Haven: Gundam Wing

By: Derrian Star

Chapter 6

Large pillowed clouds of steam rose around him in a curtain. Hazing the appearance on the clean rocky walls of the richest copper colour. The heat was starting to get to him. It was a nice change from the constant chills he had been dealing with for some time now. He was use to the heat, but at that point it seemed like a long lost friend.

Quatre carefully set his towel and a newly gained change of clothes on a large rock that had been carved to be useful as a bench. He hastily wipe the thin layer of sweat off his brow before once again turning to stare at the vast amount of bubbling water in the same room as him. The room was huge! Completely enclosed in the stones that made up its walls, floor, and ceiling. The tinted liquid sat in about ten different pools. The largest being just in front of him, easily taking up about half the room. The surface constantly rippling from the springs feeding in the hot water. It was simply breath taking. So much water in one place. Used simply for pleasure.

He took a slow walk around the perimeter. Trying to judge the depth that the massive pool held. But between the colour of the holding and the reddish waters he wasn't able to see the bottom no matter where he looked. How far down had the water worn away at the rock? The last time he remembered bathing in a chamber such as this, was his previous visit to the Arislan kingdom. He had only been eight then, and the water looked just as deep then.

Deciding that a smaller pool was more to his suiting he removed his provided robe and stepped gingerly into the hot water. It bordered on the line of scalding, but to his desert born skin that was perfect. A god given sigh escaped his lips as he sank into pure heated bliss. Once burnt skin only tingeing slightly to the intense change.

Quatre closed his eyes and leaned back against the slick rocks, relaxing for the first time in a long while. Not forgetting the point behind his travels, but gathering his thoughts to be prepared for the trials ahead. He would remain long enough to loosen tense muscles and relieve his skin of the thin layer of dirt that had acquired on it. Then he was to have dinner with his uncle and cousin. It would be a bit strange, now that he had gotten use to meals below grounds.

A lazy breath fluttered his pale bangs against his forehead, passing by without an idle thought. It was only when second guessing took over that the question; 'Breeze? In an underground bathhouse?' accented itself with a small flutter in the pit of his stomach. Aquamarine orbs opened to the sight of a thick brown cord dangling less then a foot in front of him. From that point of view, and the fact that he had been alone just a few moments before, the unknown took on a dangerous quality.

Hesitation to a member of the royal class too often ends up later draped in black. The need for immediate action led the blond Price to seize the brown object and pulled with all of his might.

There was a startle cry, lined in pain, then a splash as a body connected with the water in the center of the pool with a large splash. Quatre jumped on to the underwater ledge to gain a bit of height and waited for the figure to emerge.

It was a very familiar brown head that came up out of the water too, narrow eyes glaring violet daggers back at the Volderian, just barely clearing the rise of the water. The brown rope was still present, floating out behind the boy in the clear form of a long braid of brunette hair.

"Duo?!"

Behind him someone failed to hold in a simple bout of soft laughter, swirling around Quatre saw another recognizable face. "Trowa?"

The said took a dramatic bow, a suit of light armor clanking upon itself. The long sweep of brown hair falling over his right eye. Quatre again turned to his water logged acquaintance, frightened by the vengeance he saw there. "I'm sorry Duo, you surprised me!"

"I told him it was a bad idea." Trowa commented, kneeling down at the edge of the bath. He draped one metal clad arm over his bent knee.

Standing to his fullest the braided young man grabbed at his plastered bangs covering a good majority of his vision and parted them down the middle and to the sides. He too was in armor, the patterns etched into it was identical to the one his companion was wearing. If the pool had been a few feet deeper Duo would have sunk straight to the bottom.

"What are you guys doing here?!" Quatre questioned with a hint of worry. Breaking into an armed castle wasn't on his list of smartest things to do. Especially a castle that just happened to have the most prestige knights in the entire country.

It had been agreed upon that Quatre would take care of his badly needed errand first. Not only did it mean the very survival of his people and their land. But being the nephew of the King would surely mean that all knights that could be spare for the cause would be.

An unguarded castle isn't what the two renegades needed, but in the aftermath of their plan, it gave 'them' better odds.

