A.C. 201
The Sanc Kingdom conformed to the classic definition of a city state. It did not boast a great industrial metropolis, but was a city of merchants situated between the mountains and the bay, surrounded by small towns, villages, and a surprisingly large portion of active farmland.
The capital New Port was built to human scale, with terribly nostalgic infrastructure still in operation, such as the streetcars of downtown core and a very short rail line that connected the warehouse district to the port. The first time he looked at the city was from an aircraft window, mind hazy with pain and the fading adrenaline from battle. Quatre had enthusiastically pointed it out as soon as its metal rooftops gleamed on the horizon. She's beautiful, Quatre had whispered. A beautiful mirage, Heero thought darkly, and fleeting as vapour. Pastures stretched green and vulnerable under them, the countryside was guarded by farmers with hounds and rifles, less than useless against mobile suits. Heero looked away from the window, afraid that his mere gaze would bring down fire and destruction. When he limped down the steps of the plane towards her, he had the odd notion that he should have been dunked in the bay first before setting foot on her soil.
Heero entered the city by ferry this time, all his belongings fitted into a duffle, tucked between his feet. A bus ran once a week to the docks and was one of only three buses to ever stop in the village. The guys sent him off with a round of beer and their wives pressed sweets and jerky into his hands. He had the suspicion that he was just adopted as a stray pup.
He chose the open deck seating on the ferry, cold air stung his eyes and salty foams of the bay brought up images of other waters, and he mused that he was always crossing the blue to see her.
New Port City looked different from the ground, he noted as he stepped onto the pavement, still feeling the waves under his feet. He'd had persistently reoccurring nightmares when he first arrived on earth as a boy, always sinking and drowning and waking up so sweaty, he may as well have taken another dip in the sea.
After his very public dance with her -what was he thinking?- his dreams were of a more... pleasant but troublesome variety. She chased his little boat like the crest of a wave, made him unsteady, tilted his center of gravity to and fro. Had he already been running even back then? Here he was again, washed up on her shores.
Duffle slung over one shoulder, he walked his way uphill, towards the old castle nestled at the foot of the mountains. The streets were not busy by his metropolitan standards, but he hadn't been among crowds for the better half of a year. It was warmer in the city, Heero unzipped the front of his jacket as he trod the pedestrian-only road.
People thinned out as he approached the base of the mountain, it was not high tourist season. The former Alliance military base south of the castle had been fully demolished following the "liberation" by OZ, in its place stood the new Peacecraft Estate, where the heir to the monarchy conducted most of her business. Way to make a statement Relena, he ducked his head to hide a smirk.
She turned the old castle into a museum, cleared out the debris, fixed the moldings, and left a few rooms untouched where she wanted to showcase the vandalism of the Alliance. Two memorials of white stone were erected on either side of the entrance to the castle grounds, one dedicated to soldiers, and the other to civilians. Royal guards in former Sanc Kingdom ceremonial uniforms patrolled the grounds. When Relena had first announced the museum project to the public last summer, a group of ex-soldiers submitted a formal request to the Peacecraft Estate, to ask for her permission to form a volunteer unarmed unit to guard the old castle grounds. And so it came to be, that ex-soldiers from different sides of the war, now march together cradling empty old muskets.
He entered the estate building through its heavy double doors, walked through a metal detector which he approved of very much, and took out a carefully folded document from inside his jacket. His eyes scanned the page again as he approached the reception and handed it to the man behind the desk.
He didn't have to wait long to be summoned, escorted in by a man barely older than himself. He noticed that his escort walked with a barely perceivable stiff gait in the left foot, ah, another ex-combatant.
Her office was modest, the wall to one side lined with bookshelves and a long couch on the opposite end. She sat facing the door, behind a desk small enough that she could easily reach across to offer a handshake. He remembered how much she disliked her desk at the ESUN, how small it made her feel. She did not offer him a handshake however, but only stared wide-eyed. As soon as the door clicked close behind him, she burst into giggles.
Heero frowned. This was not how he expected to be greeted after two years of longing, on her part of course, she had said as much in her messages. He stood by the door, and tracked her with his eyes as she rose from her desk to stalk up to him. Her lips still quivered with mirth when she stopped in front of him.
"My dear Heero...What is that on your face?"
He put a hand to his own cheek, ah.
"Insulation."