Cloths of Heaven
(i)
Ran watched Inabayama creep away from him from the stern of the boat. The capital of the kingdom was a pincushion of towers, they called them the endless towers, built to honour the goddess who had loved Inabayama as her home. Ran loved them too. He was leaving everything behind.
The previous week had been a terrifying rush of servants and noise, between the chiurgeons tending on his sister as she slipped slowly away from him, to those packing his meagre belongings for the journey to Eressea.
Only the previous night had he met his champion, where he was to have been his sister's. The man was tall and golden, with a wicked grin and a smile that encompassed everyone he met. He stood beside Ran, head and shoulders taller than him, with a belt full of weapons. His partner was at the other end of the boat, making friends with the captain. He, too, was tall and thin with a shock of ginger hair and wry green eyes. Unlike his champion, Yohji Kudoh, the man had travelled from Inabayama with some secret past and would only give his name as Schuldig. He ruffled Ran's red hair and called him “Kirsche” which he said wasn't an insult.
Despite himself, because the two men were completely unlike anyone he had ever known before, Ran liked the two of them. Yohji had an easy charm and seemed to make everyone fall under his spell, he had flirted with both of Ran's parents with the same wicked smile as Schuldig rolled his eyes, where he obviously expected it. Yohji never seemed to carry through with his flirts though.
When asked Schuldig said that he had known Crawford before. But that was all that he would say.
Inabayama was slowly creeping away from him. Ran was leaving everything he knew behind, his parents, his home, his sister. He was taking her husband, her duty, her life. Omi had come with them as a court representative with Manx, his guardian, but he was still very young and Manx had put him to bed, Yohji had spent the best part of the journey flirting with her. It just seemed to vex her. She didn't react though other than gritting her teeth a little tighter. He wasn't even sure that Yohji noticed.
“Cheer up, kiddo.” Yohji said, “it's a brave new world out there and it's not so bad to leave home.”
“Hn,” Ran told him, wanting to acknowledge him but not sure what to say. He had the impression if he did speak he'd burst out crying. He didn't want to leave Inabayama, he didn't want to leave the towers or the beach or his home. He didn't want to leave his parents to marry a man he knew nothing about. He didn't want to live his sister's life for her. He wanted her to live her own life and to live in her shadow. Aya was the brave one, Aya was first born, she was the first one to speak, she was the heir, not him.
But Aya was sick, possibly dying and there was nothing that Ran could do.
“Eressea is a happening island, they have festivals and parties and there's lots of mischief a lad can get himself into.”
“Hn,” Ran answered, he didn't know what else to say.
“Lord Crawford's not that much of a stick in the mud, you know.” Yohji told him, Ran turned to look at him, it was the first time anyone had told him about his future husband.
“You know him?” He asked.
“Not to talk to, but by reputation, yeah, he's a good man, a bit stern, lost his first wife in childbirth years ago, has a son, much younger than you, mind, little more than a baby, younger than the prince at any rate. He seems like he has a stick up his ass but he cares about his people.” Ran frowned. “He is a good man, underneath it all, he just seems cold.”
“Are you saying these things to make it easier for me?” Ran asked, “Because regardless, I will do my duty by Inabayama.”
That caused Yohji to frown, “there's a difference, kid, between doing your duty because you have to and making yourself suffer for it. Crawford's not that bad, there are much worse that the king could have done for you.”
“I know.” Ran said lowering his eyes to stare at the water churned up by the boat's wake. “I,” he stopped.
“In your place,” Yohji confided, “I'd be shitting myself, taken away from everything and everyone I know, sent to an island I've never been to with no idea if I'll ever come back and married to a man I've never met who has every right to abuse me any way he likes.”
Ran was silent for a few moments. “I will do my duty as Fujimiya, I will do my duty by Inabayama.” He wanted to cry out, to do something to resist this destiny but he couldn't think of anything. If he dived into the sea then Yohji would dive in afterwards.
“Just remember, kiddo,” Yohji said softly, “duty can't keep you warm at night the way a kind lover can.” He touched Ran's cheek. “Crawford's a good man, underneath all the bluster and pride, and he'll make a home for you in Eressea, if you'll let him. It takes two people to make a marriage work, even one for duty.” Then his grin became wolfish, “and there's a lot of fun to be had, even if it is for duty.”
Ran blushed before he turned his attention back to the choppy waters and the slowly disappearing towers of Inabayama.
(ii)
Crawford looked at himself in the mirror again, then brushed his hair another way. It was not like him to be so nervous, but it was not everyday one met his new spouse. He had been surprised when the letter came by pigeon telling him of Aya Fujimiya's terrible illness and the breach of the marriage contract that Inabayama could not avoid. Then less than half a day later the king of Inabayama offered Aya's brother, Ran, in her place.
Crawford wasn't sure if he should be flattered by the offer, or offended. But the letter told him that the boy would be on his way long before a response made it's way to the king. Inabayama was honouring the marriage contract; and so would he.
Hopefully the boy would not be some spoiled effete creature with little to no wit. His last wife had been an idiot, but she had borne him a son, a boy with his mother's bright blue eyes but his father's unmistakeable scowl. Crawford had done his duty once by Eressea, he hoped this time there might be some pleasure in it. If not the boy, and according to his sources he was only a child, two years away from being able to legally marry, would find Eressea a cold and lonely place indeed.
