Of Silence and Thievery (20/34) - Part One
Title : Of Silence and Thievery
Genre : humor, action/adventure, fantasy and, of course, romance
Pairings: USUK main, minor others
Rating: R
Warnings: AU, human names used, fantasy plot line ^_^ future sexy times
Summary: Arthur had a voice, a good one, but it's been stolen from him and he's prepared to do everything he can to get it back. Even traversing across the world with a bunch of lunatics with a leader who just might be his hero after all.
Note: This has actually been ready for a little bit, but with snafus abound at FFN, this update got a bit delayed. I apologize profusely and hope both the length and the smut (I'm so good to you lovelies) makes up for some of the delay.
P.S. Would you look at that...there's in fact and actual end to this story in sight...at least until the sequel.
P.P.S. Reviews would be lovely :D
Previous Chapter
Of Silence and Thievery
Chapter Twenty: Where Nikolai is Late and Alfred Finally Gets What He Wants
The waters surrounding Pannonia were clear and warm, a far cry from the dark, icy blue oceans Nikolai was used to back in the Nords. It prickled differently against his skin and felt more playful than usual, much more wind-like and carefree; Oskar would have felt right at home. It felt odd to Nikolai.
He’d never been so far south before and he blinked up at the bright, sunny sky as he stepped out of the ocean and walked up the sandy beach. Even that was odd to him-he was used to black and gray sand that sung when you stepped on it, not the sunny, silent sand he saw people lounging on or building castles in. He reached up and adjusted the clip that kept his errant hair out of his face and continued walking up the beach until he reached a row of shops and restaurants along the ocean front. Vindobona was a far cry from Spandow and it showed in nearly every aspect of architecture and person; Nikolai was not worried about language barriers here. Everyone spoke Common in a port town as large as Vindobona.
He walked along the stores and tourist spots until he reached the docks, a sprawling, organized shipyard that could house upwards of a hundred ships. It was one of the biggest port towns in Avrupa, not to mention the best maintained, and Nikolai was hoping that organization would work in his favor in finding the Evangeline. He walked smoothly through the hurried crowd until he came upon a large, white building with a sign entitled ‘Dockmaster’ outside; he blinked and walked through the doors as a group of large, tattooed men ambled out. A plump, elderly woman peered up at him from her desk and she smiled politely.
“May I help you, sir?”
“Yes. I’m looking for a ship named the Evangeline that should be docked here in port. I was hoping the Dockmaster might be able to help me locate where she would be.”
“What business do you have with the ship and her crew, sir?”
Nikolai allowed a polite smile on his face which relaxed the woman’s concern. “Just a message. I’m a friend of Captain Seychelles, I was told by one of her contacts in Spandow she was sailing here.”
The woman hummed and started flipping through a large, leather bound book, the pages near the front yellowed and weathered and a far cry from the fresh, crisp pages she was flipping through in front of him. “Well, let’s check the log first, see if they did stop by for a visit. Hm, Evangeline, Evangeline, Evangeline…ah! Here we are; it looks like they docked in with us five days past and-oh! Their docking fees were paid for by Lord Roderich Edelstein! Must have been a friend of the Lord’s. Ah yes, they were anchored in his wing, it looks like, a bit east of here-Lord Edelstein donates quite a lot of his time and funds to keeping the docks clean and operating smoothly so he has his own, private docking area for any of his merchant ships that come to port. If you like, I can have one of the Dockmaster’s apprentices take you there, see if they’re still in port-I don’t have a departure date, but this book hasn’t been updated for a day or so. Been out sick with the flu, only just got back, sir.”
Nikolai nodded. “I’d appreciate that very much, thank you.”
She clapped her hands and called out for a young man to take him to the Edelsteins’ docks; he gave her a final nod of thanks as he followed the lad out the door and down the cobbled, slightly wet road. It was midday so the port wasn’t as busy as it would have been in the morning-Nikolai was thankful for the calm. The last thing he needed after nearly three weeks travelling through oceans as fast as he reasonably could was a bunch of raucous, rowdy sailors crowding all around. He was tired and had a horrible ringing in his head from the constant water pressure; the sunlight didn’t help much either, not when his eyes had adjusted to the darker light of the ocean for so long. He followed the apprentice down a turn and noticed how much nicer the ships in this section of port looked-there were more yachts and less schooners. The apprentice came to a stop in front of a row of expensive looking cargo ships and gave Nikolai a short bow before he said he’d grab the overseer for the area.
