Before.

By  Emily Jennings

Disclaimer: The idea is mine, the characters are based on our Roswell friends, everything else you can work out for yourself!

Note: I did post this before, it was entitled "Life before Earth". Everything in the first and second chapters is what I posted before it's just moderated a little, so you might recognise it. I didn't really get a response before so I would really like you guys to review it if you like it. Please!!!!

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Eliza sunk further into silent despair as her mother's lecture progressed. She waited patiently for an appropriate opening in between the constant prattle which would allow her to plead her case, so far no such opportunity had arisen.

"Eliza! Are you listening to me?"

"Yes mother, but …"

"Good! Further more I believe …" Eliza refocused her eyes and tried in earnest to really listen to her. "You're of an age when blah, blah, blah, blah, blah…" and once again she was back where she had started.

It wasn't as though Eliza was prone to this sort of thing, her tutors would be the first to say that she was an apt pupil; the first to listen. It was just that her mother was a tiresome woman whose single purpose in life was to gossip about her neighbours and assume a superior position above all of her acquaintances.

She had little if any intelligence and in short Eliza could not abide her. The feeling was mutual.

There was a highly audible intake of breath and Eliza became aware that she had finally gotten her opening. "Mother!" she started with no uncertain amount of exasperation, "Surely you can see how ridiculous this proposal is?"

"Indeed I cannot. Why should this be ridiculous? Why should this be so? You are to tell me at once!"

Eliza could hardly contain her sense of outrage "How could you be in any doubt of the matter? It is highly immoral mother. I am barely fourteen and you wish to marry off to the first air headed nobleman that comes our way, without any thought of my well being!"

"Oh such a devious and ungrateful daughter have I! How you twist my words. I do not wish to marry you off to just anybody, I wish to marry you off to your soul mate!" She stressed the last word as though she thought Eliza was simple and unable to comprehend the meaning.

A hopeless anger consumed Eliza as her mouth moved fruitlessly to form words that would adequately express her indignation, she found none. Finally succumbing to her mother's words she slumped ungracefully onto the stone bench at her side. Her tone was quiet and tired as she made a last effort to plead with her mother. "Why mother? Why are you doing this? None of the other girls have to."

"Eliza you should well know by now, what others may do you may not, just as what you may do others may not."

"Oh yes, I remember now…" the heavy sarcasm in her voice was only too evident. "We're royalty right?" The elder woman gave a satisfied nod and inhaled as though to speak, her daughter interrupted her.

"Sorry, I forgot. Your only royalty by association. I'm the only one that can make that claim, and let's face it…I'm so far down the royal hierarchy that their majesties haven't even acknowledged the connection."

Eliza's mother's voice rang shrill with anguish and impatience, "You must understand. Grave times are coming to Antar and you may find yourself High Queen sooner then you expect."

That was not the reply Eliza had been expecting. However she was only just beginning to warm to the subject and chose to ignore the abnormality of the comment.

"If that is the case mother, if grave times are coming to Antar than why is it that Prince Zan has not yet been forced to find his soul mate? After all he is the immediate hire to the throne, if anything was to happen to their majesties he would be in direct succession." she fired acidly. Her mother evaded the question with an air of disinterest. "I do not make it my affair to question their majesties motives."

"What a surprise…" Eliza muttered under her breath, "You do with everybody else!"

"That is enough young lady I have come to the end of my tether! Whatever their majesties are doing I am sure they have good reason for it. This discussion is over unless I say otherwise. You are to cease this folly immediately and I wish you to come promptly to dinner with an apology in tow" With that she swept away back into the house.

Eliza was left alone feeling as though she would cry, "What if I don't have a soul mate?" she asked aloud, but the question was carried away by the soft eastern breeze.

Prince Zan strode into his parents' assembly room with a directness that proved him to be a boy, or perhaps more appropriately a man, in the midst of a mission. A minor noble had previously been seeking advice from the King but found cause to pause under the Crown Prince's obvious fury.

