Chapter 4: Hitomi

Hitomi stared at her reflection in the mirror. "Do you think I need to dye my hair Merle? I feel like everyone's first thought will be that I'm a prostitute..not a priestess" She trailed off and bit her lower lip, studying her features. Her eyes were clearly her best asset, her skin was clear of blemishes, and her eyebrows manicured to a style familiar to her from earth. Her hair had always been a burnt red color, since she was a baby. She was still very much in shape and athletic, and had not gained much weight or height since living in Gaia. Her breasts had not grown that much larger, and she still had slim hips. All in all, she didn't seem very intimidating...

Merle let an impatient breath go with a brief hiss as she rolled over to her stomach on Hitomi's bed, "You're making yourself miserable. Van told you ages ago to ignore everyone at court and their stupid comments. How do you think I survived in Fanelia this long? Because of Van-sama. Just listen to him and quit worrying and get in your bath so we can eat!" Hitomi giggled and finished brushing knots out of her hair so Merle could condition her hair in the bath. "Okay Merle. I just don't want this introduction ceremony tonight to be crazy." Merle licked the back of her hand lazily and replied, "It will be. People are going to go nuts. First the treaty and the first royal banquet since before the war and now the King announcing his engagement? Hitomi, you're about to descend to what some people call HELL!" Hitomi nervously smirked. First Van, and now Merle were comparing Fanelia's Royal Engagements to entering hell. It was enough to put her off the idea completely.

"Just don't let your mouth get the better of you, that's what Boris always tells me." Merle made this suggestion while she poured the remaining perfumed salts into Hitomi's steaming bath. Hitomi stepped in delicately and shivered as the hot water made her skin break into goose bumps. "You know I'll be too scared to speak at all, Merle. All those old grumpy men around Van's throne give me the creeps." Hitomi recalled an afternoon two days prior, when Van had been going over the treaty between Fanelia and Apollo's kingdom with her so that she might begin to understand the nuances of running a royal kingdom.

It had been difficult studying the treaty while he continued to explore the contours of her ribs under the track workout shirt she had been wearing. Three of Van's and Fanelia's oldest advisors walked in on them suddenly, all clad in their rank's costume of red velvet robes with gold and red striped collars and sleeves. Hitomi had stood ramrod straight, freezing instantly and knowing she was caught. Van's body betrayed no sign he was bothered by their intrusion, but his voice was cold as ice when he said, "Masters. Though I am pleased to see you, I do not recall sending for you." Two of them instantly mumbled pardons of The Dragon and turned on their heels. The third, the one with a short white beard, had asked, "What is it you intend to do with the witch from that Accursed Moon?" His wrinkled hand was mottled with brown spots, signifying his love for all fermented beverages, its fingers curled around the end of his beard and tugged. Van had moved then. His fist came down suddenly on the table in front of them, causing a cracking sound that made Hitomi gasp and his advisor jump. "Leave before you taste steel!" Hitomi had stared at Van as she recalled the vast amounts of bloodshed at his hands. He still could command anger and violence fearfully. His advisor narrowed his brows in a rare show of anger and dipped his head slowly. He turned to leave and gave Hitomi a look in the eyes that reminded her of Dilandau's cruel promises of death. She had chided Van and he had scoffed, "Even my advisors are willing to spread old wives' tales to keep you from me. I must consult Folken." He had stormed away, leaving her alone in his study.

Hitomi exhaled, "Merle the looks they give me, like they want me to die. Will they ever stop?" Merle roughly scratched dirt and sweat from Hitomi's head as she massaged sweet shampoo into Hitomi's red tresses. "Don't be dramatic Hitomi! Think about how weird you are to them. I mean I know you as a nice person, but to them you are worse than a Draconian Queen! They can only guess your origins! Ignorance breeds fear and fear breeds hate. They are simple, foolish, men." Merle pronounced the word 'men' with special contempt. The humans had not treated her species kindly in all of Gaia's days.

Hitomi flinched as Merle accidentally scratched her head hard enough to split skin and said, "I just hate letting them know they intimidate me. It's also embarrassing in front of Van. I need them to respect me!" Merle was silent for once, and Hitomi wondered if wanting to be viewed as a queen included Van seeing her as such. Van visited her chambers as soon as he was able in the evenings, and they had spent most of their time together engaged in activities that queens and kings probably partook in-just not while at court.

The loyal cat girl brought Hitomi's towels and bath clothes and patted her dry. Both of them forgot the master advisors for once as they dipped their hands in pots of creamy lotion. Scents of lavender and fresh water clung to Hitomi's skin like dew.

Yukari would have been helping me tonight, Hitomi realized as Merle buttoned up the complicated bodice of the specially crafted dress. Hitomi had not thought of Yukari or Earth in a very long time, and the realization did not stir emotions of grief. Instead, she felt confident because of Merle, Folken, Allen, Millerna and of course, Van. All were her friends and family now on Gaia. And Hitomi had friends in Freid, Asturia, and within all of the White Dragon Clans. It was more than enough to be satisfied.

