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runicloreTwice as Dangerous
Author: Amber Michelle
Day/Theme: September 16 - don't trust a statistic you didn't fake yourself
Series: Fire Emblem 9/10
Character/Pairing: Sanaki, Soren,Tanith, Naesala, Sephiran
Rating: K+
Words: 4175
Notes: AU, part eight of the Summer Chronicle. This is a first and ongoing draft; a list of known issues is being compiled here.
.............................................
Sanaki didn't see Sephiran that night or in the morning. She woke wanting to call him, though he wouldn't hear if she did - not like when she was young, and he was always in the next room so he could appear in an instant. There was no message, no report to read, though when Tanith came in at the end of Sigrun's shift to mention that Kilvas had been sighted returning to the capitol, Sanaki was already resigned to breaking her fast alone. He didn't eat very much anyway.
"Your Majesty..."
She looked up from her chocolate. "It'll be fine - I'll have you with me. Make sure everyone has orders to keep silent."
"And General Zelgius?" Tanith folded an arm back, standing at rest with her feet wide apart. Sanaki had ridden the knight's shoulders when she was a child, and yet Tanith always observed formalities like that, never spoke out of turn. Not like her elder, who relaxed as time passed and was freer with her opinion. "He was told to report at half past seven, and it's almost six. If you're walking all the way to the tower--"
"Then we'll have to return by half-past." Sanaki placed her cup on its saucer and stood up. "Go tell Marcia and the others."
Tanith bowed with a fist over her heart and took her leave, and Sanaki finished dressing, pulling on a wide, divided skirt and a coat that buttoned tightly to the neck, and halfway up the sleeves. It wasn't one of her new pieces; she couldn't throw magic with billowing sleeves and sweeping skirts, and that was practically all they'd given her. She'd thought herself feminine until she saw how many buttons and pearls and whorls of lace were stitched onto her new gowns. How many people did the Minister of Ceremonies have slaving away over each dress?
The sky was beginning to lighten when she finished and turned the lamp down. How precise did the prince want her to be? It was still the third month, and the sun wouldn't rise past the horizon until almost seven. She tied her hair at the nape with a white ribbon and went out to meet her escort.
The clock tower was at the center of the modern cathedral complex, so they passed many other early risers on the way there - servants for the most part, carrying flower arrangements and trays, a few priests who paused when she passed to bow, and a senator's aide whose face she recognized but could not name. Soren might have underestimated how early business began in Begnion when he chose the time for their meeting, but she thought it more likely he wanted her to be seen. By Sephiran's agents perhaps, or the raven king's? Or was it a senator he had his sight set on - perhaps six in particular?
She was led to a small door in the wall facing the recreation area, rather than the main entrance by the offices, where they would surely be delayed. Tanith told her it was used by the mechanics and janitorial staff, and once inside they passed wide bays of cupboards and a series of doors bolted closed, where their equipment was kept. An astringent smell lay under the pall of dust, and a hint of moist wood and mold. The stairs were narrow, creaking under the weight of her knights and their armor, but they were solid, and there was light streaming down from the top, filtered through thin silk curtains that gathered the early sun and shimmered.
Soren waited by a window. To Sanaki's left the space opened to a wide staircase and a stone rail overlooking the formal entrance. Ike leaned against the rail by the stairs, and Tanith went to station herself at the other side, hand resting on the hilt of her sword.
The prince met her halfway, dressed much the same before, though now his coat was dark and his complexion looked almost sickly in contrast. "Your minister doesn't know about this?"
Sanaki clasped her hands behind her. "I'm sure he'll hear of it by mid-morning." A knight shifted behind her; she heard the others take their places along the wall behind her, against the rail.
Soren looked away and made a sound that might have been a laugh if he were anybody else. She had yet to see any humor in him. "Possibly sooner," he said. "He's very careful. I'm surprised he hasn't sent someone to have me taken care of yet."
He wouldn't do that. Sanaki started to say it, and clamped her lips together when he looked at her, an eyebrow raised. He wouldn't, really-- not the way the prince was thinking. Such an attitude said more about her guest than Sephiran, no matter what the prince knew, or thought he knew. "It wouldn't be an unreasonable move," she said, hands loosening and resting at her sides. "Your heritage leaves you in a position to take both Daein and Begnion in time, assuming we marry and you survive."
His expression relaxed slowly, his brow smoothing, until his earlier amusement was only a memory. "Yes." He tilted his head slightly, turning, and then put a few steps between them before he cast her another glance. "I'm not interested."
"Your father--"
"Yes, my father." Soren turned on his heel to face her, coat flaring. "Of course he's interested. He would take the whole of Tellius if he could, but I assure you our forces aren't large enough for a campaign of that size. Your minister's seizure of that territory around the wall put us at a bit of a disadvantage, and Crimea-- they've been diligent about watching our arms production."
"That was a long time ago," Sanaki said, frowning. "He had evidence Ashnard was involved in the uprising at Serenes."
"So he tells you."
"And you say differently?"
