{-Alfonse-}
He still stayed cooped up in the library whenever he didn't have any work. He'd already proven a dozen times over that there was nothing for him here, yet it felt wrong to focus on doing anything else. He felt like there were answers right in front of him, but no matter how long he looked or how far he reached, they never got any closer. For some reason, he didn't give up. He held onto the hope that, maybe, if he just stayed a little longer…
"Still working?" Henriette walked up to where he was, glancing at everything he still had out. "Sharena mentioned all of them going to town. I thought you would've joined them."
"I can't justify spending that much time doing nothing," was the closest he could actually say on the matter. "Besides, I hardly ever go with her. She's got enough company that she probably won't even think about how I'm not there."
"Don't say that. I'm sure it would mean a lot to her to have her brother nearby, no matter how many others she might be with. It'll mean even more now that you're taking the effort to set apart some time for her."
"That doesn't exactly work when I have a three hour's notice, which was really a random thing she mentioned before she left."
"You're well caught up with all of your work. You could probably stay with the Order for a couple of days without having to worry about doing anything here. Aside from whatever you're looking at now, there's no excuse not to be with them." She finally gave a closer look to the books, changing to a more cautious tone as she asked, "Why do you have all of these..?"
"I really shouldn't say…"
Henriette looked at him and repeated with a sense of urgency, "Alfonse, why do you have all of these?"
There was no way to dodge it now. "How much has Sharena told you about Zacharias..?"
"I'd like to hope my daughter is honest enough to tell me everything," she remarked. "She wasn't there when he left but she said it was after something happened when you were scouting. Then a little while after meeting Fauna you three ran into him again and told you who he really was… Prince Bruno of the Emblian Empire."
Alfonse had a feeling that she already knew what he was going to say, but continued to try to explain it anyway. "He left because he was afraid of hurting one of us… that he would lose control of his dragon blood and do something he couldn't take back. Then a couple months ago he sent me a letter and asked if I could help him solve that problem…"
"That's… a specific situation you're probably not going to find anything on…"
"Do you know about it?"
"I made sure I understood what I was getting into when I married Gustav. It was something the gods decided… The only people who will be able to do anything are the prince of peace and little dreamer."
If that was meant to discourage him, it didn't. "We can do something?"
She sighed. "Eir told me… she thinks you're ready. I know it's pushing our luck, but I want to wait just a little while longer…" She paused. "New Year's coming… perhaps the perfect time to fix some things. Do you think we can all get together then? It will be easier to tell everyone at once…"
"I'll be sure to ask."
Henriette slowly went to leave. "I suppose it's nearly time to see if what she said all those years ago really will come to pass…"
((A/N: Really short chapter…
At least this Henriette is better than previous-AU-Henriette, who had no idea they saw Zacharias again or that he was Veronica's sister. Then again, she probably learned through a slip of the tongue rather than being willingly told…))
