Heero
I finally found a shirt that would hide my hickeys the next morning, thankfully before Wufei brought me my food. I mentioned him that Little One's name was Duo Maxwell. "And why are you here? You're a scholar, not a servant."
"Call it misplaced guilt for missing him. Duo Maxwell? That's an odd name. It sounds familiar."
"Familiar how?" I pressed.
"I don't know. There might be something to it. Relena told me you have to earn your names in Amraki. Perhaps Maxwell is hard to get. I'll check on it with Relena."
And that is the story of how Relena showed up at my doorstep, looking very stern.
I was in an odd situation. Half of me decided I needed to hear whatever she knew of his past, and the other half wanted to wait until he was ready to open up on his own. Luckily, Relena was incredibly perceptive and sensitive. Knowing her had me understanding Duo's perceptions of women. He wasn't sexist, which was odd, considering that most men did believe women to be nothing but flowery adornments. Rather, Duo seemed to believe women were an equal, yet completely different species. Relena was a perfect example.
She cooked for herself, cleaned for herself, tacked her own horse, and kept no man in her bed. If she thought you were an idiot, she'd tell you in clear words. If she knew something important about Little One, I would be told.
"First of all, how much do you know about Maxwell, now that he's speaking to you?" she asked.
"I believe he was born in Torren, ended up in an Amraki abbey, and then somehow in Psysche as a slave, but all of that is suspicion. He's only told me his name."
Relena nodded. "Duo is not an Amraki name. Maxwell is. It's odd that he would take the name Maxwell but keep Duo. Amraki names need to be earned, they aren't given. My name means 'Stubborn Princess' in old Amraki. I earned it when I was four and everyone I've ever met agreed it suits me. If they didn't, I would have had to change it according to majority rule on what fit best."
I nodded. "And Duo is not an Amraki name. So he got his first name before he got there."
Relena nodded. "It is very odd that he accepted a last name and not a first. Amraki would have changed his belief of names, and unless 'Duo' carries significant meaning to him, he would have dropped it. But the heart of the matter here is his last name. Maxwell. It's not good." Relena said. "It's not my place to say, if he hasn't told you already, then I shouldn't say. But there is something very important he needs to be asked. And I'd prefer to let the poor thing keep his privacy, though if he's not going to talk to me, that can't be helped."
"I would like to give him the option," I said, relieved. "Don't tell me the issue, just tell me how bad it is."
Relena grimaced. "Bad," she said honestly. "Very, very bad. Potentially life threatening. I need to speak to him about it."
And so it came that I had Relena come into my room to speak to Little One. I feared his reaction to her, and whatever she wanted to talk to him about, but if she said it had to be done, then it needed to be done. Her grim expression, although she was usually a serious person, was out of order for her. She rarely seemed quite so disturbed as she did that day. Not much shook Relena Darlian.
I told her to wait by the stairs while I prepared Little One. He had woken, heard someone else in the room, and was peering in our direction.
"Little One, this is Relena. She's from Amraki. She wants to speak to you about your name."
"I don't want to," Little One said immediately.
"She's quite insistent," I said softly. "If you don't talk to her, she's going to tell me whatever it is she knows. And considering how long it took me to convince you to tell me your name, I'm guessing you aren't ready for me to know yet."
Little One visibly tensed, his jaw clenched. "I don't like strangers," he said lowly.
"She's a friend of mine, not a stranger."
He sighed. "Fine," he growled.
"I'll be out of earshot, but I will be watching," I told him. "If you need me, I will be here." I retreated to the other side of the room, where I stood with my arms folded, leaning against the wall.
Relena went to him, and got something out of her pocket. Once near him, she wordlessly offered it to him with her palm open.
He snatched it out of her hand faster than I had ever seen him move before, then clutched it to his chest, staring up at her from the bed. She sat down at his bedside, and said one sentance. His eyes went wide, indicating that whatever she'd said, she'd hit a nerve.
He shook his head and said something lowly, the two of them whispering together. I had to strain not to try and hear them. His eyes flicked over to me a few times.
He got visibly distressed, clutching whatever Relena had given him in his fist, said something and began to cry.
Relena's tone went loud enough to hear. "Oh, you poor thing," she said, and in a flash, she'd brought him into her arms, and he went without a fight, fighting tears again.
He reached up, tugged on his collar, and said something more, grimacing as if his words were distasteful.
Relena frowned, glancing at me.
"Master?" Duo called to me, and I went, joining the two on the bed. He pulled me in to hold him with Relena, the two of us consoling him while he grit his teeth and fought not to cry.
"Let it go," Relena said calmly. "You're alright. You should tell him about this the moment you've got it in you to tell him everything. He won't disappoint you," she said.
Little One shook his head. "Can't," he said simply. "My throat gets clogged up and I start crying when I think about it. Like now."
Relena nodded. "You haven't dealt with it yet," she said. "I daresay you haven't had the time to. You need to rest and be still for a while, let your mind adjust and put the past behind you."
He just nodded, his eyes flashing to me. He needed stability, I already knew this. I didn't know he needed to recover from something that happened in Amraki as well as whatever had happened in Geordi's cellar.
It seemed that my Little One just got pain wherever he went. I wished I could say that it wouldn't happen here.
"Tell me what I need to do," I said.
