#colania

-----

The next morning, Cole sighed and sat down on the edge of his bed. Bone-deep exhaustion weighed him down. When was the last time he’d slept and felt rested?

Vania, who had been fluttering around the room and getting ready for the day, came to sit beside him with a smile. Her golden skirts spread out like wings of a butterfly, brushing against him. he’d opted for one of his old gis today in the pursuit of comfort, and in some ways it felt just like the old days today. Just the two of them, in their most natural form.

“Are you alright, Cole?”

“I’m fine, love. Just tired.”

She reached up and brushed his loose hair back behind his ear. When it was down, like now, it hung down to his mid-back. If it weren’t for how she constantly cared for it, Cole thought he’d rather cut it all off and be done with it; Vania liked it, so he kept it long.

“It’s okay if you’re not at your best today. Yesterday was a lot. The past few days, too, and… Well, all of it, I suppose.”

Cole shrugged, trying to smile for her. “It was, but I’ll be fine. I don’t want to miss out on breakfast with the team while they’re here. It’ll be a good rest from all the other… stuff.”

Vania laughed. “You’re eloquent this morning.”

“What am I supposed to say? Court-martials, planning a trial and directing rebuilding of the city wall?” He sighed, even more exhausted by the thought. “Not to mention figuring out how to extradite the pest without wringing his neck.”

“Take it one breath at a time, Cole. We can’t fix it all in a day.”

“Shintaro is vulnerable until we do.”

“So we’re vulnerable. We’ve survived worse.”

He grimaced. “Yeah… it’s probably not as bad as a when I displaced Shintaro’s king and accidentally collapsed its economy.”

Vania laughed. “That was hardly your fault! Especially the economic problems—those were all my father’s doing. Relax. We’ll tackle it all together.”

Cole looked down at his hands. Even after scrubbing them, a little dirt remained under his nails and in the deepest creases of his hands. Every speck of it reminded him of what he’d done—what he’d been forced to do, and how close he’d come to harming people he loved.

I wish I could get rid of him. The thought of Cyril in his dungeons—rotting away there, never to see the sun again—was vile. If only they could banish him, or otherwise make him disappear, Cole would be fine with that—anything to get the object of his rage far, far away, so he wouldn’t be tempted a second time to drop a boulder on Cyril’s head and be done with it all.

I will not rule through violence, no matter how much I may be tempted.

Amid his thoughts, Vania climbed up behind him on the bed. Cole looked back curiously, trying to see her. “What are you doing?”

“Look straight ahead, okay?”

“Oh. Okay.” Cole smiled, complying as he felt a comb begin to scrape across his scalp. Vania drew it through his hair and deftly removed the tangles. Her gentle hands were quick—too quick, because it felt lovely to let her care for him. He felt her applying oil and massaging it into his hair. In moments she’d swept it up into a bun, pinned with a hair fork.

With Cole’s hair corralled, her cool hands came to rest on the back of his neck. He relaxed into her touch.

“It will all be fine.”

Cole closed his eyes. “I know.”

“I know you know.” Vania leaned forward and pressed a sweet kiss to his cheek. “You’re the best king Shintaro’s had in a long, long time.”

“The bar for that is really low.”

“And you rise far above it!”

“I’m not sure I do. Our throne room is a wreck.”

She laughed. “I can’t hold that against you, Cole. I know you’d never spend so much on marble just to ruin it on a whim.”

“No, I wouldn’t! And now we have to repave the whole place!”

Vania laughed at him some more. Cole turned his head to look at her—her beautiful eyes twinkled with good humor. “How are you in such good spirits about this?”

“I’m an optimist, Mr. Grumpy-Pants. I’m married to a man who would do anything to take care of me, and that’s exactly what he did. Even though it was scary, and Shintaro took a beating, we’re still okay. There weren’t any casualties! You did a wonderful job.”

“I didn’t stop him, though. That was the Ninja. Not to mention—gah, Vania, I was about ready to kill him!”

She smiled. “So? You didn’t, so it’s fine.”

“That’s hardly what I’d call ‘fine.’”

“You have exceptionally high standards, sweetheart. Let me be proud of you.”

Cole laughed wryly. “You’re not going to take no for an answer, are you?”

“Absolutely not! Now stop moping or we’ll be late for breakfast.”

“As you command, your Majesty.”

Vania laughed at him, and then she leaned in and kissed him. Cole returned her affection—a few years in, and she was still wonderful to him. Every kiss was still priceless.

Maybe it really was fine.

The doors to the breakfast room swung wide, right on time, revealing the royal couple. Jay looked up from his plate, piled high with sausage and eggs, to wave at Cole. “Hey, buddy! It’s about time, I was about ready to starve waiting for you!”

