A/N; Hello everybody! I'm not dead! I'm really sorry for the horrendous delay, but this is the final chapter of A Princess's Duty. No epilogue. I've changed the ending slightly so there's no need for it anymore. I just want to thank everyone who's supported this story and my wonderful patient reviewers. Also to Ryu doragon oji, Gabrielle3, Reiko the awesome, Gabe, my beautiful fellow BoF writers Airess Byrd and Estrelita Farr!, the lovely Enigma, and the wonderful Millen Stryker and great Lord Kain for all the latest reviews. I love you all!

Here's a recap, because… uh, it has been a while… (Sorry!)

Recap; After Ryu rescues Nina from the wedding by locking Edmund in the broom cupboard and pretending to kidnap her, they're forced to return as the Shanian grassrunners launch an attack on Wyndia. With Rei and Frederick's help Nina retrieves the Shanian's holy Chalice and takes it to their priest-king Kahla. However, it turns out Kahla has no interest in the chalice and is here for an all-out invasion! Nina takes down Kahla with Ryu, but decides at the last minute to spare his life. Kahla gives the order for the grassrunners to retreat… phew. A lot's going on. But what's going to happen next? Will Ryu and Nina really be able to end up together!

A Princess's Duty

XXI

A City without Wings

Victory is a gift wrapped in a crimson ribbon.

The Shanians retreated as fast as they had arrived. And as they ran, they were cut down. Those that made it out that day were lucky to escape with their lives.

But victory is not always a synonym for winning…

Often as not, we lose as much as we win…

Buildings had been levelled. Bodies laid cold in the streets. The pavements were slick with blood. In one evening a rejoicing city had been reduced to screams and silence. Wyndia was in tatters.

Fires raged. Those brave enough fought the flames to rescue those trapped inside the buildings.

Nina did not stop. She felt drained. She felt sick. But she kept going, because she had to…

It took till the early hours of the morning to treat the wounded, leaving Nina more exhausted than she had ever been before. Finally, the fires were put out, the injured were relocated to the inn where the healers looked after them. Bodies were gathered up, and made ready for ritual. And Wyndia breathed a deep, deep breath. The cries had died down; the city was completely, eerily still.

All of this could have been prevented so easily… why did this have to happen? To us?

"Princess!" She heard an exclamation from behind her and turned. It was one of the cooks, Phillipo.

"Oh Princess Nina, I thought you were—" he halted suddenly, noticing the body laid behind her. "Oh gods, not Joe," he whispered.

"Yes," Nina said tearfully. "Joe."

It was the guard she had known since childhood, one of her few companions when her mother had forbidden her to leave the castle. And here he was… cold and unmoving.

Phillipo knelt down, touching his hand to Joe's forehead.

"He was a good man."

"They all were," Nina said, wiping her eyes. "This is all such a… such a…" she searched for the right word; "such a waste!"

"A great loss to Wyndia," Phillipo said softly. "And a great loss to you Princess… but I still have hope the King will pull through."

Nina's head snapped up. "What do you mean?" Surprise echoed over Phillipo's face, replaced with a great sympathy.

"I'm so sorry Nina; I didn't realise you hadn't heard." The formal tone had been lost. "There's been rumours that the King has been injured…"

Nina jumped up, weariness abandoned, and ran to the castle, using last reserves of energy she didn't know she had, and burst through the double doors. Several of the maids looked up startled.

"Princess!" Annie exclaimed. "You're-"

"Not now," Nina snapped. "Where is my father?"

Annie went silent and pointed upstairs towards the sitting room. Nina ran on past, up the stairs, her hand on the door handle. Suddenly, she stopped; she heard her mother's voice, and someone sobbing.

"Oh- this is all my fault! I should have killed him when I had the chance. You don't think she got caught up in the fighting? What if she's dead? And the last thing I did was try to force her to marry for the fool that caused this…"

And then, her father; "Don't blame yourself Sheila. We'll find her."

