Mariemaia has a crick in her neck from where she's bent over her history textbook, studying the photos from the Eve Wars and skimming the cramped words describing the war. She pauses on the one showcasing Relena Darlian, or Peacecraft or whatever she was going by at the time, giving a speech. A large banner sporting Romefeller's twin unicorns and shield hangs behind her, but Mariemaia's attention is caught by the man standing with her.

The picture is small, but she can make out his blue military dress and carefully styled brown hair. She taps her finger lightly on the image of her father and tries to read his expression. She knows he ascended to leader of Romefeller after Relena stepped down and Dorothy's grandfather was killed, but she's never been sure if it's something he wanted or something he'd been told to want.

She hears a car pull up out front and hurriedly closes the textbook. The front door opens and she glances at the clock on the mantelpiece before turning her attention to the maths book instead. Her guardian is home early today.

"Mariemaia? Mariemaia!"

"In here."

Lady Une enters the living room and Mariemaia isn't sure how to read the expression on her face. She finds herself subconsciously sitting up straighter, shoulders squared the way Dekim always insisted on. She glances pointedly at the clock again.

"You're home early."

Lady Une sets her case down on the floor, drapes her blazer over the back of the wing-backed chair, and studies Mariemaia for another moment. "Not as early as you, I expect." Mariemaia bites her tongue and remains silent. "Well? Are you going to explain yourself?"

Something in her guardian's tone makes her break the eye contact, looking back at her maths textbook. She shrugs and fiddles with a stray highlighter.

"Do you have any idea what I thought when I received Henri's call?" Lady Une questions. Mariemaia focuses on the white-knuckled grip Lady Une has on the back of the chair. "Do you have any idea what Henri thought when you weren't there to be picked up? I see you have your phone there, so clearly you could have called."

"I'm sorry."

"Are you?" Lady Une reaches up, pulling the pins free from the twist in her hair. "Why weren't you at school?"

Mariemaia shrugs again. "I wasn't feeling well," she says. She pauses and then pales as a thought occurs to her. "You didn't call out a search party, did you?"

"You're lucky I didn't," Lady Une replies. Her voice is brittle and Mariemaia swallows hard. "Luckily I remembered that one of the guards sent an update this morning that Heero Yuy stopped by. At the time I was in a meeting with the Vice Foreign Minister and thought it was Heero being Heero, now I know better."

"Oh."

"Oh." Lady Une turns away, disappearing into the kitchen. "I'm making dinner. Henri's in the garage."

Mariemaia waits until she hears the water running in the kitchen sink before she gets up off the sofa and pads out into the foyer. She pulls on a pair of old sneakers and shrugs on her coat before making her way out the front door and down the front steps. The garage is an old converted carriage house back behind the house. Mariemaia takes the long way around, idly kicking at loose cobblestones along the way.

Henri Sauveterre has served as a driver for Lady Une for as long as Mariemaia has been her ward. Her earliest memories of life with Lady Une involved Henri driving her to-and-from doctor appointments or physical therapy. Henri was soft spoken and quick to laugh, something Mariemaia found foreign initially. She knows he has two grown children who fought in the Eve Wars and a grandson her age.

Henri looks up from where he is polishing the black metal of the car when he senses her standing in the open garage door. "Miss Mariemaia," he says, voice warm, "I'm happy to see you."

"I'm sorry, Henri," she says. She takes a seat on the stool next to the workbench and watches as he goes back to buffing the paint. "I didn't mean to worry you."

"The important thing is you're alright."

Mariemaia kicks idly at the rung of the stool and studies the older driver. She can't hear any bitterness in his voice, any animosity or contempt for getting him in trouble with Lady Une. Her eyes catch on the black ink on his forearm exposed from his rolled up shirtsleeves. Malo mori quam foedari. The OZ motto.

"Did you get in trouble?"

Henri glances at her and then shakes his head. He tucks the polishing cloth into his back pocket and walks over to her. "I'm not in trouble," he says. "And neither are you, Miss Mariemaia. You gave everyone a scare today, that's all."