"And where did you get that armor?" Quatre continued. He knew there had been no spare suits of armor lying around in the underground living quarters.

"Why my lord," Duo started, waving one hand around in diligence, flinging water off to his right. "We are nothing more then loyal guards protecting our King."

"I'm not a King, Duo."

The other waved that simple fact off again using his hand and also his eyes. Then he added with a smirk. "And it is amazing what you can find out back."

Shock "You stole them?!"

The young fake knight next to him shook his head, a slight crooked smile on his thin lips. "We simply told the arms master that we lost our equipment in a raid protecting our Prince in the middle of the night. These, he had leftover in the armory." Long fingers indicated to the shiny metal.

Large aquamarine eyes looked from one newly appointed guard to the other; there was determination in each face. Determination and passion. They felt for their land like he did for his. It felt good to know that someone would be by his side through it. "Thanks." He stated sincerely, looking deeply into the tinted water that surround his body.

ooooooo

Duo had been extremely disappointed when he found out that members of the arms did not dine with royalty. 'Food was always better on the higher tables' he commented with a sad frown. It was most likely true too. But it wasn't the food Quatre was paying attention to; instead he glanced again to the large doors that stood off to his right. The meal had already begun and still his Uncle had not come to sit with them. If tradition held the same as it did all those years ago the meal would not start until the King took the first drink.

"Come cousin; eat your food before it grows cold." Aquamarine eyes shift off the white doors to the opposite end of the table where the crown Prince of Arislan watched him intently. "Or do our foods here differ too greatly for your tongue."

It wasn't that, even though most of the items prepared he had never seen before, it was the vast amount before him when he knew outside the castle walls people were scraping the dead lands to feed their families. His stomach felt vile eating heartily when others could not. He decided to ignore the question posed on the meal and focus instead on the King. "Is my Uncle not joining us in meal tonight?"

Prince Illses tilted his head down slightly, catching the red wine with his lips as soon as it left his goblet. "I'm afraid my father is feeling a little ill tonight. The heat seems to have taken a toll on his health."

The blond nodded in acknowledgment, though feeling that Thaayin would have sent word directly to him if he wasn't going to attend. Or at least ask him to attend a visit after dinner. It had been just under 13 years since he had last visited the great white castle. He had just been a little boy then, bouncing on his Uncle's knee. There was so much to talk about, not to mention the goal of his venture.

It took a bit of effort but he politely worked his way through his meal. It was different yet enjoyable. He even got to try a few more exotic fruits, steering clear of the small green limes. Duo had let him try one when they brought home the fresh delicacies. He never thought his face would be straight again after the shock of unexpected sour. Duo had laughed at him for five minutes straight, while Trowa sadly shook his head at the display.

Farther down in the lower class tables a Fool was entertaining the children's tables. Dancing over the food set of the tables. Hopping from one to the other with out so much as disturbing a crystal glass filled with juice. The Fool was dressed entirely in white, clean and bright allowing the torch light to reflect off the shiny material.

Quatre chuckled as the said Fool somersaulted to one of the adult tables, over tipping it up on its edge in the process. The children found this extremely funny to watch and were clapping their hands, while the grown ups dodged flying food and yelled. The Fool ignored this and strutted right up the center of the remaining tables until he reached the platform where the royalty table at higher then the rest. Grabbing three fragile glasses off the table he proceeded to juggle them with one foot on the ground and the other at a ninety degree angle off of it. All the while humming happily to himself. The tight curls on his head bounced to the rhythm he created, swaying in a wild mass of mousey gray. He didn't appear old enough to earn that hair colour but it was there never the less, adding to the ghostly pale of his skin. The man was practically white; there was no pigment in any of his body parts.

"Fool!" The Price yelled after taking another long drink. "My father, the King, may put up with your childish antics, but when he is not here I will not have you disrupting my meal." He set his glass sharply down on the table to emphasize the point.

The hands tossing glass into the air instantly froze in place, holding only two of the expensive wine glasses. Every noble at the table gasped in synch, watching the remaining glass fall straight for certain doom on the stone floor. The Fool's bell donned foot swung around just in time to stall the item on top of his overly large shoe, saving it. The crowd sighed in relief. The desert Prince hid his own laughter behind a hand. Some how he knew the entertainer would not allow the glass to break.

