"Your deeds only speak so long as someone is speaking about them." Eirian let the flames of her magic die down, removing some of the pressure hanging over the room. "If you have no one in the capital speaking of them, then they do not speak."
"How can they ignore everything we have done?" The young lord demanded.
"Because what you've done makes you valuable and dangerous, which makes you a threat to every other estate in Sorrow. And no amount of what you do will make all those people not covet everything that your deeds earn. You are rivals before you are anything else, and you are a threat above everything else." Eirian leaned back in her chair, "There is nobility in the capital, only competition."
It was one of the reasons Eirian loved it so much. Every day was a fight for survival. Everything mattered because it was all connected. The Camelia, out on the edges of the Empire, wasn't part of the that by their own choice and now they would have to fight their way back in.
The rest of the messages were the same: warnings to treat Eirian well and remember that their loyalty was to the throne hundreds of miles away, and now the throne was watching them closer than ever before.
Chenzhou opened his and immediately handed it to Eirian while he massaged his temple with his other hand.
All Chenzhou's message said was 'return my cousin'.
A spark of Eirian's magic turned it to ash.
The rest of the meeting went quickly. There wasn't much that could overshadow how it began, and Chenzhou didn't allow it to grow out of its purpose. It ended earlier than it usually did when he didn't let the surprise guests speak, and they filed out in a loaded silence that promised the discussion wasn't over.
Only a few of them acknowledged Eirian on the way out, but Eirian was too distracted to pay much attention. As soon as they'd stood to file out, through the door closest to Chenzhou's seat, Yuze had slid over to Eirian's side. It wasn't that far, just a few feet, and definitely not far enough to be insulting, but it was noticeable.
He was avoiding someone. The head healer and his grumpy assistant hung back until the rest had filed out before approaching Chenzhou, and by the time they'd crossed the room to bow, Yuze had made it all the way to the window and was taking his time closing it.
The head healer rose from his bow, "Lord Ye, my deepest apologies. I didn't realize she- the lady was…your Lady." He glanced at Eirian. "I wasn't aware you had married."
Eirian perched her chin on her fist. "Why would you need to know that?"
The head healer bristled. He was an older bookish man who wore his years behind a desk in hunched shoulders and pale skin that rarely saw the sun. He was shorter than Chenzhou, around Eirian's height, with spindly limbs draped in robes—like a skeleton draped in silk.
In contrast, the dark-skinned healer Eirian had dealt with yesterday and that Yuze was attempting to avoid was a hulking figure—taller than all three of them. He hovered like a ghost at his boss's shoulder, but his eyes were burning holes in Yuze's back.
Chenzhou placed a hand on Eirian's shoulder. "My wife shares my authority, Healer Huang. That is not yours to question."
Even Eirian was surprised by the statement. No, not the statement. The warm fuzzy feeling erupted in her chest when he said it. Neither Philip nor her father would have ever been so quick to defend anyone, let alone Eirian. And they definitely wouldn't have willingly shared their authority with anyone.
Healer Huang's mouth twisted, his eyes flickering to Eirian and back to Chenzhou. "Perhaps we should discuss what you would like shared with her before we make such rash decisions."
Chenzhou's eyes turned hard. "Anything you discuss with me, you can discuss with her."
Healer Huang looked like he was sucking on a lemon, but he nodded. Tall, dark, and grumpy finally looked away from Yuze and at Eirian, whose smile took on a decidedly smug air.
Eirian patted the hand Chenzhou had resting on her shoulder. "I'm sure Healer Huang understands. I do want to talk to him but also to whoever has been treating you."
"That would be me," Healer Huang bit out. "I am the highest-ranked healer in the Camelia. There is no one more qualified to treat him."
Eirian's smile turned sharp. "And yet you've made no progress in how many years?" She turned to Chenzhou. "How long has he been treating you?"
Healer Huang sputtered and, tall, dark, and grumpy, barely managed to hide a smirk in time.
"Most of my life," Chenzhou admitted, looking thoughtful.
"And still no idea what's happening to you? Or to the Camelia?"
"We don't know that anything is happening." Healer Huang snapped, cheeks red in outrage.
"There's something wrong with both of them. Something that is not natural. I've only been here two days, and I could see it. Any healer of moderate skill should be able to see it."
"Long-term health challenges are often hard to diagnose because their symptoms are subtle and frequently misdiagnosed," Healer Huang hissed, so mad he was nearly spitting. "Lord Ye is still too young to be diagnosed."
"And yet my health gets worse and worse every year," Chenzhou said, suddenly tired. "We have had no luck figuring it out. There is no reason not to allow her to try."
"She is not a healer!"
"Perhaps not by trade. But she is educated, she is powerful, she is intelligent. She may see something that has been missed." Chenzhou insisted.
Healer Huang wouldn't hear it. "Nothing has been missed! There are still many things we do not understand in this world. Allowing untrained simpletons to-"
"Healer Huang," Chenzhou's voice was like ice, "If you have such a problem with sharing, you can give any records to Eirian and concern yourself with other things."
Healer Huang sputtered. "You want her to treat you instead of me?"
~ tbc