Vision Of Escaflowne Fan Fiction ❯ Asturia: Love and Duty ❯ ch 8 ( Chapter 8 )

Brother Patel was scarred, tall, stocky, and had the reflexes of a mountain lion. However, he was also intelligent, well read, and extremely sociable. Before becoming head of the Duke's bodyguard, he had been one of the defenders of Fortuna Temple. He had met Allen before Zaibach's attack on Fortuna. Although the meeting was brief, both men had been impressed by the other.

Consequently, Patel had been willing to release his charge to Allen's supervision without the need for much prompting, and the two men were now amiably chatting in the Main Courtyard.

Patel was describing some of the improvements made to Freid when Princess Eries and Sid appeared leading three horses.

Allen was taken aback. Eries had given him minimal instructions: time, place, and please do not wear your Caeli uniform. He had obliged by wearing a hunting ensemble and had the distinct feeling that the Princess and Duke would be dressed down for the occasion as well.

But he had been fully expecting to be driving the pair to the cemetery in a carriage or sulky if they were not walking to the cemetery. In Asturia, horseback riding was not considered an appropriate activity for noblewomen. Girls could be indulged in riding while they were young. But once they started wearing the long skirts of a grown-up lady, they had to give it up.

Until recently.

Millerna had bucked tradition and caused a bit of a societal stir by tearing about Asturia in her very form-fitting legwear. However, she soon generated a following of Asturian ladies who wanted to emulate the princess. Eventually, a kind of compromise was reached. Horseback riding became acceptable, but a more modest garment was designed for the purpose. Instead of tight leggings, trousers with a wide cut were worn. They allowed a lady to ride, but when she dismounted, the flair of the trousers gave the appearance of a skirt.

Eries was now approaching wearing such a costume. Allen could not recall her ever expressing an interest or even an ability in riding.

As Allen tried to figure out what that could possibly mean, Foreign Minister Jorel intercepted the pair, and began talking with Eries animatedly. He was making such a fuss that Brother Patel stopped in midsentence and stared at the scene with Allen.

"There they go again," said a voice behind them. It was Lady Charity approaching them with a bouquet of flowers in hand. She joined the monk and knight in observing the conversation between the over excited counselor and the unperturbed princess.

"What do you mean?" asked Brother Patel, clearly unused to such behavior.

"For the last couple of weeks or so, members of the King's Council have been pestering Hime-sama about getting married. She's finally agreed to a meeting to discuss possible consorts in two months time. But apparently," she said, tilting her head in the direction of Minister Jorel, "that isn't enough for them."

They watched as Eries stopped the tide of words from Minister Jorel with what could not have been more than three sentences.

"Honestly, most of us in Hime-sama's court are getting the feeling that Meiden is pushing to speed things up. But you didn't hear that for me," commented Lady Charity, as Minister Jorel, now cowed, but visibly disgruntled, slunk off. Allen didn't like this talk about Eries getting married one bit. He knew in his head that it was inevitable, that this was the way it was with royalty, but that knowledge didn't make the situation any easier to stomach.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

About half an hour later, they were nearing the cemetery. The three had not spoken at all during the ride. That was perfectly fine with Allen.He still wasn't quite sure what to say to the princess-he-was-in-love-with-but-had-no-right-to-love and the boy-duke-who-was-his-son-that-he -could-never-lay-claim-to. Besides he was still trying to figure out what PrincessEries was up to. She HAD to be up to something. First the horses. Then while they were still at the castle, he had heard Lady Charity whisper to the princess as she gave her the flowers, "All the arrangements have been made as requested. Have a good time, Hime-sama."

Have a good time?

They WERE on their way to the cemetery for a Rememberance, were they not?

What was she up to?

Allen's brain was thoroughly worn out by the time they reached Millerna's grave. Allen dismounted and helped the princess and duke off their horses. It was Market Day again so the cemetery was empty except for them.

