Light came in through the large curtained windows and fell upon the blond locks of the young Princess. She groaned a bit, not wanting to wake, today they were taking her for her military training in tactics. She didn't want to learn about histories and tactics. She just wanted to sleep....it had been a while since she had gotten a good night of it. She pulled her taffeta bedsheets over her head, trying to block the light. It did nothing about it. The Kimlascan Red bedspread was illuminated by the sun shining through like light through a potato sack. The sharp gold lief outline of the Kimlascan Seal on her bedspread cast a shadow that when ruffled like it was looked much like a face....she almost laughed at it.
Sighing heavily, realizing that sleep would be impossible to reattain she sat up, the imprint of her head on her down pillow still there perfectly. She shook her head, opening her blue green eyes and trying to shake the morning dust out of her hair. The down in her pillows always left some residue in the golden locks of the young princess. She got out of bed, leaving her bed unkempt, after all the maids had to do something. She walked into her bathroom slipping out of her nightgown and examining herself in the mirror. She turned and set the water to run for a moment to heat up, and then turned to look back at herself. Her father had always told her she was special, she'd be an excellent ruler one day. Why am I so special? She asked herself a lot. Yes I'm the Princess but...does that make me any better than Jozette or Guy? Jozette can make more decisions and makes them better than I do...and Guy he's confident. Well...until a woman gets close to him. He better get used to it.... She thought as an aside. Since the wedding day of Luke and Natalia was growing closer, it was to be....5 years from now.
Sighing she stepped into the hot shower, the steam rising up as her hair stuck to her head and turned a very dark golden brown. She let the water roll down her body, just trying to clear her head of such thoughts. He still doesn't remember his vows? What did they do to him in Malkuth? Again she sighed. At least he was safe. It was some time before the steam and water had managed to help her clear her head, (though she managed to clean herself during this time as well) and she had stepped out of the shower, drying herself off. The red towel with Gold Kimlascan Signet she dropped to the floor as she slipped into her robe. It was days like this that she dreaded. She didn't have a lot to do particularly, she was heading to get some preliminary training in battle tactics in case she should ever have to deal with them. But her day wasn't particularly busy. She was going to the Archery Range for a few hours, and then after that she was going to come back and get changed before going to check on Luke. Make sure he was TRYING to keep up with his studies at least. Then to the Military base for some meetings and some classes, before she got to go back to the castle for dinner and then retire to bed. It sounded like a boring day. All the more reason to NOT get out of bed.
She returned to her bedroom before walking through the door to her small sitting room. The servants had already brought up some tea. They knew EXACTLY how she liked it. Either Lady Almandine Blend or Daathic Blend, no sugars, black unless the Daathic Blend was of the Evanos Brew in which case they were to add milk. But this smelled like Lady Almandine, she sat on the sofa in her sitting room and looked at the tea set. She remembered when Luke had first seen this tea set.
"A tea set fit for a Princess." He laughed a bit, before turning to her. "Natalia..." he asked calmly as he walked over to the very window she was now looking out of, though he was only about as high as she was now that she was sitting. "This is Kimlasca-Lanvaldear, this will be our country someday. And when that happens, we shouldn't be the only ones drinking out of such a tea set. Everyone should. No one should have to be poor Natalia....wars shouldn't happen, do you remember?" After that the images faded. She sat there and looked down at the tea set. What was it like to be poor? What did the common folk need? Why were nobles "noble"? Luke had sparked these questions in her mind, well...before the memory loss. She never was able to find answers, at least in the castle. She wanted to get out for a day.
She looked at the tea set, it didn't seem all that unusual to her. The large teapot was red, like everything else, with a gold trim, and a black Kimlascan Seal on the side. The teacups weren't though; they were white with gold trim around the edges, to match the understated tones of the pot. She ran her hand over it, picking up the teapot and pouring the steaming fluid into one of the cups, before bringing it to her lips to sip it down.
