Hope Falls

"Of course she isn't okay, what a ridiculous question. How could she be okay after what you have- "

"Rohan."

"No. If is the truth, you are not okay, your son has disowned you because of this man. The two of you scheming to move in together behind everyone's backs, without asking your families first." He shook his head. "The cherry on top would have been declaring a marriage."

---

"I have come to realise there aren't many people I trust, not really." Kael whispered. "It is all a facade. The idea of letting anyone else do anything is... my trusted circle is tiny, and made up of people who don't want to do it anymore like my parents or - or you, and I don't know if you would ever want to be - to do something like it."

---

"It is untraditional. Are you sure the man will not take your own child out of the line for this eldest son?" Agatha asked, lowering herself to sit.

“If I am not to be a prisoner, then I am free to work, no? If you need me to do something Kael just tell me and I will try my best. I cannot lie and tell you I am educated in any kind of way in politics, you know that but if you think I can help then I will try.”  Indira got up from her seat and moved to stand behind Kael, gently wrapping her arms around his shoulders and holding him close. “Unload the burden a little, give yourself some time to breathe before you take the crown and the weight will feel less crushing.”

---

“We have not schemed as you put it. We have planned and then kept those plans on hold until Avani and her boys were ready. You frame it with such malice, Prince Rohan. All your sister and I have done is plan a future in which we are all hopefully very happy. It has not been done with ill intent.”

---

“No, of course not. He does not bother with the mother much any longer, he has no need for her since he has a wife now, and he remains faithful, I have no doubts about that at all. He loves me. I would be worried if it was some longstanding affair or if he had any affection for her that he may install their son but that is not the case. Kael has been very clear that whilst he cares for his son he is a bastard and he won’t have any claim to the throne. His mother made it clear too.” Daphne assured. “The boy is half Baldruunian, either way. The people here would never allow it after what the Baldruunian Princes did to them here, they cannot stand the mother or the aunt, so even if in some wild fantasy he had to try and name the child heir, his people would revolt.”

Kael let out a trembling breath, hands lifting to grip her arms and squeeze them gently.  "I don't know what you would like to do. I - I don't want to put any pressure on you, do anything that would prevent you from visiting home."

---

Avani leant forward, closing her eyes as she pressed her forehead against Rauiri's shoulder. Desperate for the physical comfort that came with it, fresh tears escaping her eyes.

"The intent is irrelevant, only the reality matters." Rohan answered stoicly. "Rahul feels betrayed, abandoned. All the feelings he has before has come to the surface once more. You, though, Cavanaugh, have not asked permission for anything. For wooing my sister, never mind living with her."

---

"That is not reassuring." Agatha laughed nervously. "You are telling me your husband is one bad choice away from you all being killed in some kind of revolution?"

---

"You have a bounce in your step this morning." Conan mused, already sat at the table in the dining hall when his daughter would have walked in. Sipping at some fruit juice, head cocked in curiosity.

Cassius was already picking at the food on his plate, barely glancing up as his sister walked in.

“He would not make that choice. You are worrying about something even I do not worry about. I am at no risk of Kael deciding he wants to place his bastard son in front of our own child. Please… we have not seen each other for years. Let us not talk about silly things mm? Firstly I’d like to know why Via is here when it was agreed just the two of you would be coming.”

“Uncles patience is growing thin with us. No other matches have been made for any of us despite you being a future Queen. As our brother gets older he demands more attention for his training, which means less time spent on finding the rest of us husbands so… Uncle thought an extra one of us would not hurt.” Iskra grimaced at the question, watching as their younger sister opened the doors to Daphne and Kael’s bedroom and squealed in delight before rushing in.

---

“I won’t be returning home… not for a long while, anyway.” Indira rested her head on his shoulder. “It is why I was aggrieved we did not stay longer… And especially now, knowing what my brothers are planning? We both know me going back would result in me never being allowed to return here. So until I am certain my brothers have dropped the silly notion I will be staying here.” She assured.

---

“I asked Avani’s permission, as it is her I intend to live with. This is not Baldruun, Prince Rohan. And your sister is now unmarried and a wealthy Princess in her own right. She does not need to defer to anyone else any longer. I apologise you feel slighted, and I am saddened Prince Rahul does not understand our relationship, but it doesn’t change what we have together. It doesn’t change that we intend to marry and be together.”

