Aelia threw a rock to the pond, making it bounce four times before it sank with a faint 'plop'. She picked up another rock, as she was about to throw it, her phone rang and she released the stone that fell into the water below. She sighed in annoyance and pulled the offending object from her pocket, and watching the id of the caller just tempted her to try out if she could make her phone bounce in the water's surface like a rock. But wisely decided against it in the end.
"Yes?" She answered summoning her inner Ravus and giving the sourest tone she could muster.
"Where are you?" The restrain was clear as water in Cor's voice.
"Out." Why did he care anyways? Ok, stupid question, he was part of the Crownsguard and she was the damned Princess. That's the only reason he cares, her mind supplied petulantly.
"Out where?" He was starting to get very short tempered it seemed. No, he already was. Aelia knew she was playing with fire here and might regret it later, but right now being quite far away from him gave her the courage to be uncooperative.
"You know, by a pond and under some trees." She said slowly.
There was a moment of silence and she thought she had finally made Cor sick enough of her to make him hang up. But the slow breath of air confirmed he was still there.
"I swear by the Astrals if you don't tell me where you are-,"
Aelia knew she couldn't keep playing or he would display the full of the Crownsguard to locate her and drag her back to Insomnia. Not that it would take long as the GPS on her phone was on and they could easily pinpoint her.
"I'm in Taurus ruins." She snapped. "I'll be heading back in a couple of hours." And she hung up. She had told her dad where she was anyways, so it wasn't a big deal. In fact, there probably were some Glaives or Crownsguards already somewhere nearby.
Aelia looked up into the sky and breathed out, starting to feel guilty already. Why did they always end up fighting lately? They got along just fine until she- until she ruined everything by confessing her feelings. Yes, all their major fights started after Altissia- though to be fair that big fall out had been more from the Glauca and Glaives thing than anything else. She remembered the walk back after the daemon dog attack still being a little stiff between them, because even if Cor had taken to train with her from time to time, they really didn't speak beyond that like they used to before and had spent most of the two days walk in silence.
They stopped again, Aelia was sure Cor could keep going and at an even faster pace, but he was stuck with her. They had seen the unnatural lightings and wind tornados at dawn some miles south, so Drautos and the Glaives had found the daemon.
"No news from Drautos?" Aelia asked while sitting against a tree.
"No."
Cell phone signal here was non-existent, so they relayed in radios for now. So either they were too far to receive signal or there wasn't news to share.
"I hope they're fine." Aelia muttered pulling some grass from and tossing it.
Cor's roving gaze of their surrounding focused in her.
"They know what they're doing."
Aelia sighed, "I know… Its good Lysa didn't come with me this time. She'd be going mad with worry if she knew what her husband's hunting down."
Cor didn't answer, not that she was expecting him to. Besides, Aelia regretted asking him the night before what she did. When she became drowsy some of her inhibitions flew with the wind, and the last thing she had wanted was to make Cor feel uncomfortable or make things awkward.
"I can keep going, we don't need to stop so often." Aelia said curling her legs towards her chest, hugging them and resting her chin on top of her knees.
"I know," "but if that thing comes our way I need you to be as rested as possible to be able to run as far as you can."
"That makes sense."
"How did you fell into the river anyways?" Cor asked after a moment.
Aelia bite her lips, she really didn't want to tell him and had been very grateful that he hadn't thought to ask it before, but her luck seemed to have run out. "Well- I might have made angry the thing, then I have to jump off of my chocobo to avoid going down with it… and well, there was the cliff… and the river." Aelia slowed her tale with each passing moment, because with every word the Marshal's frown grew more severe.
"You provoked the thing, didn't you?" He asked already knowing the answer.
"It was going to eat Luna." Aelia defended quickly "And I just shot it in one eye. How was I to know I would actually hit it and it would turn to me?"
Cor pinched the bridge of his nose and took a deep breath.
"What was I supposed to do? Let it eat Luna and Ravus?" Because of course Ravus had been besides his sister trying to protect her.
"Yes. No. Nyx was around, he would have taken them out of harm's way." Cor said.
"What if he didn't make it time?"
Cor shrugged and Aelia was just sure he was just tired of her getting into trouble, rather than not caring if Ravus or Lunafreya died. She glanced into the floor, she knew she was making his work harder and that her father would be upset again at her recklessness. But Aelia didn't know what else to do but to bargain her life in exchange of others, she didn't have the strength of the Caelum line nor any prowess like Cor or the Glaives. She was just good at talking and when a rabid infernal monsters came barrelling at you, words were useless, she was useless.
A warm hand over her head startled her out of her thoughts. Aelia looked up into Cor's eyes, he didn't say anything but understanding shone in his gaze.
"Let's go." He said after and helped her to her feet.
Aelia sighed. Why did he have to be so, so nice and understanding and reliable? He was such a good man, he deserved happiness and a place to go back to a family, not just work and work. She wished so much to give that to him, but maybe she was wrong and that wasn't at all what he needed nor wanted. Well, he clearly didn't want it with her at least. And yet… at moments it seemed like it could be a possibility. Aelia knew she could coax him to smile more, talk more, go on little leisure strolls and relax whenever they were together.
Ifrit, she was so damned confused. Aelia rubbed her face and her hand traced her scarred cheek- it wasn't like she wanted to force him, but giving up also seemed somehow wrong. Was she being selfish? Or was Cor just being too damn stubborn? Maybe she shouldn't have pressed it last night like that, maybe she should just give it time, one of them had to cave in eventually-, right?
Aelia was starting to believe he couldn't even tolerate being around her at times… But no, that was unfair as well, he had been nothing but patient and kind in her worst moments. Well, almost all her worst moments, there was the time in Gralea were they had kicked up another of their cold wars. And maybe, just maybe it had again being mostly her fault, but the mischievous Empress hadn't helped either.