A little while later she was down at the archery range.....the arrow flying from the bow, the string vibrating next to her ear, the low "THWANG" resonating with the fonons in the air. The arrow flew straight, wiggling in the air like a thrashing fish as it curved through the air and struck the middle of the target. A bullseye. Again. She sighed and lowered the bow over her sleeved arms and put it back on the weapons rack. She was getting tired of this....the same old thing everyday. She headed back towards the Castle, moving through the noble district....the red haired nobles looking at the young Princess as she rushed through the courtyard into the massive white marble Castle as she walks up towards her room. She wasn't going to do what she was supposed to this time. She changed into something she had bought last time at the market, it was definitely middle class, functional, but fairly stylish as well. She didn't particularly care what it looked like and the details were vague in her mind.
She hurried down to the elevator down to the lower quarter, doing her best not to be seen directly, though being the only blond in a quarter full of red-heads, she was sure to be recognized by the Guards of any of the nobility and she just hoped she could sneak down the elevator if the Guard wasn't at his post. Surprise! He wasn't there....and she slipped onto the elevator and rode it down into the merchant quarter. She walked out into the market, and was a bit surprised at all the people. Small ones, short ones, skinny ones fat ones, (one fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish. :P), blond ones, brunettes, red-heads. This wasn't her first time to this part of the city, but it was her first time alone and not escorted and rushed. She actually had time to look about.
Strolling along to a small market stand where they had fruits and teas and vegetables from all over, she took an apple and left some money as she turned to walk off, thanking the vendor. She had never bought an apple before it was an interesting thing. She had never bought anything despite the fact that she did carry around money. Eating the apple she thought back again, the fourteen year old Princess....wandered a bit lost in her memories.
"Watch it Natalia!" Luke caught her as she plummeted from the window of the Castle. "A window is no place for Princesses to be leaping from, you're not the 'Ispanian Star'" She smiled and gave him a hug, "But you're my star, right Luke?" He didn't smile, just...barely quirked his lip. "Yes Princess."
She tripped over a beggar and fell to her knees, scraping her knee on the pavement and pulling herself out of the daze she was in. Her knee was bleeding, and a few people had stopped to help her as she was lying in the floor, the red-brown stones and red-brown chips in her wound all around, as the sanguine colored fluid ran down her leg. It wasn't the worst wound she had sustained but it was....curious. She healed it up with an and looked up at the indistinct faces around her smiling. "I'm fine, I'm fine." She insisted as she forced herself to her feet. Turning again to keep walking about, it wasn't long before the royal guard had found her. She wasn't in the Castle or a Duke Fabre's so that naturally caused them to worry...
She was confined to her room for the rest of the day...a natural punishment for "Royal Endangerment"...still she found it boring and unfair. She lie on her now neatly made bed, her head at the base of the Kimlascan Sword, that bore down through the middle of the signet, as she tossed a ball up at the wall and it bounced down again. Catching it she looked at it with a frustrated eye. The ball always does as it's told...up and down again, boring and rote, over and over. Then again the ball is a ball, it has no other calling, nothing else it could be. I'm human, I don't have to be a "Princess" or a "Noble" but I am. Can I choose to be something else? She stood up and looked out the window, Luke wasn't going to catch her if she leapt. So she sighed and went back to reading some books.
She sat in her sitting room looking down at the floor. Luke was pacing about on the other side of the room, looking over at her. Then the door slid open and in walked one of her Father's aides, with knights bearing two glasses of wine on their trays. The wine smelt all through the room and Natalia just looked over at them. Nothing she saw was very clear, her mind was preoccupied...she struggled to understand what was going on in her head. "The one who claims to be the Kimlascan Princess, Meryl, and the Mastermind behind the plot to destroy Akzeriuth, Luke Fon Fabre, you have both been stripped of the rights to have the authority of the Royal Lineage. And the weight of slaughtering the aid squadron at Akzeriuth is also heavy. Natalia, you were, for the most part fostered into the Royal Family. At least make this final brave decision in the end. It isn't all that harsh. It's out of consideration by His Majesty. You should be thankful" It all of a sudden occurred to her.... Poison. That's whats in those glasses...I'm going to die, Father, how could you? Father.....I'm....I'm.... her thoughts after that were unclear and vague.
