark green stains on her white gloves didn't make her look disheveled. Instead, they made her look like a nymph of the wood. Years later, Hitomi would remember her like that, and she would have to stop whatever she was doing and calm her heart, for it still wondered that one person could be so lovely.

"Millerna," she called, stepping into the clearing.

Her dress was short enough that it didn't drag over the leaves as she approached and the grass silenced her footsteps. Though she called to her, Millerna still jumped when Hitomi put a tentative hand on her shoulder.

"Hitomi," she thickly said. "What are you doing here?"

She was crying. Hitomi withdrew her hand in shock, held it to her chest for a second, and let it drop. All her questions about why she'd been behaving so cattily towards Allen and her sister vanished. Hitomi swallowed and sat down next to her friend. Whatever her reasons were for being so ugly, they could wait.

"I wanted to see if you were okay. Merle went too far."

"It doesn't matter," muttered Millerna as she wiped her tears away on a small white handkerchief she'd seemingly pulled out of nowhere.

At a loss for words, Hitomi blurted out the first thing she could thing of, and felt stupid as soon as the words left her mouth.

"Are you okay?"

"Yes. No. I don't know."

Tentatively, Hitomi sat down next to Millerna. "Is it... is it Allen?"

"It's not him. Oh, I'm not being honest, am I? It's him, a little. Him and my sister. Hitomi," she said, suddenly earnest, turning to her friend and taking her hands between hers, "Did Allen ever tell you anything about Eries? About their past together?"

"Um..."

Hitomi searched her memories. It was a confusing question to begin with, so it was difficult to focus her mind on what she may have heard him say in passing.

"The truth is we didn't really talk much," she confessed. "He never mentioned your sister..."

She trailed off, for something was tugging at the corner of her memories. Frowning, she concentrated, trying to will the feeling to reveal what it was trying to tell her. Something about a vision... Eries sitting in the coach, recalling a painful memory...

"Hitomi?"

"Well," she said slowly, "In the coach earlier, Eries looked really upset."

At least, thought Hitomi, Millerna had the grace to look uncomfortable.

"I didn't mean to, but I wanted to know what was wrong, and I kind of... had a vision."

Surprisingly, Millerna hesitated. Her eyebrows knit together and she opened her mouth, closed it again, swallowed, and pressed her lips in a thin line. Then, she closed her eyes, took a deep breath and her expression relaxed.

"What did you see?" she almost whispered.

"Not much. It was just a fraction of a memory. I think Eries was talking to... to your other sister. About being in love with Allen. And Eries was..."

Hitomi was hesitant to reveal this part. She felt like she was barging in on something very private, something that Eries may not have wanted to share with Millerna. The yearning, sad expression in Millerna's eyes, however, won out in the end.

I'm sorry, Eries.

"She was crying."

"Oh."

Millerna released Hitomi's hands, sat up straight, and looked away. Hitomi followed suit, clutching her left arm in a nervous gesture she'd had since childhood. She knew that she'd intruded on something she shouldn't have. Something between Allen and Eries and Millerna, even long-dead Marlene, something that was making Millerna miserable. Biting her lip, she wished she knew what to say to make things right, and struck at the first thing that popped into her head.

"Um, Millerna? Maybe you should try asking Allen about this. I know he'd tell you if he knew it was making you upset. He still really cares about you."

"I know."

She fell silent and wracked her brains trying to think of something else to say, but fell short. Her mind told her that she'd done all she could, but her heart was still uncertain.

"Listen. I'm going to go back to dinner. Everyone's probably worried about us by now. Will you come with me?"

Waving her hand but still not looking at Hitomi, she said, "I'll be along in a little while."

Hitomi got to her feet and smoothed her skirts, still not convinced that she'd said the right things. "Will you... will you be okay?"

"I'll be fine."

"Okay..."

With a tiny sigh, Hitomi turned to go, taking care not to trip on any roots on her way back to the house.

"Hitomi?"

She stopped and turned back to see Millerna finally looking at her, a small smile just visible on her face.

"Thank you," she said.

