Tales of Alavern 04 (Non-Canon)

"I did not merely give you my trust, Cyrus. You earned it from me with your actions and your unexpected humility." Brianna responded, sounding a bit calmer now. "And you continue to earn it every day. You've had the crown for nearly a month now, and yet there is no ego about you. You seek assistance and wisdom frequently, and make no decisions without thoroughly considering what the consequences might be. Though you are inexperienced, and I know you will disagree with me, you are a good fit for that crown."

"You must be joking!" Jura interjected, her shock now replaced by anger. "We have dreaded the rise of a king on Alavern for as long as we have been free and you say he is a good... FIT... for the crown?!" Jura thrust her finger in Cyrus' direction, glaring him down even as they all continued to walk the halls together. "I have been informed of what has transpired, Captain! On his first day here, he seized the crown and defiled my daughter! Now I have learned that he has tainted the pool to create his bastard spawn...!"

"Enough."Cyrus commanded darkly, appearing instantly front of Jura with a look of cold fury etched on his features. Everybody stopped suddenly at the sudden rise in tension as the current king stared down the queen before last. Naomi and Brianna prepared to rush between the two if things continued to escalate but for now, Cyrus merely continued speaking. "You don't like me? Fine, I get it. You and the Verni have been socially programmed for centuries to show fear and hatred for men. Going against something like that isn't easy..."

He took a step forward, drawing close enough to Jura's face that their foreheads were nearly touching. Naomi expected her warrior mother to lash out, to attack and repel the one intruding on her space but she never expected what she actually beheld in that moment...her mother backing away. In all the time she had seen her mother, she had never backed away from someone. No matter the circumstance, yet now...

"However my son is innocent. He was born here, just like your daughter and so many others before and alongside her. He has done nothing wrong. You will not treat his existence as a crime. Am...I...understood?" he asked Jura, his voice bordering on a fierce growl that Naomi had not heard since that first night when his patience had finally snapped and he had quickly taken down several of the Verni's best warriors with his bare hands while handcuffed.

"I..." Jura started, shaken by the complete turnaround of his personality. She stared back into his eyes for a moment before she managed to master her fear, standing back up straight and glaring right back. "So this is the warrior who managed to win the crown by rite of combat. I am glad to see my daughter was not beaten by a fool after all."

The two royals continued to stare one another down, neither saying anything more at that point but slowly the tension that had built begun to melt away. Naomi and Brianna looked at one another, simultaneously letting out a breath that neither had realized they had been holding the entire time. Nobody was able to relax anymore, but at least a fight was no longer sure to break out. They would have to settle for that, for the time being.

"Oh, he is certainly a fool." Brianna said light-heartedly, hoping to put everyone at ease, "But he is a brave fool and a strong fool and at least smart enough to know when he is stupid." The remaining tension settled back around them with her words, and for a moment Brianna feared she may have pressed the wrong way or at least too soon. Thankfully, the tension shattered instantly when Cyrus started snickering at her words. Naomi quickly followed suit and soon snickering had grown to full-blown laughter.

"You are an odd creature, Cyrus of Las Vegas." Jura said, stepping away from him and getting their party moving back towards the royal chamber.

"Yeah, that's fair." Cyrus replied, getting into step next to Brianna. "But if it makes you feel better, I'm not going to be king for much longer. I'm returning the crown to Naomi after the next month has passed. I never actually wanted it anyway, and frankly I'm not exactly... comfortable wielding political power."

"What do you mean, you never wanted the crown?" Jura asked, looking between Cyrus and Naomi with confusion on her face. "How could you end up with a crown if you didn't want it?"

"That," Naomi started, a blush forming on her face, "would be my doing, mother."

"What?!" Jura shouted, looking incredulously at her daughter.

"The story you have been told by the guards that you asked is...incomplete." Naomi tried to explain, cut off when Brianna snorted in contempt.

