Ehren watched as Akira scooped Askel into her arms and rushed to the tub. She stripped him down and put him in the cold water. He could hear her muttering to herself but he really couldn’t make out what it was she was saying. All the while, her hands never stopped moving water over Askel’s chest. Through her tears, she kept the water moving.
Suddenly, the air around them began to swirl. Akira didn’t even look up. When the air currents ceased, Ehren saw his father and mother standing in the living room.
“Shit,” he cursed under his breath. “Stay here and try not to make too much noise.”
Akira didn’t reply and Ehren really didn’t expect her to. He made his way to the living room as quietly as he could.
“Ah, there you are son,” his father said when he saw him.
“Father, mother, what is this about?” he asked.
“Your father and I thought it best to tell you why we sent you and Ferros to Greenland,” his mother replied.
“Shouldn’t we wait for Ferros?” he asked.
His father shook his head.
“No, we can tell him when he returns.”
Ehren nodded at the logic in that. His father sighed.
“You remember Loxley Eames, don’t you?”
Ehren nodded again, not mentioning that Askel looked almost exactly like him.
“Many years ago, he and I were talking about you children. You see, we used to be quite good friends. Anyway, he began to rant about the young man Akira was enamored with at the time. He said the young man was in our Navy and going to be deployed soon. He told Akira he would write to her but there was something Loxley didn’t trust about him. He seemed dishonest to him and so one day he followed the boy. That’s how he found out the boy was seeing another girl.”
“Father, what does any of that have to do with why you sent Ferros and me to Greenland?”
“Well at the end of his rant Loxley told me that there were few he considered worthy of his daughter. He knew that many would see her quick wit and sharp tongue as a deterant. Then he told me you two were the only ones who didn’t seem to care that she was so smart and had a sharp tongue.”
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“Wait, we’d met her before?”
“Once, when you three were quite young,” his mother replied. “That was before Lady Eames sent her to the nuns.”
“Oh, you mean the nuns that whipped and beat her nearly to death?”
Both of his parents gasped at this revelation.
“They nearly killed her!”
Ehren realized he was shouting but he couldn’t help himself. The fact that her own mother had sent her to such a torturous place made him very angry.
“Don’t blame my mother, my prince, she had no idea what they were doing to me until I ended up in the hospital with blood poisoning,” Akira’s voice was soft and full of emotion. “At that point, it wasn’t like they could hide it anyway. My mother didn’t mind me being smart. She minded my rebelious nature.”
She turned to go back to her brother but Ehren caught her wrist.
“I’m sorry Akira,” he said.
“My mother blamed herself for what happened to me for many years,” she answered sadly. “Yet, I brought it all on myself because I refused to be what society wanted me to be.”
With that, she slipped away. Ehren watched her go. He was torn. He wanted to listen to the reason his father had sent them to Greenland but he wanted to go after her too. He turned back to his parents.
“She’s here,” his mother whispered. “Why is she here?”
She made to follow Akira but Ehren stopped her.
“Please, mother, she’s been through a lot in the last day. I’m not sure her nerves can take much more.”
“Where did she go?”
“To take care of her brother Askel. He’s come down with a terrible fever.”
“Do you know why?”
Ehren sighed and shook his head.
“She didn’t really say but based on what I saw, I have a guess. I believe he’s epileptic and has a fever because of having too many seziures in a day. She also mentioned him forgetting to take his medicine before he came to get her in the archive room.”
Silence descended over them. It was only broken by the faint sobs coming from the bathroom.
“Son, this can wait. Right now, she needs you. I’ll send for the doctor to take a look at him.”
“Your majesty?” Again, Akira appeared without a sound.
“Yes child?”
“Please, don’t call me a child. You knew my father well?”
“Yes, I like to think I did.”
“I wish he remembered more.”
“I’m afraid I don’t understand.”
“He had a stroke eight years ago and while he survived, it left him trapped within himself. He has moments of clarity but he never speaks of you.”
“I suppose that’s because I didn’t want him to waste his life looking for a ship that doesn’t exist.”
Akira gave a humorless laugh.
“Why does everyone say that? The Bloodshed did exist, still exists. Yet, because there are so few documents related to it people don’t think it existed. Fools, every last one of them. She exists and I have seen her, touched her. Just a little more research and my thesis will be ready to present.”
His father stared at her. It was like he’d seen a ghost. For the first time in his life, Ehren saw his father rendered speechless.