Soren shrugged and looked at his general. "I don't really care. That land was written off before I was born." His brand was especially prominent when his face was turned that way, lit by the windows. They hadn't been speaking more than a few minutes, and the light was already brighter. "He'll probably try to get it back-- my father."
"It's negotiable," Sanaki said, gaze lingering on the mark. "About Sephiran--"
"He's not human," Soren said. "I thought you should know that."
The knight behind her let out an incredulous snort. She waited for him to say more, locking eyes with him, and wondered if she should show surprise. The silence stretched long enough to be taken as such before she said, "Then what is he, and how did you come to this conclusion?" Her eyes flicked again to his mark. "I've heard Branded can sense their own kind, but surely you don't expect me to believe a claim like that."
"I'd know one of my own," he said, "and I wouldn't tell you, if he were one of them."
Sanaki folded her arms. "Then--"
"That's for you to find out." Soren's eyes flicked to the knight behind her, then back, and he bowed. "Good luck, Empress. My father told me Sephiran is an excellent liar, and he's obsessed enough with it I'm inclined to believe. I'll see you again at half-past ten."
That's it? She rose before dawn and evaded Sephiran's agents - people arrayed around her person to protect her - for so little? Perhaps the prince was more interested in exhausting her than enacting some mysterious plan.
At the top of the stair, the prince looked back. "I'm not asking you to believe me without evidence. I'd like for both of us to benefit from this arrangement. Consider this information a gesture of good will--" he turned around and started downward, Ike falling into step behind him, "--and use it to whatever end you see fit."
Sanaki watched him disappear, and listened to their footsteps recede, the doors below opening and then booming shut. The marble floor glowed in the bright morning, gold flecked, polished to a mirror sheen. She bit her lip and turned back to the servants' staircase. A favor, was it? She didn't need favors from him. Good will only went so far as the giver's interests, and she saw his father's hand in this accusation as clearly as that mark on the prince's forehead, as blatantly red and intrusive.
As for the truth of his statement - it was no leap of intellect to surmise Sephiran wasn't beorc, or at least not a normal one, given his long history, youthful appearance, and apparent fluency in the old tongue. It didn't matter what he was - though she would find out - so much as why he hadn't told her. And then, there was the matter of how the prince knew - and he must know more than she did, to taunt her with this.
Did his father know? Could it be used against her? Would he try to lure her into something with bits of information like this, and should she follow until he gave something away?
Perhaps, if Soren decided to share the information freely, she would consider it good will.
"Why would he tell you something like that?" Tanith asked, returning to her side at the bottom of the staircase. "It's utterly ridiculous."
Sanaki shushed her and gestured for Marcia to lead the way. Her knights fell in around them, three to each side, and they walked back to her chambers openly, through the public courtyards and corridors. The prince had disappeared, but he also left openly; what rumors would spring up from that? She imagined Sephiran wouldn't be pleased, but couldn't decide if the other senators would criticize her or call it initiative. Maybe Culbert would feel better about the waste of his speech if he thought she'd gotten Soren's attention already. Lekain would no doubt temper his relief with a cynical comment - it's only natural Daein is interested, considering how much he will gain by marrying into the family - and they would proceed to discuss the merits of this match as if their interests were all that mattered. They weren't the ones being asked to spread their legs for Ashnard's spawn.
It didn't really matter who fathered her heir, did it? A marriage in writing only might be tolerable. Granted it was only the second day, but Soren showed no interest at all in this proposal, and she doubted that would change.
When they reached her antechamber she paused and waited for Tanith to close the outer door. Marcia took her position to the left of the arched entrance to her quarters and opened the door, saying something about a report and Zelgius--
"Marcia," Sanaki said, moving to the doorway and stopping even with the knight. "Why did he keep looking at you like that?"
Marcia's armor creaked, and her spear scraped over the floor, clicked against the wall when she had it against her shoulder. Her blue eyes were downcast. "I don't know."
Sanaki faced her. "Really." The other girl was dressed like the other knights, in minimal armor - breastplate, pauldrons, hand and foot guards, and a long coat. Most of her skin was covered. Tanith whispered, Your majesty-- and she waved her silent. Sephiran warned her about the prince, and then Kilvas, then Sigrun, even Zelgius - she wouldn't believe anything Soren did innocent until proven to be. "I don't mind, Marcia, but you should take care around the prince. Don't let him deceive you with some misguided dream of solidarity."
"I wouldn't--!" Marcia looked up, lips tight and frowning, then folded her arms and looked away again. "I understand."
Sanaki nodded and entered her parlor after leaving an order to have Zelgius - and Sephiran, should he arrive - sent directly in upon his arrival. She wanted to say something reassuring, but the words weren't there, and anything else she thought - how advantageous it was, for example, to have the extra strength, or the ability to detect others - did not sound like praise. Her knights were there to be used, yet to actually say so aloud would be tasteless.
The servants had pulled the curtains open and left the balcony doors ajar for a breeze. Sunshine streamed in, over the table, to cast long shadows with the teapot and vase of roses at the center. The symmetrical arch of the raven king's wings over the back of her divan cast an odd shape on the wall. "It's about time you're back," she said, reaching back to untie her hair. "What kept you?"
