They're on a date when the call comes.

Ignes looks curiously to the beach where they've left their things, the lone red umbrella marking the spot. She'd been the one to invite Raskreia. There's little chance of her ever coming to the beach otherwise. Not when she finds the sand and salt messy and chaotic and unpleasant and, well, a million other things that her beloved Empress doesn't seem to notice while with her. Ignes realised a while back how her eyes follow her just as hers do her Empress, after all.

This time was the same. They came here with the beach all to themselves and had done things, childish things, like build sandcastles and collect pretty things along the coast. They'd done other things, more adult things, too, though now they were back to the childish thing of playing in the water.

So, soaked and chest high in the ocean, Ignes signs, "Shouldn't you get that?"

The only calls her Empress is likely to get at times like this are for important matters. Or from her family annoying her. Those are the types she gets regardless, actually. It means that she can never miss checking who the call is from and picks up as quickly as she can. Unless it's from her father, in which case she ignores it most of the time.

"I should," Raskreia replies, expression cold as always.

It's just her resting face though, and Ignes smiles as she follows her back to shore. Even in the water her Empress has a perfect posture and moves with ease while she wades against each receding wave, careful to keep her balance as she enjoys how it rushes over skin. Her Empress' footsteps are light on the sand too. As if she's a fairy of some sort compared to the usual deep ones Ignes leaves behind. She'd make a face if she was called that out loud though, so Ignes keeps quiet.

Or maybe she's not quiet. She doesn't really know since her hearing aids are on one of the lowest levels due to how loud the wind and sea are here. It's enough to pick up on the usual wailing siren of Raskreia's phone, but not much of her own movements.

In fact, that awful noise stops for a moment, before starting up again. They must have taken too long to get to it, and take even longer when they do because Raskreia dries her hands off first. She's thorough about it, using the towel to pat down her arms too as she sits down beside where Ignes has plopped down and sprawled out on the picnic blanket.

She turns her hearing aid down another level, even though she already did that twice on the way, because of how annoying it is. Putting her towel down, her Empress picks up her phone to see who's calling, and immediately refuses it.

"It's from your father?" Ignes asks, smiling at Raskreia's annoyed huff when the phone starts to ring again.

"Yes," she confirms as she refuses it again, "He should know better than to-"

The phone cuts her off but this time, she frowns.

Ignes is surprised too. The previous Emperor has enough sense to know that more than one call will annoy his daughter. So if he does do a second, he usually stops there. And he always stops at a third. Yet this is a fourth call, meaning it's important.

At the second ring, Raskreia answers, "What happened?"

Usually there would be a soft murmur, but Ignes doesn't really care about trying to hear the conversation. It's probably to do with some hero or an explosion from an experiment gone extremely wrong. At least that's what she thinks until Raskreia's eyes widen and she sees her take in a deep breath, her hand coming up to her chest. Her heart.

Sitting up, Ignes studies her lips, worried. It must be something especially bad if it affected the Empress. Did one of the Generals get captured? No that couldn't be it. That would only result in her being annoyed. Was someone dead then? Karias or her step-father or grandmother?

Then she sees the faint blush on her cheeks as she says, "I'll come soon," and loses any idea of what could have happened.

Raskreia turns to her as she hangs up, and smiles. It's bright. Joyful. Terrifying. Ignes has never seen her make an expression so, normal, even once.

"Ignes," she says, "We can get married now"

"Huh?" is the noise that escapes her as she stares blankly at Raskreia.

Get married? Had whatever her father had meant nineteen years ago been what happened? Is that why she's acting like this? Or is it because it means they're getting married? Which is worse? Wait, no, neither is bad. Well, no, the first could be bad, but the second isn't. So hopefully the second if the first is bad and if it isn't then either is fine.

"Let's go. We need to go somewhere first."

Ignes automatically follows as Raskreia gets up, still unsure of what's going on. Still… How bad could it possibly be?

Pretty bad.

So maybe she's exaggerating, but Raskreia's made her dress up in a formal blouse and pants which is never a good sign. Especially since before that she put them both through an entire course at some spa of sorts. It had not been a relaxing experience. Not at all. Not when it had happened by her immediately being dragged there after she got out of the shower, and definitely not with how Raskreia's eyes are flitting about nervously.

Nervously.

Ignes has never seen her act like this even once, which is the second time it's happened in the same day. That is in no way a good sign. Or maybe it is a good sign but it isn't putting her at ease so it may as well be a bad one.

For the twenty-third time, and she knows it's been that many times because she's been keeping count, she asks, "What's happening?" as they walk down the halls of one of the previous Emperor's estates.

It's not the exact same question, sure, but it's similar enough. The variations of "Is something happening?" and "Where are you taking me?" and "Please tell me what's going on," all mean the same thing, really. There's only one difference this time. Raskreia answering.

"We're meeting… someone," she says.

It doesn't make Ignes feel any better.

How can it? There's a person in this world that can make the Empress nervous? Or worse. Someone who can make Raskreia nervous? How is she supposed to act then? She's the worst person around when it comes to talking to people. Who can it even be? Not her family, not anyone in the Empire, not anyone outside the Empire either. So if it isn't somebody she already knows, who can it possibly be? A baby?

