• fallingforyou by The 1975 •

Lari was four shots down when Peri finally finished her narration. Jade sat beside her, with a strong, comforting arm around her.

Dehydrated from the crying, and woozy, Lari sat with her forehead flat on the tabletop. Peri watched her with her back eased against the back of her chair, lip between her teeth, and fingers fidgeting constantly.

"You feel guilty, don't you?" Jasper enquired.

Peri's jaw shifted, and she averted her gaze.

"Jade," she called out. "Move!"

The Ironwood Warrior looked up, demanding a repetition. Peri sighed. "Move," she said again. "She's my sister, she needs me."

Jade quietly rose, leaving the space beside her Princess to be occupied by Peri. She gestured to her brother to speak to him separately.

"Umm... Listen..." Peri stammered, hovering a hand over Lari's blue hair. "Larimar... It's not your fault. I... should have been more considerate... while speaking about the Emperor. I..." She scoffed. "Wow, I can't even apologize."

"It's fine," Lari said, picking up her throbbing head. "I shouldn't expect to be liked by you, or... any of my..." She let out a heavy breath. "Sisters. Are you... in touch with anybody else?"

Peri nodded. "I used to know quite a few of them before they... got taken. I recently saw Amber, she's from Kalk. But she's now living in Primorska. Do you... want to visit her?"

Larimar nodded. "So... if I'm the Primorskan daughter, there should be an Eiran daughter, right?"

"Yes," Peri agreed. "But I don't know who that is. If she's even alive anymore. Eira is too far away from here, you know." Lari nodded again, understanding.

Her thoughts were clouded, from the booze and the exposition. What Lari wanted was to creep under her mother's duvet, and cry into her neck. She wanted to comfort Vivian, for all that she silently went through, and be comforted in return.

She knew her mother would be devastated to find out that her father's wrongdoings had been revealed to her. This was not the kind of solidarity either of them would have wanted. But it was all they got. The wrath, greed, and bigotry of one man had brought two generations of women, overall earthside, under one roof of plight.

Larimar ran her hand through her blue hair, and stopped midway, clutching and pulling at it. When she felt a tap on her shoulder, she opened her eyes and looked up.

Jade looked back with the softest, most compassionate smile she could portray. "Would you like to take a walk outside, Princess?" She asked. "It might make you feel better."

Lari never left Jade's arm. She clung to it, as they walked. The wind indeed made her feel better.

She didn't ask where they were going. If in the morning, she was willing to let the young Queen decide her fate, she was now unwilling to take those matters into her hand.

The party had strayed away from the main festival, to a more secluded path. The Moon's light rendered the occasional lanterns useless. The undulating terrain paused abruptly, giving way to a sturdier brick road. This made Lari curious.

"Where are we going?" She finally asked, sniffling.

"You'll like it, I promise," was all Jade replied.

They soon came to a halt and in the distance were high walls. Sentient behind them stood the Jahiman palace. Surun Palatsi. Not as tall as the Eiran palace, but it looked sturdy and expansive. By the gates stood a pair of soldiers, and a few more could be seen strolling along the perimeter.

"You ready?" Peri asked the Queen in particular. Jade nodded, piquing Larimar's curiosity.

The Princess quietly watched as her friend's hand left hers and latched on to Peri's. Jasper came over to stand by her side, and only fuelled her concern by explaining what was happening.

He said, "we're planning on going to the palace library. However, even if Peri and I can go in easily - and, nobody seems to recognize you - Jade can't just walk in with us. Right? So, Peri will move her there ahead of us."

Lari looked on, even more perplexed. "Move her?"

The other three only nodded, and she watched her sister clasp Jade's hand even tighter. With a pang of jealousy, Lari snatched the Queen's other hand. "I'll come with," she said, refusing to meet eyes with anyone.

"Not possible." Peri spat. "In this chair, I can only move one person."

"Princess." Jade squeezed Lari's hand with reassurance. "It'll be fine, we've done this before. Trust me. I'll see you in mere moments."

Larimar let her go, but only to watch closely. And when the Queen's twin came closer to explain the whole process, she paid him no heed. She only heard him say, "The Chariot," a few times.

The Princess could swear she didn't bat an eye, but when Jade disappeared into thin air, she had no explanation for it. "Where did she go?" She asked again, only receiving a scoff and a concerned gaze in reply.

Peri was the one who spoke to the guards when they reached the palace gates. She introduced the foreigner as Mari - a distant acquaintance of Maw, who was in town for the festival, and they just wanted to show her around.

"Miksi hänen hiuksensa ovat tuollaiset?" One of them asked.

"Väri."

The walk from the entrance to the library was the most excruciating for Lari. She pushed Peri's chair, as a guard led them with faint, flickering candlelight.

When they reached the door to the library, Jasper took the candle and bid the trooper adieu. He leaned towards the door and placed five sharp taps on the glistening wood. Lari recognized the rhythm from when Jade had used it at Malinpuu.

Somebody mirrored the taps from the other side, and Jasper turned the knob. When the door creaked open, Lari sighed with relief.

Lari was in awe of the library. Although not big as the one at Paláti tis Metensárkosis, it was equally, if not more, charming. Numerous shelves stood tall throughout the room, all of them stacked, unkempt. Tables, both high and low, small and large, lay near the windows and the shelves, and scattered on top of them were more books.

"It's a reader's wonderland." Lari covered her cheeks with her hands, gleeful. Jade stood amidst the mess, reflecting her smile. "Are all these books yours?"

"No," the Queen replied with a shrug. "Most of them were Governor Verda's. Some are even older, I suppose."

