Archive of Our Own ^beta

"We have a problem, Your Majesty."

Edge looked up from his fourth attempt to read a legal proposal--why couldn't the ministers use simple words? He was thinking of making that a law in itself--to see Gramps standing in the doorway.

"Some day you're going to greet me with something other than that statement and I'm going to die of a heart attack," he said.

Gramps, as usual, was unruffled. "I will ensure that I wait until Your Majesty has produced an heir to do so, Your Majesty."

Edge was suddenly grateful that Rydia had decided to spend the day outside working with her summons and not here, where she could have heard that. "Let's try worrying about one thing at a time," he suggested.

Gramps was probably narrowing his eyes under his hood, but he acquiesced for now. "The villagers report that the wooden fences aren't sufficient to keep out monsters at night and request that we divert more troops for protection," he said.

Edge leaned back in his chair, balancing it on its rear legs in a way that would have been precarious if he wasn't an exceptionally skilled ninja. He squinted past several stacks of ledgers at the map and chart on the wall that laid out the reconstruction plan. Stone walls for the village were on the list, but the castle needed repairs first. Since those repairs were happening right now (and the noise was going to drive him to Mount Ordeals just for some peace and quiet), there also wasn't room in the castle for all of the villagers. Maybe if he split the crews...but the troops would still be on longer watches and more dangerous ones. It felt like a personal insult from the gods or the moon or even the underworld that the caves they'd been sheltering in had flooded and created this problem both directly and by driving the monsters to higher ground--of which there wasn't a lot in a marshland kingdom.

The question of why his ancestors had built here was like a pin stuck in his clothing, poking him at unexpected intervals.

"Okay," he said, aware that Gramps was waiting with a predator's patience and also that his prime minister had better things to do. "I'm working on it. What in Bahamut's name is Lady Keiko's law proposal actually supposed to do?"

Gramps only sighed and left the room silently, instead of repeating for a third time that he was not going to explain it because Edge needed to learn to figure it out himself.

Edge flicked a wadded up piece of paper at the doorway, but of course Gramps was already gone. Not that he would've hit anyway. He had managed to land a blow on the older ninja exactly once and didn't expect to succeed again until the old man was on his deathbed, which he hoped meant he had decades of failures ahead of him.

He left the baffling legal proposal on his desk, with a note atop it that said Not dead, gone for a walk and slipped out the window to avoid the extra work of avoiding his guards' notice. The stone walls of the castle were still pocked with remnants of Baron's assault, making the descent child's play instead of something he had to actually work at. He ghosted his way to one of the small rear gates. The woman guarding the gate looked at him with wide eyes when he sauntered up, but Edge just gave her a wave and was through the narrow door and outside castle walls in the blink of an eye.

Finding Rydia's practice ground wasn't hard; a thin haze of smoke and mist rose from a spot well away from both castle and village. He jogged over at an easy pace, enjoying the movement and the warm spring sun. This close to the castle in daylight, the monsters were few, and aggressive hunting had thinned their numbers further while providing Eblan with some badly needed additions to the food stores. Adult rocs required a lot of stewing to break the tough meat into something edible, but one could feed the whole castle for days if it was stretched judiciously. As he approached, he saw the mound of a feathered corpse, with a grouchy-looking goblin attending it. The goblin wasn't native, and the fact that it threatened Edge with its dagger even from a distance confirmed that Rydia had summoned it to keep predators away from the roc until she could bring it back to the castle.

She was thoughtful that way.

"It's just me," he called when he was close enough to smell the tang of the smoke.

He waited, since he had no desire to interrupt anything that involved eidolons, and a few moments later a slight figure emerged from the deeper smoke. Rydia had a soaked ninja veil over her face, which she pulled off when she was in clearer air.

"Hey." He gave her what he hoped was a charming smile, and held out one arm in invitation.

She gave him a look he couldn't quite decipher, but she did lean into him for a brief embrace and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. "Running away from Gramps again?" Despite the veil, her voice was smoke-roughened. That probably shouldn't be hot, Edge thought, and he definitely shouldn't mention it regardless. Even smudged with ash, smelling of smoke and marsh, she was gorgeous. If he said that, though, she'd just give him one of her "you're strange" looks.

"Actually no," he said, then frowned. "Maybe a little, but not really," he clarified. "I'm supposed to be reading a legal proposal, but I thought you might have an idea for a problem Gramps brought me."

"There's a decent rock for sitting over there," she said, tilting her head toward it.

"Lead on, my lady." He offered her his arm as he'd seen Cecil do for Rosa. Her raised eyebrow spoke volumes, and she didn't take his arm, but she did twine her fingers with his as they walked, and that was better.

The rock was sun-warmed and wide enough for both of them to sit comfortably side by side. Rydia had stored a canteen in its shade, so the water was pleasantly cool.

"So," Rydia said.

"So. The village is having monster problems, because they just knock down the wooden barriers." He thought of the massive forests around Baron. Eblan had some trees, but nowhere near such a supply. "That's two problems, the waste of the fences and the danger to the villagers. The caves are still flooded and Eblan's never had a standing army, at least not within living memory. We never really needed one. Or palisades." He would admit to himself, and maybe even to Rydia, that he was rather bitter about the need arising. Then again, it wasn't like he could pretend Eblan had always kept to itself and never meddled; the services of a ninja came dear, but they could be bought. Still, mostly no one wanted a marsh in the far corner of the world; even if they did, armies tended to get frustrated when they came to fight and there was no one to fight because ninja didn't do pitched battles.

