Chapter One - Arrival
"Neither one was seriously hurt," Rosalia soothed.
"I know, but it still pains me that discord exists among my Guardians. Their lives are hard enough without that added burden," the queen, Angelique, replied.
"It's the nature of the Sacrea. Julious and Clavis, Light and Darkness and Oscar and Lumiale, Fire and Water are the most sharply divided. It is the powers they must control."
"...I knew about Julious and Clavis...but Oscar and Lumiale? Oscar is so light-hearted and Lumiale so gentle..."
"It's not as if they will ever come to blows like Randy and Zephel did. But, except for where their duties overlap, you will never find them together," Rosalia clarified.
Angelique pondered that. Oscar had frightened her once with his earnest playboy act, but he possessed a very gentle and loyal heart under it all. Lumiale...she couldn't imagine gentle Lumiale having a conflict with anyone.
"They are much more alike than they realize..."
"Perhaps, but more different than you want to admit," Rosalia agreed and disagreed with the same statement, "Oscar craves action, he is all movement and passion. Lumiale shuns conflict of any sort and seeks peaceful things."
"But don't they realize that one must be strong to be gentle? Doesn't Lumiale know that about himself? And Oscar, does he not realize that he governs his strength with gentleness? They are opposites, Fire and Water, Strength and Gentleness, but their natures are more complimentary than conflicted."
Rosalia shrugged, "As I said their discord will never come to action. Even if Oscar were to try to push for it, Lumiale would simply avoid it."
Angelique knew her Guardians a bit better than that. Lumiale had a strength at his core, she knew if he were pushed too hard, he would fight back. He'd hate every minute of it, but he would fight for what he believed in. Not that she could ever imagine Oscar pushing Lumiale that far. No, far more likely it would be bright Julious and somber Clavis disagreeing vocally.
Angelique couldn't imagine them ever losing their tempers to the point of even really shouting at each other, but she knew that Julious with his decisive (and she admitted, bossy) nature often ran roughshod over Clavis' feelings without even knowing it. Clavis would never admit it, but Angelique knew how lonely Clavis really was. When Julious would become too stern with Clavis about his duties, it only acted to enforce Clavis' isolation and increase the discord between the Guardians of Light and Darkness.
She sighed. She couldn't really figure out why Zephel and Randy had come to such discord as to actually brawl with each other. Even Marcel, who usually acted as a buffer, maintaining an uneasy peace between them, had been unable to stop their conflict.
"Steel and Wind..." she said aloud.
"Yes, it's a bit harder to figure their problems out," Rosalia agreed.
"Maybe not...Steel is hard and solid and Zephel presides over Ingenuity, that is diligently applied thinking and crafting. Wind, Randy's Sacrea is more open and free, and Courage is internal, showing up suddenly when it is needed, not something you have to work so hard for. Randy also makes friends so easily and Zephel is still very much a loner. Then there is their age..."
"So you think it might simply be their youth and not their Sacrea?"
"I think it's a little of both. But what it does is show a problem with my Guardians."
"Surely you don't think it is that serious! I am certain that after Julious spoke with them it will never happen again!"
"I'm not too concerned that they will come to punches again. But...their fight does show that some of the Guardians aren't as happy as they could be. There is such a strain on them anyway, fulfilling their duties, it seems terrible that I can't do anything to help lessen these strains...and bring all the Guardians into peaceful accord," Angelique mused.
"They are still people, Angelique, not just their Sacrea and powers. You can't force their feelings or dictate their hearts. Some disagreement is normal," Rosalia cautioned.
"I know," Angelique smiled at her friend, "But I think perhaps the Sacrea is causing some of the problems too. Maybe...with the Queen's Sacrea, I can do something to make that not a factor in their friendships and relationships with each other."
"You...are the Queen. If it seems like the right thing to do to you, I will help anyway I can!"
" I know! I'm so glad you decided to stay and help me as my Aide! Now, how can I best use the Queen's Sacrea to solve this?"
********
"How extraordinary," Clavis' voice was deep and quiet as usual.
"What is it?" Lumiale's tones were the essence of gentleness.
Clavis parted the branches that bore night-blooming flowers to show a girl curled up at the base of the bush, "A sleeping beauty."
Lumiale smiled more deeply, knowing that was the name of the particular flower blooming under Clavis' hands as well as Clavis' veiled reference to the girl.
"So it is. I wonder who she is?"
Clavis looked up languidly at the moon for a long moment before sighing and allowing a small globe of Darkness to form in his hand. A lazy gesture sent it toward the girl where it dissipated and enveloped her before disappearing.
"What...?" Lumiale wondered aloud.