Nikolai stared at the very noticeable absence, save for rippling water, in between the two cargo ships and he felt he had the answer he needed. They were gone-he had missed them again and he had practically exhausted himself in trying to get there before they left. His fists balled at his sides and he blew out a frustrated stream of air through his nose; for once, he wished that the Evangeline crew was a little less efficient and a bit lazier. Now, he had no idea where they’d gone and the Medii was a large search ground to try and sift through; he felt a hand at his shoulder and turned around to meet a young woman’s gaze, one that he hadn’t seen in years.
“Nik? Is that-what are you doing here?” Elizaveta Hedervary-Edelstein was just as pretty as Nikolai remembered; the only difference was she was wearing an expensive dress instead of a stained tunic. “Ms. Mabel, the Dockmaster’s secretary, she sent a runner to let us know we had someone calling after Seychelles and the crew, someone from the Nords by the look of him. Luckily we were already in the area so it didn’t take us long but-what’s going on? Is everything all right up north? Nothing’s happened to the others, right?”
Nikolai shook his head and turned to look at the somber, serious man standing beside Elizaveta; this had to be Roderich, her husband. “No, we’re all fine. At least they were when I left nearly a moon and a half ago.”
“You must be Nikolai, one of the Nord Brothers, correct? Liz has told me about you. You control, ice is it?”
“Water. Berwald controls Ice.”
“Oh, I’m sorry! Rod, Nik, Nik, this is my husband Roderich. I’m terrible at introductions. But, we’re all met so now you can tell me why you’re here. I know you wouldn’t have travelled so far south just for a house call and don’t you dare try to lie to me! I’m still involved in all of this, even if I don’t sail with them anymore.”
Nikolai was about to answer, not sure why Elizaveta was so convinced he was going to withhold information from her at all, when a familiar face popped out from a carriage that had pulled up behind them. He quirked an eyebrow as Lily made her way over to where they stood, looking up at them with confusion. “Nikolai? I thought that you didn’t leave the forest. That you were the heroes that kept all the bad things in the forest from attacking the Nords and could never leave.”
“Did Mathias tell you that?” Lily nodded and Nikolai felt a swell of fond irritation at the fire-wielder. “Well, he exaggerated a bit. We can leave, as long as we promise to go back. How else do you think Tino gets all that candied cinnamon bark for Oskar?”
Lily shrugged and looked up at Elizaveta, who was still staring at Nikolai intensely. “Nikolai, tell me why you’re here.”
“Tell me why Lily isn’t on board the ship first, and then I’ll tell you why I’m here.” If she was going to insist on being so rude, he had no problem returning the favor. He was not in the mood for an interrogation.
“She got sick-”
“It’s too dangerous-”
“Brother didn’t want me to go with him! He was too worried I would slow everyone down!”
“Oh sweetie, no, that’s not why at all! He was just worried about you, that’s all! It’s not safe where they’re going and he didn’t want you to be in danger.” Elizaveta had crouched down and gathered the little girl to her in a gentle hug. “You know how hard it was for him to leave you, you saw him-he was so sad he was crying. He never cries, not even when he’s hurt, but he cried because he was going to miss you so much.”
Lily didn’t say anything and only her sniffles echoed between the four of them for a moment; Nikolai watched as Elizaveta continued to rub calming circles into the little girl’s back before he met Roderich’s eye. “I need to give them a message, something they need to know before they try to charge Ivan’s hide-out, swords blazing. Ludwig told me they were coming here to try and find a mountain range.”
“And they found it-well, Lily did actually. They sailed for Zion two days ago. It’s in the KauKhasis Mountains,” Roderich replied.
“What do you need to tell them? Is it bad? Why are you talking in vague terms? Tell me right now, I’m worried enough as it is!”