"Hmmm." Rydia rubbed her hands idly on her trailing sleeves, something she did often when she was thinking. He pulled himself out of his sulk because watching her face while she sorted through options was a much better use of his time. When her hands stilled, he took one of her hands in his, fingertips playing idly across her skin. She squeezed his hand and smiled.

"Well, let's go take a look," she said, and slid off the rock. She grinned back at him. "Think you can beat my chocobo?" Her hand was already resting on the pommel of its saddle.

Edge held up the gysahl greens he'd plucked from her bag. "I'm willing to race."

She laughed, and shook her head. He offered the greens to the bird, who headbutted him affectionately and didn't even nip his fingers. They set off on foot, the chocobo trailing behind.

By the time they got back to the village, the sun was halfway down the western sky, though sunset proper would still be a ways off. Edge saw that in his absence, the damaged palisade had been repaired, with saplings lashed to the cracked logs to hold them in place. It was weaker than was ideal, but there weren't a lot of options.

Edge saw one of the wise women sitting in the dubious shade of the palisade. "Are you all right?"

"Yes, Your Majesty." Would he ever stop thinking people were talking to his father when they said that? "It's much harder to tie the warding spells to wood, and they fade faster. I didn't realize how much faster, and that's why we have this problem. But I'll be done before sunset."

"Lady Rydia is going to see if she can help," Edge said, "so you won't have to rush."

"Thank you, Your Majesty." For all the polite words, she looked doubtful as she drank from her canteen.

Rydia left her chocobo digging for marsh insects and went closer to study the wall. After pushing it a few times and examining the ties, she nodded. "I can't set an Eidolon to guard the village, because even having them appear briefly is very taxing, but I think I can have a cockatrice turn the wooden wall to stone."

"That would slow down the monsters for sure," Edge said. He wrapped his hand around hers and kissed her fingertips. "That won't be too hard on you?"

"I'll sleep well tonight," she said with a laugh, "but it shouldn't be dangerously difficult."

"What do you need?"

"Just this." She pulled a vial of ether from her bag and drank it, grimacing at the smell and taste. Then she began pacing a design into the ground. She had explained to him once that summoning in battle was more costly because it involved essentially reaching through the veil to the Feymarch and pulling an Eidolon to her with force of will; when she wasn't in a rush, she could do a slower ritual. When she was done pacing, she stood in the center of the sigil she'd made and raised her arms, sleeves fluttering in the wind.

They waited for a few minutes, and then Edge saw a growing dot in the distance. It turned out to be a massive blue cockatrice, which landed in front of Rydia and opened its mouth silently. He'd been prepared to leap out of the way of a petrifying scream, and it took him a moment to relax.

Rydia spoke to the bird quietly, and it bobbed its head. She stepped aside and it began to pace along the palisade, pecking it at regular intervals. Pale raw wood changed to grey stone, still in the shape of the trees it had once been. Edge watched the change spread to the next corner of the wall, and then they waited about half an hour for it to make its way back to them.

Rydia offered the cockatrice another vial of ether from her bag, which it took carefully in its beak before flying away.

Edge let out a long sigh. Rydia swayed a little on her feet, and he stepped closer so she could lean on him.

"Thank you, Lady Rydia," the wise woman said. "Stone is much easier to work with."

Rydia smiled tiredly. "You're welcome," she said. "It should last, but if it starts to fade, I can summon again."

The wise woman heaved herself to her feet and began digging in her basket for the tools of her trade. Edge offered Rydia a hand up to her chocobo and walked beside them toward the castle. "And what boon can I grant you, my lady, for your great service this day?" He spoke in a teasing tone, but he was quite serious.

"Hmm." Rydia looked down at him, a faint smile curving her mouth. "Might the king spare some time for me?"

Edge didn't bother to hide the smile or the giddy rush that hit him when she said that. The pretense of formality seemed to amuse her, so he kept it. "I will clear my schedule, my lady. A private dinner, perhaps?"

"Your Majesty is too kind." They had reached the courtyard. She slid off the chocobo, looking a bit steadier than she had, and the stablemaster came up to take the reins. She turned to Edge and smiled. "I want to bathe first," she admitted.

"I should as well," Edge said.

She kissed his cheek through the veil and deliberately slid against him as she moved past. "I'll see you later," she said, with a mischievous smile, and headed for the castle entrance.

Edge opened his mouth to probably say something ill-advised, only to have Gramps clear his throat to his left. He managed not to give a very un-royal and un-ninja-like yelp as he turned to face the older man.

Gramps smiled faintly. "If Your Majesty has a few minutes before your meeting with the Lady Rydia," he said, "would Your Majesty still like my counsel on Lady Keiko's proposal? I believe that is the only urgent matter requiring your attention."

Edge knew it was very much not--the list Gramps had left him this morning had many things still on it--and so he was struck with a wave of gratitude for that almost as much as the offer of counsel. "Yes," he said, "Thank you."

Gramps' smile grew, and they set off for Edge's office, where hopefully Lady Keiko's proposal would go by quickly. He had important business to attend to, after all.