Chapter 35 - Tension

The curtains were drawn to keep out the light while the King rested, and his door shut softly. Risek looked across the room at him once he'd walked inside, taking in a deep breath to fortify his emotions while he stepped toward the bedridden man.

Coming to a stop nest to the bed, he had to notice that Lukas was right, and Seriun did look a bit pale. Risek did everything he could to push that thought from his mind for the moment however, not wanting himself to become completely distressed. After all, the man might actually respond to him.

"Father," Risek spoke, taking the man's frail hand. Reaching down, he placed his palm against Seriun's shoulder, looking at his face. "Father, I'm back. Can you hear me?"

Seriun didn't respond. Instead, he simply lay there quietly, his breathing as steady as Mirian had mentioned to Link and Zelda that it was, but his face was completely expressionless. Risek could feel the worry and grief tugging at his heart in the face of his lifeless sire, and it was hard to keep that emotion back.

Behind him, the door had opened, and Mirian stepped into the room. In seeing Risek with the King, she hated to interrupt, but she had to speak with him, felt that it warranted an interruption even if he'd just arrived in Althor once again.

"My," she started softly, stepping in a little closer when she didn't think her voice was loud enough to be heard by him. "My Prince? I'm sorry to interrupt."

Risek looked over when he heard her, and seeing her standing there, he looked back at his Father and took in a deep breath. "It's fine, Mirian," he said softly, his voice deep but somehow full of sorrow. "I don't mind."

Hearing how badly this must have hurt him, Mirian forgot about what she needed to tell him for the moment, and she decided instead - for the moment anyway - to offer him whatever he might need. "Can I get anything for you?"

"No," he shook his head. Growing quiet after saying those words, and then lifting his hand from his Father's shoulder, but keeping his other where it was, he took another slow, deep breath, and closed his eyes. "I feel as if I've failed him. I should have been here."

Mirian shook her head even though he wasn't looking. "You didn't, My Prince. You succeeded him by accomplishing that which he couldn't. He told me more than once while you were gone just how proud of you he is. He said he was happy that you went to Hyrule in his stead, because he felt that you needed reprieve, and it lightened the burden on his heart."

"The burden?," Risek asked curiously, looking over at Mirian for explanation.

Nodding, she explained, "He was worried that, if you or he didn't go to Hyrule, diplomacy wouldn't work as smoothly as it could have. He honestly believes Hyrule's friendship can rejuvenate our people."

"I see," Risek replied, looking back down at his sire. He wished Seriun would look up and confirm her words, but instead, the King simply lay there motionless, resting comfortably but deathly still at the same time. "He does not know the half of it, I believe. But, Mirian," Risek began, turning his face back over to her, "has he not moved at all? Even twitched?"

"He has," Mirian nodded, and she turned and walked over to the bed opposite the side that Risek was standing on. The Prince watched her leaning down to lift Seriun's head and placed the pillows more comfortably beneath it, and when she did, Seriun let a soft sigh and his face turned slightly. "See?"

Mirian looked back up at Risek and shook her head slowly, "It's only been a day now, he could wake up any time."

Her words did comfort him, made him feel better, and Risek gave her a nod of his head, looking back at Seriun's face once again. "What is it that makes him so ill?" Though he'd asked the question aloud, he hadn't realized it. Mirian turned her golden eyed gaze toward him, parting her lips to speak over that, to tell him words she'd overheard spoken that she thought could have to do with Seriun, but she found them stuck in her throat. It wasn't that she felt she couldn't tell him, but simply that she wasn't sure how to put them without burdening Risek further.

In seeing the expression on her face, however, Risek turned toward her completely. He looked concerned, because she did as well, asking, "What is it?"

"Hmm?" Mirian drew her face toward his when he asked, and then realized what it was that caused him to look the way he did. "Oh, I'm sorry. I'm just...," she sighed out her breath, head bowed forward. Risek waited for her to say more, and when she didn't right away, he slowly released his father's hand and stepped toward the foot of the bed, stopping when she finally spoke again.

"I'm worried, My Prince, I don't know what to think anymore."

Risek had to keep himself in check because he didn't feel as if the situation warranted an offer for comfort to her, standing where he was without moving while gazing over at her. He noticed something however, that she was fidgeting with her skirts in her hands, wringing them a bit, and ever since she was a young girl, he could remember her doing that when she was nervous or bothered by something.

"This illness I strange," she began without prompting, "and I'm not–"

A knock came to the door. Upon hearing the soft wrapping, Mirian and Risek both looked that way. Once they did, a voice sounded that belonged to a young boy, "Risek? Are you here?"

"Gabriel," he said, then went to the door, opening it up in order to look down at the young boy. Gabriel turned and looked up at his brother, grinning when their eyes met, and Mirian watched Risek bending down to hug him. Despite the dreary mood that had been set, she smiled brightly, listening while Gabriel told Risek how much he'd missed him.

