Wedding Bells (AU, for gunslingerqueen) (NSFW)

[toweredingly]

Roland had woken with a headache and a sinking sense of cold dread, and neither were because of the large amounts of whiskey and graf he'd drunk the night before. It was a familiar feeling; the same steady almost-fear settled into his bones whenever he saw a battle looming. But battles could be fought with gunfire and cold rage, with all thought pushed aside and the world coming at you moment by moment. Today was worse. Today was politics.

He'd set aside his usual jerkin and jeans for more formal gear. The suit itself wasn't so bad, but he felt naked without his guns at his hip. It would have been good to have their comfort, even if he had no intent of using them. Their weight had always been like having a part of his father still with him, and all the gunslingers of their line before him. Now, when he most felt need of that reassurance, he had to set it aside. Clean-shaven and well-heeled, with his hair pulled back into a queue and his feet rubbed by the hard leather of new shoes, he felt like another man - and one even less capable of facing all that lay ahead.

The wedding was in the morning, before the real Fair-Day began. Then things would take their usual course; the castle flung open to the people, the feasting and singing and Fair-Day riddling, with raucous good humour and doubtless a few fights. That was manageable. He had lived that every Fair-Day for his whole life. What frightened him, more than he would ever admit, was the part that came before and after.

"You look more like a man going to put a noose around her neck than a ring around her finger," Bert commented in his ear, bringing him back to the present. For his part, Bert looked perfectly at ease in formal wear, sauntering about and regarding Roland with a critical eye. Whatever dark mood had been slithering about under the surface, he seemed to have excised it for now.

Roland answered with a grunt, looking back ruefully at the gunbelt hanging over the back of his chair, and closed his eyes for a moment. "Is there a difference?"

"Dinh or no dinh, I'm not beyond punching you. Just for once, Ro', try to stop living in whatever darkness is going on in that bony head of yours, and relax." For once, Bert wasn't smiling. He slung an arm around his friend's shoulders, looking at him closely. "She's not Susan. I kennit, Ro'. But she's what Susan would have wanted for you. Carry that with you, at least."

"Thankee, Bert." Patting Cuthbert on the back, Roland shook his head and started towards the door. Towards the Hall of the Ancestors, where Burtock Hattlen waited in lieu of a dinh, where Alain was standing by with a ring.

The hall was filled, to a casual eye, but Roland saw the empty spaces more than the full. No Cort, no Vannay, no Stephen Deschain in the high seat. Many who should have been seated in the best places were gone. Somehow, that made it easier to settle his mind, straighten his spine, and wait steady and watchful at the front of the hall for his bride.

Comments

[gunslingerqueen]

"No need, you're free to ask whatever you like, I just don't want to bore you." And that was the truth. She had never withheld certain details out of pride just efficiency. For as many trust issues as someone like Cuthbert could very easily inspire in her he was exactly the sort that she would talk at for hours if she allowed it. But right now it was good that he landed himself another kick because his compliment practically lit her up for a good few seconds.

"He's right, you know," She wasn't going to force Roland to talk but they would be here for a while and frankly ... Well, she liked the attention! It was innocent and well meaning, so she couldn't quite grasp why he was having such a little fit over this. "I do have to get to know them eventually, might as well let it be now."

[toweredingly]

"There, see?" Cuthbert smirked at Roland, shaking his head. "She's got more sense than you." Then, in a stage-whisper to Nariko, "He's scared that if you get to know me, I'll tell you all his secrets. But he's got nothing to worry about. The only secrets of his I'd ever tell are the ones he wears on his sleeve. Like that he's only kicking me over this because it's easier than kicking himself."

"To be fair, Bert," Alain commented in a low drawl, "it's also a good deal more enjoyable."

"You. You are not my dinh." Cuthbert raised one finger warningly. "You, I can kick right back."

Alain shrugged amiably, turning back to his conversation with Jamie and Roland. Laughing, Bert looked back at Nariko. "Cry pardon. You were saying?"