"The story is false, with only bits of fact sprinkled in. They witnessed only bits and pieces, never the entire tale. In their ignorance, they have used what few things they know to spread a false narrative that subtly shares an inaccurate image of Cyrus as a mask of kindness waiting for the opportunity to drop and reveal a terrible monster." Brianna said, clearly none too happy with how her soldiers have been portraying their king.

"You call your own troops liars, Captain?" Jura asked sternly, cocking an eyebrow.

"I call my troops fools, who I will need to give a stern lecture once my very un-relaxing day off is finished."

"Perhaps then, my love, it would be best if my mother were to hear the tale from us." Naomi suggested softly, gently rubbing Brianna's back to soothe her. "Cyrus, why don't you begin with when you woke up on the beach? Brianna and I will interject as needed. If the truth is to be known, we will all have to work at spreading it. Now seems as good a time as any to begin."

"If you think it's a good idea..." Cyrus stated, taking a deep breath as he thought about how to word everything. "Well, like Naomi said I woke up on the beach northwest of the palace with a bit of sand in my mouth..."

Chapter 5

Megara sat in a chair next to Brian's crib, watching the baby boy sleep and taking notes on his sleeping behaviors in her continuing study of the different sleeping habits of men and women. She kept having to remind herself to stop getting lost in staring at him and actually take down notes, but she'd managed to get into a good working rhythm despite Brian's continued unintentional efforts to distract her with how cute he is. She watched him kick slightly in his sleep and was about to take a note on it when the door to the room suddenly opened behind her.

"Welcome back, Cy..." Megara stopped short, surprised as she watched four people enter the royal chambers together. Naomi, of course, was a familiar sight. Brianna, less so but far from unusual considering how she would often beat Cyrus to waking up and come to report patrol routes to him in the morning. Their fourth guest, however, took her completely by surprise. "Jura?! Is that you?"

"Hello, Megara." Jura greeted her warmly, walking through the others with all the grace one would expect of a former queen. "It has been some time, hasn't it? How are your studies coming along?"

Megara watched as the former queen's eyes travelled from her right after asking her question and rested on Brian as he lay asleep in the crib. A foreboding chill ran up her spine as she witnessed Jura's eyes grow cold as she watched the sleeping babe. Almost without thought, Megara stood up and put herself in the line of sight so that Brian was no longer visible to her.

"My studies are never-ending, as always. Especially given the new subjects that have been discovered and the experiments that will need to be run to prove or disprove them." Megara answered, working to keep her nerves out of her voice. "Things are promising though, and we may finally be able to solve the issue of our lack of children if all goes well."

"That is good news Megara, though Cyrus has already informed me of what you've been up to with him." Jura said, gently pushing Megara out of the way so she could clearly see Brian. Worried, Megara turned to Cyrus in hopes that he would pull Jura away from Brian but he just gave her a smile she knew was meant to reassure her. "Naomi, isn't this your old crib?"

"It is." Naomi replied succinctly, "It was the only crib in the entire palace, so I thought it appropriate to allow Cyrus to use it. It just seemed right."

"I see." Jura said, leaning closer to Brian in his crib. "Tell me, do you consider this child yours as well Naomi?"

"N-no, Mother." Naomi replied, clearly embarrassed. "Why would you think that?"

"The king said that you were flirting with him. I know you, daughter. You do not flirt with people for sport, which means that somehow you find him attractive. Considering I know for a fact that Brianna has shared your bed, her jealousy combined with your flirting leads to only one possible conclusion. You have already shared your bed with him." Jura stated, looking away from Brian and regarding her daughter coldly. Naomi froze up under her mother's gaze, the fear in her eyes betraying her otherwise neutral face. Brianna squeezed her shoulder, trying to reassure her love as her mother walked away from Brian and back towards her.

"How could you?" Jura berated, "All of the horror our foremothers endured to make sure that no woman would be made to lay with a man again and you just...threw it all away. Why? Why dishonor our people so? What possible reason could you have had?"

"I..." Naomi said, starting to shake under the unyielding harsh gaze of her mother. She tried to make the words come out of her throat, to summon up the courage she had wielded for so many years but nothing came past her lips. Jura inched closer, bearing down on her very soul with that reproachful gaze.