Allen held onto the reins of the horses as aunt and nephew approached Millerna's final resting place. "Poor Sid. It must be difficult for him having so many responsibilities so young. I don't even want to think about the number of graves he's had to dig in his life. This is no way for him to spend his childhood. I wish there was some way I could ease the burden…" thought Allen. He watched Sid kneel and pull out a string of prayer beads from his pocket.

"Those won't be necessary."

"??" Eries took the beads from his hand and tucked them back into his pocket. Allen felt every bit as confused as Sid looked. "But Auntie, aren't we here to-"

"Observe your Aunt Millerna's Rememberance? Why, yes, we are. So Sid," she said, settling onto the grass so that they were eye to eye, "what do you remember about your Aunt Millerna?"

"What do I remember?" asked Sid uncertainly. Eries nodded encouragingly. "Well…she was pretty- and she was brave." He spoke hesitantly. He was clearly puzzled and didn't know what Eries was getting at.

"Go on."

"She was smart. She wasn't a doctor yet, but she still saved Allen's life that time he got hurt in Freid."

"Anything else?"

Sid's face screwed up in concentration. "She liked helping people. She always seemed to be traveling to places to do that. And…I think she liked Dryden an awful lot. And…and….she wore pink a lot."

Eries chuckled. "Yes. She did like pink a lot."

"Sid, I know what you were expecting for today, and well, we're not doing that." Sid's eyes widened. "I know that's what people normally do on these occasions, but I don't think Millerna would want it that way.

"One thing you didn't mention, but I think you realize, is that Millerna was never one to follow convention. Do you remember those tight pants she would wear?" He nodded. "She had them made because she loved to ride and wanted to keep on riding , even when everyone told her she had to give it up. She rubbed a lot of people the wrong way, but in the end, her boldness led to these, "she said, indicating her riding costume. "I was never much one for riding, but I'm riding today as a tribute to her of sorts.

"But anyway, my point is that Millerna was never one to do things the way others told her to do it just because everyone else did it that way. Not willingly, at any rate."

"Rememberance," she said, her tone softening, "was meant as a day to celebrate her life. So we're going to accomplish that elsewhere. I think I have a much better way to show you what her life was about than staying here." She got up and pulled Sid to his feet.

"Right, Millerna?" This last statement was directed at Millerna's headstone. For several moments, she stood there with a distant look on her face. Sid and Allen watched her uneasily. Wondering and trying not to wonder about what she saw.

Abruptly, Eries placed her bouquet on the grave. She smiled. "Happy birthday, Millerna. I'm taking Sid to Tanglewood. You're more likely to be there than in this place."

"Let's go." With that, Eries headed for her horse with Sid trailing behind.

As Allen helped Sid into his saddle, Sid whispered, "Allen, what's going on? I mean, is she okay?"

"Hurry up!" Eries was already mounted and riding to the cemetery gate. "I'll race you to the edge of town!"

"Errr…" Allen was as clueless as Sid, but he knew Eries enough to know that whatever she had planned, she had thought it through. "This isn't exactly typical of her, but I think we can trust her."

"Come on!" Eries was waving for them to catch up.

"All right," said Sid in a low voice, more to himself than to anyone else. He pushed his hat more firmly onto his head. His gloomy mood had been replaced by a determined one to face whatever madness might be in store for him. Sid urged his horse into a canter with Allen close behind.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

A half hour later, the trio were in the farmlands outlying the capital. Eries smiled, partially because they were nearing their destination and partially because of the exhilarating ride they had had. Their ride had included a series of small races along the straightaways of the roads they had taken. Although Eries' riding capabilities were once tolerable, it had been years she had last ridden, and she was inevitably last in all of the races against the boy Duke and the Knight Caeli. Her rear end was sore, and she knew she was going to pay the price over the next few days. But it was worth it. Worth it to see the youthful exuberance Sid displayed as he whooped and urged his mount against Allen's.