"Have you read all of them?" Lari proceeded towards her and took the Queen's arm in her grasp.

Jade giggled. "No, Princess, of course not. This library is open for anybody who wants to read. There are books in languages of all realms, but most of them are in the common tongue. I used to come here all the time when I was younger, but I haven't been able to read all of them. Come, look around."

"Yksi tunti!" They heard Peri's warning before disappearing behind a row of shelves.

Jade walked the Princess between the towering racks. The latter held a candle in one of her hands and ran the other over the spines of the books. "Do you have books about yourself?" Lari asked, pulling out a particularly old and torn cover.

"There might be some," Jade replied, squeezing in beside Lari. She took the book from her and started shuffling through it. "But I've never read them. Although, I have read some about you."

"They've written books about me?"

"Well..." Jade bit her lip. "They're... mostly books about... your father."

Lari's smile sombred. "Do these books document his... misdeeds?" Jade nodded. The Princess bit her lip, before continuing, "don't worry, I'm not gonna ask to look through them. Not tonight. My eyes already hurt from crying."

Jade sighed and flipped open the book in her hand. "The Language of Flowers," she said, squinting at the fading title. Lari brought the candle close to the yellowed paper and waited for her to go on.

The young Queen turned the pages, reading out to her beloved Princess the contents. With every leaf she flipped, they learned about a different flower, and what it stood for.

"Violets for love between women," she read, blushing. "And, for solidarity."

She turned another page. "Zinnia is for the thoughts of an absent friend."

Another page. "Apple blossoms to say, 'I choose you', as it stands for -"

Their time with the book came to an abrupt halt with two loud knocks on the door. "Fuck," Jade whispered, pulling Lari by her hand. She led her further into the library, as they heard Jasper's warning.

"Coming," he said, loud enough for his sister to hear.

"This has to do." Lari heard Jade whisper. She watched as the Queen displaced a table, displaying only a bare wall behind.

The redhead moved to the nearby rack of books. "There's some sort of wizardry here, Princess. There's a book here that needs to be touched, or... maybe, tugged at."

Jade's eyes scanned, as her fingers fluttered on the spines. She plucked random books, starting from the top shelf. But when nothing worked, and they could hear the soldier's voice at the door, she panicked.

Larimar, equally perturbed, followed her. She tugged at some books, trying to stay off the ones that had already been checked until she found an empty spot. Intuition flicked, and she snatched The Language Of Flowers from Jade's hand and pushed it into the gap, making a part of the wall behind them grunt open.

Jade grinned. "You're magic, Princess," she said, yanking her to the opening.

Once inside, Jade pulled the block back into place, and the two pressed their ears to the wall, listening. They could only hear distant, disembodied voices, barely making out the words.

Somewhat eased, Jade put her back to the wall and looked at Lari. The blue-haired Princess was still on edge, listening with intent.

Unconsciously, Jade's hand reached out and brushed a stray fringe out of Lari's eye. And she immediately regretted it. When the Princess looked up, in the light of the still candle, her friend looked like she could combust with embarrassment.

"Thank you," Lari said. Her bashfulness mirrored Jade's. "Are you... not listening?"

Jade shook her head but kept looking at her. "Are you disappointed with me?" She asked the Princess.

Lari returned her with a look of confusion. "Why would I be disappointed with you, my Queen?"

This made Jade blush redder. "Princess... you can't," she stammered. "You can't just call me that and expect me to be okay."

"And, you can keep calling me Princess? Even though you told everyone else to not call me that?"

Jade sighed. Her blush had not depleted by the slightest. "I'm trying," she replied, with a wry smile. "I practiced. I know you're not going to believe me, but I practiced when you were asleep or taking a bath. And when I was here without you."

"So, practice in front of me." Lari challenged. "Be a darling and make my evening better, my Queen."

"Okay, if you say so," Jade returned. With a gust of confidence, she pulled closer to Lari until their noses were only inches apart. It was the Princess' turn to blush.

Jade only opened her mouth when three consecutive knocks appeared on the other side of the wall. "Impeccable time -" Lari rolled her eyes, but a strong hand quickly covered her mouth.

Jade's quivering arms pinned Lari to the wall and put a finger to her lips. She took a slow, deep breath to blow out the candle, and flushed when their chests pressed together.

"It's our warning knock," she whispered.

They held their breath, listening. The voices had grown louder, the words were more discernible. They heard a voice Jade didn't recognize.

"Where is the other girl that came with you?"

But Lari knew who that was. She thanked the darkness for eluding the concern on her face.

They heard Jasper's voice. "We showed her the way to the lavatory."

The women on the other side bit their lips and stayed mum as the footsteps receded. When the five knocks made a reappearance, they sighed with relief.

Jade pushed the wall with both hands and it opened up again. She grabbed Lari's hand and pulled her out of the cavity.

"I'll move you to Jalo," Peri said, pointing at Jade. "And, we'll get out of here as soon as we can."

"You sure?" The Queen asked, watching her brother put everything back in place. "Jalo is far away. I don't want you to get your ears all ringing."

Peri nodded. "I can manage most places within the realm now. Especially places that I have been to. It wouldn't be a problem."

Jade agreed, and Lari watched as she left her hand again. "I'll see you on the other side," the Princess said.

The Queen smiled and replied, "see you on the other side, Lari."

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Translations:

• Surun Palatsi - Palace of Grief
• Miksi hänen hiuksensa ovat tuollaiset? - Why is her hair like that?
• Väri - hair dye
• Yksi tunti - one hour

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