Arriving at Gralea in the worst of winter wasn't Aelia's idea of an ideal visit, but as with most politics, you mostly had to go resolve the problem as soon as possible or it would get more complicated in the long run. And finally, her dad had lifted her ban to go out of Lucis in official matters just in time to accept the summons of the New Empress.
Their shuttle landed amid many others that adorned what seemed to be the private airport of the Empress inside her palace. Aelia tried to leave aside the uncomfortable feeling that this woman would be a pain to deal with, even more so than the normal old politicians she was used to. She glanced sideways at Cor, he had his usual taciturn look, if he was bored or bothered he didn't let it show.
"Are you tired, Princess?" Lysa asked. Her handmaid was a little worried as Aelia had been sick a week ago, it had just been a normal cold, but Lysa was a worrywart. And it had just gotten worse after hers and Drautos third child was born, the mother henness had just increased tenth fold.
"No." Aelia smiled "Just a little weary, there are several things to discuss and no easy resolutions. Besides- it's been a long time since I'm at the head of Lucis for one of this…"
"You'll do fine, m'lady. You have knack for this things!" Lysa chirped with her usual optimism. It was a nice contrast to have against the coldness and more cynical views Cor had.
"At least someone has faith in me." Aelia muttered, but Cor was sitting just besides her so he heard her all right and shot her an unimpressed look. She cleared her throat and asked, "Do you think things might drag longer than a week?"
"No. The Empress doesn't like dragging things more than necessary. We might end up being here less than that." Cor seemed to be not too eager to be in Gralea, which begged the question of why on Eos had he come along instead of Drautos or Nyx. Even regular Crownsguards would do, what could happen in the middle of the safest place in Gralea with the Empress and her army assuring her protection?
Thinking of said woman, Aelia wasn't sure what to expect of her, it would be the first time meeting her… Aranea Highwind the Empress who dethroned the tyranny of Aldercapt by force. Lucis and Tenebrae had helped her with some forces, a move to establish peace between the three countries and it had worked of course. Hence why she was here representing Lucis as some troubles seemed to be arising, besides the Verstael problem that they hadn't managed to solve as of yet. All nations were eager to put an end to the mad scientist free run, releasing horrors from the past that should have no place in this times.
As the ramp of their shuttle was lowering, Aelia threw another quick glance at Cor. He had been here, helping in the thick of the fight at the dethroning of Aldercapt, so he already knew Aranea. She wondered what he thought of her as she had heard the Empress to be a beautiful, smart woman who was also a terror in the battlefield.
She wasn't jealous.
Not at all.
The ramp was down, and there, standing with a commission of guards at either side was the Empress of Niflheim herself. Her white dress left nothing to the imagination and her bosom was quite revealed for such a cold weather Aelia thought sourly, but maybe that white cape was insulating enough for the cold. Either way, Aelia's face was as coldly polite as it always was when meeting someone for the first time.
"Princess Aelia." The Empress greeted with almost a purr. "Didn't expect one of the royals to make such a long trip."
Aelia smiled politely, not letting her annoyance show at being treated with so little dissimulated condescension. "Of course Empress, such important matters could not be treated with less attention."
Aranea didn't seemed impressed by her words in the least, her green eyes scanned her up and down-, measuring her and then smiled mockingly when whatever she was searching for didn't meet her expectations. Aelia had never being one to be made feel insignificant with one look, but this woman managed it easily. Then her mocking gaze moved behind Aelia to Cor. The Empress almost pushed her out of the way to get to the man, "Well, but if it isn't Cor Leonis. Such a long time without seeing you Marshal." She purred the last part.
Aelia's eyes almost twitched in annoyance but she managed to control herself, she turned to watch them interact and almost hissed when Aranea stepped just too close for propriety to her Marshal.
"How do you do, Highness?" Cor said politely. Not seemingly affected at all at her closeness.
"Such formality, Marshal, it's not needed between us." The Empress said with a very suggestive tone, which made Aelia narrow her eyes slightly. Could it be-? No, they couldn't have…
She stopped her thoughts, and reminded herself this was an important matter that had nothing to do with her feelings towards the Marshal or who he had or hadn't spent his nights with. Aelia moved forward leaving the two to flirt or whatever, and cast a glance towards the different airships in the place as they had nothing alike in Lucis. A loud laughter made her grit her teeth and walk farther away.
A cough behind her made her turn, and for a moment she thought of her brother's friend back in Insomnia, but this man was taller, had a broader build and his hair had the slightest tint of copper. This was one of the rescued clones, just as Prompto, though she had read from the report that they had been taken midway the process that was used to turn them into MTs. They wouldn't have had the chance to live a normal childhood, because they didn't have one, even if he looked older than her Aelia knew he could be at most as old as her.
"Princess Aelia, sorry for the-, uhm, not so polite actions of the Empress. Sweet talk isn't one of her strong points." His voice was even different from Prompto's merry chime, it was deeper and he spoke marking his words in a way that denoted discipline.
"No offense taken." She smiled genuinely. Aelia couldn't help herself to have an immediate partiality to an adult version of Prompto.
"If you would like to follow me to a more comfortable place to wait for her Highness." He extended a hand to one side and smiled politely.
"Yes, I'm starting to freeze out here." She confessed, a little more at ease with a seemingly familiar face.
He smiled amused, and Aelia could see Prompto would grow out of his cute later teenage years to a handsome man. "Over here then." He started walking towards the open doors that inside the old building Empress Aranea had turned into the Imperial Keep, the old flaying monstrosity that hovered before over Gralea had long being taken down along with Aldercapt.
"Is this where the Ruler of Niflheim used to reside before Aldercapt moved to a floating piece of metal?" Aelia asked as they walked through the doors. Looking around it was a magnificent structure, the architecture like nothing she had seen before.
