Chapter Thirty Eight
'I'm getting married in a week.
Back when Halt and I were first engaged, the wedding seemed so far away. Now it is just around the corner. Where did the time go?
It's not that I don't want to marry him. I'm actually excited to be able to call him my husband, but what if I'm a bad wife? What if he ends up hating me? What do I do then? This was the last thing Mother and Father wanted for me before they died. I can't let them down.
Halt's parents are very supportive and offer help or advice all the time. If it wasn't for his mother, I'm sure the wedding planning would never have gotten finished on time.
I still hate the idea of a big wedding, but I was allowed to pick out my own dress. It's a simple gown, but easily the most beautiful one I own. I wonder if Halt will like it?'
'Halt and I went for a ride today. We were supposed to be at the wedding rehearsal, but there were tons of visitors in the village so Halt snuck us out to see them. Oh, it was absolutely amazing! People from all over the kingdom were there, coming to celebrate our wedding. It was like a giant festival! There was one man who was actually juggling swords! He made it seem so effortless too!
Halt bought us seats to a short play all about a man who lost his goat. I think the only time I saw Halt laugh harder than that was when I punched Ferris.
There were a few game stalls as well and we played a lot of them. I have discovered that I am horrible at anything that involves throwing, aiming, or balancing.
Halt was very good at one game, all about shooting to absolutely no one's surprise. He won easily, claiming a tiny stuffed dog as a prize. He gave it to me, blushing furiously the entire time. I love it and it sits on my bed now.
It was one of the best days of my life until we got home. No one was pleased that we skipped the rehearsal. I thought the yelling would never stop.'
'It's been one eventful day after another lately.
We had to redo the wedding rehearsal today and for once I actually arrived early, but was apparently still late to all the excitement.
When I arrived, Halt and Ferris were fighting! Actually fighting! They were rolling on the floor, punching and biting. Neither was holding anything back. It was kind of terrifying, especially since it took no less than five knights to pry them apart. Halt looked downright murderous.
We canceled the rehearsal again. (At this point I think that the queen has just given up on even having one.)
I had to ask Caitlyn what started the fight. She said, "They were fighting over you."
I was-am shocked! Me?! They were fighting over me?! Caitlyn rushed to keep explaining.
"It was about how you and Halt disappeared yesterday. Ferris was upset that you two weren't getting punished more for it. He was complaining about how soft everyone was being and about how Halt wasn't fit to rule, couldn't be trusted, if he couldn't even show up to his own rehearsal. Halt just kept brushing him off, telling him to move on, but he wouldn't. That's when Ferris started talking about you. How…How you were a gold digger who was just s-spreading her legs to become queen. How Halt had probably already…had you. That's when Halt started beating him. Oh Claire, I'm so sorry!"
It took a while for Caitlyn to calm down, she just kept apologizing. I had to reassure her multiple times that I didn't blame her or think anyone agreed with Ferris. I, however, was actually seeing red. Honestly, if Cailtyn hadn't needed me to calm her down, I probably would've tried to kill Ferris myself. How dare he?! That bastard actually thought he could get away with calling me some common whore?! He had better hope I never see him again or I don't know what I'll do.
Like he knew or could sense my hatred, he didn't show up to dinner. Halt's arm was bandaged up to his elbow, courtesy of Ferris's bite marks. Damn him.
The king and queen apologized profusely for their son's behavior. I just thanked Halt for defending me. He made a joke about if I had defended myself, we might be attending Ferris's funeral in the morning.
I love that man.'
"I'm so happy to finally meet you!" Yasmine practically squealed as she gripped Nel in a bone crushing hug, "Atanyan's told me practically nothing."
Nel smiled, ignoring the amused look on her husband's face, "I'm glad to meet you too."
Yasmine, the Emrikir's wife, was taller than her, her dark hair starting to gray with laugh lines etched permanently on her face.
"Tell me, how do you like Arrida so far?" she asked, pulling Nel to the table to sit right next to her. Yasmine stood even less on formality than Nel did apparently.
Nel heard someone chuckle, but chose to ignore them, "It's amazing. I've been working in the hospital and Selethen's been teaching me Arridan."
"Oh, that's right, you're a doctor, I can't believe I forgot!" Yasmine smiled guiltily, "Well then, you'll need to visit the university while you're here. Our doctors are constantly expanding the field. Most of our exports have to do with their medicines and supplies, especially during the war."
"I'll be sure to do that. Maajid told me a lot about the university here."
Yasmine began pouring them coffee,waving off the servant who stepped forward to do it for them. They smiled goodnaturedly, obviously used to the Emrikil's nature.
