Ambassador

A long carriage ride pt.2

Before long, a tall, large man in the green-grey colours of military uniform jogged up from a few carriages down.

"Ah, it's the wheel. Lu, do we have something to fix this?" The woman he'd gestured to, also in the murky felt suit, appeared stunned for a moment.

"I - don't think so, sir." What? Had they really left the city without any means of fixing a broken carriage? Clearly the two guards were thinking the same thing, though; Fabian could hear them talking in hushed voices, away from the small crowd of seven or so nobility that had quickly gathered around their tipped vehicle.

"Well, I never!" Grand-Duchess Adelaide stood with her arms across her chest. "Not in all the years I've been alive have I seen one of our best carriages defeated by the dirt road." She looked as though she was going to cherish this moment forever - shock, awe and amusement crossed her face in quick succession. "I wonder what happened, a rock perhaps?" The Grand-Duchess stood forward to analyse the wheel. He couldn't help but be amazed at her interest in something so seemingly boring. A rock and a wheel? I mean, he wished he were that easily amused. As she continued examining the damaged part, he noticed someone out of the corner of his eye, walking to the edge of the crowd. Ah, it appeared Yusup had only just left the vehicle. He staggered a little, grey-faced. For a moment, Fabian almost felt guilty for hopping out without checking to see if he was okay.

"Yusup?" He weaved through the guards and nobility to him - He'd be of no use with the wheel anyway. Yusup didn't answer his calling, so he decided to use his other name. "George! Are you alright?" Finally, the man looked up at him, his eyes dazed.

"I... think so. Just a little shocked, is all." He gave a weak laugh and suddenly turned sheet white. Fabian stepped away, just as Yusup vomited all over the floor. Yet, he couldn't help but roll his eyes. It's not as if they crashed! Yusup stood upright again.

"Alright?" He asked him, with his best concerned voice.

"Yes, I'm so sorry, Fabian, I just... panicked for a moment. You don't hear of royal carriages failing much, do you? Unless..." He trailed off, and Fabian's interest was piqued.

"Unless?" He hesitated still,

"Oh, it's silly, really, but - unless, you know... they're shot at." His eyes were genuinely scared, and he somehow felt sorry for him.

"That is rather silly, yes, I'm afraid." He laughed, "we haven't even left the country, man! Honestly, we're safe yet." Patting Yusup on the shoulder, he left before he hear his reply.

Adelaide appeared to be having a heated discussion with one of the guards - the man who had jogged over from the front carriage. Poor man.

Well, the carriage still looked very broken. The nearest village with any skilled craftsmen in that department should be at least ten miles from there; thank the gods this happened within their borders, though, not when they had already made it to Varalia. Fabian noticed a plump man marching over, having only just left his vehicle. The fading silvery light of the winter sun hit his head as he passed under the canopy, and he recognised his face, if he hadn't already his walk. The clouds that day almost matched his long grey hair and beard, well, what they could see of the clouds through the leaves.

"Blitheste! What seems to have happened here, then, lad?" He refused to call Fabian by his first name.

"The wheel's come off." He gestured to the dark mahogany royal carriage, and to the sturdy-looking silver and wooden wheel in a few pieces on the ground. His reaction was much like Adelaide's:

"In all my days! You know, I've been waiting for this moment since I was a young boy! To have a royal carriage wheel simply fall off like that, no shot or outside persons or anything!..." He tuned out his excited mutterings and focused on the problem at hand: