Chapter 34, Long Live the King

"Not feeling too peachy, is he?"

Sabin cracked his neck with an exasperated sigh and rolled his shoulders, watching the roof all the while. Terra felt very small as the prince stood before her, shirtless as always and dripping with sweat. Not that she had not seen him in this state before; often covered with more blood than sweat in fact. Rather it was since prior to her starting to speak, he had without visible trouble put aside a pair of weights that surely weighed at least as much as she did, if not more.

From the much bigger room they had just left, the sound of shouts and wooden weapons clacking against each other continued without caring whether the prince left or not. There seemed to be a surprising amount of energetic people left in Figaro castle. But on the other hand, morning was long past and many feared dulling skills more than exhaust.

"Stupid moron just have to play a martyr and worry you," Sabin said and finally looked at her.

He reached for the rack of towels on the wall and wiped the worst sweat off his forehead as he went on:

"I know what you mean though, I'm guilty of trying to keep him here too. I just don't want him to bite off more than he can chew again. Though he'd beat me up if he knew that I kinda regarded him as a princess."

Whatever Terra had planned to say once Sabin finished, she completely lost it at the end of his speech. She pressed both hands against her mouth and shut her eyes tightly as laughter ripped through her. Sabin grinned at the reaction.

It took the half esper several seconds to recover enough to speak.

"Now there's a quote for the history books," she said, blinking at the tears of mirth prickling her eyes.

"Oh no, his fangirls will have my blood for all eternity!" Sabin protested, shaking his head in mock horror.

"Fangirls?" Terra repeated, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, he can't fail with all of that flirting, now can he?"

Sabin chuckled and shrugged.

"'Sides, when we've won the war, he'll doubtlessly be glorified beyond belief. Then we can't have some misplaced quotes by me dirtying his white cape."

Terra smiled a little.

"I hope you're right about that," she said.

With a snort, Sabin flung out his right arm to pull her into a bear hug, but remembered his sweaty condition in the last moment. The arm fell to her shoulder instead, and he shook his head again.

"Don't let me hear something like that again, you hear?" he said, "things are looking better, dangit!"

Terra began to speak, when a third voice cut her off.

"And the place of a king is within the ranks of his people, whom he hath sworn to protect."

"Back in the land of the moving, I see?" Sabin greeted Cyan.

The newcomer took his wooden practice sword in both hands and, more due to the power of habit than anything else, stood straightly with is feet slightly apart. In other words, moved into a stoic stance.

"I cannot, and will never, neglect exercising body and mind to remain strong against the enemy," the last warrior of Doma said.

"Good to know."

Only better manners than Locke and Relm's hindered Sabin from instead saying "Good for you", with a far more amused tone. It was however quite close.

Cyan turned to Terra.

"I shall not speak against His Majesty if he wishes to return to the battlefield, my friend," he said, a small smile gracing his lips for the briefest moment.

"Thank you, Cyan," Terra said, not so much smiling as beaming.

Sabin gave a hearty chuckle and crossed his arms.

"See?" he said, looking at the half-esper, "Edgar just doesn't know how much we really care about him. I doubt anybody will protest if we just explain how he feels."

'The problem was rather that he thought that we cared too much,' Terra thought to herself, 'silly, really.'

But she kept her peace about that, and simply nodded agreement.

"Lemme just clean up a little and I'll help you look for everyone else," Sabin said.

"Thanks."

Terra turned around and walked out of the almost empty dressing room. She did not notice Sabin's thoughtful gaze, and how it followed her every step on the way.

"Is anything the matter, Sir Sabin?" Cyan asked.

The words shook the prince out of his reverie, and he shook his head.

"Nothing, really."

"If such is thy belief…"

Cyan tactfully accepted the answer and headed into the training hall, and thus he never saw the concerned frown on the fist fighter's forehead.

Though nobody saw him Sabin cracked his knuckles, eyes narrowing in a threatening scowl.

'You better value Terra to the full extent, bro, or I swear I'll wring your overly noble neck.'

His expression softened, and the scowl transformed into a smile so quickly that any spectator might have suspected possession.

'Just a friend, you said? Think I'll make a bet with Locke on how long that'll remain, Terra…'

But just as quickly he sobered, and shook his head.

'No, we're fighting a war. I hope they can keep their heads cool until Gestahl is dead, at least.'

Done with the inner debate, he headed for the sparsely equipped washing rooms to get rid of the sweat. Hopefully his ration of water would be enough to get properly clean this time.

'-'

Edgar looked up from his "reading" as he heard the door open. In reality, he had been zoning out while trying to get something done. The report felt neglected, but had no way of voicing its protests.

"Hm?" he said.

A guard marched in, followed by Locke. The treasure hunter looked a little pale, but he smiled upon meeting Edgar's gaze. As soon as the king had dismissed the soldier and the two men were alone, Locke reached out and smacked his hand down on Edgar's shoulder. The king almost jumped, blinking at his old friend in confusion.

"You righteous old idiot," Locke kindly said.

Edgar blinked again, but a moment later he bowed his head in a futile attempt to hide his chuckles.

"I could have you beheaded for that, Cole," he said.

"Nope, not in these days," Locke said with a grin, "you need every last man you've got."

The chuckles ceased immediately. Edgar straightened up, silently studying Locke's features, where remnants of the fatigue from the last couple of days still remained. With perfectly controlled facial muscles, the treasure hunter stepped back and performed an exaggerated bow which included violent sweeps of both his arms.

"And that of course includes yourself, Your Majesty," he announced.

Silence.

Rather surprised, Locke looked up.

For the first time he regretted being the one sent inside to fetch Edgar, because that smile was too beautiful to be watched by only one of the king's friends.

The only thing to ever match that must have been the look on his face when they made it to Figaro castle after escaping from Vector.

"Don't look at me like that, you're gonna make me blush," Locke said with a grin and straightened up, "Terra did all the talking. They just pushed me in here instead of her because we didn't dare to risk you glomping her."

"Show some trust in your king, soldier!"

With a hearty laughter, Edgar stood up and passed Locke with a few quick strides. He was by the door in seconds, and opened it only to be met with an ocean of friendly smiles. For a moment he only watched them, whereupon he shook his head with another laugh.

"I might be stupid," he said, "but you can't blame me for feeling run over."

"What the heck are you so submissive for?" Strago said, crossing his arms, "you're the boss."

"Right, right…"

Edgar had long since turned away from the old man and now watched Terra. She looked back, smiling.

"Pardon me," Edgar said.

Before she could recoil, Terra found herself scrunched into a bear hug. She nearly yelped at first, but the look on Edgar's face just before his shoulder filled her vision was enough for her to forgive. With a helpless chuckle she raised her head, only to find nothing but amused looks from her other friends. Sparks of red tinted her cheek within a heartbeat, but she could not stop smiling. It helped when Celes too began to chuckle softly, closely followed by Relm and Mog.

Sabin poked Locke with his elbow.

"See?" the prince said, "I told you it was a good idea to send somebody else than her inside."

"Depends on how you look at it," the treasure hunter replied.

His grind widened marginally as that comment deepened Terra's blush. But Edgar heard what he said as well, and let go of her.

Only by summoning all of his self-control could the king keep from commenting on how cute the red cheeks made Terra look. He felt no desire to risk any drop of her respect in him, especially not right then.

"So…" Setzer said, "shall we go play a game of 'Crush the Chancellor's hopes of keeping the king off the board'?"

The way he absentmindedly played with a deck of cards was almost disturbing, considering what he said and what he could use those very cards for.

Edgar turned around, raising an eyebrow.

"What, you didn't speak with him too?" he asked.

Only headshakes answered him. Edgar's lips twitched. The poor man…

"Well then," the king declared, "to the council room."

"Yessir!" Locke shouted, making a jocular salute.

This coaxed almost everyone to imitate the treasure hunter, apart from Cyan who instead rammed his fist into his own chest in a far more dignified proof of loyalty.

They let Edgar lead the way through the palace, just as it should be.

Unseen, unheard and unnoticed, Siren chewed on a thumbnail.