Nina threw the door open; "Mother! Father!" Her father looked pale but unharmed, sat back in a draped chintz chair. Her mother was sobbing on his lap. She blinked up, stared, and then flew to embrace her daughter.

"Oh darling, I've gone mad," she said. "I'm imagining she's here now." She squeezed her as hard she could, and Nina squeezed back.

"Sheila, I don't think you've gone mad; she's actually here," the King said.

Sheila pulled back and stared at her. "Nina… is that really you?"

"I've come back, Mother," Nina said, and her heart was pouring with relief. "But Father- I heard you were injured?"

The King grinned sheepishly and lifted his robes to show a bandaged leg. "I didn't even get into battle. I tripped over my armour getting dressed."

"Oh Richard," said Sheila. "You really are useless."

"Come here Nina," said the King. "Give me your hand." Nina knelt down beside him and he rubbed his calloused fingers over her own. "However did you get away from that fiend?"

Nina bit her lip. It was time to make a decision. She could do what Ryu said, and pretend she had escaped from his clutches. She would continue to be the Golden Girl, and nothing would change. Nothing would change! She would be Queen, she would rule, but… Ryu would be banished. She would never be able to see him again. And if she did, it would be in the knowledge that she had betrayed him, betrayed all of them. And… life would go on, but she would remain in stasis. Nothing would change!

It seemed so selfish, to think of personal matters now. It was time, for the first time in her life, to tell the truth.

"When I saw what was happening, I had to come back," she said. "I had to."

"And he let you leave?" Sheila asked incredulously.

"He didn't have to. Mother, father… I asked Ryu to kidnap me."

"What?" said Sheila. "You mean you-"

"Please let me finish. Ryu is in no way to be blamed. Every time I left with him, it was by my own will. I'm in love with him. I love him, truly. And that's why… in the end, I just couldn't go through with the wedding. If anyone is to fault, it's me, not Ryu. I'm willing to take responsibility."

Her mother and father were struck dumb by this. Finally, at a loss, the King shook his head. His expression showed he was utterly unable to deal with these events.

"Today makes no sense whatsoever, and I still have no idea what happened today. You know, I always thought a daughter might be less trouble than a son. So you better bet you'll be taking responsibility. But first, I want to know what in the God's name has been going on. Where have the Shanians gone to? And from my very scattered reports, I've been told a dragon was fighting for our side." He blew an exhausted breath. "Nina, do you have any idea what's happened?"

"The grassrunners surrendered, Father."

"Surrendered! They outmatched us!"

"It was an illusion. Most of their men were magic constructs. But I took the chalice from your safe, and me and Ryu-"

"You and Ryu!" Sheila exclaimed. "You mean you were out there? And that dragon man came back?"

"I had no choice; the men were being massacred. Ryu offered to help. Without him, we would have lost today…"

Nina recounted the whole story of what had happened; to her surprise, her parents listened. Perhaps it was the shellshock of the day, perhaps something more, but it was the first time Nina thought her mother had earnestly listened to her. Every so often when she was talking, she would brush a hand against her hair, as if establishing that she really did exist. When Nina began speaking about Kahla, however, the King burst out, "Kahla! Don't tell me you tried to fight him?"

"And defeated him, with Ryu's help," Nina said. "Father, he said he wanted Wyndia as a colony; it wasn't about the chalice at all! And he wanted to marry me to his son!" The King had a most peculiar expression on his face. "I did the right thing, didn't I? I didn't kill him, if that's what you're worrying about."

At this, the King burst out into hearty, almost mad laughter. "Didn't kill him! Nina, that man was not the Shanian high priest. He's a rogue from Rhapala who's been impersonating him. He's an extremely powerful wizard." He stabbed a finger to where a document was speared angrily to the table with a letter opener. "And you beat him? Dear daughter, am I glad you came back. You just saved Wyndia!" A look of disbelief stretched across his features. He was dumbstruck. "At least I know how serious you are not marrying. You beat him!"

