Amare Dividere
Title: Dubious Returns Part Eighteen
Series: Vision of Escaflowne
Rating: PG-13 for some violence.
Rampant Port is windy as Eries is borne up to the landing grounds in the carriage. Dryden she has left in charge of Exeter, and for once, Celena has declined accompanying the princess to greet her brother. That Eries finds odd, but had found no reason to press the younger woman on her motives. Instead, she dressed herself properly for the occasion and was lifted into the royal carriage.
The heavy wooden carriage sways in the wind as it heads up the hills out of the city, and Eries adjusts her hands on her lap. The winds, she thinks to herself, glancing out at the swaying of the trees, are restless.
"Jichia," she says softly, "what are you trying to warn me of now, my Lord?" The only answer there is to her silent prayer is a howl of the wind and a rattle of the hinges of the carriage door.
On the landing grounds, the carriage pulls to one side, and the door is opened by the coachman that had driven her up. Behind the carriage, the guard that accompany her when she leaves the city dismount, and the captain steps forward to kneel, extending a hand to assist her down from the carriage.
Eries does so, eyes trained on the towering figure of the Crusade before her. The ship itself bears no marks of attack. But there also does not appear to be any movement from the crew on board. The lift to the deck is lowered, but there is no activity.
The muscles of her back tense in realization as she watches.
"Princess," the captain of the guard says.
"Hail them," Eries says, proud of the lack of a waiver in her voice.
The captain of the guard nods, and two of the guards cross the expanse to approach the ship. Eries crosses her hands in front of her, allowing herself to clench her fingers together, her only outward sign of distress.
It seems that it takes the guards forever to climb into the lift and make it up to the ship. There is a long moment of silence in which Eries holds her breath. Nothing, for a long time, and then, one of the guards returns, heading down the lift, and reports to the captain in hushed tones, bowing.
The captain sends him back to his horse, and he rides off towards the city. "Captain," Eries says, stepping forward. "What has happened?"
"Knight Caeli Schezar and Sea Guardian Gaddes both returned from their mission with heavy wounds. The Sea Guardian recovered enough to make his report, but Sir Schezar has sustained heavy wounds and lost much blood."
There is a shattering feeling in Eries's chest and she sets her jaw, crossing to the lift. The captain of the guard blinks and then jogs to catch up with her stiff stride. "Princess, we have sent back to Palas for a surgeon…"
"I will hear this report with my own ears," she says in a cold voice, glancing at the captain. "Do you fault me for that?"
"O-of course not, Princess," the captain says, offering his arm as they near the lift.
Hitomi wanted to meet the riders in the courtyard, but Merle and Peralis had both firmly advised against it. If Van had returned, Merle had said in a soft voice, he would wonder at her pregnant state and the entire country did not know about it yet. Better he find out in at least a semi-private setting, where if he exploded in a temper there were fewer to see and hear. Hitomi disagreed, saying it was his right to know, but Peralis had nodded at Merle's assessment, and so Hitomi had capitulated.
The queen, dressed in a loose green dress that still does very well at hiding her swollen stomach, leans back against the throne wearily with the Egzardian king and queen paying their evening respects.
"If your majesty will excuse us," King Benanoir says, bowing his head to Hitomi. "We will retire for the evening."
"By all means. May your repose be peaceful," Hitomi says, again surprised to hear that sort of language of her own mouth.
The King and Queen bow once more, and then Benanoir escorts Inah from the throne room, the guards passing them, Van at the back of them. The doors are barely shut before Van pulls them open again.
Hitomi, sitting dozing on the throne, for a moment thinks that she is dreaming, and then she blinks her eyes and stands on shaky legs.
Van stops, halfway into the room, his heart in his throat. He has not realized how much he truly missed her until the moment his eyes fall upon his wife once more. "Hi-to-mi," he says in a soft voice, his words a bare brush of air past his lips.
