(no subject)

[virginprice]

You are very kind to think of me, truly, but I would rather stay where you found me.

It is impossible to avoid your knowledge of my ultimate fate, and I would rather spend my last months with Anafiel than be torn off to some strange world where I know nothing and no one. I know that your kind has the reputation of cruelty, but I beg of you. Do not do this thing. I would rather die with him than live without him.

Comments

[secondborn]

...I think I know how you feel.

A little, anyway.

[virginprice]

Do you? [He looks interested- not just out of politeness, but really curious about what Alastair has to say.]

[secondborn]

[Alastair's a little bit startled by the interest, but he shrugs.]

I would have rather stayed with my sister through anything, but I was taken away anyway.

[virginprice]

It is cruel to be forced to leave family. I'm sorry. Where were you taken?

[He wants to know about all the options, of course.]

[secondborn]

A place called Asgard. Those who brought us there call themselves gods, and really there's no other way to describe them, though they're certainly not my gods.

[virginprice]

Asgard... that's the home of the Skaldi gods, isn't it? How curious that they would bring you there.

[secondborn]

[He doesn't know who the Skaldi are but that doesn't really matter.]

They say it's because they need us to bring color back to the city, but it's also because they need us to fight in their war.

[and that pisses him off. But his anger isn't one that he displays, it simmers deep, in a place where he shoves it away and tries to forget about it.]

[virginprice]

And here I thought they valued fighting their own wars.

[He can say it without pain, truly he can. He barely remembers the Skaldi raid on his village.]

But that does not sound like a pleasant place. I don't think I could be a soldier. Not now.

[Which is bitterly ironic, knowing how he dies.]

[secondborn]

[He's quiet.]

I thought I could. I was.

I had never killed anyone before.

[Now he's killed many. But it was a long battle.]

[virginprice]

That must have been hard. The poets speak of the glory of battle, but I know that it is not so.

[And he knows he'll kill before he dies, but he doesn't know yet what that will be like. He'll never have to live with it.]

[secondborn]

[He snorts derisively.]

Either they don't know what they're talking about or they're incredibly twisted. Maybe both.

[virginprice]

I think they have their reasons. People need heroes and stories, countries need legends. Their audiences would not want to know the truth of it.

[limaheightsadjacent]

Yeah, welcome to the goddamn club.

If you're lucky, she'll find your...Anafiel? And send you where he is.

[virginprice]

The only one there is is the one at home. Which, of course, means I have him all to myself... but not if I am taken.

[asinglemote]

Alcuin? [All this talk of death, she doesn't like it, not a bit.] You're jesting, surely. [Because Delaunay has made it impossible to not reach conclusions, and she can't bear that thought.]

[virginprice]

I wish that I were. [He smiles rather sadly. He hates the thought of leaving Phèdre alone- they're nearly brother and sister, after all.]

[asinglemote]

[And so much more. He's a friend, a brother, a sometimes-competitor: she can't imagine a world without him, refuses.]

It can't be true. Who could bear to attack you? [Bouvarre's been dealt with, after all, and no one could hate Alcuin, it's his nature.]

[virginprice]

It will not be a personal attack against me- they intend to kill all of Delaunay's household. [Not that that makes it any better. He knows it really, really doesn't.

He also doesn't want to answer that question because what good will it do? She can't do anything to stop it and it would only hurt her to know the truth now.]

[asinglemote]

[It hurts her to know any of it, but what can she do? She was trained too well, there is information that needs must be gathered.]

And Delaunay? [Her voice trembles, and she struggles to steady it on the next word.] Joscelin? He would never let you come to harm!

[virginprice]

Joscelin will be with you, at the marquist's. Delaunay will be at home.

[And there will be so many soldiers, too many for them to hold off. He doesn't let his countenance betray the fear he feels at the thought of death, but he will be strong for Phèdre.]

I wish that you didn't know. I didn't think you'd see.

[asinglemote]

[He is always strong, always smart and fast, and all the bitterness she's been feeling towards him since he showed Delaunay his marque - even before, since making their lord see what was right in front of him - drains away as she reaches for his hands, clasping tight.]

There must be a way, Alcuin. We know now, we can do something! What good is knowledge, if it isn't used?

[virginprice]

[He squeezes back. His hands are unwontedly cold, the only sign of his distress.]

I don't know if this can be stopped or changed, Phèdre, not without changing Terre d'Ange's entire history that is to come. It could mean the fall of the nation.

[asinglemote]

[She feels the coldness, and wraps her hands around his in a vain attempt to warm them. A sound half laugh, half sob wrenches from her mouth, and she shakes her head.]

What game of thrones is Delaunay playing, that your lives can pay for the country's?

[virginprice]

A more dangerous one than either of us guessed. He has to do it, Phèdre. He would not be him if he didn't.

[He would lose his honour, lose the things that made him who he was- the man that they both loved.]

It is not his fault. The fault of evil lies with those who do it, not those who suffer for it.

[asinglemote]

Ah, Alcuin. [He's right, she knows, though it hurts; she bows her head over his hands, eyes closed for just a moment. It's all she allows herself, to accept that her life will turn upside down.]

And whose evil is it?