Patrimony [Viverescribere & Nemopedia]

ARTIST TAG
HAAKON FREDERIC NISSEN
"Think," Haakon snapped when he got the boat a good distance away from the ship, the billowing flag now a mere dot in the horizon while Haakon continued to steer into the twilight, his jaw taut and his eyes squinted, "him returning in that condition means that the cause allowed him to."

Though that would all be in her advantage, Haakon realised, calming down as he thought how this clamouring fear and chaos was in no way a shared fear and chaos, but a strategy of the enemy, of which she was part. "Not that you'd care," came the accusatory words afterwards, even when Haakon knew full well that she had no way of setting any sort of counter plan into motion and that it wasn't fair to blame her for Artem's condition or the situation.

"Just get some rest," Haakon sighs in defeat, his feet kicking the bundle he had prepared with them, emergency rations and one blanket, "the night will be chilly," he promised.
 




Elswyth Mary D'Ambrisio


"I-I do not understand," she stammered, regardless of his sharp tone that warned her not to press, "Where... where did you send him? What cause? I noticed-- I noticed he was gone but how-- how is this my fault? How is any of this my fault?"

Her hands shot out to grip the edges of the small boat as he kicked the bundle towards her, sucking in a harsh breath as it rocked slightly as a result of his actions. Her stomach twisted nauseatingly but she didn't dare close her eyes. That would only make it worse. Although, Elswyth wasn't certain if she felt sick because of the boat or because of his words.

Not that you'd care.

Why would she not? While she detested the situation she was in, she wouldn't want anyone hurt. Seeing Artem's wounds... it scared her.

But she kept that to herself. Because why would Kun believe her when he clearly blamed her for the wounds. Which meant that... maybe... maybe he knew.

"This was not my fault. You are the one that sent him." The words escaped her before she could stop them and the young woman hastily averted her gaze. Elswyth gathered the bundle in her arms, untying it until she only held the blanket and left the rations to fall to the floor. After a moment, she reluctantly crawled her way over to him.

"Do not complain or fight. You said it would be cold. You need this blanket just as much as I." She mumbled as she squeezed into the limited space and threw the blanket over the both of them. Turning her back to him and laying on her side, Elswyth tucked an arm under her head. But could not shut her eyes, unable to rid herself of the memory of Artem's wound.
 
ARTIST TAG
HAAKON FREDERIC NISSEN
He didn't answer her questions, eyes set to the first evening star visible in the sky as he allowed the lingering heat of the day release its hold on him, the breeze doing the rest of the job cooling him. He had been unfair, but that still made his suspicions nonetheless that there was something afoot. The accusation returned stung, but none the more than his own thoughts as Haakon refused to say another word.

The cover of the rough blanket and the heat of a body shifting next to him did break Haakon's stubborn fixation on the north star, his jaws clenching as he wanted to protest, but his body so grateful for the cover and the warmth shared. Too grateful even, unable to shrug off the blanket in rebellion. Only his silence remained, the sound of the sea surrounding them the only company.

He wasn't sure when he had fallen asleep, but he startled all the same, rocking the boat as Haakon lunged, his breath ragged and heart racing as he tried to orientate himself, bleary eyes trying to make out in the darkness where he was before calming down and remembering what had happened the night before, for morning was coming with the ascending sun in the horizon.

Eyes resting on the stowaway Haakon exhaled, his eyes closing wearily as he pushes the blanket off him, suddenly feeling too hot and clammy for the rough comfort that he had shared last night.
 




Elswyth Mary D'Ambrisio


The sudden lunge forward by Kun as he woke caused Elswyth to shoot awake too. The violent movement sent the boat into a further dramatic sway which, as Elswyth woke, sent her into a brief panic. Her hand shot out to grip onto the edge of the boat, the other reached out to press against the side. With a soft hiss, as she realised her hip was sore from laying on her side for so long, the young woman twisted to look over her shoulder to where Kun was.

Exhaling heavily, mostly in the relief that nothing was wrong, Elswyth awkwardly shifted to lay on her back. She stared up at the lightening sky, forcing her mind to remain blank until it fought too much against her to remind her of what had happened the night before.

"Will you at least tell me where we are heading?" She finally spoke, not moving from her position despite the bunched up blanket at her side. She reached down to straighten it out, the material coarse against her skin. "Or just... something. Anything that will help me understand."
 