Still he was nervous. He wanted to convey a good impression on the boy. Rumour had him as a cold and calculating general, one who had abandoned his beautiful wife in favour of prolonged sieges. HE wondered if he would do this to the boy, whether, all things considered, the battlefield would be more of a home to him than the place where his husband, he wondered for a moment if that was the right word, lived.
“Papa,” Naoe said from the door. The boy was growing up tall and slender, though his face was still round with puppy fat and his eyes were large and very, very blue. “You look very handsome.” The boy was quiet, with awkward displays of real affection but he was sparing with his words. He spent a lot of time thinking and took real joy in books. Something his father had done at his age. “Is it for him?” he managed to say him with real venom.
“A little.” Crawford conceded, looking at his son, “a little for me, a little so that you'll be proud of your Papa, and a lot for the court.” Naoe was still in his sleeping pants and a long white smock, “shouldn't you get dressed to meet him too?”
“I don't want to.” The boy snapped, “he's not my papa and I don't want him to take you away.”
“He can't do that, Naoe.” Crawford said squatting down for his son to embrace him. “I'd never let anyone come between us, you know that. You are my world, not him, but you never know, you might be friends, if you try.” He hugged the boy tight, feeling how small his son felt in his arms as the boy clung to him.
“Don't wanna.” Naoe protested. “I'll go get dressed now, papa.” He said reaching up and giving Crawford a quick kiss on his cheek, “love you.”
“And I love you too, more and more each day.”
The boy looked back at him from the door, and his look was nervous. “Don't let him take you away from me, Papa.” He said, “you're my papa, not his.”
Crawford smiled at the boy's jealousy. “Nothing will ever come between us, Naoe, I promise you that, not even this boy, but perhaps, we might all be able to live together.” Naoe frowned before he left, his nurse stood in the doorway with an apologetic shrug of the shoulders, Naoe was jealous and there was little anyone other than Ran could do about it.
(iii)
Ran adjusted his jacket for the hundredth time and brushed his hair away from his eyes. Yohji smiled at him indulgently, “it's normal to be nervous, you know.” He said. “But you look great.”
Ran let out a sigh and made sure his hair was sat nicely. He wanted to make a good impression, after all he was going to marry the man, and he didn't want to offend him. He was wearing the clothes his mother had specifically packed for this occasion, with the house colours on his jacket and soft black suede boots and trousers.
He felt very young and very nervous. Yohji's easy camaraderie was not making it any easier on him.
“It'll be alright,” Yohji assured him.
“So true, Kirsche,” Schuldig said softly, “Crawford is a good man, he won't do anything to make you uncomfortable.” The yet was silent but hung heavy in the air. In the week long journey the two of them had been almost suspiciously vague about Ran's future husband, but Ran had gathered, more from what they didn't say than what they did, that Crawford was older than him by at least ten years, which to a boy of thirteen was impossibly old, and that he had been a soldier. Both Schuldig and Yohji had done their very utmost to make Ran comfortable with the wedding, and in turn made him feel very adult. They had even included him on some risqué jokes that in truth he hadn't got. In their company Ran felt like a man for the first time in his life. Although he was painfully shy, Aya had always been the brave one between them, Ran had been more than content to dwell in her shadow, but she wasn't there for him to hide behind any more.
Crawford was said to be a strong man, stern but kind in his way, perhaps, Ran thought, I can hide in his shadow.
(iv)
Ran was three steps behind Yohji, he was careful of the distance between them, he decided if he got any closer then he would be seen to be clinging and if he got any further away he might give in to the urge to bolt.
There was a small and intimate supper laid out for the five of them, Manx sat alone carefully watching the room for sign of attack against the young prince, although Omi was so far down the line of succession no one ever tried. Yohji and Schuldig were careful to sit either side of their young charge, although Ran suspected it was more to keep him in place than to protect him, and as he sat down, Ran, for the first time, saw the man his king wanted him to marry.
He was much taller than Ran, maybe the same height as Yohji, but definitely taller than Schuldig and Manx, and his hair was black but worn short, Ran's own had been cut before they left Inabayama and only had lengths in two tails on either side of his face. He was handsome; Ran admitted to himself, if one liked that sort of thing. He was older than Ran, but not as old as Ran had imagined him - a vision of a hunched back old man with little to no grey hair or teeth vanished to be replaced by strong crisp lines of forehead and jaw, and a pair of inquisitive amber eyes. “You must be Ran,” he said and his voice was strong and capable. Ran didn't know what to say to that but he did raise his eyes to meet the almost predatory gaze of the man who would be his husband, “I must say that you are not quite what I expected.”
Ran didn't know how to react so his pride reacted for him, he was a Fujimiya, he was descended from gods, he wouldn't cower like a child in front of this man, even if he had no idea what Crawford was capable of, and his mind was suggesting all sorts of things he might be capable of. “I am what I am,” Ran said softly, his voice wavering between a deep rich baritone and a boyish soprano, “I cannot be other than that.”
Crawford smiled at that. “I will not have much time to spend with you for the next few weeks.” He said firmly, “my business at court will keep me occupied, nevertheless I will do my best to see you, if only for a few minutes, each day, and assure you that you have full run of my manor. There is a large library that you may find interesting and stables. Everything I have is yours.” He lowered his head.”
“Your lordship is too kind.” Ran said but didn't lower his eyes.
“Call me Crawford,” he said, “I hope that we can get along, Ran, and not just for the sake of our countries.”
“I would be honoured, your,” he stopped himself, “Crawford.”
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