"Van," Hitomi replies, tears brimming in her eyes. For a moment, the two of them stand there, staring at one another on the brink of tears, and then Hitomi snaps out of stillness and jogs towards him.
Happily, Van catches her up in his arms, and she buries her face against his chest, sobbing. The dark haired king kisses the top of her head, eyes mostly closed, and strokes her back for a second. His eyes open then, but he says nothing immediately.
Peralis, watching from the corner of the room, thinks the two of them look more their age in that moment, and he is again certain that he has done the proper thing in protecting his King's Queen during his absence.
"We will retire," Van says, hand tightening on the back of her gown.
"Yes," Hitomi says through her tears, fingers clutching his shirt tightly.
Lying half conscious in the cabin, Allen is dimly aware of the guard that enters the room, the draft of the open door both chilling and welcome. The sweat on his forehead has been there for days, and Gaddes lifts a cup for him to drink more water. It is as Gaddes is setting the cup aside that Allen feels sleep calling him again.
"Princess!" Gaddes says, stiffening as he stands quickly. He had not expected Eries would come aboard to see Allen, given the circumstances. But, as Allen was fond of reminding him, he tended to underestimate her.
"Leave us," Eries says to the captain of the guard, her eyes on Allen and disregarding Gaddes.
"Princess, I should not…"
"That was not a request," Eries says. "It was an order. You will wait outside."
With a surly awkwardness, the captain of the guard bows and steps back out the door, leaving the princess with the two men.
Again the cold air assaults Allen's worn out body.
"How is he?" Eries asks as the door closes, her posture erect and her shoulders set.
"I am no doctor," Gaddes says truthfully. "I have done what I could. I have bandaged his wounds, I have replaced the water he loses by sweating. I do not know enough to do more."
"There is a doctor on the way," Eries says, stepping closer to gaze down at Allen's beautiful face twisted in pain and drenched in sweat.
"It is good to know," Gaddes replies, shifting awkwardly.
"If you are in pain then you should sit down," Eries says. "I do not wish to stand upon ceremony while he is ill."
"And if he weren't?" Gaddes asks. "Then would you?"
"In times of illness, that which is required in health is not always the same." Slowly, Eries steps forward and lowers herself to the low stool that Gaddes was sitting on when she entered.
"So the game continues?" Gaddes asks, forcing his stiff limbs to obey as he crosses around behind Eries and sets a basin of water next to her on the small table beside the bed. Then he steps back, taking a seat on the only other chair in the room.
Eries does not reply to that question, instead she lifts the cloth from Allen's head and dips it in the water before dabbing it gently on his skin and wiping the sweat from his face.
"Will you be staying?" Gaddes tries again.
"The doctor will be here shortly. As soon as he can be moved, Allen will be brought to stay in the palace, where he can be attended constantly." Eries stares with kind eyes at his grimacing face, and moistens her lips with her tongue to hide that her teeth worry over her bottom lip under her veil. She rings out the cloth and replaces it in the water basin.
Gaddes says nothing, offering the water cup to her.
She can just as easily send Allen home and allow Celena to care for him. In Gaddes' mind it is as much as she can do at that moment.
In his rooms, Van finally loosens his hold on Hitomi enough to meet her eyes sternly. "You're pregnant," he says in a voice that sounds betrayed. She had never given him reason to doubt her fidelity before… but so many months had passed…
And he had not been there.
Hitomi blinks green eyes in confusion at him. "Yes, Van, I am. And it is your child." She sits down on the bed. She had expected many things from him upon his return, tears, hugging…
But not the look in his eyes he favors her with. Not that look.
"I have been away for a while, Hitomi."
Closing her eyes, Hitomi lifts her fingers to her forehead, "And I have not touched a man since the night before our wedding," she snaps.
"The night… before…?"
"Yes," Hitomi says, putting her arms around her stomach. "The night before. In the clearing where Escaflowne rests. Surely you remember?"
