Eagles and Swans
Chapter 41: The Landing
Ruthenia could not be gladder for the privacy of a hostel room by the cathedral. The maids attending to her room—Nerita and Riun—were eager to take her straight to the vacancy in the east wing. It had a blue wallpaper reminiscent of a pale sky. A window without grilles was set in the wall, overlooking the sprawling cathedral gardens.
Yesterday, she had refused Tiel’s offer of the title of Archbishop, and when he had offered priesthood next, she had denied that, too. She needed some time to recover before making such a major decision, she had said, and he had uncomplainingly dropped the subject.
But now, as the only person to come in direct contact with Ihir since Saint Somnia had brought His laws to Astra, she was indelibly connected to Him. His greatest detractor was now His icon. It would be irresponsible, and dangerous, to pretend it meant nothing.
Well, icon or not, Ruthenia was still in need of sleep, perhaps more so than anyone in Astra had ever been. After a bath and a sumptuous lunch of beef-stuffed bread and salad, and too many bows from devotees for her comfort, she went to sleep in her accommodation, and did not wake for the rest of the day.
The sky was pale and cold when Ruthenia finally returned to consciousness. A breakfast of cheese rolls and hot chocolate awaited her, left by whom, she didn’t know. The cheese rolls were bland, and the hot chocolate had become lukewarm chocolate, those posed little obstacle to someone famished from two nights' worth of sleep.
At nine in the morning, there was a knock on her door.
“Yeah? Come in?” she called.
In stepped Nerita, with her hair in a bun, one hand folded into the other. “Good morning, Miss Cendina, I hope you've slept well,” she said. “I'm here to inform you, on the Archbishop's behalf, that you have a trial coming later today. The court has agreed to expedite your case.”
“My case?”
“Yes, if you need a ride to the courthouse, speak to the reception desk to arrange a carriage.” She smiled sweetly. “Well, that is what I initially came to tell you. But on my way here I was interrupted and told to inform you…you have a visitor in the lobby who goes by Miss Canavere.”
Within the minute, Ruthenia was racing after the maid through the corridors in her borrowed slippers, under floating Thread lights and past other doors just like hers. They burst into the marble lobby through an archway.
By the double doors at the entrance, there stood a familiar figure in green, clutching a paper bag.
Ruthenia's face lit up, her heart racing as she broke into a run. “Hollia!” she cried, and Hollia spun around, dropping the bag as they flew into the fiercest hug they had ever shared.
“Ruth! Oh, it's really you!” she cried, voice disintegrated to sobbing midway. Ruthenia rubbed her back while she cried into her shoulder. “I can't believe it. I can't believe you're here!”
“Me neither,” Ruthenia gasped.
Stepping away so they were an arm’s length apart, Hollia’s eyes lit up, wet and bright. “We were all so worried about you when you stopped coming to class,” she said. “It's just been the most terrifying week, Ruth."
“I know, so much has happened," Ruthenia answered. Her memories still swirled like a storm, pierced by the singular sunbeam of Hollia's smile. “But all that matters is that we're all safe now.”
Hollia smiled sadly. “Well, not quite,” she said.
Ruthenia's face fell. “What do you mean?”
“While you were asleep, there were riots. They'd planned them to start right as your execution ended. They stormed my town, shot the mayor and torched the offices—”
“What? But—” Like a trapdoor opening beneath her, she felt as if she were falling, down, down through a mile of darkness, all over again. “I—never—asked for anyone to die—”
“You didn't do this.”
“They timed it with my execution!” She wrapped her arms around herself. “Well…what happens next?”
At this, Hollia glanced down at the bag at her feet. “Next, we get you to that trial.”
“What's this trial for?”
“Oh, the Archbishop is pressing the case—he's hoping to get it in official writing that Ihir spoke through you, and have your engineer team acquitted of your crimes.”
“Does everyone know this but me?”
“It was in the evening news yesterday, yes.”
Ruthenia stared. “This is all moving so fast.”
“I know, it starts in three hours.”
“Well, I—I’m not dressed for it.” She gestured at her hostel pyjamas.
Hollia beamed, stooping to pick up the paper bag. “Don't worry, I figured you might need help on that front.” Then she thrust it into Ruthenia’s arms.
In that same moment, the door squeaked open. Both heads turned, and Ruthenia found herself staring right at the last person she had been expecting.
“Hyder?” she gasped. The memory of their last exchange replaying, it was impossible to keep the tears away. All their things feel from their arms, clattering on the floor, as they flew together in a long, steady embrace.
“Ruthenia!” Hyder cried, voice wobbling. Her name was the only word he could say for at least a minute, as she rubbed his back and trembled with her own tears. As they sank apart, he swiped his hand over his eyes. “I'm so happy you came back, this has been the second worst week of my life.”
“Same,” she replied. “It's so good to see you.”
“It's like you've come back from the dead.”
Now, Ruthenia noticed he wore a crisp brown jacket, the finest garment she had ever seen on him. “Why are you all dressed up?”
“It's for the trials—figured I'd come say hello, since we're both headed there,” he replied.
“Oh yes, did someone drop you off?” she asked.
He glanced at the stepladder he had dropped a few paces back with an abashed smile. “I flew.”
Ruthenia gaped. “Did you...figure that out yourself?”
He shrugged sheepishly. “With help from Reida.”
“What did I tell you? You're a natural!”
“Oh, it was…it was easier than I thought.” But even as he said this, she saw that some sliver of the sadness was refusing to desert his eyes.
"Where are the rest?"
“Den is being called on as a witness, for—” He pursed his lips in an attempt to smile. She went still when two glittering tears rolled down his cheeks. “Tante and Gordo—they never got out of Candelabra Town last night—”
At once she snatched him by the shoulders, face contorting against her tears. “They joined the riots. Didn't they?”
