The Little Princess [Closed]

"I'm sorry about your folks," Richard murmured as he pulled up Valen's own tankard. "That couldn't have been easy."

Despite the low murmur, he did seem sincere about it. He then took another swill of mead and wiped his mouth.

Valen asked then asked Richard if he felt his wife leaving was his fault. The man was silent for awhile. He put down the tankard and placed his hand flat on the table.

"How could it not be?" he said weakly.

He paused, his back hunched and his eyes staring hard at the wood of the table surface.

"Love is the death of duty," he said with his raspy voice.

He then straightened up and looked at Valen, smiling ruefully.

"That's a motto I was taught a long time ago," he said. "But sometimes...duty is the death of love. And I let that duty kill what I had with the one person in my life I truly cared about."

Richard downed the rest of the tankard, this time gently placing it on the table.

"I'd be foolish to say my wife had no part in her actions. She chose to abandon her daughter. She chose to go against the...the way things are," he said. "But I'm the one that drove the stake in her heart. Pushed her towards those actions."

He shook his head.

"I'm sorry..." he said. "I don't know if anything I'm saying makes much sense. The sense of duty...that's not something many would understand. And being torn between duty and love...that's even something less would."

"Believe it or not... I do know," Valen stated. He averted his eyes off to the side. His gaze was focused, yet he also seemed to be looking at something a great distance away. "I had to choose between my heart and my duty. Between the road less taken and the road everyone takes, I had to make a choice, and that made all the difference."

Valen closed his eyes and lowered his head.

"I did not ask to see where the blame should go," Valen stated. "I asked to see where your heart lies. The fact that you feel guilt and responsibility shows what kind of person you are."

Valen stared thoughtfully at their lantern, observing the flickering flames as if watching a distant vision.

"I think you should try your best to reconsile with your daughter. It'll take time and it may not make immediate results... But you do care about her after all. It's not like you wanted the situation that you are in. The fact that you are remorseful shows that you care enough to try and improve things. You should also try to understand your daughter's perspective. If you show you can do that much, she may return in kind."

"I may not know the whole story, but I'm sure it's not like your daughter wants to hate you nor do you want her to. I'm sure you can manage somehow. Afterall, a man who visits a grave at night with flowers in hand can't truly be a bad person."

Valen crossed his fingers and bowed his head.

"That's my perspective in any case."

Richard stared at his empty tankard as Valen spoke. When the boy finished, he was silent for ahwhile. He looked at the flowers when Valen commented on them. Richard then sighed.

"I hope you're right," he said. "I really want to make things better. For Liseran's sake."

Richard shifted and turned towards Valen, smiling gratefully.

"I went up to Claudia's house hoping she could console me during these times," he said. "She often lifted my spirits when things were rough at home. Who knew her guests would be the ones doing so for me tonight?"

He made a small nod towards him.

"Thank you. I'm not sure what you get out of this, though, so how can I pay you back?"

Valen's eyebrows perked at the mention of the name, but his expression quickly soften to neutral.

"I'm sure you and your daughter can find a way to work things out," Valen reassured.

"Believe it or not sir, I'm just a traveler who likes to collect the tales of others," Valen stated. "If you really want to pay me back, then it would put my heart at ease if you would work the nerve to return home."

Valen drank a cup of water, parching his thirst nonchalantly.

"So, where is this daughter of yours right now? Er, young miss...?"

Valen casually setup the conversation to lead this direction naturally. He needed information but didn't want the other party to know that. He even pretended he already had already forgotten the name of... what was that librarian-looking character's name again?

Richard's hands cupped the tankard on both sides and they tightened when Valen suggested Richard would pay him back best by being able to go home.

"I suppose I should..." he muttered. "I can always visit the grave tomorrow. He will just have to forgive me for not visiting the grave today."

Valen then asked about Richard's daughter's name, to which he smiled ruefully.

"Liseran," he said slowly. "She's at home, but she'll be leaving for Janwynne tomorrow to be with her aunt. Things haven't been safe here what with the festival occurrence and the civil unrest that happened."

