* * *
Ebrelle
* * *
I blink my eyes open and behold the green hues of the canopy of Faun’s forest with my own eyes. It’s a beautiful, fresh green, yellowed with the rays of the sun. I’d love to marvel at the leaves and branches spiraling upwards, perhaps spy a crevice of blue sky, but my vision is blurred beyond that sort of comprehension, and I don’t know if it’ll ever improve beyond that.
I don’t know if I have that long.
I miss the part of me that had the missing parts of my name, but I am too tired to miss it much. I am too tired to account for all of what is there. My thoughts feel as if they’re about to shatter even before I make them, and everything in my head is tender... everything that can even be felt at all. I shouldn’t be awake - there’s a crisp burning sensation around the edges of my thoughts, senses, and sight, and it only grows worse with each moment. I’ve only one reason to be conscious.
I heard my daughter call my name, and I woke up. She’s holding my hand. I feel very blessed that she’s here... but more than that, cursed by how much of a wretch I am, and have been, for someone who’s supposed to be Katherine’s Father. My vision blurs more, but the tears don’t exactly hurt. I miss the years I’ve lost. I miss the person I was supposed to be. The burning sensation begins to sear through my mind with a heat that’s almost relieving--
“Father, Father please. Please listen to me this time.”
I close my eyes and try to focus on my daughter’s words. There are worse things to hear as you die.
“You can live. Let me heal you.” She pauses, and in that pause is a muffled sniffle that she can’t entirely hide. “Let me heal you now, or there was no point to any of the sacrifices. Please.”
Katherine’s gone straight to convincing me in a rational manner to decide to preserve my own life. How many times has she plead, in how many ways, for my life? It dawns on me just how much she must have been through with me, up until now, to decide that an emotional appeal was worthless. I can’t remember much of what happened after I fell to Justice in the Palace of Audiva Rocale. I don’t know how much grief I’ve caused her since then.
Quite a bit. It must be quite a bit. And while I am a wretch and beyond redemption and not worth saving... I don’t want to fight anymore. I don’t want to be the burden anymore. If I’m worthless as a King now and worthless as a scientist now and worthless as anything else, at least I can do one little thing as a Father--
“Fine. I relent.”
All I remember after that is a warm glow, but somewhere within it I think I glimpse her smile, though it may just be my shattered mind imagining things.
* * *
‘Sy
* * *
I take my son from Camden, look down at him in my arms, then shake my head. I’m sad, to be sure - but Gerald certainly has a knack for going off in style. I’m not entirely surprised by it... and it’s not as if he hasn’t come back after all the other deaths. There’s little to worry about.
Then... there is Lyric, who seems to be far more concerned about his brother than I am. I almost feel a little ashamed, but then, Lyric hasn’t been with the family for such a long time that perhaps he is the only member who isn’t used to this happening.
And the guilt. It radiates off of him, but not like something Diyn and I need to attend to. It’s a healthy thing - something that will remind him to show caution next time he thinks of doing something so foolhardy.
...I can hope.
Lyric looks up at me, his blue eyes full of tears. I’m reminded all of a sudden just how much like his Uncle’s eyes they are... and then I realize how like Luciprochoros he is overall. Always full of surprises, never questioning where he’s going.
And always... always headed somewhere I can’t expect.
Faun appears in front of me without even so much as a whisper of warning. He bows again. “It relieves me that the Advocate has convinced Ebrelle to live. I apologize for the loss, but there was no other way. What was buried in Ebrelle had to be unearthed here, and Lyric had found a doorway into his heart that Ebrelle wouldn’t close.”
Lyric looks to the side and blushes, unable to meet my eyes. Of course, Jhe Elric picks that moment to step up behind Lyric and wrap his arms around him. It’s too damn soon, and Lyric’s been in too much danger, and he’s my son, damnit. Of course, he would find the one time that I was holding something I refuse to drop.
I can glare, though - and the Briarseal boy flinches. His resolve doesn’t break, and he doesn’t back away from my son, though - which I at least approve of. He’d better show himself worthy.