"Perhaps you should take leave kind Sir, so that my son may dispel that which has caused him this uncharacteristic change in disposition in a private viewing" the King suggested mildly, the nobleman was only too happy to oblige.

"I must admit my son; if your extravagant entrance was to capture my attention you have succeeded ten fold. I am afire with curiosity."

The Queen frowned at her husband's easy manner knowing too well it would only succeed in irritating their son further, which at present was not an advisable thing to do.

"I am fed up of having every Gods blesséd girl in the kingdom thrust under my nose. I refuse to have another one paraded in front of me!" he fumed. "Further more the knowledge escapes me as to why I have half the palace gawp at me every time I'm with one of these girls. The servants whisper amongst themselves as to whether or not she's the one and I have members of nobility counselling as to how desirable each one is and what qualities I should be looking for in a mate. Now tell me if I'm wrong here, but I'm getting a strong feeling that you're not telling me everything!"

He looked at both of his parents in turn and waited for a reasonable explanation. He didn't get one. Letting out an infuriated growl he turned and exited the room, making a point of slamming the door behind him.

"Well that was an interesting display of temper wouldn't you say dear?" remarked the King in an outrageously jolly tone. The Queen's own temper began to rise, "I do not believe you see the extent to which this is affecting our son. He is clearly distressed by these events and yet you continue to treat his feelings as though they are of little importance! However do you expecting him to become a good king if you insist on treating him like a child?"

Her husband arched his eyebrows and waited for his wife's sudden anger to subside a little. "My Lady, the boy that confronted me today presented to me neither an ability to sensibly control his emotions nor the maturity to convey them in a way that would tempt me to treat him as an equal. I am surprised you did not notice that.

The thinly veiled insult directed at her did not go unnoticed but she had to concede that once again he was correct. "Of course you are right. It just pains me to see him suffer like that."

"I should hardly call that suffering my dear. I dare say there is any number of young men that would happily kill to be in his position at this moment in time." She nodded in mute agreement. The King rested a gentle hand on his wife's shoulder, he was sensitive to his wife's grievance at the need to keep the true matter concealed from their son. Despite all outward appearances, husband and wife loved each other deeply and it was because of this that he felt the need to console her.

He sighed tiredly, his eyes tightly masking the affects of many sleepless nights. "You know the situation before us as well as I and it means we cannot trust anybody. The opposing force is becoming stronger and anything could happen at any given time. If anything should happen to us Zan must take the throne and only with his soul mate will he have the strength to survive the pending war. It is for his safety and the safety of our people that was must do this. We have a responsibility to uphold and it cannot be neglected, no matter how many sacrifices we have to make in the process."

"There must be a more efficient way to find this girl though. As of yet we have had no system when choosing the girls and if we're not careful the war will be upon us and we will be no better off."

"There isn't much we can do. It has been centuries since the need for soul mates and even then few people actually found their real soul mates. King Zavier the Great was the last of our race to find his soul mate, which was over two hundred years ago and in the end it proved to be his down fall!"

"Yes. I know. But he is known as the greatest king we've ever had!"

Quite suddenly and without warning a thought came to her with such clarity that she was rendered momentarily speechless. "I've got it!" she gasped when she could finally speak and then she rather abruptly left leaving behind her a very confused king.

The Queen gave very strict instruction to her two personal body guards detailing that she was not to be interrupted by anybody under any circumstances, and then she got to work.

The royal library was certainly the most extensive in the kingdom and it was even rumoured the most extensive of the five planets. A more thorough investigation would have to take place to give that any justification though. It had it's drawbacks of course. The room was very rarely used which unfortunately left it with a musty odour of neglect that was not pleasant for the senses. She quiet stubbornly refused to let this deter her however and stayed amongst the mildewed books late into the night.

She vaguely recognised her husband's voice amid the others that came to enquire after her but was satisfied to note that they were all politely but rather firmly turned away. The task in itself was relatively easy, finding the correct book was the more trying part and the Queen had begun to get irritable.

