Thanks for the Memories; Katherine x Ezekial
Who?; Ezekial Nodion and Katherine Agusty
When?; Last Night
Where?; Agusty
What?; They finally meet... a few weeks after he kills her family.
Extra; Listen to this while you read.
So... this was what it came down to.
An attempt at conspiracy and death at the hands of Ezekial Nodion. What a dishonorable way for a King to die - even if it was a King in name only.
Strangely enough, it wasn't with disgust that she looked down upon her family tombstone. Granted, it wasn't sadness, either, but Kath wasn't sure whether she was capable of it. It was... a mixture of melancholy and apathy. It didn't matter to her that the family's name was now shamed - she had put that name behind her a long time ago. Still... whether she liked it or not, the man was her father. If she couldn't pay him respects - which he did not deserve - she could at least offer him a thought or two.
A fool to the very end.
There was a rustle of cloth behind her and the sound of metal scraping leather. The tomb, which in reality was more of a shrine to the late King Agusty, was open to the public at all times, yet tonight the doorway darkened and the sound of men speaking in hushed tones filled the air. Whispers of footsteps cascaded down the stone steps leading into the tomb, while a long shadow seemed to reach her feet before the man appeared at the base of the stairs -- though the only thing that could be certain from the shadow was that he was wearing a cloak of some sort, and carried a weapon.
He stepped closer to where she was standing, though the hood was still drawn up around his face, a cloak of black and blue with silver fringe. For a long moment he looked over the tomb, then reached out with long, slender fingers to touch the large statue resting on top, depicting her father carrying a large war hammer in plate mail, one which held the crest of her family. "Forgive me," he whispered. "It did not need to end this way."
He didn't need to show his face. She could recognize his voice. And... he could recognize her, she supposed. He had realized it at some point or other, she was sure of it. "He was a fool, and he died like one. That is all there is to it." Well, no, it wasn't. But that would be what she would tell herself from that point on.
"You knew." To be perfectly honest, she didn't expect anyone to recognize her - not even someone she used to know as a child. She had short hair now, she dressed like a man - nowhere near the pretty, pretty princess that her parents had dolled her up to be back then. Perhaps he just had a remarkable memory.
"I suspected," he pointed out, his hand moving to draw back the cowl from around his face. "It was your eyes, though you further made me wonder with how you interacted with me in the journals." He didn't turn to face her, instead gazed up at the stone statue of her father. "To be honest, when you went missing... we expected you to show up at our doorstep. When you didn't, father had some of our men look for you though they never found a trace. I cannot say I am surprised now, in the long run."
He shrugged slightly, then bowed his head to the tomb and placed his hands together, speaking a prayer just under his breath. Each week, on a Thursday evening, he would follow this ritual... as a way to repent for the sin. The battle had been little more than a slaughter, as Agusty refused to surrender until the end, when the crown was taken by force. It was a shame that her mother had stepped in the way, in an attempt to save her husband's life... a shame that Ezekial had carried Mysteltainn into the throne room to meet his rival. He hadn't realized what had happened until the guards pried the sword from his hands.
"Where will you go now, Katherine?" Her parents were dead and her city was no longer her city... though had that not been the case for over a decade now? He turned to face her, resting his hands against his hips. "I will not stop you if you wish to leave."
"Hm." She closed her eyes for a moment. "My eyes. I see cheesy lines still come naturally to you." He had always been very close to the ideal nobleman - at least, that was how she'd always seen him. It bothered her.
"The life of a nomad suits me just fine. I only came to Agustria to sell off the sword, nothing more." She owned a house in Silesia, but it wasn't exactly a home to her. Kath felt no attachment to it - or anything, really. To her, leaving or staying mattered little - now that her parents were both gone, Agustria was no longer in her list of places to not be.
"You always had pretty eyes, even to this day. The one thing you couldn't change was what betrayed you." A slight smile played across his lips, though he made no mention of anything more. She had always been different, a bit of a rebel, which her parents had seemed to blindly ignore. Perhaps that was the reason he had been drawn to her as a child, though those days were long since past.
"You are welcome to stay here, you know. I would gladly allow you in my home if you wished to remain in Agustria... or perhaps I could set you up with something instead. No one needs to know who you are." He had been escorted tonight, as always, by his closest guards; men and even women who would keep any of his secrets until their last breath. These were people he could trust, and because of that, he had little fear of their conversation being compromised.
"Cheesy, cheesy." She turned to face him at last, her expression as neutral as it had been from the moment they met again. As a child, she used to wear her emotions on her sleeve - there was barely any trace of them left now, it seemed like. "I have abandoned my country and lived as a mercenary for years. We had not seen one another in that time - why would you make such an offer now? Is it guilt over killing my parents and stripping me of my rank?"
