Amare Dividere

Title: Knowledge and Notions [Part Ten]
Series: Vision of Escaflowne
Rating: PG-13 for some violence.

"You cannot, in conscience, leave the Duke at this time, if you are truly a Kathis."

Standing, fully dressed and in the presence of Hathei and Umal, Fariah narrows her gray eyes. "Is it safer for me to leave him to your care, or for me to take him with me when I journey to Pallas? It will be overland and many days travel. The mountains are not easy to cross on foot, or on horseback."

The two brothers glance uneasily at one another, and start to speak when Chid himself raises his voice. "It is neither of their decisions, though, is it, Fariah?"

"No, my Duke," she says, bowing to her charge, "it is not."

"You said this involved my aunt."

"It does. I have been chosen to pass along the manner of her imprisonment in Norte to your Uncle and Princess Eries."

"Why did they not just send this news straight to Palas themselves?"

"There is no Kathis in Asturia, and the Consortium does not trust others to carry such news. It is not the manner of the Consortium to use couriers they would not allow to fulfill other duties."

"Then there must be someone inside the order they would be willing to send," Hathei protests.

Fariah stands from her bow and levels her gaze at Hathei, gray eyes meeting brown. "It would behoove you not to be so frightened of your own ineptitude that you feel the need to have someone to blame Chid's death on. It will take me a week to make the journey alone, if you cannot protect him for seven days, then there is nothing I can do."

Umal starts to retort in support of his brother, but a sharp word from Chid cuts him off. "You have ten," he says, blue eyes watching her closely, her dark red hair falling over her face as she bows to him once more and leaves the audience chamber.

"What you think of her," Chid says with an angry frown on his face, "is immaterial. She has done nothing but prove herself capable in doing the job she was appointed for."

Voris' two sons glance between themselves again, "But my Duke," Umal begins.

"Gaea is at war," the blond Duke announces loudly, "and we can use all the protection we can get. Do not begrudge her the training she was given simply because it was not yours."

After reviewing the situation in the Zari, Nileyah orders that the entrances all be guarded. When Kira starts to protest, she replies simply, "It was this unguardedness and openness with us that lead to the kidnapper succeeding in Palas, as well as the relaxed nature that took the Norte army straight through Egzardia."

Cowed, the now quite pregnant princess sits back and watches from her chair in the corner of the strategy room, both Jasper and Emman in meeting with townspeople about defending the civilian quarter. The two reigning monarchs had considered Nileyah more than equal of the task of reinforcing the castle's defenses. And that there would be no safer place for Kira than at the side of a working Kathis.

"For what it is worth," Kira says, speaking up, "I am sorry."

Back stiffening, Nileyah closes her eyes as she looks over the map of the palace, "For what?"

"You love Jasper."

"It is my duty to protect him."

"If that were all it is, you would not have volunteered to do his wishes so readily and rescue me, in Palas. It is not something you had to do."

"What do you know of Kathis, my lady?"

"Little, I must profess."

"Whatever romantic notions there are in your head about the service I perform, I and my sister-cousins and brother-cousins," she says in a gentle voice, "you are mistaken."

"Romantic notions?" she adjusts herself on the padded chair, drawing the embroidered blanket that had been given her by Emman around her shoulders and taking comfort in its warmth against the encroaching winter. "I-"

"We are not allowed to love our charges," Nileyah says in a soft voice. "Because if you love something, while you may sacrifice everything for it, you also sacrifice everything to it. And, as I speak from the knowledge of one of my number who dared so boldly to truly love her charge, I tell you that it makes one of our duties impossible."

"One of your duties?"

"Were I your Kathis, my lady, I would be a man."

"I still do not understand, Nileyah."

"Nil," she corrects instantly. "There should be no formality of that manner if I am truly going to protect you, and the heir. The duty I speak of is one that you have performed for me, or will, with the birth of your child."

"But… but that's…"

"It has kept many a country's royal line from extinction in times of war, my lady, and it likely will again."

"You truly would've become Queen…" Kira murmurs, breathless in her confusion. "Why…"

"No Kathis has ever sought a throne. A Kathis does not wed their charge either, my lady," comes the gentle, tender response. "And if, once the danger has passed, their charge finds a true bride, or groom, then the Kathis' child is sent to foster back with the Consortium, and the Kathis is reassigned."

"That's so… cruel."

"The world is cruel, my lady, what cruelties are done in it pale in comparison."

The messenger from Palas stands waiting the word of the queen, but for several days, it does not come. Overwhelmed by a lost crop in the southern part of the country, Hitomi had, against the better judgment of Merle and Peralis, decided to ride down to inspect the damage, along with a large contingent of the royal guard and Merle herself.

