The Silence Between Constellations

The rest of the party was quiet for Dimitri. He watched as his fiance, a complete stranger to him, interacted with the Bound. The things she had said were absolutely blasphemous. Void Worshipers being people worthy of kindness and consideration? Treating the Bound with respect? Wasting resources on Unwoven and keeping them in Great Houses? He knew House Vaelor was radical but he hadn't expected that level of radical idealism. She wasn't even attempting to hide her iconoclastic beliefs. It seemed as if she wanted to tear down a lot of what gave Nytheris its identity. Why would she want that? She interacted with the Bound on an almost familial level which was beyond strange to him. Even the nursemaids that had raised him knew their place. They had always treated was. The Bound that served his family knew their place with him with the respect being a scion of House Blaeric as he was. Those interacting with Edelgard spoke to her in such a familiar way. He didn't know what to make of any of it. It was so strange. Eventually, though, House Vaelor left and the party ran its course with everyone but House Blaeric leaving. Itwastheir home, after all. Honestly, he was exhausted. Parties like this always wore him out. He hated them, but they were a staple of Great House culture. He wished they weren't, but they were. He truly wished that he could be free, but heir apparent left him without a choice. He would take over House Blaeric whether he wanted to or not. This marriage would ensure that House Blaeric's line continued on whether he wanted it to or not. He and Edelgard would be forced into marital relations which he was none too enthused about. She definitely disdained him and his views despite them being perfectly normal for Great Houses. He made his way to his room where an attendant helped him out of the stiffly formal outfit into something far more comfortable. He stepped onto his balcony and looked up at the stars. They sang to him, deeply in his blood. He would have preferred to be active at night, but business had to be attended to during the day. He was no Astral Weaver, though. He couldn't predict or nudge fate in the same way they could. Maybe he ought to talk to one about his future with Edelgard. He didn't want this relationship to fail but he also didn't want it either. With a sigh, he turned and returned inside.

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Edelgard looked at the night sky as she stood on her balcony. A breeze stirred her nightgown, making it billow around her ankles. The moon sat overhead. It called to her, a calling deep in her soul. She longed to run beneath its silvered beams, but she knew that she had to sleep. A series of celestial convergences was on the horizon and she knew it. It was hard to sleep when she could feel the heavens shifting. The Veilbound Order would be active soon and she would sorely miss her friends there. But this damnable marriage contract had her chained to Florwynne for the foreseeable future… "Milady?" a soft voice came. She sighed. "coming." She cast one more longing glance at the moon, the energy reaching out to her, before she turned on her heel and headed inside. Being forced to be diurnal at the zenith of her power certainly took its toll…

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Edelgard woke the next morning, her head fuzzy. She had avoided alcohol at all costs. but she still felt hungover. She could deal with groups when doing delegation duty, but parties always left her feeling drained. She despised Great House culture. She wished she could just focus on her duties, but that wouldn't happen now. Damn House Morvayne and its ruthless tactics. She should have married for love, not Great House nonsense. She grabbed some clothes and headed into the bathroom for a good soak. She hadn't spent an excessive amount of time dancing or anything. However, being around that many bodies made her feel disgusting. Not to mention all of that heavy perfume... Lots of Great House scions used it to cover up their lack of bathing practices. Disgusting. She filled the tub and got in, trying to soak and scrub away the previous night. In some regards, having a fiance was good as it kept others away from her. On the other... she now had to spend her life with someone whom disagreed with her on a fundamental level. People were only people to him if they were born the 'right' way. She had no idea how to deal with this at all... People were people regardless of standing even if society didn't see it that way. She had no idea how she was going to deal with the ideological differences. She took a deep breath and dunked under the surface, letting her hair get sodden. She held her breath until she couldn't any longer and returned to the surface. She really didn't need to wash her hair; she just liked to spend time underwater. She wished that she lived near a body of water because having unfettered access would be nice instead of having to rely solely on the tub. Swimming and such calmed her in a way almost nothing else could. Eventually, she got out and forced herself