His back was to the window, and his face lit from the side. "It hasn't even been a month." Kilvas braced his knees and stood, flapping his wings and folding them back. "I had to see Sephiran first. He sent me snooping after the queen mother, and that got-- it was complicated, and he was apparently busy."
He had better be, she muttered, and let the ribbon coil onto the tabletop by the covered tray. She could smell cinnamon and butter, and bit her lip. "Anything I should know about? Is Ashnard mobilizing a secret army? Does Sephiran have some mysterious connection with the Daein nobility?"
Kilvas snorted. "Actually--"
"I was joking."
"--there's some military activity northwest of the wall, but it looked like they were facing Crimea."
Sanaki sat down at the table and stared at the tray. She could see her reflection in it, and the shape of the raven behind her. "You didn't check?"
"That isn't what he sent me for. You have other agents for that." Kilvas put himself between her and the window, shading her from the glare, and leaned against the table. "You shouldn't try to dodge that network, by the way, unless you're trying to tell us you trust the prince more than your minister."
She sighed. So it was sooner, instead of later. "I had a full compliment of my personal guard."
"He had Gawain's son."
Sanaki rolled her eyes. Oh yes, she knew of that man's exploits. Who didn't? And yet, of his son, very little was said. He looked strong; he carried himself, the weight of his armor, the awkward shape of his sword, naturally, with grace, as if he walked on air. She believed he was a force to be concerned with, but eight of her personal guard should be more than a match. What they lacked in brute strength, they made up for in speed and skill. That mattered. They wouldn't be her most trusted warriors if they weren't the best. "You're paranoid. He has nothing to gain by hurting me at this stage."
"True. But I wasn't talking about attempts on your safety." Kilvas flicked her hair, and she looked up. "He's male, and he has plenty to gain by staking a claim if he decides to do it that way. Do you even know how to handle an advance like that?"
Sanaki flipped her hair out of his reach and pushed his hand away. "I'm not stupid, Kilvas. I've had my share of male company."
He shook his head. "You've had Sephiran, and a bunch of fat old men who know better than to show any disrespect to your person."
"Thank the goddess for that." She gave in and uncovered the tray. Slices of bread thick as cake were browned and crisped on the edges with cinnamon and sugar, and the centers soaked with melted butter.
Kilvas paused, and when she glanced up, he was watching the door. "Sephiran takes his liberties, though, so maybe--" He saw her eyes narrow and said, "Oh yes he does. You just don't realize it because he's practically perfect in every other way when you're in the room."
She put her utensils down and said sharply, "He's absolutely proper in every interaction he has with me."
"Really." He glanced at the door again, nudging her chair to face him. She frowned and tried to turn back to the table, but he braced it with his leg and leaned over her, holding the back with one hand and preventing her escape. "Really. He doesn't invade your personal space?" Kilvas pressed his hand to her cheek, worked his fingers into her hair, and swept it back. Her scalp tingled where his nails scraped over the skin, holding her hair at the back. "He doesn't lay a hand on you in a less-than professional manner?"
Blood rushed to her face. Sanaki swallowed and pressed her hands against his chest to push him back, only he didn't move at all. "N-no." She sucked in a deep breath. Woodsmoke, leather, feathers. There was a hint of pine, and musk. She'd never been this close to him before. "He wouldn't do that and you know it."
The raven's eyes narrowed. She kicked his shins and he clamped her leg down, kneeling on the chair between her knees. "He knows how attractive you are and he doesn't want anybody else to have you."
"Liar." She tried to breathe more slowly, tried to glare, though his proximity made it awkward. His wings curved around her, blotting out the sun like ink, the tips brushing her shoulders, a feather tickling her ear. Somehow, her mouth formed words that made sense. "He's anything but interested, I assure you."
Kilvas chuckled, but the sound was short-lived. "He's stringing you along. Wait and see." She could feel his breath against her lips when he spoke. "They do that. They don't even have to try, they don't even mean to - it just happens. They pull you in with their eyes, and their beautiful faces, and they snare you like a rabbit with their songs until you worship the ground they walk on--"
"You're speaking nonsense!" Her voice came out a strangled whisper and she clenched his fingers into his coat. "That has nothing to do with him, he's not--" she yanked at his coat, "not-- don't say that--"
"No denying reality for you, empress." His hand smoothed her hair against her head, almost gentle. "Unless you plan to let your enemies take everything away from you."
Sanaki clenched her teeth hard. "I hate you," she whispered, and he smiled faintly. "I--"
"Kilvas."
The raven's head snapped up and Sanaki started, snatching her hands back. She gripped the seat of her chair to keep from trembling, and when Sephiran said softly, kindly step away from my empress - a threat implicit in the way the air shifted and caressed her skin when the day was still and the curtains hung unmoving - and she heard him approach while Kilvas stepped back, folding his wings, she almost let out a shaky breath. Was Zelgius back there too, or was she to be spared that embarrassment? All she had to do was turn and look. It wasn't that hard. But Sephiran was behind her, and she couldn't look at him.