…

…

…

Did the previous Emperor have another child? Is Raskreia nervous about meeting her new sibling? No, that doesn't make any sense. Why would he have talked about having to wait and said something about a century maximum if it's just about having a baby? It's not hard to grow one. And why would they have needed to wait on marrying for that?

Yet… she can't come up with anything else so she asks, "Why did we dress up? Is it for one of the previous Empresses?"

Raskreia doesn't even react to the strange question, which is extremely strange in of itself. The Empress not picking up on the irregularities around her? Not good.

All she does is answer with a stiff voice, "No. I haven't met her before either. I've only seen her, and it's her first time meeting us so we need to make a good first impression."

…So it is a baby.

Ignes relaxes, realising she has nothing to worry about. It is cute though. Getting this nervous about her baby sister? Way too cute.

"A thousand years? Wait, or is that just more than five hundred? I-"

The faint voice comes through the door that they stop outside. The unfamiliar woman sounds distressed as Raskreia's fathers speak to her, and Ignes wonders if that's about how long they've been trying whatever it is that complicated matters for this baby. It's only natural for a civilian doctor to not be as okay with whatever that may be even in the Empire.

As they enter, the voices quiet down and Ignes looks around. There's Raskreia's step-father, there's her father, and there's… a woman hooked up to various medical devices sitting up on the bed? No baby. And not only is there no baby, the woman, though horrifically pale from what must have been a coma considering everything now that she's actually seen her, is obviously related to Lord Raizel, said step-father.

Wow did she get the past two minutes of her life terribly wrong. Good thing she didn't say anything about it out loud because that would have been horribly embarrassing. A baby? What's a baby? Ignes has no idea what those are.

"Raskreia! You're here," the previous Emperor says with a bright smile, "and it's wonderful to see you too, Ignes."

"Uh, yeah. Same."

It's not a great response but she's a bit focused on Lord Raizel's… sister? Daughter? Mother? No not that one she looks much too young for that. She has no idea who she is and she can't take her eyes off of her, or the way that he's sitting on the bed comforting her. It's more physical affection that he himself initiated in a single moment than what she's seen from him her entire life.

Which is now the third time it's happened.

She's not nervous, even though it's not a baby, but that's just because she's so so confused. Which is better than the state Raskreia's still in.

The woman is too, though upset and wary and a million other things in addition to it. Ignes can't blame her. Waking up after hundreds of years would make her disoriented as well. And since she doesn't want to contribute more to that, she steps to the side to study all the medical equipment.

She is listening intently though.

"Hulda," the previous Emperor says, and Ignes notes down both her name and the affection he has for her, "This is Raskreia."

"Hello," is all her Empress manages to get out, breathless.

Out of the corner of her eye, she sees Raskreia step forward, and Lady Hulda look slowly between her and the two men before just as slowly asking, "Right. And she's… my niece?"

Aha! So she's Lord Raizel's sister. Everyone knew that love wasn't the only reason he went along with the previous Emperor, so it must have been because of her. Only the Empire has the technology to lengthen the human lifespan, after all. To love her so dearly that he ignored his own morality… To be willing to wait so long for her… It's sweet.

"Niece?" the previous Emperor asks, chuckling, "She's our daughter, not Raizel's."

"…What?" Lady Hulda asks, voice trembling.

It's a good question, the same one Ignes has, in fact. She doesn't even bother with pretending anymore, staring at the scene outright. Lady Hulda's trembling completely, not just her voice, and her expression has a muted terror no matter how much Lord Raizel tries to comfort her. Considering when Raskreia was born… she was probably in a coma then too.

Feeling bad for her, Ignes fiddles with her ring as she asks, "So her majesty's a test tube baby then?"

Lady Hulda flinches when she speaks before looking at her with a dawning realisation and then relief. For a moment anyway, until-

"No, she isn't," the previous Emperor said, amused.

"…Surrogate?" Ignes questions, cautious.

"No."

With how much paler Lady Hulda's become, something that doesn't seem possible with how pale she already was, and the way her breathing is getting quicker, louder, she wishes she hadn't said anything at all. This is worse than before. Lord Raizel holds her close as she clutches her chest, whimpering, and even the man who hadn't thought about lying, even if it was only for the current moment, kneels beside her, worried.

"Hulda, love," he asks, reaching out for her hand, "What's wrong?"

Ignes keeps in her sigh at the previous Emperor's devastated expression when she jolts back with a strangled, "Don't-"

Of course he doesn't realise why she's upset. Neither do Lord Raizel or Raskreia, both of whom are very very very out of their element here. She is too, and so she takes Raskreia's arm, leading her out of the room and closing the door behind her.

Ignes doesn't particularly care about all the wrongs that have been committed against Lady Hulda, but she does feel bad for the woman. She also feels bad for the previous Emperor since he obviously loves her. They'll make up though. They have to. It's not like there's any other option for the poor woman.

"…Why are we leaving?" Raskreia asks once they're halfway down the hall.

"We're not. We're just going to wait until your mother doesn't break down at the thought of having children. That'll probably happen faster if there are less people there."

"…Ah. It might take a while."

Ignes snorts, keeping herself from laughing. So her Empress is finally understanding the situation.

"That's fine. We still need to tell her we're getting married, right?"

Raskreia blinks, then smiles- "We do," she says.

Then she pulls her in close, and kisses her.

It's a good thing her fathers are busy… Ignes doesn't want them walking in on this.