Nikolai was starting to get a headache-Elizaveta always managed to give him a headache. “It’s about Matthew.”
“Alfred’s brother?”
“Mattie?”
“Mattie didn’t get to go either; Alfred said they couldn’t pick him up because he’s too far away.” Lily’s sniffles were heartbreaking-Nikolai felt a swell of empathy for her and almost reached out to pat her head in comfort. But, that would’ve just been awkward since Nikolai was the last person expected to give out platitudes of any kind, so instead he looked back up at Elizaveta. Her eyes were wide and she was looking at him as if she expected Nikolai to deliver news of Matthew’s death-which he supremely hoped wasn’t the case, but there was no saying with Ivan.
“I don’t want it to spread, that’s why I need to tell Alfred myself. I know you wouldn’t say anything, consciously, but I really can’t say anymore regarding it. If you could point me which city in Zion they’re headed towards, it would help me follow a more specific current in the Medii-otherwise, I may not be able to reach them before they port. And I’ll be all but useless trying to track them on land.”
“He took him, hasn’t he? That-he took Mattie?” Elizaveta’s words were hushed and barely more than an exhale between the four of them, her face pale as marble, Roderich’s mouth set in a grim, hard line, and Lily’s eyes filling with tears. “Oh Lady above-that’s it, isn’t it?”
He met Elizaveta’s stare but didn’t acknowledge her guess as right or wrong; he suspected he didn’t need to anyway; she glared back at his silence and her lips thinned into a line. He could only hope that Ivan’s spies weren’t aware of his movements yet and didn’t know he knew about Matthew-he didn’t think they were, but it was hard to say. He was sure that whatever Ivan’s reasons for taking Matthew involved a certain amount of secrecy; otherwise he would’ve made it known by now. Having someone else tell Alfred that his brother had been taken was probably not how Ivan envisioned his whole plot unfolding. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Elizaveta, because he did for as little as he knew her; it was that he didn’t trust her good intentions to actually bring about any good in this situation. She was too emotionally involved and that wouldn’t help her think clearly at all.
Silence echoed between them-she wasn’t giving him any sort of answer about where to go and he really didn’t have the patience, nor the time, for pettiness. He rubbed at his temples and looked back behind him towards the ocean, the blue water peppered by departing and incoming ships-they would make swimming difficult. Death by ship hull or propeller (if it was a newer, modern ship) was not something he’d imagined for himself. He was exhausted and the thought of diving back into the sea, no matter how connected to it he was, without any direction to head seemed tiring enough without the task of trying to avoid ships and rudders from the onset.
“Herzliya*-they’re going to Herzliya.” Nikolai turned back and met Elizaveta’s drawn and worried face, the anger diminished a little. “It’s where Esther’s from and she has a reliable friend there who will keep the ship safe when they head inland. It’s also a stop on the Old Road, which is one of the safer and more trusted roads through the Byzantium. They just left yesterday morning, I’m sure you can catch up to them before they pass by the Pannonia border and out into open waters. Gods, this is just-I’m sorry, Nik, I didn’t mean to-I just have a terrible feeling about all of this and now Mattie is-”
“Don’t say anything.” He gestured sharply with his hand to cut her off. “To anyone. There’s a reason why no one knows what’s happened and I don’t want to create an incident by letting him know that his abduction isn’t as secret as he thinks-and I don’t want him to send his supporters after you.”
Elizaveta looked defiant again, as if she was moments away from shouting for the entire dock to hear that she didn’t care about keeping safe and she wanted to help find Matthew (Nikolai knew her enough to know that’s what she was preparing to rant about), but Roderich stepped forward and placed a hand firmly on her shoulder. “I understand, Mr. Nikolai. Discretion would be a better ally to Matthew now, at least until we understand the intentions of Ivan Braginski better.”
Nikolai surveyed Roderich coolly for a moment before he decided he meant what he said and wasn’t just trying to placate his wife. He nodded his head in thanks and looked back to Elizaveta, who still looked unhappy. “Your husband grasps the situation better than you do-I know you’re worried about him, that you’ve come to view him and Alfred has brothers, but you’ll do him no good getting him killed or locked up even tighter than he might be right now. Besides, Vash obviously entrusted you to look after his sister, endangering her by becoming a target for Ivan’s anger seems counterproductive.”