---

“I have invited someone to breakfast, if that is okay?” Aesira asked as she moved to sit beside her brother.

“Oh? Who?” Liara asked, her attention turning from Malachi who was in her arms up to Aesira, her eyebrow raising.

"Who, indeed?" Conan sat up, shuffling to the edge of his seat in anticipation. "I thought you had been keeping something from me recently. Please tell me this is something positive? We need positivity."

Cassius moved one of his hands beneath the table, reaching it across to squeeze his sisters fingers in silent support.

---

"If you respected our culture in the slightest then you would understand the importance of asking permission, and the avoidance of answering my query on marriage tells me all that I need. You do not love her, love is respect. Respect is preserving what matters to your partner, such as their family."

---

"I am sorry we couldn't stay longer." Kael swallowed. "They were kisr so horrible, all of the time. Every time I opened my mouth they were hostile, and when Wyatt began to join them too. I don't think my ego has ever taken so much if a battling, my character ever so.. viciously ripped apart and twisted. I just wanted my mother, my sister.... That is not the words of a future King."

---

"We are not all so as lucky as your... your.. Prince." Agatha shook his head. "You worry a son makes you a failure but men are not even interested in us."

“I won’t say I wasn’t upset, it was plain enough to see. I do not think anyone realises how lonely I am here, how much I am struggling but… you needed to leave, Avani needed to leave. The needs of the many above the few mm?” Indira brushed off sadly. “As for the rest… you are a future King, yes. But you’re still a man Kael. A person… people are allowed to want comfort when they are hurting. It is in our nature to seek it. All throughout the siege we leaned on each other. We saw your mother leaning on your father, we still see her do so now even with the crown on her head. There is no shame in admitting you needed the relief of your mother’s arms. You may be big and tall and strong but it does not mean that you will not eventually fall when battered hard enough. I understood, why we needed to leave. I begrudged the situation… not you nor Avani for needing it. You needed your mother. There are times I still wish I had mine. I understand.”

---

“I do not see a need to fling you into a marriage so soon. You are here now, free to do as you like.”

“We were sent here so you and your husband would make us good matches with our own husbands. What do you mean, Daphne? Will you not be helping us?”

“I - if it is what you truly want. Then once the coronation is over I can ask Kael to look at eligible Lords but… you do not have to. Is what I am saying. I married so that you did not have to. You can spend time pursuing other things if you wish, it is not as if Uncle will collect you and send you back home for failing to find a husband. You make it seem as if he will be happy you are no longer his responsibility so…” Daphne frowned, looking to Agatha then. “You can pursue your learning if you wish, or even just have some time without being concerned about marriage.”

---

“His name is Marcus. He is - “ Aesira began as she held her brothers hand in return, grateful for his steady hand.

“The healer boy under Devika! Oh!”

“Do not tell me I do not love your sister when the love between her and I is overwhelmingly present between us. I asked your sister to marry me. I asked her permission. And I was given her permission. That is the only permission I require.”

Agatha moved her tongue, rolling it against the inside of her cheek as she turned her face away to look out of the window, towards the forests beyond. "That is all well and good until it is learned we are not coming here for the reason we were sent, and what happens then? What are the consequences? What  I would do at home, and what I would do here are different beasts. I need to think of protecting you."

---

"My ancestors thought I was drowning before we said goodbye to Bodhi, then your brothers, then Wyatt's shame..." Kael swallowed. "My mother has snapped at me, my father has never truly believed. I feel more battered and bruised then I ever have physically. I thought I was ready, I  was... so confident, but now it is close I'm not sure. What is everyone is right? If I am not good enough, if my life has been some publicity stunt and... my whole identity some crafted thing that will crumble without a puppet master."

---

"The one you met whilst helping your Uncle Luca and Karina at the sunken ship." Conan mused. "I knew something was going on! I knew you had been acting differently.  The two of you are fond of one another, then?"

Cassius offered a slight smile to his sister, squeezing her hand again.

---

"You needed her families permission! Her brothers - any of them, she has enough!" Rohan sneered. "How am I meant to defend her from her eldest son when every word he speaks is true? She jumped ship as soon as she could, abandoned everyone."

"Stop it, stop it." Avani mumbled thickly.

