Skirts: Three

Three

Dr. Nora Barlow found the upcoming Empress sulking in her chambers, practically drowning in skirts. The dress was disgustingly extravagant; a big puffy ball gown of gold and heavy jewels that ballooned from her hips outward with a ridiculously long train. Every time Deryn looked at it, she couldn't help but think that the money put into this one dress would feed the men and beasties of the Leviathan for 10 years at least. Besides, this was the dress for an Empress...not a cross-dressing bird from Glasgow.

"Hello, Miss… Empress Sharp von Hohenberg," Nora said quietly. "That's quite a…lovely dress."

"No, you know barking full well it isn't," Deryn replied with a glare. She picked up folds of it and glared at the scratchy tulle as if it had personally offended her.

Dr. Barlow smile. "Yes well, we both know you and I aren't exactly traditionalists."

She came to stand beside Deryn, looking out at Deryn's new kingdom. The day Emperor Volger had died (a little less than 2 years after their wedding), the country was shocked. Although his claim to the throne had been questionable at best while he was alive, he made his death even more controversial by naming Alek his heir in his will. Deryn, by extension, then became the new Empress of Austria-Hungary and the very thing she had hoped to avoid: being trapped as a proper dame for the rest of her life. Always watching where she stepped, what she ate, what she said. It was madness.

However, when Alek tried to give up the throne to allow her the freedom she so treasured, she couldn't let him do it. She knew this was his dream, the thing his father and Volger and even he had wanted and fought for since he was born. He'd been a fugitive in war, given up all his father's gold and survive several attacks on his life for this. So she did one of the only selfless things she'd ever done (for Deryn wasn't the most generous person to grace the earth): she'd agreed.

So here they were just 2 months after Volger's will had been found, preparing for their coronation as the Emperor and Empress of Austria-Hungary at the castle in Székesfehérvár.

Nora Barlow and Deryn sat in soft silence before the latter suddenly looked up, scared. "To be honest, ma'am, I'm scared stiff. This isn't what I thought I'd be doing with my life. I'm from Glasgow; lassies like me just aren't bred to be Empresses, and Clanker ones to boot."

"Well, you weren't bred to be an airman either, were you?" Barlow replied quietly.

"Well, at least I had some training, some time to adjust! I haven't even known for a quarter of a year that I'm to be the new Empress of barking Austria- Hungary! Stupid Volger, he never really could give up on Alek could he? "

That was the gist of the reason she was even outfitted in such an outlandish fashion. They had planned on working for the Zoological society for a couple years before settling down, having a family, maybe get to owning an airship auto shop somewhere in Britain. Alek's father and Volger were just too barking stubborn.

Deryn couldn't believe she was going through with it, but she did know why.

This was what it would take to be with Alek.

She'd given up the Leviathan for him so many years ago. Now she was giving up the air entirely; her life's dream. Sure, she could still fly in a royal airship or maybe a huxley, but she'd no longer get to be topside with the wind rippling through her hair as she hung off the ratlines.

She had new dreams now.

"I think, in some ways, that's the exact quality that will make you the best Empress this country has ever seen," the boffin replied. "For starters, you will never become corrupted because it isn't power or money that you want. You'll be fair to the lower class because you were once among them, and you'll want to do well because it's important to our young Aleksander. I cannot fathom there being a more unlikely, but a more precise, candidate for the job Miss Sharp."

"Oy, that's Empress Sharp to you!" Deryn said with her best attempt at a royal expression.

"I've still got approximately 5 minutes to be insubordinate," Dr. Barlow replied, and Deryn caught the ghost of a grin gracing her stern features.

Suddenly they were interrupted by the door being flung wide open as Lilit ran into the room, one dark haired guard and one light haired guard behind her sprinting and shouting, "Your Majesty, she's armed and dangerous!"

Deryn just laughed as Lilit launched herself into Deryn's arms as she replied, "Oh, I know! And a notorious kiss stealer, to boot!"

The guards just stared as Lilit smirked. "You still haven't gotten over the fact that I was the best snog of your life, have you?"

Lilit had grown since the wedding but still wasn't as tall as Deryn, and wore a long dress that was surprisingly fancy for the Ottoman native. The top was styled like a red paisley suit jacket and the bottom a black velvet skirt, fused together by a corset in the middle. Her trademark edgy heels were traded in for a small pair of black flats.

"Most undignified," Dr Barlow sniffed with a hint of a smile.

The guards looked slightly sick at the conversation. "Are you alright then, Empress?" the dark-haired one asked, bowing low with reluctance.

"Yes, yes" she said impatiently. "You're dismissed or whatever."

The guards left with urgency.

"Barking spiders, I'll never get used to this. Thank God you're here!" Deryn said with relief.

"An Empress!" Lilit exclaimed. "My best mate, a middy on the blasted warship Leviathan, is to be the Empress of barking Austria-Hungary!"

"I know, it's nuts," Deryn replied, smiling grimly. "Harder than any act I could ever pull off."

"I think you'll do great, especially for us women," Lilit said consolingly. "And there's someone else who agrees with me."

Lilit strode to the large golden doors and opened them wide, and Deryn spotted her brother Jaspert walking between the guards down the hall.

She restrained a squeak as she ran the best she could in embellished heels down the hall toward him and he caught her in a fierce hug, looking quite dashing in his navy blue military dress uniform.

"My lady, the ceremony's about to begin—" the dark-haired guard began.