Cole rolled his eyes as he came in, with Vania at his side and her hand on his arm. They weren’t wearing their regalia, but they both carried themselves with straight backs and their heads held high. The training Cole had received for his role was ingrained now, even early in the morning, and it manifested in casual maintenance of regal bearing.

“Good morning to you too, Jay.”

Vania laughed at his deadpan tone. “Thanks for staying for breakfast! Ignore this one, he’s still half-asleep.”

Jay laughed with her. “No kidding he is.”

Cole shot him a dirty look but kept his mouth shut as he delivered Vania to her seat and pulled out her chair. She sat down with a pleasant smile, and after she was settled, Cole sat betwen her and Jay.

He broached the subject first. “So, how long are you staying?”

Jay shrugged and glanced at the rest of the team. Kai was already on his second plate—though he paused while Cole loaded up his own. Lloyd and Nya had waited, and Zane obviously didn’t have any need to eat, so he smiled pleasantly as he sat with them and they all began their breakfast.

Lloyd smiled, passing Cole the salt and pepper. “We’ll stick around until you’re sure you don’t need us anymore.”

“Are you sure?” Cole looked to Kai. “Is Skylor okay with you being gone longer?”

“Eh, she’s sick of me right now. I’m sure she’d rather not deal with me kicking around the shop for a bit. Noise has been bothering her lately.”

“She’s pretty far along, isn’t she?”

“Seven months next week, yeah.” Kai grinned. “She’s got the whole staff to help her! Don’t worry so much, Cole, you’ll sound like your dad.”

Cole grinned at that. “As if. Need I remind you I’m tone-deaf?”

“Ha! Good one!”

The two clinked their glasses together. With the return of Cole’s good cheer came a sense of lightness in the room. Everyone seemed to relax as they tucked in, filling their bellies with good Shintaran sausage, eggs, and fresh brown bread with sweet goat’s milk butter.

Vania was the first to interrupt them mid-meal. “How did you know to come out here?”

Jay grinned, swallowing some more peppered eggs. “Cole missed sending me a letter.”

“…He missed writing to you?” She looked at Cole in surprise. “That was enough reason to worry and bring all of the Ninja?”

Cole shrugged. “What did you think I do every Sunday night? It’s never paperwork.”

“I thought you were just getting ahead of your work for the week!”

“Nah, Sunday’s our day off. I don’t work on Sunday nights unless I have to.” He smiled at her, then at Jay. “Good to know my break in routine was enough reason to drag everyone out here.”

“Eh, it was just suspicious. Next time we’ll bring an army, too!”

“Please, no. I’ve had enough of foreign armies breaking down our door.”

Lloyd snorted. “What, like it’s happened before this week?”

“Maybe.” Cole looked to Vania. “Has it?”

Vania laughed. “Not that I know of. I wouldn’t mind an army of friends coming to town—preferably with a little lead time, but we’re always glad to have you.”

“Don’t say that, they’ll move in.” Cole looked around the table. “I’m not sure we can afford to feed all these gluttons.”

Jay gasped. “Excuse me? The only glutton here is Kai!”

“Hey!”

“And anyway, you’re royalty, you can afford a few sausages.” Jay sniffed in mock offense. “My best friend is so stingy now.”

Cole rolled his eyes. “It’s a joke, Sparkplug.”

“This is the gratitude we get. Half a breakfast and some insults. Can you believe this guy?”

Lloyd gestured with his fork. “Lay off him, Jay, it’s been a crazy week here. Poor guy was just minding his business! And it can’t be cheap to rebuild.”

Cole looked stressed just thinking about it. “Yeah… uh… I don’t really want to think about that. That’s a lot of planning and Hailmar’s coming in late today. Not to mention how we’ll need to build stronger defenses, since the ones we had really weren’t enough…”

“One thing at a time,” Vania commented. “I’d rather talk about something else. How are all your families? Zane, how’s Pixal?”

“She is well, thank you. She sends her regrets for not being able to come along.”

“And she’s still working on the Hydro Bounty 3.0?”

“Working out the kinks, yes. Nya’s help has been invaluable.”

Nya shrugged, but she needed a moment to swallow her huge bite of toast before replying. “It’s not that much to figure out anymore. We’ll need a new project after that. I don’t suppose Shintaro needs some airships?”

Cole snorted. “I mean, we’d take them, but where would we put them?”

“It can’t be that hard to build a garage for them.”

“In shale? One wrong move and you’ll crack the platform off the edge of the cliff, never to be seen again.”

“I guess you don’t get any airships then.”

Cole chuckled. “Darn. No voyaging for us, Vania.”

“If only.” She shrugged, as graceful as ever. “We’ll have to settle for flying, as usual.”

“I’ll keep brainstorming projects I can make for you,” Nya commented, scraping up the last of her meal into one large bite.

“Please do. I’d love to see them!”

Cole looked to Lloyd, who’d been pretty quiet the whole meal. While the whole table had been chattering, he seemed content with being quiet. He seemed thoughtful.