But Nina interpreted this wrongly. "I'm sorry Father; I made a mistake. I shouldn't have let him get away…"

"That you turned him back is enough. I'll get the Southern Guard to meet them before they cross the mountains. Once the grassrunners know they've been duped, I'm sure they'll be happy enough to deal with him themselves." He tried to stand up, as he always did when announcing, before remembering his leg and slumping back down. He gave a weak smile.

"I, too have made a mistake… I should have listened to you and Frederick. I didn't take the threat seriously enough. And then I got this," he thumped his hand down on the letter, "from the Rhaplian minister two days ago. I didn't even open it! I was too busy thinking about the wedding. But Nina- why did you feel you had to pull such a stunt? The jails are empty. Everything is smashed. All those preparations… Most of all, you nearly killed your mother out of fright. You know how worrying makes her ill. Why couldn't you just tell us you didn't want to go through with it?"

"But I did!" Nina exclaimed. "You said it was too late."

"But why did you leave it up to the last minute? I thought you were just having cold feet from all the things that came out about Edmund. As King, it's my job to be resolute. But as your father… I told you from the beginning that it was your choice."

But it hadn't really been her choice. She'd tried to keep her options open, to stick to the middle road. But there comes a point when everyone has to choose, otherwise you'll be shoved onto a path you don't want. And if you change your mind then, you'll be scolded for not making the decision yourself.

But choices are strange things. Like so many words, we think we understand what they mean, but when asked for a definition we falter. What is a choice? We make them into something momentous, use them celebrate our own free will, try to push them far away. Some choices are very big, some are so small. But here's another thing; they are not always final… sometimes, if you try hard enough, you can move the world, and you can change these strange, opaque things called "choices." A choice is nothing without a will behind it, and through the blood and sweat and the clang of metal, Nina had once again found hers.

"I have been… so foolish," Nina whispered. "But I just had to find a way to escape. Edmund wasn't what I thought he was. And Father, I did intend to go through with it. I did! But that's before I realised what I was losing. It's so easy to give away something before you have it. But I fell in love, and I tried to keep going, and I made so many mistakes, but I just… in the end, I had to throw in the towel. I thought if I could just be with Ryu, everything would be alright. But when I saw Wyndia burning, I realised what I was throwing away. And I need Ryu, but… I need you too. I need Wyndia. I've been preparing every day of my life to become someone worthy of ruling it, and I tried to throw it all away. I love Wyndia! I love all of it. So don't make me choose between them. I need both. Maybe it's selfish, maybe we can't have everything- but please, give me this, and I'll give you everything else I have. I'll spin straw into gold. But leave me my two loves."

During this, she dropped down to her knees, her head bowed. But the King took her by her shoulders; "A Queen," he said, "should never bow to anyone. Especially not to a silly old man, as I've been. We've all made mistakes, and there have been too many tears. We cannot rebuild a city on tears."

"Oh Dad," Nina said, embracing him tightly. Sheila finally broke her silence; she wiped the water from her eyes with her handkerchief.

"Nina," she said, "never make your mother worry so much ever again."

We don't often realise what we have till we lose it. All our petty quarrels, the things we think are important; none of these face up when challenged with the enormity that is death. When it stares us in the face, we quickly decide what is important to us and run. And if they're no longer there, if we've thrown them away ourselves, there's only one person to blame. That was the realisation Sheila had made. Our loves are our gold, our children are our jewels. The rest is chaff. The rest can burn.

"There you are!" ducking round the corner, Frederick stepped into the room. "I'm glad you're alright your Majesties."

"You too, Frederick," said the King. He released Nina and she strode towards her friend.

"Are you okay? You look worried," she said.

"I don't suppose you've seen my brother, have you? I can't find him, and to be honest, I'm starting to worry if he's okay."

Oh, thought Nina. She smiled to herself.

"I thought you didn't like your brother, Frederick?" said the King, with a twitch of his lips.