Not that she actually cared about her rank, but still. Proper as he was, he would likely feel guilty one way or the other.
He paused as his eyes met her own, and for a long moment he thought about why he would make such an offer. He felt guilty for killing her parents; constantly at night in his dreams the events replayed in his head, whispering to him that he had become something that his family had fought against for so long. Did he offer her these things because he felt sorry for her and wished to make amends for tearing her family apart?
"I ask you to remain with me because of all the people I have met over my life, you were the one person that I enjoyed spending time with the most. Your parents..." His voice trailed off, as if he lost his train of thought. "I regret the path I was forced to take, Katherine, but I do not offer you this out of pity. I would not insult your honor in such a way."
"That was a long time ago." She turned back to the tomb. "I am no longer the little girl you met back then." He asked her to remain with him? Did he even realize what that sounded like?
Yet he still managed to make it sound proper and honorable and noble and cheesy, cheesy, cheesy. Couldn't he talk and act less like a perfect nobleman and more like a normal person for a change? Dragons.
What did she expect from a nobleman?
"You have grown up, that is for certain. I believe deep down you are the same person I knew so many years ago... that rebellious girl who wanted nothing more than to dodge dresses and explore the world. Perhaps one day I will be lucky enough to hear from your own lips the adventures you have taken, but I suppose my luck is running dry tonight." His eyes turned back to her father's armor.
"I can see a lot of your father in you, Katherine. You took after him a lot more than your mother."
The neutral expression quickly changed into a scowl at the words. "I do not particularly care to be compared to the old fool," she snapped, ready to turn around and leave. It was shameful enough to be their offspring, she didn't need to be compared to them--
And would he stop being so proper even when he was being irritating? That made it even more irritating!
"He may have been a foolish man in regards to being a King, but he was a kind husband and a good friend to those he trusted. Father told me that before they fell out, they were good friends. I remember a few stories from my childhood, though none of them would matter now."
He was the first to turn and step towards the stone stairs. "I have missed speaking with you, Katherine. I hope you will accept my offer so I can see you more often. I will understand if you wish to leave instead, but please let me know your decision before you go. If you wish to leave..." He paused, looking back towards her. "I will at least make sure you have whatever you need to head on your way."
"He was a fool who could not see the truth right before his own eyes. Incapable of looking at the bigger picture." The words were barely audible, bitter-sounding. Her father - the fool had never once realized his own daughter's discontentment - how could he ever hope to understand the entire country's?
"Why do you insist?" More and more, he made this sound like he had actually taken some manner of interest in her. The thought was quite ridiculous...
"His heart was in the right place," he stated simply. If more people had let their hearts lead their lives...
"What do you mean?" Was she considering staying? He wasn't certain even if she did stay if it would be for a while or only a week or two.
No, it was not. It never had been. He did not know the first thing about the old fool's heart!
She glanced at him from the corner of her eye. "I mean what I asked. Why do you insist?"
The question is, did she know anything about her own father's heart? About how his daughter disappearing effected him, if only behind the facade? Not that it mattered now.
"I enjoy your company. Once before I did, and even now I do. I would like to learn more about your travels and who you are now. Is that a bad thing?"
She assumed she knew, and it was more than enough for her. Admitting to being wrong wasn't among her qualities...
"I never did figure there was anything to enjoy about my company."
"That would not change anything." He turned slightly so his back rested against the stone wall of the tomb. "Should it change something?"
"For normal people, it should. But I suppose you have never fit under normal standards." Cheesy. "It is still strange, however."
Why was she even carrying on this conversation? It wasn't as if she had any intentions of taking him up on his offer.
"Strange is something that some people strive for." He began making his way up the stairs. "Do you have a place to stay here in Agusty, or would you like me to arrange something?"
She didn't move, eyes turning once again to the tomb. "I will not spend the night in this city."
"And why won’t you?" He paused again, half way up the flight of stairs.
"I am leaving." The smooth words, the propriety, that irritating perfection - no, she had absolutely no intention of taking him up on his offer.
"Then I'll have supplies prepared for you." Oh. It was too bad she wasn't going to stay, but the least he could do was make sure that she had what she needed when she left.
"I have plenty." She wasn't about to accept his help, either. Why did he have to be so irritatingly persistent? They were not friends. Mere passing acquaintances, at this point. And necessary or not, this man had just killed her parents - she wasn't about to accept anything coming from him. "I have no need for more."
"Very well then." His words were simple, flowing out of his mouth as if he didn't care either way. He continued up the steps where his two soldiers stood, and from that point he whispered something to them and they both saluted and headed off into the city.
Of course he didn't care. It wouldn't have made any sense for him to.
