30 Days Left
Mai staggered into a town. She didn't know where she was, but she'd simply walked and walked and walked until she'd stumbled upon civilisation.
Unusually though, she hadn't found anyone yet to ask for help, and she was completely bewildered why. Surely towns should have people in them.
A thought popped up. What if she'd stumbled upon a ghost town? She'd never saw one before, and as far as she knew, she hadn't even heard of a real one. Just then, the sound of voices filtered through the air.
"I thought you said you'd brought a map!" An angry female voice exclaimed.
"Well, I thought I did too. It must have fallen out of my bag or something." This voice was male.
"How could you let it fall out of your bag?" There was a soft thump.
"Ouch! Stop attacking me! It's not my fault!"
"And now we're lost. Just great."
The voices rounded a corner, and stopped at the sight of Mai standing in the middle of the street. A young man and woman. But, more than that, a young gentleman and lady dressed exquisitely.
"Um, excuse me, but could you please help me?" Mai asked meekly. The red headed lady spoke.
"What on earth happened to you?" She stared. The gentleman recovered more quickly and started chiding her about her manners.
Mai looked down at herself. Her gown, though evidently had once upon a time shone with the glean of expensive fabrics, was muddy and slightly ripped and torn. Her arms were almost completely brown with dirt. Her hair probably looked equally awful.
"My carriage was attacked and I escaped through the woods. Could you please help me?"
The lady and the gentleman shared a look.
"What's your name?"
"Taniyama Mai."
They exchanged another look.
"I think you should come with us." The lady decided. The gentleman caught her arm.
"Are you sure-"
"Of course I am." The lady raised her head rather haughtily, they had a whispered conversation, which the lady clearly won as the gentleman quickly nodded, as though he was scared to disagree with her. Then she gestured to Mai. "Come on." Mai gladly followed, although a small part of her wondered if she was being too naïve. But it wasn't like she had much of a choice. She just had to trust these people.
"How are we meant to find our way back if we don't even know where we are?" The gentleman hissed.
"Oh, I'm sure we'll find our way back… This town isn't exactly massive, after all…"
"Then why were you yelling at me earlier?" He protested.
"Because you lost the map."
The gentleman shook his head, and turned back to Mai to mouth, 'I swear this woman is insane'. Mai smiled faintly, too caught up in her nervousness to take notice of the man trying to lighten the mood.
"So, where are you from, Miss Taniyama?" The woman asked kindly. Mai was starting to like her; there was something maternal in the air around her.
"Alesia." Mai said quietly.
"Alesia? Wasn't that attacked?"
Mai nodded. "I was running away from the invaders with my family, but we were attacked."
"Oh, you poor thing." The lady said sympathetically. The words stirred a memory in Mai's brain.
"You're not a witch, are you?" She suddenly yelled. Both lady and gentleman looked taken aback.
"No, thankfully." The gentleman sighed. "Lady Matsuzaki is the most violent woman I've ever met. I can't even imagine the damage she could do if she was a witch."
"Why?" The lady asked, both sending glares to and ignoring the gentleman.
"I ran into a witch in the woods." She mumbled. "She wasn't very nice." Feeling uncomfortable on the subject, especially as she didn't want to tell them the witch had cursed her, she changed the subject. "I have to go find my parents. They'll be looking for me; we got separated when we were attacked."
"Don't worry; we're going somewhere where you'll get help."
Mai nodded. She felt vulnerable; she didn't know where her mother and father were, she didn't know where she was, she was currently following two people who she didn't know, and she didn't know where she was going. At that moment in time, she didn't know an awful lot of things.
"See! I told you we'd find it!" Lady Matsuzaki proclaimed loudly. At the end of the street there was a large gate.
"Then what was all the fuss earlier about?" The gentleman grumbled quietly.
The lady marched up to gate and began having a whispered conversation with one of guards.
"What's your name?" Mai asked the man.
"Houshou Takigawa." He paused for effect, before adding. "Count Takigawa. Sounds cool, doesn't it? And the insane woman is Lady Ayako Matsuzaki."
"Oh, so you two aren't, er, together?"
"What? No, of course not!"
"Oh. It seemed like you were married."
"I would never marry a woman who resorts to violence so quickly." He said quickly.
Mai looked unconvinced, but she didn't press the subject.
"Just let us in" Ayako shouted at the poor guard. Mai could see the guard gesture to her, and say something, but she couldn't hear what. "I don't care what you think! I command you to let us in." Mai couldn't help pitying the guard. He was only doing his job, after all. "If you don't let us in, I'm going to make you wish you hadn't even been born!"
"I don't think she really understands that it's hard to threaten a guard. Especially with violence." Mai remarked.
"I wouldn't put anything past her." Count Takigawa muttered dryly.
"It's not your job to think! It's your job to memorise the list of guests, so they don't get held up at the gate." Ayako continued to insult the guard. "I want to speak with the person in charge. This is ridiculous!" Pause as the guard mumbled something. "Oh, I think it is necessary!"
After a lot more shouting on Ayako's part and mumbling on the guard's part, they were let in. Mai turned to the Count.
"Do you live here?" She asked. He shook his head.
"We're just staying here for a while. Guests, as it were."
"Oh. Then who does live here?"
"The royal family of Obsidium."
"Oh."
Mai could faintly recall hearing the name Obsidium mentioned a few times, but she'd never been to it before now. It was very far away from Alesia. They walked up to a palace, Lady Matsuzaki complaining the whole way. Mai couldn't help but admire it. An architectural masterpiece, it seemed to rise out of the ground, proud and elegant. It was perfect. They walked up the main steps to the double doors there, opening them to reveal a rather large hall.