"Yes, that's right. This is Engilram Keep, it was never really abandoned but it became more of a 'leisure house' so to say. But is suited the Empress just fine."
"I see…" Aelia stopped briefly to look at a painting hanging in the corridor they were at. "So, do you have a name?" She asked and turned to the man waiting in silence beside her.
"I'm sorry," He bowed his head quickly and smiled apologetically "I forgot to introduce myself. Rufus Highwind, administrator of the Imperial Keep, at your service Princess." He said and took her hand to kiss it.
It wasn't Aelia's first time to receive that kind of greeting, but it still made her smile and blush a little at the old-fashioned chivalry. She heard voices behind them and guessed Aranea and Cor weren't far behind. "Highwind? Did Empress Aranea adopted you?" She asked in curiosity once they started walking again.
"Ah. Yes, something of the like… She saved me and some of my brothers, though not all survived long after being taken away from the tanks - She still gave a name to every single one of us, it was more than we ever had." Rufus seemed to have gotten a little lost in not so pleasant memories.
"I'm glad she found you and gave you a place to be able to live in." Aelia said in earnest, even if so far for personal reasons she wasn't inclined to like the woman, she would give credit where credit was due.
Rufus turned to her and smiled gently. "Certainly, she has been very good to us."
Then they arrived to a door that seemed to be their destination, Aelia was ushered into a room with a warm fire in a corner and soft cushioned furniture which one was occupied by a sour face she hadn't expected to meet at all.
"Ravus?" Aelia asked.
"Aelia." He said standing up to greet her formally, releasing the cup of tea he had been drinking.
"I thought you were going to send-," She started questioning and walking to take the seat beside him.
"Yes," Ravus interrupted her, clearly irritated at having to be here "I thought so too, but it seems the spider had other plans." He said in displeasure and took his previous seat. Aelia glanced briefly towards the attendant of the Empress, he didn't seem bothered by the King's not so polite nickname of his liege. In fact he just smiled, hiding some amusement.
"Well, I'm glad you're here." Aelia grinned, as they rarely could see each other now that he was king.
Ravus' scowl softened the tiniest of bits. "At least it wasn't that insufferable old man the one to come, or someone would die before this summit was over." He scoffed, referring to one of her father's council member who had taken her place in negotiations and other external affairs while she was in house arrest.
Aelia laughed stiffly at the pointed look Ravus shot her, clearly accusing her of having to suffer that dawdling old man even she couldn't stand. "But I'm here now. So nobody needs to die…" Then she heard footsteps getting near and added quietly, "or maybe someone will."
The King raised an eyebrow, but the door slammed open at that moment and the Empress and Cor walked inside.
Aelia had been so vexed at the other woman for hanging from Cor's arm or touching his shoulders or anything in general she did around him, but most than anything that Cor didn't seem to mind. Or perhaps she was just jealous at the fact that she would never do anything so daring. The events that followed didn't help to endear Niflheim's new ruler to her either…
After some tedious talking and the subject of Verstael leaving Niflheim to who knows where and the heavy matter of helping the clones they had managed to rescue from the last experiment facilities of Verstael, dinner had been a welcome respite. Aelia was sitting beside Ravus and Valeriana –Ravus advisor and guard, who was even grimmer than Ravus if that was possible-, while on the other side were Aranea, Cor and Rufus.
Aelia was sure that her eyebrow was starting to twitch at the wandering hands of the Niflheim's Empress over her Marshal. But of course she couldn't stand up and scream at her to stop touching him, as much as she wanted to. It irked her even more that Cor didn't seem to be bothered by it.
"A little more and you will make her burst into flames." Ravus said, taking another bite from his plate.
"You think so?" She tried to picture her in flames but nothing happened, Aelia sighed and leaned back into her chair. "If only…"
Ravus shot her a look, but kept eating. The Tenebraen King and his advisor started talking about the search of the mad scientist they would conduct in Tenebrae and she was pulled into it. The most secluded places would be high priority, but she added that maybe he would be in a closer place for energy and supplies.
"Well, overall I don't think you have to worry too much. I have the feeling he is in Lucis." Aelia said, drinking from her glass of water. The last thing she needed was to get tipsy and start saying stupid things.
Ravus shot her an unimpressed look. "I'm not going to trust your 'instinct' in this, the search will be done as thoroughly as it should be."
"Ah, Astrals~ Ravus, I wasn't telling you not to search, I'm just saying that most likely, hell's gonna break loose in Lucis if we don't find him in time." Aelia would have rolled her eyes, but that wasn't polite.
"In that we agree, the man seems to have an odd interest in the magic the Caelum line possesses."
Aelia sighed. "You know, I thought I would never have to deal with something possibly hazardous for the entirety of Lucis-,"
"I've heard you are an outstanding sword master, Princess Aelia." The Empress's voice interrupted her from the other side of the table.
Aelia exchanged a quick look with Ravus and he gave her that look, the one that said that nothing good would come out of this.
"Well, outstanding is quite an exaggeration, I would say Highness." Aelia answered politely, because aside from being the political right thing to say, it was the truth after all. Even if for the last six months of her inaction at Lucis, Cor had taken onto his long ago made promise to train her, she still was far from being proficient at the subject.
"But your family has always been renowned for their fighting." She insisted and Aelia didn't like one bit where she seemed to want to go.
"Well, my father and my brother are something to be reckoned with." At the mention of her brother's capacities Ravus snorted softly enough for only the two persons by his side to listen. Aelia pinched his arm under the table. Noctis might be young but she had seen how he had been progressing lately.
"But you are not?" The blonde raised one fine eyebrow.
"I've dedicated myself more to the arts of politics I'm afraid. I've been but at a few combats in my life." And most of them she wasn't alone and used her rifle. Aelia smiled, and was sure that to date, it was the most fake one she had accomplished.
