Disclaimer: I own nothing of touhou and familiar of zero, all character belongs to their respected creator.
"A journey to save a love one always works in fairytales, but very rarely happens in real life. After all, if you want to save someone you at least need to be faster than the danger." - Tiandao
Henrietta POV (before Yumemi's meeting)
It have been rough, the journey to Albion had taken more time than Henrietta had expected. Money was not the problem, since she had taken some before she left, what was troubling her was how to avoid detection. She knows that by now everyone in the capital would know that she is missing and would be searching for her, so she had to avoid detection. She knew that despite her resolve to save her lover, the guilt of escaping from her duty also gnawed her heart, she could not face her fellow nobles nor would she be able to run away again if she is found.
Despite this, the journey to Albion is surprisingly easy, while wearing a cloak and travelling only by night she had miraculously reached the west of Tristain without much trouble and succeeded in boarding an airship to Albion. She had expected more soldiers to be out and active, but instead there were much fewer soldiers around here it was also miraculous that she could actually find a cargo airship going to Albion considering there is a war happening. Is it luck or is it something else?
Henrietta took a look at the artifact that Otohime had given her; it was a small stone mill that Henrietta had wrapped in cloth, it was the size of her hand but it did not weight nearly as much as Henrietta would expect from its size. She could feel that the artifact is special, but it also give her an uncomfortable feeling so she dared not to examine it, taking a deal from a devil and succumbing to temptation was already great sins she did not want to add another one to the list.
The mill will lead you to your lover and grant you power, Henrietta remembered Otohime's promise but she quickly wrapped the artifact within cloth again. She did not want power, but she will save her lover, her determination is all she needs to get through to him. She felt tired, perhaps it was the days of travelling or the mental stress, Henrietta was very tired. Perhaps it would be a good idea to take a nap, she thought to herself, even if she get in to Albion it would still be quite troublesome to find Wales, she should get as much rest as possible in the ship's cabins for now .
"Pirates!" Henrietta suddenly heard the captain of the ship calling out. Pirates, this is very bad news! Henrietta quickly ran on to the deck of the ship and indeed, despite the darkness of the night, she can see another airship with a pirate flag that is quite close to theirs.
"They closed all the lights aboard, that must be how they hid in the clouds and darkness to approach us! Captain, can we escape them with full speed?" Henrietta asked the captain of the ship urgently, the other airship was very close and in a few minute they would be able to board.
"Not possible! Their ship is faster than ours, we can't escape them!" The captain replied, Henrietta can see the man was quite nervous. There have to be some way out of this mess! She can't let this stop her!
"We have to raise the white flag and surrender." Henrietta said.
"What?"
"I said we have to surrender, there aren't enough fighters on board and we can't out run them, so the next course of action is to surrender and hand over our cargo, this way we can at least keep our life." Henrietta said, it was the most logical conclusion, she had no idea of how many enemies are on the pirate ship but she can't risk attacking.
"Miss do you have any idea how much our cargo is worth! A lot of merchants and nobles in different countries hired us to deliver these to Albion, if we hand them over now the merchants and nobles would have my skin for this!" The captain was shaking, sweats dripped from his face and hand. It was quite obvious he fears for his life if these cargos were to be lost.
"If we don't hand them over now we will definitely die, it is better to take a chance or no chance at all!" Henrietta stared into the panicked man's eyes, she steeled her gaze, the man was obviously thinking heavily about this. Soon he had reached a decision and averted his eyes and shouted to the crew members.
"Raise the white flag!" After hearing this Henrietta walked back into the cabin of the ship, she had another problem to deal with.
Soon, the sound of the pirate ship came closer; she could hear the footsteps of pirates jumping on board. I can't let them find out my identity! Henrietta thought to herself, she knows her worth, if one of these pirates find out she is part of the Tristain royal blood line they would surely use her for ransom. She must hide, the crew of the ship probably wouldn't get killed, so she could hid onboard the ship and wait for the pirates to leave. This sounded like the best plan for her.
Suddenly, she heard footsteps they were coming to check the cabin! Henrietta quickly looked around for a hiding spot, the cargos are not a good idea the pirates would surely check there, she need a spot that allows her to both hide and peek on the pirates. Suddenly she got it, the captains closet sounds like a good idea, no one would want to check the smelly clothes, it was the best option she's got right now.
Quickly Henrietta ran into the captain's room and hid in the closet. Through the small opening between the two doors of the closet she looked outside, and indeed the pirates quickly came into the cabin to check for anyone else.
"The captain's room appeared to be empty, should I do a more thorough search?"
"No check the cargos first, it is the boss's command that we find out what this ship is carrying. We'll check the rooms carefully later." The two members of the pirate took one look into the room and quickly left. Henrietta breathed a sigh of relief, the pirates were gone for now, but they would be back for a more thorough search. Perhaps it is time to switch hiding spot, she'll hide somewhere else for now and after the pirates checked this room thoroughly she would hid back here again.
After gently opening the closet door and closing it again, Henrietta sneaked through the cabin towards the deck, the cabin is out of other hiding spots but the deck isn't, perhaps there might be a spot she could stay in while they searched the cabins.
But just when she was about to open the door to the deck, someone else opened the door from the other side. Henrietta jumped back in surprise but before she could pull out her wand she froze after seeing the other person's face. The other side froze as well as his face is filled with the same surprise as Henrietta's.