“I need no protection. Not now, not when I have Kael, and certainly not in a few months time when I will be the Queen. You do not need to protect me, Aggie. And I have all of you under my protection now.” Daphne pushed herself up to stand, walking toward her sister with her arms open. “I promise you that you are safe in whatever it is you wish to do whilst you are here. No harm will come to you.”

---

Indira shook her head, pulling away from him and moving so she was in front of him instead, getting on her knees and resting one hand on his lap, the other reaching to his chin and moving his head upwards so he was looking at her rather than hanging his head. “You are still standing, after all you have been through. You have lost your mother, suffered a terrible illness that almost took your life. You have been admonished by your father your whole childhood. You almost lost Isolde more than once. You did lose your dearest friends… the love of your life. We lo - we lost our son. But you are still here. Plenty of men would be at the bottom of the ocean or on the end of a noose or locked in their room screaming with insanity. But not you. And it is you who has gotten yourself out of that hole each time. Nobody has pulled your strings to get you out of it. They have held your hand and offered you encouragement but it is you who has got yourself back on your feet and carried on each time. Right now I think it more solid than ever who you are. And that is a man who doesn’t give up. Who will not give up even when it would be so easy to do so. If all of your identity were a fabrication, a mirage, those of us who see you day to day would see through it. But there is nothing to see through Kael. It is all you.”

---

“You defend her because she is your sister! You defend her because I have no doubt your nephew has been a petulant little monster with his words and you and I both know he seeks to wound her in the most vicious of ways. You defend her because it is the right thing to do and defending your sister should not be based on whether or not she has irked you by making a life for herself where she is happy! You defend her because she is your family and does not deserve to be spoken to the way he has been! Do not ask me how you are supposed to defend her Prince Rohan when the answer is obvious! Her husband passed. She belongs to no man now. She was passed from her father to Rajiv and when he died she became a free woman. That is how it works here. And here is where we are and where your sister is staying. And she used that freedom to accept my proposal. You do not need to give your permission and I do not need to ask for it!”

---

“We love one another… and we have decided that we wish to be together.” Aesira nodded nervously, glancing to her brother for a brief second in thanks.

“I did not see you settling for marriage first out of the two of you but I am pleased for you!” Liara grinned excitedly.

“No, no not marriage. We just wish to, to be together.”

"Not harm, no. However, it doesn't matter how many miles are between us all and home for disgrace to spread." She swallowed, looking from her youngest sister and then up in age before turning her gaze to the floor. "We have to be wise with our rebellion. We have only just arrived here, playing the part first, Daphne. Making sure we fulfil our role before pushing boundaries. You seem too comfortable here."

---

Kael choked out laughter, the noise gruff and tight. Squeezing her hands tightly in quiet thanks as he ducked his head to rest her forehead against her shoulder, his eyes fluttering closed with a controlled breathe inwards and out. "What am I meant to do about Wyatt? He is - He is not just a mentor. He's everything my father fails to be, b- but now he is acting like him too and going on about how I have out his family in danger... His.. Fucking ridiculous how much that hurts, isn't it? I am just a job to him... Just a job, who has put his family in danger."

---

"Oh please, do not treat me like I am stupid. It is clear the two of you were having sexual relations before Rajiv was eaten by those beasts." Rphan almost snarled, lips curling. "If you respected our culture you would have gone to one of the men to seek permission to propose, you would have made some sort of effort with any of us."

Daphne frowned, dropping her arms and moving them to wrap around her stomach. “This is my home, you cannot be too comfortable at home, Agatha. This is my home, where I live with the husband I love, where I will birth our son - the first of many, Gods willing.”

“Agatha is right. You were in public, visibly with child instead of in confinement. Your clothes are fitting and show your form, your hair unbound. You were fussing over us in public. You did not tell Uncle of the disgusting disrespect your husband has shown by not only having a bastard child but raising it here in the walls under your nose with its mother? You share these rooms with your husband instead of having your own? You have allowed these people to mould you away from the correct way of doing things so quickly, sister. Agatha is right, you forget that you are still our family, our Princess. You forget you are not one of them, you represent us.”

---

“It is you disrespecting Avani by speaking of her in such a crude way.” Ruairi snapped then, getting to his feet and staring at Rohan. “I think you should leave.”

---

Indira wrapped her arms around his shoulders, gently smoothing circles with her hands. “You have to be brave, and tell Wyatt to make a choice. Either he puts down his sword and leaves your service if he cannot get over what you did, or the two of you talk until you can make peace and he joins you at your side once again. I know giving him that option will be painful for you but… you cannot live in this limbo forever. It is killing you, Kael. You are not coping well with it, it is why you feel so on edge.”