She flushed and narrowed her eyes at him; Nikolai raised his eyebrow at her in response. “I’m not going to put her in danger, but I can’t just sit here and do nothing!”
“You already chose to do so, haven’t you? Or, was there something else I was supposed to gather in seeing you here on the docks instead of on board a ship?”
“You-!”
“That’s enough, both of you.” Elizaveta flushed again, this time in embarrassment and glanced back at her husband, who was looking at them both with an unimpressed look; he had a wide-eyed Lily tucked into his side. Nikolai met the stare evenly; he didn’t feel remorse for what he had said because it was the truth. Maybe it came out sharper than he had intended, but he was tired and this was why he hardly ever liked dealing with other people-they were too frustrating. Elizaveta was more frustrating than most. Damn it, Tino should have been the one to do this, he was better at the whole communication thing (Nikolai was quite content with his solitude, thank you). “Liz, I hate to say it, but he’s right. We’re not going to be any help to Matthew if he gets hurt by our actions and Lily has to be our priority. You had the option of leaving with them, you know I would have supported you, but you chose to stay here-she has to take precedent. I promised Vash I would do whatever was necessary to keep her safe.”
Roderich turned back to Nikolai and looked down his nose at him, probably in an attempt to make Nikolai feel inferior; he felt no such thing. He actually felt a little humored, because honestly, a merchant, even a wealthy one, wasn’t about to unsettle someone who’d been chosen to embody the element of water. “And Mr. Nikolai, I understand you’re need for swiftness in this matter, but do not patronize my wife’s choices because of it; staying here, with me, instead of joining her friends was likely one of the hardest things she has ever had to do.”
Nikolai almost wanted to roll his eyes, but that would’ve been in poor taste, (and firmly put him in the Mathias-level of maturity and Nikolai was not about to have anything in common with that moron) so he abstained. He nodded in acknowledgment and fixed a teary-looking Elizaveta with a calmer expression. “Apologies, if I upset you; it was not my intention.”
She shrugged and wiped at her eyes. “It’s fine, I know you’re absolute shit at talking to people-”
“Language, Liz.”
“-and I’m just more of an emotional wreck than usual right now. I hate it when they all leave.”
Nikolai couldn’t share the sentiment, (it was generally a reason to celebrate when Seychelles and her crew left because it meant she took her band of idiots with her) but he nodded anyway, which seemed to appease her enough to smile wanly. He straightened his spine and cleared his throat when the silence grew uncomfortable again; he had been distracted long enough. “Herzliya, you said?”
Elizaveta nodded. “They were going to ride the currents off of the Pannonia coast to start, in case anything needed last minutes fixes before they deep-sea sailed. But yes, Herzliya is where they’re headed.”
“Thank you.” He spared them both another nod before he turned and left, grateful that the whole, painful exchange was facing the back of him (Ludwig had been so much easier to deal with-he was so serious all the time, it meshed well with Nikolai’s nature).
“Nikky!” He turned at the horrible nickname and looked at Lily’s wide, scared eyes. She was sandwiched in between Roderich and Elizaveta, each of her frail hands encased in one of theirs. “Can you tell my brother that-that I’m sorry I yelled? I don’t want him to think I hate him if he…”
If he doesn’t come back was the unsaid fear that echoed in the space between them. He really wasn’t looking forward to more emotional ‘talks’ but by the Balance, how was he supposed to say no to the little girl? She had enough to worry about as it was. He nodded once at her before walking to the edge of the dock and peering over into the dirty water below. He was drained, had a headache, and was not looking forward to smelling like sewage and trash, but time was a luxury he didn’t have. He could eat later (raw fish was starting to get a little old but it was free food), he could bathe later, and could rest after he’d given his message. He reached out his hands and swirled the water up to meet him, cocooning his arms, then torso, and then the rest of his body in a suit of sorts, letting it meld into his skin until the familiar hum settled so deep inside him he couldn’t tell where he started and the water began.