Relena smiled at me. "You be nice to him," she warned. "He's not in a good way. Let him observe any rituals he wants. Get some plants up here, that might help. Most of all, no sudden changes. He needs to be still. He needs to have a home."
I nodded and rubbed his back. "Plants?"
"I want a fernery," Duo said.
"Okay," I agreed easily. "Why will plants help?"
"It's a priesthood thing," Relena said. "They are very tuned to nature."
There was a pause. "I don't know anything about plants," I admitted. "Do you?"
"Enough," Relena said. "Would you like me to handle it?"
"Whatever is best for him," I said.
Relena nodded. "I will then. I also took the liberty a little while ago to send for more clamps," she said. "I thought you might want them."
It was only then that I saw what was in Little One's hand. Tiny, metal clasps to cover braids. I recognised them as two of the four that Relena always wore. "These were yours," Little One said.
"I have more coming," Relena said simply. "Would you like me to braid it for you?"
"Yes," Duo said, and immediately retreated from the hug to turn his back to Relena, pulling his hair out for her.
They began the intricate process of braiding Duo's hair, but first, Duo had to tell Relena the style, as his was different to hers. He separated his hair into sections, taking a handful from each side behind his ear, instructing her to braid that into ten braids each, then one big one with all that was left.
It took two hours. Relena eventually sat me down on his other side and had me braiding too. When done, Duo took the two clamps Relena had given him and clasped them over two of the small braids, and pulled the lot over his shoulders, ending up with ten braids over each shoulder, and one big one down his back.
"You'll have to do this for him from now on," Relena said. "The braids are a symbol of being loved. Amrakiens aren't allowed to braid their own hair, it's considered to be the highest form of narcissism."
"Okay," I said easily.
"The little ones only need redoing every week," she said. "And don't think you can get away with not doing all of them. Every one of them means something. Duo here must've been a busy boy at the Maxwell abbey, apparently. Twenty braids. I've only got two."
"Who braids your hair?" Duo asked her.
"I have permission from the Darlian house to do it as my father's proxy, because of my position here. I'm a diplomat, it would be unwise for me not to keep my braids."
Duo sat in silence a while longer. "I would do it for you," he said eventually.
"I may take you up on that," Relena said, smiling. "I must leave you be, I've already stayed too long. It was very nice to spend time with you both. I'll be back soon with either clamps or a fern, whichever arrives first."
"Thankyou," Duo said quietly.
I walked Relena to the stairs while Little One sat quietly on the bed, his hair done perfectly in the exact same style I had seen in our dreams, minus a few adornments. He'd had threads braided in then, and many more of the silver clamps, glinting away in the light.
As Relena started down the stairs, he spoke again. "I'm sorry for calling you a bone wench," he said.
Relena furrowed her brow, turning back. "I forgive you," she said, then made her way back down the stairs, glancing at me seriously, indicating that I should follow.
When down the stairs, she said lowly, "You should have prepared me for the fact that he'd be pleasant."
I shrugged. "I wasn't expecting him to be. I was expecting him to ignore you completely, not become friends with you."
She drew back, a little upset. "You forget how long I've been away from home," she said tersely. "I haven't seen another Amrakien in years, and we're a close people. You should be happy he wants to be friendly around me."
"You misunderstood me," I said. "I am pleased with this, I just wasn't expecting it. He hasn't reacted well to people since he started ... behaving that way."
"How long has he been behaving that way?" she asked.
"Since we got here," I said. "I don't really understand it, but it's as you said - he needs stability. As long as he's not yelling and screaming and trying to kill himself, I am giving him whatever he wants."
She furrowed her brow. "I was not expecting to go in there and have that talk with him. I was expecting to attempt to, have him scream and yell and fight, and then for me to have to tell you who he is."
I shook my head. "Don't, unless you absolutely must. Who he is doesn't matter, anyway, in the scheme of things. He could be a prince - we'd still be keeping him here."
She nodded. "If he were from any other abbey you would be having a diplomatic issue. Amraki is too far away, and too unimportant in the scheme of things to have much of a need for Seers. I thought you were make-believe until I was about ten. Most of the province wouldn't agree with you taking one of their priests away, regardless of who you are."
"But the Maxwells do?" I asked.
"It's not my place to say," she said. "I said too much already. The good news is that what I was worried about isn't a problem, and I don't think he was lying to me. I will be going out today, to fetch something for him, a medication of sorts, and I want you to make sure he takes it. Tell him I sent it, just to be sure, he'll know what it is, and if he's in the same mood as just now, he'll take it."
"You think he's got a sickness?" I asked.
She shook her head. "It's not my place to say," she repeated. "Just make sure he takes it, at all costs. And I'll need to bill the treasury for it, too. I certainly can't afford this. Will you send word to them to get them to pay, or will I need to give reason for it?"
I shrugged. "Depends on the cost," I said. "I'll send word. If they're narky, it can come out of my allowance. Is this something I should be worried about?" I asked, because I was very, very worried.
"No," she said. "Not if he takes it. It's a problem that's in the past. I only want him to have it to make sure it stays there. All in all, this isn't anywhere near as bad as I was preparing for."
I nodded slowly. "If he doesn't tell me, I will eventually ask you to."
She nodded. "If he reverts to ... normal behavior, for a Bind at least, then I will. If he doesn't, he will tell you."