There were hundreds of volumes detailing the reign of King Zavier the Great and as a matter of principle she meticulously went through all of them.

It was not Zavier himself she wished to know about, since she already had a quite detailed knowledge of his life, but his descendants. The only problem was that after Zavier's untimely death historians tended to shy away from the subject and his family line wasn't mentioned any further.

One book entitled The Rise and Fall of a Great King had seemed to be promising but turned out to be terribly disappointing. After a very detailed description of Zavier's gruesome and honourable death there was one short paragraph explaining very briefly what happened after the Thousand-year War had come to a cataclysmic end.

Zavier's nephew, Nazaril, abdicated from the throne knowing full well he would always be in his deceased uncle's shadow. That was how the Arratite's had come to the throne, and that was why her husband now ruled Antar.

The Queen closed the last book and gave a dismal little sigh. Perhaps it hadn't been such a good idea after all. Just when she was about to give her something occurred to her; it's funny how that sometimes happens isn't it?

It was fairly obvious that she had been looking in the wrong place all along. What she really needed was the monarchy records which rather opportunely happened to be in the adjoining room. She hadn't been in there five minutes before she had found what she was looking for.

Zavier's line was almost extinct. The Queen was a little ashamed to admit that even she, who prided herself on giving respect where it was due, had allowed the line to go unrecognised and mistreated for so long. She would go about rectifying that immediately. Scrolling down the family tree, she began to become dismayed. Then at the very end…a Princess of fourteen. How very convenient!

Rath regarded the dejected and worn young man that was his Overlord Prince and best friend and pitied him. He sat forming small green balls of energy in the palm of his hands and threw them carelessly at the wall opposite him. Rath cleared his throat and Zan momentarily looked up to see who it was, "Go away!"

"Are you going to tell me what's going on or are you going to continue taking it out on the wall?"

"I gave you a royal command." he replied sullenly.

"Since when have I listened to royal commands?"

After ten years of friendship Rath was accustomed to Zan's outbursts and was unfazed by his friend's hot temper. He took a seat by the Prince and waited. 5, 4, 3, 2…

"Girls! Everywhere I go there are millions of them, all fawning over me." Zan finally admitted resentfully.

"Some would think that isn't so bad." Rath joked hoping to lighten the mood and failing miserably.

"Oh go ahead, laugh at my expense! It's okay for you, you and Lonnie are practically married." His mood darkened, "If they show me another damn curséd girl I'll go crazy, I'll…I'll refuse to see her! What's more they won't tell me why."

Rath considered his options and couldn't see any delicate way of putting it, besides, he was terrible at letting people down gently. "Well it's bloody obvious isn't it? They want you to get married!"

Zan winced as though he had just been punched in the face and nodded glumly. "I was kind of hoping that you wouldn't mention that." he lamented.

Their conversation was suddenly interrupted as the Queen entered. Rath knew by her face what she was going to say and considered running for cover.

"Zan, there you are!" she exclaimed brightly, "We're having guests over and I was hoping you might help me entertain them."

Rath frowned, that hadn't been what he was expecting.

Zan too eyed the situation with suspicion, he had a feeling his mother had an underlying motive. "You can handle guests mom, why do you need me?"

The Queens voice turned vague and uncaring, "Well, err… she has a 14 year old daughter called Eliza and I wanted you to keep her company."

 "Mother, if this is another of father's plots I'll kill him."

"Oh no, I would just really appreciate the help." The Queen hoped her son wouldn't see through her out right lie, "Please? If you do this I promise to try and dissuade your father from anymore of his elaborate conspiracies."

"Okay, okay. I'll do it." he said bitterly.

"Oh I'm so glad you agreed!" she threw her arms around her son in an almost girlish exuberance and kissed him soundly.

"Gerroff  mom!!!"

"Don't worry dear, Rath won't think any less of you" she tousled her son's hair affectionately and walked out of the room humming.

"You know she's lying don't you?" Rath enquired matter-of-fact.