Aranea smiled and glanced sideways at Cor, who was too busy shooting Aelia a warning look. The Empress smile grew like a coeurl that got itself a fat chocobo.
"How about we have a friendly spar? I would love to see the capacity of the next generation~." Aranea smiled sweetly and rested her chin on her intertwined hands.
Ugh.
She hid her mouth for a second pretending to take a drink from her cup and asked Ravus hushed. "Is there a way to refuse?"
Ravus put his napkin to his mouth, pretending to clean the corners of his mouth and answered her likewise. "No, unless you want her to never take you seriously ever again."
She lowered her glass and smiled brightly. "Of course Empress, it would be my honour."
She glimpsed at Cor, who was starting to look exasperated, but it seemed to be directed at her, not at the pestering of the Niflheim's ruler. Aelia tried to not take it as him siding with the insufferable woman, but failed miserably and shot him a cold smile.
She really hadn't felt honoured at all, knowing full well the intention of the older woman was none other than to put her in her place or simply mess around with her. Aelia had noted the distaste directed at herself from time to time when discussing the various matters at hand, especially over the fact that she had been the one to push for Disera to become independent again. Aelia was sure that had been problematic for the instability in the Empire at the time. Afterwards she had asked Ravus about it, and he had confirmed it.
"Yes, Disera's independence was a low blow for the tumbling Empire. And as it was mainly thanks to your insistence that it became possible… You've been a causing of great headaches for Aranea. Besides disliking everyone who uses 'just words to weasel themselves in and out', in other words politicians." He had said simply while drinking from his cup of tea. "And I'm afraid you have one of Eos' best records of doing anything but talk all day."
And that was exactly what she did, what she was; a politician. And a good one at that.
'A good liar'
Cor's words resounded in her head. Aelia threw furiously a rock into the water, it didn't bounce, just splashed soundly in the quietness of the ruins. Cor and Aranea were very much alike. They both held in contempt the persons who talked to no end while others suffered or died, and though Aelia understood their frustration at such practices, it was still necessary and many times better to find a peaceful solution to problems. Her battlefield was the ones of words and wits, winning without throwing a single punch was what she enjoyed the most.
But likewise, men and women who risked their lives to solve what words couldn't might look with contempt at her. So part of her had started to return the feeling at times. People who are all too eager to draw their weapons to solve any problems, and have no regard for a more slow and safe way… But Aelia acknowledged as well, that sometimes it couldn't be helped, there were times when you had to fight, and the impossibility of solving things with just words was more common than what she would like.
So her impression of the Empress had not been the highest, and as her, Aelia had held her in contempt as someone who could not understand something outside the area of warfare. And Cor knew her well enough to notice her increasing dislike for the woman.
Aelia had already bathed and changed to her sleepwear after the excruciating dinner with the Empress, and was now studying a map of Lucis and Niflheim, and the ocean that rested between the two continents.
There was a knock on her door, Lysa walked to the door to inquire and Aelia didn't pay too much mind.
"It's the Marshal, Princess." She said apologetically, as if she already knew they would fight.
"Let him in." Aelia waved to her, not really wanting to see him right now; in fact, she had been avoiding him since she noted the special attention he received from the blond beauty. Compared to her, she could easily fade into the background, Aelia was good looking, she knew that. But Aranea Highwind was in another lever, she was a warrior goddess incarnated, with experiences in a harsh environment that had toughened and matured her in ways Aelia probably never would. Of course Cor would choose her over herself.
Aelia forced her mind to focus on the map and the marks she had thought would be a possible place for the mad scientist to be in after Aranea had described the last places he had been holing himself up in.
"Princess." The voice of the Marshal that usually made her stomach flutter, now was left in the back of her mind with great effort. She frowned at the thought of having a dangerous man on the loose in her kingdom and being distracted by stupid personal matters.
"Hmm." Aelia didn't answer him and scratched the back of her head. What could Verstael be after? The magic? Of course. But what form of it? Perhaps some animals to experiment on? Ruins?
"I don't think the map is going to tell you where Verstael is, no matter how much you glare at it." Cor commented amused.
Aelia threw him an annoyed look. "What do you want?" She growled a little more forcefully than what she had intended.
He raised an eyebrow at her biting tone. "Are you really going to fight Aranea tomorrow?"
Aelia gritted her teeth, he even called her by her first name, something he rarely did with her. And if he did, it usually was to rebuke her or call her stupid.
"Yes." She said, turning back to her maps. "Not like I have a choice anyways." She muttered and scribbled something about rare species of Lucis and which might have some magic in them.
"You could have refused." He countered rather plainly, and she knew he was crossing his arms over his chest, like he always did when being condescending with her.
"Then she would just disregard me more than she does already." More rushed words were scribbled down in her notebook and she added "That's no good for relations between the Empire and Lucis."
"Right." He said, but she still heard the tone of 'you're just being a silly child'.
This annoyed her more. "I know there's no way I'm going to be able to win against her, but well…" Aelia shrugged. "The Empress seems adamant in wanting to, ah, put me in my place."
"Aranea isn't like that, you-,"
He was even defending her.
"Don't know her?" She huffed. "I know her kind, all too eager to establish their superiority by brute force as that is the only thing they understand."
It probably had been the wrong thing to say, they were again repeating the same argument they had back when he found out about the Glauca thing, but she had been containing her petty jealousy for too long and wasn't able to bite her tongue.
"At least she knows when to take action rather than staying talking for hours deciding who gets to live or die." Cor retorted coldly.
Aelia swallowed, the feeling of a knife in your gut twisting is what she experienced at the moment. Knowing he would defend Aranea and would never even be close to being bothered if someone would talk ill about her in front of him. But she was a Princess wasn't she? A cunning politician- and that meant she was a good liar. So she turned and gave him a cold smile. "You mean like me?"