"Minister." The raven straightened, and made no move to bow or even nod. "Just making a point."
"A point. I see." She felt Sephiran grip the back of her chair. The wood creaked. "What argument could you possibly wish to make that would require so much physical involvement?"
Kilvas lifted an eyebrow. She thought he would smile - there was a twitch at the corner of his mouth, but he resisted. "One you should have made a long time ago."
"That--" Sephiran's voice cracked out and his nails scraped the wood, "--is not your business. None of this is your concern. If you interfere again--"
"Stop it!" Sanaki stood up and faced Kilvas. She thought her knees would buckle. "Get out." Her hands clenched and unclenched, sore from gripping his jacket so tightly, and then the chair. She tried to smile some of the sting away, but couldn't summon the resolve to hold the expression. "You can finish your report later."
He nodded sharply and turned away. Sephiran came around the chair and Sanaki stepped in front of him, grabbed his wrist, pushed him back a step with her own body. She didn't loosen her grip until the raven made his exit and she heard the flap of his wings when he leapt from the balcony rail. His passage sent her curtains billowing inward, and the wind was cool against her cheeks, crisp and smelling of wet pine. It faded too soon. She felt hot, sweltering in her riding dress, her hair like a blanket against her back, pressed between herself and Sephiran so she couldn't have moved her head very far even if she desired to look back and meet his eyes.
He was so still she couldn't hear him breathe, but she could feel the rise and fall of his chest, the quick pulse at his wrist, and the muscles knotted under his skin. He seemed poised to run out to the balcony and throw the spell he'd summoned earlier.
"Don't be angry on my behalf," she said, watching the curtains settle. He jerked his wrist back and she let him go. "He would have stopped if I'd told him to."
He finally made a sound - a sharp sigh that stirred her hair - and she felt him back away. Sanaki spun when she heard his footsteps sound on their way to the door and almost demanded he stop, but Sephiran only gathered his papers from the stand he'd left them on and came back toward her. For the first time she could recall, he didn't smile when he offered them to her, and he didn't respond when she thanked him. It was reflex. She hugged the folder to her chest and waited for him to say something - anything. An admonition. A question.
She should have told Tanith to have him knock, but how could she anticipate something like that? Kilvas had never shown interest in her before. He was only making a point, he said, but if he'd been serious--
"Don't look at me like that," she said when it was clear he would not be the first to speak. She turned back to the table, and the breakfast going to waste. She couldn't have swallowed a bite to save her life. "If you're willing to sell me to Daein, a turn or two with Kilvas shouldn't make any difference."
"Sell you?" His volume made her jump and tense. "I'm trying to keep you out of his hands, and you walked right into his net!"
Sanaki glared at him over her shoulder. "That's why you went along with this plan to bring him to Sienne, to keep him away from me?"
"I pushed for Daein because I knew he wouldn't be interested--"
"Of course he isn't interested." Sanaki slammed the reports onto the table. "Nobody wants me. I'm a fraud!"
If only Kilvas had stayed. She wouldn't have minded one of his snide comments just then, or even-- even watching him argue with Sephiran would have been better, and she just didn't have the foresight to realize it when she sent him away. She should have ordered him to finish his report and defied Sephiran's insistence that he be gone. She should have made him explain himself, his comments, his heron...
"No," Sephiran breathed into the silence. She heard him move. "No, you're not--"
"I don't want to hear it." Sanaki made herself straighten. "Leave. I don't want to talk to you right now."
"Sanaki--"
The table blurred. She slapped her palm onto the folder. "That is an order!"
She could imagine him recoiling, and immediately choked up. Three weeks ago, two months ago, she wouldn't have ordered him to do anything. She wouldn't have yelled at him. She wouldn't feel like crying because one of the senate's ploys seemed to be working. It always seemed like that at first, but Sephiran had never failed to turn the tables before, and maybe he wouldn't this time - but what if he did?
Sanaki heard the door close behind him and sat down to stare at her plate. She couldn't see the prince in this state. Their appointment was still hours away, but if Sephiran didn't come back-- why did he leave? Why did he listen to her? He should know better than to follow her orders when she was angry. How would they face each other in front of the prince and pretend nothing was wrong if they didn't have an opportunity to talk it over?
Of course, Sephiran always followed instructions, and she would have to call him back if she wanted to see his face before they met Soren. She couldn't do that.
Her enemies wouldn't have to take him away from her, it seemed - she was doing a good enough job by herself.
...................................................................................
That was hard to write.
I might change something, I don't know. No time to think about it.
Slightly edited 09.29.08.
Author: Amber Michelle
Day/Theme: September 16 - don't trust a statistic you didn't fake yourself
Series: Fire Emblem 9/10
Character/Pairing: Sanaki, Soren,Tanith, Naesala, Sephiran
Rating: K+
Words: 4175
Notes: AU, part eight of the Summer Chronicle. This is a first and ongoing draft; a list of known issues is being compiled here.
.............................................
