"Balance is the essence of life. Without balance there is nothing"
🌿
⚠️ kidnapping, violence, a lot of censored swearing ⚠️
It's a beautiful morning.
Irene wakes up in stages.
First she feels herself drift away from the peaceful waves of her dream. Then she feels her eyelids grow lighter, and the sun from the outside peek through. She feels her body shiver because of the morning dew, and then relax thanks to the gentle sun. She feels a gentle breeze flow though the balcony, and for a moment it's almost like she is in Ariadne's bed, engulfed by her loving arms and seductive gaze.
But Irene has always been good at remembering things. She realizes not even a second later where she is, and who's arms are around her. The scent of the room, the different shadows around her, the difference of the wind, the softness of the bed not being in the right places and the feathers of her pillow in the wrong order. Her clothes being different from the usual nightgowns that she wears, and the sound of a fountain lacking from the air. Still, somewhere faintly swords are clinging against each other, and birds overpowering them on the trees right outside the open balcony.
All the scents are still the same though. Old marble, soft feathers, sharp orange tree leaves and kind flowery scents. And for the first time in months, she wakes up not only to the fresh fruit perfume of Ariadne, but also to the light salty smell of Thea's natural scent. She wakes up for the first time, fulfilled. Surrounded by everything that she has wished for, ever since falling for those two stubborn leaders.
Irene sits up a bit, and looks around herself. She sees her two wives sleeping peacefully, hands wrapped around each other for warmth. They'll soon find themselves very uncomfortable, that's for sure. Irene giggles. The warmth of the day has yet to reach its peak, as the sun slowly glides up the horizon. Once the sun warms up even their bedroom, Thea and Ariadne will wake up all sweaty and gross. She should probably wake them up before that happens, but Irene just can't. Looking at Thea now, she knows that the leader hasn't gotten a proper nights sleep in forever. She doesn't have the heart to wake her up.
Instead, Irene hesitantly and slowly gets up from bed, waking across the wide bedroom to the balcony. There is a closet on one side of the room, and two balconies on each side of the wall, as the room exists in some sort of corner of the palace. The bed is in the middle, a big roundish thing with a soft mattress and golden sheets. The air in Thea's bedroom feels dryer than what Irene is used to, after months of sleeping in Ariadne's bedroom, where a fountain stands in the middle of the room. Still it feels rather warm, and fresh air constantly travels through the room through the balconies. It's almost like sleeping under the bare night sky. Irene quite enjoyed it.
She rests her arms against the balcony railing and stares out over the morning sky, and busy training grounds. She isn't exactly sure what is happening right now, why she is here and why Thea and the queen are arguing, but Irene doesn't let herself worry too much. She instead enjoys the presence of her two wives, after weeks of being apart. And she enjoys the nice weather too, and the change of scenery. Perhaps today she'll visit Penelope, and take a walk around the premise, if it's not too much to ask. The situation can't be that bad, can it?
Irene glances back at her sleeping wives.
Whatever happens, she'll be safe with them on her side.
"But I still can't understand anything you're saying! I hate it here! I f*cking hate it here! I hate you!"
It's been a bad week.
More specifically, Isaac has been having quite a bad week. As the words of his own language echo along the empty marble hallways of the palace, his point gets across.
"Calm down please, I know you're upset but let's just talk this through"
The thing is, Isaac is young. Lately he's been feeling very unstable. Perhaps things happened too fast? Or maybe it's more the fact that he doesn't have any friends here, nobody except for the emperor. Isaac is still learning how to live life, how to love someone, and how to integrate into a society as tight as this one. Especially the language part has been hard for him lately. Not hearing his own language is slowly driving him insane, since he has to translate everything everyone are saying in his head all the time.
Today is the day his anger has boiled over. Days of being at the palace, studying and staying silent, and suddenly the rage is there. Red and hot, burning inside of him like an eternal flame. Anaxagoras is relatively busy at times and can't always spend time with him, for obvious reasons. So daytime he spends all alone, going insane, because people at the palace don't speak to him. Not the servants, nor the officials or the guards utter even a word. Not even after he has become prince regent after marrying the emperor. Not even now, unless they have to.
Today after Anaxagoras came back from work he was met with an angry Isaac, for the first time since the first day they met. The concerned Anaxagoras could only try his best to calm the shorter down, but Isaac can't. The two of them have spent a lot of time together for these past few months, and even gotten married, but it's not like they are extremely in love yet and know everything about each other. No, they are still learning and growing together. Their marriage was somewhat forced, too soon, but they are working on it anyway. Growing into it.
So it's no surprise that Anaxagoras has a hard time calming Isaac down. There is also the small problem of Isaac refusing to speak a language that the emperor can understand. Maybe he is stubborn, but most likely his brain just can't translate the words through his emotional mental state. But because Anaxagoras is pleading, Isaac forces himself to calm down.