And, with a final step, water whooshed up in a giant wave and he dove beneath the surface with it,
To Part Two
Genre : humor, action/adventure, fantasy and, of course, romance
Pairings: USUK main, minor others
Rating: R
Warnings: AU, human names used, fantasy plot line ^_^ future sexy times
Summary: Arthur had a voice, a good one, but it's been stolen from him and he's prepared to do everything he can to get it back. Even traversing across the world with a bunch of lunatics with a leader who just might be his hero after all.
Note: This has actually been ready for a little bit, but with snafus abound at FFN, this update got a bit delayed. I apologize profusely and hope both the length and the smut (I'm so good to you lovelies) makes up for some of the delay.
P.S. Would you look at that...there's in fact and actual end to this story in sight...at least until the sequel.
P.P.S. Reviews would be lovely :D
Previous Chapter
Of Silence and Thievery
Chapter Twenty: Where Nikolai is Late and Alfred Finally Gets What He Wants
The waters surrounding Pannonia were clear and warm, a far cry from the dark, icy blue oceans Nikolai was used to back in the Nords. It prickled differently against his skin and felt more playful than usual, much more wind-like and carefree; Oskar would have felt right at home. It felt odd to Nikolai.
He’d never been so far south before and he blinked up at the bright, sunny sky as he stepped out of the ocean and walked up the sandy beach. Even that was odd to him-he was used to black and gray sand that sung when you stepped on it, not the sunny, silent sand he saw people lounging on or building castles in. He reached up and adjusted the clip that kept his errant hair out of his face and continued walking up the beach until he reached a row of shops and restaurants along the ocean front. Vindobona was a far cry from Spandow and it showed in nearly every aspect of architecture and person; Nikolai was not worried about language barriers here. Everyone spoke Common in a port town as large as Vindobona.
He walked along the stores and tourist spots until he reached the docks, a sprawling, organized shipyard that could house upwards of a hundred ships. It was one of the biggest port towns in Avrupa, not to mention the best maintained, and Nikolai was hoping that organization would work in his favor in finding the Evangeline. He walked smoothly through the hurried crowd until he came upon a large, white building with a sign entitled ‘Dockmaster’ outside; he blinked and walked through the doors as a group of large, tattooed men ambled out. A plump, elderly woman peered up at him from her desk and she smiled politely.
“May I help you, sir?”
“Yes. I’m looking for a ship named the Evangeline that should be docked here in port. I was hoping the Dockmaster might be able to help me locate where she would be.”
“What business do you have with the ship and her crew, sir?”
Nikolai allowed a polite smile on his face which relaxed the woman’s concern. “Just a message. I’m a friend of Captain Seychelles, I was told by one of her contacts in Spandow she was sailing here.”
The woman hummed and started flipping through a large, leather bound book, the pages near the front yellowed and weathered and a far cry from the fresh, crisp pages she was flipping through in front of him. “Well, let’s check the log first, see if they did stop by for a visit. Hm, Evangeline, Evangeline, Evangeline…ah! Here we are; it looks like they docked in with us five days past and-oh! Their docking fees were paid for by Lord Roderich Edelstein! Must have been a friend of the Lord’s. Ah yes, they were anchored in his wing, it looks like, a bit east of here-Lord Edelstein donates quite a lot of his time and funds to keeping the docks clean and operating smoothly so he has his own, private docking area for any of his merchant ships that come to port. If you like, I can have one of the Dockmaster’s apprentices take you there, see if they’re still in port-I don’t have a departure date, but this book hasn’t been updated for a day or so. Been out sick with the flu, only just got back, sir.”
Nikolai nodded. “I’d appreciate that very much, thank you.”
She clapped her hands and called out for a young man to take him to the Edelsteins’ docks; he gave her a final nod of thanks as he followed the lad out the door and down the cobbled, slightly wet road. It was midday so the port wasn’t as busy as it would have been in the morning-Nikolai was thankful for the calm. The last thing he needed after nearly three weeks travelling through oceans as fast as he reasonably could was a bunch of raucous, rowdy sailors crowding all around. He was tired and had a horrible ringing in his head from the constant water pressure; the sunlight didn’t help much either, not when his eyes had adjusted to the darker light of the ocean for so long. He followed the apprentice down a turn and noticed how much nicer the ships in this section of port looked-there were more yachts and less schooners. The apprentice came to a stop in front of a row of expensive looking cargo ships and gave Nikolai a short bow before he said he’d grab the overseer for the area.