"Huh?" Zan murmured.

"The girl…she's another suitor."

Zan rubbed his eyes, suddenly very tired, "Yeah, I know."

The soft contrasts of green and brown that were the trees and roads of Antar's unruly countryside slowly dissolved, giving way to the splendour of the capital city and urban society. Eliza hung out of the window and breathed in the harsh wind that tugged stubbornly at her chocolate brown hair. Loose strands had worked themselves free of the tight bun atop her head and lashed rebelliously at the sides of her face making her cheeks pink with the cold.

Still she would not pull away from the window, despite her mother's vigorous protests. There were smells and sounds and finery that she had never in her life experienced and she refused to miss the slightest detail. In truth they were nothing but distorted flashes, blurred by the carriage's speed but Eliza failed to notice, or perhaps she just didn't care.

"It's wonderful!" she shouted back to her mother.

"I have no care for the wonders of the City." Her mother sniffed haughtily. "My only care is that you are fit to be seen by royalty and you shall not be fit to be seen by anybody if you carry on like this."

Eliza rolled her eyes to the heavens and muttered a few choice oaths before pulling herself reluctantly away from the beauty of the passing terrain. "Okay, okay…you win!"

Before she could even settle herself back in her seat her mother began fussing over the state of her hair and dictating to her the finer points on how a lady should act.

Eliza let her mother chatter happily for a while and then engaged her about a matter that had been bothering her since she had received the invitation to the Palace. "Mother, why exactly are we going to the Palace?"

The elder woman attempted to defer answering the question by becoming exceedingly interested in the passing landscape that had previously been so boring to her.

Eliza persisted with her enquiry, "Mother, I'm quite adamant about getting an answer so there's no point in putting it off!"

"Well if you must know…" she replied tartly, "I haven't the faintest idea as to why their majesties wish to meet us, although it's about time we got some recognition." She judged by her flighty tone that her mother really didn't have a clue as to why they had been summoned the Palace.

A peaceful silence blanketed the carriage, but of course her mother hated quietness of any kind and felt it necessary to fill the space with inappropriate conversation. "… and of course Junna shall be ever so jealous when I tell her that we had a personal invitation to visit their majesties at the royal palace, and we must have new gowns made for you by Princess Vilandra's personal seamstress for there will be balls and banquettes every night and if you are to be seen with the Prince then …"

"WHAT?!"

"Oh I shouldn't worry Eliza he's far too old for you he's…he's fourteen. Why isn't that the strangest coincidence? He's the exact same age as you!" her tone ended in mock shock.

Realisation hit Eliza with a large thump, she had been duped. She was being whisked off to the palace to for go the humiliation of being examined by the monarchy and if she wasn't up to standards she was going to be sent straight back. In short,  she was a suitor for the Prince.

The carriage moved through the main gates at midday and for a moment Eliza dismissed her foul mood and watched in awe as the Palace stood in all of it's grandeur.

Great glass spires ascended and disappeared into the clouds and delicate pathways rose up and hovered in mid air, acting as bridges to link the many intricate buildings. The faceted glass combined with the pale Antarian sun formed breathtaking multicolour rainbows across the vast grounds, she loved it instantly.

The King and Queen awaited their arrival at the front steps, greeting a variety of their subjects in a gracious manner. As the carriage drew closer Eliza was able to study the regal couple.

The King was an ageing man who looked venerable, as some men do tend to as they become older. His black hair was streaked grey at the temples and he had the weathered, friendly face of a man who had laughed a lot in his youth. Despite his wrinkles it was plainly obvious that he had been extremely handsome in his earlier years.

Unlike her husband, the Queen seemed untouched by time. At least as tall as her partner, there were no signs of age on her fair, unblemished features. Her golden blonde hair fell down to her waist and a single lock of palest blond, near white, hair protruded down her right side. She was beautiful.

The coachman jumped down from his box and opened the carriage door, letting down a small step while doing so. He held out his hand to help her down the step and gave her an encouraging smile, was it really that evident that she was nervous?

