* * *
Luciprochoros
* * *
The sky is black and it is empty of the moon, which makes the stars so much brighter for it. I suppose that's some lesson I'm supposed to take away - in the darkest night the light is brightest, or something. I'm not really in the mood for poetic lessons right now - I'm too focused on my youngest daughter. In this lack-of-light, I can't really get one last look at her face. That was, in fact, how we planned this.
I do lean over and give her a kiss on her cheek. She sucks in a breath, then throws her arms around my neck. I feel her nose nuzzle into my shoulder and hear the words "I'll miss you so much, Daddy," whispered into my hair. Then, I pass her to the man I should probably trust least.
The new Kommissar gives me a nod, the picture of politeness. "As I said, Jhe o'Radia - I shall see to the safety of the princess personally." He escorts her into the coach, arm around her shoulders, curled as if to block a potential hit. I'm sure it's a position that's become habitual for him. He closes the door behind her, then steps back to address me once more. It's strange - he looks rather ineffectual, but his eyes pierce and search almost as much as the Judge's.
There's a stir of hidden movement behind me, and just the barest suggestion of a blade. I am protected, I know. I think Jhe Lute slipped purposefully there, to remind the Kommissar of that fact. Lute isn't the only one on guard now, either.
I nod. "You will be off, then?"
The Kommissar considers quietly for a moment. "I shall be off very quickly indeed. If I might ask a great favor of you... could you please relay this message to my King? I have no better way of contacting him directly, otherwise I would not so burden you, your highness."
I nod at the letter in his hand. "I can indeed." I take it, caution arising in every fiber of my being. There seems to be no malice in it that I can detect, but I will not let my guard down. Not around a man that survived Stevane's Armed awakening.
"That is done with, then." He bows to me, then withdraws to the carriage. "My gratitude for returning one of Audiva Rocale's treasures. I shall see to her safety at all times." He ducks into the carriage, then closes the door. I nod to the driver - a man or woman concealed entirely by a black cloak. Then, I don't see the driver at all. The carriage slips away into the night and out of my field of vision. The pinpricks of the stars blur, and another one of my children leaves me.
She's safer than Jaxhelshon, at least. He's still training under the Peacekeeper. In Rhivend, no less. And Edward...
Well, less should be said about him.
Katherine, at least, is still home.
* * *
Alestere
* * *
There are a great many things these days to keep an eye on, which makes it rather useful indeed to be a Poet King. The northern borders, the shadowy movements of conspirators, the comings and goings of the Armed against and with those they seek to bring to Justice. So many things afar that bear watching.
But some things bear watching that are quite a bit closer to home.
I bow with a touch less formality than usual. Jhe Katherine appreciates less courtesy shown towards her various offices as opposed to more, and respecting that is its own way of showing etiquette. She nods to me wearily in reply. I understand - it is late at night, and she has gone through a long search, mostly in vain. "I know what happened."
Her face twists in annoyance. "You know, some people enjoy telling the story themselves. Some people find that helps relieve a little stress. But I guess some other people aren't too terribly into the prospect of a nice conversation tonight."
I am properly chagrined, and bow in apology. "Perhaps there are other ways of working out your frustrations."
Her face is rather priceless, and catching Katherine in a wordless moment is an accomplishment unto itself, so I take a moment before I can clarify what I meant.
"How long has it been since you've sparred?"
She sighs, parting her bangs away from her eyes. "Camden's out whipping Jax into shape, Gerald went with him claiming he wasn't just going along to swap more spit with Rachella, and of course 'Sy's gone out to blaze a trail of glory on his own. I've practised, I've done my share of training any newcomers, but it's not the same." She growls, scuffing the polished floor with the toe of her boot. "If it's not one person running, it's another one gone."
I nod. That was also about what I had thought, but letting Katherine talk is a novel way of prolonging one's life. "You do seem pent-up. Perhaps it isn't the best time to ask, then. I can't give you near the level of experience you're used to dealing with."
That acquires an eyebrow raise from Katherine.
