The procession was like that of a funeral, people talking very little as they made their way into Rahiro. The loss of Nikado had obviously taken a toll, even with Talira attempting to keep spirits up, and Ameko's silent, somber demeanor did nothing to improve the camp morale. No one even had the energy to question Jun's presence among them, and the boy in monster form had thoughtfully kept quiet.
To further complicate matters, Akito's condition had been deteriorating since his release from the dungeons. Aizaem was taking care of the man as best he could, keeping him in the peace of the infirmary cart, but Ameko began to worry if he would survive the trip home.
Those at the Rahiro central castle, however, were overjoyed to see their duke and his daughter back, whatever the condition. It hurt Ameko to see how her home had suffered in her and her father's absences: while Rahiro was not a duchy known for their hedonism and lavishness, the outer walls showed damage from large claws, and the people inside looked worn and tired. The thing she had to do right now, Ameko recognized, was to put her own emotion aside and help her own people regain their hope. Issuing orders in a firm and calm voice, the walls were strenghtened, food was prepared and hoarded, and those nearby were evacuated to within the castle walls. Ameko went over the numbers with her father's staff, and estimated that they would be able to support most of the duchy for a time, if they could supplement their food supply with monsters from the outside.
That was something which Ameko was happy to do. Even though Aizaem warned her not to put her child at risk, she went into battle, taking several monsters by herself. It was selfish of her, she knew, and it would probably make Nikado mad, but it was the only way she could express herself at the moment.
It was the only thing she could do. Rescuing the world and her husband fell from the forefront of her mind, pressed by the more immediate concerns for survival and stalled by her inability to figure out what more they needed. And with those thoughts, she began to feel the edge of despair creeping into her mind as her pregnancy progressed.
"Ameko?" Talira's voice startled her out of her depressing thoughts, and she looked over at the other woman. Her expression had become more serious since the day the world had begun to end, forcing the twin's sharp eyes to take in more, in order to do what she could. Like Ameko, she didn't seem to smile much anymore. "Hey. You feeling okay?"
"As well as can be expected." Ameko turned away from the wall, turning her full attention to the woman. "Is something the matter?"
"Aizaem says your father wants to see you. Don't worry, he isn't getting worse," Talira reassured hastily. "He was sitting up and eating when I peeked in."
"That's good. Thank you, Talira." Ameko gave her a slight nod, leaving the woman at the wall and making her way into the interior of the stone castle and to her father's chambers.
"Ah, she found you," Aizaem said as a greeting as she pushed the door open, the healer standing. "I'll give you two a bit of time."
She nodded her thanks, waiting until he had shut the door behind him. "You wanted to see me, Father?"
"Have a seat, Ameko," he told her with a soft smile, gesturing at the chair next to the bed. "You look like you were expecting a funeral, not a child."
"I'm sorry," she apologized quietly, taking the seat. "What can I do for you, Father?"
"I'm worried about you, darling," he told her gently. "When you came for me in the king's castle, you had such a light in your eyes. It's almost gone now. I am sorry, daughter. If you had not come for me...."
She shook her head quickly. "It's me that should be sorry. I should have expected something that to happen when I ran away. I'm the one that put you there and nearly killed you. I'm a terrible noblewoman, father."
"I don't see it that way," he told her. "I knew it would be likely to happen when I refused his hand for you. I would never have allowed such a man to take my daughter, no matter what it caused me or this duchy. You are blameless, Ameko. I am just happy that you finally found someone who could bring a smile to your face."
She rubbed at her face, trying not to cry. "I'm scared, Father. And I hate being scared. I miss him so much, what if I never see him again?"
"You will. You're the only one in this castle that doesn't believe that, my daughter."
"Because everyone is expecting me to be able to do it. But I've already failed once. I still don't know what it is that we need to defeat Shiou for good. We can't even get into the castle because of the barrier. I don't know what to do, Father. Why can't I become strong enough to protect my family?!"
Akito reached out a hand to rest on her knee, looking at her with his soft brown eyes. "Ameko, you are strong. Look at what you've managed to do. Everyone expects you to do great things because you already have. You are plenty strong. It may be that in this case, it is not the strength of one person that is needed. You know that one person cannot save an entire world by themselves."
"Then who do I need, Father? Who is it that I need to find?"
"I don't know the answer to that. But I believe that with patience and perserverance, the answer will come to us in time. Don't give up, Ameko. Perhaps the answer will lie with the child inside you."
She placed a hand to her stomach, bowing her head as she rubbed at her eyes. "My child...Nikado's child." She looked up at her father again, but this time there was a small light that had been missing before. "I'm not going to cry. Nikado is still alive. I have to believe in him. All I can do is what I can do. That's what I'm going to do. You, and Talira and Aizaem and Jer and everyone, they've all been trying so hard to believe and it's something that I haven't even been able to do. I love him, but he's not the only thing that's important to me. I need to protect the other things that are." She gave him a small smile. "Is that why you wanted to see me? To tell me that was what I needed to do?"