Sanaki didn't see Sephiran that night or in the morning. She woke wanting to call him, though he wouldn't hear if she did - not like when she was young, and he was always in the next room so he could appear in an instant. There was no message, no report to read, though when Tanith came in at the end of Sigrun's shift to mention that Kilvas had been sighted returning to the capitol, Sanaki was already resigned to breaking her fast alone. He didn't eat very much anyway.
"Your Majesty..."
She looked up from her chocolate. "It'll be fine - I'll have you with me. Make sure everyone has orders to keep silent."
"And General Zelgius?" Tanith folded an arm back, standing at rest with her feet wide apart. Sanaki had ridden the knight's shoulders when she was a child, and yet Tanith always observed formalities like that, never spoke out of turn. Not like her elder, who relaxed as time passed and was freer with her opinion. "He was told to report at half past seven, and it's almost six. If you're walking all the way to the tower--"
"Then we'll have to return by half-past." Sanaki placed her cup on its saucer and stood up. "Go tell Marcia and the others."
Tanith bowed with a fist over her heart and took her leave, and Sanaki finished dressing, pulling on a wide, divided skirt and a coat that buttoned tightly to the neck, and halfway up the sleeves. It wasn't one of her new pieces; she couldn't throw magic with billowing sleeves and sweeping skirts, and that was practically all they'd given her. She'd thought herself feminine until she saw how many buttons and pearls and whorls of lace were stitched onto her new gowns. How many people did the Minister of Ceremonies have slaving away over each dress?
The sky was beginning to lighten when she finished and turned the lamp down. How precise did the prince want her to be? It was still the third month, and the sun wouldn't rise past the horizon until almost seven. She tied her hair at the nape with a white ribbon and went out to meet her escort.
The clock tower was at the center of the modern cathedral complex, so they passed many other early risers on the way there - servants for the most part, carrying flower arrangements and trays, a few priests who paused when she passed to bow, and a senator's aide whose face she recognized but could not name. Soren might have underestimated how early business began in Begnion when he chose the time for their meeting, but she thought it more likely he wanted her to be seen. By Sephiran's agents perhaps, or the raven king's? Or was it a senator he had his sight set on - perhaps six in particular?
She was led to a small door in the wall facing the recreation area, rather than the main entrance by the offices, where they would surely be delayed. Tanith told her it was used by the mechanics and janitorial staff, and once inside they passed wide bays of cupboards and a series of doors bolted closed, where their equipment was kept. An astringent smell lay under the pall of dust, and a hint of moist wood and mold. The stairs were narrow, creaking under the weight of her knights and their armor, but they were solid, and there was light streaming down from the top, filtered through thin silk curtains that gathered the early sun and shimmered.
Soren waited by a window. To Sanaki's left the space opened to a wide staircase and a stone rail overlooking the formal entrance. Ike leaned against the rail by the stairs, and Tanith went to station herself at the other side, hand resting on the hilt of her sword.
The prince met her halfway, dressed much the same before, though now his coat was dark and his complexion looked almost sickly in contrast. "Your minister doesn't know about this?"
Sanaki clasped her hands behind her. "I'm sure he'll hear of it by mid-morning." A knight shifted behind her; she heard the others take their places along the wall behind her, against the rail.
Soren looked away and made a sound that might have been a laugh if he were anybody else. She had yet to see any humor in him. "Possibly sooner," he said. "He's very careful. I'm surprised he hasn't sent someone to have me taken care of yet."
He wouldn't do that. Sanaki started to say it, and clamped her lips together when he looked at her, an eyebrow raised. He wouldn't, really-- not the way the prince was thinking. Such an attitude said more about her guest than Sephiran, no matter what the prince knew, or thought he knew. "It wouldn't be an unreasonable move," she said, hands loosening and resting at her sides. "Your heritage leaves you in a position to take both Daein and Begnion in time, assuming we marry and you survive."
His expression relaxed slowly, his brow smoothing, until his earlier amusement was only a memory. "Yes." He tilted his head slightly, turning, and then put a few steps between them before he cast her another glance. "I'm not interested."
"Your father--"
"Yes, my father." Soren turned on his heel to face her, coat flaring. "Of course he's interested. He would take the whole of Tellius if he could, but I assure you our forces aren't large enough for a campaign of that size. Your minister's seizure of that territory around the wall put us at a bit of a disadvantage, and Crimea-- they've been diligent about watching our arms production."
"That was a long time ago," Sanaki said, frowning. "He had evidence Ashnard was involved in the uprising at Serenes."
"So he tells you."
"And you say differently?"
Soren shrugged and looked at his general. "I don't really care. That land was written off before I was born." His brand was especially prominent when his face was turned that way, lit by the windows. They hadn't been speaking more than a few minutes, and the light was already brighter. "He'll probably try to get it back-- my father."
"It's negotiable," Sanaki said, gaze lingering on the mark. "About Sephiran--"
"He's not human," Soren said. "I thought you should know that."