Suited her just fine - she had never been the type to care, either.
When?; Last Night
Where?; Agusty
What?; They finally meet... a few weeks after he kills her family.
Extra; Listen to this while you read.
So... this was what it came down to.
An attempt at conspiracy and death at the hands of Ezekial Nodion. What a dishonorable way for a King to die - even if it was a King in name only.
Strangely enough, it wasn't with disgust that she looked down upon her family tombstone. Granted, it wasn't sadness, either, but Kath wasn't sure whether she was capable of it. It was... a mixture of melancholy and apathy. It didn't matter to her that the family's name was now shamed - she had put that name behind her a long time ago. Still... whether she liked it or not, the man was her father. If she couldn't pay him respects - which he did not deserve - she could at least offer him a thought or two.
A fool to the very end.
There was a rustle of cloth behind her and the sound of metal scraping leather. The tomb, which in reality was more of a shrine to the late King Agusty, was open to the public at all times, yet tonight the doorway darkened and the sound of men speaking in hushed tones filled the air. Whispers of footsteps cascaded down the stone steps leading into the tomb, while a long shadow seemed to reach her feet before the man appeared at the base of the stairs -- though the only thing that could be certain from the shadow was that he was wearing a cloak of some sort, and carried a weapon.
He stepped closer to where she was standing, though the hood was still drawn up around his face, a cloak of black and blue with silver fringe. For a long moment he looked over the tomb, then reached out with long, slender fingers to touch the large statue resting on top, depicting her father carrying a large war hammer in plate mail, one which held the crest of her family. "Forgive me," he whispered. "It did not need to end this way."
He didn't need to show his face. She could recognize his voice. And... he could recognize her, she supposed. He had realized it at some point or other, she was sure of it. "He was a fool, and he died like one. That is all there is to it." Well, no, it wasn't. But that would be what she would tell herself from that point on.
"You knew." To be perfectly honest, she didn't expect anyone to recognize her - not even someone she used to know as a child. She had short hair now, she dressed like a man - nowhere near the pretty, pretty princess that her parents had dolled her up to be back then. Perhaps he just had a remarkable memory.
"I suspected," he pointed out, his hand moving to draw back the cowl from around his face. "It was your eyes, though you further made me wonder with how you interacted with me in the journals." He didn't turn to face her, instead gazed up at the stone statue of her father. "To be honest, when you went missing... we expected you to show up at our doorstep. When you didn't, father had some of our men look for you though they never found a trace. I cannot say I am surprised now, in the long run."
He shrugged slightly, then bowed his head to the tomb and placed his hands together, speaking a prayer just under his breath. Each week, on a Thursday evening, he would follow this ritual... as a way to repent for the sin. The battle had been little more than a slaughter, as Agusty refused to surrender until the end, when the crown was taken by force. It was a shame that her mother had stepped in the way, in an attempt to save her husband's life... a shame that Ezekial had carried Mysteltainn into the throne room to meet his rival. He hadn't realized what had happened until the guards pried the sword from his hands.
"Where will you go now, Katherine?" Her parents were dead and her city was no longer her city... though had that not been the case for over a decade now? He turned to face her, resting his hands against his hips. "I will not stop you if you wish to leave."
"Hm." She closed her eyes for a moment. "My eyes. I see cheesy lines still come naturally to you." He had always been very close to the ideal nobleman - at least, that was how she'd always seen him. It bothered her.
"The life of a nomad suits me just fine. I only came to Agustria to sell off the sword, nothing more." She owned a house in Silesia, but it wasn't exactly a home to her. Kath felt no attachment to it - or anything, really. To her, leaving or staying mattered little - now that her parents were both gone, Agustria was no longer in her list of places to not be.
"You always had pretty eyes, even to this day. The one thing you couldn't change was what betrayed you." A slight smile played across his lips, though he made no mention of anything more. She had always been different, a bit of a rebel, which her parents had seemed to blindly ignore. Perhaps that was the reason he had been drawn to her as a child, though those days were long since past.
"You are welcome to stay here, you know. I would gladly allow you in my home if you wished to remain in Agustria... or perhaps I could set you up with something instead. No one needs to know who you are." He had been escorted tonight, as always, by his closest guards; men and even women who would keep any of his secrets until their last breath. These were people he could trust, and because of that, he had little fear of their conversation being compromised.
"Cheesy, cheesy." She turned to face him at last, her expression as neutral as it had been from the moment they met again. As a child, she used to wear her emotions on her sleeve - there was barely any trace of them left now, it seemed like. "I have abandoned my country and lived as a mercenary for years. We had not seen one another in that time - why would you make such an offer now? Is it guilt over killing my parents and stripping me of my rank?"
