Cecilia Irene leaned back further into the cushions of the sofa and watched
the rain through the glass doors of the cottage. She was in comfortable
slacks and a thick sweater she'd knitted, a cup of tea on the table in
front of her. Four fat, happy cats of various colours dozed around the
room, perched on the arm of the sofa, on chairs, and one on a cat tree.
There were ducks playing in the lake beyond the deck outside.
This sort of day would have been sheer heaven a few months ago. Now, despite the comfort of her surroundings, her heart was as empty as the bed she used to share with Giren.
The cottage was simple, two rooms one above the other with a bathroom. The bottom room was bright with a high ceiling, so packed with their things it was hard to walk. There was a kitchen in one corner, a dining room table, bookshelves, a stereo, and a computer desk half-buried in papers. The sofa was the centrepiece of the room, placed to look out onto the lake. From here, Giren had dictated several of his books to her, reciting to her what he wanted her to type, giving citations and quotes when needed. She had always enjoyed that, it reminded her they were a team.
Not that their days in the cottage were all work. She had many memories of the two of them pursuing their interests together or simply near to each other; she cooking and he writing or painting, she knitting and he researching, the two of them swimming in the lake or walking hand-in-hand, and of course, sleeping in each others' arms after long hours of making love.
So Giren and Cecilia had spent as much of their free time there as possible. It allowed them to carry on their relationship away from prying eyes, especially those of Giren's wife Princess Ingrid. To make things more difficult, Degin was a great believer in marital fidelity. Degin had loved both his wives, and urged his two married sons to fidelity, even though Degin himself had failed in it at least once. It didn't seem to matter to him that Dozel and Zena were a love match while Giren and Ingrid had been put together for politics alone. While Cecilia couldn't bring herself to hate the old man the way Giren did, she did learn to rankle every time Degin asked Giren when he and Ingrid would be giving him grandchildren.
Cecilia sighed, thinking of the baby Giren hadn't let her carry to term. It had been the only time he'd denied her anything. The loss was a double pain, both because she'd wanted that baby then and because it would have been a way for her lover to live on in some way now. She'd tried finishing his latest book from the notes he'd left, but it was too difficult. That baby of his wouldn't be born either.
Now she was living on her military pension in this cabin he'd willed to her, her costs kept low by the fact that she rarely went out. She had no idea where to go or what to do next. The newspaper from the day after Kishiria's coronation was still lying on a dining room chair. She figured she should read it, but the cover shot of Char Aznable stealing a kiss from his lady wife as she sat enthroned was too much. It should have been Giren on the throne, with Cecilia by his side as queen. Reality was never going to be the same again.
When the knock came on the door, Cecilia nearly jumped out of her skin. She reached under the pillows to her right and withdrew the firearm Giren made her keep there when she was alone. She pulled back the hammer and approached the door slowly. She looked through the peephole and her heart sank to see no less than six royal guards outside. It was over. They'd finally come to get her.
"Lt. Irene?" one asked, "please don't be frightened. You're not in any trouble. We just need to talk to you."
"Who sent you?" she snapped.
"Her Majesty. We have a warrant to search your house. Not for your arrest," he assured her.
Cecilia lowered the weapon and opened the door. The guards, who were young and earnest-looking, didn't rush inside. "I'm Captain Ohanian. May we come inside? It's very wet out here."
She nodded, taken aback by the show of courtesy. The captain held his hand out for her weapon and she mutely handed it over. The soldiers came in one by one and even slipped their boots off instead of tracking water on the rugs. A moment later, a figure in violet and black entered behind them and Cecilia saw she'd been deceived.
"Kishiria!"
"Hello, Cecilia." The monarch removed her cloak and hung it up. Cecilia looked down jealously at Kishiria's thickening waistline. "I always heard about Giren's private retreat and always wanted to see it. I thought I'd keep you company while the troops here had a look around."
"What do you want?"
"Ideas." Kishiria seated herself on the couch. "No matter what we thought of Giren, he was a genius, and we need that now. We just want to see if he had any plans for economic and industrial recovery after the war." She looked back at the orange tabby who was sitting on the arm of the couch behind her. The cat blinked copper-penny eyes at her.
"He kept journals, but I don't think I want them being read."
"You don't have a choice, but rest assured that we're not here out of prurient curiousity. Giren was cunning and while some of his ideas were completely insane, like the colony laser that killed my father, others were brilliant, and that's what we want."
