ALTGS 28

The crowd within the hall dispersed quickly. Nobody wanted to hang back and chat.

Rashidi slipped past the nobles that were leaving, heading against the direction of the crowd. Many tossed strange looks at him. Of course they would. His daughter had likely antagonized a spectacular number of them from this extremely tense meeting in her effort to establish her power. It was why nobody wanted to socialize as they normally did after a meeting like this was finished. He had seen her rise from her chair and leave through the door she had walked in, so he moved across the hall to the north side. Knowing how purposefully and quickly his daughter normally moved, he picked up his pace to catch up to her. He entered the open stone airway that she had likely walked down. To his right, there was a carefully cultivated garden known as the Spring Gardens that was normally filled with beautiful flowers. As of now, it looked bare and still. Nothing bloomed. To his left was the Winter Gardens, filled with plants that somehow blossomed and thrived in the biting cold. No birds sang here.

His daughter. Where had she gone?

As he briskly walked, nearly running, he rounded a corner and saw a glimpse of deep red. The dress Celestria had worn today. A wave of relief washed over him, and he felt his whole body relax. He didn’t know the exact reason why there was always a string of worry whenever Celestria was involved. She was more than capable of taking care of herself, and he knew this. But he would never forget that memory. The memory of a tiny body, curled and shaking. Torn and battered and bruised. The guilt. The guilt. He was about to call out to her, when he noticed the taller man dressed in crisp dark blue. Rashidi’s breath caught in his throat, and he swiftly turned around and pressed his back into the pillar he had just rounded.

Enteford!

For a perplexing moment, Rashidi wondered why he was hiding behind the stone pillar like a spy eavesdropping into a conversation. Why was he doing that? He would not be wrong in interrupting the unsupervised conversation his young, unmarried daughter was having with a surprisingly unmarried older man. He would not. And yet... he felt like he had no right to. So Rashidi shut his eyes, waiting for a good moment to reach out to his seemingly distant daughter.

This man was tall.

Yes, Celestria was convinced that no human could top the height of the demons she had worked with over the past months, but Erich Enteford was exceptional in his own right. In all honesty, all these tall people pissed her off. She herself was not short! She was above the average height for a lady, and she stood taller than many men she had met. Thanks to her father’s height and the maternal uncles she had seen, she knew she was by no means small. And yet everyone she was encountering nowadays seemed far taller. Well, whatever. Celestria put away the spontaneous grievance away with a silent resigned sigh.

“Duke Enteford. To catch me after a meeting in such a way... it isn’t proper at all.” Celestria carefully began. In all honesty, she did not know how she was to handle this man. He was much older, very decorated and established, and he seemed very difficult to read, what with that obviously experienced face of his. Really, she doubted he had not seen all the possible games anyone could bring forward. It made Celestria feel a suffocating pressure, knowing that there stood before her someone who probably wouldn’t be easily strung along with carefully selected words. Someone incredibly difficult to deal with. She didn’t have the energy or peace of mind to play nobles’ games.

“Yes. I apologize for meeting you like this.” He didn’t really sound sorry. “There was something I wanted to check, Lady Voltaine.”

“Very well. What would that be?”

He did not reply immediately. Instead, he fixed Celestria with a heavy stare. Like as if he was trying to discern something for himself.

“My sister told me all about the events that transpired in the banquet on that day. She was present. She’s a tough woman that likes to pick fights at social gatherings. So I was understandably perturbed when I heard her describe the overwhelming fear she felt when... our new King arrived on that day. Everyone was terrified. Everyone except you.”

Celestria felt her jaw clamp firmly shut. What was he implying? She could not say for sure, but that tone, the way his eyes narrowed intensely. Perhaps even skeptically.

He’s insinuating that I was somehow in on it.

How ludicrous. How could she be part of such a plan if she herself dealt with the very same fear that people felt on a daily basis? She herself knew that bone-chilling fear she dealt with every day. But what evidence did she realistically have to serve as a rebuttal to any questions anyone could raise? With an uncomfortable roll of her shoulder, Celestria stuffed the complex emotions she felt unjustifiably bubbling up from somewhere within.

“You were also the one that Crowned him King. You invoked the Law of Nature and put him on the throne that he had supposedly rightfully won.”

“Your Grace. I cannot say that I appreciate the implications you are making about me and my involvement in that event.”

“Hmm.” He simply hummed, still looking at her like he was making a decision.

What decision could he be trying to reach?

A military man who had not been present at the killing of the previous King. A man like this, facing the person that had made the King’s murderer into a King himself.