"Lady Matsuzaki, Count Takigawa, you're back." A servant greeted them fluidly. "May I take your coats?"
"Yes please." They removed their coats and handed them to him, Mai not having a coat to give him. The servant didn't question her presence or dirty state. "Oh, could you tell the king that we have to see him? It's urgent." The servant nodded and left them.
"We're going to see the king?" Mai asked.
"Are you nervous?" Count Takigawa chuckled.
"Why, is he nasty?" Mai asked, suddenly scared.
"No. Have you ever met a king before?" Mai was tempted to point out she was royalty, the Count and Lady seemed to have mistaken her for the daughter of a rich tradesman or member of the bourgeoisie.
"Yes. I mean, do we have to drag him into this? I only want to find my parents."
"Miss Taniyama, you can't go around looking as you are. And it might take days to find your parents." Lady Matsuzaki reasoned.
Mai sighed unhappily. She felt bad that she was wasting time here, and that she was intruding on the royal family of Obsidium. But before she could voice her doubts another servant had appeared (or it could be the same one, Mai hadn't been paying attention to him).
"This way, Sir, Mesdames." He led them through the palace. Despite Mai's previous thoughts, she couldn't help but marvel at the elegantly proportioned rooms which had been tastefully, but not over lavishly, decorated. Finally the servant held a door open for them.
Lady Matsuzaki swept through first. Count Takigawa pushed Mai through the opening and followed her. Unsure of what to do Mai bowed politely.
"Ah, Count, I was wondering when you'd arrive." Mai looked up, to see a lady approaching them. She smiled as though the two strangers Mai was with her familiar to her. "And Lady Ayako! You've been away for far too long!" She admonished affectionately. Then she turned to Mai.
"And who is your acquaintance?" She asked politely, inspecting Mai, seeming only a little taken aback by her dirty state.
"Taniyama Mai, your…" She trailed off, unsure what to call the lady. "Ladyship?" She went for.
"Royal Highness." the Count whispered.
"Royal Highness" Mai corrected. But the woman wasn't listening; instead she was tapping her chin thoughtfully.
"Taniyama… Taniyama… Where have I heard that before? Hmm, where are you from Miss Taniyama?"
"Alesia." Suddenly the woman's eyes widened. She looked at Mai for what seemed like the first time.
"That's impossible." She breathed, bending down slightly to look at her face. "The last time I saw you… you were just a tiny baby!" She cried, delighted.
"Ma'am?" Managed Mai, weakly. She glanced at Takigawa, but he just gave her a confused look back and shrugged.
"But look at your clothes! Look at you! You really are a mess. What happened? No, wait! I'm doing this all wrong." The woman spoke at a high speed, so that Mai felt slightly dizzy just listening to her. "My name is Luella Davis." She declared.
Mai looked at Luella Davies, unsure what to make of this news. Luella's shoulders dropped.
"You don't recognise the name? No? Oh well, your mother and I are only vague friends. I think she thought I talk too much. Anyway, it doesn't really matter." Suddenly Luella Davies broke off.
"Where are your parents?" She asked, more gently. So Mai explained the attack and her wanderings through the woods, omitting the witch and her curse.
"Oh, you poor thing!" Luella cried, hugging Mai affectionately. Mai felt slightly overwhelmed. "We must find them. But first of all we need to get you tidied."
"Mother, what did I say about you smothering guests?" A cool voice asked from behind Luella Davies. Mai poked her head out to see a teenage boy regarding Luella with a raised eyebrow and a sly smile.
"Ah, Mai, this is my son Eugene. Gene, this is Mai Taniyama. From Alesia."
"Nice to meet you, your Royal Highness." Mai said.
"Charmed, your Royal Highness." He looked like he was going to say more but his mother interrupted.
"Come Miss Mai! We need to find you something to wear, and you look like you need a bath." Luella Davies ushered her out calling for a maid and Ayako to follow her as she did so.
Gene watched them with a bemused expression.
Mother's found another foundling. He sighed.
Not again? As long as it stays away from me, I've got-
Loads of work to do, yeah I know.
What is it?
Well, nothing…
But what?
I don't know. I have a feeling that she's going to be a bigger problem than anyone else Mother's taken in.
As long as she keeps her problem away from me I don't care.
No, I guess you wouldn't.
Yeah yeah Naru, like Mai's gonna keep away. Don't worry, she'll meet him next chapter. Promise.
Please review~
Note on the re-edit:
I wanted to add more formality after reading through and struggling with what we'd already written. Sorry, about the slow update, it's been holding me back. So I wanted to go back and add a few things, to create a more realistic (if I can say that about a story with a cursed protagonist and an evil witch) and interesting story.
1. Titles. There was a distinct lack of formality for a royal court, so now everyone calls strangers by their title and last name. Friends, such as Ayako and Monk will call each other by their first names in private, but formally in front of strangers. The exception is Luella, who, firstly as she is higher status than everyone can call them whatever she wants, and secondly is a friendly soul who likes to use first names. Nicknames such as Gene and Noll can only be used by close friends. For royal addresses, I'm using how people are expected to address the British Royal family currently, just cos it's easier.
Notice Gene calls Mai your Royal Highness, despite losing her country she is still of royal blood, and the rules aren't clear what position she has in the hierarchy of court. Please excuse anything I've missed out changing in the text.
2. Less modern language. I haven't changed much, but this story is supposed to be set in an AU which resembles the past in many aspects, so eveyrone saying 'you know' or 'errr...' all the time doesn't really fit that.