章 95: Aquila
5th Moon, 259AC
Aquila Haerax is the heir to the throne of Naath, from a very young age she was taught the magnitude of responsibility on her shoulders and she always took it very seriously. From an early age she followed her parents to all Parliament meetings like a shadow, listening and learning.
She has read countless books on subjects as varied as literature to herbology, and most fascinating of all, she remembers everything she read word for word. Her brothers have joked on more than one occasion that she is a library with legs.
Despite already being considered the perfect heiress, skilled in politics and war, she never rests. She always tries harder and harder, because she knows how fragile their kingdom is.
Naath is an island that once enjoyed great wealth but is currently struggling to survive. Located in the easternmost corner of the Summer Islands, near the infamous Basilisk Islands, its situation is precarious. It is too far from the other islands of the archipelago to be able to ask for help when pirates and slavers attack them in search of more slaves. And those monsters take full advantage of that, every year the island is the victim of a large number of assaults.
The number decreased considerably when her parents took control over the island and created a permanent army to defend it. Currently few assaults are successful, and that number decreases every year. The Naathi army is constantly improving in skill and ingenuity, maintaining watchtowers all over the island and barracks in strategic locations as well as in every village.
But just when the Naathi started to do more than just surviving, they were starting to thrive (They even began to trade with the rest of the world for the first time in centuries!) Just then the attacks increased in number, considerably so.
And not just in quantity, Aquila could see something that others couldn't, not even her parents.
The attacks have a pattern, a pattern incredibly difficult to identify but to Aquila's mind it was crystal clear.
Someone is behind these attacks, and that someone is strategically testing Naath's defenses. Gathering information about their numbers, how fast their forces can deploy, the skill of their soldiers, the weapons they use...
The heiress realized what was happening long before anyone else: Someone wants to conquer Naath.
Giving that information to her parents is essential but alas Aquila is a perfectionist to the extreme. Claiming something without concrete proof is not her style, in fact it's something she won't do no matter what.
To gather this evidence, she created a group of elite soldiers to capture the attackers, not just anyone, whom Aquila identified as pawns of the leader of the operation. That plan has gone exceptionally well, in just a few months she obtained vital information, including the identity of the pirate leader.
Lo Xian also known as the Old Mother, a pirate queen of the Basilisk Islands. Xian is originally from Great Moraq, a warrior who betrayed her master and fled with a ship full of stolen goods. That was 30 years ago, since then she became the leader of the largest pirate gang in the Known World.
What puzzles Aquila the most is the why.
Xian never showed interest in Naath, the island doesn't have the resources or wealth that she desires so much, so why is she suddenly interested in conquering the island?
And it seems that she will not have the opportunity to find that answer. Her parents have a mission for her.
"Have you understood, daughter?" Daena looked at her with narrowed eyes, her father, leaning against the wall, looked at her solemnly.
"I hate doing this, sending you away... But alas, we have no other option." Sirius smiled bitterly.
"I understand." Aquila responds curtly, in her mind several scenarios played at the same time.
`What do I do? Telling them about my investigation without having all the facts... Just thinking about doing that makes me feel like thousands of ants are crawling under my skin` She makes a face and visibly shudders. `But not saying anything would put Naath in danger.`
The internal struggle intensifies and soon her parents notice that something is wrong.
"Kiddo, is something wrong?" Sirius walks over to her, his face clouded with concern. "Is it the mission? Is it too much? Are you nervous, scared? Stressed out? Is it too much pressure? What am I saying! I know it's too much pressure! You're only fifteen- what were we thinking?"
"Sirius, shut up." Daena glares at him and places a hand on her daughter's shoulder.
Aquila jumps back as if she's been burned, goes into a defensive position and looks at them like a cornered animal. Her pupils begin to narrow like a reptile's, and if one were to look at her skin under a microscope you would see patterns of scales form.
"It's just us, sweetling. It's just us." Daena softens her voice and raises her hands.
"It's papa and mama, Aki." Sirius follows Daena's lead.
Aquila takes a step back and takes a deep breath.
"Just like that, breathe in, breathe out. We'll do it together." Daena exaggerates the breathing exercises, and within minutes Aquila calms down.
Her pupil returns to its usual state.
"What's bothering you, sweetling? You know you can tell us anything."
Her mother's words are touching and her smile encouraging, Aquila wants to tell them about her investigation but just the thought of it- She shudders as she feels the sensation of ants running under her skin intensify.
"You don't have to tell us anything, but if you have such an extreme reaction it must be something very important." Sirius walks over to the desk and picks up a sheet of parchment. "It's something you want to tell us but feel like you can't communicate in words. So you don't need to talk, just write whatever you want to tell us and we'll read it once you've left the island."
Aquila's eyes light up.
"I have several reports ready with all the information I acquired thus far." She mutters.
Sirius and Daena exchange a look, it seems that this is more serious than they expected.
"I'm going to prepare everything, I'll leave tomorrow." Aquila leaves the room running.
Sirius watches the door close with a frown.
"Writing down your worries was a great idea, dear." Daena congratulates him.
The king shakes his head and looks at his wife.
"It wasn't my idea, it's just something Andy came up with."
"Your cousin Andromeda?" The queen looks at him curiously.
"My younger brother Regulus had the same quirks as Aquila, whenever something occurred to him he couldn't put it into words until he was 100% sure and had proof of it. It used to drive me crazy to tell you the truth, it was frustrating and very irritating. I must admit I was quite the bastard as a child, arrogant, pretentious and impulsive." Sirius grimaces. "Regulus was the complete opposite: soft, gentle and very quiet, like a little scary kitten he always kept to himself and barely said a word or two. In order to have a conversation with Regulus one needed a patience that only Andy seemed to have. She was the only one in the family that Regulus got along with." Sirius laughs bitterly and walks to the window.