The cat woman, seated tall in her saddle with her pink hair drawn back in a braid that hangs behind her and brushes the hilt of her sword, looks about warily as they come upon the fields that had been burned out, and the village that went along with them.

The ride has taken three days, and though her eyes have been watching Hitomi closely, Merle is unable to see any signs of undue fatigue in her queen, and silently admits that Hitomi is bearing the early part of her pregnancy well. The villagers are heartened to see their queen, riding as tall in the saddle as she can manage, despite her less than imposing height, and turn out of their burnt thatched houses to greet her in soot-stained praise.

"Ghellan," Hitomi calls to the captain of the guard, who rides up to pull his horse beside Hitomi and Merle's horses. "I want relief sent to this village. Food, supplies. Winter is coming, and I will not have the people starve because of a misfortune."

"Yes, your Highness."

"And investigate who might have done this."

Merle nods in agreement with her assessment of the needs of the people, in this case, and starts to turn her horse when Hitomi dismounts and steps over to greet one of the peasants that looks to be the village elder. Cursing silently, Merle moves her horse in counter of the monarch woman.

"Hitomi," she hisses as the new queen listens to the man's grievances on behalf of his village with a kind ear. "Get back on your horse."

But she does not listen to her husband's friend and Kathis, and instead she hears out the village leader, and then bows respectfully to him, relating the manner of her response in the form of food and supplies to fix enough of the burnt out houses to hold the villagers until they can repair things themselves.

Then, and only then, after much thanks from the village leader, does she remount her horse, and glance sharply at Merle. "Gaea is at war, yes," she says as they turn to make their way to the prior evening's lodgings, "but Fanelia's borders have held, and with the addition of the Egzardian military, will hold for some time longer. If I am not safe to set foot on the ground where my horse may tread, in my own country, then I am not safe on my horse either."

Starting to protest, Merle is reminded, greatly, of Van's response to her careful chiding, and so she shakes her head, motioning for Hitomi to lead the bulk of the guard from the city. A chill runs down her spine as she thinks of how she had reason to increase her warnings with Van, and to convince Peralis to double the royal guard.

Stalking the length of one of the courtyard gardens, Allen's mind is heavy, and he can think of little else than what he had learned from Gaddes. He has wanted to speak to Eries about the manner of his newfound suspicions, but, as though somehow alerted to his glimmered knowledge, she has avoided him entirely, ensconced in her audiences with the advisors and delegations.

And then a slip of a girl steps into his path.

"Get out of my way," he snaps before he gets a good look at her. And then his mind runs backwards, towards the anniversary celebration, and he looks at her again. The same haunting, clouded eyes stare at him, but under the wrong color of hair. There is something familiar about her, "You look like…" he trails off, narrowing his blue eyes. He is uncertain. " Who are you, and what are you doing here?"

"Many people that seem the same are not," the girl cautions, "I come from Freid, and I bear a message that your monarchs bear hearing."

"What news can possibly come from Freid?" Allen asks, though his blood runs cold at the thought of Chid in danger. His only son…

"Please do not be so fearful, Knight Caeli, your son," the girl smiles a little, "is safe, and I have seen him so, and charged his own men to do my duty while I do this task as I have been bid."

"Who are you?" Allen snaps, patience worn thin. It is the second time in as many weeks that someone has mentioned things he thought kept in secret from most people. He has half a mind to ask her what she knows of his relation to the Freidian Duke, but holds his tongue instead.

"Fariah Draven, Sir Schezar, Chid zar Freid aeil Kathis."

"And what could you have to tell Eries and Dryden that I could not tell for you?"

"Little, since it will inevitably have to do with you, however those ears must be in attendance before I unclasp my message to you."

"Fine," Allen replies, both for the sake of nursing his pride and because it will be a chance to see Eries again, "I will get you in to see them, but you will tell me how you got into the palace without alerting the guards, and I will want proof of your identity."

"Then show me your blade," a new voice says, one coming from the edge of the courtyard.

Both Allen and Fariah turn to look at the new speaker, and Celena steps into the afternoon sunlight from the shade of the corridor. She wears leather pants and a button down shirt. "My lady?" Fariah asks.

"Celena," Allen starts to protest, but is cut off.

"We know what I am, brother." Celena turns intelligent blue eyes on her sibling and holds out her hand. "And, it appears, you have learned something of yourself as well." She stares him down, "I will need a weapon."

With a frustrated sigh, Allen hands his sword to his sister, and Fariah, blinking gray eyes, turns her gaze at the knight. "You aren't serious?" she asks, but the look on his face as he folds his arms on his chest and steps back tells her in no uncertain terms that he is.

