Road of the Heavenly Light

15-2: What Happened to Nathaniel?

Emma must have looked extremely shocked—and in all fairness, she was—because Edith looked at her with quite some worry etched on her face.
"What's wrong? Has something happened to Alexander?" she asked.
"Why did no one tell today is Father's Day?"
"What do you mean? Where is this coming from so suddenly?"
Emma handed Edith the letter.
"Alexander wrote how he feels bad about neither him nor Felix being able to visit their father for Father's Day, as Alexander has to study for his exams," Emma explained, a slight hint of bitterness in her voice.
"Why would you hide this from me?"
"Your mother figured that reminding you of the day would only make you miss your father more," Edith answered, clearly nervous.
"But Astrid does know, doesn't she? That why she took me to the observatory or some other place every year to distract me, just like you were doing."
"Your father's situation is very complicated, and-"
"What do you mean? He's just on a long journey around the continent to spread the teachings of Saint Divinia, isn't he?"
It was only then that Emma realized just how silly that story that she had been told since childhood really was.

"Is he really?" Emma asked, "or are you all hiding something from me about him?"
"I'm forbidden from saying anything on the subject, Emma. I have already said way too much."
Emma grumbled in frustration. She had clearly already gotten more information out of Edith than she would have wanted, meaning it would be nearly impossible to get her to speak of the subject again. Indeed, Edith barely spoke another word to her for the rest of the afternoon. That did little to deter Emma. One way or another, she would find out the truth. If Edith did not want to cooperate, she would just have to get more creative.

Emma spent the entire afternoon with the mystery lingering in her head, and she barely thought of anything else. It frustrated her that there was something about her father that her not just her mother and sister were keeping from her, but also Edith and likely Elliot as well. Emma liked a mystery, but not if it involved the man she had wanted to know in more than just letters for her whole life. With no regard for privacy, Emma had gone into Astrid's bedroom, hoping to find a clue of some sort. Her sister was a lot more careful than Emma had hoped, having taken her diary with her to Earth and leaving nothing Emma's eyes weren't mean to see, if such things had ever even been there. It did confirm one thing to Emma, though. Whatever it was that they were hiding from her about her father, it had to be something big.

After searching her sister's room, Emma saw that it was nearly time for dinner. She changed into her dinner clothes and decided it would be best to just confront her mother outright after dinner to ask for the truth. Whatever this was, there was no way they could justify hiding it from her any longer. To send a clear signal that she knew something was up, she decided to put on the star-shaped earrings her father had sent her for her seventh birthday. With a proud look in the mirror, she left her bedroom and went downstairs to the Silver Dining Room. Edith and Elliot were staying over for dinner, but that was such a common occurrence that they had moved out of the Golden one long ago.

Emma entered the room, and a footman immediately rushed over to pull back her seat. Elliot and Edith were already sitting at the table, their conversation immediately reaching its conclusion. Her mother was still absent. Emma noticed that Elliot looked quite uneasy, which meant that Edith had likely already told him of what had happened earlier that day. She paid it no mind and sat down, the footman pushing her seat towards the table.
"How did your meeting with the Archbishop go?" Emma asked Elliot, before taking a sip from her water.
"Quite well," he responded with no emotion in his voice.
The conversation died down again.

It didn't take long for her mother entered, looking as regal and elegant as she always did. Even when they were dining informally with just the two of them, her mother would still put in the effort to look her best. As the monarch, she also always wore a tiara at dinner. Her current one was what she called her 'casual' tiara. Emma couldn't help but feel jealous, as she was not yet old enough to have her own tiaras. Dinner finally began when her mother was seated, and Emma didn't want to waste another second. She had planned to wait until dinner was finished, but she couldn't help her curiosity any longer.

"How did your meeting with the new Brightwald ambassador go, mother?" she asked, knowing quite well that no such meeting had taken place.
Her mother gave Edith a subtle glance before answering.
"It went quite well, dear. How was your day?"
"Eye opening."
Her mother gave her a look Emma couldn't decipher, but it probably meant that she had a suspicion.
"Well, then you must tell me all about it after dinner," she simply said, before moving on to Elliot and Edith, "you two should stay for the night and join us after dinner. I should hate to send you out on the streets at such a late hour."
"It would be an honor, Your Majesty," Elliot answered.

To say that Emma was confused was an understatement. Her mother had clearly implied that Emma ought to be patient and wait until after dinner, with her clearly also desiring the presence of Elliot and Edith, but Emma wasn't sure if her mother knew what she had discovered. Throughout the rest of dinner, she spoke about normal conversations as she always did, but after dinner, once they went to the drawing room, her mother told the butler that she did not require her lady's maid for the night and gave the entire staff that would normally wait on them for the evening an early night off. The suspense was killing her, and she couldn't take it anymore. When everyone was seated, she spoke her mind.

"I know about Father's Day, mother."
"Edith informed me that this was the case."
"Your Highness, there really is nothing-"
"Let's not keep this up any longer, Elliot. We all knew we could not keep this from Emma forever. She is old enough to know the truth."
There it was, at last. Now she would finally know the truth. Her mother turned back to her, placing her hands into her own.
"Emma, you must promise me that you will not repeat the story you are about to hear to anyone, not even Alexander. It is a forbidden topic, and we would all be in great danger if anyone ever discovered that this conversation took place."
Emma nodded obediently. She would stay silent, she vowed to herself. All she wanted was to know more about her father.
"I promise."
Her mother took a deep breath before beginning her story.
"It all began when I fell in love with one of the cardinals of the church..."

After the story concluded, Emma couldn't help but be in shock, unable to speak. She never could have imagined that something so horrible could have happened in her beautiful and peaceful Divinia. Emma understood now why they had kept this hidden from her.
"The real reason Elliot and I were away today was so I could arrange to visit Nathaniel tomorrow, while Elliot was distracting the Archbishop," her mother explained.
"After what happened to Bishop Brigid, we've had to take extra precautions to avoid coming off as suspicious. It's becoming increasingly likely that Hayes will try to uncover Nathaniel's sanctuary."

"But now that you know, I would like it very much if you could make a gift for your father and come with me tomorrow to finally meet him after all these years," her mother said, "and the two of you should come along too. We have pressing matters we need to discuss with Nathaniel."
"You want the four of us to go, Your Majesty? Are you sure that is safe?" Edith asked.
"It is. I will explain more when we arrive."
Emma then leaned towards her mother, hugging her tightly.
"I'm sorry this happened to you and father," she whispered.
"I have learned to live with it. You and your sister make bearing the burden a lot easier, my sweet daughter," her mother responded, gently stroking her hair.
Emma was overwhelmed by emotions. Shock, disgust, sadness, hope. Most importantly, of all, however, she was excited to finally meet her father.