The coldness was in his gaze as well, "Maybe it would do you good to get a set down."
Aelia ignored the painful twist in her heart and laughed dryly. "Surely it will." She turned back to her map. "Now, if that was all you wished to talk about I have more important things to do."
He said nothing else and took his leave. When the door closed Aelia banged on the table hard enough to regret it immediately and waving her hand in pain. Lysa jumped and looked at her about to say something but thought better of it and not long after, left a glass of warm milk besides her.
Why did everyone treat her as a child today?
She thought furiously, but nonetheless drank the whole glass of milk… it was good and it helped her fall asleep.
Aelia had to admit jealousy had gotten the better of her and to say she felt embarrassed about it now was an understatement- But well, it had happened and she had to make peace with it. And things had just gone worse for her at the next day just as Cor had probably seen coming.
If there was something Aelia was grateful for was her capacity to sleep very easily, never one to lose sleep by the problems of a broken heart. So next morning she had woken up in a better mood, but it was suddenly dampened at the realization she had to fight the woman that was currently the root of all her immediate problems.
She had breakfast with Ravus and Valeriana, Cor was nowhere to be seen, but that was for the better, she didn't wish to get overly upset again… nor for him to be here when she got her ass kicked.
Finally the time for the "friendly spar" arrived and she had never been as less excited as she was at the moment of pulling on her black gloves by the side of the arena. Ravus was there for 'moral support', but she knew he just wanted to see how grossly she would lose.
"Have you fought her before?" She asked, casting a glance towards the other woman who was donning quite the revealing clothes again.
"Yes." Her friend answered shortly.
Aelia raised her eyebrows. "And…?"
He sighed, as if helping her pained him. Such a nice friend he was. "Don't think she leaves many openings just because her weapon is long, you will pay dearly for it."
"I see." She said unenthusiastically.
The Empress walked forward, and that was her queue to know it was about to start. She walked to the middle of the ring mirroring her opponent.
"Your weapon?" She asked, resting her polearm on her shoulder.
Aelia raised her hand in front of her chest and summoned her sabre, appearing parallel to her face she swished it to one side and bowed. Rules Weskham had taught her about duelling long ago, always bow to your opponent at the start and ending- that if you were the one standing of course-.
"Oh, so pretty." Aranea cooed. Aelia ignored her mockery.
"When you're ready." Aelia said, wanting this to be over already.
Aranea gave her a razor sharp smile and lunged without further ado. Aelia was quick enough to not be overly surprised about it and didn't lose any footing.
The Empress was strong, more so than what she appeared, her strikes left her arm vibrating every time she stopped them with her sabre, and would soon go numb. Aelia was faster at the start, letting her dodge most of the cuts and hits without needing to clash their weapons.
But how she was fighting started to annoy her opponent, it was more focused on dodging and trying to find an opening rather than go straight head-on against the other fighter.
"If you keep dancing so prettily, I will have to break one of those legs! Now fight!" And Aelia was terrified at Aranea suddenly gaining even more speed in her movements.
She jumped in a flip backward leaving some distance between them, trying to gain some time to think of a way to get past her odious lance. The only thing that came up was moving even faster, which she could, but would tire her sooner and then left her more open for an attack.
It wasn't like she had any other option, after all, she could already tell the older woman had more resilience than her, if she dragged the fight she would end up losing either way.
"Finally, some fun!" The annoying woman laughed when she started trying to get past her defences. As Aelia had foreseen, she started to tire and slowing down not long after. In a last ditch effort Aelia put on a last burst of speed. She felt the rush of realizing she might finally be able to score a slash and distract her enough to disarm her but as close as she had been, Aranea was far too experienced to allow something like that to happen. She did manage to graze her clothes on one side but the Empress used her closeness to hit her right arm hard enough for her sword to fly off her grasp.
If Aelia wasn't quick to react she would have one hand less now, for Aranea wasn't stopping even if she already had already disarmed her.
"I… don't...have…a... weapon…!" She managed to say between dodges.
"Oh, but you still have your magic! You didn't even use it before! Let's see if I can pull some tricks out of you." Aranea said.
Aelia's heart froze. What was she talking about? Aelia could hardly use magic without throwing up or fainting! But of course she wouldn't know it, it wasn't common knowledge. Cor's warning looks and words flew briefly in the back of her mind, before being thrown out by the fear she might actually get killed.
"Wait-!" She tried to say, but as she dodged one of the polearm swings, she was kicked in the gut and was sent flying back and landing on her back. She couldn't take in a breath, let alone get back up and Aranea wasn't stopping!
The edge of the polearm was coming down towards her stomach, she had to warp or become a kebab. Luckily her sword wasn't far away and the magic she could muster was enough to put her out of harm's way. But she immediately felt the side effects of using magic, her body was burning and everything was spinning. She was so out of it that she didn't realize the other was coming for her again, nor heard the voices screaming around her.
A clattering clash of steel brought her sight back to focus. Standing over her and stopping the lethal edge directed at her was Cor. The ringing in her ears didn't let her hear what any of the two said, then hands were pulling her away and in a sitting position.
Her world stopped moving enough for her to gain some resemblance of balance and the ringing diminished to just an annoying background.
"... bleeding." She heard Ravus say. Aelia noticed he was the one helping her as Cor still was standing facing Aranea.
"Uh...what?" She mumbled, feeling as if her mouth was filled with cotton.
"Your nose is bleeding." Aelia heard more clearly now.
"Oh." She moved her hand to her nose and indeed there was wetness there. "That's new." She said still dazed, looking fixedly at the shining liquid at the tip of her black gloves.
Then a handkerchief was held against her nose by Rufus, who had now got closer to help as well.
"Can you stand?" Ravus asked.
"Yeah. Yes. Just give me a second." Her head was still a little too fuzzy, thinking clearly was somewhat difficult. Aelia thanked the Empress attendant and took the handkerchief herself, with some help from them she stood up.
