BotB Ch8

[rad1986]

Aston sisters x Allen.



Date written: 1/20/2011
Date typed: 3/22 & 26/2012, edited 3/30/12
Original posting date: 4/4/2012
Date edited: N/A

Born of the Blood

Chapter 8: Boy Needs Help 1 of 3

[White, 35th Moon, Cemrota of Stahl, Year of Slate East] (March, 1990)

Eries barely noticed the palace guard outside her room the next morning. Guards as well as the rest of the palace staff frequented the halls on a daily basis. Typically not in the girls' hall; besides the handmaidens and housekeeping, anyway. At any rate, she wrote him off as one of her father's guards merely wandering around in that guard way that they did. She and her sisters never had a personal guard unless they were outside the palace boundaries. Her mother hadn't wanted that interference in their lives and her father had allowed his wife's desires. The head of palace security disagreed, but he rarely mentioned the issue; the entrances to the palace were simply more heavily guarded and the girls' comings and goings were noted. Every once in a great while, a guard was stationed on their floor, to appease the chief of palace security.

She gave him no thought as she went to breakfast but received a surprise in finding him following her back to her room afterwards. He was subtle, but not enough. He stayed several yards behind her, to be inconspicuous, but he was the same guard from before breakfast and his path never wavered from hers. She asked Arrika about it when they arrived back at her room.

"I did see him this morning when I came in and wondered if he was following you as well."

"Good, then I'm not imagining things." Eries was the wrong Aston daughter to have a wild imagination.

"Or we both are."

Eries chuckled. She made a note of the guard but brushed it off as one of the random security checks. He followed her to her history lesson, to lunch, and back to her room. The young woman plotted how to get rid of him so she could escape the palace to the entrance to the secret passage to the cemetery. Eries had a secret escape route in her room she was sure he didn't know about, but that was a last resort in this situation. She had only been through it once, when she was seven and was first informed of it. She hadn't liked it at all; the passage was very dark, cold, damp, and small. And full of far too many spiders and cobwebs.

"You could pretend to be ill and send him for the doctor."

"And mysteriously be gone when they both return? I don't fake being ill as convincingly as Marlene does. Plus he'd probably stay even after the doctor left."

"What about having your little sister need him?"

"Is Millerna even in her room?"

"I'm pretty sure."

"Will that even work? You'll have to cover for me."

"I'm sure it will. Most men act stupid and gullible when a girl cries. Of course I'll cover for you; you'll just owe me more desserts. Say… for a week?"

"Whatever it takes."

"Alright then. Operation Sneak Out is a go." Arrika saluted and left Eries' room.

Eries smiled at her friend's comment and actions, then listened through her hallway door. A few minutes later the shuffling of feet announced her handmaiden's return. "I profusely apologize for making Princess Millerna cry, but your wet nurse is busy now. Hurry!"

The middle Aston daughter flashed her friend a smile and rushed out the door. She barely caught Millerna crying about ghosts through her sister's door. Eries sped down the hall before the guard could get away.

Allen was easy to spot in the cemetery. He inhabited his usual seat on the bench near his mother's tomb. Eries could see fresh na'zai flowers, forget-me-nots, at her grave. "You're late," he stated sadly as she sat next to him.

"I'm sorry, I had trouble getting away. I'm also truly sorry that I wasn't able to attend the tournament, Allen. The Council met at the same time and the dithering idiots wouldn't stop arguing their points. I wanted to come, I really did. But they moved the date and I just couldn't…"

Eries thought she saw a look of mistrust and doubt cross his face, but it was gone before she could be sure. She convinced herself her shame had imagined it. Allen smiled tentatively. "It is forgiven."

She returned his smile. "I heard you won; congratulations. Tell me all about."

Allen spent the next few hours retelling his theatrics in the arena to her. He mentioned seeing her elder sister there and enjoying herself, much to Eries' shock and amazement. He also mentioned the upcoming opening in the Caeli and how he would probably be the one to fill the post.

The middle Aston princess tried not to think of Allen as a Knight of Heaven, hoping she wouldn't blush at the thought.

After he was finished telling his tale and Eries congratulated him again, he looked directly at her and said, "Eries, I - I need your help."

