Burdens(Erehisu)

Chapter 10

The night was silent as Eren sat on the one end of the table, his back facing the enclosed wooden doors. Once, he closed his eyes and listened closely; however, the night wasn't as silent as he had thought. Instead, the night was filled with cricket noises. It was so obnoxious to the point that Eren was sure those insects were competing for attention--whomever it may be. But instead of dwelling on it, Eren silenced the cricket noises in the back of his mind and used it as a method to help him drift into a brief unconsciousness. He wanted to rest.

Feeling the sudden quick taps on his right arm, Eren laboredly pulled back consciousness, opened his eyes, and watched the blonde walk away from him as she trudged along the side of the long table with her hands sweeping the surface. Glancing to his left, only Jean and Connie were present as they sat in the middle chairs.

"Are we ready?" Eren asked, watching Historia.

At the opposite end of the table, Historia slowly pulled out her chair under the table, sat down, and answered Eren with a fatigued voice:

"Armin said they're coming."

Eren then looked into Historia's tired eyes before she slumped her head onto her arms that were stretched out on the table.

She's burned out. For one, the kids--especially the little ones--took lots of energy from both of us when we tried to get them to close their eyes and go to sleep. Second, we facilitated people around the farm as they began to pack up their equipment and wrap up their day.

We need to get this meeting going.

Tracing his eyes along Historia's left arm, he noticed her stretched out left hand on the table, open palm, facing him. Eren then unconsciously lifted his right arm and reached out to meet hers across the table. Sitting back, he tried to align his fairly lengthy fingers perfectly to hers in mid-air so that it would be right between her tenacious fingers.

Upon realizing what he was doing, he immediately dropped his right arm and looked at Jean and Connie to the left, whom both were watching with great interest. Trying to hide the surging fluter, he pulled his shirt up to his nose, sank into his seat, and looked across the table. The blonde was watching him, her head was resting in the same place, and she gave him a flustering smile before hiding her face into her arms.

===

Historia watched Armin explain away the gist of his plan to everyone around the table. While he still doesn't know how the meeting with Hizuru will turn out, he hoped that Hizuru could help to shine a better light on the Island of Paradis through communication and demonstration. In turn, through Hizuru, the world will see the Island from a different perspective--a positive one.

Armin's persuasive talking started to give a sense of hope to people around the table. Though, not everyone was as optimistic as him and wasn't persuaded by his eloquent speech. Particularly Eren. As Historia took her attention off of Armin a couple of times during his talk to look at Eren, Eren's face was detached from all emotions. He simply watched his childhood friend explain away avidly with his disinterested, half-closed eyes.

On numerous occasions, Eren attempted to cut in but decided to concede as he saw Armin's pure innocence. He didn't want to ruin Armin's false hope nor the warm and festive mood that dominated the room, which was emitted solely by the short blond. Through the night, everyone around the table shared their hopes and concerns for the upcoming meeting. The only person that sat silently through the entire discord was Eren, whose face became increasingly annoyed as the night lasted without an ending objective.

Feeling the urge to end this pointless meeting too, Historia stood up and said:

"Since we aren't getting anywhere with our discussion--no consensus nor agreeable plan--we should end the meeting here. Plus, there's no point in this discussion unless the meeting with Hizuru has occurred. It's getting late. We should disperse."

After a moment of silence, everyone came to agree with the queen's statement.

"And if I may add, your majesty," Eren said while looking dead at Armin in the eyes. "Yes, I think communication is a key to this Island's survival, Armin. But, I also believe that talking is pointless if the other side is unwilling to listen."

Eren and Armin's ideologies shall clash.

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