Cecilia looked down, feeling violated. One of the things Giren had treasured about this place was that none of his siblings had ever set foot there and now Kishiria, the one he hated most, was seated comfortably on his side of the couch. The faster she gave them what they wanted, the faster they would leave. "Underneath the computer. There's a box of red diskettes that are nothing but his strategies and ideas."
The box of diskettes went into a briefcase. The soldiers kept looking. Cecilia picked up the black and white cat who had been Giren's favourite and held her on her lap. Kishiria intuited what was going on and asked, "What was special about him to you? You don't have to answer if you don't want to."
"People should know," Cecilia said. She breathed deeply before going into so personal and private a subject. "It was as if there were two Girens. There was the public one whom you knew, and there was the one only I knew. How would you describe your brother, ma'am?"
Kishiria looked wry. "Draconian. A schemer. Cruel. Sadistic. Hateful."
"He was all that and more," Cecilia admitted, "but he had a bright side that he kept very, very secret. He had to let it out once in a while or he'd go mad. Well, even more mad. He was quite insane, ma'am, I've no illusions about that. I was the one he chose to see this other side of him, a side that was kind, loving, gentle, meek, and passive."
"Passive?" Kishiria looked amused.
"Alone with me, he was completely submissive. He was such a commander of men, he just couldn't continue that 365 days a year. So alone with me, I was his mistress, literally. He was my obedient slave."
Kishiria looked as if Cecilia had just told him Giren turned into a pink rabbit whenever no one else was watching. "How did you get that kind of power over him?"
"He gave it to me as a gift. No one could take power from him, Kishiria, you know that. He had to give it to someone, though, and he chose me." For the first time in a long while, Cecilia smiled. "Sure, he'd hired me as a secretary because I've got 36 Ds and he wanted help he would enjoy looking at. He was neutral about me for a long time until one day he got one of his migraines. Maybe I'm a New Type of a sort because I can find the sources of a headache and make it go away. I covered his eyes with a wet washcloth and massaged his hands until the migraine was gone. After that, he was mine." Cecilia smiled at the memory. "He invited me here with him and how could I say no? When we got here, he gave himself to me as a present, handing power over him to me."
Kishiria snorted. "Where were you when he came up with that colony laser?"
"Unfortunately, giving me power over him didn't equal letting me know everything that he was thinking. I did veto some of his ideas, so he just didn't tell me about some of them."
Kishiria considered. "I have a job for you. Come back to the city with me. We'll discuss it."
****** "General Char, the mobile suit you've been waiting for."
Char entered the hangar in the port, which was filled with activity related to the return of the last Jion troops from Earth. He followed the major along, looking at the unloading. He'd never seen more dejected-looking soldiers in his life. They'd been cut off from supplies for too long; boots were worn through, uniforms were threadbare, and it looked as if food had been at a premium for a while, too. He felt a stab of guilt. They had concentrated on the space war and neglected the soldiers trapped on Earth, even if it did mean cutting themselves off from a cache of mobile suits.
"Here we are, sir. She's an older suit, but she's been really well-kept as you can see. We're just finishing the paint job now."
Char looked up at the commander-style Zaku-II. Wear and tear on it seemed minimal, and he could see little of it through the fresh red paint. "It's going to be good having one of those around me again," he commented. "I'd like to talk to the mechanic who's been taking care of it, learn about its quirks."
"Here she is." The officer presented a very young female warrant officer. Her blonde hair was cut in a short, elfin style that only accentuated her large green eyes. She saluted him, and Char thought she seemed familiar.
"So you're the caretaker of this Zaku? Looks like you've done an excellent job."
The woman nodded. "She's seen some action, very ugly towards the end. She handles perfectly though; I drove her myself to the evac."
"Show me the interior."
There wasn't anything unusual about the cockpit beyond a strange feeling of hauntedness, a heaviness in Char's chest he couldn't quite describe, but which filled him with sadness. The young warrant officer stood behind the pilot's seat, looking absent and stroking the leather. "Memories?" Char asked.
She gazed at the small amount of floor space in which she stood. "Yes."
"I didn't catch your name, soldier?"
"No one gave it to you, sir. Warrant Officer Estenbach."
"Estenbach. I've heard that name before..."
Char's mouth fell open in horror as he remembered where he'd heard the name, where he'd seen the girl. He dropped to his knees and looked underneath the console. Sure enough, there was a bit of verse written there:
O God give your judgement to the King to the King's Son your justice, that he may judge our people in justice and the poor in right judgement. GZ, 03/25/0079
"He always used to like to write something in his machines," Iserina Estenbach said. "He was a warrior-poet, in the classical sense. It cost him his life."