He laughed bitterly.

"She's it more of me sending her away as punishment," he said as he got a refill. "Even if it's partially true, her staying her will be more dangerous than good."

He took another sip and then looked blankly at the wall ahead of him.

"If she voices that she doesn't want to go tomorrow morning...maybe I'll consider listening to her," he said. "Maybe it'll give us time to talk, who knows?"

Richard looked at the bouquet of flowers and grabbed it before shoving it in Valen's hands.

"You can have these," he said. Valen would see see it was a bouquet of marigolds wrapped in parchment paper. "These won't last if I take them home with me. Maybe you have someone you can give them to tonight. Just...don't let them know they were originally for dead people. And put them in a vase right away."

Richard twisted around in his seat and grabbed his coat and top hat.

"I best be going now," he said. "I should thank you again for taking the time to talk to an old man like myself. My daughter would be so lucky to find someone who's as kind and perceptive as you are. Perhaps I'll see you around these parts again, Mr. Jack?"

"Stranger things have happened," Valen replied, drawing his hood up as the two of them parted way. He glanced back here and there, making sure Richard was going the opposite direction before Valen began murmuring under his breath. "That was close."

"Another thrilling venture to add to the book," his shadow whispered back as it shifted along the building walls he passed by, looking like the man was walking shoulder to shoulder with a copy of himself. "You seemed pleased with yourself though."

"Even though it was coincidental, I got the information I wanted," Valen muttered under his breath. "Besides, I'm an ally to all who lack knowledge and wisdom."

"That so..." Fable hummed. "Still, flowers huh? As if you're the romantic type."

"I'll have you know I'm a hopeless romantic," valen stated plainly. "It's just that I've never had the opportunity to portray it."

"Yes, well romance novels require a minimum of two characters after all," Fable scoffed. "And sorry, but I'm married to my hobby."

"I could do better," Valen jabbed back. "Enough of this joke book. We should get back to the cabin quickly."

When Valen knocked on the door of the cabin, it would open with Rory looking at him frantically.

"Is he gone? Where is he?" Rory said, peering from behind Valen.

Seeing no one behind him, she'd yank him back inside. Mayari had returned to the ground, but was now lying on the armchair and supposedly sleeping.

"I was scared for a moment," Rory said. "Him showing up here was a really bad sign. What did you do to get him to leave?"

Her eyes then widened and she covered her mouth in horror.

"You...you didn't kill him did you??"

"We'd be so lucky, wouldn't we?" Mayari yawned from her chair.

"Mayari! This is NOT the time to be joking!"

"I told him I'd buy him a drink and listen to his problems," Valen stated as if talking about the weather. He looked down at the bouquet in his hands before looking up at Rory with perked eyebrows. "Oh. Here."

Valen shoved the marigolds into the young girl's hands before walking pass her.

Rory looked at the bouquet for a moment, perplexed as to why Valen had these in the first place. Shaking her head, she followed after him.

"Wait, that doesn't sound like him!" she said. "You don't understand. He's a high-ranking Expiate officer! He doesn't 'do' drinking and talking about his problems!"

She raise her fingers in air quotes to emphasize how ridiculous it sounded to her.

"I don't smell any blood on him," Mayari said as she tossed around in his chair. "So I doubt he's lying. Maybe he really did just want to talk."

Rory puffed her cheeks, unhappy with the answer. She shook the bouquet.

"And what the heck are these?" she said. "Whatever. What did he say to you exactly? He didn't look like he was coming back here was he?"

"Who knows," Valen shrugged, palms to the air with a tired look when Rory shook the flowers at him. "You're a relatively attractive young lady. Perhaps I'm courting you."

"The twist is, the bouquet was meant for a man," Fable cackled as he slinked across the house.

"No, he's not coming back," Valen stated, taking one of the remaining sandwiches left behind from earlier. "I convinced him to go back home to his daughter. She's grounded by the way."