Lady Knight

Chapter 7: Encountering You

"You knew."

"Yes."

"And you hid it from me." Van's tone was flat, matter-of-fact. He felt as though he had been physically wounded. His most trusted advisor and friend had betrayed him at a fundamental level and he simply couldn't cope with this reality. This strange and seemingly toxic reality in which his worst and fiercest enemy had not only gotten the girl (the true love of his life), he had her love, and he had the son who should have been Van's. One look at the young boy standing between the unlikely pair had only confirmed it.

"I knew it would hurt you." Celena's voice was softer than Van could remember ever hearing it, but the words did nothing to absolve her.

"You betrayed me."

"I was trying to protect you." There it was now. The annoyed and frustrated tones that he expected from her. "And I realize now that it was a stupid thing to do. But how was I supposed to know that you would demand that they be brought back here?"

Van finally turned to face Celena, a low sigh escaping his lips. His dark eyes searched out hers and were astonished to see tears in his finest and toughest knight's eyes. "Celena," he began softly, he never had been able to handle a woman crying.

"No. It's my fault. I should have told you when you asked for them to come here. I should have realized that Dilandau would have given up fighting in Hitomi's world. I should have done a lot of things." A single tear finally escaped the confines of Celena's eyes to trace its way down her surprisingly delicate cheek. Her lips were set in a determined frown, and her eyes gazed at Van with a sharp clarity that pierced Van, as it always did, when it came time to make major decisions regarding battles and border skirmishes. "But I didn't. I failed you." Her words were calm and measured now. "But I promise you, no, I swear," Celena knelt down upon one knee and stared up at him, "I swear upon my allegiance to you that I shall never fail you again."

Van stared down at Celena for a long moment before the corner of his mouth twitched. "Get up, Celena." He said finally, "You look ridiculous."

He watched her frown deepen as she felt, like any woman, the slight to her dignity. "You're my friend, Celena," he added consolingly. "I'm just still adjusting to… everything." He watched her smile slightly, her cheeks faintly red, and wondered, somewhere in the back of his mind, exactly when he had started to think of Celena as lovely.

"Hi," Ben announced to the first person he saw as he wandered into the elaborate gardens around the palace. He had gotten bored of waiting for his parents to return to the rooms that his little family had been assigned, and the small group of maids who had been assigned to watch and entertain him had gotten bored after the first few hours and were now gossiping idly on the plush couches that they apparently didn't normally get to sit on. Ben thought it was silly to have couches that people couldn't sit on, but then again, nothing in this weird place made much sense to him.

"Who do you think you are!" The girl he had encountered shrieked. "This is my rose garden. Daddy had it planted just for me!"

"That's not true, Lesta," a younger girl appeared from behind one of the rose bushes that surrounded the trio of children. "Daddy had it planted for mommy. Everyone knows that and you can't lie just 'cause you can get away with it."

The older girl sniffed disdainfully, "Of course I can, Liana, this boy is obviously one of the servants son's. Just look at him."

Ben stared hard at the girl, and pulled himself up to his full height, a good seven inches shorter than his new adversary. "My mommy and daddy are not servants! They're important!"

"Ohh, so he can speak," the older girl taunted. "What makes you think your parents are important? Let alone important to a princess?"

Ben wrinkled his nose and thought about his bedtime stories. He mulled over the older girl's question for a moment, his features tied up in confusion, before finally finding a conclusion that made sense. "Princesses are silly," he announced earnestly.

That earned him a giggle from the younger girl. "You're funny!" she said brightly, pushing past her older sister to grab hold of his arm. "I'm a princess too, but I think you're right. I'd rather be a knight like Aunty Celena! They aren't silly at all."

"Liana," the older girl began, "You know the rules. No leaving the rose garden."

"The rules say no leaving alone." Liana replied, sticking her tongue out. "I won't be alone." She turned to Ben, the question across her face.

"My name's Ben." He supplied for her. Who would be a better guide to castle gardens than the resident princess? The nice resident princess, anyway.

"I don't think I could handle another moment with them." Hitomi confided in her husband, as they finally exited the meeting cambers in which several of Van's advisors had decided to brief them in. Brief being a very relative term, as they had gone into excruciating detail, including drawing parallels to the last "Great War" in which, of course, Dilandau had played a major role, or didn't he remember?

"They were…" Dilandau began, his grimace conveying a multitude of unpleasant feelings and reactions.

"Assholes?" prompted Hitomi. She smiled at her husband's surprised expression. "I didn't give up all my bad words when I became a mother, Dilly," she added coyly.

"Let me put it this way," Dilandau flexed his fingers, "For the first time in years I had the distinct desire to pick up a sword and threaten someone with it."

Hitomi faked a shocked expression, "But honey! What about your psychological counseling? You were doing so well at adjusting to society!" They shared a smirk. Somewhere through the years Dilandau's dry and occasionally caustic sense of humour had rubbed off on Hitomi, even as Dilandau had mellowed.

"You know," Dilandau looked askance down the hallway they were passing, "We could use a brush up on our sword work."

Hitomi followed his gaze down the passage before them and saw the open door that led into what could only have been a weapons training room. "That we could." She agreed with a grin. Her husband wasn't the only one who could blow off a little steam after a meeting like that.

