Viva la Vida

The Torment it Takes to Lead

Silence. That's what tormented Zuzlin as his lime eyes gazed across his living room table. Only one of the four chairs surrounding the rectangular object were filled, and that happened to be his own. At least, he thought, there were only 3 empty ones to remind him of his loneliness. He could have easily left the other four chairs that used to be there in their rightful places, but he could hardly stand the silence of the house knowing that at least 3 of the chairs had once been always filled when dinner came about, much less that the other four were frequently taken by visitors once upon a time.

He sighed as he set his fork down and pushed his half-eaten dinner across the table, away from himself. He had cancelled that night's meeting so as to take a little time to himself and allow the others to do the same, however, he now slowly began to realize it likely may have been better for his mental state to have just held the meeting.

Another breath passed his lips in a sharp exhale as he stood almost violently from his chair. He turned away from the table and grabbed a jacket, placing the fabric over himself so has to protect his form from the cool night air. He left his house almost immediately, much more than desperate to escape the walls of his own home.

As he aimlessly wandered the streets, he soon found himself standing on a bridge, one of the few in the area. No, he had no intention of quitting, but he found himself calming a bit, leaning on the railing of the empty structure, looking out over the wide river flowing beneath. The quiet rush of the water was the only sound to accompany his near silent breathing and occasional sigh.

That is until the sound of quickly paced footsteps met his ears. The speedy click-clacking of what he could only assume to be heeled shoes grew louder and louder to his right, creating a cacophony against the previously muted atmosphere. He turned his head to look at the source of the noise, straightening his stance as he watched the creator of the sound run a small distance past him. The hooded figure stopped them self in their tracks and turned to look him over. After but a moment of observing each other, they both seemed to register who it was they each were staring at.

"I thought there was a meeting tonight," spoke the disguised queen as she approached him. Zuzlin found himself once again sighing.

"Not tonight. I cancelled it. Figured some of the members needed a break..." he half muttered out. "Wasn't exactly expecting you to come out tonight so..." he trailed off. He had turned back to staring down at the water beneath them. He stood there awaiting some sarcastic or distasteful remark, but was shocked when he simply heard footsteps and the swish of fabric and nothing more. He turned his head to his left to see Arulet having dropped her hood to her shoulders, the woman joining him in leaning on the railing and gazing down that the water.

"You seem to regret something. It's good then, that you cancelled the meeting. It wouldn't shock me if the others were also in desperate need of a break from the stress." She looked up a bit from where both of their gazes had fallen, staring further down the lake as a small smile made itself present on her dark features. "I know I'm hard on you when I do happen to be around, but I only do it to motivate you. You do well as a leader, and it would pain me to see you fail such an ambitious goal." She stood from her leaning position and went to a bag she had slung across herself, retrieving from it a piece of paper, rolled neatly and help in place by an olive ribbon. She held it up for him to view. "This is the schedule of the festival, I had Andeyo copy the original version she was given to place on the Head of Human Affairs' desk. You'll be pleased to know there is a no-list masquerade on the final day. This means that with the proper attire and behavior, the entire revolution can sneak themselves into the ball. It would be a perfect time to strike. I can converse with Mirlan about getting ahold of the guard schedule for the night and we can discuss it at a meeting," she smiled. Zuzlin found a light smile gracing his lips as he observed how proud of herself the royal looked.

"Thank you, your highness. It's become a large amount of help to have you and Andeyo amongst our ranks." His smile, though, soon fell with another exhale. He returned his gaze to the waters as she placed the parchment back into her bag. He did not react as she approached him, but stiffened when she placed a hand on his shoulder.

"First of all, Arulet will be just fine. You are the leader of the revolution, I owe you more respect than you owe me. Second of all, you are clearly troubled. What's got you so heavily bothered?" she questioned, a look in her eyes making her curious inquiries more like demanding commands. His tense figure relaxed a bit and before he could process the words he wanted to say, they were spilling out of his mouth without his control.

"Alright...Arulet. So...I guess the best place to start is...my parents. I can only assume you went into the royal files to research some of us up so...you probably already know what happened to them..." he said sadly. The pain he had felt in his own home maybe 30 minutes ago was quickly returning to him as he spoke. "I miss them...you know? Sure...dad wasn't the greatest...but he did his job the best he could. Mom was great. She may not have worked, but she stayed with us and cared for us...us being my sister and I...did you know I have a sister? Or...rather had.." he had begun to ramble a bit. "She was great. Kind and thoughtful, and also oddly innocent for her age. The best sister I could have ever asked for..." he trailed off. His breath had started to catch in his throat. Why was he telling her all this, anyways? She was the queen. The woman he had pledged to kill until she had walked right into his organization and promised to help. The woman who had sassed and belittled and criticized every time he wasn't able to do something right in a meeting. He should shoot her here and now and pretend he had never been there in the first place. But he couldn't. He knew the guilt would bring him to place a bullet through himself if he were to take the dark skinned woman from her brothers and sister. So maybe it was the amount of guilt he knew would come over him that allowed him to trust her. Or maybe it was the sympathetic look in her eyes as she listened to him speak, the comforting hand on his back, an the silence from her that nearly screamed that every word he spoke was being heard and processed. He turned his head out over the bridge.

"She...she went out one day and...sh-she never...she n-never came b-back..." he stuttered out. Despite his best efforts, tears still fell from his eyes as he talked of Zaelin. He missed her most out of his family, and what made it worse was that he had no idea of what had happened to her. He had, at this point, assumed she was dead, considering he had heard nothing of her since her disappearance. His eyes had closed as he sobbed a bit. He felt the warmth of her hand leave his back and opened his eyes a bit when that same warmth was moved to the side of his face. She wiped away the tears on the left side of his face as she frowned sympathetically at him.

"It's alright, Zuzlin. She'll find you. I know she will." She brought the taller man into a hug and after a moment's hesitation he did the same, wrapping his arms around her smaller figure. He sobbed harder as she comforted him quietly, the two simply standing there with each other under the light of the moon and lanterns, stood over a slowly flowing river.

The bells soon tolled and Arulet pulled away from the man with ebony hair. "I have to go now. You're sister is still alive, Zuzlin, she'll find you. Farewell." And with a sad smile and flick of her hood, she was gone, her fast-paced footsteps fading to nothing in the night.

Zuzlin found himself smiling after the hooded figure as she ran back to her castle. His ivory features were stained a light hue of red as he muttered out, "Thank you...Arulet..."

The loneliness of his home would not be bothering him any time soon.