Many nations' leaders and soldiers had witnessed her visionary power and Escaflowne's prowess. It was Fanelia and her citizens that had not been privy to her and Van's powers combined during the war. The country men had been burning with their homes and businesses. It will take time, she reflected. The time was worth the opportunity to change her fate and the fate of Gaia. She figured the women and children who fled during Dilandau's initial attack would barely remember her as the innocent young thing who had arrived from the Mystic Moon at the time of King Van's ascension to the throne. And the advisory council had barely glimpsed her before the Coronation Ceremony. All they had to judge her on was rumors from the war. The King had returned to Fanelia a hero, and its citizens regarded Hitomi with wary admiration.

"Turn around Hitomi, I have to clasp the cape." Hitomi faced the mirror again and smiled at her reflection. Her gown had taken a month to prepare and she had suffered during the fittings. It was beautiful, made for her and in colors of her choosing. Van wanted to use Fanelia's gold and red for her sigil colors, but she chose blue and green instead. He had shrugged at her choice, relieved that his only contribution in the matter was settled and he could escape from the boring task.

The dress was more clothing than Hitomi had ever worn, but was crafted from fabric that made it feel light and airy. It was slightly wide at the bottom, and Merle had clasped the only gold ornament on the dress at the place where Hitomi's collarbones met. Hitomi's shoulders were bare except where the clasp kept an airy white cape kissing her skin. She was given a head ornament as well, as befit a lady of merit at court. It had a relief of flat, tiny wings carved in a spiral on the temples that widened to the gold headband. Hitomi looked nothing like herself.

"Hitomi you don't have to be afraid. They should fear you," Merle breathed as she caught Hitomi's eye in the mirror. Two women servants entered the dressing room suddenly, the younger one pausing as her eyes grew huge in admiration. The queen to be was a beautiful sight. Hitomi wondered how the advisors would react if she read their fortunes and pasts in front of everyone. Would she resort to cheap show tricks? "You look every part a priestess Milady," curtsied the staring girl. Hitomi giggled at that, the plan was working it seemed. Merle growled, "Hold your tongue, stupid girl. Lady Hitomi needs no reassurance from a maid of your status." All the years of scorn in the royal houses had caused Merle's tongue to become sharp with the servants, people who used to treat her as any common animal when she wasn't around Lord Van. Hitomi frowned at Merle's tone and turned to the young girl, "Thank you for your kind words, Kara. Please go easy on the blush today okay?" Kara curtsied so low her head almost brushed the floor. "As you say my lady." Hitomi wished she could do this part herself, but she had never learned how to use makeup as a tool the way Yukari did. She was too busy with track to wear makeup, all Yukari's efforts always washed away in sweat. Merle allowed the other serving woman to dress her in her courtesan robes of pink. Fanelia still kept to its tribal roots, and though Hitomi's and Merle's dresses were luxurious, they were also reminiscent of the tunics the beast men and women still wore in the forests of Fanelia.

"Will Van be wearing his armor?" Hitomi whispered to Merle as they were escorted to the entrance of the throne room by the palace guards and a gaggle of serving women. Merle shook her head in annoyance, "No Hitomi, he'll wear whatever he wants." Hitomi feared she would never stop asking questions. Fanelia's customs were still strange to her. She still didn't understand the point of the stupid old ceremony anyway.

Barely two months had gone by since she and Van had decided to take their relationship public. Millerna had dropped in on her unexpectedly several times with her twin babies. The babes were barely a year old, but she had insisted on traveling from Palas to see Hitomi. As Hitomi tried to keep the active male child on her knee, Millerna paced around her chambers, her skirts swishing around her. "The advisors will do anything within their power to keep you from becoming Queen, Hitomi. They will think Van is acting brashly, as he is known to act." Hitomi had smiled then. Van's reputation from the Great War and his boyhood in Fanelia would not go away. "Hitomi this is serious! We must think of a way for them to accept you!" Hitomi watched as Millerna's first son stuffed lace from her dress into his little mouth, "I trust Van and Folken to take care of that part. Millerna, I need you to instruct me on how to act in court. I know from Merle the customs of Fanelia but I need to know how to act in a different way so that they would believe this ruse Folken and Van are insisting on." Millerna had agreed, and had visited two times more, to bring the fabric for the dress and her head band. "I'm sorry Hitomi," she sighed as she handed the things to Hitomi on her last visit, "I won't be able to come to the ceremony. Dryden has forbidden me to travel after this visit...I'm pregnant again." They had hugged and Hitomi waited out the week with Merle, practicing ancient words and gestures.

Now they waited. Hitomi hoped Van wouldn't keep them waiting too long, as he was apt to do. She was hungry.