Prologue
-What do you choose to be.. At birth?
Light filtered through the window of what seemed to be a castle. The sun was high now, and as it shines down, the castle was bathed in light. As if it had set something off, all the workers awoke and began working. Busy as they set things up. Tables with pure white cloth, chairs, many of them. All in the front courtyard of what was none other than a kingdom. Each Pokemon scrambling a bit frantically. Things were being set up.. For something. But what was not yet made clear. Not a ball.. Those were always held inside.
"Everything is coming together." Said an espeon, a small smile on his face as he overlooked the work and preparations for the party. Next to him sat a leafeon. She was wearing bright topaz jewelry, she was splotched with white markings, and she had a steely gaze as she observed. Her ear flicked as she looked at him. "The other kingdom shall arrive before the sun has set." He looked to her. Her ears perked up. "That would be a bit.. Late. You don't even know when they are coming? At Noon. That is when they will be here, and that is when our daughter will be wed."
"Wed? Not yet." He seemed uneasy. "She has yet to even hatch. I'm glad I could sense that she is indeed a girl, and I am grateful that we will unite the kingdoms, but betrothed is a much better word."
A kirlia, a maid by her apparel, was lightly and gently carrying an egg. She was being particularly careful as she carried it to her king and queen, and she sets it down in the middle of the two, in a small blanket. She bowed to them before returning inside. The espeon perked his ears as he looked at the egg, and then he smiled. "She's going to bring peace to all of us."
"You have high hopes."
"Why wouldn't I?" He beamed with a grin. "She's is our kid of course!" His tail wagged. The leafeon however didn't seem so amused, but his behavior made her smirk. "That is a fine outlook.. But she may not want to be a queen. She could be a rebel.. She could oh, I don't know, kill all of us. Every single one."
"You have a very high sense of her power." Her previous jeer at him gets thrown back at her. He was aiming to get her to brag about the child.. But all she replied with was; "I can feel her power."
Another kingdom, out of the way, close to mountains, was awake. Inside things were smooth. A mightyena was grooming an eevee, pure white with rosy pink paws, nose, ear tips, and his pink eyes were striking. He tried to keep a smile, but it was obvious the fuss over him was making him agitated. The mightyena fluffed out the mane around his neck and then let him be, only for a jolteon to enter. "You have to look your best, Kawan." The jolteon sat beside him in the mirror, eyes calm and cool as he pats his son's head and nudged him.
The albino eevee quickly snapped his attention to the jolteon, his ears lowering a bit as he spoke. "What is all this for dad?" His eyes were cloudy and his expression confused. The jolteon shakes his head. "Your marriage. I told you. I've told you since you were born. You will be married today before sundown, and our kingdom will be united." To this the little eevee looked back in the mirror at himself. He blinks slowly, and then he nodded. "I remember.. But is this a … a good way to do it dad?"
"It is guaranteed. You want to hurt a pretty girl's heart?" His father gave him a bit of a twisted smile. Kawan shook his head no frantically. "I don't want to hurt anyone!" His tail bushed out and his father smoothes it out. "Then this wedding will take place. Kawan stared at him and nodded slowly once more. "Yes dad. Did you and mom get married like this?"
The jolteon thought for a bit. "No." He shook his head slowly, obviously thinking of what to tell his son about his mother. Kawan had never met his mother, gone after he was born. He never knew what happened, he just knew he didn't have a mom, and he had to live with that. "I want better for you. It just isn't uniting the kingdoms. Kawan. Your mother was a villager."
Kawan gasped a bit. His father seemed to have such an offputting view on villagers. But his mother was one? His tail fluffed up again, though this time his father allowed it. "She was the prettiest jolteon I had ever laid eyes on. She came to one of the village balls, and she talked to me. Said her name was Scarlett, and I had never heard such a voice, sounded like silk. Decided that she was mine then and there." He chuckled as he reminisced. "But your mother was stubborn. I can't tell you how many times I asked, and she said no every time. She just wasn't ready. And then she finally said yes, right under the apple trees she grew. Before I knew it you were born.. But you were just a little too much for her to take. That's why you never met her."
He was quiet then, and Kawan was too. His ears lowered as he hears this. His father stood up before walking into the closet. Kawan stared at himself in the mirror. He hadn't heard the story before, he hadn't heard of his mother before. When he finally did.. He was the reason she was no longer alive.
His father came back to him as the weight of things settled in the eevee's mind. "You'll be giving her this." He looked up at his father, and his father gave him a necklace. It was a pendant, a bright lapis gem hanging from a gold chain. " your mother's. I gave it to her on our wedding, so you'll be giving it to Aadya."
That was the first time he had heard her name. "Ayd-ya?" He pronounced it, and his ears flicked as he held the pendant. "That's her name?"
"That's what her mother and father told me her name is." He nudged his son to his paws again. "Now we have to get going if we are to make it before noon. I'll carry you the whole way." Kawan felt lighter as he was lifted by his scruff, and he held onto the pendant that he was supposed to give to his betrothed. He was going to carry it the whole way too, as it was the only thing of his mother he had ever received.
