Chapter Text
They take the girl to Marlas.
The things she calls her own pack up neatly into one saddlebag on the back of a pack horse. She doesn't come alone.
She sits behind Laurent, and doesn't cry. Gael sits behind Damen and his eyes are as large as an owl's. It had been a long morning of talking to the elder woman, explaining to Aurelie that she'd be leaving, assuring her that Gael wouldn't leave her if he wanted to come and Laurent's heart beating in terror.
What did he know of raising a child, let alone two? The children he knew and grew up with in the trap that had been Arles were no more children than he was at that age. This girl, still young and carefree, didn't want to leave her friends, her Gran-mere, the only family she knew.
She was the only family he had left. Damen had seen it on his face as they woke to the sounds of their men stirring.
He'd smiled, happy and wistful at once. "I'll tell the men to pack everything up."
"We'll need to organize provisions for this place." Laurent had said. "They must never want for anything as long as they continue to help those the people of Vere would hide."
The girl's crying begins as they crest the hill that blocks the sight of Marlas and the surrounding plains. Laurent's heart is cracking with each silent sob Aurelie chokes on. Damen, Gael hanging off the side, is riding beside them and trying to cajole the girl into seeing their surroundings.
"You'll each have your own rooms, people to spend time with. We will go to Ios and I'll show you all the best places in the palace." Damen is saying. Aurelie's arms are around Laurent's waist for balance, but he's not sure she'd be touching him if it weren't her first time on a horse. Marlas looms over them the closer they get, and Laurent suddenly wishes they'd not come to the place that most reminds him of Auguste's death.
Damianos, whose memories of this place are also mixed, turns to Laurent in concern. "Do you want to-" He says and Laurent glares at him.
"Marlas is the closest fort. We will stop here for the night and move on in the morning." Laurent urges his horse into a faster trot and feels wretched when the young girl at his back clings closer to him.
"I'm sorry, Aurelie." He murmurs to her. She hiccups at him and sighs into the back of his shirt. "I know this is terrible, and confusing." He says. It's inadequate to her feelings, but he can't express his sorrow more. Not without breaking down next to her. "When we get to the keep, we will all sit and talk and find out how best to move forward."
* * *
The gates seem to shock Aurelie into silence, finally. They are large and well kept. Bigger than anything she's seen up close. Laurent looks past them to the soldiers they'd sent on the day before. The men are arranged in neat lines to welcome Royalty to the fort.
Nikandros sits on the steps waiting for their approach. He stands at attention when they are close enough and makes his salute.
"Your Majesties." He says. He eyes the girl behind Laurent. "And your Highness." Laurent nods. The rumor mill is working full time he sees.
"This is Aurelie and Gael. This is Nikandros, Kyros of Ios." Laurent offers his arm for Aurelie as Damen comes around to help her dismount. She stands next to him and hardly reaches his ribcage. Gael scuttles over from where he'd been petting the horse and grabs her hand. Her bright eyes look at her friend with more feeling than she'd looked at Laurent and he knows that's normal. She's known the boy probably their whole lives. Laurent turns away.
"Nikandros, what are you doing in Delpha?" Damen asks grinning.
Nikandros is still looking in bemusement at Aurelie, who is quickly becoming shy and uncomfortable, and Gael, who is still turning his head as though nothing has ever been so fascinating. The big man pulls his gaze to Damen. "I am here to greet you, your majesty." He says with a half grin back. "And see what your journey has gotten you." He turns his look on Laurent. "Apparently it has gotten you more than just the peace you expected."
Laurent likes Nikandros, for a loose definition of the word. The kyros is loyal and brave and willing to lay his life down for Damen. All good qualities, if you asked Laurent. He is not, to Laurent's anguish, subtle. He lays a kind hand on Aurelie's shoulder, "Don't mind Nikandros." He tells the girl. She looks at him and every time it's all he can do to not have the wind knocked out of him. "He's nicer than he seems." Laurent turns his flat gaze to Nikandros, "And not half as dim."
Gael giggles a bit and Laurent smiles down at him. Aurelie smiles at her brother, and Laurent's heart flies. She stops when she sees him looking, but her face isn't quite so sorrowful.
"Yes, of course, your Majesty." Nikandros says. He's showing more deference now than he has ever. Laurent squints at him. Nikandros' shoulders appear to be twitching, the corners of his mouth do the same. Ah, he's being laughed at.
"Nikandros," Laurent says, and Damen slips a quick smirk his way at the tone. "Would you please see to it that all the possessions get to the correct rooms?" He turns to the children at his side. "Nikandros will take your things into the keep. Would you like to explore the gardens, or are you ready for midday meal?" Nikandros is grumbling over his shoulder, something about being treated like a common servant. Laurent ignores him.
Aurelie looks at Gael, leaning forward and bringing her hand to whisper in his ear. Laurent turns to Gael when the boy scuffs his shoe in the rocks. "Aurelie wants to go see the garden, but I'm hungry." Damen looks at Laurent over the children's heads.
"That works perfectly. I could eat a bear." Damen says. He rests a hand on Gael's shoulder. "Would you like to come find the kitchens with me? If those two are quick, they might get some of the leftovers?"
Aurelie pales and her grip on Gael tightens. "Leftovers?" the boy says quietly. Damen realizes his mistake.
"Ah, no. I was just... There is enough food, in this fortress, to feed everyone. No one needs to worry about food here."
Laurent eases into a crouch. "I would be honored to escort you to the gardens, if you'd like to see them. And if we do, there will be food waiting for us." Aurelie looks at him and then at her hand in Gael's. "We can see the gardens a little later, if you'd rather go with Damen and Gael." The back of his neck is heating from being seen acting so... soft, in front of the men at his command and Nikandros, who is mostly Damen's in everything but title.
"We can go with them?"
"Or we could go see the stables?" Laurent says, quickly thinking over everything a ten year old child would want to do at the Fortress of Marlas. "The kennels? I believe the falconer still keeps a few birds in the mews. We could walk along the wall?" Damen's eyes stop him when he looks at his husband for inspiration. Damen shakes his head subtly and tilts his chin at Aurelie.
The girl looks like a nervous wreck. Too many things, too many new places and Gran-Mere had said children were resilient, but perhaps he should take a breath on the first day she'd been taken from her village. He breathes in and out a few times, watching Aurelie's pale face scrunch. "We can do any of that, at any time. But if you'd like to go sit with Damen and Gael and have midday, we can do that first." Laurent says, softly. He knew nothing about children, and here he was, making things difficult on his brother's child.
Aurelie finally nods and latches both hands to the one Gael had grabbed her with. "Eat first." She says. Her voice is nothing like the girl in the village. It's too soft, too shy, too overwhelmed by the new things thrust upon her with no decision from her.
Damen offers Gael his other hand and Laurent walks behind them as they enter the keep.