"I just- I-"
Isaac drags his fingers through his hair.
"God, I need to see my sister. Maybe pray. She always knew how to pray..."
Anaxagoras can only watch him mumble to himself. Usually he finds Isaac speaking his own language beautiful, it suits him. He speaks so naturally and with confidence. It's attractive, but it's also relaxing to see the man that he is in love with feel comfortable speaking, because he usually sounds unsure and timid. But now it feels terribly irritating to hear him speak a language that he can't understand, not because he hates it, but because he badly wants to understand. Anaxagoras wants to help him, but he can't. And that's frustrating for a guy that usually gets everything that he wants and can do anything about everything. Now he is without answers, and without solutions.
"I'm going to Irene"
Isaac finally manages to mutter out. Anaxagoras looks like he wants to protest, like he wants to keep him here. But ever since the wedding the two haven't met, and it's been weeks. Isaac has gone a long time without seeing his sister and Anaxagoras understands, at least to some extent. He understands enough to keep his mouth shut, at least. And he also understands that Isaac is not his prisoner, at least not anymore. He is a person with feelings and thoughts of his own, as well as a life of his own and rights and freedom. Even if Anaxagoras is emperor, he can't restrict the man he loves.
So with a saddened smile he nods.
"Of course, do you want to go right now? Should I send guards with you? I'll take you to the boarder myself, but I think the queen doesn't like me that much, so I should probably stay on this side of the river"
Another thing that is wrong with the queen. Other than taking credit for other people's hard work, and then bragging about all of her non existent achievements, she also doesn't like Anaxagoras. And the reason she doesn't like him is because deep down she knows that he is a much better emperor than she could ever be. He is so much more, just like Thea is. She could never measure up to either him or Thea, or any of the others leaders, and that makes her feel defensive and jealous. So she hates him, and gets very angry when he shows up without telling her weeks in advance.
Isaac sighs again.
"I don't know everything you just said but- no guard, you can come. God I hope I didn't say something stupid or pronounced it wrong f*ck I hate this language"
Isaac rambles on to himself after telling Anaxagoras what he wants. The emperor nods. They probably don't need any guards anyway. All the women on the other side of the river know Isaac as Irene's brother, and also as the guy who married the emperor. He is not disliked there in any way and the queen has already agreed that Isaac can cross the river whenever he wants. There is a bridge there now, so it's safe to cross. The bridge is guarded by two women and two men on each side, and more people pass through than before, when it was empty practically every day.
Together they pack a small bag to Isaac and decide that he can stay for a few days, just to calm down and get a change of scenery. In a relationship, space can be equally as important as being together. Without getting space from each other, a couple can easily grow hateful towards each other and start to drive themselves insane. While too much space can make a couple distant, too little space makes their relationship full of unnecessary arguments and hate. Anaxagoras is finally mature enough to realize this, and the same goes for Isaac. So it's with easy hearts that they together walk to the boarder, followed by four guards that will eventually stay with Anaxagoras on the men's side, while Isaac crosses the river alone.
The splashing and deadly river is always terrifying to look at. Isaac has walked with Anaxagoras by his side through the city and over the fields, and now they have arrived at the boarder. The four guards are waiting for the emperor a bit further down the road, and the two guards standing in front of the bridge bow down to them instead. Isaac doesn't acknowledge them, too far lost in the idea of finally meeting his sister again after so many weeks. Anaxagoras has looked at him with a longing expression ever since they started walking, but there is nothing Isaac can do about it. He can't be fully happy with the emperor if he doesn't get some space sometimes, and that sometimes is now.
But he is not entirely heartless right now either. Hesitantly Isaac turns around and hugs the taller blond haired emperor. Anaxagoras is caught off guard. Isaac rests his head on the others broad chest and sighs out, savoring the faint perfume smell of his husband. That word feels foreign to him. Husband. But he'll get used to it soon enough. Once he gets back to his senses, Anaxagoras hugs the shorter back with a big smile on his face. Perhaps he thought that Isaac was still angry with him. But he isn't. He never really was.
They let go after awhile. The guards in front of them ignore their shows of affection awkwardly. Isaac blushes out of embarrassment and steps away from his husband. Anaxagoras chuckles, but not too loudly, still afraid to upset Isaac even more. They wave each other goodbye, and Isaac slowly steps onto the bridge. The guards let him pass without question, because of course they do. Anaxagoras watches him go.
Isaac looks down. His mistake. The river flows angrily, hitting the sharp rocks and splashing up water everywhere around itself. It's a steep flow of water that would surely mean the end of his life if he fell down to its mercy. Isaac gulps But keeps his neutral expression, not wanting to alarm the emperor standing safely on the other side. He takes a few more hesitant steps over the flowing water, remembering how easily he crossed it last time. How did he do it then? There was only a tree trunk that he walked on and yet he was less terrified than now. What has changed? Perhaps his level of desperation.