Celestria’s breath caught in her throat.

It was entirely possible that he was deciding on wether or not to kill her, wasn’t it?

Calm down, Celestria. Calm down. She gently told herself, urging her body to regain control of itself and reign back her outlandish assumptions. If he wanted to do something like that, then siding himself with her during that meeting was outwardly foolish. Or was it? If he became her only strong human ally, wouldn’t it bring about a better chance to...

No! No, calm down.

“At that banquet, I was just as surprised as everyone present. I had been on the balcony, taking a short break from the loud party, when I spotted a red fog rolling into the town. I warned the Royal Guard, but it was already too late. I’d barely told him that something was wrong when the glass broke and he... and he came down to us. I was frozen in fear just like everyone else there.” The only thing that had propelled her into doing something about the situation was the little boy that grasped her hand, paralyzed by the sheer terror.

Haelan.

As she spoke these words, she felt her eyes sting. Oh great. Blinking quickly, Celestria turned to look elsewhere. Anywhere other than those scrutinizing eyes. He would not understand the desperation of survival she had felt. The desire to live, and the intense desperation to protect that small child. So she should not at all be hurt at his implications.

Ah, just when she thought she was getting a powerful ally.

“Lady Voltaine. You are misunderstanding something. I am not implying anything at all. On that day, I did not manage to experience what you or my sister experienced. But I know that it was a difficult situation. What I wanted to check with you, was what I would be choosing to stand behind if I decided to stand by you.”

Oh.

For a few seconds, Celestria stood completely frozen by those words. And then she looked again reluctantly at those hard grey eyes.

They were not quite as hard as she had thought.

“In comparison with many of the people that should be stepping up, you’re young. Far too young. You will need support from human allies to be able to stand comfortably in the presence of our King and for our country. I had my doubts about you, but that meeting cleared most of them away.”

“I’m not...” she suddenly blurbed. I’m not young. I should be turning fifty-five if you count my previous life. But she couldn’t say this, so now she looked foolish. Foolish foolish foolish.

“I’m far stronger than you can imagine, Your Grace.”

“Hmm. Strong enough to stand before a god of demons.”

”Yes. I am.”

”And strong enough to fight against a majority of the human noble houses.”

Her mouth hung open, like she wanted to say something. But she could not.

“The Enteford House will stand with the Voltaine house. Your father has been working tirelessly to win over trustworthy allies, sifting through the flimsy houses that are now clamoring to be in his good graces. You won’t be alone on this, Lady Voltaine.”

How foolish. How foolish she felt. Clutching the fabric of her bliaut, Celestria was doing her damnedest not to bite her bottom lip. Her eyes were stinging, and she could feel those damn tears coming. Like an big wave that she was stupidly trying to ward with her bare hands. How long had she been holding those back? That feeling that she would be all alone, facing impossible situations while having to protect others while also squabbling with her fellow human beings? Oh, she would not...could not afford to cry here

An ally.

A single ally.

Taking a shaky, unladylike breath, Celestria shut her eyes very tight and refused to let any of those ridiculous tears fall.

“You have my sincerest gratitude, Your Grace. I’ll do my utmost best to prove to you that the decision you made to side with me was not in vain.” Oh, how pathetic. Her voice was trembling with poorly suppressed emotion.

She heard something. Something that she had not imagined would come from the disciplined man that stood tall and admirably before her.

He was laughing.

Really, it was just a short chuckle. One to acknowledge her thanks.

“You’ve already shown me that my decision was one properly made, Lady Voltaine. Now, I believe it wise to end this meeting here. I will contact your father soon to discuss moving forward.”

“Yes, Your Grace. Return safely.”

“As should you.” And the broad man turned round and left.

In that hallway, she thought that it would be safe. It should have been safe to shed a tear or two. But she wouldn’t. It was still in public. This meeting she had had with Erich was already risky as it was. No way she would show weakness even when people thought she didn’t know they were watching. So she sucked in yet another huge breath, then whipped around to head to the carriage and back home. But when she turned round, she came face to face with her father. His face was no longer severe and unmoving like it always was. His eyes were filled with worry, and his hand seemed to hesitantly rise to her.

She was trying so hard, but the world seemed determined to push against her.

So Celestria stopped fighting just this once, and let those foolish tears fall in the arms of her dad.

Notes:

Bliaut: an overgown that was worn in 12th century Europe (and probably many more centuries before and after lol but I like the 12th century ones the most). They’d sometimes have long sleeves and could be decorated, made of different materials as well.