"I can not lose him, u couldn't picture losing him to his job but if he - if he chooses to leave me." Kael's laugh cut itself off, as the short, sharp sob bubbled out. Teeth shattering with the movement of his lower jaw, "The pain - the pain you felt with Ishaan, I can't comprehend it. I don't wish to... and if he leaves me then I'm scared I will understand just a fraction of it. Never mind the personal lose, he has worked - for so many years... for me to be the final straw- could you imagine?"

---

Avani took in a breath as Rauiri stood, returning her hands to her lap and keeping her gaze low on the floor. Expression neutral, and voice silent.

"Crude? You are the crude one here. Taking advantage of a woman away from home, manipulating someone above your station?" He scoffed. "Do you truly believe you will ever live up the her basic needs? What could you ever give her?"

“Everyone deserves a choice Kael… It is why you are giving me my freedom, even knowing what I will do with it, because you know I deserve to make that choice.” Indira moved her hand to his hair, gently running her fingers through it. “I do not think he will leave. I think he was shocked by your choice, and as he thought he knew you so well the fact he was shocked by a move you made has shaken him. But I think the two of you can talk this out, I truly do. I think that man loves you deeply, as he does his own son. His problem is himself, not you. But you need to be brave, and make him choose, because the not knowing will hurt you more in the long run than the potential for him to pack up and leave.”

---

“Avani knows what I am capable of providing. We have discussed this at length; together. Because it is Avani’s voice, her opinions that matter on this. Not yours Rohan. You want to be involved in a marriage and control a woman so much find a fucking wife and stop sniffing around the healers office pestering a woman who couldn’t care less about your existence.”

"You want to pursue a relationship with the healing boy," Conan echoed, smile warm as he watched Aesira closely. Nodding a few moments later and humming, "Okay. Well, it will be nice getting to know him better."

---

Kael swallowed thickly, echoing quietly, "Be brave, make him choose. O - Okay."

---

"I want you to show some respect to our culture, because if you do not then it is only my sister who will suffer from it. Rahul will recover, but only with work and the other boys will follow his lead if you do not change how you are approaching this." Rohan's eyes widened with fury when the healing office was mentioned. Using his full weight to shove Rauiri, "You tree dwelling, good for nothing, peasant. You need to remember your place."

"Rohan! Stop it!"

“I wish you could see yourself through my eyes. Through the eyes of the people who love you. Even if the future King were a constructed persona through your mother, every other facet of you is not. You being a good father - spending nights with our crying son when he could be handed off to staff when the exhaustion takes over, sitting with him and playing with his wooden horses, taking him out on your own, learning what he does and does not like to wear… that is not constructed by anyone but yourself. Being a good brother - taking Mor out into the woods and teaching her to climb trees, and how to swim in the lake. Letting her play with your hair and decorate your face is not an illusion presented to others. You being a good son - sitting with your mother when she was unwell, taking on more than you need to help when she is struggling. You are the one who has done all that, it is not some rumour your parents have built on. Being my friend - spending hours teaching me the silly card games you play over here even though I will never quite get them. Bringing me gifts from the markets to remind me of home, granting me my freedom when you will never quite trust that I won’t use it to take our boy but doing it anyway…” Indira continued to brush her fingers through his hair to soothe him, holding him close. “None of who you are is false, it is all you, Kael.”

---

“I’ll give you the option to leave and I won’t retaliate further. Touch me again and you will regret it.” Ruairi warned lowly.

---

“I do. I love him, and I want him to be part of this family too…”

Rohan almost choked on his laughter, taking half a step closer as he squared up, lifting his hand up as he went to taunt. The smirk falling from his face before it had even formed, and a pained, "Hmph." escaping his lips when he was dragged backwards by his hair by a shaky Avani.

"My son causing trouble is enough, you aren't to come in here and do the same thing, Rohan." Avani muttered, yanking until her brother was far enough away from Rauiri that she could grab shoulders and push him towards the door. "Leave us alone for the rest of the day Rohan."

"You are letting him isolate you. He isn't respecting you Avani." Rohan retorted, shaking her off of his shoulder and smoothing down his hair. Paused in the doorway.

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