Considering all, she didn't feel so bad, the dizziness had stopped so she wouldn't lose balance nor have trouble walking on her own. The only thing prevailing was the extreme heaviness of her body and an incoming headache.
"I'll take her to her room." Cor's voice made her focus on her surroundings again, he was standing beside her now. When did that happen?
"I'm fine, I can go on my-" Three unimpressed looks made her shut up and begrudgingly accept her babysitter's help. Because that's what Cor was, the person assigned by her father to make sure she didn't get killed, just as it had almost happened a few minutes -seconds? - ago.
Even if she felt dead tired, Aelia still walked with her back straight and head up, her strides at a normal pace so it wouldn't denote her real exhaustion for the tiniest use of magic. She held her pose until they were out of sight of the others, just as they turned the corner she sighed and slumped her shoulders.
Cor threw her a glance.
"What?" She asked, conscious of his eyes on her. Aelia moved the reddened handkerchief from her nose and looked at it absently. At least the bleeding nose had stopped.
"I told you it was a bad idea." He finally said.
"No, you didn't." Because he hadn't actually said those specific words.
"Don't play the fool."
Oh well, he was angry. Aelia checked her own rising temper, why was he the one angry at her? The Niflheim's Empress had been the one to keep attacking her when she was already unarmed.
"Fine, fine. My bad." She gritted and breathed out. She was too tired to even try to hold her arguments that it hadn't been her fault.
Silence fell between them, and it was a good thing because she was very tired and couldn't bring herself to care about the tension that lay in it. Aelia's eyes were starting to close, she shook her head trying to hold it until she could crumple completely on the safety of her room, but regretted it immediately as the headache pulsed strongly at the violent movement. She staggered and grunted in annoyance.
Stupid magic, stupid crazy women who wanted to spill her guts, stupid Marshal who had the sensibility of a rock, stu-
"There's still some way to go. Can you make it?" Cor's dry voice interrupted her angry mental rant.
"Yes." She snapped. Like hell she would admit needing help to him right now. Even if she had the feeling that she would have to sit down and close her eyes before she made it to the safety of her room.
And by the way Cor looked at her, he was thinking along the same lines. So it was a waiting game; either until she admitted she needed help or she crumpled to the floor. The second seemed to be the more likely of the two, and when they met a flight of stairs she was ready to sit on the floor and start to cry, but she held her ground.
Cor sighed and before she understood what was happening he had already picked her up and put her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.
"Hey! You-! Put me down right now!" She protested. Sadly for Aelia, having her head upside down with a headache made her unable to muster enough strength to kick or fight at all the iron grip he had on her.
At least he could have lifted me bride style.
She thought bitterly.
They made it to her room, and Lysa received them with concerned exclamations.
"She's fine, she just had to use magic." Cor told her maid as he threw her indelicately in her bed.
Aelia was very affronted by his nonchalance towards her wellness, as he described to her maid her 'childishness' and 'recklessness' were to blame for her current situation. So she did the most mature thing, she took off her boots and jacket, and buried herself under the covers giving him her back.
"Fuck off, I want to sleep." She said loud enough for them to listen.
"Princess!" Lysa exclaimed scandalized at the foul language she rarely used.
"Make sure she drinks water." Was all Cor said before leaving the room.
Lysa went away to go for water, and Aelia finally sniffed and let the tears of frustration, pain and humiliation fall. She fell asleep not long after.
Well, she reflected now, that she had been very childish in that situation, but Cor wasn't the nicest either. The couple of days that followed had been no better, Cor hadn't said much more to her about it, in fact they hadn't talked beyond her answering monosyllabically to his questions. It had furthered her wounded pride that the Marshal had seen at most amused at her fury, but at least Aranea had stopped being so touchy feel with Cor. If only then she had known the Empress had been deliberately doing it to get a kick out of her reactions and annoy Cor as well… Aelia's eye twitched, she still wasn't over it. More so because she should have noticed she was being toyed with, instead of turning green, blue and every other colour possible.
Something she did have noticed was that Cor had stayed close for the remaining days, closer than usual at least. Which Aelia wasn't sure why he did-, perhaps he thought she would do something stupid out of spite? Or that Aranea would goad her into doing something reckless? Aelia didn't like to admit that at least the second was a possibility, but everything turned out just fine until…
The day to finally leave Niflheim couldn't have come sooner. They were again at the shipyard, the ship that would take her back to Lucis was ready and thus time for heartfelt goodbyes and polite farewells was taking place.
"Princess, I hope you can be convinced to come by again." Empress Aranea said in good humour.
If Aelia's self-restraint was less, her eye would have twitched. "You have but to call, and you may be sure I'll be here." And though she didn't wish any of the sort it still was the truth, after all she was the principal diplomat for Lucis.
"So well spoken, and not too bad at swords for someone who spends so much your time talking." She grinned and winked. Then her expression turned earnest and put a hand on her shoulder. "Next time, I hope you have gained more experience."
Aelia was a little taken aback by the honesty of those words. "I can do nothing but hope I do, or I'll be eating dust again Highness."
The Empress laughed. "Just call me Aranea. I grew tired of that Highness thing."
"I'll do that, but it would be just right for you to call me by my name in return."
Aranea raised an eyebrow. "But you would rather have me still call you by your title wouldn't you?"
Was she losing her touch?
"Am I that obvious?" Aelia smiled with strain.
"No. But I have experience… Princess." Aranea said in good humour. "Well then, I'll leave you to say your goodbyes to the lovely king over there." She mocked poor Ravus, who by proximity had to interact more often with the woman. "Safe travels, girl." She gave her farewells and then leaned suddenly into her ear and whispered. "Keep pushing, you almost have him." Then moved back and winked.
"Wha-?" She felt the colour rising to her face.