"I have a job for you," Char said. "Come back to the palace with me. There's someone there you should meet."
***** Kishiria Zabi entered the dining room wearing the court dress she affected as a compromise between uniform and casual clothes. Cecilia followed her in and took a seat where shown. Char came in, still in uniform, followed by the blonde girl. Kishiria remained sitting.
"Char, you didn't say you were bringing company."
"You want to meet this girl. Kishiria, I present to you Warrant Officer Iserina Estenbach. Garma's fiancée."
Kishiria blinked. "This is very interesting. Char, I present to you Lt. Cecilia Irene, Giren's lover. It would seem royal widows are just popping out of the woodwork today. Even for princes who weren't married!"
"Kish, please," Char said in a pleading tone. "Warrant Officer Estenbach has suffered. She's--"
"I know who she is," Kishiria said icily. "After Garma died, I read his journals. If only the silly boy had told you about us earlier. Father would never have forbidden your marriage. He could never deny Garma anything."
"After Garma died I went to his base," Iserina said. "I wanted to take revenge. Lt. Darlota talked me out of it, said I should take Jion citizenship and join the military instead. They let me take care of his Zaku and his Dopp. It gave me a reason to live. I've shot down twelve Feddie planes in that Dopp."
"The girl's an ace," Kishiria said. "Are you adding her to your command, Char?"
"I certainly am. What about Lt. Irene, there?"
"I'm adding her to my research staff. I think loyalty should be rewarded. Both you ladies suffered a great deal because of my brothers. It's time to let the family make it up to you."
Hours later, Iserina and Cecelia got onto an elevator together. As it descended, Iserina asked, "Did you know Garma?"
"I dated him in the Academy. He recommended me to Giren as his secretary. He was sweet, but I obviously clicked better with his older brother. What did Garma ever say about Giren?"
"Not a lot. I don't think he knew Giren very well. He said he was politically the most wise."
Cecilia smiled. "Giren wasn't exactly the warm fuzzy type, so that's a nice compliment. He would have liked it."
The elevator came to the bottom and the two women exited out towards the palace gates. "You know what we need?" Cecelia asked.
"What?"
"A drink." She linked arms with Iserina and the two not-quite-sisters walked together into the night.
Author's Note: This chapter follows MOVIE CONTINUITY obviously. I don't make a habit of it, but I found Iserina's ultimate fate to be extremely pointless, and I just wanted to let her live. Since the movies gave me an "out", I took it.
This sort of day would have been sheer heaven a few months ago. Now, despite the comfort of her surroundings, her heart was as empty as the bed she used to share with Giren.
The cottage was simple, two rooms one above the other with a bathroom. The bottom room was bright with a high ceiling, so packed with their things it was hard to walk. There was a kitchen in one corner, a dining room table, bookshelves, a stereo, and a computer desk half-buried in papers. The sofa was the centrepiece of the room, placed to look out onto the lake. From here, Giren had dictated several of his books to her, reciting to her what he wanted her to type, giving citations and quotes when needed. She had always enjoyed that, it reminded her they were a team.
Not that their days in the cottage were all work. She had many memories of the two of them pursuing their interests together or simply near to each other; she cooking and he writing or painting, she knitting and he researching, the two of them swimming in the lake or walking hand-in-hand, and of course, sleeping in each others' arms after long hours of making love.
So Giren and Cecilia had spent as much of their free time there as possible. It allowed them to carry on their relationship away from prying eyes, especially those of Giren's wife Princess Ingrid. To make things more difficult, Degin was a great believer in marital fidelity. Degin had loved both his wives, and urged his two married sons to fidelity, even though Degin himself had failed in it at least once. It didn't seem to matter to him that Dozel and Zena were a love match while Giren and Ingrid had been put together for politics alone. While Cecilia couldn't bring herself to hate the old man the way Giren did, she did learn to rankle every time Degin asked Giren when he and Ingrid would be giving him grandchildren.
Cecilia sighed, thinking of the baby Giren hadn't let her carry to term. It had been the only time he'd denied her anything. The loss was a double pain, both because she'd wanted that baby then and because it would have been a way for her lover to live on in some way now. She'd tried finishing his latest book from the notes he'd left, but it was too difficult. That baby of his wouldn't be born either.
Now she was living on her military pension in this cabin he'd willed to her, her costs kept low by the fact that she rarely went out. She had no idea where to go or what to do next. The newspaper from the day after Kishiria's coronation was still lying on a dining room chair. She figured she should read it, but the cover shot of Char Aznable stealing a kiss from his lady wife as she sat enthroned was too much. It should have been Giren on the throne, with Cecilia by his side as queen. Reality was never going to be the same again.