I look across to Katherine. She sits up from leaning over Ebrelle, who looks a great deal healthier now - possibly more so than when I first faced him in the Aurocan Palace. He looks... clean.
That might be saved, then... the Treaty might be saved, if Ebrelle is still alive. I can only hope Emperor Theos will show that much mercy.
Elric clears his throat. I look at the Poet, his eyebrows drawn together, his expression somewhere in the distance.
Then Lyric’s eyes widen.
* * *
Lyric
* * *
Elric says it to me just as I feel the pull:
You’ve got to go, Lyric, and it has to be now.
I know where, too. I know to whom. And I know why. My eyes flick up to my Father’s - he’s looking straight at me, expectant. Of course - he probably didn’t hear Elric, but he knows he spoke.
And he probably senses that something is about to be wrong in the world again, and it’s going to involve one of his kids.
“I--” The words choke up in my mouth, and I close it, close my eyes, and steady myself. I kept myself calm in the face of the Peacock King, in the face of Thelea Xaillyndesse, and in the face of the Kommissar.
I can do the same in front of my Father, can’t I? I’ll have to. I open my eyes and meet his.
“I have to find Thelea Xaillyndesse and convince her that I’ve not defected.” I close my eyes, steady myself again, and open them once more. “I can write home this time. I’m not running away. You’ll need me to do this. It’s the only way you’ll catch her. And if I wait any longer, she won’t believe me.”
Father’s face pinches in that way when I know he wishes one of us children didn’t say something to him, but knows it can’t be taken back. He closes his own eyes, and would probably pinch the bridge of his nose if Gerald wasn’t in his arms.
Gerald is such a keen reminder of why I have to do this. I reach forward and touch his face. It’s a sort of goodbye... maybe even a thank-you. I couldn’t have done any of this without Gerald.
I hope he knows.
“Go.” I look up at Father, then look away. I don’t want to look at his expression any longer. It’s not a look any child wants to see on a parent.
I walk to his side, I hug him, and then I turn and walk away. Elric got his goodbye in early. And besides...
You aren’t leaving me behind. I’m always with you.
I take one last look back at Ebrelle, and then I leave.
* * *
'Sy
* * *
With that done, there's nothing left to us but to leave with Ebrelle. Faun checks over the dethroned man, his expression, as usual, betraying nothing. There isn't really much to betray, is there? Faun's emotions aren't even emotions as such.
The Animism looks to me, then Katherine, and nods. We can take Ebrelle, then. I've no idea...
I collect myself.
I have no idea how we're going to carry him out.
Camden is visibly tense, looking about for any sign of enemy approach. Patrick is like a statue next to him, simply following the Peacekeeper's lead when he moves at all. Diyn says that Patrick is relatively stable - at least, the part of Patrick that Arms would stir from. There's no danger of a premature awakening. The man's not even had the barest whiff of training yet-- though a field encounter with Camden involved could certainly be a start.
"Jhe Faun... have the Avians withdrawn completely?"
The Animism cocks his head. "They roam through my lands at will, though often at their peril. They ride the fringes now, looking for more assailants. They're far from your party, though - luck would have it that they've lost the scent of all of you."
Luck. With so many Poets in the vicinity, I prefer not to think about what could be skewing our odds. I look down at Gerald. Idiot - with his flair for the dramatic, he probably considered dying in battle to be a stroke of good luck.
I sigh, then pass him back to Camden and Patrick. "Katherine? Could you look after Gerald's body?"
She sits up straight, surprise in her posture. "He died again?" Her voice is more amazement than it is shock or in any way sorrow.
I sigh. Katherine attends to Gerald's body. I attend to Ebrelle's.
The man is tall - taller even than I am. I wonder at how that's possible, but shrug it off. I'm strong enough to bear this man's weight, especially considering how scrawny his adventures have made him.
I leave for the forest's edge. I bid Katherine and the others to go ahead of us to Radia.
Is that the best idea? Katherine's concern rings through her thoughts. I wonder. But I won't have her with me when I face Mitheoni, and his Emperor through him. I just can't have her there and keep my thoughts clear.
...I understand. They leave.
