The Queen's Song
By Vifetoile
On this year, on this day of all days, the King was away from Corona. He was negotiating a settlement for peace with another land. The Queen was therefore left to raise the lantern alone.
She was proud of her husband's pacifism and wisdom, but she missed his presence terribly. Walking up to the lit lantern, alone, was as solitary and sad as if she had been a stranger in a strange land, and not on the balcony of her own palace, before the crowds of her beloved citizens.
But it had to be done. The signal had to be sent up.
So she stepped forward towards the trembling light. She took the lantern in her hands, the candle-flame warming her. It reminded her of the day, years ago, that she had drunk the tea of the sun-flower, and felt its heat on her face as she had drunk it.
That had been a fearful day, the worst of many such days. The sun's light was like the reminder of summer biding its time in the earth, just as the baby was biding its time in her.
Now she had lived for seven years in a different sort of fear, a vegetable fear, growing and taking deep root in her very soul. But the light of the candle was like the light of the sun-flower. It was hope.
The Queen looked up. The evening star. Time to set out the signal.
She raised it to the sky, letting the air lift it upwards. As a thousand other lanterns joined it in a gentle dance of fire and wind, she began to sing:
"Lantern, gleam and glow,
"Let the signal shine,
"Though she drifts and roams,
"Bring back what once was mine,
"Light her road to home,
"Change the fate's design,
"Find what has been lost,
"Bring back what once was mine,
"What once was mine."
No one heard her song, except the lanterns, and, perhaps, later, in a dream, a golden-haired girl asleep in a tower, dreaming of lanterns.
A/N: In case it isn't obvious, the song of the Queen is meant to be sung to the tune of the Healing Incantation. I just realized, that scene would have been excellent in the film. Good thing we have fanfics.