Allen's mind races, as the two women bow in a stiffly formal manner, and Celena moves forward to strike at Fariah, an easily deflected blow. The clash of their swords echoes in the courtyard and the sunlight flashes on the edges of the sharp blades. As he watches, he notices that Fariah's is much shorter than his long sword, but that her reach with it is superior to Celena's. The two seem, however, evenly matched as the spar continues.

"Enough of this test," Fariah spits out, disarming Celena with an intricate twist of her wrist that she learned while watching Chid practice. One that Allen had never thought to show his sister, but had learned himself in the ancient holy land. The sword arches high in the air and she catches it by the hilt, offering it back to Allen. "I am Kathis. You have given your sword against mine as proof, sir knight," she says in an annoyed tone. "I will see the princess."

"Yes, you will."

The three of them turn their eyes up to the source of the second new voice, and Allen is shocked to find Eries there, watching them all with disapproving eyes. Her gaze does not linger on him, but goes to rest on Celena before finally settling on Fariah. "Come up to the balcony," the princess says, "I would like very much to speak with you."

"Princess Eries," Celena and Allen begin at the same time, but she silences them like errant children with a sharp glance.

"I will speak with the two of you once I have concluded this business. If Chid's Kathis has come, it means that he is vulnerable in Freid to attack, and my nephew has written that there have been several recently. Is this true?"

"Yes, Princess," Fariah replies, bowing her head. Allen retrieves his sword from her and she heads up to the balcony, disappearing into the shadows of the hallway with Eries.

He turns his eyes on his sister. "What do you think I have learned?" he asks her in a probing voice.

"Why the Princess wears our mother's locket," Celena replies, reaching out to take her brother's arm. "I am restless, Allen. I cannot bear this idle tedium any longer."

"Celena-"

"It is true then, isn't it?" she asks in a soft voice. "The dreams I have been having, when I passed out at the anniversary? I was… that monster… wasn't I?"

"What news of my nephew's country?"

"You believe I am who I say I am so readily?"

"Allen did."

"Allen is distracted."

"Yes." Eries continues to walk, her veiled face pristine in the mid-morning sunlight filtering into the covered walkway above the courtyard. "But I am not so distracted as to think you would not have brought some proof of your identity other than your skills with the sword."

"And you would be correct, Princess." Fariah reaches into her thick outer vest and pulls a letter with the Freidian seal on it, offering it to Eries.

The pale haired princess reads over the contents and nods once, dismissing the matter and offering the paper back to Fariah, who takes it and tucks it securely away. She nods for the Kathis girl to continue. "It is not Chid that is endangered, Princess. I bear word of the location of your sister."

"Millerna?" Eries asks, voice hopeful and yet untrusting. "How did you come by this knowledge?"

Taking a deep breath and calming herself, Fariah sets her shoulders and begins. She knows she has not the tact or the mastery of language that Jujiin or Selassie would use to relate what knowledge she has been given, but she is a master of her own knowledge, and good at being persuasive, when need be.

She had won the argument that got her the time to make the trip to Palas, after all.

"The Consortium sent word to me, our Lady of Strategy sent a spy to Norte who came back with the news of her whereabouts, and another of our number was imprisoned with her. It is with regret that we make you known it was partly the work of a doppelganger that brought the letter bearing Millerna's hair to you."

Narrowing her eyes as they turn their footsteps inwards towards the library, Eries takes a long time in replying. "It is times like this when I wonder at the good of such an organization. It must also, then, have been part work of another doppelganger that impersonated her so well before the subjects. And likely the same one who kidnapped her."

"What has happened within our own ranks, princess, I cannot gainsay. It is not my place to know such things, as I would have been absent or training until I was sent to Freid, a journey which I began long before your sister's celebration."

"Why doesn't your Consortium take care of what has happened to Millerna?" comes the stiff reply. "Since you so freely take responsibility for it."

"We have not taken responsibility, Princess, simply accepted the circumstances as they are. That members of our calling were involved has since been made clear to us. But it was your late father who rejected the guardian that was sent for Queen Millerna when she took the throne during the last war, claiming that the Knights Caeli were enough to protect her in Palas. What has gone badly in the past goes the same in the present."

The doors to the library are opened before them.

"And we are a group of fierce bodyguards in lesser numbers than you would think. Our calling is to protect, not to wage a war."

"In the past," Dryden speaks up, taking measure of the two women, and the sword at the younger woman's hip, "it has been that your type of bodyguard accompanied their charge onto the battlefield."

Bowing to the Asturian king, Fariah lifts her gray eyes to his. "Times have changed, your majesty. In the past, battles were waged in man to man combat, where we could do some good. Now men bury their bodies in guymelefs and fight with other arms that are not so easy to defend against. It is how my predecessors in Freid have found their most recent demises."