"She wanted to. Isn't that reason enough?" Cyrus suddenly spoke up, his tone calm but his face showing how upset he was. "Your foremothers fought against monsters so that they could be free. Free to laugh, free to love and free to, well...be. They fought because they hadn't been given a choice. Yet now, according to you, they only fought so that their descendants couldn't choose something that didn't fall in line with their own opinions. Am I understanding your opinion correctly?"

Jura whipped her head around, fury boiling in her gaze. Cyrus' own cold fury matched as the two began staring one another down. Everybody watched as the tension in the room quickly built towards a breaking point. Brianna shifted her stance, ready to get between the former queen and the current king should it come to a battle. Naomi looked between the two of them, feeling her confidence return without her mother's disapproval bearing down upon her. Megara simply sighed, reaching back towards the bag she had brought in with her this morning. Everybody waited for the entire situation to snap, when the sudden cry of a baby shattered everything.

"Aw, did we wake you up buddy?" Cyrus said, seeming to forget all about Jura as he quickly walked over towards the crib and took his son into his arms. "Sorry about that. Your auntie Naomi's mommy came over. She thinks you're evil because you have a penis and not because you like to keep daddy up all night. Don't you, Grauntie Jura?"

Naomi, Brianna and Megara couldn't help bursting into a round of laughter, causing Jura's face to heat up and flush as Cyrus gently bounced his son in his arms. Jura watched with fascination as Cyrus's expression melted with his son in his arms, growing warm and tender just as she and her wife had done so long ago when Naomi was still in diapers. The sudden flash of memory caused her breath to catch in her chest and suddenly she had to fight back tears born of warm nostalgia.

"What...what is grauntie?" Jura asked slowly.

"It's a portmanteau of the words great and auntie. Put them together and boom, grauntie." Cyrus explained cheerfully.

"But why call me that?" she insisted, trying to summon up the will to regard him coldly again but being unable to as young Brian started giggling in his father's arms.

"Well, Naomi is already Brian's aunt. Since you're Naomi's mother, that would make you his great aunt. Just like my mom would be his grand mother." Cyrus said to her, his face growing sad for a moment as he mentioned his mother before he found strength to continue. "I don't think I'll ever get to go home. Brian will never get to meet my parents, or my younger sister. The only family he's ever going to have are me and the friends I've made among the Verni. I just want him to have as many loved ones as I can give him."

Jura took in his words as she watched him, choosing not to respond as she attempted to summon the will to hate the man before her. To follow the teachings of her foremothers as faithfully as she could, but every time she would even begin to walk down that path she would simply see the smiling face of the baby and her thoughts would turn immediately back to her own experiences of parenthood. How she and her wife, Artemia would fawn over Naomi and how each day getting to watch her grow seemed a treasure when so many others had been denied the chance at their own children. As much as she wanted to, right now it was impossible to hate the man before her.

"Many Verni felt as you do now when they first caught sight of Brian." Megara spoke up quietly, placing her hand upon Jura's shoulder. "All children are treasures on Alavern, without exception. Brian has already proven that. It is why Alavern has found itself at peace again, even with men on the isles."

"I see..." Jura replied just as quietly, finally taking her eyes away from the king and his son. "Megara, can you give me your word that he can be trusted? That he is as good and kind as he has presented himself to be?"

"Easily." Megara told her with a smile. "Though I did not trust him at first either, both of those men there have found a place close to my heart. I am closer to them than I have been to anyone since you sat upon the throne."

"...Very well then." Jura said after a moment of silence. "Though I was worried he had simply tricked everyone, I can feel at ease if you are vouching for him. Please, excuse me."

"Of course." Megara said, turning her attention away from the former queen. Jura glanced back only once at Cyrus and Brian, who was currently being laid back in his crib after the excitement of so many people had worn him back out, before she stepped over to her daughter. She gripped Naomi's shoulder firmly, motioning silently for her daughter to follow her out of the room. Naomi complied, shutting the door gently behind them.