After a moment, he looked up from his plate and at Cole. At first he seemed surprised, like he hadn’t been expecting Cole to look at him, but he covered it well.

“Hey, are you doing okay?” Cole set down his utensils—he’d pretty much finished his food, so why hold onto them?

Lloyd looked away. “…I was hoping I could chat with you, one-on-one.”

“Sure.” Cole looked around at the almost-finished breakfasting Ninja. “Is now a good time?”

“I’d hate to take you away from your work,” Lloyd hedged.

“I haven’t started yet, so it’s fine.” Cole looked to Vania. “I’ll come find you in a little while.”

She gave him a smile and a kiss on the cheek. “Sounds good to me.”

Cole smiled back at her, then pushed out his chair. Lloyd followed. “We’ll be back, I’m just going to steal him for a couple minutes. Feel free to wander around the palace if you need.”

There was a chorus of assent, which Cole mostly ignored, and then he and Lloyd migrated out to a quieter room off the main hallway. There, Lloyd went to the window; Cole followed him.

The view outside showcased just how much of Shintaro was in need of repair. The break in the wall was plainly visible from their bird’s eye view, several stories in the air, as was the chaos in the streets. Already Shintarans were up and tidying the mess, gathering rubble together to be removed, cleaning up the bits of trash strewn about. Some of the people who worked the hardest were those who clearly didn’t belong. Was it penance? Generosity? Gratitude? Cole didn’t know.

Lloyd sighed. “I… Cole, yesterday was rough.”

“I know.”

“I know that you know, I just wanted to say it.” He shoved his hands in his pockets. “I’ve never seen you like that before, Cole. Not even when we fought the Crystal King, or Vangelis, or… well… anyone.”

Cole frowned and looked at him. Lloyd refused to make eye contact. He fidgeted like a child, clearly unsure of himself. “Like what?”

“Like… you wanted to do something horrible to him.”

Right. So that’s what’s bothering him.

Cole set a hand on his friend’s shoulder. “Lloyd, think of it from my perspective. He took over my kingdom. He made an embarrassment of me, and of Vania, and had no remorse. I’m still not sure how he did it.”

“Based on what Jay said, my working theory is that he wished for the power to make anyone obey him, then he used it on the djinn—as well as everyone in his army and anyone who stood in his way.”

“…That’s even worse, Lloyd. It’s not just about Shintaro then; it’s about everyone he trampled, all to gain a crown that wasn’t even real.”

“But… is it worth killing him?”

Cole frowned. “Lloyd, I wasn’t going to kill him. That’s wrong.”

“It sure seemed like you might.”

“I wouldn’t!”

Lloyd frowned at him, gaze gaching with disapproval. “It shouldn’t be a question for anyone.”

“It wasn’t a question! Look, I was tempted to hurt him, but you have to understand. This is personal! I reined in it. I have more important things to do—not to mention I have the spine to not follow every little whim that comes my way. I subdued him, and now we’re done. He’ll get a fair trial, with a proper sentence, and that’s that.”

“And… you’re okay with that?”

“I’m okay with justice being served.”

It seemed a pale imitation, but Lloyd nodded in a pacifying manner. “Fine. You’re the king, and what you say goes. I just didn’t want to ignore it.”

“I’m not ignoring it. Trust me, it bothered me too that I was… well… so tempted to do something to him. And anyway, I’m not going to get extrajudicial justice. If anyone has access to justice the right way, I do.”

“Okay.”

“Good.”

They looked at each other, an understanding between them.

Lloyd sighed, then smiled at Cole. “Tell you what. We’re all in town to help you out, so let’s get to helping. What do you need?”

Cole smiled back. “What I need is some time with my family and some elemental oomph to get this city cleaned up. Think you can manage it?”

“Sure we can. Lead the way.”

A sad sort of understanding settles in her chest. “Don’t worry,” she says, shuddering in remembrance of the few times she’s seen the process- the way that, with each bite of cursed food, the skin of the uninvited guests grayed and sloughed off the bones until it was just naked fingers shoving food into a mouth that dropped it all a second later. “They won't turn you into a skeleton.”

The boy jerks his head side to side. “Like hell they won’t!”

“No! I promise you that they’re okay. Look.” She pops one into her mouth and bites down. “I’m sorry, but you’re in the spirit world now. If you don’t eat some of our food, you’ll disappear all the way.”

The boy quiets at her words. He looks at the transparent quality of his hands, the way they blur through each other.

“Please,” Vania pleads.

It feels like an eternity. Finally, the boy nods. Vania exhales. The boy allows her to press a berry to his lips, and she waits as his limbs regain their color. There. One problem out of the way.

Her gaze rises to the glowing peaks of the hotel, shining like a beacon above the rest of the buildings, and she swallows.