The Guards with the trays and wine glasses approached, she saw her death walking towards her, mesmerized by the swishing of the fluid in the glass.....as if it was her own blood dancing in that cup. She never liked the color of blood, but for some reason that is what she saw in those glasses, drinking her own blood, drinking down her doom. One way or another, that glass was going to see blood today. She looked down at her lap, prepared to die, but there was a voice. "Don't give me this crap!" Natalia watched as Luke struck the glasses away and they fell with a crash onto the floor. "There's no way I'll shut up and drink that!"
The two guards drew their swords, we were to die either way. The messenger would say we simply slipped into death, and she was afraid. Luke's arm shielded her as they backed away, towards the wall. The guards and messengers then fell to a fonic hymn...but all she could think about.... Father! I have to talk to him! The stuff after that was vague, blurred hallways and rushing into the Throne Room with Guy and Tear. They all stood there, looking up at her father, and she was unsure of exactly WHAT she felt. Mohs and Her Nanny were there.....and she asked "Father! Am I really not your daughter." "I don't want to believe it but..." Mohs then interrupted... God this old man was annoying. STOP TRYING TO TELL PEOPLE WHAT TO THINK!!! "You're Wet-Nurse has testified. You're Meryl, the daughter of one of the Late Queen's Servants. Correct?" He aimed that at her nanny...who proceeded to explain. The words were not certain but the story was fixed in her head....she wasn't Natalia, she was Meryl. Sylvia's daughter, the Princess' replacement.
Right before they almost died at the hands of the God Generals, Dist and Largo, Asch...no...Luke....ran in and saved them. She refused to think of him as Asch. She ran into the streets, followed by the guards. Death seemed inevitable, if all the Kimlascan Guard was hunting for them. Then to her surprise the citizens rose up and saved them, stalled the guards. Natalia, Please Run! she heard from many of the citizens. No...I won't let you! "Why are you--?" "We won't let the Princess be executed under false charges!" But they're not false...I really am a traitor to the throne...claiming to be a princess when I am no different from you...I am not who I think I am. I do deserve this! "I am not of Royal Blood, I am an Imposter!" She yelled loudly at the citizens, she didn't want to see them hurt. "Do not endanger yourselves for me! Please Run!" Then...to her surprise she heard the oddest thing. "We don't give a damn whether you're of Royal Blood or not!" One citizen cried, and then another... "You're the one who gave us jobs after we lost our old ones." The guards swung their swords, trying to ward away a few of the cheaply armed citizens. "Hurry up and run!"
She would have stood there....the young princess until they were all dead and her with them. No....you can't do this for a lie. Even if I did do those things...I THOUGHT I was a Princess, the truth is I am an impostor.... She raised her voice to object again, but then she felt a grasp around her wrist. Both frightened and relieved she looked down at it. "Come on, Natalia!" That's right! I have a war to stop. Even if I'm not Princess....as a CITIZEN I should do this! "Thank you!" She said to the citizens as she was pulled off with Luke and the rest.
"Largo, please put away your weapon." the still young Princess looked down the end of her arrow towards the God General...no...her father. "This World is Rotten." "That's not true." Largo let go of Luke and turned to walk way for a moment. "Day in and day out, Score, Score, Score. How many lives have been thrown away for it?" He's not listening! "What you're trying to do is no different in the end!" Without a seconds thought Largo responded. "Van's Plan, our plan...is twisted. But without a medicine this strong, the world will follow Yulia's Score...and die. As long as the Originals remain, so will remnants of the Planet's Memory." Luke...interjected then. "The idea of killing everyone alive today is crazy!" Largo grew indignant at Luke...and Natalia pulled back a bit more on the bowstring. "This coming from the man who massacred replicas to consume them. Her aim didn't waver but her thoughts drifted to Luke. Luke...how will you deal with that...that accusation is...horrible. But true. Luke... She was concerned, Luke was going to have to face a shadow of his past....and she wasn't sure how he was going to deal with it.