[gunslingerqueen]

"It's never really in men to behave, is it?" They reminded her of boys in that instant, those who had known each other for so long that they were naturally comfortable with one another. Instead of focusing on the sudden wave of jealousy she assumed that he meant their previous conversation. "There was always a bit of a power between myself and my mother, it wasn't until about three years ago that we settled it. She left the Lady of the House duties to me and she ... I don't know, drank small children's tears for all I know." It cost her a black eye for a week and a terrible headache, but no need to go that deeply into it.

"The one exception was visiting Lena, her family makes everything a celebration. This is the same woman who owes me a puppy and is not as kind as you, Bert, she will tell Roland every little terrible thing about me if I let her. I'm sure she would be up here if she could."

[toweredingly]

"Ah, but you see, none of the terrible things about Roland are secrets." Cuthbert smiled, but his dark eyes were serious. "Those he wears on his sleeve, as you've surely noticed. What I won't tell you, for my lips are sealed on those things my dinh would have me hold back... those are the good things." He looked at Roland, who raised one eyebrow, looking exasperated. "He's never been any good at hiding the bad. Never seems to have tried much, either."

"He's sitting right here," Roland observed acidly, but he didn't look entirely displeased.

[gunslingerqueen]

The weight in his eyes forced her to pause as if suddenly realizing something very important. For men of lesser strength the juxtaposition between the smile on her face and the brief stiffness of her body might have been eerie, but it might have only been telling. Nariko had no way of realizing it but it was very much the same as in Roland's room, a smile that didn't go to her eyes and seemed horribly out of place

"But I would imagine that your friend," not his dinh "Would have his reasons for it. I won't question it, as I'm sure it's easier to avoid whatever little good there is to know about me." She eased back into her usual smile, and reached for her wine, she suddenly needed it. "I'm sure your and my possible friendship and be developed over something almost as riveting as Roland."

[toweredingly]

Cuthbert laughed, lifting his glass. "I'll drink to that!" Then, "Oh, don't give me that look, Jamie. If anything here's poisoned, it's the rabbit stew, and I'm pretty sure our friend's only avoiding it because of the gout. I'll bet you a dollar it's nothing so subtle they've got planned."

"Fuck you, Allgood," Jamie retorted, and then turned crimson as he remembered Nariko was there. "Cry pardon."

"I'd steer clear of that friendship with him," Roland remarked under his breath to Nariko, with the hint of a smile on his lips. "It's a headache from start to finish, for his mouth's hinged in the middle and runs at both ends. Ever has and ever will." Whatever thoughts had been consuming him, they seemed to have passed. Now he turned to her, pushing a stray lock of hair back from his face, and shook his head. "I cry your pardon. Feasts and festivals ill-agree with me." Once, he had loved them. But then, he hadn't been constantly on watch.

[gunslingerqueen]

Jamie's apology raised a curious brow from her, but she let it go easily with a wave of her hand. She cursed more prominently than any of them knew, and she didn't see the insult in doing it around her. As she leaned back in her seat, playing with her for a bit, she looked at Roland with a tiny smile.

"What for? Now that you've said it I feel less guilty for wanting to get up and leave." Again, she took her cup but only to half-hide what she said to him. "I'm not exactly fond of it either, it reminds me of working and forcing a good mood. And I am in one, all things considered! But I can't sit up here frowning now can I? The expectation is a pain."

And yet her wine went down and she smiled all the same briefly looking to her various cousins and then back to him. "And think of it this way, I might be better at distracting him away from you!"

[toweredingly]

Roland shook his head. "You'd be amazed how hard he is to distract, when he's got it into his mind to plague me." Reaching over, he took a piece of bread and began to pick it apart, eating slowly and little. "We'll stay for the riddling, and if all else is fair, take a turn on the dancefloor after. Then we're free to go." There was a glitter in his eyes that might have been amusement, or might have been something altogether harder. "After all, it's our wedding night. I doubt folk are expecting us to stay late."

"Will you take part in the riddling?" Alain asked Nariko, picking up on Roland's silence. "Ro' never was the best at it, but I'd be curious to know how you get on."

[gunslingerqueen]

"Underestimating my abilities already, hm?" But she left it at that since he did have a point. If Roland only bit down harder on everything he did not want to talk about, Cuthbert let it go an inch to take the whole expanse back a second later. To her it was no big wonder why they were ka-tet. She said nothing to that last fact, one that kept coming back around like a terrible illness neither of them could dispel. Thank goodness for Alain.