Frederick didn't stop frowning. "Of course I don't, but he's still my brother." Families, real ones, are like chairs and tables and the right number of cups. You don't throw away your best china because it's dusty, even if it's cracked. There's always glue; there's always polish. Everything can be mended, with time. "I'm just hoping he's hiding because he knows he's in trouble."

"He certainly is," said the King. "When you find him, you send him to me."

Nina gestured Frederick close with her finger, whispering into his ear, "Broom cupboard, west wing. And bring some clothes." After a moment of confusion, a grin lit Frederick's face. He started towards the door when the King suddenly called him back.

"Say Frederick," he began conspiratorially, "did you know what Nina was planning?"

"Oh no sir, though from the sound of it, I wish I had! You daughter doesn't do things by half. Broom cupboard; ha!"

When he was gone, Nina looked back to her father. She bit her lip. "What are you planning to do to Edmund? You're not going to…" She couldn't finish the words.

"Heavens, no. He did an awful thing but his departed mother would never forgive me. I plan to strip most of his assets to pay for all this mess. And the cost of his wedding." He eyed her.

"Father- I-"

"Don't apologise. At least we've got the cake." He straightened up. "But now we have to talk about something important; your dragon friend." Almost a primal response in Sheila, her whole body tightened.

"That boy led you astray," she said angrily. "All our troubles stem from him."

"Ryu never forced me to do anything. In fact, I've been very cruel to him these past weeks. I've told you; if you want to punish someone, punish me. I'm ready to do my duty."

"And if that duty involved forgetting him?" the King inquired.

"But who would that duty be to? To Wyndia? What does Wyndia care of wings? Right now, a royal wedding is the last thing on the people's minds. It would only be duty to our vanity, so that we're different from the common people. I don't care if the wings fade out all together. Really, I don't! Why should we be better than them? Duty does not come from re-establishing hierarchies, and if it does, I don't want it. Right now, Wyndia needs kindness, not hierarchies. And right now it's my own, personal duty to give them that."

She licked her lips hesitantly. Her words had poured out of her before she'd thought them through. But it was true. When she was younger she was jealous of the birds and jealous of normal Wyndians. She remembered sneaking out to play with them before her wings grew. She was one of them, back then. But then she found the first feathers on her back and everything changed. Suddenly, she was beautiful. And the children were always hesitant about playing with her after that, because they knew – and she knew- that she was different. And sometimes she loved her white wings, because they were beautiful- and she pitied the commoners who didn't have them. But more often, she hated them. She hated the gulf they made between her and her friends, those feathers that suddenly made her Princess, and they commoners. There were never princesses or commoners before the wings. And everyone called her beautiful, and treated her with courtesy and awe, but sometimes she felt like a freak, neither a bird nor a human. What was she? All she knew was that there was no Nina after that. She could never be just Nina again. Perhaps that was why she adored Ryu so much. He blundered in, so ignorant and innocent. He didn't know anything about wings and Wyndians. All he cared about was his friends. Friends; those were most important. Out on her voyage she was completely free. Then, back at the castle, she became a child again. Burdened by duty, and never really understanding what duty was.

Nina chewed on the side of her cheek. But then the king nodded fervently.

"You're right. But duty is also sincerity. I'm happy for your honesty Nina. If you'd lied or been indecisive, I wouldn't have thought you were ready. You shouldn't have to strap a monarch to their throne. Without free will, there is nothing but indecision. You cannot have an indecisive ruler. I'm glad you've finally figured out what you want."

She was breathless; "Does that mean… I can keep him?"

"He isn't a pet, Nina," Sheila said grumpily. And the door opened once more, and Ryu walked in. He was singed and dirty, with a long cut across his face. And, judging by the expression on the rest of it, he'd been eavesdropping.

He dropped into a low sweeping bow. "Your Majesties, allow me to introduce myself. I fear we've got off to a bad start the last… four, five times. I am Prince Ryu of Drogen, which is less impressive than it sounds but still a title. May I ask your permission to become suitor to your daughter?"