He smiled slightly. "I just wanted to see you. I knew you would figure it out on your own. You'remind me very much of the stories of our ancestors, Ameko. You have strength and bravery that are unmatched in a perilous world. Rahiro will be fine."
"Of course it will. Nikado will need a home to come back to. How are you feeling, father? Has some of your strength returned to you?"
"Coming home has done me a world of good. Your healer friend says I will be able to return to a daily routine once I get back more of my strength. I'm sorry to have worried you so."
"You're okay and that's good enough to me," she reassured, leaning over and giving him a kiss on the cheek. "I'm going to go check with Jer on how that wall repair is coming. I'll come check on you later."
"Ameko," he called after her. "Don't overdo it. You need to take care of your child. That child could be our future."
"I know." She placed a hand on her stomach, then turned and smiled at him. "But isn't that the case with all children?"
"Yes...It certainly is."
"Oi, Ameko!"
Ameko looked up from her position on the ladder she was perched on, hand stopping where it was on the spine of a book as she looked down at the younger woman. Talira had a young boy by the back of the shirt, holding him up and presenting him to Ameko like a cat who had caught a mouse and was putting it on display. "I think this is yours. I found it on the wall."
The boy pouted as Talira set him down. Ameko sighed, stepping down from the ladder with the book in hand. "Daisuke, you know you're not allowed up there."
"I just wanted to see," he muttered, folding his arms sulkily. "I never get to go outside of the castle."
"That's because there's monsters out there, you little moron," Talira said cheerfully, setting the boy down. "And don't you look so innocent, mister, you were right there with him."
The second boy behind Talira scooted back a step. "I told him not to go up there."
Ameko set the book down on a table, taking a seat. "Come here, boys," she said gently, gesturing them forward.
Talira leaned against the wall, watching as the two shuffled forward, neither eager to be reprimanded. "Have a seat," she instructed, and they both did so. "I don't want to hear that either of you are up on the wall again. Do you understand?"
"Mama, why can't we go on the wall? Why can't we go out?" Daisuke insisted, swinging his small legs. "I want to see."
"Your aunt is right. There's a lot of bad creatures out there, like the ones in the sky," Ameko told them firmly. "We'll take you out there one day, when you can better defend yourselves."
"But I want to go out now. Why can't we go out? Why are there bad creatures out there? Why are they in the sky?"
She sighed, placing a hand on his head. "Be patient, Daisuke. Mama is working very hard to find a way to get rid of the bad creatures. We will be able to go outside one day. I promise."
"But why? Why is it like that?"
"Because a bad man made it that way."
"Why did he do that?"
"I don't know," Ameko told him. "Maybe one day you can ask him. The world's full of a lot of questions that can't be answered, but we're trying to find out the answers to them anyway. If I find out, I'll tell you. All right?"
"Okay," he sighed. "Can I go now?"
"Yes, I suppose. Just don't go back up on the wall." The boy quickly jumped from his chair, fleeing the library. The other moved to follow, but Ameko placed a hand on his head. "You did well, Keisuke. I know you were just trying to watch out for him."
"Don't worry, Mother," he told her, offering her a smile. "I'll make sure he stays out of trouble. Daisuke, wait up!" he called after the other boy, running out as well.
"What a responsible little kid," Talira chuckled from her position by the doorway as she looked down the hall after them. "I wonder where he gets it from?"
"Well, it's not Nikado," Ameko said with a slight smile, opening the book she had pulled down.
"No, but the other one's sure his child, all right. I remember Jer telling me Nikado used to be the same way when he was a kid. Always wanted to know why." She let out a little sigh, pulling up a chair and taking a seat. "They're getting to the age where they start to ask those kind of questions."
"Yeah. To be honest, I was hoping we'd have this solved years ago before they were this old. It's almost been five years and all we've managed to do is tread water."
"Still, treading water means we aren't drowning," Talira said with a slight shrug. "What are you going to tell them when they start asking about their father?"
Ameko let out a soft sigh, resting a hand on the book. "I'm going to tell them that he's dead."
"Is that a good idea?"
"Possibly not, but they wouldn't understand the truth at this age. Death is something they can comprehend. If I tried to explain, Daisuke would just want to know why his father isn't here if he loves them."
"Possibly," Talira said with a shake of her head. "But I don't like it."
"You want to do differently?"
"No, I'll go along with what you decide," she told the older woman. "It's not my call. You're the one Nikado trusted with his children, his future. Well, any luck today?"
"No. I still haven't found any way to break into the barrier. The books aren't telling us anything about the king we didn't already know. One of the women from the Yubita convent told me something interesting, though, a prophecy she had made for the king's daughter."