I steeple my fingers, trying to keep the mischief off of my face. After long studies in the mirror, I've finally realized why Elete had his problems earning trust at certain key moments. He and I both always did and do look like we're up to something... and, well, I always am. "I feel it prudent to take up the sword. For my own defense, and that of others, of course."
She doesn't look taken aback. She doesn't look concerned, and she doesn't look dubious - all things I'd expect of 'Sy were I to make the same request of him.
She grins. It is the wide grin of a wolf that's found prey.
I start to wonder if I should recalculate, but my future self still seems very much alive, so my life must not be in any great danger from this. At least, I hope. Maybe my future self is fresh from a visit to the Place of Regeneration.
Katherine takes my hand, and before I know it I'm being dragged to the Armed Hall. "Let me find a blade that fits you. I hope you're wearing pants under all those robes."
* * *
"You're serious. You don't have any pants."
I shake my head.
Katherine claps her hand over her mouth, but the giggle escapes her grasp. Her eyes sparkle with mirth over her covered mouth. Then she doubles over, unable to hold in the peals of laughter that I have managed to summon. She manages to choke out a question: "Underwear?" She snorts twice after I shake my head.
I can feel my cheeks coloring, but I feel I must still explain myself. "When already wearing so many layers, there's really less reason for--" She grins appraisingly, looking me over, and I can't continue under the scrutiny.
"Looks like you've lost a few layers since Elete."
I bite my lip. She laughs again. How am I the speechless person tonight?
She chuckles again, then nudges me aside as she walks past. "You stay here," she pats me as she says it. "I'll go find something for your dignity." After she's managed a few steps away from me, she snorts again.
I just stand there in the open training room, blinking, my robes feeling more heavy and out-of-place by the moment. Did... did she just pat me on the butt?
* * *
The feel of cloth around my thighs and crotch is constraining, and I keep double-checking that a shenanigan isn't attacking my heels every time I feel the legs of my pants brush against my calves. Still, I must admit that trousers are ever so much more convenient than my robes of office. When I pointed out that I'd be more likely to fight in the latter than the former, Katherine gently reminded me
[with a swat on my newly-pantsed rear with the flat of her blade]
--that proper training starts with the most appropriate setting and regalia.
"You'll just sweat yourself up faster anyway, wearing all those layers. No sense messing them up, they're too nice to waste on an impulse thing like this."
I frown. "I'm serious about this, though. It wasn't just some whim--"
She cuts me off. "Having me train you in the middle of the night isn't exactly the best laid plans, Jhe Alestere."
I smile at the loss of my title. I suppose I am just another trainee to her, now. "On the contrary, I knew you'd appreciate a distraction tonight, Jhe Katherine."
In the next moment, I congratulate myself on ducking from her unexpected strike. Goodness, she hasn't even taught me a proper stance yet. I realize that perhaps I'm being a bit too familiar, but it's so difficult not to when you can look at a person and instantly know that...
That...
Well, she's a nice person that I care about, is all.
Katherine glares up at me, sword held at the ready. "Well, you can certainly duck, and you're holding yourself rather well, but you need to widen your stance and angle your hips better if you're going to do anything with your rapier."
I comply, and after a couple corrections by her, I seem to be in the proper--
"Don't just dangle your arm in back like it's a dishrag hanging off of your waist. You're a Xaillyndesse, use your poise!"
Sheepishly, I lift my non-sword hand and crook my elbow just-so. "There."
A silence ensues.
I tilt the tip of my sword down just a bit, pantomiming a tap on her shoulder, then raise it again. "You can talk to me about it. I do already know the story, as my future self did seem to think it relevant to me to know - but it is different than hearing it from you, and you seem to need to tell it."
She replies with a swipe that comes nowhere near my blade or my body - I realize that she's showing me an example of what I am to learn. Before I mimic it, she stops me:
"Just watch, and listen."
And I watch her move in all her fierce grace, and I listen as she tells me.