Grey eyes swung in his direction and a smile that would rival even Duo's flashed happily at him. The Fool disregarded the Prince's fuming gaze and bounced on one foot over to the blonde's side, offering to him the tall glass on his foot with a jingle.

"Thank you." Quatre smiled and set the glass back on the table next to his own.

"A life you have saved. Thanking thee, I should be."

"Fool! Leave this room at once! I'm sure my cousin, Quatre, will agree that you are disturbing the entire table!"

Grey eyes took an extremely lazy turn to the head of the table where Illses was regarding him with a fierce glare. The Fool tipped his grey head parallel with his bony shoulders, and then blew away one long curl as it crossed his vision. After a passing moment he again ignored the crown Prince and looked back to Quatre.

"Flipped my stomach he has. Quatre your name is, as in the Rabbit. Then free you shall be. With you, kindly, bring me too. . . " Long fingers were sharply folded into a pleading manner, forgetting the remaining two glasses they once held, leaving them to shatter on the hard ground. The Fool paid no heed to the shards littering the floor when he went to kneel before the blond foreigner.

Quatre in turn blinked, rolling the broken sentences around in his mind, hoping to piece together some sense from mismatching words. Directly across from him his cousin's anger was giving him a splitting headache. There was no love for the one who entertained their meal. From the kids maybe, but not the crowned heir.

"Guards!!"

Two armored men who had been place on either side of the main doors quickly stepped forward to do their liege's bidding. They soon discovered that good fortune was their pride had stayed back at their original spot of watch. The Fool skillfully tumbled out of their reach ever time, rolling between them and causing them to stumbled over each other. The entire time his hands remained pointed in Quatre's direction, folded together, awaiting an answer.

In a bold act the desert Prince raised his red wine filled glass in the entertainer's direction then took a small drink. He didn't much care for the spirits within, but his heart told him an alliance with the strange fool would be helpful in the future, whether near or far.

A loud cackle filled the open hall before the pale man flung his lengthy arms around the nearest guard, catching him in a surprise embrace, tumbling them both to the polished floor.

"Honestly I don't understand how the King puts up with that Fool."

Quatre turned his smiling gaze from the group when the frail looking man was escorted right out the large decorated doors, to a pair of elegantly dressed ladies sitting just to his left, around the corner of the table. Their conversation was saddening. The people he shared a meal with thought so highly of their rank that they couldn't allow themselves to laugh when something was humorous. Sure the Fool painted half the banquet hall with food, but he made sure to keep the complimentary colours together.

Plus the juggling had proven to be 'far' better entertainment then the bards the prince had spoken so highly of. Their performance was before the meal began, and his ears were 'still' cringing at the after thoughts. How the flutist could not hear the pitch difference he posed against the accompanying players was a mystery? Quatre shivered again at the flashback. It had taken all his years of regal training to not get up and snatch the instrument away from the man and forbid him to ever play it again!

A faint giggle brought him back from the underside of his mind, a fresh brush of pink tinted his cheeks as he realized that during his walk through his more recent memories he had kept staring in a half dazed manner at the women seated next to him. They had obviously caught him in the act.

The blond had her lacy handkerchief lifted in a manner that obscured the view of her face. She leaned over to the brunette next to her, whispering in hushed tones, all the while laughing nonchalantly.

He snapped his blue eyes back to his own plate and the large portion of food that still adorned it. For some reason his appetite had taken a dip in the 'non-present' direction. An unfamiliar mess of foreign feelings filled the spot where taste was supposed to rule. They had developed some time during the music that had been played for the royal hall and slowly grew from there. Now they were so much that he couldn't disregard the emotions with a simple push.

It was unwelcome. He only experienced it once before, when he was accused of being a mage and had been sentenced to the stake.

With a deep breath he smiled and nodded to the two young ladies before turning his attention back to the Prince as he explained that the drought was less a problem then the commoners made it out to be. There was a wide selection of food and drink before them after all, plenty for everyone. His trip to the fruit market was also brought up as it was just a few days before. The variety that was present then was no different then years before he clarified.