When they weren't racing, Sid had pressed Eries for more details of where they were going, but had gotten nowhere. He finally gave up and asked Allen instead about swords, leviships, and melefs. Allen, for his part, had finally shaken the stiff air that he had had about him earlier. Eries completely understood why he had been so tense, but she was glad to see him relaxed and chatting with Sid.

They halted before a pair of intricately wrought iron gates set into a stone wall. "Here we are," said Eries. They dismounted and Eries unlocked the gates. They walked in, Allen leading their horses by the reins. On the other side of the gates was a beautiful, rustic estate. Large stately trees stood along the borders of the property. The gravel road from the gates led to a large lawn were it forked into three branches. The right path led to a stable complex with a paddock. The left path led to a two story house. Oddly, the largest path, the branch that continued straight on, led to what seemed like a stone pad or foundation. Beyond the buildings was a huge garden, and off in the distance was a vineyard.

"What is this place?" Sid looked around wonderingly.

"Tanglewood. It's good to be back." She took in the sights around her and a flood of memories rushed back to her. Eries smiled as Sid looked at her quizzically.

"Tanglewood?" echoed Sid. "What's that?"He pointed to the stone platform.

"I'll explain in a second. Allen, would you please put the horses in the paddock?" As Allen led the horses away, Eries took Sid to a stone bench between the platform and the house. Although she knew Allen had accepted the fact that Sid's "father" was Mahad, she wanted to spare him hearing references to Sid's "father" if she could.

"Sid, does this house remind you of anything?"

"Ummm…."

"Let me give you a hint. Do you remember the Lion Garden in your father's castle? There was a stand of pine trees, and near that was…"

"-Mother's villa! Now I remember!" Sid tilted his head as he studied the building. "It does sort of look like it, but it was a lot bigger than this."

"That's right. Actually, the villa used to be right there." Eries pointed to the foundation. "After your mother moved to Freid, your father arranged to have the villa moved to Godashim."

"Why?"

"She was homesick. And this place had a lot of memories for her. See the grapevines growing over there? This estate is actually a vineyard, but your great-great grandfather had a villa built here, and the Astons have used it as a retreat for years. Your grandfather was never too fond of it, so he was only too happy to give it to Marlene as a present.But the rest of us, myself, Millerna, your grandmother, and your great-uncle Nueva's family, we loved it here. When I was a girl, we would come here at least twice a year. But the last time I was here was when they moved the villa… it's been ages since any of us have visited…. "

"Why?"

"Well, Father never really cared for Tanglewood for whatever reason. As for me, mainly it was because I was so busy. Helping to rule a kingdom is hard work-I could never seem to get away."

"I know what you mean," said Sid with gravity.

"Millerna didn't want to come out here alone so the only ones that have been coming here for the last 10 years are the caretakers."

"So what's this house? Is this where the caretakers live?"

"No, they live on neighboring estates. They use the house during planting and harvest, but otherwise, it's empty. Actually, it was the guest house."

"Guest house?"

Eries nodded. "Our family stayed in the villa, but if we invited anyone else to come with us, they would stay in these quarters."

"So whom would you invite?"

"Mostly friends of my cousin Lavender's and your mother's stayed here. Sometimes your grandfather would invite certain associates in order to get on their good side. I think the only name you would recognize would be Dryden's."

"Dryden came here?"

"Yes. Being the son of the Chief Adviser had its privileges." She laughed quietly, a deep murmur in her throat. "He always did introduce an interesting dynamic with his presence. Especially with my cousin Indigo. She was always so level-headed and proper. But Dryden somehow managed to get her to do the most outrageous things."

"Like what?" Sid was intrigued.

"Well, one time, he managed to engage her in --of all things--a belching contest. It was disgusting. But the worst part was that Millerna decided it would be fun to join in. She was only three at the time, and, poor child, she ended up throwing up all over her dress. Your mother was appalled. She chased the Dryden all over the garden with a switch while Indigo and I cleaned poor Millerna up."