The others sat down with them, listening to Yasmine prattle on about anything that came to mind, asking question after question that Nel tried her very best to answer. She finally got a chance to ask one of her own when the food arrived.
"I was wondering, why didn't you come to Araluen at all?"
"Someone wanted me somewhere safe in case the treaty didn't go as planned," Yasmine sent a fond look towards her husband who just shrugged, not denying it, "but I also had to stay behind to keep things in order."
"In order?" Halt asked.
"Arrida is a diarchy." Selethen explained, "both the Emrikir and the Emrikil rule over the land as joint partners. They have an equal say in everything."
"So when Atanyan left to negotiate the treaty-"
"I stayed behind to take care of the country." Yasmine finished, "We decided it was best that way. I'm fairly decent with numbers, trades, and keeping the provinces in line, but not so great at war. Atanyan and I agreed long ago that the one best suited to the job would be the one to handle it."
"That's amazing." Nel said.
"It works for us." Atanyan said with a humble shrug, "The provinces have the option of ruling the same way, but most chose to have the Wakir handle everything. One province is a lot simpler than an entire kingdom."
Nel looked at her husband curiously, but he refused to meet her gaze. Why hadn't he ever mentioned that?
"Part of me wishes other countries were the same way." She heard her father say, drawing her back to the conversation, "It would make it a lot harder for any one person to gain too much power."
"But it also makes it harder to get things done in any reasonable amount of time. Just look at the Toscan Senate. They have to vote on whether they should have a vote on anything." the Emrikir countered.
"No system is perfect, but as long as it works well enough, that's what matters to me." Yasmine said.
"Sadly, it doesn't always work well," Halt said with a sigh, "I've seen a lot of corrupt rulers because they had too much power and it took far too long to get the Senate to agree to any sort of plan."
Selethen cleared his throat uncomfortably, still avoiding looking at Nel, "What plan did they agree to then? You said that you recaptured Gallica and Iberion?"
"Ah, yes. This is the update we were waiting on." Atanyan said, leaning forward eagerly.
"Well, right after we got your message about the Riders possibly going to Nihon-Ja, I kept trying to convince the Senate to do something. They felt that every plan had too great a risk and wouldn't agree to anything."
"Sounds like them."
"Exactly." Halt agreed grimly, "But I kept trying to come up with a plan they would agree with. That's why I was there. That's when I realized what Nellie and Selethen's message meant, not just for Nihon-Ja, but for the overtaken countries. With the Riders focused on Nihon-Ja, there were less soldiers in their recently taken countries and most of those were the captured soldiers they were forcing to fight for them. So, if we could get a few key locations in those countries, the Riders would have to retreat. The only way to properly retreat was through a specific mountain pass, which of course, we set up an ambush in."
"The Toscans agreed to that?!" Atanyan asked, shocked.
Halt smirked, "They did once I showed them the numbers. There are few things that any Toscan will put their faith in more than a war plan with overwhelming odds."
"There are few things anyone will put their faith in more than that." Yasmine rolled her eyes goodnaturedly.
"That's not even the best part." Halt told them, "The Riders never made it to the ambush."
"What?" Multiple voices said in confusion.
"As soon as word spread that those key locations were falling, that an army was there to fight off the Riders, the captured soldiers started fighting back! They revolted! They joined us and completely massacred the Temujai!"
"That's amazing!"
"We never even thought about them joining in!"
"What happened next?!"
Halt held back a smirk at the excited responses, waiting until they had calmed down before continuing, "After they joined in, the battle didn't take long. We got both countries back with far fewer casualties than we ever thought we would."
"What happens now?" Nel asked, "What are the Temujai going to do next?"
"Right now everyone is recovering, reuniting with their families." Halt explained, "We've already sent word to our other allies and offered both Gallica and Iberion temporary entry into the treaty alliance, according to the clause that Pauline suggested including; thank God for that woman's foresight. I'm sure at the end of the war there will be another treaty negotiation to bring them into it formally."
"We'll accept them gladly." Atanyan said with a warm smile.
"As for the Temujai…that's where we are less sure." Halt said.
"They won't be happy about losing two countries at once." Selethen said gravely.
"But are they going to act on hurt pride or continue on to Nihon-Ja?" Yasmine asked.
"We don't know, but hopefully they won't have a choice." Halt answered, "Toscana is worried about being a target for revenge after that attack, so over the winter their generals are going to be training many of the soldiers from Gallica and Iberion. That's also why they are insisting on still sending so many refugees out of the country, in case the Riders do attack. Now the plan is to march on Magyara and then Teutlandt in the spring. The Riders will either sacrifice the territory, give up on Nihon-Ja, or leave just enough soldiers in both places to hold a stalemate."
