During Hinoka's return walk to the inn, one question haunted her.
Now What?
Never had she ever begun a day so optimistic. After being proclaimed the victor of the entire tournament and receiving a laurel wreath, her spirit was comparable to a deflated balloon. While inside Krakenburg, she did not hear a whisper of Corrin's whereabouts. She staked her entire mission on the festival's tournament, but once it had come and gone, she was uncertain if she would ever have an opportunity to slip underneath the noses of Nohr's inner-circles again.
Her mood did not improve even as she moved through the decorated and colorful tunnels. Gaze lowered and feet scuffing against the damp stones, she passed by bonfires where groups of dancing Nohrians gathered. Some were dressed in ways that reminded Hinoka of the costumes of theater actors, and others in something she would throw on while playing pretend with her sisters. At every bend in the tunnels, musicians played traditional dance music on dented horns and fiddles in need of tuning. The air smelled strongly of meat kabobs roasted over the fires, warm pastries, and spiced cider.
All she wanted was a bath and to change into clean clothes.
Finally, Hinoka stumbled into the inn's empty, but warm dining room and fell into the nearest chair. Alone with her thoughts, she buried her face in her hands and breathed deeply.
Now What?
She could continue to work for Kristin, and poke around the streets for information in her free time. It was not the worst idea. Except that was what Hinoka had tried while waiting for the tournament, and nothing of note came of it. With a sigh, Hinoka lifted her head and stared across the room at the bar until it became blurry. What had she hoped for when she first came to Nohr? That she would find a map nailed to the wall of Windmire detailing where Corrin was and how to get there?
Hinoka's solitude ended when the bar doors swung opened. "Helena?" Britta hurried from the doorway, paused when she was halfway across the room, and quickly spun on her heels back towards the kitchen. Before Hinoka could wonder what Britta was doing, she returned with a tin cup in her hands.
Once she reached Hinoka's table, Britta placed the cup down and pulled out a chair. "Did you win?" she asked.
Hinoka forced a smile. "Yes," she said, pulling the laurel crown from her bag. "I did."
Britta squealed like a thrilled schoolgirl. "Congratulations!"
"Thank you," Hinoka said, looking into her cup before taking another sip of the metallic-tasting, room-temperature water. In that moment, it was more refreshing than the most fragrant teas she had back in Hoshido.
"I can't imagine how exciting your day was." Britta clapped her hands. "You must tell me all about it. Was it scary? Were most of the opponents bigger than you?" Britta smiled and added, "Did you run into Prince Xander again?"
Hinoka choked on her water, it burned her throat and tingled her nose. "No," she said through a cough. She cleared her throat and thumped her fist against her chest.
"So, the royal family doesn't watch the tournament?" Britta asked.
"No, they were watching from afar," Hinoka answered. "I just didn't get a chance to speak face-to-face with any of them." She thought about the moment when she was standing on the podium and Prince Xander stared at her. It was nothing worth telling Britta about.
Britta was quiet for a few moments. Hinoka took a swig of her water as Britta cleared her throat. "I only asked because, well because, he arrested the man who stole your pegasus, and I was wondering if he found it?"
"I wish," Hinoka replied. She did not want to think about Haru and how empty this made her chest feel. "But, I think you are interested in what did happen today rather than what didn't."
Britta leaned against the table and nodded enthusiastically, "Oh, yes," she said. "Not much happens here."
Hinoka stifled a laugh, and told Britta about her first fight, what the other competitors looked like, how it felt to walk in the parade, and stand on the podium as she received her wreath.
"I can't believe that all happened in one day," Britta said when Hinoka finished her story.
"Britta!" Kristin's voice came from the kitchen. "I need you."
Britta's shoulders sagged. "I was supposed to be working on the stew for dinner," she said as she pushed her chair from the table and stood up.
"I can help you," Hinoka said as she shifted to stand from her chair.
"If anyone needs to rest this evening it is you," Britta firmly shook her head. "But, if you feel you must help, finish your water and freshen up a bit first." She smiled. "You're like my oldest brother, can't sit still, and goes through life with his heels on fire."
Hinoka shrugged and looked down into her cup. She had never met Britta's family and most likely never would. However, based on the stories Britta told, Hinoka could see where the comparisons came from. She was stubborn and always working towards something, but this came to her advantage as well. Hinoka doubted she would have become a sky knight or be sitting in an inn after winning a Nohrian tournament if she wasn't so goal orientated.
The door to the street creaked open from behind her. A gust of cold air blew against her back. Hinoka shivered as she looked over her shoulder. Two men stood in the doorway. The taller of the two scanned the room before his gaze landed on Hinoka. Prince Xander's face brightened as their eyes met. Hinoka's cheeks heated, and she quickly stared back down into her tin. He had recognized her? But even then, why on earth would he follow her to this inn? As much as she wanted to ask him outright, she figured that would be a terrible idea. Be blunt and risk offending the second most powerful man in an enemy country. That would most certainly not end poorly.