"Some advice for you," Jura started, silencing her daughter with but a look when she tried to speak up, "As your mother, not as former queen. Brianna is precious to you, as you are to her, but your relationship is still new from what I have overheard. She is scared because she sees your eye wander. She worries you will leave her for someone else, just as I once caused my own love to feel."

"She has no reason to be. I would never leave her." Naomi said, stopped again from speaking further when her mother gently put a finger to her lips.

"I know that and you know that, but she doesn't know that. She is not confident in love. It is not something she has experience with like she does with combat. She needs reassurance. Then you can decide whether or not you wish to try and have another lover share your bed." Jura told her daughter softly, removing her finger from her daughter's lips and gently cupping her cheek. "Marry her. Make Brianna your wife, instead of merely your lover. That will prove to her that you intend to keep her by your side for the rest of your life."

"Marry...Brianna?" Naomi replied, flushing lightly at the thought. "Do you really think that would assure her?"

"It worked for Artemia and I." Jura told her with a smile, kissing her daughter's forehead. "Just consider that some motherly advice. Obviously it is your life to live, but some advice couldn't hurt."

"Alright," Naomi replied after a moment, "I'll consider what you've said." She smiled at her mother, then mother and daughter came together in a hug. "Will you be leaving now?"

"Yes. I miss my wife already, but I will tell her that you send your love."

"Of course I do." Naomi said, playfully pretending to be offended. "And please, don't wait so long to visit again. I've missed both of you, but even without the crown I have had little time to leave the palace."

"Then perhaps you need some help in managing your time better." Jura teased, laughing softly before breaking their hug. "I will see you again soon, and I will attempt to bring your other mother with me next time. Be well, my darling one."

"Until we meet again, mother." Naomi said, watching somewhat solemnly as her mother turned around and began her trek back home. Her advice rang in Naomi's ears, repeating themselves like a chiming bell. Naomi couldn't help but consider the wisdom in them, about how Brianna may simply lack the confidence that she would stick around. That she truly loved her as much as she said she did. If nothing else, bringing it up might elicit a very fun reaction from Brianna.

Yes, perhaps she would bring it up when next they were alone. Thinking about it now, she couldn't help but think that Brianna would look stunning wearing the traditional halo of flowers on her head as they declared their commitment to one another in front of Cyrus and anyone else who they invited to witness it. The mental image of Brianna as a blushing bride certainly put a smile on Naomi's face.

Chapter 6

Cyrus watched as Megara began to finish packing up her baby bag and notes, getting ready to leave as Brianna stared at the closed door where Naomi and her mother had walked out a moment before. Jura had seemed at least a little less tense when she left, so he was going to go ahead and consider that a good thing for the moment. She wasn't a priority to him at the moment anyway. Brian was thankfully quickly falling back asleep after all the earlier excitement of getting to meet a new person, but that didn't mean he wouldn't try to wake himself back up soon.

"Hey Brianna?" he asked softly, trying to make sure he doesn't wake his son back up. "Could I ask a small favor?"

"Let me guess, you'd like Naomi and I to keep an eye on Brian for a while." Brianna said, smirking at him.

"Mom was right. Parenthood does make you predictable." Cyrus replied, smiling at his friend. The both of them chuckled, trying hard not to laugh too loudly.

"It won't be all day, but I'm sure Naomi wouldn't mind watching him together for a little bit." she answered.

"Thanks Brianna." Cyrus said, following up by crushing her in a big hug that catches her completely off guard. She pats his back awkwardly before he finally lets her go and moves to catch up with Megara before she leaves the room. Megara has her hand on the door but seems hesitant to open, probably thinking that Naomi and her mother are right on the other side of the door. If they're arguing, then the sound could possibly wake Brian back up.

"Hey Meg, I think it's fine. With how Naomi tends to argue things, I think we'd hear them already if they were going at it. Door or no door." he says to her, eliciting a smile from his older friend.