The confusion in Hitomi's heart eased. With a warm smile, she nodded, and walked back to the house. The trees closed after her.

She found him leaning against a low stone wall just outside of the spacious ballroom, home old instruments and tables concealed ghost-like under swathes of white sheets. His white-shirted form was framed in the blue and silver moonlight, giving him the appearance of a ghost himself. It suited him. Allen Schezar, the past present in every move he made, finally assuming the shape of the memories that so haunted his every thought. If she could hold that image in her mind, she thought she would tell him later, and that he'd laugh and say she was being dramatic.

Eries slowly picked her way through the dusty furniture, her footsteps echoing behind her like the remnants of laughter from all the parties that had been held in that room. Allen didn't bother to turn around as she came up behind him. She knew that he recognized her.

"What are you doing here, Princess Eries?"

She smiled. "I never could surprise you."

"No one else walks like that."

Eries stopped next to him. Instead of clutching his shoulders and demanding to know what was wrong, as Millerna likely would have, she stared out at the quiet night with him and answered his question, giving him time to open up to her on his own, as he had so many times when they were growing up.

"Like what?"

"The toe of each foot first, like she's trying not to disturb the floor."

"Ah. I, at least, do not stomp upon it as if I'm trying to beat it into submission."

A smile twitched at the corner of his mouth. "It's been years since I moved like that. It was trained out of me quickly enough."

"I remember."

"You always do."

Out in the garden, the great pink and blue flowers swayed gently in the night breeze. A few petals shook loose from their moorings and flew crazily up and down, turning somersaults in the air as they drifted towards the open balcony where Eries and Allen stood together. A pale blue one twisted and turned up and up, lost its momentum and came tumbling down, finally landing in the strands of Eries' pale hair. Delicately, Allen took the stray petal between his fingers and held it there, twirling it absently as he spoke.

"I'm not sure what I'm doing," he said. "Celena was bound to find out about the nature of my reputation sooner or later, but I hadn't expected it to be done in such a blunt manner. I'd hoped to speak with her about it privately, after she'd had more time to work through her own problems. Or perhaps... I don't know."

"Or perhaps not at all," she finished for him. "You wanted to protect her forever."

"I suppose," he admitted, and let the petal fly away.

"Allen..." she began.

"No. I've been foolish. Worse, I've been cruel. Princess Millerna may have done me a favor by getting things out in the open like that, though it won't make my position on Celena ever learning to fight any easier to hold. I don't blame her for what she did. Not after what I did to her."

"Things don't work like that, Allen. An act of cruelty by someone else's hand doesn't serve as punishment for the sins you think you committed in the past, nor does it excuse any person's rude behavior in the present."

"I can't help it. My nature is repentant."

"And mine is logical," she countered. "I don't know why Millerna's been so needling towards you, but she seems to want something. Perhaps you should try talking to her in private, before the ball tomorrow."

"She's been awful to you too, Eries," he said, strangely reverting to the use of her given name, which he'd stopped doing more than five years past.

Put off her guard, she tried deflecting the question. "You know we've never really been able to understand each other."

"It's never been this bad. Not since she was an eight-year-old tomboy running away from having to learn her geography."

Eries softly laughed at the memory he conjured. It hadn't been pleasant at the time, but the way Allen phrased it made it seem like some comedy of errors. Professor Lucien, renowned scholar of Cesario hired at great expense to teach the royal princesses the lay of the land, had become so fed up with Millerna's constant fidgeting and impertinent questions that he called her up to the front of the room one hot summer's day and bid her hold out her hands. He then slapped them smartly three times with his pointer, not enough to cause lasting harm but enough to make an impressive sound. Sensitive Marlene had burst into tears at the sight of it while Eries angrily glared, willing Professor Lucien to drop dead for laying a hand on her little sister.

Millerna, however, didn't understand. She yelled that she was going to run away forever, kicked over the Professor's desk, leaped out the nearest window and ran for the hills. Not before accusing Eries of being angry at her, however, and not stuffy Professor Lucien.