The knight behind her let out an incredulous snort. She waited for him to say more, locking eyes with him, and wondered if she should show surprise. The silence stretched long enough to be taken as such before she said, "Then what is he, and how did you come to this conclusion?" Her eyes flicked again to his mark. "I've heard Branded can sense their own kind, but surely you don't expect me to believe a claim like that."
"I'd know one of my own," he said, "and I wouldn't tell you, if he were one of them."
Sanaki folded her arms. "Then--"
"That's for you to find out." Soren's eyes flicked to the knight behind her, then back, and he bowed. "Good luck, Empress. My father told me Sephiran is an excellent liar, and he's obsessed enough with it I'm inclined to believe. I'll see you again at half-past ten."
That's it? She rose before dawn and evaded Sephiran's agents - people arrayed around her person to protect her - for so little? Perhaps the prince was more interested in exhausting her than enacting some mysterious plan.
At the top of the stair, the prince looked back. "I'm not asking you to believe me without evidence. I'd like for both of us to benefit from this arrangement. Consider this information a gesture of good will--" he turned around and started downward, Ike falling into step behind him, "--and use it to whatever end you see fit."
Sanaki watched him disappear, and listened to their footsteps recede, the doors below opening and then booming shut. The marble floor glowed in the bright morning, gold flecked, polished to a mirror sheen. She bit her lip and turned back to the servants' staircase. A favor, was it? She didn't need favors from him. Good will only went so far as the giver's interests, and she saw his father's hand in this accusation as clearly as that mark on the prince's forehead, as blatantly red and intrusive.
As for the truth of his statement - it was no leap of intellect to surmise Sephiran wasn't beorc, or at least not a normal one, given his long history, youthful appearance, and apparent fluency in the old tongue. It didn't matter what he was - though she would find out - so much as why he hadn't told her. And then, there was the matter of how the prince knew - and he must know more than she did, to taunt her with this.
Did his father know? Could it be used against her? Would he try to lure her into something with bits of information like this, and should she follow until he gave something away?
Perhaps, if Soren decided to share the information freely, she would consider it good will.
"Why would he tell you something like that?" Tanith asked, returning to her side at the bottom of the staircase. "It's utterly ridiculous."
Sanaki shushed her and gestured for Marcia to lead the way. Her knights fell in around them, three to each side, and they walked back to her chambers openly, through the public courtyards and corridors. The prince had disappeared, but he also left openly; what rumors would spring up from that? She imagined Sephiran wouldn't be pleased, but couldn't decide if the other senators would criticize her or call it initiative. Maybe Culbert would feel better about the waste of his speech if he thought she'd gotten Soren's attention already. Lekain would no doubt temper his relief with a cynical comment - it's only natural Daein is interested, considering how much he will gain by marrying into the family - and they would proceed to discuss the merits of this match as if their interests were all that mattered. They weren't the ones being asked to spread their legs for Ashnard's spawn.
It didn't really matter who fathered her heir, did it? A marriage in writing only might be tolerable. Granted it was only the second day, but Soren showed no interest at all in this proposal, and she doubted that would change.
When they reached her antechamber she paused and waited for Tanith to close the outer door. Marcia took her position to the left of the arched entrance to her quarters and opened the door, saying something about a report and Zelgius--
"Marcia," Sanaki said, moving to the doorway and stopping even with the knight. "Why did he keep looking at you like that?"
Marcia's armor creaked, and her spear scraped over the floor, clicked against the wall when she had it against her shoulder. Her blue eyes were downcast. "I don't know."
Sanaki faced her. "Really." The other girl was dressed like the other knights, in minimal armor - breastplate, pauldrons, hand and foot guards, and a long coat. Most of her skin was covered. Tanith whispered, Your majesty-- and she waved her silent. Sephiran warned her about the prince, and then Kilvas, then Sigrun, even Zelgius - she wouldn't believe anything Soren did innocent until proven to be. "I don't mind, Marcia, but you should take care around the prince. Don't let him deceive you with some misguided dream of solidarity."
"I wouldn't--!" Marcia looked up, lips tight and frowning, then folded her arms and looked away again. "I understand."
Sanaki nodded and entered her parlor after leaving an order to have Zelgius - and Sephiran, should he arrive - sent directly in upon his arrival. She wanted to say something reassuring, but the words weren't there, and anything else she thought - how advantageous it was, for example, to have the extra strength, or the ability to detect others - did not sound like praise. Her knights were there to be used, yet to actually say so aloud would be tasteless.
The servants had pulled the curtains open and left the balcony doors ajar for a breeze. Sunshine streamed in, over the table, to cast long shadows with the teapot and vase of roses at the center. The symmetrical arch of the raven king's wings over the back of her divan cast an odd shape on the wall. "It's about time you're back," she said, reaching back to untie her hair. "What kept you?"
His back was to the window, and his face lit from the side. "It hasn't even been a month." Kilvas braced his knees and stood, flapping his wings and folding them back. "I had to see Sephiran first. He sent me snooping after the queen mother, and that got-- it was complicated, and he was apparently busy."