ARTIST TAG
HAAKON FREDERIC NISSEN
Within the package Haakon had taken with him. The food in there wouldn't last the two of them long, perhaps a few days at most where they would be forced to tether on the edge of barely surviving and hunger. A state that he knew would be harder on Elly, unused as she was to the harsh conditions on the sea.

"We are heading north," Haakon eventually answered, drawing out a compass from his pocket, adjusting the course of the boat the man never met her eyes, not wanting to see the hopelessness he knew so well. "It will take us a few days, so don't finish everything at once," he continued, taking a swig from the flask in the package before handing it to the lady.

"I can also drop you off at the nearest haven we pass, you will find your way home," the man offered, the burden of getting caught now lessened with him alone, and the ease of escaping increasing on his own.
 




Elswyth Mary D'Ambrisio


Taking the flask slowly, Elswyth studied the young man before her.

"Why?" She asked finally, still having not taken a sip. The need for answers was too pressing for her to ignore. "Why are we heading north? Why will you drop me anywhere? When you were so adamant before to not let me leave?"

There was a reason she didn't look away from him, besides wanting answers. Elswyth knew that if she looked out to the vast, stretching waters around them... her anxiety would worsen. It was different being in the wide seas when on a large ship. When in a small boat like they are now? With limited rations...?

Shaking such thoughts from her mind, the princess forced her attention back onto Kun. "Tell me. What did you send Artem away for?"
 
ARTIST TAG
HAAKON FREDERIC NISSEN

"Because you are a burden," Haakon answered simply, his eyes hardening as he met her gaze headon, "once you held worth, now you are worth nothing," he continued, though Haakon knew that it was a lie. She was still worth something, just not enough for Haakon to risk his crew. Not enough to compensate for the possible loss of Artem.
 



Elswyth Mary D'Ambrisio

"Enough." She breathed, holding his gaze despite the harshness that greeted her when it was first turned onto her. "Enough with your riddles and confusing words. Enough of you not giving me a straight answer."

Elswyth reached out to grab a nearby rope, the threat of doing some damage clear in her eyes. "What happened to Artem that suddenly made you decide I no longer held worth?"

Perhaps Artem hadn't found the truth. Otherwise surely such words would not have been spoken.

"You have been a moody brute this entire time and now it is us alone, I can challenge it. I am done with your behaviour. Tell me what is really going on. Now."
 
ARTIST TAG
HAAKON FREDERIC NISSEN

Whether the questions were genuine or not, none of it reached Haakon whose eyes glared and darkened, his pale features flushing as ire rose and a fire burned underneath his skin, making it hard to level his voice and force his tongue to move in the way it needed.

"You," the word spat out of him, trying so desperately to calm himself as he thought of Artem, the closest figure to a father he had since that unfortunate day, "are you dense or pretending to be?" he threw out, not caring what he really was saying, as long as it stuck and stung, like he felt at the moment. "Artem was wounded and whatever allowed him back, whatever your scheme was, was meant to track us," Haakon hissed, the roars of the boat long forgotten as he lunged forward to the lady causing the boat to rock dangerously.

Unable to admit what Artem meant to him, though Haakon had known it long since, the former prince took in a deep and shaking breathe, hands landing to the side of the boat before pulling back from Elly with another shattering sigh that forced him to count his breaths between each inhale.

"Whoever you are, you are not worth it," Haakon concluded as the wind picked up and cooled his skin, though whatever colour he had before had already pulled away, leaving him paler than ever at the thought of returning to a ship without Artem.
 



Elswyth Mary D'Ambrisio


"Perhaps I must be dense, because I know of no scheme that you claim I am apart of!" Elly hissed back, although her anger cooled slightly as he lunged forwards. She hardly noticed the sway of the boat as she fell backwards, wincing as pain shot up her tailbone as she hit the boat floor. Her legs laid over the seat she previously occupied in an undignified manner and she hurried to pull herself back up into her seat.

Her hands tightened into fists again as he continued his scathing review, fighting back the chill that came with the cooling wind.

"To be clear, I am not apart of any scheme, plan, idea or whatever other synonym you can conjure that you believe caused Artem to be as injured as he is. I came to the village to get a breath of fresh air-- no, to get away from all the frivolities because while my brother is about to have a stupendous party to celebrate his birth, I was informed that I was being sent away, married off like some prized mare when the title my little brother will one day inherit should be mine--"

Elswyth cut off from her infuriated rant, colour draining from her face as she realised her slip up.
 
