The Empress and the Captain

Three

'The meeting...'

'Did not go well.'

Fare gazed at the stars and sighed deeply, her ribs aching beneath the tight stays of her corset, her head throbbing with a headache that had only just begun to fade and her hand... warm, fingertips carefully, questioningly brushing up against Erilia's.

Perhaps she would not be given such an opportunity as this, a picnic beneath the stars, if it were not with the Captain of the Royal Guard- although there were secrets she had made sure not to tell said Captain, about passages into the night to cool a racing heart, conversations with the clouds at midnight and musings in the meadows and fields surrounding the castle- surrounding, but not attached to- for fear of being put under unyielding observation.

Not that she would mind, not if the observer were Erilia.

Was it possible for someone to grow more beautiful with every day? Perhaps... perhaps it was simply that the Captain was more comfortable with sharing those important pieces of herself that she would, ordinarily, tuck away. She laughed more freely in Fare's presence now, although even a single laugh would have been more than ever before. She hadn't said the word Ma'am in weeks.

She was herself. Fare was simply, joyously invited to see who that was.

Her hair was scraped back, pale golden curls flicking out at her neck, and her clothes, while casual, still held the feel of armour to them, the thick leather of her belt (perfect for storing weaponry in), the fluted sleeves of her shirt (perfect for hiding weaponry in), the inconspicuous buckles of her boots (perfect for housing weaponry in) and the many pockets of her dark, slim trousers (perfect for openly displaying weaponry in).

The belt was tooled with insignia and words Fare didn't recognise and she caught herself staring at it, the heat of her cheeks as Erilia's thumb quietly, gently caressed her own hidden in the blessed darkness, wondering how seamlessly the buckles would open if such a thing were required.

'I had a code, when I was little.' Fare looked up and saw that Erilia was watching her, eyes unblinking. 'My mother taught me everything there was to know about the forests surrounding Rynn, what every single tree meant and the language that could be told with them.'

'Really?' Fare whispered, shifting a little closer and using the movement to clasp Erilia's hand in her own. Her heart plundered, fierce with the fear of a thousand storms, but then Erilia's fingers tightened against her own and none of it mattered. Not the stupid meeting or the governors or the threats of Seruc. Nothing mattered except Erilia and the code she had created when she was a child and that she was holding her hand and that she didn't stop.

'I wrote it all out, every meaning beside every tree, and then I... made them into a language. Something only I knew. This one-' she gestured with their entwined hands '-means power.' It was a curvature, almost like a crescent moon if it had grown from the earth. Fare peered at it. 'And this one... this one means almighty.'

'Liar.'

Erilia's head turned and a single eyebrow rose. 'Excuse me?'

'You're lying,' Fare repeated. 'It doesn't mean that.'

'I think it do-'

'No,' the Empress said, shifting a little closer, her heart thrumming as Erilia, too, shifted her position- for a moment, just a fraction of a breath she was worried she would pull away, stand and return to the castle and the life they had lived before, but she did not. Eyebrow still cocked, she blinked slowly and waited.

Fare swallowed.

'It means Her highness would like to kiss you.'

A tilt crossed Erilia's soft lips and she leant forward, dropping her head so it rested directly before Fare's, their breath twining together with warmth and anticipation. Fare could see the swirls in Erilia's eyes, the faint strands of reddish-gold that mingled with her blonde curls, the slope of her nose and the rise of her cheeks as she inhaled, exhaled, watched Fare's every movement. They remind like that for a minute, wordless and waiting, and then Erilia lifted a hand, scarred and careful, a hand that could wield weapons and crush hearts, and cupped her Empress's chin, holding it just so as she rushed forward and pressed her lips, tender as feathers, against Fare's.