"I only planned to watch for my brother, but I can't really deny your curiosity, can I? I did well enough the last time I tried so it wouldn't hurt." And it might be better than wandering around and subjecting herself to lectures, and more natural than being so openly watchful anyway.

[toweredingly]

Alain smiled slowly, a spark of humour in his placid blue eyes. "Good. Fresh wit is just the thing, for such a contest. I look forwards to seeing how you and your kin hold up."

"Still feels odd without Cort and Vannay to butt heads over it," Bert mused aloud, around a mouthful of chicken. "Remember when we were boys, the time they riddled against each other for an hour straight? I still wonder that they had the breath for it." He smiled, but rather sadly, and half-raised his glass. "Ah, well. There's to the passing of time."

Alain nodded, raising his own glass. "Don't get too caught up in what was," he advised Bert soberly. "We have enough on our plate with what is."

[gunslingerqueen]

"Isn't that the truth." Then again, what Alain meant and what Nariko felt were two different paths of thought, and it was better that she kept her own to herself throughout the rest of the feast. Being up and around did wonders for her mood, it had to when after standing she was hardly left alone for more than a moment or two. Eunyce still attached to Nariko's side, Nathan attempted a conversation with Roland which meant that the barely eleven-year-old boy mostly talked at Roland with no expectation of a thoughtful or even long response. It might have been a bit insulting but when it was finally her brother's turn in the riddling Nariko simply said, "He's like that with everyone he admires, try to be patient with him?"

But whatever his fascination, Nathan focused wholeheartedly on riddling while Nariko went about it with relative ease. At first it might have seemed as though she answered without thinking, her responses were so quick, but despite making it quite a ways in she eventually lost, and accepted that with a shrug of her shoulders and a smile. At least she wasn't horrible.

True to form, though, her brother was quite fantastic and until he was knocked out of it once and for all Nariko couldn't stop herself from beaming with pride. After all, he didn't appear the slightest bit intimidated by the elder folks he participated against. Much like his elder sister his smile was genuine, constant, and shined brighter with time. Well, until he lost just short of the goal and pouted for it, he was easily corrected with a few sharp words from Nariko. And that was how they avoided a horrible tantrum that might have rocked the entire side of Gilead.

She used him as an excuse to find Lena and Kaine but the simple truth of it was that Nariko wasn't quite prepared to dance with Roland, and she wasn't ready to deal with the fact that they both preferred to get away from all of this, which forced them to an inevitable conclusion. The longer she kept to herself the longer it was held off. Besides, they needed to keep an eye on their woefully armed, possibly aggressive guests! Who could worry about dancing and leaving when they still had that little issue leftover?

[toweredingly]

In the end, although Alain made it close to the end of the riddling, the winner was one of the older men, a scribe from the library who had been friends with Vannay. Roland, sure enough, barely lasted two rounds, and accepted his loss with a good-natured shrug as he stepped back. As he'd said to Nariko, it was his hands that were quick, not his mind. In truth, he was rather glad to be out of it. It gave him the chance to move around the hall, marking certain of his guests under the guise of watching the contest.

Around the time that Nariko took on her last riddle, the youngest of the three men he'd noticed - the dark-skinned man whose suit was patched at the sleeve - slipped away into the crowd. Casting a glance back around the throng, Roland followed, moving with a stealth belied by his height.

He returned a while later, carefully rearranging his jacket to hide the rip in his shirt, and made a line for Nariko. Greeting Lena and Kaine politely, he nodded down to Nathan. "You're a sight sharper than I am at riddling, cully. Well done." Then, looking up at Nariko, he smiled a little and held out his hand. "Shall we dance?"

[gunslingerqueen]

In her second major fuck up of the day Nariko did not immediately notice that Roland was gone. That was probably relatively normal since she had been attempting to quietly sidestep him for as long as possible. It was Kaine who looked up and, in her usual dry tone, commented, "Where's that asshole that you just married?"

Apparently not here! It was impossible to go looking for him with any sense of tact, and so she had to accept that he had to have left of his own volition, or that if he hadn't he would be fine. What concerned her more than any of that was the anxious worry that pulled at her nerves and made everything feel loud and unbearable.