He had better be, she muttered, and let the ribbon coil onto the tabletop by the covered tray. She could smell cinnamon and butter, and bit her lip. "Anything I should know about? Is Ashnard mobilizing a secret army? Does Sephiran have some mysterious connection with the Daein nobility?"
Kilvas snorted. "Actually--"
"I was joking."
"--there's some military activity northwest of the wall, but it looked like they were facing Crimea."
Sanaki sat down at the table and stared at the tray. She could see her reflection in it, and the shape of the raven behind her. "You didn't check?"
"That isn't what he sent me for. You have other agents for that." Kilvas put himself between her and the window, shading her from the glare, and leaned against the table. "You shouldn't try to dodge that network, by the way, unless you're trying to tell us you trust the prince more than your minister."
She sighed. So it was sooner, instead of later. "I had a full compliment of my personal guard."
"He had Gawain's son."
Sanaki rolled her eyes. Oh yes, she knew of that man's exploits. Who didn't? And yet, of his son, very little was said. He looked strong; he carried himself, the weight of his armor, the awkward shape of his sword, naturally, with grace, as if he walked on air. She believed he was a force to be concerned with, but eight of her personal guard should be more than a match. What they lacked in brute strength, they made up for in speed and skill. That mattered. They wouldn't be her most trusted warriors if they weren't the best. "You're paranoid. He has nothing to gain by hurting me at this stage."
"True. But I wasn't talking about attempts on your safety." Kilvas flicked her hair, and she looked up. "He's male, and he has plenty to gain by staking a claim if he decides to do it that way. Do you even know how to handle an advance like that?"
Sanaki flipped her hair out of his reach and pushed his hand away. "I'm not stupid, Kilvas. I've had my share of male company."
He shook his head. "You've had Sephiran, and a bunch of fat old men who know better than to show any disrespect to your person."
"Thank the goddess for that." She gave in and uncovered the tray. Slices of bread thick as cake were browned and crisped on the edges with cinnamon and sugar, and the centers soaked with melted butter.
Kilvas paused, and when she glanced up, he was watching the door. "Sephiran takes his liberties, though, so maybe--" He saw her eyes narrow and said, "Oh yes he does. You just don't realize it because he's practically perfect in every other way when you're in the room."
She put her utensils down and said sharply, "He's absolutely proper in every interaction he has with me."
"Really." He glanced at the door again, nudging her chair to face him. She frowned and tried to turn back to the table, but he braced it with his leg and leaned over her, holding the back with one hand and preventing her escape. "Really. He doesn't invade your personal space?" Kilvas pressed his hand to her cheek, worked his fingers into her hair, and swept it back. Her scalp tingled where his nails scraped over the skin, holding her hair at the back. "He doesn't lay a hand on you in a less-than professional manner?"
Blood rushed to her face. Sanaki swallowed and pressed her hands against his chest to push him back, only he didn't move at all. "N-no." She sucked in a deep breath. Woodsmoke, leather, feathers. There was a hint of pine, and musk. She'd never been this close to him before. "He wouldn't do that and you know it."
The raven's eyes narrowed. She kicked his shins and he clamped her leg down, kneeling on the chair between her knees. "He knows how attractive you are and he doesn't want anybody else to have you."
"Liar." She tried to breathe more slowly, tried to glare, though his proximity made it awkward. His wings curved around her, blotting out the sun like ink, the tips brushing her shoulders, a feather tickling her ear. Somehow, her mouth formed words that made sense. "He's anything but interested, I assure you."
Kilvas chuckled, but the sound was short-lived. "He's stringing you along. Wait and see." She could feel his breath against her lips when he spoke. "They do that. They don't even have to try, they don't even mean to - it just happens. They pull you in with their eyes, and their beautiful faces, and they snare you like a rabbit with their songs until you worship the ground they walk on--"
"You're speaking nonsense!" Her voice came out a strangled whisper and she clenched his fingers into his coat. "That has nothing to do with him, he's not--" she yanked at his coat, "not-- don't say that--"
"No denying reality for you, empress." His hand smoothed her hair against her head, almost gentle. "Unless you plan to let your enemies take everything away from you."
Sanaki clenched her teeth hard. "I hate you," she whispered, and he smiled faintly. "I--"
"Kilvas."
The raven's head snapped up and Sanaki started, snatching her hands back. She gripped the seat of her chair to keep from trembling, and when Sephiran said softly, kindly step away from my empress - a threat implicit in the way the air shifted and caressed her skin when the day was still and the curtains hung unmoving - and she heard him approach while Kilvas stepped back, folding his wings, she almost let out a shaky breath. Was Zelgius back there too, or was she to be spared that embarrassment? All she had to do was turn and look. It wasn't that hard. But Sephiran was behind her, and she couldn't look at him.
"Minister." The raven straightened, and made no move to bow or even nod. "Just making a point."
"A point. I see." She felt Sephiran grip the back of her chair. The wood creaked. "What argument could you possibly wish to make that would require so much physical involvement?"
Kilvas lifted an eyebrow. She thought he would smile - there was a twitch at the corner of his mouth, but he resisted. "One you should have made a long time ago."