"That's right. I consumed their lives and chose to preserve this original world!" Natalia smiled a little. For a seven year old, he had come a long way, dealt with his sins. He HAD grown up, right in front of her, perhaps in spite of her years of influence. "Well said, you are a worthy opponent! En Garde!" "Largo!" "Never show your enemy mercy Princess...no matter who he is! Mercy has no place once you meet, as enemies." The God General said as he ran towards them all, planning to end this or die. "So you are an enemy then. If that is what you wish we will face you as warriors." Everyone else made a comment, but they weren't as clear in her mind. She let an arrow fly, and he glanced it away with his scythe. "Come Children, let me crush you!" The details of the battle were vague, there were fonic artes and clashing of weapon to weapon, until Largo locked blades with Luke. "I'm taking you with me!" Luke groaned and the young woman watched as it happened. She had to decide something fast. She let fly the arrow, piercing the man's spine and she looked at him intently even as he groaned. "Good...shot Meryl....how you've...grown." She didn't break gaze even as he looked at her...she knew what she had to do, she wasn't going to get weepy eyed in what just happened. Luke spoke up. "Largo, we both want the same thing. We're trying to get away from the Score. Why do we have to kill each other like this?" Largo turned his head to the young man. "It's not the same thing. Listen...boy. This is a battle of beliefs, of convictions...." Conviction...is that really the reason he wouldn't work with us? What is it he has convictions about? What do you have convictions about Largo! What?! What would make it so great, you were willing to kill me.... "Convictions..." Luke responded briefly...until the God General spoke up. "We think that this world...should be destroyed and reborn...you think that...people should start over again....the result may be the same...but they're different... He then looked up at the young girl, his daughter standing there and gave her some advice that she needed to hear if she was to follow her convictions through to the end. "Show your enemy...no mercy. With shallow feelings like that....you'll never...defeat him. Farewell....Meryl...." He fell to the ground, and those last words had caused her to lower her stance...and run to him as he fell...and she fell to her knees over him. "Father...."
Twenty-two. Who would have thought that was such a big year for her. Her....the young bride-to-be, waiting in the Bride's room preparing for her ceremony. Mostly fretting...it was in PART a political marriage, and in another part a comfortable one, with some love in there....though that grew the more time they spent together. I remember when I couldn't even get within ten feet of him...now he's marrying me. I wonder if he wants this...or if he is being pushed by circumstance as well. Though...if I had to ask for a political groom, I don't think I could have landed anyone better. Gailardia Galen Gardios. Count of Malkuth, and childhood friend....Guy... she laughed in her head. It was a humorous notion to her, to be marrying the man who couldn't touch her. He'd made great strides in his Gynophobia but...What if...he can't touch me on the honeymoon. I know he's made great strides in dealing with his Gynophobia but....being...intimate with someone isn't anything either of us had any practice with...for all I know he might flail and freak out. She actually audibly giggled as the maids continued to adjust her dress. It was a humorous thought was all, fleeting....
This of course wasn't just a marriage ceremony, is was also a political symbol. She knew this, she couldn't back out even if she wanted to. The marrying of the Princess of Kimlasca-Lanvaldear to a Ruling Count of Malkuth was a great gesture of peace and stability, and trust. Peony and her both knew this had to happen, so Peony and Guy and her worked out the way to have the least amount of tension on all sides. She was kind of glad it was Guy though...they did work well together, Guy knew her and her needs well enough, and was already used to having her around, so it wasn't going to be a huge transition.
