{-Alfonse-}

By now, he found himself constantly tuning out whatever the council had to say; most of them only either mocked him or made some crude jab at Sharena or (very rarely) Henriette. Veronica, despite them only knowing her as a mysterious girl who was staying at the castle, was also occasionally mentioned in that as well. When she'd overheard it earlier that day she'd laughed and told him simply, "I would've had them all executed by now. Make an example out of them and I doubt anyone else would bother you."

Only three out of the fifteen were there, but that didn't make it any easier. They ignored him even more to make up for it, and times like this he couldn't help but wonder if they'd been waiting for him to grow up just to do this. It would certainly make a lot of sense.

The moment they did notice him, however, was not a pleasant one.

"Oh look, Princey's got a nosebleed. How cute."

Alfonse immediately pulled out the handkerchief he'd had with him since the night before. He quietly dismissed the meeting and started towards his room.

Henriette stopped him as soon as she noticed he was passing by, thankfully after it had stopped though before he could do anything to hide the fact it had happened at all. "We need to have a talk. Sharena told me you've been having a lot of nosebleeds lately, and I haven't seen you since last night to ask. I suppose we could go over the questions you mentioned as well, if you need a good reason to."

"There's still a lot I didn't do yesterday, though." He really wasn't trying to avoid talking to her; there really was several things that needed to get done before he could consider giving himself a break.

"You're human just like everyone else here," she pointed out gently. "Eventually you're going to work yourself sick and that's worse than not doing anything for a while. All I'm asking is for you to tell be what's going on. I do intend on helping, but I can't do any of that if you don't talk to me."

He sighed. "Right. Will it be the garden, then?"

"I think I'd have better luck showing you at the library, actually," she replied. "Sharena and Iztali are out at the gardens anyway; I wouldn't want to interrupt their fun."

Alfonse didn't protest and allowed her to take the lead. It wasn't that far from where they'd been, anyway, and in barely a minute later they were both sitting down at one of the tables.

From the looks of it, she'd been there before she'd seen him. There were several books, and judging by what he could see, she'd also been planning on having this conversation soon. A glass of red wine was beside them, which given the circumstances most people would find concerning—but he knew that their mother indulged in it occasionally and responsibly, meaning there wasn't anything to worry about.

"First, can you tell me about your nosebleeds? I want the full details of what happened." She picked up the glass and took a thoughtful sip before adding, "Anything that can help me figure out if it's Loki or something more serious."

"The first was the day before I brought Sharena here. I'd been drawing… and trying to remember what had happened when we'd encountered Loki for the first time. For a while, I didn't even notice it until after I was almost done and it started to drip on the paper." He was actually glad no one else was there; he'd feel weird saying it in front of anyone. Technically, he hadn't even said anything about to Anna. "The second was while we were with Kiraat, two days before we left. I'd simply been caring for the horses and it happened. We were traveling when I had the third—both Sharena and Veronica were in front of me so neither of them saw it. The fourth was last night, and then a fifth a couple minutes ago. Given how they've started, I'd assumed it was likely Loki and my own way to responding to the memories she didn't want us to remember."

"It's at least undeniable that she's chosen you… though really that's more of a bad thing…" Henriette took another sip. "That's all that I wanted to ask. What are your questions? I'll answer them all to the best of my abilities."

Alfonse nodded. "It's probably still on the same subject, really… in the sense it's involving Loki. Kiraat mentioned the last time you wrote to him, five years ago when… I started coughing up blood. I can't remember any bit of it and it's been bothering me since he said it. He also said once—during his explanation on how he knew Loki—that you'd done it too. If it's not too much trouble, I was hoping that you could tell me more about it."

"Remember what I told you; Loki chooses her prey and she doesn't let them go until they're so torn and beaten that she's lost interest in them. That was just an example of the way she liked to watch people suffer." She shook her head sadly. "I'll start at the most simplest point: the beginning. After our first encounter with Loki, I'd started coughing up blood like Ki told you. Thinking on it, I really wasn't much older than you were when it happened to you. There was several other times it had happened, some after other interactions with her and others seemingly at random. The last was about early spring fifteen years ago. You and Sharena were so young then… and you both knew so little despite being there when it first started that neither of you would probably remember it now. It was a bit before Gustav decided it was time for him to show you everything it meant to be prince while I sat by, interfered only when needed, and took care of Sharena. He'd realized then that Loki wasn't done, and was set on believing that having the prince of peace and little dreamer together was only going to make things worse. I knew it wouldn't hurt anything more than it would've to have you two apart, but you know how he always stuck by his ideas…"

She took another long, thoughtful sip. "Since then, I'd suspected that Loki would do the same to one of you. Gustav went on as if it had never happened, but I knew better than to assume that it was the end of it. I kept looking towards Sharena for the warning signs; nightmares, faintness, an uncomfortable feeling of someone else being there, Loki's voice as clear as if she was beside you but hard to understand… she's a lot like me in some respects, and she had a sensitivity to the nightmares like I do, so I'd guessed that she'd likely be the one to get that too. That is, until Zacharias came to get me and told me what happened. I don't think I'd ever seen him so upset before. He came by every day as soon as he was able to spare the time—even in those few, awful days you didn't even respond to anything. You'd eventually gotten bad enough that Gustav let me ask Ki for help. It might only be the only reason you're here now… I know for certain, at least, that you were worse than I ever was. I can't blame you for forgetting it, and I doubt it was because of Loki that you didn't remember it before. The only thing that had gone public about it was that you'd gotten sick; even Sharena didn't know what actually happened. When you were well enough that I could let you out of the castle, I'd told Commander Anna and she and Zacharias looked over you together for me. Nothing similar has happened since."

"Thank you." He got up. "It at least makes more sense than some other things… If that's all, though, I really should get going. I might be able to finish up early if I start now."

"Before you leave, I'd like you to bring these to your room." She gestured to the stack of books beside her. "They're both old records of Loki and some past interactions between Askr and Embla. Your father never got the chance to go through them with you; I don't have quite the same understanding of them as he did, but I'll be glad to help if you ever get stuck on something. I think there might even be a bit about the nightmares in there as well. It's ideal to think that we could go through it together all the time, so I'll settle with just when you think you need someone to talk to about it. You know where to find me when that happens."

"I'll be sure to get you," he promised. He gathered up the books, giving her a small smile and adding, "See you at dinner?"

She smiled too. "I'll be looking forward to it."

((A/N: Oh, but if all things go as planned, something similar is going to happen soon… Keep in mind what Henriette noted as warnings, and what's been happening to Alfonse in the past story that he hasn't told anyone about yet. You don't want to know the kinds of things I have planned for these guys. It's awful.))