The third time was the charm because she didn't need Kaine's help to catch his presence before he spoke to Nathan, who made some hiccuping noise that was probably meant to be 'thankee, sai!!'. Playing her part as she should, despite the cosmic force of Kaine's glare, Nariko matched his smile with her own and too his hand. She might have felt worse about all of this if she weren't still concerned, which was why the moment they were out of earshot of her family she couldn't help asking, "What happened?"

[toweredingly]

"We have one fewer gunman." Roland put his arm around her waist as the music started, pulling her into the waltz. He was a good dancer, his body moving no less liquidly in dancing than in fighting. "What troubles me is that I didn't know him, not even by sight. Either Farson is bold enough to send his own men now, or your mother is." For a moment more, he danced without speaking, looking over her head at the people around them. On the dancefloor, with couples whirling in movement, it was harder than ever to try and get a bead on anyone, especially if they didn't want to be seen.

"Has Eunyce seen anyone she recognised?" he asked at last, in an undertone.

[gunslingerqueen]

"Considering the day itself, Agni's stop beforehand, and her lack of a grand entrance, I would put my watch on the latter. I didn't recognize any of them and I haven't been away so long that my memory would be dull. Could have been hired." Send a hapless messenger without any care, if he came back then it was more information, if he didn't then that was an answer in and of itself.

"Of the three you pointed out one was familiar, and as she's been following him on her own I'll assume that isn't the man you dealt with. She said there was a 'preacher' type as well but she didn't feel any weaponry so I put Sabal on him. They should still be in the middle of a very rousing drinking competition."

This was a very depressing topic to settle on while dancing of all things. It was a bit difficult to enjoy it when they had to be concerned with work but she didn't falter, dancing was easier than walking, after all, so a little talk wouldn't throw her off. "It would be easy to lead them off and incapacitate them without anyone noticing." She looked up at him with a gently raised brow and then added, "Are you alright?" He looked like he was, but it seemed like Roland to have a terrible wound and not say a word about it.

[toweredingly]

"He didn't have time to go for his gun." He nodded, moving away smoothly to spin her under his arm, and came in close again. "Caught me in the shoulder while we were grappling, but it's a shallow cut. Did more damage to my shirt than to me." He wasn't downplaying the injury, at least not intentionally. He'd taken far worse in his time, and so long as it was crusting over and not gouting blood, he saw no need to worry about this one.

"If they are your mother's men," he said slowly, after a moment, "who's more like to be the target, your folken or mine?" He hadn't quite gotten a handle on the situation in that family, and although his instinct was to guess that they were after him, he wanted to hear her thoughts on the matter.

[gunslingerqueen]

"I'm wrapping it up later, or Eunyce can if that would be easier." She couldn't argue and insist that it was terrible enough to require immediate attention, he was standing just fine, so hopefully he could just give her that much.

"Mine first, yours second. After all, sending me off to be married to a man I don't know after what happened with Christian, and how badly I reacted to the result, was a malicious act on her part. Not only would she get rid of me through marriage or my possible suicide, you wouldn't have any reason to suspect that the woman who sent you a bride was Farson's bitch. She also relied on the fact that I would never trust you enough to reveal my skill with a gun, or that I would bring up my suspicions about her allegiance." Her smile was humorless and even a bit sad. "Even if I did work up the bravery to tell you anything she trusted that I wouldn't risk Lena and Nathan's marriage in exchange for ours." She shrugged gently, "Unfortunately she was right in as many ways as she was wrong. Hurray for us."

[toweredingly]

"If she ever shows her face here..." Roland began grimly, but fell sharply silent mid-word, the hairs on the back of his neck prickling. Smooth as his steps had been, he froze now, letting go of her. He turned, his hands going to his guns, and found himself staring down the barrel of Henry Jacquard's pistol.

The music clashed discordantly into silence, the dancers stumbling to a halt around them. Across the room, Alain and Bert found themselves pinned by men they had thought they knew; at the table, the fat man had managed to pull his own gun, and had it levelled at Nariko.

The world seemed to be holding its breath, the whole great hall silent, so that when Roland cursed aloud, it echoed around the ancient walls like a stone in a well.