She gulped audibly as the time drew closer, she could hear the music playing the wedding march and she hurried along to the door to the Ceremony Hall. Her father was there to escort her out...even as old as he was now. His once red locks were a dull grey, his face ribbed with wrinkles, but still she couldn't help but smile as he stood there in his formal robes. She turned on the deep red and gold half of the long dual-national carpet that ran from the back room to the Altar. She was standing on the right side of the carpet, the deep red Kimlascan color under her heels, as well as the right half of the Kimlascan Seal. The other half of the Carpet, the side Gailardia was inevitably standing on on the other side was a deep blue with the left half of the Malkuth Silver harp. The Combined Symbol has been used on treaties since the founding of their kingdoms...she sighed, it was just another indication that this was more political than actual, but she nodded to her father, her blue-green eyes giving consent before she pulled the veil over her eyes.
It wasn't long of course until she was standing up there looking over at Gailardia, his dress the utmost formal but it never detracted from his easygoing personality. She was happy at the fact that everyone showed up. She looked around, on the Malkuth side she saw His Majesty Peony, and Nephry and Jade. All of them dressed up except Jade, who she could hear in her head saying, "Formal Dress makes it hard for my old joints to move I'm afraid." but she didn't mind, that was Jade. She continued to look around, Guy's best man was Marquess Luke fon Fabre, naturally. From Daath and the Order, Anise was here and so was Florian, and the Tatlin Parents. From Kimlasca she knew Duke Fabre, and all the nobles from her country were there, and her maid of honor, her friend Mystearica Aura Fon Fabre was there as well. Astor and the Merchant's guild were there, the whole world was practically gathered in this room.
"Dearly Beloved, we are gathered here today..." Tear said as she stepped up onto the Altar, as the highest ranking member of the Order here today. "In the face of Lorelei..." her hand motioned to Luke, "the powers of the World" she loosely motioned to the room itself, "and the various witnesses gathered here today, to witness a monumental union, a holy union, and one approved by all standing here. The Heir to the Kimlascan Throne, Natalia Luzu Kimlasca-Lanvaldear is to be taken in marriage to the gallant Gailardia Galen Gardios of the house of Count Gardios of Malkuth. This marriage, not only symbolizes the union of these two young people in holy matrimony and into one flesh, but also the union of the world into a unified whole. Now....Gailardia Galen."
Guy perked up, making sure to subtly fix his vest and jacket, not sure how he looked. "Gailardia Galen, do you take this woman Natalia Luzu Kimlasca-Lanvaldear, to be your lawfully wedded wife? To have and to hold, to care for and love, in sickness and in health, for better or worse, in richer or in poorer, in peace -and- in wartime." she took a brief second to emphasize that point and look at both rulers.... "until death or the fates tear you asunder?"
Gailardia smiled softly and nodded, "I do. If you don't mind Tear, I have something I'd like to say to Natalia...." Tear nodded her head. It was a little curious, she'd never had such an unusual request, then again she'd only done two ceremonies. Natalia's blue-green eyes darted up to Guy at the unusual request, even though her face was concealed by the veil still. Guy smiles slyly and says slowly the lines that apparently Luke and him had discussed a few weeks ago... "Someday, when we're grown up.... Natalia just stared, they sounded sincere just like Lu-Asch's did. "Let's change this country. Change it so that no one has to be poor, change it so that war never happens. Let's work together to change our country...for the rest of our lives. Together." Natalia's eyes were watering under her veil, hearing those words sincerely for the first time in many years, her lip twitched up into a smile, an honest one. She knew she was going to be alright.
Tear then continued. "Do you Natalia Luzu Kimlasca-Lanvaldear, take Gailardia Galen Gardios to be your lawfully wedded husband. To have and to hold, in sickness and in health, for richer or poorer, for better or for worse, in peace and wartime....till death or the fates tear you asunder?" Natalia tried to work her way away from just crying out and calmly responded with the answer she new was natural. "I do." It wasn't long then before Tear smiled and said, "Then by the powers invested in me by the Order of Lorelei, I hear by pronounce you Man and Wife. You may now kiss the Bride Gailardia." Guy smiled and lifted Natalia's veil before leaning in and kissing her wamly, and both of their eyes slid shut. "May I introduce to the witnesses, Mr. and Mrs. Gailardia Kimlasca-Lanvaldear Galen Gardios." Natalia laughed a bit. It was a mouthful.