It was Allen who found her late that night, shivering under a tree near the knight's barracks. It was how he and Eries met. He said he had to see the ugly, mean sister who'd made such a sweet little girl run away. She pushed him in the mud and said she'd never talk to him again for his insolence. After that, they were fast friends.

Until Marlene complicated things.

She pushed the memory aside. What was done was done. There was no use in contemplating how things might have been.

"You may be right. I'll try to speak with her, if she'll let me. I don't know whether she'll be willing to listen. We've never communicated particularly well."

Allen chuckled, and draped his arm over her shoulder. Her first instinct was to blush hotly and throw him off, like she would have when they were kids together, but so much had changed since then. Especially them. So she laced her own arm around his waist and pulled him closer to her. She could feel his heart through where her shoulder touched his chest. Steady, slow, and strong. He smelled slightly of old-fashioned cologne and a great deal more like creek water, in which he had bathed earlier that day. They didn't need to speak. They understood.

Let this moment last, she thought, and laid her head against his chest.

As Millerna stood in the doorway, watching them together, all of the determined questions she'd been planning to fire at them died on her tongue. She gripped the doorway and breathed slowly, in and out, her lips parted as if in speech.

What Hitomi had told her went through her mind again and again. The scene before her only served as further evidence to what she'd slowly begun to suspect less than a week ago. This was why Eries had been so discouraging to her when she tried to confess her feelings for Allen, a man she thought had no personal connection to her sister aside from his rotation on escort duty.

You mean when you were throwing yourself at him. she reminded herself. Isn't that how you put it the other day?

Love.

But that wasn't all. Couldn't she have been protecting you from a fate like Marlene's?

She pressed her lips closed and felt her face go red as she tried not to cry.

I would have understood if she'd just confided in me. Everything with her is secrets and half-truths. Why didn't anyone tell me? Why didn't they?

Abruptly, she turned away and stalked down the hallway, her slippered feet silent on the cool wooden floor. She needed to be elsewhere. She'd had enough of secrets.

Hitomi arrived back in the dining room to the wild laughter of Celena. Van was standing at the nearest window, drink in hand, apparently divorcing himself from whatever conversation was taking place around him, while Merle was actually leaning on the table with her chin propped in both hands, a self-satisfied grin on her face, tail waving back and forth in gloating pleasure. Across from her, Celena was holding her stomach, almost crying from mirth.

"He- he- he did not!" she giggled.

"No! It's true! Then he took that barmaid's hand like this," she said, taking one of Celena's in demonstration and gazing deeply into her eyes, "and went, 'Please forgive the uncouth behavior of my companions. It wouldn't do for such a lovely lady to be out of spirits. Please, allow me to make it up to you by escorting you home,' and she almost fainted."

Celena almost shrieked with laughter. Still a little confused, Hitomi sidled up to Van, took his hand, and gave it a squeeze.

"Hey," she said.

"Hitomi." He flashed her a brief smile. "Did you talk to Millerna?"

"Yes. What's going on?"

Van uncomfortably frowned. "They're talking about Allen. Celena wouldn't let the subject drop after you left."

"I guess Merle was happy to fill her in," Hitomi sighed. "Poor Allen. He isn't going to like this."

Shrugging, Van took a sip of his drink and continued his task of staring out the window. She guessed that he didn't care much that the ex-boyfriend of the girl he was dating might suffer a bout of embarrassment.

"Come on," she said, her hand still in his. "Let's finish our dinner."

Again he shrugged and followed Hitomi to the table, setting depleted his glass of wine down next to his equally empty plate. Everyone had finished their meal in her absence, she noticed with a twinge of regret. It really was a delicious selection of food. She wished that they'd all been able to eat it together. At least one of the servants had the forethought to cover the plates of all those absent from the table, so her food was still warm.

Hitomi loaded up her fork and listened as Merle continued her story. "...it took him, like, an hour to get back. He said that she lived a long walk from the bar but no one bought that. I mean, she worked there. Who lives a half hour from where they work?"

"Rich people," Celena promptly supplied.

"Exactly! I think we both know that she was a working girl."