"Lord," complained the King, his head in his hand. "Not another suitor. Do you know how much trouble I had with the last one? Very well. But there will be rules."

Now Ryu turned to Sheila. "And your Queenship, may I apologise for any trouble I may have caused you?"

Sheila said nothing, only puckered her mouth as if she had toothache. Very quickly, though Nina thought she could have imagined it, the Queen inclined her head.

"Though I will ask that you call off my execution," he added.

"Mother!" Nina exclaimed. "You weren't really planning to…"

"…Everyone makes mistakes. Even me," Sheila said, grudgingly. "I suppose you did help Wyndia. And… if you really did help us, perhaps those things Nina said about the Goddess are true too. Very well. I shall tolerate you."

"And your blessing?" prompted Ryu.

"No," Sheila said simply, turning her head away. Nina smiled tiredly; they had a long way to go.

"Nina, I wish to have a word with you privately." The King had Nina help him up with an arm around her shoulder. Leaning on her, he hobbled out onto the battlements. The first trace of dawn was in the air, and all of the fires had finally been put out. The last few smouldered. It was deathly silent. They stood there for a long time, watching the tendrils of sunrise play upon the horizon. It had been a long night.

Finally the King said, "Do you want to know why I let you keep that boy?"

Nina had thought they had finished this. "Father?"

"Do you remember that conversation we had, after you abused Edmund and locked your mother out?"

It seemed so long ago now. She herself seemed a different person, so much younger, though only weeks had elapsed. She had been fiery, feisty, and so reckless. So very naïve.

"We talked about marriage," she said. Though what else had they talked about as of late? Marriage. Marriage. Marriage. She had breathed it.

"And I told you about me and your mother." He raked a hand through his greying hair. Howe strange; Nina had never noticed how old her father was before.

"Yes, your arranged marriage." She still felt awkward thinking about it.

"Tradition is a strange thing Nina. It makes us do things we don't want to, ludicrous things, just be because our ancestors did them. Our stupidity gets amplified through the generations, until the point that we don't even know why we're doing them anymore." He rested his hands, his long brown fingers over the wall. He looked tired. "I was thinking about what you said about the wings. You're completely right. We marry between our family because of the wings, what they signify. They're Wyndia's emblem. But what an emblem it is, wings that can't even fly! Wyndia's lost its wings; it's gone stale. There are less and less people born with wings, and soon there'll only be a few in a shallow, shallow pond. Nina, we're bred like parrots in a birdcage. But we keep doing it, because our parents did it, because their parents did it. Because we're too afraid to be the ones that breaks the chain. But Wyndia won't change until we change; our lives will keep getting shallower and shallower. Insanity is fine if you do it in the name of tradition. Did you know that five hundred years ago, a princess was born with huge beautiful wings, but because of an ancient prophesy, her parents were ordered to kill her, just because they were black! I named you after her, so that you too might triumph over adversity, challenge laws written, just because it was on slabs of stone." He slammed his hand down in anger. "And now I've gone and done the same thing! I'm as bad as my father…" he was silent for a long time. "I was in love too, once," he said softly. She looked at him in curiosity. She didn't know whether to ask or not. He smiled sadly. "It was Edmund and Frederick's mother."

"Their mother?" She was startled. She remembered her dimly, the woman who was always ill. That sad, sickly blonde woman, mourning her husband till the day she died. They'd had to prise her wedding ring, Frederick said, from her lifeless hand. The wedding ring she was wearing right now, which she would have easily thrown away in the trash. She didn't even know her name.

"My father told me she wasn't good enough for me, and married her to my brother Everard instead. I hated it and I hated him, and then I directed my hate elsewhere and decided that if I did it, everyone else could- and should- too. There's nothing like a shared experience to add depth to a culture, even if that culture is hate…"

"Then why don't we break it together?" said Nina softly. With this she slipped off the ring; she felt as if a spell was broken. But she wouldn't toss it away- Edmund and Frederick could have it back. A sign of love, even if she did not share it, should never be tossed away. It should contain their mother's memory, not hers. . "If you help me do it, we might make a new tradtion. Of marrying people we love. We shouldn't pass on hate to our children."

