God Could Not Be Everywhere so He Gave Brothers

A/N: Hello my precious readers! Here's part III. I originally thought this would only be about 5 or so parts, but I'm guessing it'll probably be a bit more than that. I hope you all enjoy! ~Ana

Green eyes stared down at the hearty meal placed in front of him on the table. He felt saliva form in his mouth and swallowed hard to keep from drooling at the delectable.

"Is it not to your liking?" Ariana asked, sitting down next to the child.

Antonio jerked his head up, blinking dumbly for a moment before shaking his head no quickly. "No..! No…" He trailed off, eyes glancing back down at the meal set in front of him. "I just…" He bit his lip. "I've never had such a full dinner…" He picked up his fork, taking a piece of the rabbit meat and plopping it in his mouth chewing and swallowing thoughtfully. "Moor would only serve bread or really watery soup…" He made a bit of a disgusted face as the words rolled off his tongue. "He kept all the big, expensive food for himself. He told me those lacking Moorish blood cannot eat well."

Ariana twitched somewhat, clenching her fist, nodding slowly. "I see…well," she paused to clear her throat. "Don't eat too fast, alright?" She relaxed, leaning back in the chair, watching her little brother dig in. "Do you know why Moor separated you from us?"

Antonio continued to eat, shaking his head no as he chewed.

A small smile crossed Ariana's face and she patted his hand. "Cris and I represent parts of the Iberian Union." Antonio froze and looked up. "So do you. What yet, we're not sure, but we'll know soon enough. I represent Castile, and Cris represents Léon. You have an elder brother named Xavier, Xavi for short, and he represents Aragon."

Antonio dropped his fork and stared. "I…"

"You know how Moor is simply, "Moor"?" Ariana asked, trying to clear things up for Antonio. "That's like the three of us, it's the same thing. We represent parts of the world, the three of us specifically the Iberian Peninsula."

Slowly, Antonio nodded. "A-Alright," he glanced down at his food. "That's why Moor is different from us, right?"

Ariana nodded. "Exactly, but that doesn't mean—well, he himself is a bad person, but that doesn't mean other people from his ethnicity are as bad and evil as he is, you understand?"

Once again, Antonio nodded, pushing his empty plate away. "So…you're saying Moor is on this…" He made a circular motion with his hand, "On this land without permission?"

A soft hum left Ariana's lips and she laid back somewhat in her chair. She sighed, running a hand through her brunette hair, giving a small nod at her little brother, "In a sense, yes. You were too young to remember, but Moor crippled the former civilization that was here…then he took over." Ariana got up, taking the plates and moving them aside, bending down in front of her little brother, placing a hand on his face. "Go the sleep now, little one. We can talk in the morning. I know this extremely confusing for you…"

Antonio closed his eyes and nodded, leaning into the touch. "Alright," he murmured softly, sighing softly as Ariana's thumb stroked his cheek. He stayed still, not wanting to leave the warmth of Ariana's touch, starting to doze off exactly where he was at the table.

With a soft smile, Ariana scooped up the small boy, carrying him to a section of the home with a bed. Carefully, she laid him down and kissed his forehead, brushing Antonio's messy bangs from his forehead. "Duerme bien, mi hermanito…" Ariana whispered softly against his forehead. She tucked in her brother and stood quietly, sneaking out of the room, shutting the thin wooden door.

"He asleep?"

Ariana twitched and looked up from the door, giving a nod at the direction the voice came. "Yeah. He fell asleep at the table." She chuckled fondly. "He's so small, Cris…"

Cristoval pursed his lips, giving a short nod. "I noticed. We'll just have to plump him up a bit. I doubt the conditions at Moor's house were sanitary and nourishing." He moved to sit in one of the chairs, serving himself some of the small dinner Ariana had cooked. "He was so fidgety when I first picked him up, I thought he was going to pass out or something."

"Are we doing the right thing?" Ariana asked, taking a seat across from Cris. She gazed up at the elder with soft green eyes. "I mean, we might be putting him in more danger by taking him from Moor."

