A/N: I got some wonderful feedback on a Discord server I recently joined, and groomed the chapter into this version. If you want to read the old version, you can look it up in SpaceBattles (I crosspost this story there and in AO3 too, if you prefer those platforms). Can't link the old version here because of course, but if you're interested, you can look it up with this story's same title. Shoutouts to Verdin Grey for his feedback!
The contents are basically the same with one minor correction that did need attention, but I don't think it affects the overall experience too much, so if you already read the original chapter, feel free to skip this rewrite if you're only itching for new events.
Track 11: Glass Portraits
"I want all the women gone from this castle." Camilla had told us both, gathered in Xander's quarters during a chilly night after everyone else had gone to bed.
"…Only father can-" Xander reasoned, but was interrupted.
"I want them all gone." Camilla repeated, growling like an enraged beast.
"Camilla," Xander's inflection became rougher. "I understand how you feel, but that decision is not up to us."
"Then whose is it!? Our dear absent father's!?" Camilla shrieked. "Our sister is crippled and that… that… that bitch refuses to see her! It's been 2 months and she hasn't seen her once!"
"Not one of us has seen Lorraine all this time other than you, Camilla, but don't you dare imply we care less," Xander contested in a serene but firm tone. "You're not the only one who wants to do something."
"Do 'something´?" Camilla repeated in disbelief. "Do 'something'!? What must that be, dear brother? Care to enlighten me? Perhaps it must be that they poison her? That she is stabbed when we're not looking? That-"
"Camilla, that's enough." I cut in, unable to fight back the horrible burning in my gut. Camilla looked at me with pure, unadulterated disgust, the most emotion she had ever directed to me in all of our lives.
"Lorraine cannot protect herself." Camilla laid out the uncomfortable truth. "We cannot even protect ourselves, and you're asking me to wait when she's in such grave danger?"
We couldn't really rebuke her. Camilla fought back bitter tears, and with a scowl far too disturbing for her delicate features, she relentlessly carried.
"Do you have any idea of what it's like?" She said. "Lorraine will never be able to leave these damn four walls!"
"You don't know that," Xander interjected. "And you're belittling her efforts. She's tougher than she looks."
"How dare you speak so assuredly, Xander?" Our sister growled, sending him a hateful glare. "You have not seen her."
"That may be right," Xander confessed, keeping himself remarkably in line, but his emotions were indeed taking rise. "But I have faith in her. And having you sulk around with this anger is not what she needs."
That actually made her flinch.
"Camilla," I called as assuredly as I could. "Right now you're the only one Lorraine can count on. Do you think all of us rushing to see her is what she wants? Do you remember the last time I tried to get in? I got a goddamn bucket to the face, and it's still swollen."
"Ignis, language." Xander complained, but I ignored him.
"What Lorraine needs now is not our pity. She needs our support, and as she is right now, we can only give it to her through you."
"HA!" Camilla laughed bitterly. "Speaking from experience, dear Ignis?"
Now I flinched, and felt myself trembling.
"That is enough, Camilla!" Xander interjected. "It's become clear you're not in your best state of mind, and if this keeps up you're better off away from Lorraine until you calm down."
"You wouldn't dare." She growled, eyeing him dangerously.
"I will, Camilla." Xander declared with finality. "Don't test me. There's been enough damage already, do not make it worse."
Camilla's tears finally broke free, and she looked at our eldest brother with a hurt look of utter betrayal.
"I thought… I thought you would understand. You of all people, Xander." She sobbed, and promptly fled from the room
"Camilla!" Xander called to no avail.
The following moments seemed to stretch to infinity, moments I spent standing dumbfounded.
The Camilla I grew up with was nothing like the person portrayed in the game, and she honestly never gave me much to make from her either. The Camilla I knew was an overly cautious and detached girl who didn't seek her brothers and sisters, outright avoiding fraternizing and always keeping a measure of distance from everybody around her, or at least it had been that way until recently…
"…Ignis?" I heard my brother's voice call for me.
"Y-Yes?" I replied ungainly.
"Please forgive Camilla. She's not in her full senses."
"It's… okay." I answered slowly.
"Is it truly, brother?"
I fought back my own frustration.
"No, it is not." I whimpered. But I cannot break down because of something as small as this, not yet, not like this. I guess the full damage hasn't sunk in yet, so I'd better do something before it does. "But this isn't what matters now. We need to get back to Camilla."
"She won't listen to us."
"Precisely because she won't listen" I stressed. "Xander, if we don't stop her now, Camilla may just do something she'll regret."
"What do you propose we do, then?" Xander pinched the bridge of his nose too.