to get dressed as well, looking at her schedule with a frown. The moon was going to align with Cygrian, the Two-Headed Snake tonight. The projected instability would be a few hours outside of town and she was being asked to help. "Why me? Why not Alina?" Her younger sister was better at stabilising the Arcane Currents than she was. Edelgard had a tendency to over correct for others too much which made it take much longer than it should have. "House Blaeric will be participating." Edelgard frowned at that. So they wanted her and Dimitri to work together... She was none too enthused about it. They did need to get to know each other, but this felt like a step too far. Two such opposing viewpoints during a celestial convergence wasn't a good idea in her book. She would definitely over correct for Dimitri's rigidity. People too set in their ways like him caused all sorts of issues during convergences... She was not looking forward to this. Why did she have to be engaged to such a typical Great House scion? Ugh. "Very well." She went into her closet and pulled out her convergence outfit. "Could you help me into this, Ellie? "It was a highly elaborate thing that needed multiple people to put on. Alina liked them, but she didn't personally. She would have gladly left Alina to deal with the convergences; she much preferred her duties in helping Void Worshipers. But she wasn't sure if she'd be allowed to continue with them or not once she married Dimitri. It was so hard to know what her future would hold... Maybe she ought to confer with an Astral Weaver. But the stars could be wrong too… Ugh. Nothing was fully set in stone which was both good and bad. She wanted more insight into her relationship with Dimitri, but things could change. Should she ask the Arcanum Lords for a sign? Would the Arcanum Lords respond? They were notoriously distant and uninvolved. The stars would probably be better. Astral Weavers didn't come cheap, though. This felt like a no-win situation. She headed downstairs and to the breakfast nook. Staff milled about the kitchen, going about their daily tasks. She bid many of them good morning despite knowing it wouldn't reallybegood. She knew most of the staff by name, at least, but she also knew pushing her worries on to them broke the social contract. All of these rules were stupid. She hated them. People were people and nothing would change that. They all bled scarlet and returned to the earth in the end. Why could the other Great Houses not see that? It made no sense to her… She was served and ate quietly, listening as the staff chattered amongst themselves. She hated the suffocating dress. It made breathing hard, but she had to look good in front of other Great Housesespeciallyconsidering how they perceived her. She absolutely hated today. After she finished eating, an attendant escorted her out to a carriage. They had coaches, but horses were seen as more professional than coaches. And she had nothing to do until they got there. The next several hours were spent in complete silence and boredom. She had done this particular convergence before and it was nothing special. It was a minor one that happened every year; young Lunebinders and Stellamancers trained on it and she had been no exception. She hated all of this. Being expected to work on such a predictable, safe convergence that children trained on. It was an insult to the training that she'd been put through. They arrived amongst a gathering of mostly Lunebinders and Stellamancers that were twelve and younger. She hadn't been to this convergence since she was that age. It felt degrading to be so much older than everyone else participating. She knew exactly what to do for this convergence because she had been trained on it so many times. Shedid notneed to be here, but the forces that be had decided otherwise. "Ah, Lady Vaelor." Edelgard groaned inwardly when she heard Dimitri's voice. She had known that he would be there, but she had hoped to have at least a little time to herself before then. She offered a stiff curtsy. "Good afternoon, Lord Blaeric. What brings you over here?" she plastered the best smile on her face she could. She really didn't want to talk to him, but she knew she couldn't avoid him forever. It was hard after their disastrous meeting the previous night. She didn't (entirely) blame him for his beliefs, but it was going to be hard with their beliefs so fundamentally opposed. She reallywas notlooking forward to this marriage. Damn Great Houses trying to make sure they weren't forgotten in the reincarnation cycle. He raised an eyebrow. "Are you not aware that we're going to be demonstrate for the younger mages tonight?" She froze as she looked at him. "No, I wasn't informed." This was going to be an unmitigated disaster and she knew it. When two mages were so diametrically opposed, it meant a lot could go wrong. She really had no idea how this would go other than a true disaster. She didn't know how he handled his magic, so she was pretty sure it would take longer than normal to stabilise the convergence. This was going to be averybad showing for both Houses. “Ah, unfortunate. We'll