"You trust Gallica and Iberion's soldiers to do all that?" Selethen asked doubtfully. Nel couldn't disagree. Gallican soldiers were known for working only for themselves or the highest bidder. The last time King Henri was able to properly organize his army was before she was even born.
"With training and all the other soldiers to back them up, it should be fine. We have allies from every country that's in the alliance. Besides, if there is one thing they've proved, it's that they hate the Temujai. They'll do anything to protect their families from them." Halt stated with confidence, which put Nel at ease. Her father didn't put faith in other countries easily.
"Which just leaves the question of Nihon-Ja. If they chose to still attack there, Nihon-Ja doesn't stand a chance." Selethen pointed out.
"Will and Horace are due to arrive in about a month or so. If anyone can find the Hasanu, it's them." Halt said even more confidently than before. To him, Will accomplishing the impossible was just another day at the office, "But I am still curious as to why they would go after Nihon-Ja in the first place. It doesn't make any sense, not after they've traveled this far west. From their point of view, there are much easier targets. They don't know about the civil war happening there."
"We may never know," Atanyan sighed, "Maybe they thought it the weakest link of all our allies. We lose them and the alliance suffers a lot of damage."
Halt hummed in agreement, turning back to his half eaten dinner. Everyone else followed suit.
"Why didn't you tell me about the diarchy?" Nel asked quietly after getting ready for bed.
Selethen sighed, running a hand over his face, "Nellie, may we talk about this later? It's been a very long day and-"
"No." she stopped him, forcing her nerves away. She didn't want to try to navigate around her stuttering and it took far more effort than she liked to admit. It was a lot easier when she had something to focus on, like at the hospital, "Tell me, please. Why didn't you ever bring it up?"
He sighed again, but it sounded more exasperated than tired this time, "Did you honestly want to help run the province? Be stuck behind a desk all day looking at budgets and taxes instead of your research?"
Nel gulped nervously, clenching her fist to try to stop it from shaking, "I didn't ask that. I asked why you didn't tell me. Did you think I couldn't handle it?"
"No, of course not." he said instantly, "It had nothing to do with your capabilities."
"Then what was it?"
Selethen groaned, obviously not wanting to talk about it. He sat on the edge of their bed, silent. Gingerly, Nel sat next to him, bracing herself for the answer she knew would come, "Is it a trust issue? Do you not trust me?"
Selethen cursed, turning to her angrily, "Why do you always bring it back to that?! I said I trust you! Why can't you just believe me?!"
"Why can't you act like it?!" Nel burst out, "You ask me not to hide anything from you, but then you go and do something like this!"
"This is different! This wasn't important!" he yelled.
"Then why won't you tell me?!"
"Because I didn't want to! Ok?! I didn't want to!" he stood up quickly, glaring at her from his new height. Nel felt herself shrink a little; however unintentionally he may have tried to intimidate her, when he was angry his eyes widened and his nostrils flared, reminding her of a charging bull.
"I didn't want to because they are my people! It's my province! I can take care of it on my own! I don't need anyone's help or pity! I didn't tell you because it's my sanding job, not yours!"
"I-I-I-" she stammered out.
He groaned again, burying his face in his hands, "Oh no, please don't do that. I can't stand it when you do that."
Nel clamped her mouth shut, cheeks flushing with shame.
Selethen immediately bit his tongue, anger disappearing and being replaced with what looked like guilt, "No, wait, that came out wrong."
He knelt down in front of her, grabbing her hands, but Nel didn't look up to meet his gaze, "I didn't mean I can't stand you, I'm sorry. I meant I can't stand when I'm making you upset…which seems to be the only thing I can do easily. I'm sorry, really, truly, sorry."
She took a deep breath before responding, her voice cracking at the beginning, but otherwise giving no sign of her emotions, "You asked me not to hide anything from you, all I want is the same thing in return. If you wanted to run the province on your own, that's fine. All you had to do was tell me, I would've respected your decision."
"You…would've?" He seemed very confused.
"Yes! You're right, I don't want to do any of that. I would rather focus on my research and patients all day long, but I want to know that you trusted me enough to talk about it with me. I don't want you to feel like you need to hide anything from me. I'm your wife, I can't support you if you don't tell me anything."
"I promise, I'll tell you everything from now on." he said, sounding very relieved.
Nel smiled, turning her hands over so she could hold his too.
"I don't deserve you." he whispered before kissing her gently.
Nel just laughed, "Trust me, I don't deserve you."
"Agree to disagree."
"Done. How about I check your bandages now?"
"Deal and tomorrow we are going to do nothing but celebrate." he said as she reached for her supplies, "I think after all this, we've earned a vacation."
"I think so too."