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ARTIST TAG
HAAKON FREDERIC NISSEN

Mine. The blood rushed to his head, heartbeat drumming in his ears as he heard mine, a realisation landing that the title she spoke of was his from birth and that she was the daughter of the usurper.

The realisation of the bargaining chip he held in hands and the danger he had put his crew in and sent Artem into.

"Yours," he finally says incredulously, the anger growing and so did his hate. The boat rocked and swayed under his movement, but his legs stayed steady, used as it was to the tides of the sea when he rose up, pale blue eyes icily peering down at the lady he had known until then as Louet, but now saw as the great traitor of his childhood.

"Silly Elly, indeed," he spat the words in repetition to his childhood self, but where his childlike self had said them in affection there was a subdued anger within him that wanted to strangle the woman in front of him, strangle and throw her overboard to feed to the sharks.

But he had to calm himself. Remembering the teachings of Artem and the ultimate goal, the reason why they had wasted those years out on the sea. He had to force himself not to do what he wanted to do the most, his expression a brooding storm and eyes fixated on the princess in front of him.

"How can it be yours when it was stolen to begin with, Elswyth?" Haakon questioned, the words escaping him slowly while the waves grew wilder as the wind picked up, as if supporting the mood in which the crownless prince found himself.

"Or did you plan to steal again?"
 
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Elswyth Mary D'Ambrisio


There was nowhere for her to go. As he loomed over her, Elswyth's heart pounded do hard in her chest that it wouldn't surprise her if he heard it. Her hands, hesitantly as if afraid of provoking him further, reached out to grip onto the edges of the boat as the little vessel began to toss around some more. If she didn't know any better, she would have believed he was controlling the weather with his emotions.

With his fury.

"I-- I never stole. I have stolen nothing." She answered weakly, not daring to look away from him when she had no idea what he would do to her now.

Throw her overboard. Strangle her with the rope they had. With his own hands. Maybe he would just force her head over the edge of the boat and drown her himself. There were countless ways he could kill her... perhaps then even send her body back to her family...

Elswyth could imagine him capable of such things, after so many years of hardship and building respect.

"We were... children. I was told you were dead. Your father... he grew greedy, demanded more from the people... became suspicious of my father. We were not the ones that drew the first blade."

It was a truth she believed, words that had been drummed into her by her own parents.
 
ARTIST TAG
HAAKON FREDERIC NISSEN
A chill set in, first a rush of anger at the thought that Elswyth believed that the throne had been rightfully hers. Hers, when blood clung to the crown and the sword that ordained them. Blood of his parents and, as she revealed, what she believed to be his as well. Haakon's anger flared, his eyes burning at the memories resurfacing of the night he was smuggled out of his own room and his own castle, and the morning in which he was informed that his king-father and queen-mother were no more, sacrificed to the people.

The accusations that surrounded a dead man that couldn't defend himself left a taste of bile in the back of his throat. Haakon had no delusions about his father, old and aged, twice the age of his queen and already close to senile. At best, Artem had said, the old man had enough time until Haakon came of age, or maybe even before and his queen-mother could have been regent. She had been wise and kind and the sunshine in Haakon's life, taken so prematurely, but they couldn't even allow that.

"My queen-mother," Haakon had growled, this time allowing sadness to rise at the thought of how his queen-mother had died. The kindest soul in the castle. Married too young to a man too old. Her youth ripped away as was so common in their courts, but with wisdom so beyond.

And then, then, the idea that Elswyth thought him death like he had wanted, and the realisation that she knew who he was. The suggestion alone was dizzying as Haakon tried to think of when and how she must have figured it out.

The overwhelming sense of betrayal he felt stalled Haakon's words whose whole being felt like he was on fire, years of aversion accumulating clear in his every expression as he stared at Elswyth, the one person he had wished well despite everything, because she had been just a child like he had been, but who now so firmly believed in her own cause.

"Throne of lies, crown of blood, what makes your father a better man than mine? His youth or the lowered tax? Isn't your marriage to that old fool across the border not to fatten up the depleted treasuries like mine did before through taxes?" the accusation fired right back at the supposed princess in front of him who so believed in the cause and reason for his parents' fall.
 