He scrunched up his face, to no avail. “I begged them not to join, I swear I did,” he said between sobs. “But Derron was shouting your name, and that was all they heard—and I ran away, but they went with the mob, and now they're—”
“I'm sure they're still there. They have to be,” she burst out, but her own eyes were welling up. “We don’t know where they are, that’s all.”
“I’m...just so relieved you’re alive,” he answered, voice trembling. “I thought I’d lose all three of you.” She caught him about the shoulders in another hug, and she felt his body shake with sobs against her, felt him strain with the effort of not letting his grief burst through.
“There's still the three of us left. And Reida. And we have to build back, for them.”
Right then, the door swung open again. This time Hyder was the one facing the door, and he immediately flung her from his arms, wiping his eyes.
Ruthenia turned around. Aleigh had halted halfway from the door. “I hope...I'm not interrupting?”
Crying out wordlessly, she sprang forward and threw both arms around him, squeezing him so hard he began to gasp for air. “You came too! This is turning into quite a party.”
“How are you, Ruthenia?” he asked over her shoulder, laying a hand on her back.
“Could be better, but could be much worse. By which I mean, dead.” She stepped back. “Why are you here?”
“Well, I heard you were due for trial, and I wanted to see you,” he muttered. “And besides, I had the sense you wouldn't have your umbrella with you, so…I thought I'd help take you to the court.” He glanced away. “If you would like, I mean.”
“That's sweet of you,” she said, with a curious mix of fondness and rue. “You're right. I don't have my umbrella anymore. It's gone.” Before he could answer, she dusted out her pyjamas and whirled to face Hyder. “Oh, I forgot to introduce you! Hyder, these are my classmates, Hollia and Aleigh.” She gesticulated in their direction. “Hollia's a birdkeeper in Candelabra—”
“I was,” Hollia said.
She paused. “Oh. What?”
“It has been…a spectacularly bizarre week,” she said simply, and the other two murmured their agreement.
Ruthenia blinked, looking back at Hyder. “Right. Hollia…was a birdkeeper. And Aleigh…was the Arcane Prince.” She spun around. “And you two—Hyder is my friend from the streets. We go back six years.”
“N…nice to meet you?” Hyder mumbled, unable to meet their eyes.
It was an awkward five or so minutes, in which each of her companions made halting attempts at conversation, and Ruthenia gradually realised that she hadn't any idea how to break the silence.
Eventually remembering her bag of clothes, Ruthenia excused herself, scurrying away from the lobby in search of a public bathing room. Washing up as she had done for the past two days, she unpacked the contents of the bag. There was a blouse—thick brown fabric, two rows of shiny black buttons—and a matching skirt with a side split. It could have been worse. She replaced her slippers with the socks and polished shoes, and tottered back towards the lobby, practicing her walk as she crossed the suspended bridges.
She tripped into the lobby, cursing as she went, and found that her friends were finally engaging in polite conversation—conversation that dwindled to nothing when she arrived.
Immediately, she felt them all studying her new outfit.
“Ruthenia!” Hollia called, waving. “We should leave right away, there's barely two hours left.”
She sighed. “I'll see you there,” Hyder called, waving with his wooden ladder under his arm.
Ruthenia shrugged as they led the way outside. Wobbling in her unfamiliar shoes, she stumbled up beside Aleigh. “I should really find a new flight mount,” she muttered.
“I hope I'm not imposing too much.”
*
On their walk to the landing deck, Aleigh suddenly seemed unwilling to look Ruthenia in the eye. He mounted Benedice wordlessly, then he nodded down at her and extended an arm. She snatched his wrist and swung herself up onto the stirrup, and after pausing to oscillate once, leapt onto the saddle, Benedice whinnying when she landed with a thump.
"I'm sorry, but you'll need to hold on," said her companion, and with just a moment's nervous pause, she looped both arms around his waist.
With just a flick of the reins, the beast cantered and lurched, wings spread on the wind. The flight curved into a glide, and she felt her stomach lurch with the changing gravity.
Ruthenia quickly learned that flying an equine was not like flying with an umbrella. Benedice could not hover in midair nor make acute turns, so both manoeuvres were substituted with an excessive number of loops.
Such flying, she decided amid her vertigo, required too much planning, and she began to think that umbrellas were not so terrible after all.
Soon enough, their flight went level, and they soared over the grounds of the Ihira Circle towards the heart of Astra, the afternoon heat warming them.
Once they had entered open sky, Aleigh turned to look over his shoulder. “It's good to have you back,” he said.
“Well, it's good to not be dead,” she replied in a chuckle.
“You truly have managed the impossible. The entire nation was sure you would never find your way out of this mess. But I shouldn't be surprised…you did always have a knack for this. Survival.” He sighed. “I have never met anyone who got into half as much trouble as you.”
“Well, how about you?” she replied. “Did you really have to cut ties with your family?”
“You heard about that?” His shoulders tensed. "Well, if I'd denounced you, how would I have explained myself when you returned?"
“Assuming I would return.”
“You did.”
She sighed. “You're dodging the question.”
There was a silence. At the corners of her eyes, white clouds blurred to streaks as the sun vaulted to the top of the sky. Now, Ruthenia couldn't keep her mind from noticing his warmth gathered in her arms.
“What would you like me to say?” Aleigh replied. “That I truly believed you would be proven right in the end? Because I didn't. I was simply willing to be on the wrong side of history, if history chose to let cruelty win.”
She smiled oddly. “Four months ago, you would never have done that. What happened?”
“Well, you did.”
Ruthenia flushed hotter than the sun. Around them, the hills evened out into farmland.