One Secret Revealed
Notes:
This chapter is entirely "new" material. Meaning it came into existence as a result of/after the decision was made to not fake Cerlon's birth.
*****
Sara was buttoning the last two buttons on the collar of Evnia’s dress and Janner was tying the laces of Elquinn’s dress shoes (he hadn’t quite figured out how to get them tight enough to where they would stay the whole evening) when there was a knock on the door to their apartments.
Janner quickly finished the knot and jumped up, walking down the hall and opening the door. Artham, Arundelle, and Asteria were standing on the other side of it, smiling.
“I am here to pick up my lovely niece and handsome nephew, whom I will be escorting to the Ball tonight, along with my elegant wife and beautiful daughter,” Artham stated grandly, his eyes twinkling. Arundelle rolled her eyes at the theatrics, but she was smiling all the same, while Asteria blushed.
Janner decided to play along, as Artham had certainly spoken loud enough for the twins to hear. “I will inform them of your arrival, sir.”
He, of course, had no need to do so, especially since Evnia was already peeking her head into the hallway while keeping the rest of her in the room, but he knew it wouldn’t hurt anything.
“Miss Evnia and Mister Elquinn,” Evnia giggled at the title and Elquinn’s eyes brightened a bit, chasing away the fearful countenance from earlier. “Your escorts are here to escort you to the Ball.”
“Can I leave the room now?” Evnia asked, bouncing and sending one of her hair ribbons out of its bow.
Sara came forward quickly. “Just a moment,” she said as she tied it again, reaching around Cerlon, whom she held in a cloth carrier situated in the front. “There. Now, try and keep them from becoming untied, alright?”
Evnia sighed. “I’ll try very hard. Now can we go?!”
Janner laughed and, smiling, Sara answered, “Yes, you may go.”
Grabbing Elquinn’s hand, Evnia rushed out of the room and toward Artham as fast as Elquinn would allow her. “How do I look, Uncle Artham?!” came her voice, a bubbly giggle of laughter.
“Like the daintiest flower picked out of your Auntie Arun’s garden,” he answered, unable to resist the simile. “And how are you doing this evening, Elquinn?”
Janner did not hear the response, but he hoped it was something akin to happiness. He turned to Sara and took her hand in his, pulling her back toward their bedroom gently. “Come on,” he whispered. “I just…I want to sit and pray with you. Please?”
She nodded and followed willingly as he sat down in the armchair and pulled her onto his lap, being mindful of Cerlon all the while.
“Maker,” he whispered, his eyes closed. “Please, whatever happens this evening, help my family. Help both Sara and I trust You, take away Elquinn’s fear, give Evnia understanding when it is needed, and give Cerlon the strength to survive and grow. Above all else, though, let Your Will be done.”
*****
“Yes, it's wonderful that you can join us here this evening Ma’am and Sir,” Artham overheard Kalmar saying for what had to be the hundredth time or more. It had been tolerated well for the first half, but by the time he reached the forty-minute mark, Artham could hear the frustration in his nephew’s voice.
“I'm going to see if I can relieve our King of some of his frustrations,” he whispered to Arundelle, who was standing next to him, not bothering to make herself as inconspicuous as possible (as most of the Wingfeather family tended to do), because she knew how pointless that was when she stood next to the man with enormous wings.
She nodded, smiling. “Alright. I'll take the opportunity to check on Asteria, Evnia, and Elquinn. They should be with the other children.”
By “other children,” Arundelle meant all the children under the age of twelve who came to the Ball and spent the time together chatting and doing things more fun to them than dancing waltzes. Sometimes children preferred to stay with their parents when possible, but sometimes they did not. Evnia and Elquinn had, in the past, stayed with Janner and Sara a good portion of the evening, but as neither were present yet, the group of children included them. Evnia didn't seem to mind to terribly that neither of her parents would be with her, but Elquinn had. Artham had asked him about it, but the only response he had gotten was, “I don’t like the noise."
He nodded as Arundelle disappeared into the crowd, her light pink gown seamlessly fusing with the thousands of yards of fabric of what looked like thousands of other colors. He glanced at the people around him wryly, wishing he could disappear so easily. Unfortunately, having wings came with some disadvantages, conspicuousness being one of them.
He folded them in as tightly as he could, then made his way to the edge of the crowd so he could walk along the wall to get to Kalmar. His nephew was standing very near the entrance in one of the few uncrowded places in the ballroom. Rather, he was uncrowded because they had made space since he was the King, but people still tried to crowd around him.
“Do you want me to take over greetings for a while?” Artham offered when he reached Kalmar. “They might be interested enough in the resident birdman to leave you alone for a little while.”
Kalmar grinned but shook his head anyway. “Thanks for the offer, but I shouldn't take it now. Maybe later. Oh, this is kind of random,” he added. “But have you seen Janner?”