Eventually he does make it to the other side, over the wooden bridge that felt both unstable and badly built. The two women standing guard on the other side let him pass, also without question. They don't even look at him. Isaac frowns. There is something strange about them, they seem a little tense. He can see one of the women clench her fists and the other one avoid his eyes and bite her lip in worry. All subtle things that he notices, and suddenly worry grows in his stomach. But Isaac doesn't think too much of it. He can't, because he needs to see his sister. So the black haired boy turns around and waves to Anaxagoras one last time, before walking down the hill.
There is a small forest, filled with dry hard leaf trees that comes right before the steep mountain way down to the women's city. Isaac knows this path pretty well, because before they got married he and Irene spent a lot of time together walking down this specific mountain and through this forest. But it's a dangerous path, especially when it rains. Irene never wanted him to walk alone down the mountain, so she always waited for him by the river together with one of her girlfriends. Now he's all alone, and it's dark. Irene will be quite upset when she finds out that he has walked all this way alone, through the night. If he makes it out alive that is. Isaac shivers at the thought. Of course he will... nothing bad can happen.
The forest looks much bigger and scarier at night. Usually the low trees give room for a lot of sunlight and warmth, and the walk can be rather pleasant. But now, the trees cast long shadows that spread over the dark grounds and Isaac shivers as he walks. Hesitantly, slowly he advances towards the mountains end, wondering how he's going to make it down safely. He hadn't thought about this at the palace. Perhaps he should've waited another night, and left in the morning. The tense expressions of the two guards that he left behind also start to terrify him. Isaac gulps down his fear, reminding himself that he is here for a reason.
Once he gets to the end of the forest, he sighs out in relief. The wind blows a little colder and he wraps his arms around himself, looking up at the bright moon above slowly being covered by clouds. Hopefully it won't rain, because that would make his decent down the mountain much, much more dangerous. Irene will be very angry with him once they meet. Isaac sighs.
Rustling is heard from his side. Isaac stops.
He turns around quickly, heart beating in his throat. The black haired fisherman can't see much, only dry bushes and trees covered in darkness. But he definitely heard something. The wind howls. Perhaps it was the wind? Isaac turns back around, but he is cut off by yet another faint rustle. Fear spreads around his body like a firework, from his heart and head to the rest of his soul. Isaac shakily breathes out and steps backwards, fully knowing that he can't run because of the steep downhill he is about to face.
"Hello? F*ck, I mean hello? Anyone there?"
Isaac stumbles over his words and hates himself for even uttering a single sound. Now everything is much scarier. The Rustling is heard again, but this time from three different directions. He would run away, but the thought of walking down the mountain with his heart in his throat isn't really appealing. Without full concentration and no rush he'll surely die down that path.
Isaac barely has time to breathe out. Two pairs of arms are suddenly around him, and he screams out of fear the moment they touch him. Wrapping around his own arms, holding him down, there are at least two women on each side. They are taller than him, and stronger than him. But that doesn't stop the other women around them to join. Isaac struggles against them, and against the hand that is suddenly placed over his mouth to stop his screaming. He thrashes around but yet another pair of arms join to hold him down. Despite his harsh efforts to scream and fight them off, Isaac is in the middle of nowhere, and nobody is here to save him.
The back haired boy is pushed to the ground, and held there by at least two strong arms. He struggles, with his left cheek pressed painfully against the dusty sand and his arms twisted behind his back. Since his mouth is no longer restricted he makes an effort to make as much sound as possible.
"Let me go! What are you doing? Let me go! Stop holding me, get the f*ck off me!"
How he learned to swear in their language is beyond him at this point. All he wants is to get away, it doesn't matter where, he wants to get away from them. Their arms are cold and foreign, he can't recognize any of them. He feels lost and panicked, suddenly all alone surrounded by the enemy. It doesn't matter if it's Anaxagoras or if it's Irene, someone has to save him, please!
"Stay still outsider"
A suddenly familiar voice cuts through the darkness. Isaac immediately stops yelling at them and struggles to look up, wanting to see the source of the voice. A pair of shoes stand in front of him. Isaac struggles to breathe through his panic. Someone grabs at his hair. It's the woman standing in front of him, the familiar one. The grip is strong and painful, the tug at his scalp burning. His vision is forced up. Isaac can't see much of her face, but then it clicks.
"You?!"
The queen scoffs.
"Shut up"
🌿
Hi I'm not even going to mention anything about the fact that I'm THREE WEEKS LATE but instead I'm going to say that I have about three or four more chapters planned and they are planned planned so I shouldn't have any problems publishing anymore (I f*cking hope). Anyway I am so sorry and also really thankful for y'all.
Happy weekend everyone!