"Merle!" Hitomi shrieked, her voice drowned out by the cascades of laughter from the other two girls. Even Van gave a twitch of a smile, Hitomi noticed with a disapproving frown. To hide the pink tinge on his face that appeared under the fire of her glare, Van refilled his glass and took a large gulp.

"Oh that's priceless! I didn't know half these stories!" Celena gasped, wiping tears from her eyes.

Hitomi blinked, confused. "You mean... you knew some already?"

The laughter in Celena's face faltered and faded. She Picked at the table cloth in front of her and said, her head bowed, "Just a few. All the ones I- Dilandau heard. You know, among the troops. Rumors get around."

"Huh," said Merle. "I guess Millerna didn't screw up as much as we thought she did."

An uncomfortable silence blanketed the room, which everyone but Merle felt keenly. She stretched while everyone else avoided each other's eyes, and looked out the nearest window, probably to see if there was anything interesting now that Hitomi had killed the conversation.

"I... I don't think Allen's reputation is really... I don't think he's that kind of person," Hitomi struggled to articulate. "He's not like that."

The sound of nearby hoofbeats clattered through the open windows, and everyone turned gratefully towards that welcome distraction. What Hitomi saw almost made her drop her fork in surprise. A lone rider, long blond hair streaming behind her, was quickly departing the Schezar grounds on what was unmistakably the horse Van had ridden earlier that night.

"Did Millerna just steal Van's horse?" Merle said, obviously delighted.

"Looks like," Van said grimly.

"She must have had a reason for it," said Hitomi, her voice uncertain.

Merle was happy to supply, "Sure, she wanted to run away from what a mess she made of everything."

"Merle!" snapped Van.

The catgirl flinched a little but recovered in a trice, stubbornly insisting, "Well, she is. Don't get mad at me just because I say what everyone's thinking."

"I should hope that not all of us are so uncharitable," Allen's quiet voice intoned.

Hitomi looked up just as Merle jumped and nearly dashed under the table. He was standing in the doorway, Eries next to him, her face unreadable as usual. As they stood together in the candlelight, both casting dancing grey light from their silvery hair, Hitomi was struck by how elegant they seemed. To her, Allen had always been the epitome of what it meant to be a perfect knight, if he was a little rough around the edges, and Eries a distant, powerful figure of whom Hitomi knew little, rather like the picture of a princess made of porcelain rather than the real thing. As they stood before her, something crystallized in her thoughts and she felt like she was seeing them as they were for the first time. They matched.

"Allen," she said.

Celena, her face flushed, got to her feet and said, "Brother!"

"We need to talk, Celena," Allen said. "I think... I may not have been fair to you. Would you be willing to speak with me, after our guests leave?"

No one in the room, not even Merle, could have missed that kind of hint. For a moment, Celena seemed like she was about to disagree with her brother. Her eyebrows furrowed and she opened her mouth, but then, just as suddenly, she closed it.

Taking a deep breath, she said, "Okay. Can I give Hitomi her present first, though?"

Hitomi blinked. "Present?"

"Didn't Merle tell you?"

All eyes moved to Merle and she carefully looked away, her tail waving nonchalantly behind her.

"What?" she said. "I forgot."

Some of the tension eased from the room and Hitomi almost burst out laughing. At least Merle could be counted on for some things.

Celena sighed. "I'll be right back."

She pushed her way past Allen and Eries and disappeared down the long hall. She was quickly out of sight.

Eries turned to the rest of the party and said, "I've signaled the coachmen to ready the horses. They should be ready soon."

"Right," said Van. "Goodnight Allen, Princess."

He got to his feet and clasped Allen's outstretched hand briefly before bowing to Eries, who returned the gesture with unmeasurable grace.

"Until tomorrow, King Van," she said.

That done, he turned to Hitomi, who was startled by the intensity of his gaze. Though he didn't say anything, she could sense that he had something he wanted to tell her, and he wasn't going to do it in front of Allen. She wished she could read his thoughts and get it over with.

"Don't take too long," he said, and finally turned and left, Merle trailing at his heels.

"What was that all about?" Eries murmured.

