Equilibrium

Chapter Fifteen

Sometime during the night, my mother stabilizes and they move her into a secluded room. Nehemiah moves me into the room across the hall and he lies beside me until I drift to fitful sleep. I wake every hour nearly on the hour and he is still there, stroking my hair and reading the reports. He asks me if I need anything, gives me an update, and just talks softly until I fall back to sleep.. From what I gather by his soft murmuring, Chautin and Genician forces combined are guarding the borders now. War has not yet been called, but it sounds imminent. Genika's southern Ally, Erebor, has already offered to go into total war with us, which means that any and all resources would be dedicated to the war effort. Ereborans, unlike Shakrans, enjoy our newfound peace and they will fight with us to keep it. It sounds like it will be an easy war, but then again...what war is easy? I guess it can be considered as a short war. Easy sounds too...morbid.

I wake up for the fifth time to a knock on the door. Nehemiah puts a gentle arm out to stop me from moving from where I am curled against his chest, and he calls out for the visitor to come in. I am blushing profusely, hoping that I haven't drooled, when Ezra walks in.

You know, my would-have-been-husband.

"Sir, Her Majesty Jenna is awake." He announces softly and now Nehemiah cannot stop me from getting to my feet. An army couldn't have stopped me. I am still wearing yesterday’s wrinkled dress and my hair is probably a nightmare but I don’t care. Nehemiah follows behind me readily, steadying me although he does not even take my hand. I pause outside of my mother's doorway, hesitating, apprehensive about what I am about to see. Does she still hate me?

It is Nehemiah who opens the door, and now he takes my hand and guides me inside. My insides are in turmoil, and the second that I see my mother, all frail looking and propped up with pillows, my resolve breaks and my lower lip trembles. For a moment, I am rooted to the spot as she turns her head, still managing to look regal. She still looks like a queen. She hesitates at the sight of Nehemiah, but then she opens her arms for me and I go right into them. She smells faintly of medicine, but I can also smell the rose scent that follows her everywhere. Before the war took a turn for the worst, when it was just a shadow of threat, we used to plant rosebushes and pick the plump blackberries that grew outside the palace walls, but then it became too dangerous. Even now, danger is crawling around us, waiting for us to emerge so it can strike.

"I assume that his people are not to blame for this." She is looking at Nehemiah sharply, but she is not glaring. It is progress. It makes me smile. I step away from my mother before she can get uncomfortable--touching is not common among Genikan royalty. It is frowned upon.

Unless Nehemiah is correct, and they only made it uncommon for my sake.

"No, our people aren't to blame for this." Nehemiah gives her a pointed look, which makes my mother nearly balk. She composes herself, though, before anyone but me can catch it.

"Shakra. They do not appreciate that Chautin is no longer buying from them. I think that they are trying to test our peace." I add, before my mother can say something that will annihilate any semblance of peace we have known these past few weeks.

"How is Chaldor taking this?" She asks, once more in her demanding tone, and I relax. She is already back to normal. She is fine. I won’t lose her today.

"They're prepared to fight alongside us." Nehemiah supplies and he looks...alone, standing by the door, so I retreat to his side. It makes him relax a little bit, as if I am reminding him that not everyone in the room hates him. My mother must surely know that we didn’t marry out of love and we are the only ones in the room now, but I still choose to wrap an arm around Nehemiah’s torso. I feel his muscles jump under my touch and resist the urge to smile.

"I would offer them a treaty, with certain ultimatums to ensure that this does not happen again." She advises and Nehemiah slowly glances down at me, relaying to me silently what he is going to do before he does it. He moves to take a seat and I follow him. He chooses the couch so I tuck my feet up and lean into him a little, but I am alert. This is not a conversation I want to take lightly. If war breaks out Nehemiah will be expected to be on the front lines and that thought makes me feel...terrified.

"Why would that be your first course of action?" Nehemiah asks, and my mother pauses to consider it.

"Shakra is not a strong country. They are more dependent on strong allies. There are not many that will side with a weak country, against three strong ones. It is a move that will also gain the favor of other countries." She shrugs and I find it unsettling to watch. It is...unladylike. I wonder if my shrugging unsettles Nehemiah.

"I will have to consult the Councils, but I think that your course of action may be wise." Nehemiah leans back in his chair, relaxing further. I am the only tense one, now. I am waiting for someone to suddenly explode, or for someone to attack. This is my mother. She does not obey when told to lie down and roll over.

"Good. If you don't mind, I would like to rest." She closes the subject abruptly and I insist on walking behind Nehemiah to exit, certain that she will throw something at him, but she is true to her word. She is quiet.

She is quiet for the rest of the morning, and I find myself walking on eggshells. When Nehemiah asks why, and I tell him, he finds it so funny that he cries from laughing so hard.

"Peace is contagious. I guess she has finally caught it." He is still laughing when I walk away, grinning to myself lightly.