When the knock came on the door, Cecilia nearly jumped out of her skin. She reached under the pillows to her right and withdrew the firearm Giren made her keep there when she was alone. She pulled back the hammer and approached the door slowly. She looked through the peephole and her heart sank to see no less than six royal guards outside. It was over. They'd finally come to get her.
"Lt. Irene?" one asked, "please don't be frightened. You're not in any trouble. We just need to talk to you."
"Who sent you?" she snapped.
"Her Majesty. We have a warrant to search your house. Not for your arrest," he assured her.
Cecilia lowered the weapon and opened the door. The guards, who were young and earnest-looking, didn't rush inside. "I'm Captain Ohanian. May we come inside? It's very wet out here."
She nodded, taken aback by the show of courtesy. The captain held his hand out for her weapon and she mutely handed it over. The soldiers came in one by one and even slipped their boots off instead of tracking water on the rugs. A moment later, a figure in violet and black entered behind them and Cecilia saw she'd been deceived.
"Kishiria!"
"Hello, Cecilia." The monarch removed her cloak and hung it up. Cecilia looked down jealously at Kishiria's thickening waistline. "I always heard about Giren's private retreat and always wanted to see it. I thought I'd keep you company while the troops here had a look around."
"What do you want?"
"Ideas." Kishiria seated herself on the couch. "No matter what we thought of Giren, he was a genius, and we need that now. We just want to see if he had any plans for economic and industrial recovery after the war." She looked back at the orange tabby who was sitting on the arm of the couch behind her. The cat blinked copper-penny eyes at her.
"He kept journals, but I don't think I want them being read."
"You don't have a choice, but rest assured that we're not here out of prurient curiousity. Giren was cunning and while some of his ideas were completely insane, like the colony laser that killed my father, others were brilliant, and that's what we want."
Cecilia looked down, feeling violated. One of the things Giren had treasured about this place was that none of his siblings had ever set foot there and now Kishiria, the one he hated most, was seated comfortably on his side of the couch. The faster she gave them what they wanted, the faster they would leave. "Underneath the computer. There's a box of red diskettes that are nothing but his strategies and ideas."
The box of diskettes went into a briefcase. The soldiers kept looking. Cecilia picked up the black and white cat who had been Giren's favourite and held her on her lap. Kishiria intuited what was going on and asked, "What was special about him to you? You don't have to answer if you don't want to."
"People should know," Cecilia said. She breathed deeply before going into so personal and private a subject. "It was as if there were two Girens. There was the public one whom you knew, and there was the one only I knew. How would you describe your brother, ma'am?"
Kishiria looked wry. "Draconian. A schemer. Cruel. Sadistic. Hateful."
"He was all that and more," Cecilia admitted, "but he had a bright side that he kept very, very secret. He had to let it out once in a while or he'd go mad. Well, even more mad. He was quite insane, ma'am, I've no illusions about that. I was the one he chose to see this other side of him, a side that was kind, loving, gentle, meek, and passive."
"Passive?" Kishiria looked amused.
"Alone with me, he was completely submissive. He was such a commander of men, he just couldn't continue that 365 days a year. So alone with me, I was his mistress, literally. He was my obedient slave."
Kishiria looked as if Cecilia had just told him Giren turned into a pink rabbit whenever no one else was watching. "How did you get that kind of power over him?"
"He gave it to me as a gift. No one could take power from him, Kishiria, you know that. He had to give it to someone, though, and he chose me." For the first time in a long while, Cecilia smiled. "Sure, he'd hired me as a secretary because I've got 36 Ds and he wanted help he would enjoy looking at. He was neutral about me for a long time until one day he got one of his migraines. Maybe I'm a New Type of a sort because I can find the sources of a headache and make it go away. I covered his eyes with a wet washcloth and massaged his hands until the migraine was gone. After that, he was mine." Cecilia smiled at the memory. "He invited me here with him and how could I say no? When we got here, he gave himself to me as a present, handing power over him to me."
Kishiria snorted. "Where were you when he came up with that colony laser?"
"Unfortunately, giving me power over him didn't equal letting me know everything that he was thinking. I did veto some of his ideas, so he just didn't tell me about some of them."
Kishiria considered. "I have a job for you. Come back to the city with me. We'll discuss it."