"You've got to parry there!" Dilandau barked.

"I am trying you know!" Hitomi replied, wiping a strand of hair off her damp forehead. "I didn't realize I was still so out of shape after being pregnant."

"Stop making excuses," he smiled at her despite the retort, "We both know you're better than that."

"And we can both see you're better than we thought you could possibly be." Hitomi replied with bemusement as she charged at her husband with a wooden training sword. "No one ever told me that swinging a sword was like riding a bike for some people." Her husband's only response was a wink, as he disarmed her in a split second, his practice sword moving with a wild grace that had always been his.

"And now what?" He asked her, his tongue curled behind his teeth as he backed her against a wall, the sword at her throat.

"I suppose I could surrender," Hitomi replied, her eyelashes fluttering in a mockery of helplessness. "But then again, I could never surrender to someone as evil as you, you scoundrel."

"Not even a dashing scoundrel?" Dilandau pouted, letting the sword fall.

"Maybe a little bit dashing," Hitomi compromised, lifting one hand just to separate her thumb and index finger the tiniest bit apart.

"Oh really?" Dilandau lifted one eyebrow, even as he grasped her wrist and pulled her in for a searing kiss.

"Maybe more than a little bit," Hitomi giggled, as Dilandau pressed kisses down her neck, leaving her breathless.

"You know how much I love you?" Dilandau said suddenly, his violet eyes stormy as they gazed down into hers. "It would have been so much easier for you if…"

"If nothing." Hitomi said softly, leaning up to catch his lips in a gentle kiss. "I love you. Nothing in any world will change that."

"Hitomi." He breathed into her ear, her name a promise and a plea, as he crushed her between his body and the wall of the deserted training room.

"Here?" She squeaked.

Van had heard the dull clash of wooden training swords and had naturally followed the sound. He enjoyed watching young knights in their impromptu practice matches, the day's official training long over by this time of day. What he had not expected was the pair of voices which flowed from the room. He paused by the doorway, hidden from the interior of the room by the heavy wooden door.

"I am trying you know!" Hitomi cried out.

"Stop making excuses," Dilandau's voice was made harsh by Van's memory. "We both know you're better than that." How could he say such things to Hitomi? How could she bear to live, to raise the son, of such a demon? Van closed his eyes, his own memories betraying him as he recalled the last time he'd seen the pair of them in the same room as swords. Dilandau had taught Hitomi how to use a sword. She had disarmed Dilandau in her living room. He had stormed out and returned to Gaea. In retrospect, just who had been the worst man in that situation? All these years later and Van could still feel the bitter sting of being judged against Dilandau and found lacking. Hitomi's parents must have been so pleased about who their daughter ended up marrying after all.

"And now what?" Van could hear Dilandau's voice, haughty as ever.

"I suppose I could surrender," Hitomi replied, her voice sweet and honeyed. "But then again, I could never surrender to someone as evil as you, you scoundrel." Van blinked. She had never spoken like that to him.

"Not even a dashing scoundrel?" He heard Dilandau ask, his voice losing the haughtiness instantly, replaced with something inquisitive and playful as the banter continued. Van felt something in his heart wrench. The two were flirting in his training room. Over swords. Flirting! He and his wife didn't speak to each other in such a manner.

"You know how much I love you?" Dilandau's voice was low and hoarse. "It would have been so much easier for you if…" And suddenly Van knew. Dilandau loved Hitomi. Not in that hearts and flowers sort of way, or even in the way that he had loved Hitomi, but with all that had been violent and crazed within him. Hitomi was Dilandau's sanity and his soul. Because he loved her. As a saviour, as a woman, as most people can never love anything. Van backed away from the room. He had heard too much; understood too much. Hitomi had almost been his saving grace, it only really made sense that she would be Dilandau's.

In a darker part of his mind, Van filed the information away. Without Hitomi, Dilandau would be a wild card. Unless he was directed towards a certain conclusion, of course. Being a ruler was a terrible thing.

"Children!" The somewhat tarnished knight of Asturia cried as the setting sun stained the sky in various pinks and purples.

"They're so sweet!" A younger and rather impressionable maid cried. "Oh Allen, can you imagine the look on the Queen's face when little Liana gets up to her rooms?"

"We were playing swords." Ben announced to the pair he and his new playmate had stumbled across as they waged their battle across the gardens. They had been kissing. Ben had told Liana this, and how his parents seemed to do it a lot. It was just something mommies and daddies did. Cause they loved each other, of course. Liana's lower lip had trembled as she admitted she'd never seen her parents kiss each other.

"I'm sure it's different for kings and queens," Ben had said, feeling knowledgeable, "They probably have to act important." Liana had stopped sniffling. And quickly added that she hoped she never had to be a queen.

"Little princesses shouldn't get all covered in mud." Allen replied, his face downcast as he took in the twigs in Liana's hair and the mud on her cheeks and ruined dress.

"Then I don't want to be a princess either!" Liana wailed as her frayed emotions hit their breaking point.

Ben stared and shrugged at Allen, "Princesses are silly," he suggested.

Allen just nodded. It wasn't really a point he could argue.