Sundown

rock

As Timothee rode back to the castle with his squire and remaining men, he chose to travel up the common path. He wanted to experience what the ground situation was like. To him, just getting to hear about the losses and destructions of the people and directing ministers to help the public out was really not the best form of governance.

He wanted to feel what they felt. He wanted to sense it with his own body, to let the empathy overpower every single nerve of his, so he could not help but work tirelessly, every second of the day, till he had pulled his people out of the trauma of being trapped in such heinous violence they did absolutely nothing to cause.

As his convoy passed through the makeshift market that had been set up, the previous one having been looted, he saw children wailing- hungry, some of them orphaned. The men stared at them with accusatory eyes and Timothee had to look away. The guilt of having put them in this situation was too much for him to bear but he did not speed up his horse. He knew he had to do this. He had to see this.

"Emm?" He called and his squire who had been riding behind him, ushered his horse further to ride beside his king.

"My liege."

"I want you to ride as fast as you can, back to the castle, and arrange for a quarter of the food from the granary to be drawn out. Make sure no one in Elmcaster sleeps hungry tonight."

"As you command." Emm replied and gave his horse a light kick before tightening his hold on the reins and speeding away.

*

"My Lady, the king has returned."

"Where is he?" Nicole asked as she hurriedly got up to her feet. It must have been too fast for her since as soon as she was standing, darkness clouded the peripheries of her vision and she felt dizzy.

"Careful, mum." Pauline said as she held her mother by the arms to steady her.

The woman was not too old, in her late forties at best, but the death of her beloved had left its tragic mark upon her in more ways than one. She hardly ever slept anymore and when she did, it was marked by nightmares, most of them featuring her late husband.

She had always thought she would be the first to die out of the two of them, considering how every prayer of hers had his name strewn in it. A world where he did not exist was simply not acceptable to her.

When the guard had first announced that the king had come home, for a second her broken heart believed it to be her husband- that the horribly disfigured remains she had seen of the man she had loved above anything else was all a dream, a terrible misty hallucination, but the reality came crashing back not soon after.

Her son was the King now. He was the one who had come back and as glad as she was of that fact, the cracks in her heart deepened just a little bit more as the suffocating emptiness the absence of her husband was painted in sickeningly bright colours on the forefront of her mind.

"The healers are having a look at him to detect any injuries. He would be going to the court soon after where he requests yours and the princesss presence." The man informed Nicole and she granted him the leave to go.

"Come on, let me take you there. He would like it if we arrive early and he sees us already there for him." Pauline spoke to her as gently as she could.

With her father gone and Timothee warring for the kingdom, she was the only family her mother had. She knew she had to be her rock or she would lose her too. It took her all the strength in the world to set her grief aside and take care of her mother while also making sure that all the inhabitants of the castle were looked after. She constantly reassured everyone of the coming better times, of the celebrations that would follow when they won.

She asked them to have faith- in the gods and in their king. She did what a Queen must. Never letting herself shed a tear in front of another, consoling those gripped and made hollow by grief, she took care of everyone.

She knew that the men who went off to fight, went there hoping to come back to healthy families and abundant homes. How could she let the war strip that away from the brave men of Elmcaster? How could she take that from Timmy?

And from Ansel. She reminded herself.

With newfound sense of purpose, she walked her mother to the huge court, every cell of hers screaming at her to take rest. She had been up for countless hours, and as she neared the one place that she associated her father with the most- the kingly court, she struggled to keep her tears in check.

She reminded herself that her brother was going to be there instead, that they had finally won and that was exactly what he was calling the meeting for- to announce it. Celebrations were nearing and she needed to embrace it.

She could do it. She had to.

a/n

I love writing elder sibling characters because I am one. It's just such a good way of projecting the 'elder sibling trauma' lmao. How have you been though? Please remember to wear your masks and distance yourselves. I'd hate it if any of you got sick :(

Smriti.