****** "General Char, the mobile suit you've been waiting for."
Char entered the hangar in the port, which was filled with activity related to the return of the last Jion troops from Earth. He followed the major along, looking at the unloading. He'd never seen more dejected-looking soldiers in his life. They'd been cut off from supplies for too long; boots were worn through, uniforms were threadbare, and it looked as if food had been at a premium for a while, too. He felt a stab of guilt. They had concentrated on the space war and neglected the soldiers trapped on Earth, even if it did mean cutting themselves off from a cache of mobile suits.
"Here we are, sir. She's an older suit, but she's been really well-kept as you can see. We're just finishing the paint job now."
Char looked up at the commander-style Zaku-II. Wear and tear on it seemed minimal, and he could see little of it through the fresh red paint. "It's going to be good having one of those around me again," he commented. "I'd like to talk to the mechanic who's been taking care of it, learn about its quirks."
"Here she is." The officer presented a very young female warrant officer. Her blonde hair was cut in a short, elfin style that only accentuated her large green eyes. She saluted him, and Char thought she seemed familiar.
"So you're the caretaker of this Zaku? Looks like you've done an excellent job."
The woman nodded. "She's seen some action, very ugly towards the end. She handles perfectly though; I drove her myself to the evac."
"Show me the interior."
There wasn't anything unusual about the cockpit beyond a strange feeling of hauntedness, a heaviness in Char's chest he couldn't quite describe, but which filled him with sadness. The young warrant officer stood behind the pilot's seat, looking absent and stroking the leather. "Memories?" Char asked.
She gazed at the small amount of floor space in which she stood. "Yes."
"I didn't catch your name, soldier?"
"No one gave it to you, sir. Warrant Officer Estenbach."
"Estenbach. I've heard that name before..."
Char's mouth fell open in horror as he remembered where he'd heard the name, where he'd seen the girl. He dropped to his knees and looked underneath the console. Sure enough, there was a bit of verse written there:
O God give your judgement to the King to the King's Son your justice, that he may judge our people in justice and the poor in right judgement. GZ, 03/25/0079
"He always used to like to write something in his machines," Iserina Estenbach said. "He was a warrior-poet, in the classical sense. It cost him his life."
"I have a job for you," Char said. "Come back to the palace with me. There's someone there you should meet."
***** Kishiria Zabi entered the dining room wearing the court dress she affected as a compromise between uniform and casual clothes. Cecilia followed her in and took a seat where shown. Char came in, still in uniform, followed by the blonde girl. Kishiria remained sitting.
"Char, you didn't say you were bringing company."
"You want to meet this girl. Kishiria, I present to you Warrant Officer Iserina Estenbach. Garma's fiancée."
Kishiria blinked. "This is very interesting. Char, I present to you Lt. Cecilia Irene, Giren's lover. It would seem royal widows are just popping out of the woodwork today. Even for princes who weren't married!"
"Kish, please," Char said in a pleading tone. "Warrant Officer Estenbach has suffered. She's--"
"I know who she is," Kishiria said icily. "After Garma died, I read his journals. If only the silly boy had told you about us earlier. Father would never have forbidden your marriage. He could never deny Garma anything."
"After Garma died I went to his base," Iserina said. "I wanted to take revenge. Lt. Darlota talked me out of it, said I should take Jion citizenship and join the military instead. They let me take care of his Zaku and his Dopp. It gave me a reason to live. I've shot down twelve Feddie planes in that Dopp."
"The girl's an ace," Kishiria said. "Are you adding her to your command, Char?"
"I certainly am. What about Lt. Irene, there?"
"I'm adding her to my research staff. I think loyalty should be rewarded. Both you ladies suffered a great deal because of my brothers. It's time to let the family make it up to you."
Hours later, Iserina and Cecelia got onto an elevator together. As it descended, Iserina asked, "Did you know Garma?"
"I dated him in the Academy. He recommended me to Giren as his secretary. He was sweet, but I obviously clicked better with his older brother. What did Garma ever say about Giren?"
"Not a lot. I don't think he knew Giren very well. He said he was politically the most wise."
Cecilia smiled. "Giren wasn't exactly the warm fuzzy type, so that's a nice compliment. He would have liked it."
The elevator came to the bottom and the two women exited out towards the palace gates. "You know what we need?" Cecelia asked.
"What?"
"A drink." She linked arms with Iserina and the two not-quite-sisters walked together into the night.
Author's Note: This chapter follows MOVIE CONTINUITY obviously. I don't make a habit of it, but I found Iserina's ultimate fate to be extremely pointless, and I just wanted to let her live. Since the movies gave me an "out", I took it.