"This is treason, Henry." He still hadn't drawn his guns. In fact, he moved his hands away a little, his jaw tight.

[gunslingerqueen]

Nariko would have been interested in the rest of that sentence but it was cut short and she felt the collective inhale, saw the gun practically in her face. Well, hey, now it was really a party!

Two with Bert and Alain, and one at her and Roland. It wasn't the worst set of odds she had ever faced but it wasn't pretty, either. As if the presence of a gun didn't bother her in the least, Nariko looked to Agni and and Ignis who stood ready and waiting. Four of them to the fifteen of her kin here, they would win but not without unfortunate close calls. She looked back at the fat man that thought he might take her life, or at least had the audacity to threaten her, and smirked.

"It's treason, and a death sentence."

Because they wouldn't make it out of here alive, one way or other, Nariko would be sure of it. The instant this went the wrong direction she would have half a second to tell Agni and Ignis what to do, and another half to pull her guns out. But this was still someone Roland knew, so for at least the moment she remained still.

[toweredingly]

"What it is is justice." Jacquard's voice was sharp, although there was an odd tremble at the back of it. "I served under your father, Roland, and I did it gladly. And I served you this long, callow boy though you are, for the blood in your veins. You've felt your way through this war and you've lost hundreds who might have lived."

"Henry." Roland took a step closer, unflinching. "If this is about your son... we have all taken losses. But this is madness."

Jacquard laughed hoarsely and humourlessly, shaking his head. "Will? He's gone. I kennit. No, this is about her." With his free hand, he jerked a thumb at Nariko, real hate in his eyes. "After all we've fought for, all we've lost... all your father died for, you'll bed down with Farson's whore?"

[gunslingerqueen]

Oh, fuck this.

When she turned on her heel it was enough to throw the signal, not only to her cousins who would hopefully restrain those who had Alain and Cuthbert, but to Kaine as well. She was close enough to get to the large man and just as fast as Roland - a fact that often terrified her, as their speed was nothing to brush off - and hopefully fast enough to disarm him. Right now she went about the very stupid task of putting herself in front of Roland.

"If you believed in justice then you would not train your gun on your dinh, you would at least have the honor to face me yourself or better yet, request a trial. You think I am Farson's whore? That I have ever been anything short of loyal, even as I put my life before someone you would say is callow? Speak clearly, sai, you'll never get another chance to tell me what delusions have come over you. I only hope we can free your mind of whatever has grasped it so fiercely."

And he either spoke and wasted time telling her how much of a horrible woman she must be - not that she needed him to tell her anything about that! - or he would shoot her point blank and the only, slight factor that could save her life was Roland's speed.

sorry this got long and overdramatic

[toweredingly]

In point of fact, he had time for neither. Taking advantage of her signal and her cousins' intervention to headbutt his captor square in the nose, Cuthbert fumbled out the catapult from his pocket, and whatever Jacquard had been about to say became a shout of pain as a steel ball thudded into his gun hand. The pistol discharged as it landed, sending guests scattering, but if anyone had been injured, it wasn't immediately obvious.

Then Roland's gun was in his hand, and he was at Nariko's side, thumbing back the hammer. Now - only now - he was trembling with anger, his eyes alight with it. "She may care what you think, Henry. I don't. You have forgotten the face of your father, and disgraced the guns you bore. I care about only one thing from you: is this your treason, or Farson's? Who's been whispering in your ear? Did he come dressed in black, tittering of his conquests? Did he come to you to share a secret? A letter, maybe?" His voice was harder than diamond, but he was still shaking with emotion. His gun still trained on Jacquard, who was clutching his bloody hand and looking stricken, he looked around the hall. There was Cuthbert, catapult at the ready; Alain still wrestling himself free; Jamie with a knife to a man's throat. There were men he knew and trusted, attacking his kin. There were the dancers, looking almost as stricken as Henry.