"It's me brother, he's important" she said, smiling big. "But I'm nearly done. No more surprise guests, I swear."

The guards left with reluctance this time as she turned to her brother and her friend. "I'm so glad you both could be here. I needed this…to ground me. It's all so strange and new and barking bizarre" Deryn said, tears threatening to spill.

"Don't start that now, little sister," Jaspert said sternly, wiping her eyes before the flood gates could open while Lilit straightened her hair. She got a good chance to look at his face then, so much like her own with the short blond hair and the cunning eyes. His jaw was a tad broader than hers and sporting a small scar (from where a Clanker bullet had grazed him during the war) but his eyes were the same piercing blue as her own. Looking at him, she saw the epitome of her oldest dream; being a boy and a successful airman.

"Alek will help you, and you'll have us and a council to help you," Lilit reassured her. "Even you can't blow it, middy."

Jaspert nodded and Lilit looked between them, sensing their need to talk in private. "Well, I'll quit cheesing off the guards and go find a spot to watch the ceremony," Lilit replied with an encouraging smile.

"I think I shall join her" Dr. Barlow added, smiling in that knowing way of hers. Sneaky beaks, the pair of them.

"You'll be fine, Empress Sharp von Hohenberg!" Lilit said with a salute, and Deryn smiled as Dr. Barlow followed her friend as she waltzed to the doors with an easy gait that suited her. Deryn watched Lilit's retreating back with jealousy. "She's respected, feared, kind, strong and she can still swagger around in a dress and heels," she commented with envy.

"Well, you'll be just like her soon enough," Jaspert said matter-of-factly. "You'll be an Empress; able to order people about, and swear all you like just like I taught you, and wear the most outrageous gowns you can picture."

"But it's different," Deryn insisted. "I can't just take to the air like a sparrow with a scrambled attic like Lilit can! I've got to look good so that Alek doesn't look like a bad Emperor. And I do have to wear these outrageously gaudy gowns that make me feel like a phony instead of ones like Lilit's which are spot on. Barking spiders, this being in love business can be a real bucket of clart."

"But where would you be without it?" Jaspert wondered, smiling at his little sister who came so much farther than even he had a right to expect.

"True," she whispered, smiling back.

Suddenly the doors opened and the guards walked in, stating "It's time, Your Highness."

"Alright then," she murmured, taking Jaspert's arm.

They began to walk down the long marble hallway, her shoes clacking as she tried to walk straight with her head up.

Suddenly Jaspert began to laugh, explaining to her confused frown "Do you remember the morning before your first day in the air force? You fell asleep studying at your desk in a pool of piffle! Not exactly the most ladylike of circumstances, wouldn't you say? And you had to go unlearning the way of walking I taught you, too!"

As they reached the guest entrance, she couldn't help a mischievous smirk as he pulled away to enter the room. "Well, I'm not exactly going to be the conventional Empress they've been expecting, that's for sure."

"That's my girl," he said with a smile. He looked back and caught her answering grin, clutching this last piece of his impish little sister close to his heart.

...

Alek felt stiff in his button up red and gold suit, waiting by the massive wooden door for Deryn to arrive. It was becoming increasingly hard to remember the minimal amount of training he'd had as a child to prepare him for this day.

He had been just as surprised as Deryn to find out his old fencing instructor had left him the throne of a country in his will. He hadn't even gotten a chance to mourn his old mentor before he was thrust into making the biggest decision of his life. And he couldn't have made it without Deryn.

Accepting the throne of Austria-Hungary may have been the biggest decision he ever made, but being a husband to Deryn was the most important one. He knew she wasn't cut out for this; in fact, it was one of the things that made her stand out in his eyes. He had been prepared to abdicate the throne, to choose someone else more fitting to take his place, but it was her hand that stopped him.

He still couldn't understand why.

So on the day when the deal would be sealed, of course his thoughts were with her and how she was getting along. He had no doubt she was wary, overwhelmed and probably a bit fed up with being fussed over.

So it calmed his heart when he finally heard her heels clacking on the floor as she came into view, head held high and looking as confident as she ever had scaling the ratlines of the airship that still held a bigger part of her heart than he ever would.

The dress was nice, but he definitely preferred the dress she had worn to their wedding. If anyone else had been wearing it, they would have looked fake and pretentious.

But this was Deryn, and those were two things she never would be.

Her face changed from a neutral expression to one of adoring happiness when she reached him, taking his extended arm. "I see your high-heeled walk has improved," Alek whispered, referencing the ball they had attended as members of the Zoological Society.

"Unfortunately," Deryn replied wryly, straightening her chaotic blond wig.

Alek smiled at the genuine Deryn statement before he grew serious. "Are you sure about this?" he said, watching her profile intently.

She turned her head so she faced him, blue eyes piercing him like glass as they always did. "Well, will anyone try to keep me from flyin'? 'Cause I'll box their ears if they do."

Alek didn't even hesitate. "Never."

"Well good. I'm happy then, Alek. I'm a simple girl who only needs to be able to fly and keep you in line to be happy. When you take away all the riff-raff and get to the bare skeleton of the situation, that's what I get out of this. So yes, I'm quite pleased."

Alek smiled and leaned in to kiss her right before the doors opened. "You're incredible," he said with awe.

"Always that tone of surprise, dummkopf" she commented quietly as the pope began reading their new titles and they began to walk.

"I love you too, prächtig" Alek replied, and out of the corner of his eye he caught the tightening of her lips holding back a smile as they walked, arm-in-arm, towards their next adventure.