Pandora skipped about from flower to flower like a little blonde hummingbird. She couldn't get over the greenness of Fanelia, after having been raised by the Asturian Sea all of her short life. She hummed to herself as she fingered a pretty yellow flower. "Hello Ms. Flower!" she giggled. "Isn't it a beautiful day?"



A shadow fell across her as she talked, deep in conversation with the yellow flower. She barely noticed, but as soon as she did, she turned and gasped in surprise. Her childlike eyes were wide with fright, but soon burst back into smiles when she saw that it was her cousin (once removed). Cheid. Pandora shouted out his name and launched herself at the fourteen year old king.



"Hi Pandora." Chid said softly, as he hugged his little relative. He spoke very carefully, enunciating each word like he had been taught. "How are you enjoying Fanelia?" Cheid found it hard to believe that he had been the same age as her when the Destiny War had started. The result was that Chid looked much more older then what he really was. Hitomi had said he had an Old Soul. Even when he had been Pandora's age, he had still seemed older, because of the things that were going on: his mother's death, the neglect he felt from his father, the threat of war... Pandora had been sheltered from that.



"I love it! It's just so beau-ti-full!" she cried happily, bouncing on her toes as she clapped. "Are you staying for the festival?"



"Yes, I am." Cheid sat down on the bench beside the yellow flowers Pandora had been so involved with. He hugged his knees up to his chest, glad that he could at least act a *little* bit like the very young teenager he was. "So have you started schooling yet, Pandora?"



"Uh-huh! I've been there for a year now and I think it's really fun, but sometimes I get really confuzzled because of all the big words out there and I'm not big enough for them to fit in my mouth yet!" she confessed. "I really really really like math though! My tutor says I'm really good at it, even better than she was when she was my age!"



"That's great, Pan!" Cheid told her earnestly. He felt a wave of shivers pass over his spine, almost making his hair stand on end. Was he being watched? Cheid shielded his eyes from the rising sun and looked towards the castle roof. Cheid's blue eyes softened as he saw that it was only Allen Schezar. He waved, but Allen just turned and walked away. He gave a small frown at the rudeness, but shrugged it off since he doubted Allen had seen him wave.



*****



Lady Hyrule paced angrily in her rooms, a large thundering storm cloud following her around in the circular path she was slowly burning into the floor. She wanted to scream and tear something into very tiny little pieces. She had never been so humiliated in all life! In a Royal Assembly, at that! Hell, even the commoners had seen her fiasco! Her entire body screamed for revenge. She would not let some fortune teller slut sit on the Royal throne!



Aramy Hyrule had been born and raised in Fanelia. Her husband had only one year left in the Royal Council, and she would give her teeth and blood to see somebody of Fenalian birth on the throne before that appointed time. But not the Merle-creature, no. Never. Stripes had to go with stripes, spots to spots, and scales to scales. Van was a stripe (more or less), people like the Astons, they were spots, and things like Hitomi Kanzaki and Merle that were different then everyone else and belonged back at the ooze they came from, they were scales.



The Fanelian throne had to stay in Fanelian blood. It was bad enough that someone like Van Fanel was on the throne. *His* blood was already tainted with Draconian slime. There had to be a way, in that one year, to unstitch Hitomi Kanzaki from Van's side, and to hopefully purify the Fanelian bloodline.



She chewed on her lip harshly, and felt her skin rip away. She stiffled a yelp in pain, and as she daintily cleaned her lip, it had come to her. In that one clear, enlightening moment of hurt, she had found the answer.



Kidnap Hitomi Kanzaki.



*****



Allen Schezar hastily climbed down the ladder, only a few moments after he Merle. He had been busy watching Pandora and his illegitimate son, Cheid, talk in the garden. A loud noise snapped it out of it, and he saw a woman racing up the courtyard. She looked clumsy, but the guards stayed away from her, and soon he saw why.



The lady was crying.