Nikolai stared at the very noticeable absence, save for rippling water, in between the two cargo ships and he felt he had the answer he needed. They were gone-he had missed them again and he had practically exhausted himself in trying to get there before they left. His fists balled at his sides and he blew out a frustrated stream of air through his nose; for once, he wished that the Evangeline crew was a little less efficient and a bit lazier. Now, he had no idea where they’d gone and the Medii was a large search ground to try and sift through; he felt a hand at his shoulder and turned around to meet a young woman’s gaze, one that he hadn’t seen in years.
“Nik? Is that-what are you doing here?” Elizaveta Hedervary-Edelstein was just as pretty as Nikolai remembered; the only difference was she was wearing an expensive dress instead of a stained tunic. “Ms. Mabel, the Dockmaster’s secretary, she sent a runner to let us know we had someone calling after Seychelles and the crew, someone from the Nords by the look of him. Luckily we were already in the area so it didn’t take us long but-what’s going on? Is everything all right up north? Nothing’s happened to the others, right?”
Nikolai shook his head and turned to look at the somber, serious man standing beside Elizaveta; this had to be Roderich, her husband. “No, we’re all fine. At least they were when I left nearly a moon and a half ago.”
“You must be Nikolai, one of the Nord Brothers, correct? Liz has told me about you. You control, ice is it?”
“Water. Berwald controls Ice.”
“Oh, I’m sorry! Rod, Nik, Nik, this is my husband Roderich. I’m terrible at introductions. But, we’re all met so now you can tell me why you’re here. I know you wouldn’t have travelled so far south just for a house call and don’t you dare try to lie to me! I’m still involved in all of this, even if I don’t sail with them anymore.”
Nikolai was about to answer, not sure why Elizaveta was so convinced he was going to withhold information from her at all, when a familiar face popped out from a carriage that had pulled up behind them. He quirked an eyebrow as Lily made her way over to where they stood, looking up at them with confusion. “Nikolai? I thought that you didn’t leave the forest. That you were the heroes that kept all the bad things in the forest from attacking the Nords and could never leave.”
“Did Mathias tell you that?” Lily nodded and Nikolai felt a swell of fond irritation at the fire-wielder. “Well, he exaggerated a bit. We can leave, as long as we promise to go back. How else do you think Tino gets all that candied cinnamon bark for Oskar?”
Lily shrugged and looked up at Elizaveta, who was still staring at Nikolai intensely. “Nikolai, tell me why you’re here.”
“Tell me why Lily isn’t on board the ship first, and then I’ll tell you why I’m here.” If she was going to insist on being so rude, he had no problem returning the favor. He was not in the mood for an interrogation.
“She got sick-”
“It’s too dangerous-”
“Brother didn’t want me to go with him! He was too worried I would slow everyone down!”
“Oh sweetie, no, that’s not why at all! He was just worried about you, that’s all! It’s not safe where they’re going and he didn’t want you to be in danger.” Elizaveta had crouched down and gathered the little girl to her in a gentle hug. “You know how hard it was for him to leave you, you saw him-he was so sad he was crying. He never cries, not even when he’s hurt, but he cried because he was going to miss you so much.”
Lily didn’t say anything and only her sniffles echoed between the four of them for a moment; Nikolai watched as Elizaveta continued to rub calming circles into the little girl’s back before he met Roderich’s eye. “I need to give them a message, something they need to know before they try to charge Ivan’s hide-out, swords blazing. Ludwig told me they were coming here to try and find a mountain range.”
“And they found it-well, Lily did actually. They sailed for Zion two days ago. It’s in the KauKhasis Mountains,” Roderich replied.
“What do you need to tell them? Is it bad? Why are you talking in vague terms? Tell me right now, I’m worried enough as it is!”
Nikolai was starting to get a headache-Elizaveta always managed to give him a headache. “It’s about Matthew.”