In a rush to please, Eliza's mother gave a clumsy curtsy and began to babble profusely; their majesties did not seem impressed.

Her heritage may have been forgotten by the world but Eliza was still a Princess, a descendant of Zavier the Great, and unlike her mother she refused to make a fool of herself and act inferior to them. Her curtsy was one that quite clearly stated that she thought they were of equal status, and unlike Antarian custom dictated she matched the Queen's unwavering gaze instead of looking down.

She was rather astonished when instead of looking haughty or angered by this breach in etiquette, the Queen flashed her an amused grin. Eliza returned a coy smile, taking to her immediately. They were briefly introduced and then a whirlwind of activity erupted around her.

The Queen placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder and escorted her in to the Palace, she found that in the bustle she had been separated from her mother.

"You will have your own chambers dear." The Queen said in a musical voice as though reading her thoughts.

Eliza nodded her head deftly and entrusted herself to the elder woman. The surroundings were alien to her and any confidence she had previously had evaporated. Curiosity got the better of her however, and she eventually plucked up the courage to ask the Queen a question. "Excuse me, where do residents live in the Palace? I mean if the Palace in made of glass then…?"

The Queen smiled down at the Princess, "How very inquisitive of you dear!" the Queen approved. "We don't actually live in the Palace, that's where all the official stuff goes on. We life in a manor house situated behind the Palace. I believe it was one of your great ancestors that started off that tradition, and I whole heartedly agree. Vilandra tends to get bored if she's left to her own devices and would probably annoy some very important people in the process if she had to spend all her time at the Palace. You see my daughter's what one would call 'high maintenance'. My son Zan is at a difficult stage in his life right now and …well I shan't bore you with the details."

They carried on in a comfortable silence until they reached the grounds behind the Palace.

The manor house was a stately building with more windows and chimneys then Eliza had ever seen. Ivy crept up every visible wall and neat flower beds bordered the freshly cut grass and orderly pathways. It somehow possessed the ability to look both imperial and homey at the same time and Eliza begrudgingly admitted that she wouldn't mind living there, but not as anybodies Queen.

The inside of the establishment was just as pleasing, if not more so, then the exterior. Plush carpets of many rich colours covered the floors in each room, while the corridors were laid with wood.

The Queen directed her down one of the numerous passages and ushered her to a door that had her name engraved on a plaque. "It's a little permanent don't you think?" Eliza enquired. It was like they presumed her stay would be a long one and she did not appreciate the idea.

"I went to the trouble of giving you your own personal rooms. I should hope that after your stay you would wish to return here at your leisure. If you feel that that is inappropriate however I shall have your name removed and issue more temporary rooms."

Eliza felt sheepish and just a little ungrateful, "No, I…what I mean to say is…I am most appreciative of your offer it's just, your kindness wasn't expected."

The Queen smiled in an irritatingly knowing way and opened the door. "Here we are dear, all your things should be in there. I'm sure you already have your own gowns but I thought that perhaps you might want the seamstress to stop by?"

If the Queen had asked Eliza previously she may have been affronted, but now she had seen first hand what some of the other ladies in court wore and she had to confess they were spectacular. She was already wearing her best gown and it was nothing compared their attire. "If you wouldn't mind; yes please."

"Now that that's settled I suppose you wish to relax after your long journey. Your rooms back onto a remote little garden, it is very rarely used and it has a beautiful fresh water lake in it. If you wish to bath in it you are welcome to, you shall not be disturbed. I myself use it on occasion and must say that it is most relaxing."

Eliza thanked the Queen and slipped quietly into the room. It was bright, airy and furnished comfortably by somebody with taste. Glancing around she noted that her clothes were neatly stored away and various personal objects were arranged around the room making it her own.

Her maid wasn't at hand but she preferred it that way, she decided that a swim in the lake was just what she needed and gathered up her towel, exiting through the veranda doors. 

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To Be Continued…