"Princess, it's almost time." Lysa said from behind.
"Yes. Right." She turned to Lysa and calmed down then looked back to Aranea she was already gone and talking to Cor.
Aelia was sure she was just messing with her again, huffing she spun to where Ravus was talking with his advisor near the ship that would take them back to Tenebrae. Aelia tensed suddenly and the hairs in the back of her head raised, then a bellowing noise erupted with flames in the back of the ship. Aelia knew the front where Ravus was nearer would explode as well, time seemed to freeze; Ravus was on the floor, the first explosion had knocked him off with the shockwave and she knew he wouldn't get far away in time.
Before she realized it, she had summoned her dagger to her hand and it was flying in the air towards the fallen king. As soon as it made contact with the floor beside him, her world shifted and parted. Ignoring the pain, she mustered all the little magic that was in her body and created a shield around them. Not a fragment of a second after, a crushing force threw her against the floor and all her senses went out for an instant.
Then a lungful of air brought everything back with the brutal force of a hammer. Her ears were ringing, her vision red and black by the engulfing flames around them, and every single cell screaming in agonizing pain that she couldn't distinguish if there was any grave wound on her body.
Ravus!
She could barely move from the pain, but she gritted her teeth and forced her body to move. There her friend was, unconscious but the constant rise and fall of his chest told her he was alive. She relaxed slightly, then her eyes moved down and she froze. The place where his arm should be was a mangled mess of blood and torn flesh.
Damn it!
She didn't know if she screamed it or it had just been on her head. Nevertheless, she crawled to him with shaky limbs and thought of summoning a potion, but a voice on the back of her head told her she might actually die if she did use it.
She was suddenly pulled back and two people took her place near the fallen king. She took a shaky breath, they could help him far better than she could right now, her mind whispered absently, and her eyesight was starting to turn black.
She heard her name being called from far away, and a second before falling into the arms of unconsciousness she noted strong arms wrapped around her and a solid chest against her back. Her neck turned slightly to have her eyes locked with Cor's. And she had seen them filled with anger, amusement, annoyance, boredom and kindness, but never had before with such a pure raw fear.
She remembered mumbling a, "I'll be fine" or at least thought she did, it was hard to tell in that state.
The growl of her stomach told her it was time for her to go back. She took a deep breath and traced her hand lightly over the scar in her left cheek that sneaked down to her neck and shoulder. She wondered if Cor was disgusted by it. Then shook her head; he always seemed to move his gaze away every time he locked eyes with it, but the downcast eyes and tightening of jaw told her it was guilt not disgust.
Waking up had never been harder, her body was heavy and aches all over, still she fought to open up her eyes, which felt like heavy leads. She could make the sound of birds chirping nearby and the fragrance of fresh flowers that came in with the breeze, most likely from an open window. She tried to remember where she was and what had tired her, but her mind was rather muddled and all her focus was on opening her eyes.
"Are you awake, Aelia?" A familiar woman's voice rang at her side.
She mumbled a resembling noise to 'yes'. Aelia finally opened her eyes. For a moment she thought she was dead, as the sight that met her eyes was of an ethereal face with light shining all around her figure, but then she realized the face was rather a familiar one, then that seemingly otherworldly light seemed to fade and she recognized the face of the future Oracle.
"Luna?" Aelia grunted as she tried to move to a sitting position, but immediately regretted it, pain and dizziness surged and she made the strategic decision of staying still for now. "What happened?"
"You don't remember?" Luna asked.
Aelia's mind started to puzzle back some memories together in a sluggish way. "I went to Niflheim for the talks and negotiations of the trading routes and…" There had been a fight, then boring talks and then an explosion-! "Ravus!" Aelia exclaimed and rose up, though she had decided before not to, the horrible image of her friend losing so much blood and with an arm less was hunting her mind.
Luna quickly moved to her side and rested a gentle hand on her shoulder. "He's fine, he's fine." She had to repeat to make sure Aelia understood it.
"Oh." Aelia deflated again in dizziness and bone deep tiredness, she sunk again in the soft pillows behind her.
"You hurt yourself to save my brother." Luna took her hand and stared directly at her eyes with a gleam in her eyes. And not for the first time did Aelia think she seemed mature and wise beyond her years. "Thank you."
Aelia smiled mechanically, she wasn't used to people being so open and earnest, moving around politicians and soldiers didn't leave much room for it. And Ravus wasn't a good example of honesty and feelings either, even when they came from the same family. "Please, don't worry about it. Ravus is my friend and a good king, I wouldn't mind trading my life for his." At Lunafreya's troubled look, Aelia quickly added. "But if I could've chosen, I'd rather not be here sprawled in bed."
A smile crossed Luna's face and she nodded, then looked troubled again. "Your injuries were mostly exterior, but your overuse of magic is what endangered most your life… and the burns… we tried to heal them so they wouldn't scar, but your body rejected any kind of magic healing, most likely due to the magical extenuation."
Aelia blinked, her mind felt clogged and slow, it was so odd. "Alright." She finally said, understanding that fast healing wouldn't be an option for the burns of the explosion for the time being. Come to think of it, now she remembered looking down at her arm when trying to help Ravus and noticing the ugly red and charred skin.
Luna was wriggling her hands a little in front of her, her eyes shining with some apprehension. "It's only- it will leave scars behind." The Tenebraen Princess finally said.
Aelia couldn't help the small laugh that escaped her, which made her wince immediately after. "Yes, that is normal, or so I've heard." Luna coloured a little, and Aelia took pity. "Don't worry about it, I don't care." Or at least she hadn't had the time to reflect if she would.
Whatever Luna's reply would be, it was cut off by the opening of the door and the emeritus Queen walked inside with Lysa behind. Once her loyal maid realized she was awake the sombre aura around her dissipated like the switching on a lightbulb.
