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Eretria rests her chin on her hand, feigning interest in whatever Nikolas is saying about dividing up the land, but her eyes keep darting over to where Amberle sits opposite her. Her eyes are focused on the wall just behind Nikolas’ head in a thousand yard stare, fiddling absentmindedly with the bracelet on her wrist.
She gets like this sometimes, Eretria’s noticed. One minute Amberle’s fine, engaged and smiling, and the next she’s lost in her head somewhere. No one else notices, or at least, no one says anything about the Princesses lack of attention towards the peace treaty proceedings.
When Rhainer calls an end to the days talks Eretria stays in her seat, waiting while everyone else files out of the room until she and Amberle are the only two left. With the sudden surge of movement Amberle comes back to herself, glancing around the now empty room and blinking quickly as she tries to regain her bearings.
“Everything alright there, Princess?” Eretria asks. The old nickname doesn’t come across harsh anymore, it sounds like a term of endearment.
“Yeah,” Amberle says, still looking a little out of it. “These meetings are just really boring.”
“Tell me about it,” Eretria stands and walks around the table, gripping Amberle’s elbows and helping her to her feet. “I was thinking about going for a walk around the gardens, you wanna come with?”
“Sure, that sounds good,” Amberle says.
Eretria slides one of her hands from Amberle’s elbow down to her hand, using the grip to guide her out of the palace. Amberle doesn’t protest the action, she doesn’t say anything as they begin their walk, but Eretria can tell she’s slowly coming back to herself. She didn’t just suggest the walk for Amberle; the gardens are Eretria’s favourite place in the palace. They’re nothing compared to the towering forests she’s used to, everything alive and dying and dead all at the same time. But the garden is closer to that than the cold stone walls of the palace with its bustle of workers and guards and dignitaries.
Eretria likes to come out at all hours to wander and think. She think Amberle could use something like that right now, a quiet place to sort through her thoughts.
“Where were you before?” Eretria asks eventually, “During the meeting, I mean.”
“Just—“ Amberle lets out a sign, “Just thinking. It’s nothing important.”
“Alright,” Eretria concedes, she’s not going to push Amberle if she’s not ready to talk about it. “If you ever decide you do want to tell someone about it, you know where to find me.”
//
“So,” Amberle says, and Eretria swears.
“Fuck, Amberle, if you’re going to sit in my room and wait for me the least you could do is light some candles,” Eretria says, “Save me the fucking heart attack.”
“Sorry,” Amberle says, not looking particularly sorry, “So, you said if I ever wanted someone to talk to I could come find you.”
“Find being the key word there, not scare the hell out of me,” Eretria says, kicking her boots off and collapsing onto the couch beside Amberle, “But yeah, the offer still stands.”
“I just— I can’t stop thinking about everything we did out there,” Amberle says. She reaches out to Eretria, tugging her down until she’s lying on the couch with her head in Amberle’s lap. Eretria lets herself be manhandled, keeping her mouth shut and letting herself relax into the feel of Amberle’s fingers stroking through her hair as she waits for Amber’s to continue. “I dream about it.”
“I know why we did what we did, we were at war, it’s just— I don’t know,” Amberle sighs.
“They were demon’s, Amberle,” Eretria says, reaching up to grab the hand that’s not playing with her hair. “Everything that happened out there, everything that you did and everything that they did to you, everything that you saw— that’s not on you.”
“Thanks,” Amberle says, voice soft. She twines her fingers through Eretria’s and rests them against the other girls stomach.
“I didn’t know you were having nightmares,” Eretria says, stroking her thumb across Amberle’s knuckles, “You’ve been sleeping fine.”
“Yeah,” Amberle blushes and tilts her head back so she can train her eyes on the ceiling, “Some nights I sleep fine and others I don’t.”
“Uh huh,” Eretria says, “Say I believe that, why won’t you look me in the eye?”
“I don’t have nightmares when we share a bed,” Amberle admits, the words leaving her mouth in a rush, “That’s why you don’t know about the nightmares.”
“Amberle—” Eretria starts, but she doesn’t what to say.
“It’s not important,” Amberle says. She’s blushing again and her fingers are back to working through Eretria’s hair, giving her something to distract herself with. “Seriously.”
“Seriously,” Eretria echoes, “Amberle, go lie down.” She sits up and points at her bed.
“What, why?”
“You’re sleeping in here tonight.”
Amberle looks like she’s going to put up a fight, but deflates when she sees the determined look on Eretria’s face.
“You don’t have to do this you know,” Amberle says, stripping down to her singlet and underwear, “I’ve been doing fine on my own.”
“We’re stuck together,” Eretria says, climbing onto the bed and pulling the covers up over herself, “We may as well look out for each other.”
“Yeah,” Amberle says, sliding under the covers and tucking herself into Eretria’s side, her chin digging into Eretria’s chest just a little, though she doesn’t mention it. “I guess we should.”
“Just get some sleep, Princess,” Eretria says, voice gruff, “Maybe tomorrow you’ll actually pay attention during the peace talks.”
“You’re one to talk,” Amberle says, but she’s kind enough not to mention just how often she catches Eretria staring from across the table, which Eretria counts as a small mercy. “Goodnight, Eretria.”
“Goodnight,” Eretria presses her lips against the crown of Amberle’s head, feels her content sigh more than she hears it. She waits until Amberle’s breathing evens out before she lets herself shut her eyes and fall asleep.