Chapter Six
It was a beautiful summer day. The weather was perfect and sunny, a slight breeze blowing through the trees. To almost everyone else, it was a beautiful, perfect, almost cliche, summer day. The treaty had been signed. Araluen had four new allies and a plan against the Temujai. They finally had a chance to win the war.
And Nel couldn't register any of it. Her mind had gone into some sort of shock. It had stopped processing anything after hearing the news.
"Atanyan insisted on sealing the treaty with more than just our signatures." Duncan was saying to the group he had gathered in the room. It wasn't that many people, just Nel, Halt, Crowley, Will, Gilan, and Pauline.
Pauline nodded understandingly, "Not unexpected given the history."
She was curled up on her bed, clutching her blanket to her as tightly as she could, the conversation replaying itself in her mind again. She had stopped counting how many times she had recounted it in her head.
"He's insisting on an arranged marriage between the countries."
Gilan took a sharp intake of breath, eyes widening in a panic.
"I'm...sorry," Crowley said softly, "That must've been a difficult decision."
"It was."
"How did Cassie take the news?" Gilan asked quickly.
"Gilan...Cassandra isn't engaged."
"What?"
Duncan shook his head, "I can't put an Arridi on the throne. It's too risky."
"So...you canceled the alliance? Duncan, we don't stand a chance without them!" Halt yelled.
"What were you thinking, making a choice like that without us?" Pauline asked in a rare moment of anger, "We've put in too much work over the last few months to just throw it away!"
"We're moving ahead with the alliance. We all signed the treaty early this morning." Duncan reassured them, holding up his hand to stop Crowley's upcoming question, "But Cassie isn't engaged."
A tear slipped down her cheek. She'd been holding it back for too long.
"Then how-"
Duncan cut Will off quickly, "I promised someone else to the Arridi."
Halt's eyes narrowed in suspicion, "Who?"
The king's lips were pressed together in a thin line, obviously reluctant to tell him.
"Duncan," Halt said warningly.
The tears were flowing freely down her face, shoulders shaking. She couldn't stop even if she wanted to. Vaguely, she heard a knock at the door, but couldn't bring herself to answer it.
"Rangers hold a unique position in our country Halt. They answer only to Crowley and the Royal Family. They rank higher than Barons or noble families."
"Yes, and?"
"Cassie is the only female in the Royal Family right now. And Crowley doesn't have a wife, let alone a daughter."
"Where are you going with this?"
The door opened, admitting Gilan and Will to her room. They took one look at Nel's sobbing form on the bed and wordlessly made their way over to her. The two Rangers pulled her into a hug between them, not knowing how else to comfort her. They all lay on the bed, simply waiting for the tears to stop.
"I'm saying...that Nellie is technically the highest ranked woman in Araluen, second only to my daughter."
Pauline gasped, "Your Majesty, please tell me you didn't."
Duncan sighed and turned away from the group of people looking at him expectantly. His green eyes met Nel's blue ones, looking at her with a mix of pity, guilt, and apology, "Nellie, I've promised you to the Arridi. You're officially engaged to be married."
Eventually the tears stopped. There were no more left that she could possibly cry. A hand entered her vision, holding a small piece of cloth. Gratefully, she took it and attempted to wipe the evidence of her hysterics off her face. She tried to give it back, but Gilan shook his head.
Slowly, Nel blinked and realized their position. The three of them were lying on her bed, curled up together. The front of Gilan's shirt seemed to be drenched in her tears while Will's fingers were red from her clutching them while she sobbed.
She wasn't embarrassed by their closeness, just at being seen crying. The two of them were practically her brothers and she knew they saw her as a sister.
She had never been more grateful to them than in that moment.
Desperately she tried to remember what had happened after Duncan told her that she was engaged. She thought she heard her father yell; there had definitely been an outburst of some kind.
The words were still ringing in her ears.
'You're officially engaged to be married.'
"Nellie?" Will's voice, full of concern, reached her ears. With a start, she realized that he had been calling her name for a few minutes.