"That made me dislike Andromeda and be a complete brat with her, it was very childish. My brother liked Andromeda more than me, and Andromeda liked Regulus more than me. A childish and stupid thing, as I said before I was a brat. A brat used to being the center of attention, the golden child of House Black, the heir. Smart, charismatic, magically powerful and talented, everyone in the family saw me as the future of our House. Everyone pampered me, everyone except Andromeda.
Of course that changed once I realized how dark my family was and decided that wasn't the kind of person I wanted to be. From golden child to black sheep. On the outside I smiled, laughed and jested, but on the inside it hurt me to see how my relatives who always treated me so well seemed to despise me. At the same time Regulus became the new Golden Child, and that made me hate him.
A part of me felt that he had stolen something from me, so every time we interacted I was an arse. A royal bloody arse, at Hogwarts Regulus tried to get close to me several times but I always ignored him or treated him badly. He was a Slytherin, a snake and I was a lion." The king grimaces with disgust and anger, clenches his fist and punches the wall next to the window. His knuckles begin to bleed, he looks at the scratches and ignores the pain.
"I didn't even know about Regulus' death until after I escaped from Azkaban. My little brother died two fucking years before I was imprisoned! Two fucking years!" Sirius yells and hits the wall again. "And I didn't find out. He was dying somewhere and I- What was I doing? Drinking beer with my buddies? Fucking some woman?" Sirius lets out a dark laugh, full of bitterness and self-hatred.
Daena wants to hug him and tell him it's not his fault but she knows right now her husband needs her to do nothing, just listen. Listen as he vents and gets all those pent up feelings off his chest. Once all those feelings are out, she would hug him and let him cry on her shoulder-she will hold him while he can't hold himself. That is what they promised each other all those years ago.
"It wasn't until two years after I left Azkaban that I thought of him. Do you know when that was? When I offered my godson his room, until then I barely thought of him. But that year, after Harry went to Hogwarts, I found myself going into that room, looking around. I remembered that Regulus had a secret drawer on the floor. I knew about that drawer because I once caught him hiding his diary in there. Diary that I later stole and destroyed. I lifted the rug and used a spell to reveal it. I opened the drawer. I expected to find a lot of things, evidence of him being a Death Eater, or something equally dark. What I found were journals, photos and some sentimental objects. There were photos of Regulus and Andromeda, the gifts she had given him. There were even some photos of Tonks and Ed. And to my disbelief there were also photos of me, of us. Even that Gryffindor scarf I gave him for his 11th birthday was there, I never saw him with it so I thought he threw it in the trash or burned it. In fact, I expected him to, that is why I gave it to him, to taunt him."
Sirius leans back against the wall and slides to the floor.
"It was then that Regulus became another of my regrets. All those opportunities to mend our relationship, opportunities that I rejected, all the times that I was a bastard towards him, they all flashed in front of my eyes. Instead of accepting the truth, I told myself that Regulus was no better than Bellatrix, that he deserved what he got. I was in denial for a few weeks but finally got up enough courage to read those journeys, in them was the truth about my brother. That time, reading those notebooks, it's the first time I truly understood my little brother.
I read about his fears and doubts, his hopes and motivations. Regulus was not a bad person, he was someone who had been preyed on by a group of sharks since he was a child. A pressure so powerful that it crushed him, he was drowning and he had no one to help him. Andromeda had already been disowned, and I was another nail in his coffin. But despite everything Regulus was not completely lost, he questioned Voldemort and our family. After reading those books I was confused and lost, so I went to see the only person who knew the real Regulus: Andromeda.
At first when I mentioned Regulus she was cold towards me. Nothing unexpected, Andy and I fixed our relationship years ago but Regulus was a taboo subject. I was still stubbornly determined that he was just like Bella, and she continued to have faith in him. In the end, she was right, as always." He huffed. "But when I showed her the notebooks, she softened and told me the truth about how my brother died. He died trying to kill Voldemort, he died a hero and no one ever knew. It was like being hit in the balls by a bludger. We talked a lot, she told me so many stories about my little brother..."
Sirius stood still and didn't say anything else, tears falling from his eyes. Daena hugged him tight, rubbing his back and stroking his hair.
They stayed there for hours.
"Every time I see Aquila I see Regulus's shadow, they are so alike..."
"That's why you were always so protective of her, so adamant in your theory about that god." Daena sighs.
"It's not a theory! Her magical power is immense! And that phenomenon when she was born-" Sirius starts to defend his ideas with passion and firmness.
Daena hides a smile as her husband begins to give her a lecture that she has already heard a thousand times. The depressing air fades and the two continue their conversation.
***
Aquila was packing when Regulus entered her room.
"Are you packing? Do you have another mission? Where to?" The prince took a shirt and folded it before putting it on the chest.
Aquila looked at her brother, then at her shirt, frowned and took it out of the chest. She refolded it and placed it in another corner of the chest.
Regulus looked at her with a raised eyebrow, another item of clothing in his hand half folded, Aquila glared at the clothing and the prince slowly laid it down on the bed. He raised both hands in surrender and stepped away from the pile of clothes. He walked over to a rocking chair near the window and sat down.
"Those clothes are too formal for a military mission."
"This is not a Department of Defense mission." Aquila doesn't look up as she continues to pack.
"Huh?"
"Mother and father told me to go to Jhala-"
"Jhala?!" Regulus jumps out of the rocking chair.
"-to create an alliance." Aquila continues, not being bothered by the interruption.
***
NOTE: Jhala is one of the biggest islands in the Summer Islands.
Aquila has obsessive compulsive disorder (In my story Regulus Black had it too, he was also an introvert). I know people who have it and I know it has different levels, you could know a person for years and not even realize they have it.
And the award for longest monologue goes to...
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