The Promise (Verus)

[GEAR]

September 21st, OE 102
11:18 PM
Perindor Citadel, Study

"Heavy lies the head that wears the crown".

A certain Lunarian Queen had pondered the meaning of that statement, recently. Were it be she had met her Crescentian counterpart, whose nights were even more restless, she might have sheepishly amended the statement to account for varying degrees of weight.

It was a quiet evening. Not even birds dared to disturb the tranquility of the night, and consequently, it was the best of times to think. To plan. To prepare. The spectre of war loomed closer with each passing day, and with it, a return to the days of the ancient times - and of grudges, left to fester for hundreds of years, being revived in earnest. Few could blame the Grand Reine for her vigilance - or her sleeplessness, with such considerations at hand.

So it was that she scrawled away in silence and privacy, her only company being the flickering of a lamp.

How it danced and writhed, a tiny beacon of brightness in an ocean of darkness, not unlike L'Isola itself. Throwing shadows on the walls that beckoned the imagination, and which took shapes that called forth memories long-since forgotten, lit by the dim half-moon in the sky.

Mirages. Falsehoods. Tricks of the mind.

But, not tonight.

A gentle, midnight breeze brushed against Heidel's neck, accompanied by the feeble fluttering of curtains.

...No. Not quite a mere touch of the wind, for it was accompanied with the distinct prickling on the back of the neck. Of sixth sense, born of Crescentia's greatest treasure rising to the occasion, alerting its Reactor to the presence of another.

"It's been some time, your highness."

The voice was recognizeable, yes - but not the features. Much in the way that half-glimpsed shadows cold take certain shapes, so did the form of Ze'ev Yarad make itself slowly clear to her, leaning against the wall, his arms folded, like an oversized crow.

There was color in his cheeks now, depth to his voice, as though he were less of a monochrome caricature of a man, and had somehow become more...

Real.

 

[VeraC]

The study was quiet, placed far away from the hustle and bustle of the castle main halls, it was the place where one could find peace to read or work. For Heidel it had become her bedroom as of late, countless nights spent looking over war strategies and brushing up her knowledge of the giants and searching for perhaps information she may have had overlooked before. While she did not quite possess the willpower of Kusanagi, her devotion to the land was second to none, and for her people’s sake, she’d be willing to do anything.

Before Heidel was a large table seemingly twice the size of herself, with a map of the realm sprawled across the top. Stacks of books towered from both the ground and table, along with scattered papers spread across the table and floor. To any onlooker it seemed like a tornado had blown through the room leaving it a wondrous mess, but for Heidel, it was organized to some extent. Her head was hung over the table, her eyes shifted from spot to spot; her finger tracing lines along the map, before shifting to a nearby paper, her eyes following the text down the page.

It wasn’t until Ze’ev appeared that she was able to snap out of this state of deep focus, her head and eyes shifting up to meet his own. Dark circles underlined her eyes, and while she spared the man a warm smile, he could only sense exhaustion coming from her state of being.

“Ze’ev. It has been sometime indeed. Pray, what brings you back?”

She pressed herself up from the table and attempted to fix her posture and stance into something more presentable. Grabbing a mug that had been hidden behind a pile of books, she brought the drink to her lips and took a somewhat large gulp of its contents.

“Hot Cocoa. Would you care for some?”

She gestured to her cup and offered to prepare another, were Ze’ev so inclined to take her up on her offer.

 

[GEAR]

"A gracious host, as ever."

Ze'ev gave a thin smile, as he accepted the mug.., but he did not drink from it. The two's reflection was cast on its surface as he stood, looking down into it. As though choosing his next words with great care.

"You ought to save your strength." He said, finally.

The candle wavered in an invisible breeze, and there was an eerie tension in the way the man held himself. As though he were no longer the jovial servant, but something more, having discarded a mask in favor of a far greater burden. Whatever it may be, it weighed on him so, intoning every one of his words with a certain heaviness.

"Soon, your ancient foe will return."

There was no flinch in his voice, nor his gaze, his tone even as he delivered his prophecy.

"They will stride across this land as they once did... and Crescentia will burn."

The shadows on the wall almost seemed to echo this portent, the flickering of the candle creating a grim procession of looming bodies that faded in and out of view. As though their malice, their grudge, curdled about their feet at that very instant.

"Then more than ever before, will your people need you. That is the future shown to me... as the Sphere Reactor of the Dreaming Twin Fishes."

 

[VeraC]

She listened intently to the man, giving him her full attention, closing the book she was reading and leaning back into her chair and folding one leg of the other. She grasped her mug with both hands, taking a sip as the man talked.

“I’m aware of what lies ahead. Damage and strife will be… inevitable, as much as I hate to say it.”

She gave a somewhat dejected look on her face, the burdens of being the Reine hanging heavily on her shoulders.

“But that is all the more reason I must do what I can now in order to minimize what will come later. If my efforts now save even one more person, then that is a sacrifice I’m willing to make.”

The candlelight danced in the night, the shadows cast on Heidel only emphasizing the dark circles that marked under her eyes. Her skin was frail, her body slender. It would shock anyone that a millennia of rulership fell on the responsibility of a girl like her, one who had given her life away in service for her kingdom, bound to rule forever more, to not experience the release of death that if not all other rulers have.

“Would you be joining us then? In our efforts to stop the giants?”

She stopped to think for a moment, taking another sip of her cocoa.

“Oh what am I saying, you’re too much of a free spirit to be tied down here.”

Despite not knowing much about the man himself, the spheres he held did tell Heidel much about what kind of person he was, his goals and what path he walked along.

“So is this a warning? It’s evident your path will eventually intersect with mine. Are you telling me you’ll wait until after the Giants are defeated? Quite kind of you.”

She gave a slight giggle, laughing at the man’s intentions and thoughts.

“Well, should that day come, know that I won’t give it up without a fight. I made a vow to my kingdom to watch over it, to protect it and see it prosper. My Love is for my people, and I can’t betray the trust they have in me.”

Her face grew ever so slightly serious, looking intently at Ze’ev.

“We all do what we must though, I suppose.”