Inquisitor's Promise (Act Two, Chapter Thirty-One)
Aeneas has to keep his promises. His father's mission will be completed. And while he's at it, he will become Galatea's lord and Inquisitor. But love and politics are an explosive combination.
Chapter Thirty-One: Aftermath
Lavinia’s betrayal had thrown Aeneas’ plans into disarray. He had intended to fly directly to Roma. But with the deep one girl and her swarm being banished from the Lepanto, they would have to make a detour to his home Nepoli.
Given the situation, Aeneas made sure to park the Lepanto on the beaches of Prochyta.
Aeneas could see the hive city of Nepoli in front of him. The Inquisitor struggled to hold back his tears. He had read the story of Patriarch Ulysses’ banishment that happened two centuries ago.
Now, history was repeating itself.
Aeneas and his party stood at the beach. Slowly, they saw the swarmlings and cerebrates exiting the Lepanto. Slowly, they disappeared into the waters of Lake Tyrion. From there, they would take the underground waterways to the Pacifica Under-Ocean.
Back on Prochyta, Lavinia was the last to have exited the Lepanto, accompanied by the swarm creature Anchises. She looked to Aeneas and the others.
“I’m sorry, everyone,” Lavinia said earnestly. By this time, she had reflected on her actions. The deep one girl turned to Galatea; she wanted to say something but could not find the words.
In fact, no one had anything to say. This breakup was not only painful, but it was also unexpected.
Turning her eyes to Aeneas, Lavinia finally found the words to say. “Aeneas, I’ll do my best to keep papa and Lord Nineveh from attacking the Holy League. This was my fault, after all.”
“Thank you, Vinia,” Aeneas said. The Inquisitor was not sure what good such a guarantee would do. But it was comforting, nonetheless.
As Lavinia stepped onto the waters, she saw her feet turning into fin; her underwater form was taking precedence. She turned towards the party and waved her hand at them.
“Goodbye, everyone.”
Everyone else waved in return.
“Goodbye, Vinia,” Aeneas said. The Inquisitor struggled to hold back his tears. He knew that he’d never see her again.
With Lavinia and her swarm gone, the question was what to do with the stern of the Lepanto. Everyone had their ideas, such as Nikolai and his desire for more mechanicons. But in the end, Aeneas decided to keep things as such. The initial customization had taken some time to build, after all.
“And then what, Captain?” Giulia asked incredulously. “Are you going to recruit another swarm army?”
Aeneas paused, not sure what to say. He knew that a part of him had hoped that Lavinia might someday return to him. But that was too much to ask.
“I don’t know. I just don’t think it’s right to just dismantle it. Lavinia had been with us for so long.”
“You are so hopeless sometimes, Sir Aeneas.” Omaha shook her head. “But I suppose that makes you a good fit for our resident lady knight.”
“Where is she anyways?” Pep asked.
“My cousin’s outside.”
Everyone looked to the new arrival. It was Antonio.
“How’s she doing, Sir Antonio?” Omaha asked.
The wyvern knight looked down in sadness. “Not good. She blamed herself for all this, you know.”
“I’ll go talk to her,” Aeneas said as he stood ready to leave.
Antonio nodded in response. “Good luck.”
Aeneas rushed quickly to leave the Lepanto. He knew that he had to cheer up his beloved somehow, but he was not sure how. An idea popped to his head; quite the stretch, but he couldn’t think of anything else. Aeneas made sure to stop by at his quarters before he exited the Lepanto.
And so, Aeneas saw Galatea on the beaches of Prochyta. It was the exact same spot that Lavinia had said her goodbye to them. With her was Sancho Panza.
“Lady Galatea!”
Aeneas wished to see Galatea’s beautiful smile but instead she was frowning as she turned towards him.
“Lord Aeneas, how are you?”
“Just fine. But I’m more worried about you,” Aeneas said.
“Me? But why?” Galatea asked in surprise.
“Antonio told me, that you blamed yourself,” Aeneas answered.
Galatea chuckled, but Aeneas could tell that it was insincere. “My cousin’s a worrywart, you shouldn’t…”
“Enough, Galatea!” Aeneas commanded harshly.
The lady knight jumped in surprise, not expecting her lord to be so stern. Her eyes betrayed fear.
Aeneas inwardly kicked himself. He never saw his father harshly upbraiding his mother; the late Anchises was always a gentleman. Aeneas remembered that not too long ago, Galatea was confined to a wheelchair. Despite her grit, his beloved was a delicate girl, just like his own mother. He made a mental note to apologize to her later, but one thing at a time.
Crossing himself, the Inquisitor took a deep breath. “I know that you feel sorry for me. You think that it’s your fault that I lost a family member. Right?”
“Yes,” Galatea said. “If I had just simply stayed out of the picture, then none of this would have happened.”
Aeneas shook his head. He knew that he wouldn’t go anywhere trying to assure Galatea that she was without guilt. After all, he scarcely believed that himself; Galatea was a clever girl, she’d see right through that. He had to try another tactic, his secret weapon.
“Galatea, there’s something I want to show you.”
Aeneas then reached into his pocket and took out something large enough to fit his palm, a collection of metallic cards with names on them.
“What are these?” Galatea asked.
“Dog tags,” Aeneas answered. “We use them to identify soldiers. All soldiers and crewmen in the Lepanto have one on them.”
“But I don’t have one,” Galatea pointed out.
“We’re still producing the ones for you, Antonio, and Jaya’s cohorts. You’ll get yours soon enough, but that’s not the point,” Aeneas said.
The Inquisitor then took one of the tags and showed the name to Galatea. There were several things written on the left side. On the right side was a cross etched onto the metal.
The tag read as follows:
SOLDADO, BERNAL D
HOME: MADRITTA, IBERIA
RACE: BASELINE
MARRIED 1 CHLD
“When a soldier is killed, we retrieve this from him. Despite Giulia’s best efforts, we do have men who die on our watch,” Aeneas said in sadness. “If that soldier was single then we’d just bury him and send money to his parents. But if he was married with children, then we’d have to do a lot for his widow and orphans. Most of them chose to stay in the Lepanto since we don’t have the luxury to simply stop anywhere.”
“I see,” Galatea said, not knowing what to say to the Inquisitor’s revelation.
“Here I am telling you all this depressing stuff,” Aeneas said sheepishly. “But all I’m trying to say is that there are people in the Lepanto who have lost family members. And when I lost Lavinia, I’m hardly the only one who had gone through such an experience. That’s why I don’t want you to blame yourself for what happened to me.”
Galatea nodded. She was taking in all that his beloved said to her. “But then, how do you deal with such a loss?” she asked.
“We move forward,” Aeneas answered. He then turned his gaze upwards. “But to do that, we must look above.”
“To the heavens?”
“No, to the heavens beyond the heavens,” Aeneas said. “One of the chapels in the Lepanto is dedicated to the soldiers who had fallen in our service. We must remember that death is not the end. One day, God willing, we will meet them again.”
Galatea deeply pondered her lord’s words. She knew what she had to do now. “Lord Aeneas, will you take me to that chapel? I want us to pray together.”
Aeneas smiled. “Gladly.”