His Majesty Tidus and Her Royal Highness Tera, King of the kingdom of Luna, Protectorate of the Lunar Isles, were taking their ease in one of the few places they could shed their titles and relax: one of the Royal family's private sitting rooms, with two of their daughters, playing Tides.
Selena had been here with them since the afternoon's audience had finished. The Sisters were seeing to the ship that would take her to Bulan in the morning. Since there was nothing for her to do to help, and since she was almost as spartan in her personal possessions as Luna, and most importantly because this was to be her first time traveling more than a day's ride from home, she was spending the evening with her family.
Still, her father could tell by the occasional nervous tapping of her fingers on the table or chair, and the way she would tense at random sounds that she was not at ease being at her ease. She seemed to be aching for something to do.
Aadhira's arrival had helped with that.
Aadhira had shown up dressed as if this afternoon had never happened: the simple, undyed shirt she favored, loose for movement – though Tidus noticed with some amusement that the knot tied behind her neck seemed a bit more careful than usual – and matching pants, sturdy yet mobile.
It was she that had brought the deck of cards.
Tidus had been known to play a hand of Tides or two way back when he was but a prince; but once he had a family to raise, and a country to lead, he had sworn it off. And then the girls had discovered the game on their own, and he had feigned ignorance of its seemly side and offered himself up as their eternal mark.
Tera, for her part, not only failed to show the proper disdain for the game, but if memory served him correctly, actually seemed to have improved her game from the days of their courtship.
At the current table, Aadhira of course took after her mother, gambling large and often with the lacquered wooden coins they used for money. Selena, on the other hand, had a more reserved playing style at the best of times, but tonight especially seemed to be playing for two reasons: to make Aadhira happy, and to distract herself.
It's not that Selena played poorly or anything: she was a solid player with a conservative style that usually helped buffer her against Aadhira's big risks. But her lack of interest was hurting her tonight, and was evident enough that even Aadhira seemed about to lose interest by the time their sisters arrived.
Only two of them, though.
It might have seemed odd to see Luna and Lucine, with their interests and responsibilities in as great contrast as their physical appearance, entering the room together, were it not so very commonplace. It seemed sometimes that the only thing that ever separated Tidus' two eldest daughters were their daily lives.
Sometimes Tidus wondered why this should be: Luna, of course, had always tolerated any of her sisters' presence with the patience of a well-behaved eldest child; she didn't seem to go out of her way to spend time with Lucine more than any of the others. But neither did Lucine ever seem to remove her mask for Luna. Her ever-present dispassion and cool demeanor stayed firmly in place no matter her companions.
And yet somehow the off-duty versions of his eldest daughters seemed, at times, even more inseparable than Mona and Aadhira.
Mona.
Tidus frowned as his thoughts turned to the daughter he didn't know whether he might see before they all departed tomorrow; but then Aadhira was up and greeting the new arrivals, and dealing them in to the game.
It wasn't Luna she was so excited to see. She was a strong player with a strategic mind that served her well over the long game.
But Tides was one of the few areas where Aadhira and Lucine's interests overlapped, though for different reasons. Where Aadhira loved the game for its big stakes and the narrative she could tell of her up ups and downs, Lucine had long since dug into it and found a logical core that she leveraged to emerge victorious with much greater regularity than her sister.
For Aadhira, Lucine was stiff competition; for Lucine, Aadhira was a fitting foil to test her theories against.
It was family practice to avoid talking business on nights like these, but it seemed they only had tonight to discuss some things that needed to be discussed. And besides, there were some areas where official and family business overlapped. Still, it surprised Tidus which business Luna led with a game and a half into their night.
"I made those preparations we discussed for our march tomorrow," she announced into a lull in the conversation.
This in itself wasn't a surprise to Tidus, but her follow up went in a direction that he hadn't even considered.
"But it occurred to me while ordering the carriages prepared – I don't suppose anyone has heard from Mona since this afternoon? I know that it sounded last night like she wanted to play soldier with me and – I assume you're still coming with me, Aadhira?"
Aadhira turned from her staredown with Lucine to nod vigorously.
"But that was before another offer was placed on the table. I know that she's always wanted to see Bulan. So I find myself wondering if she's going to join us or sail off for romance."
Tidus pursed his lips and looked at his wife, who was looking back at him with her eyebrows raised. Her shrug told him that she hadn't considered this possibility either.
"I think," he said carefully, "that you raise a very good question. She very well may decide to join Selena and Lucine instead, and given the way she left court today, it's possible that we may not know her decision until she shows up at either the barracks or the shipyards. So–"
"What exactly happened there today anyway?" Aadhira interjected.