"I missed you too, Gabriel. How have things been?"

"Not good," Gabriel told him with a shake of his head before he stood back. "Things have gotten strange since you left. Last night, I saw all of the Knights leaving the Palace and heading in the direction of Newbern with torches, and some of them didn't return."

Risek gave Gabriel a confused look, slowly turning that gaze back at Mirian. In seeing his perplexed face, she took in her breath and let him stand in order to shut the door before they spoke anymore over it, and once their words were sealed inside of the room, Risek asked, "Do you know anything about this?"

"Just a little," she nodded, "Lukas will inform you of everything, I'm sure. But Aggie didn't return. Besides that, I've simply heard words of traitors to the crown flying around since you left."

"Traitors?," Risek implored, though not directly from Mirian. Before he could think more on it however, he felt Gabriel tugging at the bottom of his blue tunic in order to get his attention.

"Risek, Charlain's been acting strange too. She keeps talking to me about not worrying over whatever happens, that she and Lukas have it all under control. I asked her what she meant, and she said that sometimes people just get jealous and things get bad for a little while. I still can't figure out what she means."

"I think perhaps I should ask her then," Risek replied, looking at Mirian who seemed somehow pensive. When he realized this, he told Gabriel, "Go prepare for dinner. I'll be down shortly."

Gabriel nodded and gave Risek one last hug before he went to the door and left the room. When it shut, Risek made sure it was latched, then turned around to face th chambermaid and asked her, "You know more about this, don't you?"

"Yes," she nodded. "I didn't want to say so in front of Gabriel though. But I've overheard things," she sighed. "I'm just unsure of what I'm hearing."

Whatever it was had apparently bothered Mirian to the point of paranoia because she continually seemed wary, even speaking of it now. So Risek reminded her on a gentle tone of voice, "You trust me, don't you?"

She gave him a nod, but never met his gaze. "Yes, of course I do. It's nothing to do with that. I just don't want to weigh down your return with a lot of talking and potentially bad news."

Risek knew something like this would happen deep down, that he would return to Althor and things would jump on him at once, so he wasn't surprised in any way. "Don't worry over that, just tell me what's bothering you. Why did the Knights leave, and why didn't Aggie return?"

Mirian paused in giving him a response as if the truth of it might have pained her somehow, but she cleared her throat after a moment and said, "Lukas called him a traitor. He said that Aggie was assisting the townspeople all of this time."

Risek's surprise was clear on his face for once. Aggie? A traitor? That couldn't be possible, could it? While Risek hadn't known him as long, Aggie was like Marcelle in many ways, trustworthy and duty bound. He could only imagine these reasons were why Mirian also seemed unsettled with the words.

But instead of defending Aggie - especially to Mirian - he simply asked, "Assisting them with what?"

Mirian shook her head slowly, "According to Lukas, there was indication that some people in Newbern were trying to incite rebellion against the crown. He sent the Knights in to question them."

Despite Risek having thought he would return and have duty weigh down on him heavily, he hadn't expected to hear of traitors against the crown. Especially not Aggie of all people. Of course, Mirian wouldn't have specific details, only Lukas would, so he would have to ask his brother-in-law for more information on all of this before he could make up his mind on what to do exactly.

So in the meantime, Risek asked Mirian, "What else have you heard?"

"Many things," Mirian told him honestly. "And I don't know what to think of any of them."

"Then you'll have to tell me later," he said, glancing over at where his father rested quietly. "I need to attend dinner for now, and go speak with Lukas over this."

He was right, and Mirian figured that was the best idea before any assumptions could be made. After all, before Risek heard the chatter she'd been privy to, he needed all of the facts. "Go," she nodded, "Don't worry for Seriun. If he wakes up, I know they'll tell you immediately."

Risek nodded at the chambermaid, then opened the door. He wanted to ask her personally how shed been fairing, but that wasn't an option for him, not then and there. Besides, he felt he already knew, she'd been on edge with all of the rumor of traitors to the crown floating around, so he just let it go for the time being in order to go get caught up with what Lukas knew. He didn't have the means to let himself indulge in any desires in that moment in time.

Once he'd left, Mirian let her shoulders slump. How was she supposed to tell him what she'd overheard? How could she find an easy way to say 'my Prince, I think your sister's up to something and whatever it is, it's not good'? Such a thing wasn't exactly what someone who'd just returned home wanted or needed to hear.

Mirian wasn't very sure about anything at that moment, and the situation felt as tense as any she'd ever been in before. Shaking her head, she went to settle herself in the chair near the bed, and she took Seriun's hand.

"Seriun, can you hear me? Your son's returned. I wish you would awaken to talk to him for a little while."

Seriun just let a peaceful sigh. Well, peaceful was better than muttering chaotically and incoherently, she figured. So at least he was calm for now.

If things played out the way she had a feeling they were going to however, Mirian wasn't so sure his son would be quite as calm in the near future.