"Alright. What with?"

He sighed and rubbed his temples. "I've been staying in a guest room in the palace since I returned. However, I can't stay there indefinitely. The Schezar Manor is only a few miles outside of Palas. I… I think I'm ready to go home. But there's more to it than that. I've been gone for two years. I never stayed around long enough after… after Mother's death to properly inherit the family estate. Eries, there's even a guymelef and a leviship. The leviship literally even has my name, my middle name, on it. And," here his voice hardened, with - Father - gone," his voice returned to normal, "how do I lay claim to my heritage? I need your help; I don't know what to do." His eyes pleaded with her.

Eries patted his arm. "Don't worry; I'm sure it can't be too terribly hard. You're the legal heir; I'm certain you'll just need someone who knows the law to have you sign the correct paperwork." Allen gave her an unbelieving look. "I'm being completely honest. You find a lawyer and he'll know what to do."

"Will you help me?"

"Of course."

The guard was gone by the time Eries returned, just barely in time for dinner. She took note that Marlene was in attendance and even smiling. Her father took note that she was late and a bit flushed. Eries saw the way he looked at her but didn't understand what it meant.

[Pink, 9th Moon, Cemrota of Stahl, Year of Slate East] (March, 1990)

She spent the next two weeks with lawyers as well as with Allen and also doing research on her own in the palace's library. Arrika helped ferry messages between the two of them when Eries was unable to get away. Such instances happened too frequently to be a coincidence. The guard was replaced by a Caeli after only a few days and he appeared more than once to dog her footsteps. Finally, at the end of two weeks she confronted him.

"The palace is perfectly safe, I'm sure," she flung at him from around the corner she had just turned on her way to the library. "You don't have to play nanny to me, I'm a big girl." Arrika's word choice of 'wet nurse' sounded a little too course for her 'delicate princess' mouth.

She must have surprised him, his stride faltered one misstep and he stopped. He held his tongue and simply stood still. Eries came back around the corner and starred at him.

"Permission to speak freely," Eries said, though it was more of a command then a statement.

He didn't even try to hide his shock at her forwardness. Score one for her. "Following orders, your highness."

Eries turned that one over in her mind. "I suppose you're also under orders to keep following me even if I order you not to?"

"Yes, highness."

She shrugged. "You already know who I am. What's your name?"

His shock returned. "Lucen, Ishir Lucen, your majesty."

"Nice to meet you." Eries curtsied politely. If she couldn't shake him from her side she'd at least rattle him a little mentally.

"And you as well." His half-bow held no sarcasm, only loyalty with a dash of curiosity.

"Shall we?" Eries indicated the hallway to the library.

Lucen nodded as if he had a choice.

They continued on, Lucen walking only a few paces behind her. Several silent minutes passed and as they approached the ornate library doors, Lucen asked, "Why the sudden interest in the library, highness?"

Eries failed to suppress her unladylike shrug. "Research."

"Into what? Maybe I could be of service."

She forced away a laugh; there was no need to mock him, a Caeli, after he'd been polite so far. A Caeli, all swords and guymelefs, know a thing about law? "I doubt it. I'm helping a friend to reclaim the family inheritance."

"Would you be meeting with this friend while you and Lady Arrika are holed up in your room?"

"What is it to you?"

"Easier to protect you, your highness."

Without answering his question, Eries only said, "I don't think I need protecting from my empty quarters."

"When you don't leave your room for several hours and are consistently late for dinner, someone is bound to worry."

Eries forced herself to continue walking to the section that contained the books on inheritance laws her instructor had told her about yesterday. Surely 'someone' was either the palace gossip servants or her father; though in the end it was her father that she had to worry the most about. Stopping her gait and turning to give him a piece of her mind on her privacy would be a dead giveaway. Lucen very subtly baited her a few times while she flipped through a few books. Eries saw right though them and very politely asked him to be quiet while she tried to read. He must have gotten the hint for he went and sat on a couch several feet away.

Eries quickly read through part of the book, taking notes on anything that might be helpful to Allen. When she was finished, she snapped the book shut, replaced it on the shelf, and strode back to the library's exit and her rooms beyond. Lucen followed a few feet behind and stayed silent.