be the teachers tonight. There's also the Malginis and Perophe alignment in a week. Would you like to work it with me?" He gave a brilliant but practiced smile. She was pretty sure she wouldn't have a choice in the matter. They needed to spend time together and convergences were a good way to do that. It would also force them to work together in ways that would better prepare them for marriage. It made sense, but she didn't like it. Not at all. "I see. No, I wouldn't, but I suppose I also don't think I have a choice. do I?" Dimitri frowned." Must you be so blunt? It's unbecoming of a Great House scion." "Or you'll do what?" She narrowed her eyes at him. He said he would never raise a hand to her, but she could tell he was unhappy with her behavior. She wasn't willing to stop speaking out about injustice just because he didn't like it. "Or did you forget I'm a bastard in basically everybody's eyes?" His cheeks colored. "I... won't do anything to you as I said I last night. You are entitled to your own opinions, but this is about more than you now. You'll be a member of House Blaeric. You should think about how your…" He paused. "… unconventional beliefs reflect on your future house." "Just because I'll take the Blaeric name doesn't mean I'll stop being part of House Vaelor. You of all people know how intensely those of House Vaelor stick to their beliefs. I won't be silenced just because House Blaeric deems me inconvenient." She wasn’t willing to back down. She would take the Blaeric name, but not give up her Vaelor ideals. This was frankly a horrible match, but Morvayne almost always got its way. He sighed. "You're right. Once a Vaelor, always a Vaelor. This feels like a terrible arrangement…if you don't mind my being blunt." He gave a wry smile. “I don’t believe we're on the same page there. Unless we come to some understanding, we're going to be at each other's throats. I don't know how we can do that when we're both confident our ways are right." They were at quite the impasse. She wasn't willing to back down from her beliefs which were heretical to most Nytheri. House Blaeric was all about upholding the systems of oppression that kept the Bound at the lowest rung of society. This marriage simply wouldn't work with how opposite they were. "Perhaps we could try to understand each other a bit more." "I'm not going to come around to the traditional Great House way of that's what you mean." She gave him a withering stare. She wasn't going to change her views that easily. He shook his head. "I know you won't. House Vaelor has always made its views about other Great Houses known. I know I won't sway you to how I view things in that way. But perhaps you could come to some meetings about the Emberfangs with me…" He sighed. "…and I could potentially meet some of these other Void Worshiper factions with you. " Edelgard blinked at the proposal. She knew what it meant for a House as traditional as Blaeric was to suggest something like this. She wasn't sure if his fathers had approved of this proposal or if he was going rogue. "Well, the Veilbound Order wouldn't let House Blaeric simply waltz into its main settlement due to them protecting so many dissidents... If anything, I would suggest you forgeactualrelationships with some Boundbeforejumping into Void Worshipers." She wasn't sure if she could trust him to not try to destroy the Veil bound Order or other sects yet. The trust the Order and other sects gave House Vaelor was forged through generations but would take only one person to destroy. And she wouldn't be that person. Eventually, Hubert came over and shooed the kids away. "Forgive my tardiness, Lady Edelgard. I wasn't told of this gathering until I was eating. Have you already spoken to Lord Blaeric? I was even more tardy because I had meals prepared for us." He bowed and held out a picnic basket. "Oh Hubert… Thank you. Yes, I've spoken to Lord Blaeric. I wouldn't have had anything to eat until tomorrow if you hadn't brought something. I was hurried out of the house unfortunately." He could sometimes be overbearing, but his thoughtfulness did often save her from herself. She hadn't even had time to think about food once she'd been told about the convergence. "I figured that was the case unfortunately. Are you hungry now? I brought plenty of snacks." “I wouldn't mind a snack actually." She settled on a nearby rock, glad to be off her feet. Hubert dug around in the basket, producing a slab of fudge and a brownie, much to her delight. She tried to not indulge in sweets too often,but he had clearly planned on her being at least annoyed. Which...she was. He had stopped by a bakery on his way out of Flor Wynne which she could appreciate. "I also got some bread if you would be so delighted." He pulled a container out of the basket which did. indeed, delight her. It was a warming container; that meant the bread retained its warmth and freshness. She put the sweets to the side and slathered several pieces of bread with butter. Once she finished with the sweets. she was sated. All there was to do now was await nightfall so the convergence could begin.