Commander's Rounds

Gaiden Entry 42.1: Empty Nest

Before the wedding, King George V had gone to see Friedrich. She thought it was only proper to meet with those who were very close to the commander and find out their own feelings on the manner, and also what they thought would be expected of her. She did want to be as prepared as possible for marrying into this adopted family of his, and so she made the visit.

Through some trick of events, King George V found herself laying down, with her head resting in Friedrich's lap. She was beginning to wonder if this was some kind of pattern, and if something like this might happen every time he went to see someone who was also highly invested in commander Cochrane's total well-being. However, it was never to subordinate her- these other ships all meant well, and Friedrich had a certain dark charm to her that was difficult to resist.

It was impossible to not be comfy, especially in this position.

But Friedrich did have something to say. "Ah... So, you do wish to be close to the dear commander forevermore?"

King George gave a slow nod. "Even if we can't be directly by each others' side all the time, it's a matter of always feeling like they are."

Friedrich smiled down at her. "I see. So you will become one who will know all of the commander's secrets and worries, as well as the subject of his deepest passions."

King George V settled herself on the bed, and on Friedrich for that matter. "I wonder- what do you think that means, really?"

Friedrich closed her eyes. "You will have to be the darling's solid anchor in a sea of troubles. There are things which he confided in me about his private worries that he bothered very few others about, and I had to look after him in those dark moments. Now such things will fall more to you, since you mean to bind yourself so close to him so as to almost become one."

King George closed her eyes. The commander had weighty responsibilities that he could not take alone. "...I can't say I'm a stranger to bearing responsibility, but that's more in a sense of national pride than something this deeply personal and intimate."

Friedrich followed that with a slow nod. "Then remember this: You are marrying my dear child. That means that you, too, can come to me in your own shadowed times."

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After the wedding, and the cleanup of the wedding, Friedrich found herself up in the wee hours of the morning, contemplating the journey that the commander had gone on since they had first met. She did have any specific thoughts about him becoming married, at least not at the moment- just a vague unease that things had changed. She went out to a cliff overlooking the sea, and took a deep breath. Friedrich closed her eyes, put a violin to her shoulder, and began to play- nothing specific, just whatever came to her heart and let her wind carry the sound out to the vast ocean.

She did this for hours on end, and only stopped when the sun came up. She carefully put her instrument away and took it back home.

The way that she reckoned things there was really only one other similar person on the base that had a similar demeanor to her own when it came to how they viewed their fellow ships. While there were plenty of people the commander could lean on and be close to in bad times, they were not really the same as herself- Atago, Chicago, Lexington, and Ticonderoga were more big-sisterly types, and Azuma was more of a wife. Not anyone's wife in particular, just generally wife.

It meant that there was a rather narrow selection of people in the port that might understand the root of her vague case of the blahs. There was someone who could, nonetheless, but she certainly wasn't going to be up at this hour. And if she was up, she wouldn't be too interested in receiving a visitor right now, as she may not have even started the process of making herself presentable. Friedrich was patient, however. She had to be, considering the role she had taken in this world.