Upon reaching her room, Eries announced she was tired and going to bed early, bid Lucen a good evening, and softly slammed the door. She sat down on the closest chair and begged for Lucen to believe her and leave. Arrika had left shortly after her lunch period to give the message to Allen to met Eries in the cemetery this evening and the elder girl had not returned; neither had thought she needed to at the time. Eries knew that she was pushing her luck in trying to meet with Allen shortly before the ninth hour, but it was to be a short meeting anyway. She was just giving him the notes she had just written and wanted to wish him good luck in his meeting with the lawyer tomorrow.

She watched the clock tick by five full minutes, then quietly poked her head into the hall. Lucen was there, halfway between her room and Marlene's. His eyes were closed but Eries wasn't fooled. She silently closed the door and waited another ten minutes.

The Caeli was still there. "I won't be leaving until morning, highness." He opened his eyes.

He had good hearing.

"You have to sleep some time."

"So do you, your majesty."

And bold, score one for him.

Eries mentally shrugged. She went to her closet and retrieved a light cloak, tucked her notes under her arm, and exited her room. She headed for the lesser-used servants' stairwell, trying to act as if she always took this route.

"I thought you said you were sleepy, your highness."

She took note that he was simply making a statement. There was no sarcasm, rudeness, or mother-henning. He wasn't throwing her words in her face. He was merely repeating them. Almost as if he was looking for clarification, understanding.

The middle Aston daughter shrugged. "I changed my mind. I'm going for a walk, to clear my mind. You're welcome to come along, if you'd like." As if she had a choice.

He followed silently a few paces behind her all the way to the cemetery. Eries again tried to act as if going to the cemetery at half past the ninth hour was completely normal for her. He made a confused noise when she exited the palace from an unguarded servant's door. A surprised noise escaped when they entered the cemetery. He didn't speak until they had just passed the entryway. "What are you doing here, highness?" He sounded generally perplexed.

"I'm meeting a friend here to give him some notes."

"Him?" Lucen nodded his head toward a waiting Allen.

Eries didn't look at her friend but kept her eyes on the Caeli. "Lucen, please wait here by the entrance. I'm going over there to talk to Sir Allen for only a few moments and then I will return." She turned away and moved toward Allen.

"Your majesty - " He began, still following her. "I don't think that's a good idea."

She straightened her back, put her head high, and threw authority into her voice. "Knight Lucen, wait here. I revoke your free speech." Point to him for remembering he had it.

The Caeli snapped his mouth shut, stood tall and bowed stiffly.

She hurried over to Allen and pushed her notes into his hands.

Allen removed his hand from the sword at his side. "Why is a guard with you? Is that why you're late - " Hurt flashed in his eyes " - and why you came in through the entrance?"

Eries nodded. "Sometimes the guard captain bothers Father about us girls having a private guard. Don't worry about it." She forced calm into her voice, trying to convince herself as well. "Allen, don't worry about it. Just make sure to do well when you meet with the lawyer tomorrow. Dress properly and remember what we've talked about; you'll do fine."

He bobbed his head in agreement, but Eries could read the hurt in his eyes. "I could never thank you enough, Er - Princess Eries." Allen moved as if to hug her but stopped.

She picked up where he left off, holding him only briefly, loosely. Allen awkwardly patted her on the back. "You're most welcome, Allen. I'm glad I could assist you, my friend."

He smiled at her. She returned it, forcing herself not to stare.

"Well, good eve then."

"Good night and good luck."

Eries walked back to the entrance and Lucen, making sure she didn't glance back at Allen as she usually did. She didn't say anything to the Caeli, just continued on to the palace and her chambers.

"Good night," she threw over her shoulder to Lucen as she slammed her door shut. Eries didn't want to hear him reply, which would no doubt end with a "your majesty."

She slowly changed out of her day clothes, fumbling a little. Eries was nervous, wondering why her father might have a Caeli following her. She wished she hadn't sent Arrika home early. Finally, Eries managed to get her dress undone. She threw her night clothes on and plopped into bed.

The middle Aston daughter had the feeling that her father had won this round.