"Wales!"
"Henrietta!"
Despite being disguised, Henrietta could see that the person in front of her was her lover from Albion, Prince Wales. She felt as if a heavy weight was removed from her shoulder. They have a lot to talk about.
Louise POV
The village was alive as always, people walking around, merchant selling stuff on the side of the road, and with the sun right above their head it was quite a peaceful sight.
"It appears that we managed to arrive before lunch, let's go find everyone else and get something to eat." Siesta said to Louise.
"Yeah sounds like a good idea." Louise replied, she missed everyone else more than anything else so eating lunch can wait a while. It didn't take long before they reached the inn that they stayed before; Louise hoped that everyone didn't change the spot they were staying at, but soon it appeared that she had been worrying about nothing. She soon spotted a familiar face, his small amount of hair become whiter; it appears that stress had taken a toll on his body.
"Professor Colbert!" Louise called out to her professor. He quickly heard them and turned around in surprise, his face was suddenly a lot brighter. Louise could see the worries and relief the professor had from his eyes.
"Miss Louise and Miss Siesta, you are okay! Thank the founder, I wanted to look for you guys in the forest, but being paralyzed and Miss Keine stopped me from going. I'm so glad you guys are still okay, even though I heard from Miss Kirche that you guys became the apprentice for a magician, I can't help but worry about your safeties."
"We're okay professor Colbert, but I am sorry we betrayed the founder's teaching." Louise bowed down her head, she prepared herself for the preaching of her professor, but it never came.
"You don't need to worry about that Miss Louise, we are in an extreme situation and that calls for extreme actions, if you did what you believe is right then that is good enough." Louise looked at Professor Colbert with surprise; she didn't expect professor Colbert would be this open minded to this considering the founder is the most important person for nobles (though not for her, at least not anymore). Perhaps they had all changed because of this land, she thought to herself.
"Mr. Colbert we had gotten a new lead that could tell us how to get home." Siesta spoke and she explained the most important thing to Professor Colbert.
"Really! That's great; we had found some lead ourselves as well from the locals," Professor Colbert, then looked around and spoke again, "But this is not the best spot to tell a long story, let's find a better spot and you two can tell me yours and I can tell mine."
Louise and Siesta looked at each other and then nodded their head and followed Colbert to another spot.
Henrietta POV
"I thought you would have sent someone else to come instead of coming yourself." Wales said to Henrietta, the two stood aboard the returning pirate ship. After a brief exchange of stories, Henrietta understood the reason that Wales and his crew are pretending to be pirates. But she didn't spoke about her abandoning her duties, much less about the other things. Wales is a man of honor and duty, Henrietta knows that he would not take kindly of her abandoning her duties even though he loves her.
"It was safer this way, I cannot trust anyone else with matter this important, the queen had approved of my action."
"I'm just worried about your safety, a royalty walking without her guard, there are a lot of danger. But I'm glad you're safe." Wales said with his face a bit red; the embarrassment also affected Henrietta after she heard those words. Both of them blushed, and fidgeted awkwardly, brief moment of silence had fallen between the two.
"…Wales, when would the enemy come?" Henrietta asked the question that had been the main burden on her mind.
"…"Wales didn't reply, but Henrietta could see that his face hardened, the unchanging resolve was there but also something else, fear and despair.
"Tomorrow evening, or the morning after that if we're lucky…I'm sorry that we won't have much time together." Wales said, sadness filled his sentence, and every word stabbed into Henrietta's heart and pained her. But she did not ask Wales to come with her, it was meaningless, a waste effort. Wales's forces were far too little and there were very little chance of his survival, but what could she do. She is only a princess who had abandoned her place; she did not have an army or the military knowledge that could save him. Henrietta cursed her own uselessness, if only she had been a legendary void mage like the founder, she would have been able to save him.
"Henrietta…Henrietta!" Suddenly she heard Wales shouting in her ear.
"What is it?"
"Henrietta, I know what you are thinking, you're thinking of staying here and helping us aren't you. There isn't a point in you wasting your life with us, we're doomed man, and there is no point in you coming with us."
"It isn't a waste for me, Wales!" Henrietta shouted, she was surprised at herself, she had never reacted this violently. Wales had the same surprise on his face, but Henrietta ignored him.
"We made an oath that day, and I'll be with you no matter where you go, even if it is the depth of hell!"
"But there is a lot more waiting for you, your family, your kingdom, your subjects! This isn't a fairy tale Henrietta! This is real! There is no chance of survival if you be with us, you have more important thing to do than dying with us!"
"What is a leader's worth when they could not even carry out their own promise, as a royalty I live by my code of honor, and as a women I live by the love that I have. I came across a country for you Wales, I won't abandon you like this."
Henrietta could see that Wales was not really convinced, a complex mix of acceptance and sadness clouded his face, and finally he seemed to give up.
"You're quite a fool Henrietta."
"I know, but it is the path I have decided." Henrietta looked into his eyes with hardened resolve. There was no need for further arguments.
"…Promise me that if I die, no matter what, please stay alive Henrietta; I couldn't forgive myself if you die because of me."
"I wouldn't let you die." Henrietta said, with that they stared into the stars once more, hoping that this moment would never end. And with its current master unknowing, the stone mill shivers in excitement, the intention of its former master growing clearer.