"I don't know," I responded honestly, grasping my trembling shoulder with my right hand, I was still shaken. "But it's true that this can't remain as it is. We can't let father know of this, Xander."
"Now you're the one talking nonsense, Ignis." Xander sighed. "That is simply impossible."
It hurt hearing the truth from him. Then again, truth is usually a bitter pill to swallow.
"Xander, I know you don't like following the maids' gossip, but you do know what's been floating around, right?"
Xander gritted his teeth and closed his eyes.
"…Of course I do."
"What if it is too late after it happens?"
"We don't know it to be the truth, Ignis. We can't act without solid evidence."
"One push, Xander. A struggle and a single push is all that it took to leave Lorraine like this. It's true that leaving us like her is more trouble than outright killing us, but you know that the concubines won't stop at just that. A single push is all it took to stir this damn den of monsters."
"Ignis, do you really think I don't want to do something?" Xander's shell finally cracked. "Of course I want to protect our sister, but there is so much we can do! I've already done everything I can, I can't do more without causing more grief to father!"
I had to stop myself for a second there before exploding too, but then again, anger took ahold of me, and I said something I didn't mean.
"Xander, ask this of yourself: What is more important, Lorraine's life? Or your useless pride as the Crown Prince?"
He didn't seem angry at my blow, but he did reacquire his usual stone mask.
"Ignis, do you have any idea of what kicking out Bethzabel, Rachael or Ornella would mean?"
"Enlighten me."
I immediately did a double take for making such a basic mistake. Xander had to compose himself and proceeded to remind me of information I already knew.
"Bethzabel Amada Etreant is the 1st daughter of Consort Prometheus Samael Etreant, one of our most important traders in the southeast, the ones who supply not only Windmire, but also various small duchies and poor villages along the Dragonfort-Heartlands routes. They're one of the single most important people we have to transport and exchange our silver and artisanal wares for food to the poor villages along their routes. The Etreant family is home to the secrets to traverse the firelands with the most efficiency in all of Nohr.
Rachael Joyuse is the 3rd daughter of Lilith Joyuse, the one woman who is by far the most powerful in Nohr without direct relation to the crown. Lilith Joyuse owns about 80% of the taverns in Windmire, and she supplies almost all of the inns and farms around the southwest before Armos. The only reason Lilith Joyuse's first and second daughters didn't marry to the crown is because they are by all means completely involved in the family business. Rachael being a concubine? That is just her own personal ambition's misaligning with her family's.
Ornella Pharos Lazuli, 2nd daughter of Viscount Geralt Hephaestus Lazuli, owner of 7 colonies of mines in the northwest, and the one who supplies most of the iron and steel used in the army. And not only that, the Lazuli family is one of the single most well renowned within the east, and their political support has saved the country many times over from civil wars."
I was completely destroyed by Xander's words. But he wasn't done just yet.
"If Bethzabel leaves this castle, we'll be losing a valuable trade route that will make thousands starve.
If Rachael leaves this castle, the southwest will rise in protest and we'll lose Lilith's support to keep the trade alive to Armos, which will kill Glacies and Blackfrost in return.
If Ornella leaves this castle, we will lose the Viscount's support, which is very important to the army, and if it happens badly enough, we may just fracture the national balance and be well on our way to an uprising."
Xander never once lost his composure completely during this exchange, though he was very close to it many times.
"Ignis, do you have any idea of what having a concubine die or leave this castle means every single time?"
I… I completely forgot about this. This was basic Nohrian economy 101! I had reviewed this information with Arete a long time ago!
"I… I just…" I whimpered.
"Ignis" He stopped me. "I will not blame you for this. I can't, not when you didn't know this. As the ones second and beyond in line, you do not truly understand the way Nohr works, and if I can help it, I will not let you have to become entangled in this web of lies and deceit."
"I'm sorry…"
"No offense taken, brother," Xander sighed in defeat. "The only reason I'm telling you this is that I know you understand these topics better than any of our brothers and sisters, maybe besides Leo, but he's too naïve to truly grasp the extent of what Nohr is."
Xander closed his eyes again, and became pensive, with his shoulders dropping a few centimeters.
"Ignis," He called for me once more. "I know you're smarter than you give yourself credit for, than you pretend to be; you're too clever for your own good, but you're also very short sighted in a lot of matters, matters which I know are certainly included in the curriculum of a politician and Prince."
I was unable to keep looking at him in the eye. Xander became silent for a while too, and eventually crossed his arms behind his back, trying to reassume his regal sternness.