"Eistinn didn't have any problem with me being there, when we found Val. Val wasn't even difficult to find. He'd teleported out, which made his initial escape rather hard to trace, but he hadn't gone far. I suppose he wasn't really hiding. He wanted to talk to Eistinn." For a few moments, there's only the whisper of a blade through air. "You'll be doing this part a lot, you see. It's to test someone's guard." She sighs, blowing a few strands of hair to the side. "Val didn't want to talk to me. He... he didn't even want to look at me." She studies me now, unsure of whether to go on.
"I think I was told the story already so that you wouldn't worry yourself over which parts to hide," I say as I think through her movements, and think through how well my muscles will manage them.
There are no fat Xaillyndessen, and we carry ourselves well, and I may be rather trim, but... well, I have enough strength to carry the second-heaviest book in the Library by myself. But her moves look familiar, at least. Memories are stirring, and my stance is responding.
She narrows her eyes. "I'm beginning to see why the Blue Lords were regarded as so dangerous. You're like a self-enabling spy, conspiring with your future to alter your present."
I try to look ashamed, but it's more of an act that anything. I can't stop being what I am, and apparently my future self doesn't deem doing so to be an intelligent course of action either. In any case, I realize after a moment that Katherine's giving me an admiring look for such machinations.
"I have to appreciate someone brave enough to use time itself to ask me about my relationship with 'Sy." She does a little turn, then ends it with her blade under my chin. "Was that your plan?"
She's left just enough room in front of my neck for me to speak without sticking myself. "Not exactly. Though, this part was, for some reason, not something I decided to warn myself of. In fact, occasionally I wonder if my future self has it in for me."
She laughs. "Perhaps your future self is getting back at you for something his future self did to him."
I consider that. "You know, it's sadly likely that might be the case."
The sword lowers, and once it's clear of my neck she whips the blade away from me. "What was your plan, Jhe Alestere?"
I shake my head. "Not machination, merely concern. Your and 'Sy's problems cause quite a bit of disruption starting at this part of the timeline. And when you consider how Val couldn't look at you..."
She looks away. "I think about all the times before then that 'Sy couldn't look at me, and with the same expression on his face." Her eyes narrow into slits. "He never talks about Rhia, but he always thinks about her, and... and in ways that I can never even pry at." She looks at me, wary.
I hold up my unburdened hand, palm out, in front of my chest. I keep my sword at ready, though. I'm beginning to get a grasp of how Katherine converses. "I am not here to sabotage you, and the things you tell me, I hold in trust. In my past, and in my future, and in the present before you."
She shakes her head. "I... I don't know. It's always been the two of us, Jhe Alestere. His mind, and mine. But there's a part of him I can't see. He shields it from me, and he won't let me in." She blinks, betraying tears. "That's where he keeps his memories of Rhia. The other Advocate. His Advocate."
I decide that despite her having a sword in her hand, now is a good time to put my arm around her shoulders. She doesn't fend off the maneuver, which means I still posses the aforementioned arm. "Do you hold it against Jhe Valtoryeh?"
"No. Val was Rhia's husband, that much I've managed to learn." She sighs. "For the way 'Sy acts from time to time, you'd think she was the Judge's wife back then instead. I... it just stings. Being pushed away from 'Sy... I got used to that. Val..."
"Jhe Valtoryeh will heal with sleep, and even more with time."
"And what about 'Sy? He left me here. And when he's not leaving me, he pushes me away." She presses into my side. I'm used to having the robes, still - they tend to be useful for comforting people, considering how they blot away tears. Now there's just skin, and when the tears wet that, it gives me goosebumps.
Still, I hold her a little closer. "Perhaps time can heal that as well."
She looks up at me, and something in her eyes catches me, and I realize that I've been trapped. There's a frantic flailing at my future self for getting me into a mess, for trapping me between Katherine and 'Sy, for sliding absolutely the wrong words onto my tongue, but my future whispers back to me:
You think you'll regret it now, but believe me, in but a moment nothing else will matter.
I can't really curse myself for it either, because when Katherine decides she wants something, she pulls it down to her level by the hair. My long, grabbable, convenient hair. Whatever I was going to tell myself, I forget.
And of course, once her mouth reaches mine, my future is proven right once again.
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