"If you would name me traitor," he said at last, in a low, carrying voice, "then come forwards and do it. But if you would call me callow for marrying her, then remember: before Nariko was known to any of you, Farson's whore sat in that seat. Do you think I have forgotten? Do you truly think I am stupid enough to repeat the mistake that killed my father?" He set his jaw, turning his eyes back to Jacquard. "Her mother betrayed us. That, you will hear soon enough, and it is true. But if having a traitorous mother is enough to make one a traitor, then come forth." Again, his eyes roved the room, challenging and piercing. "Now, to my face, come forth and call me traitor."

no this is perfect shhh I am sorry for the pathetic response

[gunslingerqueen]

In truth she didn't give a shit what the man thought, her only concern had been to keep his mind busy until what happened, happened. There were innocent people here, those who couldn't defend themselves and Nariko could only think of Roland's safety and theirs, and in that order. But ultimately that was just a footnote judging by all that Roland said. It was Nia, of all people, Nia who looked so much like Nariko herself, that went to Alain's aide - quite firmly knocking his assailant out with her club - and Kaine whose blade rested against the fat man's neck, his gun on the floor. Agni and Ignis eyed Jacquard as if they might feel better eating him alive and she was suddenly intensely grateful for their self-control.

She did absolutely nothing to calm Roland because there was nothing that could be done about it. All that she had control of was her own expression, because now wasn't the time for her gratuity to shine through, and it occurred to her that he had more than one reason to say these things, after all. Everyone was listening and she had been as cunning about it beforehand with her speech.

The twins wanted to act, Kaine wanted to murder, but this wasn't the moment for that, and so she stayed both parties with her own glare. If there were doubts then they needed to be voiced now. Granted, she had no idea who might be brave enough to argue with a man in this state, but, hey, that would only mean that they really thought she might be some terrible omen, so it would work itself out one way or another.

don't be daft it's fine <3

[toweredingly]

In the end, it was Jacquard who spoke first. He was still standing there, like a statue, making no move to retrieve his gun. Now, slowly, still clasping his injured hand against his chest, he went down on his knees. The hardness had gone from his voice, replaced wholely by that tremor of uncertainty and grief. In the High Speech, he choked out "I cry your pardon, gunslinger. I have forgotten the face of my father, whose guns I am not worthy to bear." Then, reverting back to the Low Speech, "The letter we found on patrol, a week ago. A messenger from Farson's troops to her mother. When I brought it to you, you turned me away. I thought..." He looked up. The certainty had left his face as well as his voice. Now he only looked like a middle-aged man, hair greying at the temples, hazel eyes shadowed. "Kill me or let me live, I have gone west already."

Roland looked down at him for a long time, his shoulders stiff with tension, his gun still readied. At last, his lips pressed together so tightly as to be almost invisible, he holstered the pistol.

"Henry Jacquard, I name you traitor. I strip you of your guns and of your rank. Stay in Gilead, go west, or go to Farson. It means nothing to me. But get out of my sight." Turning, he looked around at the other attackers. "As for the rest of them, I want names. I want to know who sent them, who gave the command, what they knew. Jamie, Alain, take care of it. Cuthbert, Thomas, stay watch here. And if anyone so much as breathes the word whore again tonight," he added with sudden heat, "I'll kill him myself."

Bending down to pick up Jacquard's gun, he brushed past Nariko and stalked away. His face was hard, his back ramrod-straight. Nobody stood in his way as he left the room.

♥

[gunslingerqueen]

Considering that this man had aimed a gun at Roland seconds earlier, that he might have jovially ended her life as well, Nariko felt pity for him. Maybe she was too easily fooled by remorse, or maybe Henry Jacquard's grief was so honest that she couldn't accept it as anything but. It didn't really matter. This wasn't her issue to settle and Roland's decision was the least surprising of all. The very sentimental part of her wanted to insist that wasn't necessary but she couldn't question him. Not right now, and not in front of everyone.

Roland gave his orders and marched off, she imagined that he didn't even see her looking at him, but even if he did then worse, he did not care. She couldn't blame him for it, so she didn't get in his way either, she looked to her kin, took a deep breathe, and forced herself to move.

Agni and Ignis were tasked with taking names and questioning people, but Nariko found her brother (who was a mess) and Lena, but they and everyone else seemed just fine. She could leave him to it or risk following him despite having no idea what might happen on either end. But she was good at phenomenally stupid ideas and implementing them so why should this one be any different? So Roland ended up with a decent ten minutes start before Nariko left to find him.

At this point, she needed to begin writing a book about how to track this man down during his various moods.