"Hush." Cris snapped quickly. "Mamá wouldn't want him to be abused as he has been by that Moorish bastard. It was time. I…" He trailed off, running a hand through his thick brunette hair. "I had made a promise to him when Mamá had passed away. I told him I'd come for him. I can't let mi hermanito down now, now can I?"

The younger of the two Iberians grew quiet. She pulled her wavy brunette hair from its loose ponytail, braiding it quietly, staring down at the table as she fiddled with her hair. "O gloriosa domina excels super sidera, qui te creavit provide, lactas sacrato ubere. Quod Eva tristis abstulit, tu reddis almo germine; intrent ut astra flebiles, sternis benigna semitam. Tu regis alti ianua et porta lucis fulgida; vitam datam per Virginem, gentes redeptae, plaudite. Patri sit Paraclito tuoque Nato gloria, qui veste te mirabili circumdederunt gratiae. Amen."

"Amen..." Cris murmured, glancing at his sister. "I'm assuming Moor took his religion, too?"

Ariana shrugged, continuing to play with her hair. "I'm not too sure, probably so. He's Muslim and until the day Mamá died, Antonio was Catholic. We can probably safely assume that Moor wiped all of that out. It's a shame, really. He has to relearn Iberian languages and even his religion. He has to start over from scratch, no?"

"It really is a pity," Cris murmured softly.

"You mustn't blame yourself for Moor's taking of Antonio, Cristoval." Ariana mumbled, moving her hand from her hair and placing it on Cris's considerably bigger hand. "It was inevitable. He would have found him anyway."

Cris scowled and tugged his hand away from Ariana, standing up abruptly and turning to glare at her. "So are you saying Mamá y Papá's untimely deaths were also inevitable, Castile?"

Ariana flinched at the use of her rising Kingdom's name instead of her human name. "Cris…" She whispered, glancing up at him. "I…" She sighed, giving a small nod. "Yes it was, Moor was going to invade whether or not you had run away like you did. It's not like you could've stopped him. He had an army, Cristoval."

The taller male scoffed and folded his arms, shooting one last icy glare over his shoulder at his sister. "I'm going to bed." He growled, stalking off to his own room. "I suggest you do the same."

Sighing quietly, Ariana nodded, standing up to clean up the remains of their dinner. "Sleep well," She said in a hushed voice, watching Cris storm off. With another sigh, Ariana finished cleaning up, blowing out the candles that lit up the small space. She remained in the cooking area of the home, running her hand over the wooden table. "I doubt he even knows you ran, Cris…" Ariana murmured to herself.

She stayed for a few moments, finally lighting another candle and heading outside, tugging the shawl that hung over her shoulders closer around her body. "God…" She murmured, sitting quietly outside, sitting the candle beside her. "My Lord, tell me if I am on the right path. Where we right to take this child and potentially put him in more harm than he was previously in?"

Ariana remained quiet, murmuring a good night prayer moving her hand in a motion from her head and across her chest to form a cross. "Amen," She murmured quietly, picking up the candle quickly and heading back inside. She set it down, blowing it out, watching silently for a moment as the once liquid wax dried and solidified down the sides of the candle before heading to bed herself. She could sort out her feelings and the situation in the morning.

A/N: The hymn that Ariana sings softly is "O Gloriosa Domnia" which is an ancient Iberian Hymn that was written in the mid 500's. It was used by the Iberian version of the Catholic Church, hence why Ariana sings it. The translated lyrics are here:

O HEAVEN'S glorious mistress,
enthron'd above the starry sky!
thou feedest with thy sacred breast
thy own Creator, Lord most high.

What man had lost in hapless Eve,
thy sacred womb to man restores,
thou to the wretched here beneath
hast open'd Heaven's eternal doors.

Hail, O refulgent Hall of light!
Hail Gate august of Heaven's high King!
through thee redeem'd to endless life,
thy praise let all the nations sing.

To the Father and the Spirit
and to thy Son all glory be,
who with a wonderous garment
of graces encircled thee. Amen.

Anywho. I hope you all enjoyed. Much love and happy reading.