Deep chocolate eyes turned their intelligent gaze across the expansion of the long table, to the blond sitting in a sea of brown. "To you, my dear cousin, this heat must seem like a stroll in the garden. Surely days in the middle of a desert are far worse, and your people have live there peacefully for many generations."

'And many more hopefully' Quatre added silently to himself, hiding an unwanted frown in his glass as he raised it to his lips. Then out loud he added. "It can be, but we tend to avoid outside work during high sun. Heat can quickly leave its mark if you are not careful. We 'are' human, just like you; the careless find their time in this world . . . greatly . . . shortened."

Irritation filled the space around the table so fully that it was choking. On the outside though, the Prince gave no hint to the annoyance he felt being compared to those who 'worked'. A smile, though toothless, was even thrown on top, turning the serious statement into an almost jest between two in a family. "No wonder you're so pale!" Illses laughed, one quick bark. "Always hiding away behind closed doors." Long flawless fingers folded together in a critical manner. Elbows resting on the table, taking a bit of weight as the other leaned forward in a dominant pose.

"Lord Illses." An older woman to his immediate left scolded, her voice deepened by age, yet still held the authority of one in importance. "'Any' member of royalty does his or her fare share of hiding. If not, then there would be far less of us sitting here today now wouldn't there?" She turned grey eyes down the table to the young desert Prince. They reflected the same shade as her clasped hair.

"Your colouring comes from your mother, does it not Quatre?"

The blond blinked at the question, few around them probably knew the significance of the question asked. Remembering it himself, he lowered his gaze to the dark wood of the table. "So I have been told."

The Lady smiled and nodded her grey head. "I remember Lady Catherine." To this the blond lifted his head back up, starring at the other in a muted awe. "Curls the colour of the sun, eyes rivaling the very sky. She use to always climb the cherry tree outside my quarters. Pretending she was one of the birds that nested there." A light laugh. "I didn't see her much after she married your father. The trip back was long and difficult. But the last time I saw her, she was happy, full with child. I was sad to hear of her passing. But I see her in your eyes boy. It was always my favorite shade of blue."

Blond locks bobbed, falling in front of the spoken colour. There was sadness in their depths, but a happy form of contentment over masked it. Quatre never knew his mother. But his father loved her, then, now, and would forever more. That was all he needed to know. It was too rare of an event, for a married to have love.

"Thank you Lady..." A pause.

"Theresa."

"Lady Theresa. It's a pleasure knowing that Mother made fond memories to the people around her." He smiled to the older woman on the other end of the food. Noting that the crown Prince was engaged in another conversation. They were the only two around the perimeter not listening.

"You bet 'she' did. She always ate my cherries that damn girl!"

oooooooo

Banquets such as the one that night always lasted well into the deep hours of the night. And being who he was Quatre needed stay and make his face more known around the court. The more people he knew the more gossip he would hear.

When he finally made it back to his chambers he was disappointed to see that his Uncle hadn't sent any kind of word to him. He hadn't related too much information behind 'why' he needed to employ the legendary Arislan knights. But his Uncle was a very smart man. He would know a personal audience with the Prince of a land as distant as Volderon, when a trained carrier pigeon could make it in just a fraction of the time, was something of the utmost importance.

But the only parchment waiting was one stating that the door opposite of his bed would take him directly to where his 'guards' were staying. And a side note at the bottom, written in a far rougher style, saying 'not' to wake them anytime before a full candle mark after sun rise.

It was unquestionably from Duo. Ever since the boy had given his bed up to the Prince he had been taking advantage to ever moment he got to rest on something other then a dirt floor.

Sagging gratefully on to the soft feather mattress, Quatre set the paper off to one side. His head was finally clearing from the hustle of the party. Was it because there were so many people? That had not been a problem before his arrival to the city. But twice now it had been overwhelming, drowning in a sea that he couldn't recognize as his own. It was unpleasant to say the least. But now sitting in a room alone, after all that time under the roads, sharing a room with two others he felt strangely empty inside.

Choosing sleep over the indefinite, the young man shred his royal garments and slipped under the thick sheets covering the large bed. Tomorrow he could worry about it. Just one night of full rest, and surely the strange dealings would be long forgotten. Then his mind could focus fully on solving the problems at hand. Both his kingdom and this one.