In Which Mona Is Drained

April 24, 1174

"...but of course the winter has long outstayed its welcome--hard to believe that it's nearly May, isn't it? Oh well, at least it gives me an excuse to wear that lovely crispinette your father gave me for my birthday. Speaking of which, perhaps you'd like a similar one for a wedding gift, Elhina? I know we haven't set a date yet, but it's bound to be sooner rather than later, so..."

Their mother seemed so enraptured with her own voice that she didn't even detect Elhina's exasperated sigh. Not that Mona found that too surprising. Mona was at the age when girls started to realize that their mothers weren't perfect--and with her mother, that epiphany had hit years ago. She almost wished it was her own theoretical wedding they were talking about, if only because it would mean she could get the hell out of this castle a little sooner.

Alas, she was only nine. But at least that gave her time to figure out some way out of here without having to get married? Maybe something involving pirates...

"Oh, but it simply couldn't be anything like mine, of course! Mind you, the homage would be flattering, but I do have to stay one step ahead of--"

Whatever it was her mother had to stay one step ahead of, Mona never heard. The knock at the door was a welcome interruption. "Your majesty? Your son is here to see you."

Her mother's face scrunched into an annoyed pout. There was nothing she hated more than being interrupted. "Which one? I have three sons."

"Five," Elhina corrected under her breath. Mona didn't know whether or not to acknowledge that she'd heard her.

But apparently, her mother did. "Yes, five. Three, and then two. Anyway, which is it?"

"Young Ietrin, your highness."

"Oh, of course!" sighed Mona's mother as if it had been obvious--though really, Ietrin would have been the least likely option the way Mona saw it. Not that she and her mother ever saw things the same way. "Well? Send him in."

Eblor's footsteps could be heard making their way down the corridor, soon replaced by another set heading in the other direction. Mona watched with relief as her brother stepped into the room, shattering whatever remained of their mother's insufferably girly oasis. "Sisters."

"Ietrin."

Mona barely knew her two older brothers, but the differences between them were apparent even in her limited scope. While Searle must have been the spitting image of his late father, Mona suspected that Ietrin was exactly what their mother would have looked like had she been a man. Where Searle was stone-cold and glaring, Ietrin was inviting and never without that shy smile Mona wouldn't have thought fitting for her mother's lips. But the most striking perpendicular was how they acted around their mother. She could have taken the whole world in her hands and laid it at Searle's feet, and he would have shoved it aside. Ietrin would have settled for the smallest house in the tiniest village in the poorest country if it meant a second of her time, a fraction of her heart."Mother."

"Darling." Mona's mother rose with the grace of an empress and the contentment of a caged animal. "I trust your journey was well."

Ietrin swallowed. "Well enough."

Nodding, their mother locked her hands together and flexed them outward, the gold of her wedding band as bright and flawless as the day Mona's father had placed it on her finger. Mona wasn't sure if Ietrin could stomach the sight, but it didn't matter. He wasn't looking. "What brings you to Naroni?"

For a moment, all was silent. Ietrin opened his mouth, but no sound burst forth. He tried again a few seconds later, but was no more successful. A third time... a fourth...

The fifth time was something different entirely.

"Mama, you have to c-come home!"

Mona felt the blood drain from her face, a faint spell coming over her in spite of the fact that she'd never been prone to such things. She'd never seen a man cry, and she'd certainly never seen her mother move to comfort anyone. "Mother...?"

"Please!" Ietrin buried his face in his hands and wailed. "We have to leave t-tomorrow! You have t-to come with m-me..."

Her eyes a strange mix of compassion and surprise, Mona's mother bit her lip. "Darling..."

"Please." The world might have ended right there and it wouldn't have mattered as far as the two of them were concerned. Choking back another sob, Ietrin wiped his eyes with his sleeve. "It's Searle..."

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