#rielle deserves the entire world and aelita is going to give it to her

[heavy-swing]

FFXIV Write 2024 - Prompt #23 - On Cloud Nine

Content Warnings: None.

Spoiler Warnings: Characters from the 50-60 DRK quests, but no real story beats mentioned.

Summary: Sidurgu Orl should be more upset that this other Dark Knight seems to better at taking care of both him and Rielle than he is, but unfortunately he's too tired to be mad.

Check it out below or on Ao3:

“You look like shit, Sid.”

Aelita stood around a small table opposite the dark knight while Rielle sat beside the fire, warming herself up.

“You’re looking lovely too, Aelita. Thanks.” Sid glared daggers at her– or he would have, if it wasn’t so obvious that he was exhausted.

“That’s lovely of you to say, but sweet talking isn’t going to get you out of this one, mister!” She dropped the performatively cheery tone. “Seriously, Sid. You look like you haven’t slept in a week.” He closed his eyes and hung his head for a moment, before opening them again. “You have slept during the last week, right?”

“I guess, though it hardly feels restful, having to watch our backs. I’ve tried to find places out of the way of the usual patrols, but… well they’re no inn room, I’ll tell you that.”

The words sparked something in Aelita’s brain, and she glanced over to the counter.

“I’ve got an idea. I’ll be right back,” she said, fishing for her coinpurse on her belt as she zigzagged through to the tables to the bar itself, where the innkeeper stood.

She walked back over to the table, the confident smile of a person for whom everything had gone according to plan all over her face.

Sidurgu watched in confusion as Aelita and the innkeeper exchanged words and then coins, all while Rielle remained entranced by the fire. The innkeep made a mark in a large book, and then turned it to Aelita to sign. She scribbled something down with a flourish, and then set the pen down, opening her other palm to receive what looked like a key. Surely, she didn’t just…

“I know you’re not one to try and stay in one place for too long, but I got us a room here for the night. It’s the fanciest one they’ve got, and–” She stuck out a finger to preemptively halt his incoming complaints. “--before you ask, I have the word of both Bamponcet and Gibrillont himself that they will turn any Temple Knights away, should they come investigating, and the room is under my name alone with a listed occupancy of one.”

His half-open mouth quickly closed. It’s nice that she’s gotten the importance of covering our tracks, but… am I really that easy to read? He shook the thought out of his head. Surely not, I’m just tired is all.

“Sure, I can do that,” she replied, starting towards the fireplace.

“All right, we’ll stay the night. I’ll get our things together, if you can wrangle Rielle.”

Sid watched again from a distance as Aelita knelt down to Rielle’s level to give her the good news, which was quickly followed by her hoisting the girl onto her shoulder and carrying her towards the inn rooms. He forced himself to stop staring and gathered their bags together so he could catch up to the hrothgar woman who definitely did not make him envious.

–

“All of this is for us?” Rielle exclaimed, sounding genuinely a bit stunned.

“All for you, my lady,” Aelita said in a faux-posh accent, doing her best impression of a butler as she held open the door. Rielle immediately ran towards one of the two beds, leaping onto the down-filled mattress with a laugh, while Sid brought the last of their bags in and set them on the floor against one of the walls. “And for you, brave ser knight, a bed to call your own!” Aelita gestured to the remaining unclaimed bed, making sure to keep up the accent.

It was Sid’s turn to look surprised. “Then where will you sleep, Miss Aelita?” Rielle chimed in, seemingly taking the words right out of Sid’s mouth. 

“If it would please the lady, I would be happy to serve as both a confidant and an additional pillow, so that you might share any scandalous rumors about our brave knight in exquisite luxury.” Aelita punctuated her offer with a bow deep enough that Sid rolled his eyes. 

“An Aelita pillow sounds good to me,” Rielle replied, patting the bed beside her.

“As you wish, my lady.” Aelita quickly removed her boots, pants and overcoat, leaving just a long tunic as nightclothes. She then obliged Rielle’s request and joined her on the bed, watching as Sid did the same. He’d only just managed to get out of his armor before Aelita watched him practically collapse into his own bed, and before long a faint snore could be heard from the other side of the room.

“Does he always snore like that?” Aelita asked, pointing to Sid’s sleeping form with her thumb.

“Yep, most nights.”

“Oh, you poor, poor girl,” Aelita replied, as melodramatically as she could manage. “At least tonight you’ve got a whole room between you.” She then laid herself down on the bed, placing a pillow behind her head for support and arranging the remaining pillows and blankets to create a ‘nest’ for Rielle. Aelita patted the empty spot, beckoning the girl over. “C’mere, I’ve got the perfect spot with your name on it.”

Rielle was quick to oblige, nestling in perfectly to the space Aelita had made. 

“Now this is the part where we get to share rumors and stories– but we gotta be quiet so Sid doesn’t hear, all right?” Rielle nodded.

“You go first, I gotta think!” Rielle whispered pointedly, clearly racking her brain for something interesting to share.

“Okay, I’ll tell you a story while you think it over.” Aelita cleared her throat, trying to keep it somewhat quiet, even though she knew Sid was likely sleeping like a stone. “This one is about a warrior that fought a giant sea monster with only an axe and the help of their friends.”

“Oh, like the axe you use sometimes, miss Aelita?”

“Axe-actly like that,” she replied, grinning at her own pun, which had Rielle giggling to herself. “Now you gotta listen, cause this is a serious story, I promise…” 

The two of them stayed up a good long while after that, trading tales of derring-do for ones of a knight with his heart in the right place, even if he didn’t always understand his young charge. Halfway through a story about a fierce battle with some imperial soldiers in one of the Castra, Aelita noticed that Rielle had fallen asleep right where her shoulder met her chest, so she gently pulled the blanket over the sleeping girl, careful not to wake her. As Aelita reached over to extinguish the lamp on the bedside table, a smile crossed her face, borne from the satisfaction of being able to give Sid and Rielle a bit of Cloud Nine, even if only for a night.