Artham looked around for a moment before saying no. “Aren’t he and Sara supposed to get here later when you announce Cerlon’s birth?”
Kalmar shrugged. “Yeah, but I was kind of hoping he would get here sooner than that.” He was silent for a few moments before speaking again, a perplexed look on his face. “You know, he asked me the weirdest thing before the Ball. He wanted to know if he could let Amrah go free. He said the Maker had given him a sign, so I told him he could. I hope you’re okay with that; I know you were worried about it specifically, which is why it’s so weird he mentioned it specifically! Anyway, that doesn't have much to do with anything, but it was still strange.”
Artham nodded. “I mean…if he said the Maker gave him a sign, it’s probably true.”
Still, he felt indescribably confused. It was odd that Janner would ask to do such a thing so unexpectedly without any rhyme or reason. So what was going on?
*****
“Are you certain it’s time?” Sara whispered as they stood outside one of the smaller doors that led from the Throne Room to the Ballroom. They could hear the music, chatter, and laughter from where they stood, and it was a pleasant sound. Janner hoped it wouldn’t be too loud for Cerlon once they got inside.
“Yes, I’m certain,” he replied, removing his hand from the handle he had almost grabbed to push the door open. “Shastan came and told us it was nearly time. Do you doubt him?”
Sara looked down at Cerlon and kissed his head. “He could have gotten the time wrong. Sometimes, when the King randomly asks someone at a ball to go and let his brother and sister-law-in know it’s time to come downstairs, that someone gets the time wrong.”
Gazing at her thoughtfully, Janner did his best to look at every feature he possibly could, from her brunette curls tickling her cheeks and falling down her back to her shimmering lavender dress with lovely little tucks and ruffles exactly where they needed to be, to the dark purple cloth carrier on her front holding Cerlon to her shining diamond blue eyes, tinged with worry and grief.
He cupped her cheek lovingly. “You don’t want to go because of what happens afterward, right?”
She closed her eyes and nodded, a few tears escaping. Janner brushed them away with his thumb and pulled her towards him, kissing her forehead gently. “It’ll be alright,” he whispered. “If it’s not alright later this evening, it will be alright eventually. I promise.”
Sara nodded and wiped away the rest of her tears. “Alright,” she said, taking a breath. “Let’s go.”
Janner reached for the handle, but before he could push, someone on the other side pulled and the door swung open wide, the music and noise of the crowd instantly growing louder. Cerlon shifted in his carrier, his blue eyes wide, but did not fuss.
“Kalmar?” Janner asked, though it really wasn’t a question that his brother was standing in front of him, his crown crooked and his cape wrinkled. “How is your cape wrinkled already? It’s been less than an hour! And why is your crown slipping off?”
Kal reached up to his head and felt for the side of the crown so he could straighten it, then looked down at his cape and shrugged. “I dunno why it’s wrinkled. But I’m on schedule to make the announcement any second, and I thought I was going to have to come get you.”
Janner laughed. “You actually know the schedule?”
“Apparently. Now, I’m going to need you two to come with me, please.” He pulled them inside and maneuvered them toward the side of the raised platform where any announcements or speeches would be made and where the orchestra played. “I’m going to go up there in just a minute, and as soon as I tell them about Cerlon, like, the very first time when I mention his name, I want you two to come up.”
Janner nodded. “Alright, we will. Thank you, Kal. I appreciate this.”
“Anytime,” he replied, grinning. “By the way, how are you this evening, Sara? I forgot to ask.”
Smiling lightly, Sara slipped her hand into Janner’s before answering. “I’m doing well. Thank you for asking, Kalmar.”
Winking at her briefly, Kalmar (somewhat ungracefully) hopped onto the raised stage-like area of the Ballroom a second later. Noticing him immediately, the conductor motioned for the orchestra to cease playing. A few seconds after that, the guests became aware and turned their attention to the musicians first, then to Kalmar, who looked as though he was trying to figure out how to begin.
“Good evening!” he said after a pause, raising his voice so everyone would be able to hear him. “Skreeans, and Hollishfolk, thank you so much for joining Anniera in celebration today!” A round of applause went up, and a few of the more burly Hollishfolk roared to make their presence known. “You know what we remember and celebrate today and tomorrow, but instead of actually talking about it since I’d like to embarrass my brother as little as possible right now, let me be clear that is not what I am announcing right now. However, I may be embarrassing him later.”
Kalmar turned toward him and winked at him again. Janner couldn’t help but roll his eyes as a ripple of laughter ran through the crowd.
“What I’m announcing now is something different,” he continued when the laughter died away. “In and of itself, it’s a bit of an apology.” A murmur of confusion went through the crowd. “You see, many of you know that my sister-in-law Sara was with child. You weren’t supposed to know that, but you did. Some secrets are kind of hard to keep.” Several murmurs and chuckles that sounded a bit sheepish came from various points in the room. They never had figured out who let the information slip and likely never would.