Kawan had ended up falling asleep, but when he woke up he blinked away the cloudiness in his eyes, to see he was still being carried.. But now he was in front of a white castle, the light seemed to bleach it. He gasped a little as he was carried through the gates leading to the castle. He saw tables, sculptures, huge tapestries. The only word he could conjure up in his head to describe everything was well.. Enchanting. It was so different from his. It seemed brighter and more active, while everything where he was born was quiet and organized. He enjoyed the noises of talking and the bit of disorder as things were still being set up. He enjoyed how welcomed the Pokemon here were as he arrived with his father and the others that were servants in his castle. Kawan's kingdom was slightly small, and there's was large. No wonder his father wanted them united.
His father broke away from everyone and carried Kawan up into the castle, up some stairs, and then up to the balcony where he saw an espeon, a leafeon, and an egg. He was set down and then his father also sat down. Kawan stared at the two eeveelutions, his eyes a little wide. His father pats his head, so he could get a bit of comfort. "This is my son Kawan. And Kawan, do you see that egg? She's your betrothed." Kawan's eyes were still wide as they rested on the egg. "She hasn't hatched yet? Then how do you know it's a girl?" He stood up and walked up to it, poking it gently with his nose. He was surprised it was still an egg. He had only just hatched himself, about five months ago, but he was smart and picked up words fast; he learned pretty fast too. To answer his question, the espeon smirks a little. "That is a great question, and the simple answer is, I can see it. Usually most have to wait until the egg hatches, of course. Except for psychic types. We can see inside, much like when we read thoughts." He gently held the egg up in his paws. "And when I see, I see a girl. Aadya."
Kawan nodded. Made sense to him. He wasn't one to question someone's abilities, for he was only a normal eevee himself. Besides his coat. He flicked his rosy pink ears and looked around. "Everything here is so nice…" He spoke his thoughts. "Thank you for setting up all of this for us."
The leafeon smiled warmly, and she nudged him a bit. "It is custom. A nice party setting, and an altar. She should hatch soon, and when she does, you two will be rested on the altar. Flowers will be thrown.. A priest will recite vows… and you will give her whatever you will give her to symbolize the union. Then you will go back home. Do not worry however, we will allow you two to see each other whenever you want."
Kawan stayed there and talked with the two, "Almost time, Kawan." and then his father scooped him up and then exited the castle with him. He approached the altar and set him down beside it. He waited and waited, but his father turned him around, so he couldn't see the crowd of servants and other kingdom dwellers gathering. Kawan didn't protest, because his father knew best. He knew the traditions and customs and such, and Kawan didn't. Pretty soon he hears slight gasps and a bit of cooing and cheering, and his father nudged him. "Get on the altar." the eevee nodded, and he hoisted himself up on the altar, and he looked at everyone in front of him, his ears perking. There were so many pokemon he had never seen before, and everyone looked so happy and welcoming. Then he saw the reason for their cheers. The leafeon walked down the middle of them, to the altar, and she was carrying something. As she approached, she sat an eevee next to him on the altar.
Kawan blinked his pink eyes. He had never seen anyone like that eevee. She was a very light brown, almost like cream, and she had white splotches on her body that resembled her mother's. She had a pink nose, and her eyes were a wide orange, they looked like fire. When she saw him, she obviously didn't understand the serious atmosphere, but she seemed to make everything calmer and much more lighthearted already. She smiled at him and pawed at his nose curiously. He was a bit speechless. Her kingdom may be enchanting, but she was beautiful in every sense of the word. He smiled back sheepishly at her, and he gulps a little. He heard talking, but he couldn't make out the words as he was just a little too captivated. His tail wagged. His father's voice snapped him out of his trance and he looked back at him.
"Give her the necklace."
Kawan obliged, shaking a little as he held out the lapis pendant and puts it around Aadya's neck, and she looked at it and pawed at it a few times, blinking her fiery eyes and looking at her mother.. Kawan lowered his ears and smiled. He heard the cheering of everyone else as now, these two kingdoms were united.
Kawan wagged his tail and smiled a little as he rode on his father's head back to his own, quiet kingdom. He looked down at the jolteon. "So we're united now? Like… a really really big kingdom?" His father chuckled. "We are."
"Aadya is really pretty, dad."
"Is that so?" His father chuckled once more as he walked ahead of everyone with his son, eyes fixed on the direction he was going. Kawan raises back up so he isn't in his father's face and nodded. "She is. I like her eyes a lot. And when we're older, we will really be married, and then I can look in her eyes every day. And I bet she'll be really fun to talk to! And I'll always be there for her because she's my wife." He lowered his head and sighed a bit peacefully. He was nervous at the start, but he liked her so far, and he wanted them to be closer than anyone he would ever come to know.
But did she feel the same?