"Hitomi," said Allen. "How are you?"

"Fine! I'm fine," she lied.

Why had Van left her alone like that? She looked uncomfortably from one to the other and tried to think of something to say, but nothing appropriate came to mind. What had happened earlier kept drifting to the forefront of her thoughts, and she really didn't know how to bring it up.

Luckily, Eries did it for her. "Please forgive Millerna for her behavior tonight. I am certain she didn't mean the things she said."

That irked Hitomi. "She already apologized to me. Do you really need to do it for her?"

Taken aback, Eries tried to explain. "I was merely expressing what I assume she would for me, if I had behaved in such a way."

"I know she's your sister, but that isn't really your place. You don't even know what she's thinking. Have you even asked?"

The princess seemed to draw herself up, and she actually narrowed her eyes. Such a display of emotion from Eries was a rarity in itself, but coupled with the astonished look and Allen's face as he stood beside her and the color that was flushing her pale cheeks, she seemed downright dangerous. The bottom dropped out of Hitomi's stomach and she wished she could take it back.

"Sorry," she said. "I... sorry."

"Hitomi!"

Celena burst through the door, panting, a long, thin package wrapped in brown ribbon clutched to her chest. Without waiting for a reply, she thrust it into Hitomi's arms.

"Don't open it until you're back at the castle, okay?"

Hitomi could tell she had little choice in the matter. "O-okay. Thank you."

Celena grinned, her white teeth flashing in the dim room. "You're welcome. Thanks for coming tonight."

There was a short pause, and then Allen, still collecting himself, said, "Yes, thank you both for your presence this evening. You are always welcome here, Hitomi, Princess Eries."

With a sinking feeling, Hitomi remembered that Eries was leaving, too. She just hoped that her upcoming death at the princess' hands would be quick and merciful. As they were ushered out the door, she wondered if she could get Van to protect her, but morosely concluded that he wouldn't risk an international incident.

Eries kept silent all the way back to the coach. Merle was already inside by the time they arrived, though, curiously, Van had not yet climbed aboard. Silently, he took the package from Hitomi and handed it to Merle, who looked as if she'd dearly love to open it herself. One look from Van, however, and she shrugged and tossed it on the seat opposite her

As the coachman handed Eries inside, Van took Hitomi's hand and pulled her gently, obviously intending her to follow him. For a moment, she looked over her shoulder at the coach, where Merle sat staring at them and Eries gazed at nothing, her face blank. The coachman had already closed the door and was assuming his position, Hitomi and Van apparently forgotten.

"Don't worry," he said. "They're going on without us."

"But... how are we going to get back?"

"It's a surprise."

She felt a little thrill go through her, completely forgetting that she was supposed to be upset with him for not asking her to the ball. Hitomi squeezed his hand and stepped towards him.

"Okay," she whispered. "I trust you."

The horses shook themselves and the coachman slapped the reins against their backs. With a clatter of hooves against cobblestones, the coach rumbled into life. When it pulled away, Hitomi and Van were gone.

In Asturia the next day, several people would remark to each other on the rain of beautiful white feathers that fell over the city late the previous night. A white dragon, people said, must have flown above the city on its way over the sea. A good omen. But no one could explain the single lady's shoe that landed on the blacksmith's roof, waking the both he and his wife.

Dryden was exhausted. Not only had the flight home taken far longer than it should, but he had been bogged down all day making preparations for his part in the summit. Without Eries' insightful advice to guide him, he'd had to rely solely on his own ideas to guide him. It wasn't that he didn't have the skill for politics; on the contrary, his opinion of his own intelligence was only a slight exaggeration if its true quality. It was simply that he really didn't want to deal with it, and if they'd just arrived on schedule, he was sure he could have charmed Eries into writing his speeches for him. Then he would have been able to get some some well-deserved rest.

"Goodnight, sir!" one of the palace porters called as Dryden made his way out of the airship hangars.

He gave a half-hearted wave in response and the porter saluted. The sooner he was out of this ridiculous house of protocol and intrigue and into bed, he thought, the better. Hopefully his mother had thought to have his bed ready. He'd hate to have to make it himself when he was already about to collapse.