* * *
I deposit Ebrelle on the ground before Mitheoni as a sort of offering. "Alive, and in better condition than I found him," I say as sort of an apology.
Mitheoni's expression is, at best, dubious. "What do you expect us to do with this?"
By 'this,' I suppose he means 'everything'. I haven't the slightest clue myself, but he takes my silence as a prompt to continue, so I'm saved the burden of having to find words.
"You've divided two Empires completely, war beckons towards the entire continent, and you've no explanation for..." Mitheoni, at a lack for a proper way to finish his point, gestures fervently toward Ebrelle. "Why was any of this necessary?"
I open my mouth, but cannot dredge up an explanation. This was one thing having Katherine around helped me with. I find it so much easier to speak with her around.
Mitheoni pinches his brow. "Is there any reason why we shouldn't destroy everything and start over?" I think he's asking the Most High now, instead of me. However, I've not been told not to speak.
"We still have a member of the royal bloodline." I gesture to Ebrelle. "There may be a way to return his title, after he recovers. He's been..." How do I even describe this business with Nul? I don't even know the half of it myself yet. "There were traitors working against him in his own Kingdom, suppressing his Will with trickery and making him largely unable to change his own actions. What happened today was necessary. It freed him when neither I nor the Advocate could."
This, perhaps, is not the best answer to give Mitheoni. The Gahalespbar-archo's eyes bore into mine, a heat behind his gaze unlike any I've ever seen there. I feel that odd tingle of being Judged that I so rarely feel unless I'm training an Armed - but this has more potential than mere kitten scratches. It's almost like bearing up under Diyn, a predicament I know quite well.
I blink. I realize that he doesn't believe me. I'm so shocked by the prospect that I immediately say: "I'm not lying to either of you."
And then I realize the terrible truth of the matter - I'm not lying in my eyes, but in theirs I am.
I can attest for him. He would be as meat to me if he dared falsify in front of you and claim different.
Mitheoni steps back in shock. I realize Diyn appeared in my hand as he spoke. I try to make that particular move seem on purpose.
The Law of Chethar frowns. He knows as well as I that Diyn would be quite fervent about judging me if the opportunity arose. "Most High, I don't--"
I feel the Emperor's regard through Mitheoni's eyes then, and try not to flinch before him. Diyn remains a steadying force, and besides - I really have done nothing wrong in this.
Mitheoni and the Emperor then gaze down at Ebrelle. "Curious... his hair's gone white. What needed to be cleaned out of him so thoroughly?" The Most High's voice is still stern, but curiosity tempers it. Then the gaze is turned back up to me. "What do you plea, then?"
"Innocence. Innocence for all parties involved. We have no choice but to defend ourselves and that which we are able to protect from aggressors."
"As is part of your function." Mitheoni nods. Something fades from his gaze, and I'm less prone to wince at it. Emperor Theos is no longer looking directly through his eyes. "Much remains unexplained that we feel should not be without reason."
"Only time can solve that problem, amongst many more that deserve our attention. Without that..." I cut myself off, in the realization that my mouth is running with a lack of diplomacy that rival's my brother's deficit. Still, now that it's half-spilled, I can't very well hide the statement. "Without that time, the problem will still be there, unresolved, even if we are all destroyed."
Mitheoni seems dubious of that assessment.
"Ebrelle did as much as he could to keep his daughter safe. He shouldn't have that taken from him. We can recover Audiva Rocale while it waits for him. We are willing to take all measures--"
"Enough." Mitheoni waves off my bartering. "There is a Will in you to preserve the Balance, at least. We cannot test this man for it, nor can we see how a nation with no leader will go to war just yet. You have eight months." Mitheoni gestures to dismiss me, as if we were in High Court.
I suppose we were, in some sense. I feel relief and sheathe Diyn. I lift up Ebrelle. Mitheoni still studies the Xaillyndesse as I right him in my arms. He's light enough, but so tall and awkward.
The Gahalespbar-archo frowns. "We still don't understand what could have tainted him so to begin with, and why you can't explain it without lying to us. Perhaps the Song or the Advocate will have better words." Then he vanishes, and I'm left alone to compose myself for a bare second before following to Radia.
