Disclaimer: The Vision of Escaflowne is owned by Sunrise and Bandai Entertainment. No copyright infringement is intended by this not-for-profit story, although the author would like to point out that this doesn't mean that others can freely copy this text and claim it as their own!
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'Have you heard the news?' Millerna cried, bursting into the drawing room. 'Marlene has had her baby!'
Carenza looked up from her sewing.
'How wonderful!' she said. 'Oh, but I will have to finish this bonnet right away. Is it a boy or a girl?'
'A boy. Blond and bonny like his mother, so the messenger said.'
Carenza picked a length of blue ribbon out of the sewing basket and began to thread it through a series of neatly-edged holes in the fabric.
'Of course she was pretty lucky,' Millerna added.
'Why so?' Eries asked, putting aside her book.
'Well, I worked it out and it's exactly thirty-nine weeks and four days since they were married.'
The two older girls looked blankly at her.
'A normal pregnancy is about forty weeks,' Millerna explained. 'But the baby was fully grown, which means that Marlene fell pregnant right away.' Once her elder sister's pregnancy had become known, Millerna had become fascinated by medicine and midwifery.
'I still do not understand why that makes her lucky,' said Eries.
Millerna rolled her eyes.
'Because,' she sighed, 'first pregnancies are often overlong, as the womb hasn't had any practice at labour. And that can be dangerous for the mother and the baby. Marlene was lucky that she gave birth right on schedule.'
Carenza kept her expression carefully neutral. As Marlene's friend, she knew for a fact that on the day before the wedding the princess had been anxious about her imminent period. She said she was afraid that it might start during the ceremony and at the very least be a distraction, if not the cause of an embarrassing accident. At the same time she was hoping it would begin soon so that consummation of the marriage might be postponed, at least for a few days. Either the baby was premature after all - or it had been conceived before Marlene ever left Asturia.
'If you will excuse me,' she said to both princesses, 'I think I shall write to Marlene right away, to congratulate her.' Anything to get out of here before the discussion led where it would benefit no-one.
'Yes, of course, that's a lovely idea,' said Eries. 'Millerna, why don't you get some paper and we can write too.'
With the princesses thus occupied, Carenza left for her own apartments.
Back in her modest suite of rooms she took out pen and paper, but could not bring herself to write. She paced around the sitting room for a while, put the books that the maid had tidied away back into alphabetical order (Dora was a sweet girl but could barely write her own name), rearranged the cushions on the chaise, and paced some more.
There was a knock at the door. Carenza started, and had barely stammered out a 'Come in!' before the door opened and Dryden walked in, his normally genial face set in an expression of controlled fury.
'I cannot believe it,' said, throwing himself down on the chaise. 'I know I never respected him as much as I ought, but I never believed him capable of such...such infamy.'
Carenza stared at him. She knew Dryden had suspected Allen and Marlene of being in love - it was almost impossible not to, after the picnic - but surely she was the only one who knew the whole truth?
'You cannot blame Allen entirely-' she began.
'Allen?' It was Dryden's turn to stare. 'Who said anything about Allen?'
'I, um, well...who were you talking about, then?'
'Our father, of course.'
Carenza almost laughed with relief.
'What has he done now?'
'This is serious, sis. I was just with the accountant, discussing my increase in allowance now I'm sixteen, and I happened to see a bill of lading amongst the papers on his desk.'
'So?'
'So - the cargo in question was a consignment of one hundred beastfolk, for delivery to a manufactory in Zaibach.'
'Slaves?' Carenza whispered.
'No, of course not,' Dryden replied sarcastically. 'That would be illegal. Of course I went straight to Father and he kindly explained it all to me.'
'So what did he say?'
'Apparently, nowadays it's called "procurement" and is perfectly respectable. He told me that the people being transported were indentured labourers, debtors whose debts had been paid by our father in return for their signing a work contract. They are taken to Zaibach, where Father receives a "transfer fee" for the labourer and his contract. In theory the labourer can work off his debt and return home, but I suspect that the contracts are carefully constructed to make this almost impossible, and most of the labourers are illiterate anyway.'
'Slavery by the back door...'
'Yep, and our beloved father is in it up to his scrawny neck.' He leant back on the cushions and took off his glasses, rubbing the side of his nose where they chafed.
'What are you going to do about it?'
'I'm not sure what I can do. Get away from here, that's for sure. I don't think I could be in the same room as him and keep a civil tongue in my head.'
'Where will you go?'
'I thought Ezgardia - use my savings to invest in objets d'art and sell them at a profit elsewhere - something mercantile but ethical.' He put the glasses back on and sat up. 'And if I make discreet enquiries about "procurement" whilst I'm abroad and try to do what I can to sabotage Father's nasty little trade, well, that'll be a bonus, won't it?'
'Oh, Dryden!' She plumped down on the chaise next to him and put a sisterly arm around his shoulders.
'I'm just so glad Mother isn't around to see how...corrupt he's become,' he murmured.
'Perhaps that's why she left him. Maybe she found out what he was like.'
'So why did she leave us with him?' he asked in a tight voice. 'Didn't she care about us?'
Carenza took a deep breath.
'Look, I didn't want to have to tell you this, at least not in such unpleasant circumstances. But since you're going away...' She paused, uncertain how to begin. 'I got a letter from Mother, a few years ago-'
He pulled away from her.
'You never told me.'
'You were only eleven, and I had just had one...upset in my life. I didn't feel ready to share any more bad news with anyone.'
Dryden said nothing, so she took his silence as permission to continue.
'She said that she had wanted to take us with her, but Father forbade her. In fact he had lawyers draw up a document saying that she was an unfit mother and was not allowed to see us or have any contact with us ever again. The document accused her of...well, lots of untrue things-'
'The bastard! Did she ever write to you again?'
'No, she said she was afraid to. There was no return address, so I couldn't even write back to thank her.'
'Right, that's it!' Dryden leapt to his feet. 'I'm going to fucking kill him! Slavery is bad enough, but keeping our mother from us-'
His face crumpled and he slumped back on the chaise, face buried in his hands, shoulders shaking. Carenza reached out a hand.
'Don't touch me!' he growled. He drew a ragged breath, then another. After a few moments he got to his feet, ran both hands through his hair and turned to her with a wavery smile.
'I'm sorry, sis, I didn't mean to snap at you like that. I was just afraid I'd lose it altogether if I didn't get myself under control.'
'It's all right,' she replied. 'It was my fault for telling you, when you were already upset.'
He shrugged.
'Best to get it all out in the open, face the fact that my father is the lowest, most despicable scumbag that ever crawled out of the Palas sewers.' He laughed shakily. 'Maybe I'll use my allowance to pay my way through law school, find a way to fix everything. What do you say?'
'I say that would be true justice.' She hugged him. 'I'm going to miss you, Dryden.'
He hugged her back, resting his cheek against the top of her head. She hadn't realised until that moment just how tall he had grown. Her little brother, a man.
'You could come with me,' he said after a moment.
She freed herself from his embrace, and shook her head.
'Someone should stay here and keep an eye on our father. I'll be your spy, reporting on his every move.'
'All right, but you be careful, d'ya hear? I don't want to have to rush back to defend you against one of our father's lawsuits.' He held her gaze, his green eyes earnest through the pale blue glass of his ridiculous spectacles.
'I promise I will be the soul of discretion,' she said. After all, I have enough secrets to keep, so what's a few more?
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Author's note: Ah well, I knew I'd have to bump up the certificate eventually. I don't think it'll need to go any higher, though there will be some lime-flavoured content towards the end.