"Please don't forget this, Ignis," Xander said. "No matter what happens, you still are a Prince of Nohr. No matter how much you may loathe this country, there are people counting on you, and not only in your family."
"I don't feel like I do enough for my family to begin with." I admitted. "Xander, up until Lorraine's accident, Camilla didn't even talk to me."
"I'm well aware." Xander agreed with a tired nod. "But if you having been called to this… meeting, as disastrous as it was, speaks volumes of the confidence Camilla has in you"
"Honestly, I often feel like Camilla is too somber" I voiced my thoughts. "She reminds me of Azura from before."
"…I can see where you're coming from," Xander brought a hand to his chin, and gave a pensive gaze to the window. "Camilla is too loyal for her own good. It's no surprise she's so torn on this matter."
"Loyal?" I quirked an eyebrow, more rhetorically than actually questioning. "…Do you think she's falling apart?"
"…I'm afraid that may be the case." My brother mirrored my thoughts. "Camilla's one of the oldest that remain, Ignis, and she's not that much different to you… or me."
I didn't need to hear what he referred to. We all sported the same type of grim face after all, the face of one that has killed kin. It was one of my earliest memories of Xander and Camilla, and I soon identified that same face in the mirror every morning after that day.
"If anything, Camilla is far more determined that us." I said, rubbing my brow tiredly. "Her daily visits to Lorraine have gone unstopped."
Xander didn't answer at that.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that."
"Don't be. We all know it that she's been driving herself to the ground for all of this".
Day and night, Camilla visited Lorraine if she had the chance, without fail. She stood by her side and endured out littler sister's anger and sorrow.
Both of us remaining siblings remained quiet for a while. There still was much to do.
"Thank you, Xander."
"Anything for family, little brother."
Xander wasn't the type to show affection with physical gestures, but one day… one day I hope he'll let someone pamper him as he deserves.
Later that week, I found myself in front of a door I wasn't sure I wanted to be nearby. It was nighttime, long past our curfew, but having received the announcement that Garon was just a few days away from Krakenburg I wanted to talk to Camilla. So here I was, standing like a dumb wyvern in front of her room. Camilla hadn't deigned any words to me or Xander after her outburst a few days ago, and her bitterness only grew once she couldn't see Lorraine any longer; Xander had assigned guards outside the infirmary with strict orders of not letting Camilla in.
I wanted to talk to Camilla, though I wasn't sure what so say to her, or if she even wanted to hear me, but I had to try nonetheless.
My hand trembled, and though I raised it to the black wooden door, I couldn't bring myself to knock on it. It wasn't that I was angry at Camilla, but I just didn't know what to tell her. I just knew I needed to see her, but the words escaped me. After knowing how precarious the situation was with the concubines, I just couldn't bring myself to offer my support to Camilla wholeheartedly, but at the same time, I knew I just couldn't stand doing nothing. Not being able to see Lorraine was crushing Camilla, but just seeing the former fueled the latter's rage. It was a no win situation, and although Xander's solution wasn't ideal, it was better than just going on like it had been going.
As for me, it technically boiled down to picking the selfish choice or the one that didn't quench my anger. I could see no middle ground at least in this situation, no middle ground and no correct answer. The only thing I knew is that I hated seeing my sisters suffer, but I couldn't forsake my eldest brother and his efforts either.
Fucking diplomacy sucks, man.
I wanted justice for Lorraine, and the gossip going on said that either Rachael or Ornella were planning to finish the job. For some reason or another, I had foolishly hoped that even if we could not rid ourselves of the concubines, they'd at least respect the status quo until Xander became 16.
That was a pipe dream, of course. I had grown so accustomed to the insane training and being so drained mentally that I thought I could have a respite and just try to focus on my original mission, the one I imposed upon myself.
Somewhere along the way, the line started becoming blurry, and Lorraine's accident was a horrible reminder that I couldn't rest yet.
But then… why did it feel so wrong having to take this step? Have I truly become so attached to this mockery of a "life" that I can't bring myself to act? Or is it that knowing that taking this step will truly have repercussions for once? That those repercussions will truly haunt me?
...When will enough be enough? When the concubines die? When the war truly starts? When only the canon 4 are alive?
I'm reminded again that the things each of us siblings want to protect are different. They do overlap in some places and corners, but ultimately, even if we are looking in the same general direction, we're not truly looking at the same destination. Xander is torn between family and duty, Camilla is torn between justice and family, while I'm floating in between many sides, trying to make sense of a world I don't truly understand and searching for answers no one can give me.
"Do you have any business with my daughter, Prince… Ignis was it?" I am taken out of my thoughts abruptly.