"Yes?" she whispered.
"Are you feeling better?"
Nel looked up at him. She could tell that he didn't know quite what he should say, that this was the best he had come up with. He looked so sad. It surprised her when she realized that the expression was for her.
"I...don't know." she said honestly, "I-I don't know. I don't really remember anything after the king said that...that I was-"
"It's ok." Gilan said, cutting her off gently, giving her a reassuring hug, "You're in shock. Anyone would be."
She nodded slowly, his words sinking in. It was strange. A moment ago she had been gripped with unimaginable, uncontrollable grief. Her puffy red eyes were proof. Now… she felt coolly detached. Was it possible to cry out such intense emotions? She didn't know.
"What happened? After, I mean."
"Well," Will sighed, "Halt basically exploded. Practically lunged at the king."
"Hmmm," Nel wasn't surprised at his actions, more at herself for apparently tuning it out.
"Crowley hurried you out of the room when Halt started cursing Duncan in every language he knew," Gilan continued, "He even started swearing by some Skandian gods. Apparently he's spent more time around Erak than we thought."
Nel felt her lips begin to twist up at his attempt at a joke. 'Only Gilan.' she thought.
Will picked up the story again, "Crowley came to get help when you started crying. I don't think he's all that great with tears."
Ok, she really didn't remember that. Crowley was the best at silent movement, but she honestly couldn't remember him leading her to her room, let alone leaving it.
"He was trying to get Cassandra to come help you, but when he got back, she had been told everything, found her dad, and joined Halt in yelling at him."
"I don't think that I've ever seen Duncan look so shamed." Gilan muttered.
Will chuckled his agreement, "I'm sure after Lady Pauline gets a word in, Duncan won't be able to scratch his nose without consulting them about it first."
Gilan smiled, obviously pleased at the thought.
"I can't believe he would do this," Will huffed, "Already agreed and signed the treaty. All without talking to you. I thought Duncan was better than that."
"He didn't have a choice." Nel murmured, head resting on Gilan's shoulder again and reaching for Will's hand. He gave it to her without question, "You heard him. There is no other lady high ranking enough to satisfy a treaty like this. And he can't put an Arridi on the throne. I was his only option."
Both of them looked at her in confusion.
"Nel, are you defending him?"
She avoided their gazes, "I-I don't know. But I do understand him. He has to think of the whole country, the alliance...not just me."
"That doesn't make it right."
"I never said it did." her voice was quiet, barely above a whisper.
The two boys exchanged a glance. They had only seen Nel act like this once, during Morgarath's invasion. Halt had just brought Will and Cassandra back after rescuing them from the Skandians. Gilan had immediately begun apologizing to the young pair for leaving them and then Nel had walked up. She hadn't been acting like her normal shy, stammering self. Instead she was acting like she was now. Detached. Logical. A form of cool acceptance. Back then she had simply patched up Will's wounds, smeared a salve over a few burns he had from the bridge, looked both of them straight in the eye, and then left without a word.
None of Halt's lessons would ever sink in the way that Nellie's had that day.
This was the real world. Things happened. When they did, you patched them up and then moved on. You learned to deal with it.
And both of them hated that Nel had somehow fallen into that mindset again.
To Gilan, she was his little sister. They had known each other for over ten years, almost fifteen. After his father and Halt, she knew him the best. They had helped each other grow into the people they were today. And he wanted nothing more than the cheesiest, most cliche happy ending in the world for her, whatever that might be. Her lying in her room, having just spent the last hour sobbing and now logically accepting a future she didn't want; well that definitely wasn't it.
To Will, Nel had started off as a stranger. He had known her his whole life and been afraid of her for a good chunk of it. She had been the daughter of a Ranger. Like most people, he had believed that Rangers practiced dark, forbidden magic. That meant that she was obviously a witch. But, when he started his apprenticeship and got to know her, he had begun to see her in a new light. She was his first real friend outside of the Ward. She never judged him for his old dreams of being a knight or for not having a name. He saw how she continued to turn down Halt's offers of training her as a Ranger, insisting that she was a healer. That she would become a doctor. He had an admiration for her that was the same as anyone would have for an older sibling. There was a quiet determination to her that he knew she inherited from her father.
