Title: King's Ransom I and II
Rating/Spoilers: G; Vague for end of Alabasta
Word Count: 276 + 297 = 573
Pairing: Light Chaka/Pell
Notes: Once again, way old. Mirror-drabbles about the price of serving and being served.

I

ran•som:
1: a consideration paid or demanded for the release of someone or something from captivity
2: a redemption from sin and its consequences.

A country is its people. Great and small, old or young, rich or poor. Joyful and celebrating; mourning and rebuilding. Returned and triumphant. Lost and remembered. Power, worn over clothes, can't seep into his skin, can't let him do more than any other man. It is for those whose power dances in their veins to pay his ransom.

The weight of the land lies heavy on a king's shoulders. This weight is not shed with his royal robes, so when he faces those who pay his prices for him, he is naked before them, and burdened. He can no more ask such men to let him pay his own way from his sins than ask to change the nature of their lives. To ask to carry his own burden is to make their lives, their deaths meaningless.

But he wishes, then, facing such a man, that it would not be such a cruel favour. Their saviours are all gone, to sea and sky. This man, who can touch neither, turns to him and smiles.

"It is a great day for Arabasta, your Majesty."

There is little he can say. Jackal and falcon, hound and fowl, they had served him together, always. Placing the burden of his blood above their light touches, quiet looks, hard embraces. What does one say when such a gift is set aside so that one man can live, one country thrive?

A king's ransom paid, a country saved. A falcon's flight, a jackal's grin.

"Yes, Chaka. It is."

______________

II

ran•som:
1: a consideration paid or demanded for the release of someone or something from captivity
2: a redemption from sin and its consequences.

He's not surprised when his arms are full again, when weight returns to his chest and leaves his heart, when the smile he'd borne vanishes and the tears he hadn't shed stain the brown hair under his fingertips.

For a moment, nothing is said but for the silent language of touch and tears. Neither lasts long; they can speak later, silent reassurances soothing the secret guilt of despair that, believe as they might, trust as they could, had crept in on the nights they would have spent together, in sleep or hunt, in lust or love. A country is waiting. A princess is crying. A king is retreating quietly, a small smile stretching the lines of his face.

Pell watches him leave.

"Today is a great day for Arabasta."

Chaka looks where Pell does, at the figure concealing itself behind closing doors, gathering about itself the robes that hold its power and its burden. Catches the sag of tensed shoulders as a weight lifts, a smile grows.

A country is its people. Great or small, old or young, rich or poor. The burden of their hopes and fears, loyalty and love. The weight of the land lies heavy on a king's shoulders. He bears more than any other man, and it is not for those who give loyalty or share love to pay his ransom.

Chaka has wished he could relieve him of that worry, free him of the weight of their light touches, silent looks, hard embraces. The heavy absence that should never have been another's to bear.

A king's ransom paid. A man's smile. A great day.

"Yes, Pell. It is."

____

A/N: Trying to get across how differently a king like Cobra and someone who serves him as loyally as Pell or Chaka perceive the various debts and burdens they owe and carry. In the first, I try to develop the idea that Cobra believes that others carry his burdens for him - others pay for his mistakes. To him, Pell's sacrifice is his ransom - the price that is paid to save a country, free and redeem its king of his mistakes, so that king and country can both thrive. He notices specifically in the case of Pell and Chaka how both have quietly placed duty to him and to the country above their feelings for each other, without question and with complete serenity, as if it comes to them as naturally as breathing.

In the second, Chaka believes the king carries the burdens of others. Specifically, he notes that he and Pell add another burden - their relationship - to the king's load. He wishes that that burden would be theirs alone to carry, but he knows that it is part of how a true king regards his country and its people - Cobra, like Vivi, cares for each person. Here, the king's ransom is a lifting of part of that burden, so that the king is free of the burden of Pell's supposed death and the guilt he feels for it.

I hope that made sense.