HnH 2: Part VII: Chapter 9 - 10
Nov. 30th, 2009 02:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
caithionHabsburg no Houken, Book 2
Part VII - Daybreak on the Elbe
Chapter 9 - The Star of David
Coronation day! Eduard shows up to rouse Franz Stefan out of bed, into the bath, and into the proper clothes. In return, Franz gives Eduard a new eye-patch... with the Star of David on it. Just as he'd asked for, as Franz points out. Eduard is pretty speechless. Cue emotional bonding moment. And... no one notices. Eduard decides people just don't see things which don't concern them. No one notices, that is, until they're waiting in the antechamber and Therese arrives with the kids in tow, takes one look at Eduard, and shrieks. Everyone starts looking around for danger, see what Therese is staring at, and start to react. Just then a servant arrives and announces it's time to start the procession, and Franz takes a steely grip on Eduard's shoulder and propels him out ahead of him, ostensibly as a prop to hold him up under the weight of the robes. Jaeckin and Valentin wordlessly pick up the train and follow.
As they're marching along through the crowd, a voice cries out: "Eli!"
Eduard looks around. It comes again: "Eli!"
It's Adelheid.
Eduard makes his excuses and bows out on Franz who good-naturedly complains, "Women are more important than friends?"
"It's not a question of gender, it's a question of time. I've been with you for 13 years. The day I parted from her was the day I met you."
Eduard ducks out and circles around the crowd, then pushes through them (causing a few mutters of "Jew!") to find Adelheid. Re-united, the most important question is of course to ask if she's married. She isn't, so he proposes. Of course she accepts. Short interlude of reminscing about how they feel young again. Then she tells him Karoline is waiting to meet him outside, then cautions him that she's had a hard life and is bitter.
The widow studies him. "You're the Jew Eliyahu Rothschild?"
"That's correct. You're the widow of the Landgrave of Hessen-Kassel?"
"That's correct. The wife of the man you killed, the mother of the man you killed, the fallen woman who has suffered because of you."
Eduard meets her eyes. "I have things I would like to ask you, and things I would like to tell you."
Karoline put her right hand into her muffler as she replied: "No matter what you ask, or what you say, this is my answer."
And then she shoots Eduard in the chest. "God is watching. I shall have justice."
Chapter 10 - Rebirth
The coronation is over, and Therese's personal physician is operating on Eduard to get the bullets out. Franz promises him anything he wants, the empire, anything, so long as he saves Eduard. He asks Valentin and Jaeckin what they think, if Eduard can be saved.
Valentin replies that Eduard has already died twice and come back to life twice. Jaeckin snorts and looks away. "I'm not letting him die until he repays his latest loan."
Meanwhile, Therese is putting her children to sleep. Little Josef calls out to his mother. "Today, everyone was saying. How the wounded Eduard is a Jew. The Jews are the evil people who live in the dark in am Hof, aren't they? Is the Sword of the Habsburgs really one of them?"
Therese can't stop crying.
"Mother, what is it? Did I say something wrong?"
"You're going to be emperor after your father. You have to take up your courage and see clearly what is true and what is right. [...]"
Josef nods quietly. "If Eduard is a Jew, then I can't hate Jews. Father would say that too, wouldn't he? And mother too."
Therese remembers the past. "Become a good emperor. Don't get trapped in customs, seek the truth, and endeavour to act with sympathy. That will bring you happiness."
Little Josef snuggles into his blankets. "It'll be good if they can save Eduard."
(What the-? The end. Right there. Thanks for reading, folks.)
Part VII - Daybreak on the Elbe
Chapter 9 - The Star of David
Coronation day! Eduard shows up to rouse Franz Stefan out of bed, into the bath, and into the proper clothes. In return, Franz gives Eduard a new eye-patch... with the Star of David on it. Just as he'd asked for, as Franz points out. Eduard is pretty speechless. Cue emotional bonding moment. And... no one notices. Eduard decides people just don't see things which don't concern them. No one notices, that is, until they're waiting in the antechamber and Therese arrives with the kids in tow, takes one look at Eduard, and shrieks. Everyone starts looking around for danger, see what Therese is staring at, and start to react. Just then a servant arrives and announces it's time to start the procession, and Franz takes a steely grip on Eduard's shoulder and propels him out ahead of him, ostensibly as a prop to hold him up under the weight of the robes. Jaeckin and Valentin wordlessly pick up the train and follow.
As they're marching along through the crowd, a voice cries out: "Eli!"
Eduard looks around. It comes again: "Eli!"
It's Adelheid.
Eduard makes his excuses and bows out on Franz who good-naturedly complains, "Women are more important than friends?"
"It's not a question of gender, it's a question of time. I've been with you for 13 years. The day I parted from her was the day I met you."
Eduard ducks out and circles around the crowd, then pushes through them (causing a few mutters of "Jew!") to find Adelheid. Re-united, the most important question is of course to ask if she's married. She isn't, so he proposes. Of course she accepts. Short interlude of reminscing about how they feel young again. Then she tells him Karoline is waiting to meet him outside, then cautions him that she's had a hard life and is bitter.
The widow studies him. "You're the Jew Eliyahu Rothschild?"
"That's correct. You're the widow of the Landgrave of Hessen-Kassel?"
"That's correct. The wife of the man you killed, the mother of the man you killed, the fallen woman who has suffered because of you."
Eduard meets her eyes. "I have things I would like to ask you, and things I would like to tell you."
Karoline put her right hand into her muffler as she replied: "No matter what you ask, or what you say, this is my answer."
And then she shoots Eduard in the chest. "God is watching. I shall have justice."
Chapter 10 - Rebirth
The coronation is over, and Therese's personal physician is operating on Eduard to get the bullets out. Franz promises him anything he wants, the empire, anything, so long as he saves Eduard. He asks Valentin and Jaeckin what they think, if Eduard can be saved.
Valentin replies that Eduard has already died twice and come back to life twice. Jaeckin snorts and looks away. "I'm not letting him die until he repays his latest loan."
Meanwhile, Therese is putting her children to sleep. Little Josef calls out to his mother. "Today, everyone was saying. How the wounded Eduard is a Jew. The Jews are the evil people who live in the dark in am Hof, aren't they? Is the Sword of the Habsburgs really one of them?"
Therese can't stop crying.
"Mother, what is it? Did I say something wrong?"
"You're going to be emperor after your father. You have to take up your courage and see clearly what is true and what is right. [...]"
Josef nods quietly. "If Eduard is a Jew, then I can't hate Jews. Father would say that too, wouldn't he? And mother too."
Therese remembers the past. "Become a good emperor. Don't get trapped in customs, seek the truth, and endeavour to act with sympathy. That will bring you happiness."
Little Josef snuggles into his blankets. "It'll be good if they can save Eduard."
(What the-? The end. Right there. Thanks for reading, folks.)