"She will sleep until morning. I can't very well leave her here outdoors. The moon is showing that it will rain. She can spend the rest of the night in the garden in my house, since she seems to favor sleeping in flower beds," Clavis knelt and took her into his arms.
"I'd rather not have her wake up too early and disrupt my sleep," he continued as he stood up.
Lumiale ran one gentle hand across her cheek, "She doesn't seem like the boisterous type."
"She's sleeping outdoors at night under a bush. That is boisterous enough for me," Clavis commented wryly, "I'll let Julious sort out who she is and what she's doing here in the morning. Or maybe the afternoon."
"I have a feeling she will appreciate the peaceful Darkness you've gifted her with tonight, then," Lumiale observed, "Have you noticed that things always seem to change around here when new girls show up?"
Clavis slanted a disillusioned look into Lumiale's smiling face, "That is a source of never-ending frustration to me!"
Lumiale laughed as he walked next to his friend while they returned to Clavis' manor.
"Don't let it trouble you! I'll play a pretty song for you and your quiet companion tonight before I leave," he teased gently.
"She's not my companion!" Clavis spoke with a touch more energy than usual.
"But you admit she is quiet..."
"Under the Sacrea of Darkness she could hardly be any other way," Clavis agreed.
********
Clavis opened one eye and wondered why he felt a vague sense of irritation. He didn't normally wake in this state, though he would usually become irritated as the day wore on. He wondered how much longer he could continue to fulfill his duties in the face of the dreariness of his existence, then he would recall Angelique's face and the compassion he felt toward the people of the universe and somehow rouse himself enough to face one more day.
Oh, yes. He was going to have to walk all the way over to Julious' offices and tell him about the girl. That was what irritated him so much. Though it was still early, he decided to get the unpleasant task over with as soon as possible. He roused, completed his morning rituals and glided toward the front door of his chambers. He looked in at his garden as he passed and stopped in his tracks.
The girl held his cat in her sleep. The unfaithful beast was purring in her arms. Looking a little closer, Clavis noticed that one of her hands was gently stroking the cat's paw, even though she seemed to sleep still. He thought he'd used enough Sacrea to keep her asleep until the afternoon. Sensing that she was still peaceful and not apt to cause any upset whether she still slept or not, Clavis decided to hurry up and get her out of his garden and into Julious' care as soon as possible.
He hissed against the bright morning light as he opened the front door and made his way to Julious' manor.
His news upset Julious. Clavis could see it in the tension in Julious' shoulders as he strode with quick, impatient steps toward Clavis' chambers.
"What were you thinking? To use Sacrea directly on someone not knowing if she belonged here or not..." Julious muttered at Clavis.
"Such an irresponsible attitude I expect from the younger ones, but honestly, Clavis! You should know better!"
Clavis just wished that Julious would be a little less forcefully decisive. And a little less loud. The Guardian of Light didn't know how to do anything without overwhelming with his presence, that was for sure!
Julious, like an arrow shot from a bow, brushed the attendants answering the door aside and strode purposefully toward Clavis' garden. He didn't say a thing about Clavis' decor, not even seeming to notice the peaceful, subtle beauty of it.
As Clavis expected, the girl hadn't roused from her impromptu garden bed.
"As you used Darkness on her I shall have to cancel it..." Julious muttered. Before Clavis could say anything to let the Guardian of Light know that the girl had already overcome the effects of his Sacrea, Julious flashed his Sacrea of Light in the center of Clavis' garden.
Clavis could almost hear the whimpering of his night-loving plants at the bright garish light. His cat, who's dark-adapted eyes were a source of endless fascination for Clavis, bolted in terror at the flash. The girl herself, who had been peacefully dozing between waking and sleeping with Clavis' cat as her willing companion, bolted upright at the photonic assault.
"OH! What a horrible way to wake someone!" she exclaimed, "That was rude! I was practically awake!"
Her eyes streamed tears as she tried to focus on the two people looming over her. Clavis, though he had a moment's warning to turn his gaze, knew a faint echo of her discomfort.
"I...I...am sorry," Julious stammered.
"Take your Light, and her, and get out of my chambers," Clavis commanded flatly, "I have to repair the damage you did to my garden. And calm my cat."
"Perhaps that would be best," Julious agreed, not wanting to remain in the darkness that was so comfortable to Clavis even a moment more than strictly necessary.
"Come. The stinging in your eyes will pass. If I had known you no longer slept under the Sacrea of Darkness, I would never have done that to you," Julious told the girl.
"We go now," he said aloud to Clavis. Clavis waved a hand absently at him, already stooping to assess the damage Julious' Light had done to his garden.