Tidus looked at his youngest daughter, who had surprisingly placed her cards facedown on the table and was staring at him intently. Her twin's expression was almost as intent next to her, and even Lucine was looking at him quizzically.
Of his daughters, only Luna's face was downturned like their mother's, which was understandable – while they had tried to keep the matter hidden at the time, Luna had risen high enough in the military hierarchy for it to be impossible to completely hide from her.
"That noble – Adrian Brower, right?" Aadhira pressed. "I never saw him before last night, but Mona obviously knows him. I thought he was trying to court her, but instead he made her cry. What did he do to her? I thought he seemed nice, but now I'm just confused."
Tidus sighed and looked back at the girls' mother, who nodded.
"Do you remember Asa Brower?" he asked.
Selena shook her head, and Aadhira answered, "No," but Lucine's eyebrows knit together.
"Wasn't he that boy that Mona used to run around with – oh, it's been a few years, hasn't it?" When Tidus nodded, her expression turned pensive. "Whatever happened to him?" she asked.
The faraway look in Aadhira's eyes as she looked from her sister to her father suggested that she might be remembering.
Tidus closed his eyes long enough to take a deep breath. "He died," he said after opening them again.
Lucine, Selena, and Aadhira straightened. He could see he had their full attention, so there was nothing to do but continue.
"Back when you were first starting to run the streets yourself," he said, nodding to Aadhira, who nodded back slowly, "Asa and Mona were the ones painting the town red. I don't know all the details – though I still know more than you think, even about things as recent as last night, but – and now I can tell by the look on your face that you're starting to remember where you originally learned some of your skills that you've been taking for granted the last several years."
"Asa," she whispered, half to herself. "Asa. I – he taught me how to pick a lock. And then – nothing. It's like he just disa–" She looked at her father. "Oh." She closed her eyes, face tightening. "I was so mad at him, for leaving me, but also for what he did to–"
She opened her eyes again and looked at her father. "But he didn't hurt her, did he? She was– I mean, he had left her, but not in the way that I thought."
"No," Tidus replied. "Not in the way you thought."
Aadhira's face drained of emotion. "Tell me what happened."
Tidus nodded slowly. "You deserve to know the truth," he said. "Perhaps we should have told you back then, but you were so young. And we were so focused on Mona, and you didn't spend nearly as much time with Asa as she did – I think we hoped that if we just didn't say anything, you would just – forget about him…."
Tidus winced at the scraping of the chair on the floor as Aadhira slowly pushed back from the table.
"I did," she said as she stood up. "But now – do you know I have my own Asa now?"
"The dragonborn street rat?" Tidus wanted to take it back as soon as he said it, but suddenly all he could do was stammer as Aadhira's gaze darkened toward him.
"Dragon– Street rat?! Is that all he is to you? Is that all I am?" Aadhira's voice was rising to a scream. "Don't worry, it's just Aadhira! She just runs around with orphans and street rats! She doesn't even have any noble friends, and the one she did have, she's too dumb to remember!"
Tidus wasn't the only one with his mouth hanging open at this point. Selena stood up and stepped slowly toward her, hands outspread. "Aadhira," she said, "it's not like that. Nobody thinks you're–"
"I'm the family joke!" Aadhira yelled, whirling toward her twin, face contorted with anger and pain.
Selena stepped back, arms reflexively crossing in a defensive posture as the force of Aadhira's sudden furry seemed to almost take on physical form.
The room started to feel hot as Aadhira stalked toward her sister; even glow from the fireplace seemed to be shining more brightly on her.
"All the rest of you are perfect. Luna runs the army. Lucine runs everything else. You have your place in the temple, and even Mona loves to wear her pretty little dresses, but you're all ashamed of me!
"You can't even tell me when a friend dies! I can't act like a princess! I'm just the idiot sister who flashes the whole world in court!
"I hate it here! I hate my life!
"I hate myself."
The last sentence was spoken in a whisper, as if she had just realized it; and then she turned on her heel and ran for the exit to the room.
Nobody moved for a full minute after Aadhira ran out in tears, and then Selena flicked her hands downward, sending a couple small splashes of water onto the floor.
"What was that?" Tidus asked. Aadhira might be among the most volatile of his daughters, but this was something else.
Then he noticed the smile on Selena's face as she turned to him, holding her arms up to show where fresh, angry burns crisscrossed her forearms. "I almost didn't defend myself properly," she said, "but that doesn't matter now."
"Were all these candles lit a minute ago?" Lucine asked into the pause as Selena took a breath.
"Probably not," Selena replied. "Matchstick just manifested her element!"