Oh. He would burn it.
The room had quickly become an inferno. Roy could feel a yell exploding from his lungs, but it faded beneath the roar of the flames.
He was such a coward.
The boy king hadn't laid a finger on him, but Roy had never been more afraid in his life. He had defied the leader without fear. He had fought men twice his size without fear. He had faced his own death.
But Marth's quiet fury had frozen the marrow in his bones.
He was so weak.
Roy's throat burned with his feral cry as he fueled the fire.
Everything was alight, but, whether from the ash or lack of air, Roy could see only black.
He fell to his knees, heaving in vain. The doors and windows were all but sealed in ice; no air would reach him here. He was going to die on this floor.
"Why, this is the most unrefined using I have ever seen!" Roy heard a scolding voice through the dying fire before he collapsed. He heard the windows fly open, felt smoke rush past him towards freedom. Sweet, fresh air filled his withered body. It hurt so good.
Roy rolled over onto his side, gasping and coughing up ash.
As he lay, trembling, he saw two small slippered feet approach.
"Unbelievable." His savior clicked her tongue. A small hand hauled him off the ground and held him steady. "Look at you. You are absolutely filthy!"
Roy barely had time to notice that he was indeed charred and very filthy before the girl shoved him in front of her and towards the Lowell wall. When the stones yielded to the both of them, he realized just who was escorting him down the steps like a wayward child.
His shame and fury returned.
At the bottom of the staircase was a room much like the one Roy had just destroyed except its furnishings were much more refined and subtly luxurious. He caught sight of a door in a corner of the room. Ellis pushed him past a wardrobe and a weapons store toward a bathing room.
Before Roy had a chance to size up the private royal bath, the Lowell princess threw him into it.
He crashed through the surface, a cloud of ash blossoming in the water around him. He was completely disoriented, suspended in darkness. As soon as he found the tiled floor, he burst from his watery prison.
Ellis stood at the edge of the pool, hands on her hips, dainty mouth drawn into an annoyed line.
"What were you thinking? You could have died." Roy felt a smug sense of satisfaction when he heard the irate tremor in her voice. She was not as composed as she seemed. She might be an angry Lowell, but she wasn't her brother. "You would have died."
The fire user curled his lip; he had been saved. Again.
The water around him started to slowly boil as his frustration returned.
He was so weak.
Suddenly the temperature of the water dropped to an unbearable low. Roy would have cried out if the shock hadn't paralyzed him.
"Don't even think about trying any more ridiculous stunts. If you don't cool your little temper, I'll shackle you to the wall until Marth returns." Feeling began to seep back into Roy's limbs as she spoke. The sharp sting of the cold cut through him. His body contorted in response, back arching, fists clenching. He couldn't even scream.
Ellis released Roy from the water's vice and knelt down beside the pool of water. The same tremor in her voice was in her blue eyes. "I don't want to shackle you to the wall, but you need to stop putting yourself at risk."
Roy relaxed into the warmer water and gave her a slight nod. He knew he was behaving like a child. He knew Ellis harbored only goodwill toward him. He knew his shame was appropriate.
The fire user took a few deep breaths, trying to calm himself. He might be weak, but he was strong enough to keep his temper in check. Living the way he had, conditioning his rage had been necessary. If he let any outburst slip, it would mean endangering his mother.
"I will not compromise this mission nor endanger Altea because you cannot control yourself."
Roy clenched his jaw, trying to forget Marth's refusal to bring him into the city. His anger would only return. He didn't want to show gentle Ellis his frustration again.
"Now, you clean up. There are clothes for you in the wardrobe. When you finish, lunch will be waiting for you upstairs." As she said it, Roy remembered that he hadn't eaten since his first night in the castle. He was so accustomed to starvation that regular meals were still a little foreign to him.
She held out her arms for his clothes and as soon as he had stripped down, she swept them away and left him to bathe.
It didn't take much to get the grime off his skin, but he had to really scrub it out of his hair and he suspected that the smell of smoke would linger another day or two. When he finally finished, he ascended the porcelain steps, padded over to the towel rack and rubbed himself dry.
He tried not to think about anything. For now, all he could do was become stronger.
He went to the wardrobe in the main room and found that clothing from his bedroom had been moved here for him. He pulled on a training outfit. Marth might not be here, but Roy didn't need him to polish skills he already had. The fire user climbed the steps to the Lowell wall and passed through it into the empty room above.