They were both torn that someone else had just yanked away the reins and stolen her life from her. They especially hated the fact that it was done by the very king they were sworn to serve.
But worst of all was her quiet, logical, acceptance of the situation. Their hearts broke when they heard her say, "I have to do it. I have to get married."
Neither of her adopted brothers could find a response.
All three of them lay in silence, simply holding each other for a long while.
That was how Halt found them when he barged into her room. He stopped short at the sight. He took in her red, tear stained eyes, the way she was curled up in their embrace, and realized what exactly had happened. Immediately he was kneeling by her bed, taking one of her hands.
"You don't have to do this. Say the word and I'll stop it. I'll get you out of here. We'll leave the country. Just say so."
Nel gave him a sad smile, "I wish we could."
"Then we'll leave tonight. Pack a bag." he made to stand up as if to do it for her, but stopped short when her grip tightened.
"We can't."
"And why, by Gorlog's beard, can't we?"
"The treaty, the Temujai...if I don't get married, it all falls apart."
Halt immediately shook his head, protesting the idea, "No, it won't. Duncan can find someone else."
"There isn't anyone else," she said, "You heard the king, he can't put an Arridi on the throne."
"Wait," Gilan shot up in the bed, eyes alight with an idea, "This is all because she's a Ranger's daughter, right? Well, I'm an actual Ranger! What if I take your spot? I'll get married instead!"
"Um...Gil, Nellie's fiance is a man." Will pointed out slowly, looking pointedly at Gilan to make sure he got the message, "You want to marry...a man."
Gilan rolled his eyes, "That's not what I meant, but thank you for misunderstanding. I'm sure there are plenty of Arridi noblewomen, I'll marry one of them. I'm a Ranger, so it should work."
"Gilan!" Halt and Will exclaimed at the same time.
"What?" he asked, looking at them in confusion.
"We aren't going to save Nellie from an arranged marriage by subjecting you to the same thing!" Will yelled at him.
"I'd be more than willing to do so!" he insisted.
"Look, if this is your way of skipping over courting someone because you are so abysmally horrible at it-"
"I am not horrible at it! I've been courting a girl for months now, but you wouldn't know that because you wouldn't know romance if it slapped you in the face!"
"Making up some girl to try to prove that you know how to court someone is not the same as actually doing so!"
"I'm not making her up!"
"Oh, so you'd be willing to break her heart when you get married to this nonexistent Arridi noblewoman?!"
"She'd understand! She's wonderful like that!"
"Would you both stop it?!" Halt yelled, "None of this solves our problem!"
"Oh, and what's your brilliant idea?" Gilan scoffed, "Right, fleeing the country! Life on the lam! This is Nellie, Halt! She deserves better than that!"
"It's brilliant compared to your plan!" Will shot back.
"Everyone wins in my plan!"
"Except you!"
"I don't matter!"
"Yes you do!"
"Are you two incapable of shutting up?!"
They both turned to Halt, yelling out, "YES!" before resuming their argument.
He sighed, raising his eyes skyward as if asking for mercy, then interrupted them again, "New plan!"
"What?!" they snapped, glaring at him.
Halt raised an eyebrow at them, which was enough to get them to calm down, looking rather sheepish. (They had somehow started arguing about who Gilan's best man was going to be. Halt decided he really didn't want to know.)
"You're right. Nellie deserves better than this. She is in this situation because she's my daughter and I decided to be a Ranger. So it's my fault. Which means I have to fix it."
"Dad-"
Halt cut her off quickly, not wanting to hear her protests. "I'm going to quit. Retire. No longer be a Ranger."