"Wait! Princess!" a distant voice echoed through the cavernous hallways, followed by reverberating footsteps.

Dryden stopped in his tracks. The word "princess" coupled with the word "wait" could only mean one girl was headed his way, and he felt his heart skip a beat in the most ridiculously childish way.

"Steady, man," he whispered. "Chances are she'll ignore you. Just keep walking, and don't forget to smile."

He unconsciously smoothed his hair and stood a little taller as he rounded the next corner. He could see her now, that golden hair of hers streaming behind her as she tore down the hall.

Clearing his throat and smiling his most charming smile, he said, "Good evening, Princess."

Millerna stopped in her tracks and stared up at him, and the cheesy grin slid off his face. Her usually unmarked cheeks were dusty and wet, and her eyes were rimmed with redness. She was panting, which was unsurprising given that she'd just stopped from a dead gallop, but Dryden could tell that it wasn't simply exhaustion that was making her breathe so hard. She was deeply upset.

"H-hey," he faltered, letting his hand fall to his waist. "You're crying."

"I know that!" she shot back.

He expected her to run after that, but instead she just stood there, glaring at him. He supposed that could be counted as progress.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, after a few moments of silence.

"Ah, I just got in from Zaibach. Headwinds slowed us down a bit, but hey, at least I got some work done. I was hoping I could get your sister to help me with my speech, but-"

"My sister," Millerna said, clearly miserable. "Is occupied."

A few tears escaped and slid down her face, and she angrily wiped them off, getting dirt on her white gloves.

"Hey, don't do that," Dryden said, pulling a blue handkerchief out of his pocket. "Here, use this. I promise it's completely clean, okay? Sorry I mentioned your sister. I didn't know you two were fighting."

She took it, wiped her face, and said, "We're not," from behind the scrap of silk.

This confused Dryden, but he wisely decided that to push the subject further would not be the best decision at this time.

"Well, whatever it is, I'm sorry it happened to you. Don't cry, okay? You're too pretty to cry."

Clumsily, he reached out and used his thumb to brush another tear from her cheek. She looked back at him, unmoving, letting him have this one moment of touch. Those eyes of hers, he felt, saw right into whatever soul he had. Jichia above, she was beautiful.

Suddenly, as if she'd used magic, she was there in front of him, her face buried in his chest.

"Hey. Hey. What's gotten into you? I thought you hated me."

"Don't," she said.

Her voice was soft and muffled. He could feel her breath through his layers of clothing. It was warm and wet. As he slowly rubbed her back with his free hand, he couldn't help thinking how small she felt, even though she was known as a tall woman among the court. Maybe that was why all the thoughts he'd had of going home to bed were now far less important than they had been a moment ago. If she needed him, he'd be there. He was trying to be a better man, after all.

"Whatever you want," he replied.

Under the weight of his hand and enclosed in the warmth of his body, Millerna began to sob in earnest. He dropped his notes and books and they scattered around the two of them like leaves in the night breeze.

With both arms around her, he whispered, "Don't cry. Hey. It's okay. I'm here. Don't cry."

With a flurry of snow-white feathers, Van and Hitomi landed on the highest tower of the Asturian palace, sans one shoe. Hitomi's stockinged foot felt a shock of cold as she touched down on the smooth stones of the tower.

"Van, that was wonderful!" she breathed, beaming at him.

He shrugged, his wings shaking behind him in conjunction with the movement of his shoulders.

"You looked like you needed a break."

"I did," she said. "Thank you."

He shrugged again and looked away. "It's nothing."

It was strange. He was being unusually terse, even for him. What was stranger in her eyes, though, was that he was standing there, his wings out, and not quickly retracting them and pulling on his shirt as usual.

"Van," she said, stepping toward him, being careful not to brush against his exposed wings. "Is there something on your mind?"

"You said you wanted to talk to me," he replied.

Oh. In the confusion of the night, it had completely slipped her mind. The ball.

