New Dawn

Evangeline

I do not expect Barrow to be running late. Normally it is I who arrive late to our little get togethers. I check the time, thinking perhaps the one in my rooms is off, but it is 9:13am. She was meant to arrive at 9:00. But knowing her I expected she'd have been here at 8:45. Unlike her to be running late. I flex my hands, forming and removing the metal claws from the tips of my fingers with a raise of my eyebrows. I click my tongue. To think I left Elane and my room early for this. I scowl. At least I'm in the mood to train today. I'll have no qualm with reminding the little lightning girl not to annoy me.
I let out a brief chuckle as the moments tick by. If you'd have told me two years ago when I met Mare Barrow that one day we'd be catching up for breakfast and some sparring in the democratic empire of Montfort, well I'd have laughed in your face. Even just last year when I had watched her from the train window, Elane on my lap, running headfirst into battle as I ran away. When I knew we were, well the closest we had ever come to being friends. I wouldn't believe that I would have safely escaped, that she would have left.
That she would leave Cal.
I let out a sigh of exasperation. The war was won, he asked if it was too late to choose her, she says no. But then she leaves. The fool tells him not to wait for her. That she 'needs time to think'. I think we all needed time to think, Barrow. Doesn't mean you had to ditch prince matchstick. After all the work I did to get you two back together. I wish I had yelled at her, back when we first reconnected over dinner with the Premier. I can't imagine anyone would disagree with me. But at the same time, I almost understand. The two of them changed so much, not so much to the public, but within themselves. They were different now. While it appeared I changed completely from the day Mare fell into the ring at Queenstrial, the truth was all I have done is take off the mask I wore for so long. Barrow shed a cocoon. She didn't know what exactly she was unleashing. Apparently it was someone with even less sense of time management than I have. But I do respect that she wanted to find herself. Tiberias certainly needs to find himself. Find what his morals are. What motivates him, besides his dead father or mother's wishes. Besides his love for the little lightning girl. Perhaps space was what they needed. But still I don't think the ridiculous 'don't wait for me' sentiment was necessary. Of course he'll wait. The same way she's waited. The same way she rebuffed Tyton's advances without so much as a thought.
I continue to think back on my life before. How terrible it was to live in hiding. To keep my desires inside myself. I don't wish it on anyone. But I miss my family. Tolly and Wren were too quick to move back to Norta, I think. A thought I've had a hundred times. The dust had barely settled in the new republic when he hopped back over the border. 'I've got to be a strong silver voice for change, Evie' he said. He had implored me to go with him. But I just couldn't. Elane said she would go, if it's what I wanted. And I know it was true. But I just can't. I don't know who or what I was back then. The horrible mask I donned to keep my true self hidden. She is not someone I want to return to.
But I miss Tolly dearly. I miss Tiberias. Cal, whatever that brick wall is going by these days. And I miss my mother. I don't want to, but I do. She who was horrible to me, she who used me to push her own agenda. She who I wish I could forget. She who has forgotten you. I am reminded of Julian's command. She wouldn't remember me even if I did see her again. Tolly told me what it was like to meet her. A woman in mourning of her husband, a woman hazy on the last 25 years. A woman who tried to piece together a life so consumed by children she can't hope to remember. I don't fault Julian for what he did. It was the only way I could escape. But it doesn't mean I have to like it.
I am ripped from my thoughts with the sound of running down the arena steps.
"Good of you to show up, Barrow!" I call out, "I was starting to think you were gonna flake on me".
But my laugh is cut short by her shortness of breathe and what she holds in her hand. It dons the seal of The Republic of Norta on the top. I take it from her outstretched hand as she doubles over. Still reminiscing, I am reminded how good this year has been to her. She has finally filled out some, remaining strong and tough, but with more feminine curves than before. Her hair is long, all brown now, the grey having stopped plaguing it's ends. She opted to chop it all to her collarbones, opting for a look similar to colonel Farley. But it suits her. The natural waves of her hair look soft, and smooth, rather than tired and frayed like they once did. Her body no longer shows the pains of war, and of her upbringing in the stilts. But in her eyes, inside their depths you can see what she has been through. A person of only nineteen and a half carries more pain than most of the elders in Montfort. And the cursed brand she wears still on her clavicle. I wish she would let someone remove it. I feel as though Maven has trapped a part of himself on her, as though he has branded her soul. But she refuses to remove it.
"Eve" she chokes out "read it".
I meet her eyes for the first time and see them red rimmed and her cheeks flushed a dark pink. And so I do.
"Julian Jacos, Premier of the Free Republic of Norta has been fatally wounded in a would be assassination."
I look at Mare. This can't be happening. I think. All of the war, all of the blood, the pain is behind us.
"Keep reading" she says through gritted teeth.
"A new kind of weapon, one that left shrapnel of silent stone in his chest, and a piece in his heart was used. The healers are useless. Their guess is he will not last the week. The premier of Norta requests the immediate presence of Premiere Davidson, Diana Farley, Mare Barrow and-"
My voice cracks as I read the last words.
"Evangeline Haven".
Mare nods.
"Eve we have to go".
My knuckles are white as I read the paper.
"Why me, Mare?" I ask barely above a whisper "I didn't even know the man all that well".
"Please Eve" she says "I can't go alone."
"You won't be alone, Davidson will I'm sure be there"
She looks up at me, I sometimes forget how short she really is.
"Please Eve. You know what I mean."
I let out a deep sigh. Of course I know. Once again I need to push them back together. Only this time I don't have a selfish motive. It's still a new sensation, but I am overcome with the desire to do this as a kindness to a friend. I sigh.
"When do we leave?"
"Tonight". She says, running a  hand across her leaking eyes.
I nod "Alright Barrow."
Her smile of relief is all I need to see to know I truly am a necessity of this trip. For her if nothing else.