"Gross! What else?"

"Well, there was another time Dryden got Indigo to go to the irrigation--better yet," Eries paused and took Sid's hand. "Why don't I show you, " she said with a wink.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-

[soundtrack 2, track 14, Cat's delicacy]

"And there's our favorite tree," Eries pointed out.

The tree stood on the bank of a large decorative pond in the garden. It was clearly a very old tree; it was double the height of the guest house, and if Allen wrapped his arms around the tree, his fingertips would barely touch. The strong straight limbs of the tree were silvery with smooth bark. The large green leaves rustled in the morning breeze. Yims, juicy, thin-skinned, soft yellow fruit, were at the point of ripening. On one of the lower branches of the tree hung a swing.

"Can you climb trees?" Eries asked mischieviously.

"Errr…yeah…"

"Last one up the tree is a pickled piscuss!"

"Hey!Wait!NoFairYouHadAHeadStart!"

Allen watched as Eries ran to the tree with Sid hot on her heels. With surprising agility, she sprang up, grabbed the lower most limb of the tree, and swung up and onto the branch. Sid attempted to imitate her feat, but his leap was a touch too low. His fingertips only brushed the limb. After jumping a few times and getting red in the face, he tried scrambling up the trunk, which also proved difficult due to the smooth bark. Meanwhile Eries was thoroughly amused by his attempts.

"I thought you said you could climb."

"Yeah, Freiden priyas, not these things," grunted Sid.

"You know, Millerna and I learned how to get up this tree when we were about half your age."

"Awww, Auntie, give me a -oh, thank you Allen. " Allen had decided to lend him a hand by giving him a boost. Sid smiled gratefully.

Allen had been aloof up until then,trailing behind at a respectful distance and watching the pair tour the grounds together. Eries was clearly enjoying recounting her memories while Sid took in Eries' stories and the charms of the estate with curious eyes. Much as he wanted to, it wouldn't be proper for Allen to participate. He was only there in the capacity of a guard after all. He contented himself with the fact that he was even able to be there to watch.

The branches grew closer together beyond the first branch, and Sid was able to manouver more easily up to where Eries was waiting, hanging upside down from a limb.Feeling like a babysitter, Allen watched as Eries led the two higher into the tree. Although the leaves sometimes hid them from view, their voices drifted down to him. He could hear them chattering clearly over an empty bird's nest that Sid came across.

"You're pretty good at this."

"I'll take that as a compliment. At any rate, I ought to be."

"Why?"

"This was my favorite thing about the tree. Your mother and Indigo liked the swing best. But Lavender and I would spend hours in the branches." A pause. "What?"

"You look more like the "swing" type than the "climbing" type."

"Not a chance. This was much more fun. You can see so far from up here. And it was great for pretending games. So can you guess what Millerna liked best about this tree?"

"Climbing?"

"No. Jumping into the pond."

"No way!!"

"That pond is deeper in certain places than you might think. Your great-grandfather deepened the pond where that branch goes over the water. Once you get beyond where that orange rope is tied off, it's safe to jump in. Millerna was always a bit of a tomboy and that's what she did. The rest of us would only do it when it was extremely hot, and then Uncle Nueva would join us, too. " A laugh. "He always looked so funny when he did. He said he was reliving his boyhood days and we would laugh at him." A pause. "Would you like to try?"

"Please!!"

"I think it should be warm enough."

Leaves rustled as they moved down the tree.

"Remember what I said-jump beyond the orange rope. And feet first," she added firmly.

"Yes, ma'am."

Sid descended back into Allen's view. He made his way to the proper branch and pulled off his clothes as fast as possible, dropping them onto the ground below. When he was clad only in his skivvies, he moved out onto the limb with boyish eagerness. With a shout and a bound he cannonballed himself into the pond.

"Wahooo!!"