"I am sorry, Henri."

Henri gives her a smile as he reaches for the window cleaner on the shelf over the workbench. "The way I see it, we're all entitled to play hooky once in a while. Next time, just give me a head's up, we'll go for ice cream instead."

Mariemaia feels herself crack a smile and he chucks her lightly under the chin. "That's the smile I remember," he says softly. "Perhaps you'll do me the favor of keeping an old man company while he finishes his duties for the night, unless you have something else to do?"

Her smile widens. "I would love to keep you company, Henri."

. . ... . .

Lady Une is dishing out supper when Mariemaia returns to the house. She looks up as Mariemaia enters the kitchen and her eyes look redder than when Mariemaia had left for the garage. She washes up silently at the sink and then takes a seat at the kitchen table tucked into one of the bay windows.

"I apologized to Henri."

"Good. Asparagus?" Mariemaia nods and watches Lady Une add a small pile to her plate.

"He has the OZ motto tattooed on his arm," she says, surprising herself. "I didn't realize he was a part of OZ."

"Only on the periphery. He worked as a mechanic for your father for years, he wasn't an actual soldier." Mariemaia pauses, fork of pork chop held in front of her mouth as she stares across the table at Lady Une. Lady Une glances up, meeting Mariemaia's surprised eyes. "He asked specifically to be your driver."

"He knew my father?"

Lady Une's expression softens. "Yes, for years. I'm sure he'd be happy to tell you stories."

Mariemaia turns back to her dinner, blinking away the stinging in her eyes. She shouldn't get this emotional anytime someone turns up who knew her father. He was a political figure and a noble, of course people knew him. And, she finds herself thinking a touch bitterly, of course she's kept in the dark about it until it becomes useful. She swallows hard and feels her appetite diminish.

"So, what really happened this morning?"

"Nothing."

"Heero Yuy decided to just show up at your school and bring you home all on his own?"

"I told you, I didn't feel well."

Lady Une takes a sip from her wine glass. "You did. I'm just struggling to put together why that resulted in Heero picking you up and not Henri. Or a call from the school to my office"

Mariemaia can feel her guardian's eyes on her. Can hear the silent demand from across the table. She chews slowly on her asparagus and swallows past the lump in her throat. Briefly she wonders if Heero will be in trouble for taking her home. She tries to imagine the confrontation between Lady Une and the Gundam pilot. She isn't sure who would win.

"You were meeting with Relena Darlian," Mariemaia says after a moment. "I didn't want to interrupt it."

"While that's very thoughtful of you, in the future if you don't feel well you will contact Henri or me directly. No more conspiring with former Gundam pilots."

Mariemaia lifts her eyes, studies Lady Une's carefully blank face. "You're the one who trusted him enough to hire him on as a Preventer."

"The Vice Foreign Minister trusts him," Lady Une replies, voice firm. "And while they have done many good things for the ESUN, they still have their origins in terrorism which means they don't have loyalty to anyone but their own ideals."

Mariemaia frowns. "Some people say OZ was its own terrorist group."

Lady Une's lips thin and she takes another drink of wine. "OZ was an elite military organization that supported Romefeller, not a terrorist organization."

Mariemaia shrugs. "Maybe someone should tell the history books that. May I be excused?"

Lady Une looks like she wants to protest but after a moment she gives a nod. "Yes, I think it's best if we both have an early night."

Mariemaia pushes away from the table, carrying her plate over to the counter and covering it in plastic wrap. She places it in the fridge and takes out a bottle of chilled water instead.

"Good night."

She pauses in the doorway, turning to look at her guardian over her shoulder. Lady Une is still seated at the table, not looking at her. She looks tired though, the slope of her shoulders not as military-straight as usual, and dark shadows ringing her eyes. Mariemaia feels her grip on her frustration, on her annoyance and anger, slip slightly.

"Good night," she replies.

She leaves Lady Une sitting alone at the table, sipping her wine, and heads upstairs to the quiet solitude of her room.