"Princess!" She cried happily and rushed to her side.
"Yes, I'm fine Lysa. Queen Sylva, I'm sorry for imposing on you like this…" Aelia wasn't sure how long she had actually been there now that it came to her mind…
"Only you, child, would call imposing after saving my son and the king of this country." The ex-regent laughed in good humour.
"Well, one should always fall into habits of politeness when not in the right mind for more."
The Queen frowned a bit worriedly, but erased it before anyone else had time to catch it. "Luna, go see how's your brother, he's a little restless today."
"Yes mother." Luna nodded, understanding her dismissal.
"Lysa, could you prepare a call to my father? I better ease his mind now that I'm awake." Aelia wanted some privacy with the Queen emeritus, besides really wanting to talk to her dad.
"Yes m'lady." Lysa sniffled a little and wiped some moisture from her eyes before walking out. Aelia wondered if she had scared everyone too much this time… It couldn't have been too long since she was asleep, right?
"How is Ravus?" Aelia finally asked, her eyes focusing again in Queen Sylva.
Queen Sylva sighed. "Restless, angry, guilty…"
Aelia would sighed, but she suspected it would pain her to do so. "He doesn't need to be guilty. As for angry and restless, that I can understand. By the way, how long-?"
"Ten days since the attack and eight since you arrived here." Queen Sylva answered. Alright, perhaps now she understood better everyone's relief and worry.
"My wounds, were they too bad or is it more the use of magic that I should worry about?" Aelia asked after another moment to let the information sink in, her brain was really slow right now.
So her wounds had been bad, not life-threatening at least, but a little more magic and she would have died or gone into a coma for far longer if she even had the luck to wake up again. It's not like she had wanted to put her life on the line, but she could never stay still and let the ones she loved just die. And yet, when she had seen Cor with such a pained look in his eyes before going unconscious after the explosion… Aelia had felt very guilty. When she had asked for him Lysa had shifted nervously as if something had happened, but then she had told her he had stayed in the Empire to help hunt down the ones who had put the bombs. She had gotten upset over it, part of it being that she'd wanted to have him near because… well she wasn't sure what for, he would probably have given her a lecture about jumping towards an exploding ship.
"I'm bored." Aelia said.
"And how is that my problem?" Ravus answered from cushioned prison.
"You're my host, you should worry about it." Aelia moved her horse to avoid having her tower in real danger. They were playing chess, the board set on the movable table over his bed, she was sitting cross legged on the foot of it. This was the fourth match they played and so far she had just won one, and her other option of entertainment was to go back to her own room and try to don't over think about Cor tramping around Niflheim in the middle of winter chasing whoever had tried –and almost succeeded- in killing the King of Tenebrae and her. Or how tired her dad had sounded when she talked to him, Aelia knew that what tormented him the most was being unable to have come to her side when she could have potentially died.
"Unwilling host." Ravus clarified and moved a pawn. "And I'm confined to this bedroom as much as you are to yours."
Yes, they were being watched closely so neither of them would go running around until they were completely healed. Ravus was especially snappish –more than usual at least-, and Aelia couldn't blame him, losing an arm was a though thing to deal with.
"Excuses, pure and plain excuses…" Aelia still remarked. Angry Ravus was better than sad Ravus, and she was good at making him stay irritated enough to don't have him mopping around all day. Aelia had to stop and think what to do now, move the bishop or the queen.
"Isn't your Marshal done with his hunt? You usually are entertained enough chasing him around." Ravus asked, then lifted and incredulous eyebrow at the stupid movie she just made.
"Wait. Wait! Can I take it back?" Aelia begged.
"No." Ravus wasn't a cool friend- at all. Aelia scoffed when he ate her queen.
"I don't chase him around," Aelia proceeded with their conversation "He has the misfortune of having to look after me when outside of Lucis."
"A job no one envies I'm sure." Ravus said too honestly.
Aelia restrained the urge to chuck a chess piece at his face. "I don't know if he'll even come here, he might just go back to Insomnia." She gritted out after another piece fell to his move.
"If you are here, I don't think so." Ravus said ponderingly.
And for a moment Aelia thought he was alluding to something she wasn't aware of, but didn't ask any further. Right now, she didn't want to get things into her head that would drive her crazier in her sick confinement.
"It will depend on what he finds." She went for a mid-answer.
"No, it won't." Ravus answered finishing the game, leaving her king in a checkmate.
"What do you mean?" Aelia frowned and stared at him.
"I think…" He said, picking up the king and examining it. "He cares more for you than what he lets on." Ravus put down the chess piece and stared back at her. "He didn't leave your side until we departed."
Cor didn't-? He just didn't want her to die alone, if it came to that most likely. That was all.
"I- I'm sure he was feeling guilty." Aelia stammered and looked away. "Not unlike you-, but really! You can't blame yourself for my lack of good judgment." She looked back at him again.
Ravus remained quiet for a moment staring at her. "Wouldn't you feel guilt over your friends getting hurt to help you?"
Aelia was taken aback, Ravus never acknowledged their friendship, at least not so directly. "I would- I do…"
"But it is part of the life we have to lead… Even the possibility of watching someone we care for die for us." Ravus said firmly. And Aelia understood- he was telling her to let him die next time. Her mouth went dry and she looked down into her hands.
"Yes, it is." She finally said quietly.
They had just played chess for the rest of the afternoon without talking of any other serious matters, only the incoming party for Lunafreya's birthday, which had been two weeks later. She had remained in Tenebrae, after all her father and Noctis would be coming for the party and Queen Sylva had wanted to keep an eye on her. It was odd, Aelia thought now, one of her most horrible moments was followed by one of her sweetest. Life is never a static thing, and one can only hope that next turn can be for good.
Aelia pulled out her Shiva pendant and stared at it with a soft smile.
"Maybe after a big fight something good might happen, right?"