"Good evening… Lady Alraune…"
I turn around to see a known face, one I despise. I am greeted by none other than Alraune van Ross, Camilla's mother, garbed in a thick robe and carrying that air of superiority I had always attached to her. Her violet eyes were colder than ice, and though her beautiful features were kept completely unblemished and neutral in expression, I couldn't help but feel disgust fill me.
"I asked you a question, Prince Ignis." She repeated herself. Her tone was by all means neutral and even cordial to some degree, but I could feel the creeping thorns under her rosey exterior.
"Yes, I have." I responded, unknowingly switching gears into full caution. I could feel my heartbeat accelerating and my throat protesting against me, but I couldn't show weakness in front of this beautiful monster.
"I'm afraid it is too late tonight, Prince." She dismissed me. "I'm sure you can… speak to her during the morning."
"I'm afraid it is important, it cannot wait." I reflexively bit back, perhaps the single most stupid reaction I could have made. I forced myself to keep my screams to myself.
"Oh?" Her expression never changed, remaining as a full mask of disinterest. "Pray tell, what is it so important that it cannot wait for tomorrow? Even so when you're denying me from seeing my own daughter?"
"How interesting that you say that. What business do you have that it cannot wait for tomorrow either?"
Oh sweet Naga, someone stop me!
"My, Prince Ignis," Her lips shift to a smile that doesn't reach her eyes. "Hasn't your mother taught you not to pry on a lady's business?"
This bitch…!
"My etiquette is impeccable, I'm glad you asked, so please let me procure you cover, Lady Alraune. These February nights are chilly for the elder."
I saw her crack one absolutely vicious smile.
"My, aren't you one sweet little mama's boy?" She spoke with a honey-laced voice.
All right, bitch, you're on.
"By all means, please help a poor old lady like myself. I'd be delighted to have a man as capable as you assist me, in fact, why don't you accompany me right now for a private talk? I may not be as good company as our dear Queen, but I have confidence in my… conversational skills."
"I'm afraid I'll have to decline, madam." I replied with a sad smile. "I really need to talk to Camilla. But if you really have to talk to her, by all means please go in yourself first. I'll just wait right here."
A heavy silence washed over the corridor, and the only thing that broke this uncomfortable silence were the cracking embers of the torches dotting the stone walls.
"Are you sure about that, Princey?" Dear lord what a disturbing smile! "I might take a while. I have some… confidential matters to discuss with my daughter."
"My, what a coincidence! I also have important things to discuss with her! Pray tell, is it related to our little sister by any means?"
She flinched. Gotcha, bitch!
"My, of course not! How could a lady as proper and refined like yourself be bothered with a poor girl who cannot even leave her room? Oh, no! Please give me another chance!"
She opened her mouth to speak, but I interrupted her before she even had a chance to utter a word.
"Don't tell me! I have it this time!" I gave an overly forced smile, an evidently forced smile. "Do you perhaps wish to warn your daughter about those horrendously foul rumors going around?"
Her brow actually furrowed.
"Please, do go ahead. I myself do not really believe baseless rumors like those, but… you can never be too careful, right? With how things are getting around these places, it can never hurt to have eyes on your back, wouldn't you agree, Lady Alraune?"
She gave a cruel smile, but I wasn't done just yet.
"Perhaps I should follow my own advice, wouldn't you agree, Lady Alraune? Hmm?" her smile had outright grown dangerous now "Oh please, don't give me such an adorable look! I appreciate your concern, but I'll be fine! I've survived alone all this time, so what's a li'l bit of gossip gonna do to me? Not much, I'll tell you!"
Alraune seemed to be actually enjoying this exchange.
"What a lively child you are, Prince Ignis." She chuckled maliciously. "I'm glad to see that Camilla has such a dependable half-brother."
"Well now! I'm a firm believer that two halves make a better whole, especially in this case, Lady Alraune!" I'm sure I positively gleamed at that moment, while her smile kept growing predatorily.
She seemed to run out of ammo at that, because she didn't say anything else.
"…Allow me to retract myself, Prince Ignis." She said, still with that disturbing smile plaguing her face. "I believe my business with my daughter can wait for another time, I just remembered I do have some important… adjustments to make to my schedules now. By all means feel free to visit Camilla. I won't intrude you any longer."
She gave me the faintest of curtsies and turned her way.
Right before she was out of earshot, I gave my last push.
"Good night, Lady Alraune. And thank you in advance."
She turned her still smiling face to me. "Oh, what for?"
"Oh, don't worry, Lady Alraune.
You will know soon enough."