Wings and Hammers

6. Meetings and Decisions

Erwin woke Aura up the next day with fervent kisses and cuddles. He had been up all night, like she had feared, thinking about their recurring foe - her smoking addiction. He had tried everything he could think of over the years to get her to quit and they had always worked. She had quit smoking at least 7 times over the last 10 years that they were together, only to get back to it whenever situations worsened.

She was a strong woman, he knew that. She was levelheaded and thought through situations she faced. But whenever someone she loved was in a situation that she couldn't help, she resorted to a cigarette.

When her younger brother died at their Colonith base, with her doing an adamant CPR on him, she had not shed a tear for 2 days. It had only been 2 months since he had been able to get her to quit for the third time. He knew it was sensitive, and only a little stimulation would bring it back. But when she didn't touch a cigarette for two days, he was somewhat relieved. He had held her by her arms and vocally urged her to cry, but she didn't.

Not until her parents had arrived at the base two days later, to claim the body of their deceased son. Erwin wanted to stand outside the room when they spoke to Aura, but Dr. Arthur Tubrey had forbidden him to leave. "You're the boyfriend, aren't you?" he had asked, to which he had agreed politely, producing his hand to shake. The doctor only grunted and looked back at his daughter.

"Chosen to be the next Commander, huh?" he had asked his ward, "tch! I'm ought to say that this was the best decision you've ever made, huh?"

Lena was in the other room, sobbing at the sight of her dead son. She had wanted to go, see her daughter who she knew would be miserable, but was, as usual, forbidden by her husband.

A few 'yes, Father's later, Arthur had still expressed no remorse for his daughter. "You're a disgrace," he had told her as Erwin had to stand there and listen, "and to think that you'll have to carry the name of the Tubrey family ahead! Tch. I told you to just stay at home and learn to do household work. No, you had to become a doctor. Look what you did! You couldn't even save your own brother. For all I know, you killed him."

"Sir," Erwin had had enough. Aura was listening to her father ramble on and on about her failures and misdemeanors. She was used to it. She had specifically wanted to keep Erwin out of it, because she knew listening to her father would enrage him.

"That isn't true," she heard him say, as she stood with her head hanging low, "Aaron had no pulse when they brought him in. Aura tried anyway. She didn't.."

"So now you have a lawyer," Arthur's voice boomed over Erwin's and Aura almost trembled with fear. The tears that had accumulated in her eyes finally fell out and both the men were quick to notice.

"You're not to come to the funeral," her father spoke one more time before leaving, "and neither are you to return home again. Am I understood?"

"Yes, Father," she muttered to herself and broke down on the floor the moment he walked out. "Mom," she whispered, wheezing, as Erwin held her up, "mom." "You want me to call her?" he asked and rushed as soon as she nodded.

The Tubreys were rich. Arthur had arranged for a handcrafted casket to be transported between Ehrmich and Colonith for the resting place of his son. Lena stood next to him, sobbing as his men carefully placed the box in the back of a specially-built, larger carriage.

Erwin found them and rushed to her. "Mrs. Tubrey," he called out. She looked up, recognizing the man from her daughter's stories and letters immediately. "Erwin Smith," she called back, admiring.
"Wouldn't you come meet your daughter?" he asked, "she's devastated."

She kept quiet for a long time, her face flooding. "Lena," he called her by her name, "you can go see your daughter. You don't have to seek permission. Right?" His thick eyebrows were furrowing.