"What?!" Whereas the last outburst had been one of anger, this one was shock. Made even more prevalent by the fact that Nel had joined in.
"He can't marry off the daughter of a Ranger if I'm not a Ranger anymore," he explained, "No one has to get married against their will and we don't have to leave Araluen. All Rangers reserve the right to leave the Corps. Problem solved."
"B-But you wouldn't be a Ranger!" Will exclaimed.
Halt shrugged, "I wasn't always a Ranger to begin with. I can find a new job afterwards."
Nel was already shaking her head, "Dad, no, you can't."
"I can and I will."
"Being a Ranger is your life. I can't let you give that up."
"No." he said quickly and fiercely, shaking his head at her, "You are my life Nellie. Always have been and always will be. You are my daughter. I'm your father. Being a Ranger will never compare to that."
Tears pricked at her eyes at his words, surprising her. She didn't think she had anymore left. Her voice almost broke when she said, "You love being a Ranger."
"And what if I don't want to serve as a Ranger for a king who marries you off without even asking if you're willing?"
"Dad," she looked at him pleadingly, "Please, don't. I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if you did that."
"I won't forgive myself if you get married like this." His voice had dropped to a whisper and he clutched her hand as if afraid that she would disappear if he let go.
"It's the right thing to do. You know that."
Halt shook his head, refusing to acknowledge her point.
She sighed sadly, "Aren't you the one who says that we all have to make sacrifices for our country? To be able to protect those we care about?"
He didn't respond. Gilan and Will were watching her intently, waiting for her next words.
"I already told you. I can't fight. I can't strategize. I can't lead. I'm a stuttering mess during debates or confrontations. But this is something I can do. This is how I can help against the Temujai...maybe the only way I can."
Sadly, no one could say she was wrong.
"But this isn't what you want." he muttered, unable to meet her eyes.
"What I want is a world that isn't torn apart by war." Nel said, moving off the bed gently so she could kneel next to her father, wrapping her arms around him tightly. He responded immediately, holding her close.
"I'm sorry ceann ciúin. I'm so sorry."
Nel smiled at the pet name. It had been years since he called her that.
"It's ok dad. I don't mind getting married, it was just a shock. I...I just wish I knew who I was getting married to."
The sun beat down on the ground, not a cloud in the sky, adding to the already high temperature of the desert. The port town of Al Shabah was bustling with traders and merchants.
The Wakir sighed, gazing longingly out the window. He would much rather be out there, on a patrol or training with his guards, than in his office signing form after form. Sometimes, he really wondered why he thought it was a good idea to accept the position of Wakir.
He continued to work through the stack of paperwork for a few minutes until a knock on the door interrupted his thoughts.
"Come in." he called, welcoming any distraction.
Aloom, his second-in-command, walked in, a letter in his hand.
"Wakir," he said, giving the typical Arridi greeting.
He returned the gesture before waving him forward, "What can I help you with?"
Aloom held out the letter, "We just received this via carrier pigeon, sir."
He took the letter, seeing the Emrikir's seal on it. Quickly, he opened it, reading through the contents.
"Aloom?"
"Yes Wakir?"
"Pack your bags. We're leaving for Araluen in the morning."
The soldier looked at him in confusion, "Araluen? What are we needed there for?"
"Apparently, I'm due to be married." Seley el'then said.
Professor: Phew, over 3,000 words. My hands hate me because I did this all in one sitting. Anyway, sorry it has been so long since I updated. I don't own a computer and didn't have a chance to type this up at the library because of COVID. By the way, I hope everyone is staying safe and healthy out there.
Ceann ciúin is Irish for 'quiet one'. I thought it a fitting name for Halt to use for Nellie and as far as I know, Hibernia is based off of Ireland. Either way, I love it so I'm using it. I do use Google Translate for all the languages in this story, so if I get something wrong, I sincerely apologize.
Hope you enjoyed this chapter. I've been waiting to get to this part since I started this story. Hopefully I'll be able to get the next chapter out soon. Please review! I love getting feedback!