He gripped her shoulder. "It's already broken. You'll bear wonderful children."

Nina blushed, and rubbed her cheek with her hand. "In time," she said. The King looked out over the city.

"We'll make it better for them. It'll be even better than before." He sighed. "An old tired king and an old tired city. It needs a new hand."

"It'll have both. You're not done yet." Nina smiled. "You'll feel better after some sleep."

"We all will," he yawned, and he limped back towards the door. "I've just realised," he said suddenly, looking back, shocked. "You're a woman, Nina."

"Get some rest Dad," she said. He waved a hand over his shoulder and disappeared inside. Ryu slid past him, came up behind Nina as she stared out. He put his arms around her.

"Are Rei and Momo okay?" she asked him. "I haven't seen them."

He pecked her on the cheek. "They're safe. I saw them kissing in the ash."

Nina laughed delightedly. "The cat and the dog!" she exclaimed.

The laugh died down. After all that had happened, she couldn't be wholly happy. She'd got everything she wanted, but lost it too. Sorrow laid heavily upon her shoulders as she gazed out.

"It's strange," she said, "when I last looked out here, I saw my city, but it wasn't mine. I didn't want any of it. Now it's burnt and ruined, and I want all of it. All of the people, all of the buildings. I want to nurture it like an egg and make it strong again."

The sunrise was spreading now, not the angry crimsons of yesterday, but a soft orange, like baby fuzz. Throughout everything, she couldn't help but feel hopeful.

"Will you help me rebuild it?" she asked.

"I'll be here as long as you want me."

"I'll always want you," she said, leaning back into him. The world had been obliterated, but in Ryu's arms, she felt safe. "But you don't have to stay if you don't want to. There'll be an awful lot of cleaning up. Don't you miss travelling?"

"I got bored of it," he said. "Why do you think I came back? I saw the wharfs of Rhapala and hiked the highest hills in Dauna, but I couldn't find what I was looking for. The world is huge and brilliant, but it was empty. And it was lonely. And then I realised it was home I was missing, and I didn't need to search for it. I'd already found it, long ago."

"Home?" she asked. "You mean in Mcneil?"

"Home isn't a place. Places are boring. I've seen places and places and places. Home is the people you care about and the ones you love. Whenever I'm with Rei I'm at home, and whenever I'm with Momo. And with you Nina. So I came home to you."

He kissed her. "That's home, right there." Nina embraced him tightly, squeezed him so hard she thought she would burst.

Things were beginning to look up. The violent delights of yesterday were over; tomorrow they would begin again. The sky brightened, and the blush faded away. And in the air Nina saw it. She saw a new city, better than before, with gleaming towers and towering windmills. She saw the death of hate, and a city of kindness. A new rule and a new Queen, and an age of prosperity. And she saw a man by her side, never alone again. Rising like the phoenix, born from the flames, and all this Nina saw in the stirring ash, riding on the morning wind of a moving world, right here, right now, in Ryu's arms.

The End

A/N- In the end, this story ended up much less about the Ryu/Nina romance than Nina's own personal journey. I also began with Nina's discussion with her father and ended with another, different discussion. I think it shows how much both the King and his daughter have changed. Though I'm sure there are bumpy patches and a distinct change in style- I started this story so long ago- I'm pleased how it's turned out. I'm just sorry it's taken so long to complete it. It was supposed to be a one-shot when I began! This'll probably be my last serious chapter-fic on ff, apart from the Twilight parody I'm doing. Apart from that I'll be doing my own stuff on fictionpress under the name of Nausikaa.

There aren't too many BoF fics these days, but you fancy a great read I just want to recommend AngelKitty's Benevolent Monsters, which doesn't get enough love for how awesome it is.

Peace out!

Nina xx