Wondering what was wrong, and knowing that people were still sleeping off one thing or another, as Merle had pointed out, Allen climbed down to see if he could help. Running through the hells, he passed a slightly angry Merle who was busy dragging some Lord by his collar.



"Allen! What is it?" She cried after him. Allen continued running and didn't say a thing.



He quickly reached the Main Hall, and the woman was already starting to be cared for by some of the servants. She was sitting in a large love seat, a shaking hand holding a cup filled with water, and a handkerchief in one hand. Although she seemed to prefer clutching and squeezing it than using it to wipe her face. A servant brushed past him, and he grabbed her arm. "Don't bother waking Van, I'll handle this."



"Yes, sir."



Allen sat down beside the crying woman and placed a calm hand on her back. "My name is Allen Schezar, madam, I am a Knight of Caeli." he told her soothingly, his voice as gentle as a child's. "I'm here to help you. If you need it, take a moment to compose yourself and tell me what is wrong. Don't worry, I can wait."



She shook her head no, sending tears floating. She took a deep breath, trying to keep her voice steady. "M...." She took another deep breath, and closed her eyes. "My name is Mary. I... I'm a seamstress. I woke up this morning, and my husband was just lying in the bed beside me. He..." she took a smaller breath. It seemed the more she talked, the calmer she became. Allen saw her clutch the handkerchief tighter. "He's still breathing. But he's in so much pain, he can't seem to talk very long. He keeps clutching at his side. He says that it burns. It's his left side. A little bit above the hip. I... I don't know what to do. He looks very pale, and lately he's been getting a lot of colds. The doctor just said he needed to eat more citrus fruits, and that he was having cramps. But.. But... but now he can't even get out of bed, and I'm so worried for him!"



Mary started crying again, and grabbed his hand. She looked up at him with pleading blue eyes. "Please sir! I... I... I know that the Queen of Asturia is here, and that she saved your won life! Please, can she see me husband? I'm so worried I may loose him, he isn't very old, he can't be dying!!"



Allen smiled kindly, and brushed a bang back into place. "Of course I can ask her for you, Lady." He stood up and called for a servant. He patted Mary's hand. "We'll find her right now." Looking at the servant, he asked her if she had seen or knew if Queen Millerna was up yet. She nodded and said that her and her husband had gone into the kitchen.



*****



Millerna sighed and pushed the empty plate away. "Thanks Jerome, that was heavenly. I can see why Van boasts about you in his letters to Dryden and I."



"Glad you like, Queen." Jerome said, putting the dish down and leaning on the counter. "Care for recipe?"



"I'd love it!" Millerna clasped her hands, much the same way her daughter had, only minutes before. She was interrupted by the door crashing open. She turned around to see a worried looking Allen standing in the doorway. Her eyes widened and she started to smile. "Allen!"



"Dryden. Millerna. A woman ran in her just now. Her husband's ill. She asks you for your help."



"What? What is it?"



"There's a pain in his left side above the hip, he's been sick a lot lately, pale. He says it burns."



"Hmmmm...." Millerna rubbed her chin as she thought. Pain, left side, prone to sickness. She patted Dryden on the knee, and told him to run to their room and get her black bag. Old habits die hard. She turned back to Allen, glad that she was dressed. "It sounds like it may be appendicitis. I'll need to see him to confirm it, but if it appendicitis, I'll have to operate and quickly, before it bursts."



"Appendi what in the who now?" Allen asked, plainly confused.



Millerna sighed and started to walk, pulling the confused blond with her. "Allow me to explain..."



*****



Okay, sorry I took so long getting this part up. A lot of stuff has been going on, and I've been feeling depressed and unergetic. Plus... ah, my Mom says I'm spending too much time on the computer. But she's not home, and that made me feel even more energetic, and I felt so bad that I haven't posted in a VERY long time, I needed to write, so I just got on the computer, and wrote as much as I could. So now I have a plot. More or less. I promise I will try to get the next one up soon. Oh yeah, my muse is kicking my butt. Except by the time I get home, I'm too sore from getting my butt kicked to do anything about it.