Sid's splashdown startled a duck and her brood from their hiding place in the reeds.Sid surfaced as the feathered family began paddling away from the bank. Enchanted, Sid paddled after them.

"Sid! What do you think you are ? A duck?"

Sid quacked in response.

While Eries laughed in the tree, Allen smiled silently. He was so mesmerized by the sight of his son at play that he was slow to respond when the princess shouted down to him.

"Allen ! Catch!" Allen looked up just in time to see a yim fly over his head and splatter about 4 paces behind him. "Ooops bad throw," said Eries apologetically.

"Princess, errr..just what do you think you're doing?"
"What does it look like I'm doing?" Eries reached over to pluck another fruit. "And you can't expect me to hold these yims AND climb back down again," she added, tossing the yim down to Allen as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

So it was that Allen found himself assisting Eries in her fruit-picking endeavor. Meanwhile Sid was becoming acquainted with the different residents of the pond. He would cry out eagerly when he found another bird, frog, fish, or whatever. Allen mused that anyone looking at them would probably guess they were a family picnicking.

He also concluded that Eries was very bad at throwing things.He was scrambling every which way in order to make his catches. About half the yims that didn't collide into tree branches ended up splattered on the ground despite Allen's best efforts. However, she climbed about the tree with remarkable speed and ease, moving higher and higher in search of fruit. Finally, Allen became a bit concerned.

"Princess!" he called."Are you sure its safe to be up that high?"
Her figure was partially obscured by leaves, but he could see her face looking down at him reassuringly."I'm fine. See? Nothing to worry about," she said, bouncing lightly on her limb.

A creak.

Oh no. "Princess!" cried out Allen. Even as the words left his mouth, the branch snapped.

Eries plummeted.

Allen flung the fruit aside and ran to catch her. He was almost there when he stepped on one of the fallen fruit. He managed not to trip and caught Eries just in time. Unfortunately, between his momentum and the slippery, squashed fruit, Allen could not stop. He stumbled three more steps forward, tripped on a root, whirled about, took two wild steps backward, and--

SPLASH

Allen shook his head vigorously and opened his eyes. He was sitting about chest deep in water. Aside from a bruised backside and pride, Allen was fine. Seated somewhat awkwardly on his lap was a coughing Eries. Somehow, he had kept a firm hold on Eries throughout the slipping, tripping, stumbling, and falling into the pond.

"Are you OK?" Allen asked, concerned. Eries brushed her wet hair out of her eyes. She seemed a bit disoriented as she took stock of herself.

"Yes, I think so. I..." her gaze locked onto Allen's, and the words died on her lips.

Time seemed to stop.

Allen became acutely aware of her body against his. Despite the cool water, he could feel a heat rising in his body. Her face was so close to his. It would be easy, so easy, just to lean forward and--

"Hey!!! Are you all right!" Sid had witnessed Eries' fall from the other end of the pond. He had just pulled himself out of the water and was running over to them.

Sid's shrill call broke the spell. Eries cast her eyes downward. A rosy flush spread over her pale cheeks. Allen for his part had been rudely jolted back into reality and mentally berated himself for a fool. He had nearly given himself away. An incredibly uncomfortable awkwardness hung between them. As the sound of Sid's footsteps grew louder, he realized he had to do something to dispel the tension.

Quickly.

So he did the first (unfortunately, juvenile) thing that popped into his head.

Forcing his voice to be light, he said , "Why is it is, Princess," causing her to turn to look at him, albeit dazedly, "that every time I'm with you I get-"

"--soaking wet!!" His last words were punctuated by a splash of water onto her shoulder.

Eries squealed and got her feet. As soon as she had regained her footing, she splashed back at Allen.

Sid stopped in his tracks. Before him was a very strange sight: a princess and a knight having a water fight. He puzzled over it briefly, shrugged, and ran full tilt towards them, yelling, "Me too! Me too!" He leaped into the water dousing both of the adults with a splash.

They dissipated into a frenzy of laughter and splashing.