Van crosses to her, lifting a hand to her cheek, and brushes her face gently. "Of course I remember…" He lowers himself to kneel before her, meeting her eyes and brushing the tears from them. Slowly he leans forward and presses his face against her stomach. "Has it moved yet?"
Blinking away her tears, Hitomi smiles down at her husband, nodding. "Once or twice… I'm about two-thirds of the way along."
"Does anyone know?" Van asks softly, putting his arms around her waist.
"Merle and Peralis… others may suspect… but I was afraid of that..."
'That they would think what I did,' Van finishes silently to himself. 'It would have been different if I had not been taken on the wedding day.'
"Van… what will we do?" Hitomi asks in a soft voice once she knows his thoughts have run their course.
"I will simply explain the truth to the advisors, and Merle will vouch that you have been chaste in my absence," Van says, settling comfortably against her.
Hitomi relaxes in his grip and puts her arm around his neck.
"It is late," Van says, "and I feel like I've taken forever to get home to you."
"Then let me help you into bed."
Merle and Arik are left outside.
"Was it a strange trip?"
"I have been from Fanelia to the Compound to Asgardia to Ispano and then back to Gaea and Freid. It has been a long trip. Strange is nothing I would call it so much as long."
"And Tristan?" Merle asks in a tight voice.
"He sent me with Van."
"And you let him?"
"My lord is in his homeland," Arik replies with narrowed eyes. "What more can either you or I ask for?"
"You left the Compound. I am supposed to turn you in as a traitor."
"There are other traitors from our ranks who have done worse than what I did to take Tristan where he wished to go and protected him along the way. I would hope that you would know the difference, Merle."
The cat woman's tail swishes behind her. "Do not lecture me on differences and choices," she snaps. "I know better than you those things."
"Wars come and go," Arik says, straightening her shoulders. "It is the people and the land that remain. And truly it is only the land. Bathed in blood and washed clean by the rain. People are momentary."
Merle narrows her eyes. "I wonder if all deserters get this philosophical."
"I am not a deserter."
"That is for the Council to decide."
"I can do good in the world… in this war and this country, but I will not go back to the Compound to face their justice. If you will not abide my presence, I will go somewhere I can be of use."
"Where would that be? If Tristan-"
"You will refer to him by his title."
"If the High Priest," Merle corrects, unconcerned by the correction and the snarl in Arik's voice, "sent you with Lord Van, he will look for you here when he returns."
With a heavy sigh, Arik turns her broken looking eyes from Merle. "It is more of an if, I am afraid, than a when. Tristan would want me to keep fighting for what he… and I believe in."
"You certainly seem very sure of that."
"If I was not sure of it," Arik says, glancing sidelong at the cat woman with heavy eyes, "I could not go on."
There is silence between them for a long while. "You are comfortable, at least?" Merle asks, her shoulders set. "The clothes that Hitomi had brought for you… the room?"
"More comfortable than I have been in months. Fanelia… strangely feels like home to me."
Agitated beyond belief, Ouran paces the length of the throne room, his dark cape trailing behind him, Aden's eyes watchful from the corner. "Leave me," the dark king commands, raking a hand through his dark curls and turning towards the side door from the high ceilinged room. He flicks a hand at Aden, "Return to you chambers."
Lowering his head in false obedience, Aden backs towards a different door, having no intention of retiring, leaving the usurper king to his own thoughts as he heads high up into the castle where his own chambers are. The rooms are covered in a film of disuse since the queen passed on, and still have hangings of black over the walls and above the bed. Ouran likes this, because it is more peaceful to him than the soft colors of the decorations lying beneath the mournful hangings.
He sinks down into the chair in front of the dressing mirror, where he had seen his queen wife sit to do her hair so often and again runs his fingers through dark curls. "Mother," he says softly.
The mirror in front of him catches a shaft of light sneaking through the covered windows and flashes brightly, showing no reflection.
"You called?" a low woman's voice says, sounding as though it is a whisper of wind through a graveyard.
"Everything is not going according to plan."
"Things often do not," the woman replies.
"Advise me."