The fire user found Ellis clearing out the last of the ashes and saw that she had brought a healthy serving of beef and potatoes and two mugs, one full of milk, the other full of water.
"Eat up; you must be hungry."
He was hungry. So he sat down and obeyed.
Ellis tossed the last of the ash outside and sealed the windows up again. Roy suppressed his annoyance; fine prison though this room was, it was a prison nonetheless.
"How is it?" His new warden arranged herself on the floor across from him. He gave her a little nod to show his approval. She giggled softly. "Good. I'll be preparing all of your meals from now on." Roy looked up from his plate, surprised. He almost dropped his fork.
"…really?" She was Altea's princess. What was she doing in the kitchen?
"Well we can't have you poisoned again, can we?" Roy stiffened, but said nothing. She reminded him of Navahl when she smiled. She could see inside him. "It's only a precaution; it is not a reflection against you. I've been cooking for Marth since he was a boy."
Roy's cheeks flushed. He shouldn't be so easy to read. Ellis smiled knowingly.
"I'm not sure what kind of precautions we can take against your using though." Roy looked up from his food to see a playful glint in her eye. She might not share her brother's discipline, but she certainly had the same teasing smirk. "What upset you so?"
Roy paused.
"They left me behind."
"Are you lonely?"
"No." Was he lonely? He had never been alone in the safehouses; he'd always had his mother. "I want to make sure my mother is alright." That wasn't all. He had been furious with Marth. "And I wouldn't have been a burden."
Ellis reached over and tweaked his nose.
"Hm. Don't be so arrogant, darling. That was some of the worst using I've ever seen." The fire user growled in his throat at her condescension. "Don't look at me like that. How can you expect Marth to put the well-being of Altea in your hands?"
"I will not compromise this mission nor endanger Altea because you cannot control yourself."
Roy had only heard rejection in the king's words, not reason. Ellis continued.
"Can you swear that if the situation came down to choosing between following Marth's orders and helping your mother, you could be loyal to him?"
All of the propriety and prodding had left her expression. Ellis was really looking into him, watching his eyes, waiting for his answer.
"No."
She smiled.
"My brother understands that. How can he expect you to choose him? He wanted to keep you from that; he wanted to protect you."
"He doesn't need to protect me."
Ellis giggled.
"Just indulge him, darling." Roy raised a quizzical eyebrow. "You're his fire user." Altea's princess took a small piece of beef off Roy's plate and popped it into her delicate mouth. "I'm sure he didn't tell you this, but we Lowells can only give one person access to that place."
Roy gaped.
Ellis didn't seem to notice as she picked out another bite and continued to muse. "That one person has traditionally been our spouses." She laughed a little to herself as she nibbled at the meat. "But Marth has always said that Altea is his only lady."
Her eyes fell on him and she smiled.
"He wants to protect Altea's fire user."
Roy composed himself. That was the secret. He couldn't take Marth's behavior toward him personally. The king did not think of him as a friend or as a prisoner, but as an ally and an asset.
"He also wants to cultivate Altea's fire user. I'll be training you in my brother's stead."
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Marth leaned against the side of a tavern, careful to bury himself in his cloak. It was hard for him to run reconnaissance in Altea's capital because he was so easily recognized. Navahl had to bear the burden, but Marth was always close by.
The young king watched as Navahl honed in on two men swaggering down the street. He saw his bodyguard twitch his wrist, urging him to follow. Marth pushed off the wall and trailed behind the wind user.
They didn't have to follow for long. The two men stopped at a small house and pounded on the front door. Marth thought he recognized it as the home of one of Altea's apothecaries.
As soon as the front door opened, the two muscles forced their way into the house. Navahl signaled Marth closer. The two of them approached the side of the house, near enough to listen.
What they heard infuriated the young king. They heard shouting grating against frightened murmurs, rattling furniture becoming violent crashes.
Marth couldn't handle it. He wanted to throw himself through the window and massacre those two thugs. He had been born to protect Altea's citizens and they were suffering. The enraged royal tensed. His companion placed a firm hand on his shoulder. The gesture was meant to be reassuring, but it was also meant to be a threat. Navahl would stop him if he tried anything rash.
The boy king breathed deep, reminded himself of why they were here.
Maybe not now, but he would stop this silent enemy and put Altea at peace.
The two men left shortly after they had arrived.
Navahl smirked at the ice user beside him.
"Shall we?"