Not that she actually cared about her rank, but still. Proper as he was, he would likely feel guilty one way or the other.
He paused as his eyes met her own, and for a long moment he thought about why he would make such an offer. He felt guilty for killing her parents; constantly at night in his dreams the events replayed in his head, whispering to him that he had become something that his family had fought against for so long. Did he offer her these things because he felt sorry for her and wished to make amends for tearing her family apart?
"I ask you to remain with me because of all the people I have met over my life, you were the one person that I enjoyed spending time with the most. Your parents..." His voice trailed off, as if he lost his train of thought. "I regret the path I was forced to take, Katherine, but I do not offer you this out of pity. I would not insult your honor in such a way."
"That was a long time ago." She turned back to the tomb. "I am no longer the little girl you met back then." He asked her to remain with him? Did he even realize what that sounded like?
Yet he still managed to make it sound proper and honorable and noble and cheesy, cheesy, cheesy. Couldn't he talk and act less like a perfect nobleman and more like a normal person for a change? Dragons.
What did she expect from a nobleman?
"You have grown up, that is for certain. I believe deep down you are the same person I knew so many years ago... that rebellious girl who wanted nothing more than to dodge dresses and explore the world. Perhaps one day I will be lucky enough to hear from your own lips the adventures you have taken, but I suppose my luck is running dry tonight." His eyes turned back to her father's armor.
"I can see a lot of your father in you, Katherine. You took after him a lot more than your mother."
The neutral expression quickly changed into a scowl at the words. "I do not particularly care to be compared to the old fool," she snapped, ready to turn around and leave. It was shameful enough to be their offspring, she didn't need to be compared to them--
And would he stop being so proper even when he was being irritating? That made it even more irritating!
"He may have been a foolish man in regards to being a King, but he was a kind husband and a good friend to those he trusted. Father told me that before they fell out, they were good friends. I remember a few stories from my childhood, though none of them would matter now."
He was the first to turn and step towards the stone stairs. "I have missed speaking with you, Katherine. I hope you will accept my offer so I can see you more often. I will understand if you wish to leave instead, but please let me know your decision before you go. If you wish to leave..." He paused, looking back towards her. "I will at least make sure you have whatever you need to head on your way."
"He was a fool who could not see the truth right before his own eyes. Incapable of looking at the bigger picture." The words were barely audible, bitter-sounding. Her father - the fool had never once realized his own daughter's discontentment - how could he ever hope to understand the entire country's?
"Why do you insist?" More and more, he made this sound like he had actually taken some manner of interest in her. The thought was quite ridiculous...
"His heart was in the right place," he stated simply. If more people had let their hearts lead their lives...
"What do you mean?" Was she considering staying? He wasn't certain even if she did stay if it would be for a while or only a week or two.
No, it was not. It never had been. He did not know the first thing about the old fool's heart!
She glanced at him from the corner of her eye. "I mean what I asked. Why do you insist?"
The question is, did she know anything about her own father's heart? About how his daughter disappearing effected him, if only behind the facade? Not that it mattered now.
"I enjoy your company. Once before I did, and even now I do. I would like to learn more about your travels and who you are now. Is that a bad thing?"
She assumed she knew, and it was more than enough for her. Admitting to being wrong wasn't among her qualities...
"I never did figure there was anything to enjoy about my company."
"That would not change anything." He turned slightly so his back rested against the stone wall of the tomb. "Should it change something?"
"For normal people, it should. But I suppose you have never fit under normal standards." Cheesy. "It is still strange, however."
Why was she even carrying on this conversation? It wasn't as if she had any intentions of taking him up on his offer.
"Strange is something that some people strive for." He began making his way up the stairs. "Do you have a place to stay here in Agusty, or would you like me to arrange something?"
She didn't move, eyes turning once again to the tomb. "I will not spend the night in this city."
"And why won’t you?" He paused again, half way up the flight of stairs.
"I am leaving." The smooth words, the propriety, that irritating perfection - no, she had absolutely no intention of taking him up on his offer.
"Then I'll have supplies prepared for you." Oh. It was too bad she wasn't going to stay, but the least he could do was make sure that she had what she needed when she left.
"I have plenty." She wasn't about to accept his help, either. Why did he have to be so irritatingly persistent? They were not friends. Mere passing acquaintances, at this point. And necessary or not, this man had just killed her parents - she wasn't about to accept anything coming from him. "I have no need for more."
"Very well then." His words were simple, flowing out of his mouth as if he didn't care either way. He continued up the steps where his two soldiers stood, and from that point he whispered something to them and they both saluted and headed off into the city.
Of course he didn't care. It wouldn't have made any sense for him to.
Suited her just fine - she had never been the type to care, either.