Elswyth Mary D'Ambrisio


Struggling to come up with a response, all she could hear soon after was her blood roaring in her ears. She had no answer to his demanding questions, simply because she didn't know what to say. She could argue back, tell him exactly what she thought - which was backed up by years and years built from lies and betrayal. Or she could go quiet, allow him to rage as strong as the storm that seemed to be manifesting around them.

And then his question of her father using her to gain more riches. She was about to pathetically point out that at least it was only her life being ruined, not the lives of the people that his father had mercilessly taxed before. However, the thought struck her cold that, with her now missing... the people would most likely be taxed again. Her brother was too young to be wedded off and she had no other siblings.

"...What do you want me to say?" Her words finally escaped her, dripping with defeat, "I know nothing else but the history I have been taught. If there is another story, then I have never heard it." Elswyth bowed her head and pulled her shaking hands into her lap, holding them together.

Her mind went back to their childhood; her memories of them playing together in the gardens, him stealing tarts from the kitchens and blaming it on her, them getting jam all over their faces, dirt all over their clothes and dunked into baths as they were scolded...

And his mother, his sweet and gentle mother who had only doted on him. Her own mother, who attended the former, late queen and embroidered handkerchiefs next to the fire with the queen.

Her hands squeezed tight. "Are you going to kill me now, Haakon?"
 
ARTIST TAG
HAAKON FREDERIC NISSEN
"Are you going to kill me now, Haakon?"

The question struck him. The one question he thought to be an unwavering 'yes' stumped him now. It wasn't because of a changed conviction, nor was it because of a shift in attitude or a revelation. The question struck him because Haakon in truth hadn't thought of the question much. He just believed it to be a certainty, a conviction that he would be able to carry out.

It wasn't.

In truth he could still remember the way the flowers smelled that Elswyth liked to braid into her hair. The truth was that Haakon still remembered playing tag in the gardens with aforementioned flowers. He could even remember the sweetness of the tarts and the curses of the pastry chefs that knew that it was hopeless to get the prince punished.

He was guilty of an answer. Tired and mute of everything, frustrated all the more and feeling so very lost. The wind billowed and the boat rocked, waking him up to the situation in which they found themselves.

–

The beach was abandoned. Heaven had opened after their argument, chasing away all the warmth the sun could provide as the two stragglers arrived wet and chilled to the bone in silence. Silence from Haakon's side who had retreated into himself, unable to make sense of his own thoughts.

The island on which they found themselves was small, a mere docking place for washed up fishermen in the country, with an abandoned hut that all found shelter in but no one ever bothered to clean. It would have to do for shelter now, as the weather made their journey harder than it already was.

"Go in," he told Elswyth, the first thing he said since their exchange.
 




Elswyth Mary D'Ambrisio



Shivers racked her body, almost painfully, as they docked on the beach. Her arms had come around herself, in a desperate attempt to keep any warmth, but to no avail. Loose strands of hair that had come away from her braid were now plastered to her face and neck, the material of her borrowed dress dark with the water it retained. And heavy with it, weighing on her. Miserable was an understatement, terrified... well, that was another. Haakon hadn't killed her. Or at least, not yet. There was no knowing what he planned to do with her, considering he had yet to speak another word to her since she had asked the question. She didn't dare push him, or break the quiet that he was so adamant on keeping.

Not bothering to look at him as he ordered her inside, Elswyth continued her own silence as she hurried past him. Though to get out of the rain faster or to avoid him potentially killing her, having decided to do so in a spur of the moment decision... she wasn't certain.

The air inside the little hut was stale, the scent of sweat and salt lingering from previous shelter-seekers. Her hands slipped from her upper arms to rest at her hips, arms remaining wrapped around her torso as she took in their place of salvation, at least until the storm faded. She knew she ought to do something, even just sit or find some blankets or something. But given everything that had happened between them on that little boat, she wasn't sure what to do. His silence hadn't helped matters, either, making her feel as though one wrong move would make him explode.

Her eyes cast themselves to the small fireplace stove, pausing there at the excitement of proper heat. However, she wasn't capable of lighting a fire. The servants did that. Red darkened her cheeks and she turned away, "I will... see what I can find in the way of blankets." Though she didn't hold much hope. It was a tiny hut. If there were no additional blankets besides the greyed, fraying one on the cot in the corner... it would be an interesting night.
 
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