01: The Oath
Alexa was exhausted. The man, Sanjarro Tallman, had extracted an oath from her, and she had agreed to it. Vee said neither grandmère - nor he for that matter - would live by the oath of a man who was ready, willing and able to kill them and others who complained about the status quo. Alexa couldn't fault the logic, but she also couldn't stand the idea that she might bring harm to the Donadieu name - a name she was very proud of - no matter how slight or how distant from home.
It wasn't just Maman she considered here, either. Sometimes (just sometimes, mind you) she felt so homesick that she considered turning around and going home. 'Just go home,' that tiny voice whispered, 'go home and beg Byron's forgiveness. Maybe you're still marriageable.' Alexa never voiced these thoughts - they would only serve to concern Vee, invite mockery from Edgewater's sons.
She looked down at her hands, dug them deep into her pockets, head lowered. Thank the gods for these veils. Hiding her shaking hands was one thing. Hiding tears of fear, exhaustion and relief was quite another. Oath or not, oathbreaker or not, she had saved them. She walked in silence, but her mind raced. She had saved them. It took a lot not to simply crumple - her head was still pounding, her mouth still dry, her stomach roiling from the alcohol the previous night...and yet she felt such an immense sense of victory. Extreme relief - she knew it was naive to think she could - they could - avoid bloodshed like this in all cases, but she had done it this time. She had done it, and Vee was proud of her.
"Alexandrie Aerith Vanessa Elamys Normaer Donadieu."
She looked up at Vee, suddenly afraid she'd read the situation wrong, very wrong. But then the giant mechanical man, her protector, dropped to one knee and drew her into a hug.
A whimper caught in her throat - the boys were still watching, already thought of her as useless - a child - but she couldn't suppress the tears that rolled silently down her cheeks as Vee held her shaking form. Once again she was overcome with gratitude - grateful to La Chanson that she was chosen, of course, but grateful to grandmère for sending her best friend, grateful to Vee for being willing to travel with her. Grateful again for his care and guidance. She didn't know what they were going to do, where they would end up, but she was grateful she wouldn't have to do it alone.
Speaking of what they were going to do...Tallman couldn't get away with this. Too many lives were in danger - and that was before he did whatever it was he was going to do with a forge this size. It wasn't, Alexa considered as they kept walking, sanctioned by Shining Capital. That much was obvious. The Bagir'Choyf didn't know about it. They wouldn't have been sent on these two separate, but joined tasks if anyone in the Capital had known about it. So the oath Alexa had just made would do nothing but put people at risk if she kept to it. People would die if they simply did nothing, which...would that be so bad? Well, yes, people dying is awful but what, she thought, were they and their group consisting of two couples supposed to do about it? How could they truly help? That number of soldiers, that amount of power - Sanjarro Tallmann had said he was working for someone, after all. This was beyond the four of them, surely.
What did La Chanson want? La Chanson had basically guided her to this point, to this place. It had shown her the lizardfolk in the wall and given her the ability to speak with them and their lizard puppies. La Chanson wanted her to help. And surely that was more important than an oath to anyone else. Nothing, she thought resolutely, was more important than doing what La Chanson asked of her, and nothing more important than protecting those she could.
"It is ok to be afraid," she whispered to herself as the others discussed what to do next. Merde, but she hated being afraid. Just as she hated being tired and sick. Drinking was fun, but it would be a long time before she did it again.