Should she stand and bow? Bile rose in her throat at the thought. His father was the entire reason she was here using an assumed name. In all honesty, she would sooner drink the water leftover from mopping the floor than show respect to a Nohrian that wasn't Britta, crowned prince or not. "Good evening your highness," Hinoka managed to choke out, her voice sounding far more gravelly than normal.
Xander quickly closed the distance between them, the gray-haired man not far behind. "You go by Helena?"
Hinoka's cheeks burned even more as she nodded, "I am she." As soon as she answered the blood drained away from her face as quickly as it had made her flush. What if the Nohrians had recognized her fighting style to be from Hoshido.? Thanks to Mikoto's barrier it had been years since a Nohrian had the chance to fight with a Hoshidan instead of watching the faceless do it for them from a distance, but they surely studied their enemy? If she was outed as a Hoshidan they would probably seek to arrest her even if they didn't know she was a princess. If it came to that, should she reveal her identity? A Hoshidan spy would most certainly be on a fast track to execution, but would they torture her first? Would a foreign princess be treated slightly better?
This had to be a trap, but if he came here to capture her, he was larger than her and had a legendary sword. While Hinoka was skilled, she was unarmed. Surely, she would have been led away in chains by now if that were his intention?
Glass shattered, finally breaking the silence. Hinoka jumped in her chair. She turned her head towards the bar expecting to see poor Britta desperately trying to pick up whatever she had dropped. Instead, standing behind the bar was Kristen, her mouth agape and arms dangling limply at her sides. The smell of wine wrapped its fingers around the room. Hinoka wrinkled her nose before she realized this was her perfect excuse to get out talking to the prince.
She leapt to her feet, the chair squeaking loudly as she pushed it away from herself. "Excuse me," she said with a bob of her head that could suffice as a bow, as she pulled the tablecloth from the table. She dove behind the bar and began to mop up the strong smelling, dark red puddle around Kristen's feet, careful to no cut her fingers as she pushed away the jagged green shards.
A large piece of glass that was once the neck of the bottle, the cork still stuck inside, rolled to the farthest corner of the bar. Before Hinoka's fingers could touch the edge, a black-gloved hand grasped it and held it out to her. "Thank you," she said, taking it from Prince Xander.
His face was flat and completely still; his skin might have been carved from marble. Not that Hinoka expected the next king of Nohr to be a warm and sunny person. This stoicism was most certainly just part of who he was as a person. "Helena," Xander said. At least his voice was not hard to listen to at all, very clear yet elegant as if he spoke in cursive. "A word with you miss?" He looked to Kristin before focusing back on Hinoka. "Alone," he added.
Next to her, Kristin looked as if the Dawn and Dusk Dragons themselves had been the ones to come and ask her if there were any empty rooms. She stared at Hinoka with eyes too big for her head. She deposited the largest pieces of the bottle into her apron and stood. Still holding up her apron she curtsied deeply, but did not say a word, probably still in too much shock to.
"Laslow," Xander said. The gray-haired man was instantly by the prince's side. "Please help her clean up the mess."
The other man, Laslow, grinned, "You needn't ask me to come to the aid of such a fair lady in her hour of need." He winked at Hinoka when he passed her to follow Kristen into the kitchen.
If Xander was embarrassed by his servant's odd behavior, he did not show it. Had Hinoka been in the humor for such antics, she would have rolled her eyes.
"I saw you at the tournament," Xander said.
Hinoka tore her gaze from the bar and back to Xander wondering if she should tell him that she saw him at the tournament as well. She decided against that. "It was well attended," she replied instead.
"I was very impressed by your performance there," he continued. "So much so that I wanted to offer the position of my retainer."
Hinoka's ears rang as the cogs of her mind seized up. His retainer, a servant working with the most intimate circles of the royal family. Just like that, no background investigation, no history of service to the country? She felt the future king would ask anyone other than a mercenary who put on a good show at a tournament. Then again, Hinoka picked less than conventional retainers at least compared to her own siblings' choices. A decision she routinely found herself questioning whenever she had to free Setsuna from a trap for the third time in the same day while Azama offered nothing but snide remarks to assist her. She hoped they were getting along alright back in Izumo.
As the personal assistant to the crown prince of Nohr, she hopefully would be privy to Garon's most closely guarded secrets, like where hostages were kept. But this offer also begged the question, why was the position opened? Each of her siblings had two retainers, she was not certain if this was any different in Nohr or not. What happened to Xander's last retainer? Executed on the spot because Garon did not like the way they wore a scabbard one day?
Perhaps she was better off not knowing. As far as she was concerned it could have been the retainer was an older knight who had worked for Nohr's royal family his entire life and wished to retire because he was getting on in years.
"Helena?" Xander asked. The cogs of Hinoka's mind started to turn again. "Do you accept?"
Pinching her arm hard until the sharp pain proved that this was not a dream; her fortune very well could be turning around. She had been asking herself Now What all evening, and she finally found her answer. "I accept," Hinoka replied and then added. "You do me a great honor by asking?"