Fidgeting, she tucked her hair behind her ears and felt very silly as she said, "Oh. It's... it feels sort of weird saying this, but I found out from, um, Millerna, that there's a... there's a ball tomorrow."

His wings twitched, but since he was looking away from her, she couldn't tell if he was reacting to her words or whether it was just a coincidence. When he didn't reply, she pressed on.

"Merle said it was strange that you hadn't told me yet. I... I agree. Were you planning on asking me to go with you? Or did you want to go with someone else?"

There. She said it. Holding her breath, she braced herself for her inevitable rejection. But much to her surprise, Van actually started laughing. He turned to her, and she finally saw the relief on his face that he'd been keeping so unreadable for so long.

"That's it? You didn't think I wanted you to come with me to a ball? Hitomi, I wouldn't go with anyone else. I thought you knew."

"You thought I knew!" she repeated, both relieved and slightly annoyed now that he was laughing so hard. "You didn't tell me! No one did! How was I supposed to know!"

He shook his head, unable to speak.

"Stop that! Why are you laughing so hard!?"

"Everyone," he managed to get out. "Everyone's been talking about it. I just... ha! I'm sorry I didn't say anything. I didn't think you'd think twice about it."

"Oh, ha ha," she said. "And it didn't have anything to do with you being too nervous to say anything yourself."

Instantly, he sobered up. "I didn't say that."

"Struck a nerve, did I?" she said with a mischievous grin.

"Hey!"

He made a move to grab her, but she slipped away, laughing as much as he had been earlier. Track training had made her fast, but with his wings, Van was much faster. He lunged for her and caught her around the waist. For a few minutes, she pretended to struggle, but he held fast.

"I'm still mad at you," she insisted. "You should have known better. Don't they teach you this stuff in King school?"

"I don't know what you're talking about half the time," he said, his voice low.

He was breathing hard, his nose buried in her hair and the back of her neck. Ever so gently, the feathers on his back were breaking up and floating away, creating a shower of luminescent white feathers around them that shimmered and swirled before disappearing into the night. Now, she supposed, he didn't feel the need to fly away anymore.

"If you weren't worried about that," she said, her voice soft, "What were you worried about?"

He didn't answer. Instead, he turned her around and tightly embraced her. As she returned his sudden gesture, her breast pressed against him, she could feel his heart beating fast, like a bird's.

"Van?"

"I thought you were going to leave me," he whispered.

"What?" she exclaimed, pushing him away so that his arms slipped from her shoulders and settled around her waist. "I wouldn't! Where did you-"

He silenced her with a long kiss. One hand on the small of her back pressed her to him, and the other moved to her face, turning her head this way and that. She made an involuntary noise and his attentions intensified, leaving her thoroughly winded when they finally broke apart.

"Van," she panted. "You can't... change the subject like that. Why did you think I was going to leave all of a sudden? I'm not ready to go. And I'd never leave without saying goodbye to everyone first. You know that."

"It doesn't matter," he insisted, shaking his head. "It was stupid."

There was something else, she knew, and she wanted to But the look in his dark eyes was so pleading that she let it go. Begging in any form from Van was unsettling; it didn't suit him. Especially when it was directed toward her. Eventually, she knew that the subject they'd been so careful to avoid since their fight on the observation deck of Dryden's flagship would have to be breached again. At that moment, however, there was plenty of time to wait.

"Probably not as stupid as you think," she said, and traced the line of his jaw with her fingertips.

Behind them, the Mystic Moon and its silver sister sank below the horizon, and the myriad stars grew brighter in the dark sky. Van caught her fingers with his hand and brought them to his lips.

Let this last, she thought. Please, let this last.

A/N: That was a long one.

I haven't forgotten. Come hell or high water, this story will be finished. And now, I can even see all the way to the end.

Everyone who's been reading: thank you. And thank you especially to Kae and jossi for your words of encouragement over these past couple of months. I think about this story every day, but for a while I had almost resigned myself to the idea that it was uninteresting. Thank you for your words. Being told that I should finish and that people actually do like it really makes it easier to keep going. So thank you. Thank you. And thank you again.