********
The girl sensed a charge in the emotional atmosphere as she walked just a little behind the long-haired blonde man dressed in impressive robes. She wondered when the questions that would be impossible for her to answer would start. Who was she? Why was she here? How did she get here?
Well, she resolved, when the questions did start, she would have a few of her own! Where was here? That would be the first. Maybe she should ask them how she got here too, as she had no idea and they seemed utterly calm about it.
The man leading her across an impeccably groomed lawn flicked his cloak impatiently. Okay, maybe he wasn't quite calm about it. At the door to an impressive manor he paused, turned his head and looked at her. His gaze traveled down then up again, but his assessing demeanor did not allow the girl to think that he meant anything other than how to solve the problem her presence presented to him, although the look in his eyes did soften just a little.
"I have questions. Undoubtedly you do too," he stated. She nodded.
"It appears as though Clavis took care of you during the night," the sound he made was too refined to be a snort of laughter, but conveyed the same meaning, "Fitting that I should take care of you during the day! My name is Julious. It may not mean anything to you yet, but I am the Guardian of the Sacrea of Light."
He pushed open the door, entered and beckoned her to follow, "This is my manor. I will instruct some of my servants to attend to your comfort while I endeavor to discover why you are here. May I have your name?"
"I am called Selene," she replied.
"I am pleased to meet you, Selene," Julious claimed with automatic politeness, "Loreli will attend to you."
A pretty girl stepped forward and gestured politely for Selene to proceed down a corridor. Julious watched after her for a moment more before turning away himself and starting the new task of figuring out just what her presence in Sanctuary meant.
********
"We will research it, Julious-sama. Until we find the answer, she is to remain here," Selene heard a woman's voice, speaking in a no-nonsense tone, as the maid brought her to a partially opened door.
"Rosalia," the man's tone was still deep, but now used very softly, "There was a time when you were not quite so harsh with me. What is wrong?"
"Julious..." the woman's, Rosalia's, voice softened too, "I know how much you prize order and any time that's threatened you get..."
He chuckled, a rich, lovely sound, "All right! All right. She's bound to mean new work and challenges for me, but Selene can be the latest Sanctuary foundling. Just as the Queen, and you, wish!"
Loreli pushed open the door and Julious stood to introduce Rosalia, the Queen's Aide, to Selene.
********
"She's nice," Selene commented after Rosalia left.
"Yes, she is," Julious agreed, looking a bit more closely at the woman. Most people missed Rosalia's basic kindness, fooled by her brusque, autocratic manner.
"I don't wish to be any trouble for you," Selene continued, recalling the bit of conversation she had unwittingly overheard.
"Don't worry. I am used to it," Julious sighed, slanting a glance at his desk which was covered with papers.
"Am I...keeping you from something else?" Selene asked helplessly. Despite her best intentions, it appeared she was already creating problems.
"What is most important to the Queen is most important to me," Julious responded evasively.
Selene laughed, "But, I am not a child who needs to be minded! I am certain I can keep myself out of trouble! Are there any areas I should not go? Any dangers I should be aware of?"
"Well...going to the Queen's palace is by invitation only...otherwise, each Guardian has a Manor...and there's the town..." Julious thought aloud.
"So, as long as I avoid rudely barging in on the Queen, I can walk around on my own?" Selene asked.
Julious looked at her for a long moment, wonderingly. None of the Queen Candidates he'd ever met acted as she did. Of course, he reminded himself sharply, she wasn't a Queen Candidate. Rosalia didn't seem to know what this woman was, except that she was here with the Queen's approval. Julious wondered if it was more than Angelique's 'approval' that had brought this woman here in the first place.
"That should be okay. There are no hidden dangers on Sanctuary," Julious wondered how long it would be before she caused some upset he would have to deal with. He'd probably have to smooth Clavis' ruffled feelings later as it was for what happened this morning... Though it had been helpful of the Guardian of Darkness to take care of her last night he had to admit.
"Rosalia had me obtain a room at the inn for you. If you just tell them your name at the desk, they will show you to your room," Julious told her.
Selene smiled, bowed a little and turned to leave. With her hand still on the latch she turned suddenly, "I won't cause any problems for you, Julious-sama."
He stared at his door for a long moment after she left. Maybe she wouldn't be a problem after all, as she had used a very polite honorific with his name. If she really were that sensitive, she wouldn't upset anyone. That would allow him the time to figure out why she was here, determine what had to be done, and send her home.
Of course, it would be nice to have someone new around, for a while. Angelique and Rosalia's time was so consumed with the running of the universe that Julious hadn't seen them, except in short meetings like the one today that were all business, in weeks...or was it months?
Sighing, Julious returned to the mountain of paperwork that threatened to bury his desk.
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