"A daughter? Shiou didn't have a daughter. Just a son, Jun. Unless there's something about our four-legged friend I didn't know?"
"No, he had a younger daughter, probably ten years younger than Jun. The woman told me she had made a prophecy that she would kill the king."
Talira let out a low whistle. "Well, that's a shame. I bet the kid didn't live long."
"I don't know about that, Talira. These women have a strange power. Maybe it comes from their god. But they haven't been wrong often. I wonder if it's possible that the girl survived. We should ask Jun, see if we know what kind of girl we would be looking for. She'd probably only be ten herself."
"Well, it's worth a shot, I guess. Do you need a hand in these dust-ridden things?" Talira offered, waving a hand at the bookshelves. "Can't read 'em well, but...."
"I think I'll be fine. You should probably go help Jer with the guard," Ameko said with a smile. "Thanks for taking the time to keep an eye on the kids."
"Hey, they are my nephews, gotta make sure they stay in one piece," Talira said, a bit embarrassed by the gratitude. "All right, I'll head out then. Whoops, scuse me." She had gotten up to leave and then stopped, almost running into an old woman in the doorway. "Are you lost, ma'am?"
"Ah, Sister," Ameko greeted, recognizing her as one of the refugees from the Yubita convent. "Is there something I can help you with?"
The older woman raised her head, fixing Ameko with a piercing gaze. "Those boys," she said in a soft tone that nevertheless seemed to echo around the library. "One day, they will leave on a journey."
Ameko's eyes widened as she gripped the table tightly. "I don't want to hear what you have to say. Please leave at once."
"When the seasons have changed ten times, they will leave this place," the woman continued speaking. "They will go on a journey to a place that is far beyond our borders."
"Stop it!" Ameko shouted, standing up and knocking the chair over. "Just stop it! Haven't you done enough to me? I've already been separated from my husband, now you want to take my children, too? What have I done that is so terrible for you to do this to me?!"
"I don't have a choice in speaking," the nun replied. "I am given what I am to say and that is that. I would ask that you listen to it."
Talira went back over to Ameko, setting the chair upright and pushing the other woman into it. "We need to listen, Ameko. This could be important. It might be the thing we're looking for."
"No, not my children," she whispered, but took the seat, closing her eyes tightly.
"They will go on a journey. When the seasons have changed ten times, a doorway will open before them," the woman stated. "I do not know where they will go or whether their journey will be successful. But it is necessary in order to avert the disaster of this world."
"The disaster of this world," Ameko repeated. "You mean what's happening with the monsters and Shiou. What are they going to do? Oh, damn it, you won't know the answer to that, will you," she muttered, recalling how infuriatingly vague prophecies were. "Why them?"
"I don't know the answer to that. But it has to be them and no other. They are required to keep this world from the endless night."
"Because they're children," Ameko said to herself, letting out a sigh through her nose. "Because they're the future. Why so soon? In ten years they won't even be fifteen yet. Can't it wait until they're ready?"
The older woman could only shake her head. "It's the time that has been chosen. That is what I can tell you."
"I see." Ameko watched as the old women turned, exiting the library the way she had come. "We need to start preparing them. I think we should teach them weaponry, Talira. And I want you to teach Daisuke your bloodline magic. He's got the capability in him."
"You can't be serious," Talira said with a frown. "They haven't even hit their fifth birthday yet, and besides, that sort of thing is way too dangerous for Daisuke."
"I am serious. Yubita was among the first evacuees we saw. She's been here for years. The fact that she is telling us now means it's time to start preparing. And I want you to do it, even if it's only a basic understanding. He may need his power, somewhere down the line. We have to prepare for that possibility as well."
"No, Ameko. It's not right for him. He's too much like my brother. He'll hate himself if he has to use it."
"I would rather he hate himself for using it than be dead because he didn't know how," Ameko countered. "I don't have that bloodline. It has to be you, Talira."
She frowned. "Even if you say that, I only know a little. I quit doing it years before we met. Nikado was the one that handled it instinctively."
"Then whatever you know. Every little bit helps. I'm going to do the same with Keisuke and his bloodline. We have to prepare them, Talira. It's our duty as the preceding generation."
She let out a sigh. "I told you a long time ago that you were the one I'd follow. I'm going to trust you again on this." She made her way for the door again. "I'll find Jer and ask him for help."
"Thanks, Talira. I couldn't do this without you."
"Sure you could," the woman replied with a wave of her hand as she left. "It just wouldn't be as easy."
Ameko snorted in amusement as she looked back down at the book on the table. Closing it for the moment, she crossed the library to look out the window. Over the wall of the castle, she could see the scraggly trees that had managed to survive, along with tough patches of grass around the arid landscape. And in the distance, she could make out a streak of white against the gray sky, reaching off into the distance. Nikado...when they leave on this journey...please watch over them.