“Alfred’s brother?”
“Mattie?”
“Mattie didn’t get to go either; Alfred said they couldn’t pick him up because he’s too far away.” Lily’s sniffles were heartbreaking-Nikolai felt a swell of empathy for her and almost reached out to pat her head in comfort. But, that would’ve just been awkward since Nikolai was the last person expected to give out platitudes of any kind, so instead he looked back up at Elizaveta. Her eyes were wide and she was looking at him as if she expected Nikolai to deliver news of Matthew’s death-which he supremely hoped wasn’t the case, but there was no saying with Ivan.
“I don’t want it to spread, that’s why I need to tell Alfred myself. I know you wouldn’t say anything, consciously, but I really can’t say anymore regarding it. If you could point me which city in Zion they’re headed towards, it would help me follow a more specific current in the Medii-otherwise, I may not be able to reach them before they port. And I’ll be all but useless trying to track them on land.”
“He took him, hasn’t he? That-he took Mattie?” Elizaveta’s words were hushed and barely more than an exhale between the four of them, her face pale as marble, Roderich’s mouth set in a grim, hard line, and Lily’s eyes filling with tears. “Oh Lady above-that’s it, isn’t it?”
He met Elizaveta’s stare but didn’t acknowledge her guess as right or wrong; he suspected he didn’t need to anyway; she glared back at his silence and her lips thinned into a line. He could only hope that Ivan’s spies weren’t aware of his movements yet and didn’t know he knew about Matthew-he didn’t think they were, but it was hard to say. He was sure that whatever Ivan’s reasons for taking Matthew involved a certain amount of secrecy; otherwise he would’ve made it known by now. Having someone else tell Alfred that his brother had been taken was probably not how Ivan envisioned his whole plot unfolding. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Elizaveta, because he did for as little as he knew her; it was that he didn’t trust her good intentions to actually bring about any good in this situation. She was too emotionally involved and that wouldn’t help her think clearly at all.
Silence echoed between them-she wasn’t giving him any sort of answer about where to go and he really didn’t have the patience, nor the time, for pettiness. He rubbed at his temples and looked back behind him towards the ocean, the blue water peppered by departing and incoming ships-they would make swimming difficult. Death by ship hull or propeller (if it was a newer, modern ship) was not something he’d imagined for himself. He was exhausted and the thought of diving back into the sea, no matter how connected to it he was, without any direction to head seemed tiring enough without the task of trying to avoid ships and rudders from the onset.
“Herzliya*-they’re going to Herzliya.” Nikolai turned back and met Elizaveta’s drawn and worried face, the anger diminished a little. “It’s where Esther’s from and she has a reliable friend there who will keep the ship safe when they head inland. It’s also a stop on the Old Road, which is one of the safer and more trusted roads through the Byzantium. They just left yesterday morning, I’m sure you can catch up to them before they pass by the Pannonia border and out into open waters. Gods, this is just-I’m sorry, Nik, I didn’t mean to-I just have a terrible feeling about all of this and now Mattie is-”
“Don’t say anything.” He gestured sharply with his hand to cut her off. “To anyone. There’s a reason why no one knows what’s happened and I don’t want to create an incident by letting him know that his abduction isn’t as secret as he thinks-and I don’t want him to send his supporters after you.”
Elizaveta looked defiant again, as if she was moments away from shouting for the entire dock to hear that she didn’t care about keeping safe and she wanted to help find Matthew (Nikolai knew her enough to know that’s what she was preparing to rant about), but Roderich stepped forward and placed a hand firmly on her shoulder. “I understand, Mr. Nikolai. Discretion would be a better ally to Matthew now, at least until we understand the intentions of Ivan Braginski better.”
Nikolai surveyed Roderich coolly for a moment before he decided he meant what he said and wasn’t just trying to placate his wife. He nodded his head in thanks and looked back to Elizaveta, who still looked unhappy. “Your husband grasps the situation better than you do-I know you’re worried about him, that you’ve come to view him and Alfred has brothers, but you’ll do him no good getting him killed or locked up even tighter than he might be right now. Besides, Vash obviously entrusted you to look after his sister, endangering her by becoming a target for Ivan’s anger seems counterproductive.”
