Fall Of The Abyss

The Bonds That Remain.

As time tended to pass when desiring it run slow, the week flowed by too quickly. Marleen sat in her rooms, seclusion a tradition for a woman born to royalty in Eilae.

Her rooms were guilded in a deep violet, mark of a royal woman, because she was considered of mixed blood, where only men could be pure. The royal Kings and male heirs bore a vibrant blue, a "whole" color unlike violet. Her own mother wore Abyssean greens and this suited both her parents fine.

The relationship between Emperor and Empress was and always had been strained. Marleen recognized her father bore a heavy bias against her mother, and so too did V'ana. As such, often, family matters boiled out into things only the most brave of servants would speak in rumor.

Just two night prior, Marcus' rage had such a volatile reaction that it eventually reached my lady-in-waiting, Siel. The Emperor had broken down the Royal Empresses outer door, screaming about the nearing engagement and how a loving mother would not send their child to a King like Erran... Naturally, this did not bode well, for V'ana responded in rare vitriol.

It was well understood that the only Abyssal blood Marcus fear rest in the veins of his wife and daughter, one of which was to live now amongst them as queen within a month. The balance of fatherly concern, and a sense of impending betrayal mounting on him which gave credence to a dark rumor calling Marcus' "The Maddened".

Few spoke of it, those that did, often finding their tongues stopped wagging after a short drop and a quick stop. However, Marleen came to hear of the outburst and now that weight on her mind also.

"I am soon to leave, with no aid, no support into the Abyysean Kingdom... there is no joy in it. My father blames my mother for her blood and rumor alone, and she needles him on purpose." She mused, hoping her plight might have allowed for more compassion than impatience.

Marleen abandoned the table where she had brushed her hair for herself, fears and anxiety coiling in her stomach despite her confidence a week before... The truth was, she knew rumor of Erran and while it was not terrible, Marleen was being brought as a "replacement" wife essentially, and from an empire neither of them desired direct ties when possible.

At worst, I am fitted with a crown as barbed as my mother's... at best, a husband I might come to tolerate for peace sake...

Bitter pills all of them, a sour taste that lingered for a number of reasons, as Marleen had been educated upon the last Abyssal Queen's death.

Within the Abyssean Kingdom was a curious democracy, that when implemented caused, quite the tremors amid neighboring realms. It housed a royal line like an dynastic realm, however marriages into royalty were commonplace. It's unwed royals, and nobles were automatically wed to individuals whose duty or family aided the throne most- the linchpin here was the those wed from commoner status were voted upon. This allowed a royal reign to told its power, while instilling a loyalty and equity to those of more humble origins.

Erran himself was one voted into royal station, not born to it, his blood ties shattered with Elore. However with the generational arrangements between Eilea and Abyssean... that bloodline would return as quickly as it was snuffed out with Marleen as Queen.

Tomorrow was not a day of as joyous an event of simply marrying a noble could have provided. The dual insult of marrying into Abyssean royalty as insulting as its ruler not being a blooded royal a sting to Eilae pride.

"Into the abyss." Marleen said to the closed and boarded window with its pale curtains. Turmoil gripped her heart, anxiety her breath- and soon enough an Abyssean hand would bind hers to divided loyalties.

She prayed then in a rare discouragement towards her father, that Erran would prove not to be as distrusting of his new bride- or as dangerous.

'~¤~'

The night had proven difficult to come by sleep, and not surprising, the stiff hair the prior week was hidden under the rug as Abyssean escorts arrived during the early hours to deliver its new Consort. Eilaen Emperor and Empress play on a forced facade of marital equilibrium few with knowledge would be foolish enough to by, and the Abyssean envoy greeted Marleen warmly enough.

"Abyssal Consort, a pleasure is my duty to meet you."

This man was a decorated aid, a close minister of the Abbysean ruler, denoted by the bands of different yellow, amber, and golden stitched into his upper arm band. It was reminiscent of layers of sand settled between glass. His features were handsome, a strong masculinity to him, and at least outwardly he was kind.

"This is well, as you come a long way to take the sole heir from Eilae. Let's us hope for tranquility in this source of loss." She said, chin level to the floor, a calm and composed exterior that did not match within. The slight, however small and expected, pleased her father a sliver, but the amusement did not touch his features.

Despite the cooler greeting though, this envoy did not seem phased.

"It is a great hope that all will benefit from such a unique union... I am Ira Mirford, General of Arms and by royal decree, charged with your safe delivery. May I escort you, Lady Consort?"

Marleen had been about to accept, but felt the silence behind her, placing a soft smile on her lips and declining.

"I could allow no one, save my father escort me. It will be seldom I have the guidance of his presence, as you can imagine."

Before she had finished speaking, Emperor Marcus had taken his daughters hand, pressing it atop his in a gesture of both fatherly affection, and familial integrity that could not be broken. King and Envoy exchanged a mostly genial look, before Marcus took his daughter towards the grand entrance which had been decorated in an attempt to seem happy; a display more for the common people.

"You are my daughter; A child of Eilae... you will not forget to whom your duty is first and it does not abandon you this day." His words carried a unique meaning she could not fully dissect. "My hand stretches into the abyss itself with you. May you prove to not suffer from your mother's lack of womanly uses, and bare enough children to sire heirs enough to bring Eilae and Abyss into the same fold."

She nodded, her hand light on top her father's as they lead the procession that would send her away.

"I hope to never disappoint you, dearest father. Though I leave soon, as all women must, I take with me, blood, bond, and honor. As steadfast as the man who blessed me with those qualities." The subtle, volatile waters lurking under the surface broke away, a fatherly smile touching The emperor's features. Marleen smiled at him, grateful that she would see him as few knew him before being carried far away.

"You are as cunning a girl as always, drawing upon fatherly conduct to calm the bitter storm in my heart." He dropped his other hand on top hers, encasing her hand in his as they took the steps at a leisurly pace, a display for the crowds gathered below. "Be careful with The Abyssal King, Erran... his people love him, are blinded by him, but he is no less dangerous for any smile he might show you. It is perilous the people of that kingdom, and I have no choice, but to sacrifice my own heir as consort... would that I had another child to send in your stead- I could love no other daughter more than you."

Marleen felt the first pull of tears form, and stowed them away. His words brought an ache to her heart as a father, but as a ruler, the weakness could not be so blatantly displayed.

"I will return soon. A month is a short time, and then proper arrangements can be made. I will come home again." She said, and he released her hand having come to the bottom of the stairs and the front of the envoy procession that was both grand display for ceremony as well as the honor guard fit for royalty.

Ira Mirford accepted Marleen's hand and escorted her the last distance to the walled carriage, as her father would not step a foot from the deep blue rug in the presence of an abyssean unless in times of war.

The carriage door opened and Marleen was able to glimpse finally her mother- an odd satisfied smile upon The Empress' face despite a bruise that mared her slim neck and shoulders. There was no nod of acknowledgement or much else- and the carriage door closed in a soft hush before a jerk herald the beginning of her long journey to the sea.