[Solo] Simply myself, no more, no less.
Characters: Ashe
Progress: Complete
Summary: Alone time in Alexandria is a good opportunity for exploration... and a good deal of thinking.
Location: Alexandria
Date: April 25, 1803
Warnings: None
Having spent the past hour exploring Alexandria, observing people, architecture and customs, Ashe found herself back in the vicinity of the inn. An impending performance was signalled by the crowd gathered around the ticket booth, though the princess continued on, passing carefully through the excitable, chattering people. So diverse were the races here, it reminded her of Rabanastre, where Hume, Seeq, Viera and Bangaa would coexist in peace.
The walk had been tiring for a woman almost four months pregnant, and a hand touched to her gradually growing stomach. Twice more had she felt the fluttering within her, and both times the princess wondered how long it would be until Rasler could place his hand there and feel their baby's movements for himself. In recent days, it was almost as if something had shifted inside her; the little bump had lifted higher, filling out more. As such, her condition was now more obvious to onlookers. To have people notice her this way was new and warming - not because she was their heir, descendant of the Dynast-King, but because she was bearing the child of the man she loved, and she carried it with graceful pride.
In need of a moment's rest, she paused, gray eyes keenly studying a bronze statue titled 'The Three Heroic Knights of Pluto', gradually lowering to read the base inscription there, as the crowd ebbed away into the theatre, leaving a quiet in their wake. '...The 15th Lindblum war'.
War. Even this world, then, had known its share of it.
The solemn expression on Ashe's face, then, was not becoming. Not of a radiant, expectant mother, or a wife assured of her beloved husband's success and safe return. Rather she had the look of someone with a great weight on their mind.
Vayne Solidor. Since that first contact upon his arrival, the silver tongued serpent had been invisible, like a shadow in the darkness, his movements unknown to her. She had almost allowed herself to forget, not wanting to involve herself among his actions, any schemes developing in that duplicitous mind, in any way. They were no longer her concern. Dalmasca, and her people, were safely out of his reach. Now, in a world not his own, he was powerless to affect the peace Ivalice had fought so hard to establish. As it was, Ashe wanted nothing more than to stay away from her Archadian adversary.
Especially now.
Had anyone stood a chance of finding out Vayne's intentions, it was Larsa. The young emperor may have left them by the same means he'd came, though Ashe knew better than to be saddened by such thoughts. Yes, she enjoyed his company, the wisdom beyond so short a lifetime, though he was a leader, and Archadia needed him to cut her new path in a peaceful world. Penelo would miss him terribly. That thought took Ashe back to the night of the ball, when Rasler had observed the younger pair dancing and mused over the possibility of a match between them. Bloodlines aside, such a concept was surprisingly easy to imagine.
With a sigh, Ashe turned away from the Pluto Knights and took soft steps toward the inn, prepared to settle herself for a relaxing evening, as much as possible. An evening which would hopefully involve some of that delicious, curious fruit she had taken to sampling, and, with luck, further news of her prince's forthcoming return.
However difficult or unproductive relaxation seemed, this was something she needed to do. For her child, but also, for herself.