She flushed and narrowed her eyes at him; Nikolai raised his eyebrow at her in response. “I’m not going to put her in danger, but I can’t just sit here and do nothing!”
“You already chose to do so, haven’t you? Or, was there something else I was supposed to gather in seeing you here on the docks instead of on board a ship?”
“You-!”
“That’s enough, both of you.” Elizaveta flushed again, this time in embarrassment and glanced back at her husband, who was looking at them both with an unimpressed look; he had a wide-eyed Lily tucked into his side. Nikolai met the stare evenly; he didn’t feel remorse for what he had said because it was the truth. Maybe it came out sharper than he had intended, but he was tired and this was why he hardly ever liked dealing with other people-they were too frustrating. Elizaveta was more frustrating than most. Damn it, Tino should have been the one to do this, he was better at the whole communication thing (Nikolai was quite content with his solitude, thank you). “Liz, I hate to say it, but he’s right. We’re not going to be any help to Matthew if he gets hurt by our actions and Lily has to be our priority. You had the option of leaving with them, you know I would have supported you, but you chose to stay here-she has to take precedent. I promised Vash I would do whatever was necessary to keep her safe.”
Roderich turned back to Nikolai and looked down his nose at him, probably in an attempt to make Nikolai feel inferior; he felt no such thing. He actually felt a little humored, because honestly, a merchant, even a wealthy one, wasn’t about to unsettle someone who’d been chosen to embody the element of water. “And Mr. Nikolai, I understand you’re need for swiftness in this matter, but do not patronize my wife’s choices because of it; staying here, with me, instead of joining her friends was likely one of the hardest things she has ever had to do.”
Nikolai almost wanted to roll his eyes, but that would’ve been in poor taste, (and firmly put him in the Mathias-level of maturity and Nikolai was not about to have anything in common with that moron) so he abstained. He nodded in acknowledgment and fixed a teary-looking Elizaveta with a calmer expression. “Apologies, if I upset you; it was not my intention.”
She shrugged and wiped at her eyes. “It’s fine, I know you’re absolute shit at talking to people-”
“Language, Liz.”
“-and I’m just more of an emotional wreck than usual right now. I hate it when they all leave.”
Nikolai couldn’t share the sentiment, (it was generally a reason to celebrate when Seychelles and her crew left because it meant she took her band of idiots with her) but he nodded anyway, which seemed to appease her enough to smile wanly. He straightened his spine and cleared his throat when the silence grew uncomfortable again; he had been distracted long enough. “Herzliya, you said?”
Elizaveta nodded. “They were going to ride the currents off of the Pannonia coast to start, in case anything needed last minutes fixes before they deep-sea sailed. But yes, Herzliya is where they’re headed.”
“Thank you.” He spared them both another nod before he turned and left, grateful that the whole, painful exchange was facing the back of him (Ludwig had been so much easier to deal with-he was so serious all the time, it meshed well with Nikolai’s nature).
“Nikky!” He turned at the horrible nickname and looked at Lily’s wide, scared eyes. She was sandwiched in between Roderich and Elizaveta, each of her frail hands encased in one of theirs. “Can you tell my brother that-that I’m sorry I yelled? I don’t want him to think I hate him if he…”
If he doesn’t come back was the unsaid fear that echoed in the space between them. He really wasn’t looking forward to more emotional ‘talks’ but by the Balance, how was he supposed to say no to the little girl? She had enough to worry about as it was. He nodded once at her before walking to the edge of the dock and peering over into the dirty water below. He was drained, had a headache, and was not looking forward to smelling like sewage and trash, but time was a luxury he didn’t have. He could eat later (raw fish was starting to get a little old but it was free food), he could bathe later, and could rest after he’d given his message. He reached out his hands and swirled the water up to meet him, cocooning his arms, then torso, and then the rest of his body in a suit of sorts, letting it meld into his skin until the familiar hum settled so deep inside him he couldn’t tell where he started and the water began.
And, with a final step, water whooshed up in a giant wave and he dove beneath the surface with it,
To Part Two