"That--" Sephiran's voice cracked out and his nails scraped the wood, "--is not your business. None of this is your concern. If you interfere again--"
"Stop it!" Sanaki stood up and faced Kilvas. She thought her knees would buckle. "Get out." Her hands clenched and unclenched, sore from gripping his jacket so tightly, and then the chair. She tried to smile some of the sting away, but couldn't summon the resolve to hold the expression. "You can finish your report later."
He nodded sharply and turned away. Sephiran came around the chair and Sanaki stepped in front of him, grabbed his wrist, pushed him back a step with her own body. She didn't loosen her grip until the raven made his exit and she heard the flap of his wings when he leapt from the balcony rail. His passage sent her curtains billowing inward, and the wind was cool against her cheeks, crisp and smelling of wet pine. It faded too soon. She felt hot, sweltering in her riding dress, her hair like a blanket against her back, pressed between herself and Sephiran so she couldn't have moved her head very far even if she desired to look back and meet his eyes.
He was so still she couldn't hear him breathe, but she could feel the rise and fall of his chest, the quick pulse at his wrist, and the muscles knotted under his skin. He seemed poised to run out to the balcony and throw the spell he'd summoned earlier.
"Don't be angry on my behalf," she said, watching the curtains settle. He jerked his wrist back and she let him go. "He would have stopped if I'd told him to."
He finally made a sound - a sharp sigh that stirred her hair - and she felt him back away. Sanaki spun when she heard his footsteps sound on their way to the door and almost demanded he stop, but Sephiran only gathered his papers from the stand he'd left them on and came back toward her. For the first time she could recall, he didn't smile when he offered them to her, and he didn't respond when she thanked him. It was reflex. She hugged the folder to her chest and waited for him to say something - anything. An admonition. A question.
She should have told Tanith to have him knock, but how could she anticipate something like that? Kilvas had never shown interest in her before. He was only making a point, he said, but if he'd been serious--
"Don't look at me like that," she said when it was clear he would not be the first to speak. She turned back to the table, and the breakfast going to waste. She couldn't have swallowed a bite to save her life. "If you're willing to sell me to Daein, a turn or two with Kilvas shouldn't make any difference."
"Sell you?" His volume made her jump and tense. "I'm trying to keep you out of his hands, and you walked right into his net!"
Sanaki glared at him over her shoulder. "That's why you went along with this plan to bring him to Sienne, to keep him away from me?"
"I pushed for Daein because I knew he wouldn't be interested--"
"Of course he isn't interested." Sanaki slammed the reports onto the table. "Nobody wants me. I'm a fraud!"
If only Kilvas had stayed. She wouldn't have minded one of his snide comments just then, or even-- even watching him argue with Sephiran would have been better, and she just didn't have the foresight to realize it when she sent him away. She should have ordered him to finish his report and defied Sephiran's insistence that he be gone. She should have made him explain himself, his comments, his heron...
"No," Sephiran breathed into the silence. She heard him move. "No, you're not--"
"I don't want to hear it." Sanaki made herself straighten. "Leave. I don't want to talk to you right now."
"Sanaki--"
The table blurred. She slapped her palm onto the folder. "That is an order!"
She could imagine him recoiling, and immediately choked up. Three weeks ago, two months ago, she wouldn't have ordered him to do anything. She wouldn't have yelled at him. She wouldn't feel like crying because one of the senate's ploys seemed to be working. It always seemed like that at first, but Sephiran had never failed to turn the tables before, and maybe he wouldn't this time - but what if he did?
Sanaki heard the door close behind him and sat down to stare at her plate. She couldn't see the prince in this state. Their appointment was still hours away, but if Sephiran didn't come back-- why did he leave? Why did he listen to her? He should know better than to follow her orders when she was angry. How would they face each other in front of the prince and pretend nothing was wrong if they didn't have an opportunity to talk it over?
Of course, Sephiran always followed instructions, and she would have to call him back if she wanted to see his face before they met Soren. She couldn't do that.
Her enemies wouldn't have to take him away from her, it seemed - she was doing a good enough job by herself.
...................................................................................
That was hard to write.
I might change something, I don't know. No time to think about it.
Slightly edited 09.29.08.
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no subject
Date: 2008-09-17 11:58 am (UTC)The thing with Marcia has me curious, though. What happened?
Also, chapter rules. Seriously.
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Date: 2008-09-17 06:09 pm (UTC)Now see, this-- it didn't go as planned. At all. My fanservicy, self-indulgent Naesala/Sanaki plans are going out the window.
Seriously. I had them.
If he hadn't been picking on Sephiran I bet it would've gone better.
Marcia -- I remember reading somewhere that she's Branded, and though I don't know if that's canonically true (?), I liked the idea for this story. It works for me (or, them)on various levels.
Thank you~
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Date: 2008-09-17 07:49 pm (UTC)The only thing I remember about that was the April Fool's thing on
You're welcome!
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Date: 2008-09-18 08:36 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-09-18 12:33 pm (UTC)