“You also managed to learn the due date was right about now and up until this point, you have believed the baby was not born yet. However, that’s not quite true,” Kalmar continued, drawing closer to the actual point.
Another murmur of confusion, this one louder, peppered through the room. Janner felt his stomach clench with worry. There was particular unrest among a certain group of people — he was certain it was the Skreean ambassadors. Maker, please don’t let this end in disaster.
“Her child, a son, was actually born a month ago,” Kalmar explained further. “He was born early, and he was sick and weak. We didn’t think he would live. Until we were certain, we didn’t want the word getting out, just so the family would have time to grieve privately. But over the past month, he’s gotten stronger and healthier and we think it’s a safe bet that he’ll live.”
One cheer went up from the crowd and another few followed it, until the audience was as a whole cheering and clapping. Janner’s heart lifted with relief and he turned to Sara, helping her take Cerlon out of his carrier so she could hold him.
“So it is my absolute pleasure to introduce you to Janner, Sara, and Cerlon Wingfeather,” — Janner took the cue and began escorting Sara up to stand nearer Kalmar — “Who I will not force to stay on stage for very long because I know they want to leave.”
By that time, they were standing next to Kalmar in full view of everyone. People applauded more but Cerlon did not fuss. He looked more confused than anything else, for which Janner was grateful. From somewhere in the crowd came the shriek, “That’s my Mommy and Daddy!” which some others heard and began laughing at, to the point at which it was a mixture of laughter and applause.
Janner cleared his throat after what was probably no more than twenty seconds and raised his voice above the applause. “Thank you so much. Sara and I are so grateful to the Maker for being merciful and to all of you for being understanding. We’re so thankful Cerlon will be able to grow up in Anniera and bless us.”
Someone began chanting, “Speech, speech, speech!” and a few others joined in. Panic bubbled inside Janner for just a few seconds before Kalmar shook his head and raised his hand for silence. “He already has to give a speech later, so let’s give him a break, alright? Anyway, I hope everyone has an amazing rest-of-your-evening!”
With that, all three left the raised platform, Kalmar following last as he made sure to motion for the orchestra to begin playing again. A lovely one with the whistleharp leading began, and Janner, though he had not checked to see who was in the orchestra before, had a feeling that Armulyn was among the musicians playing the liveliest tunes of the melody.
The moment they reached the floor, Sara was swarmed by women asking about Cerlon, asking to see him, asking to hold him, and asking more and more and more. Janner looked between her and Kalmar — well, not Kalmar. He’s disappeared already — trying to figure out what the best thing was to do next.
“Janner,” she whispered quickly in between questions, quite obviously trying to get away, not for her own sake but for Cerlon’s. He looked as though he was ready to start crying.
“Yes?” he asked, moving closer to her, trying to figure out a way to get her to a clearer place, or even out into the Throne Room so she could leave. “Do you want me to rescue you?”
In the middle of answering three other questions at once, it was a moment before she responded to him. “Actually, yes. But I can go back to our room on my own. If you find Nia, do you think you can ask her to join me?”
He nodded and began pulling her away, putting his left arm around her in an effort to shield her from everyone else. They reached the door in a few moments, and he pulled it open for her. “I’ll see if I can find Mama. And I promise, I love you.” He kissed her cheek, squeezing her hand tightly. “Never forget that, no matter what.”
“I won’t,” she whispered, her blue eyes filled with tears.
Janner looked down at Cerlon and kissed his head gently. "I love you. You have no idea how much I want to watch you grow up. And I pray that I'll get to." He heard another shakily drawn breath and knew Sara was crying. "My love," he murmured, drawing her close to him. "Please, whatever you do, trust Him. He will see this through however He sees fit, and it will be perfect."
"I know," she whispered. "I know."
They let go of each other at the same time, and Janner stopped holding the door open, still watching as it closed slowly, allowing him to catch glimpses of her retreating form, just for a few seconds, before it shut completely. He stared at the unmoving piece of wood that had hid his darling Sara from his view for a few more moments, imagining what she had looked like when he had still been able to see her.
It was another minute or so before Janner turned around reluctantly and looked into the flutterfly crowd, wondering how he would find anyone in the mess of it.
I suppose I should start now, he thought. Because I’m not leaving until I find Mama, Evnia, and Elquinn.
Sara needed Nia. And he wanted to say goodbye to his children for what might be the last time.
*****
Notes:
Obviously everything is a lot less heart-wrenching now that you now Janner's going to be fine after the meld. UNLESS I told you he would be fine when he will, in fact, NOT be fine, hehehehe
As usual, questions, comments, concerns, all are welcome^^
**stays underneath blankets* I can't watch!