Shadows at the Dawn - Part 9

Zeeda was worried about Marshant when they returned home, but instead of brooding he spent hours digging through old books and journals for more information on the shadows in the realm of time.

"I don't know if I should ever let you or any of your brothers go back there again. You either bring them home love sick, or converted into watchers."

Zeeda looked up to see a smile on her father's face.

"Sorry."

"Not to mention the mess you caused showing off." Zornah teased.

"The Queen requested it mother."

"Still, was is wise to anger a lady from one of their great houses?"

"In all fairness, she started the exchange. Besides, Queen Saturn as a friend more than makes up for pissing off Queen Uranus."

"When is she arriving?" Zornah asked.

"She should be here next week."

"Guess we should get rooms in the guest wing ready then."

"I was thinking of putting her in my old room, or in one of the extra rooms in our wing. She'd be so lonely in the guest wing." Zeeda countered.

"We can make up the rooms down from yours then."

While she was still a little unsure about the guest her daughter had invited to their home, Zornah trusted Zeeda's judgment of people. Though the two of them had decided thus far to wait before breaking the news to Kalah about the Remmus situation, she did hold out hope for her son's future. Even if it meant him leaving them.


Zeeda stood waiting with her mother in the transport chamber. Queen Saturn's visit had finally come to be. Shielding their eyes against the light, they opened them to see their visitor standing before them. Queen Saturn stood blinking, and just a little dazed.

"That was certainly an interesting experience." she said with a bemused smile.

"The first time through is always the worst." Zeeda said, welcoming her with a hug. "Queen Saturn, this is my mother, Zornah."

"It's a pleasure to have you join us, lady."

"Oh, please just call me Turna. I get enough 'lady-ing' at home."


On her second day there, Turna was woken early by the sound of shouting. Angry shouting to be exact, and the voice belonged to Kalah.

"Legati Zeeda Lorent Centurious Torpel!" he bellowed down the hall. "Get your ass out here right now!"

Peeking out her door, she saw Zeeda run past, flashing her a quick grin. It was certainly turning out to be an interesting trip.

Kalah was not angry, oh no indeed. He was furious. And at the center of that fury was his daughter. He pointed at the door of the study, and Zeeda entered with him on her heels. She braced herself for what would begin the moment the door shut. Having a suspicion as to the nature of her father's displeasure, she created a sound shield inside the room to prevent the rest of the household being further disturbed. Normally, they only used a sound shield in the heat of battle to better confer with com officers and squad leaders and not have everyone else around them know what was being discussed.

"Do you know what you've done?" Kalah fumed.

"Please, do tell."

"Do you know who I was just speaking to?"

Zeeda decided to keep quiet. Sometimes it was just easier to let him spew forth and get it out of his system.

"The Queen! The darkness damned queen of the Silver Millennium. And do you know what she wanted?"

She stared him down, waiting for the next explosion.

"She wants me to come there with your brother. Your damned foolish brother that had to go and fall in love. Queen Serenity wants to see him again, as well as meet with King Pluto. Did you tell everyone while you were there?"

"Are you done?"

"Don't you answer me like that."

"If you're done, and you calm down a moment, I might just answer your questions."

It was not always a good idea, but sometimes being angry right back at her father would snap him out of his ratings long enough to listen.

"This is partly your fault you know." Kalah looked ready to explode, so Zeeda hurried on. "We hadn't been there but a couple hours when the Queen summoned me. You know what her first question to me was? She asked me if you were feeling well because of how you'd been acting on your visits these past two years. Then she started asking about Remmus, and I felt she deserved the truth. Because she was concerned about you - and the rest of us. She needed to know why one of her trusted allies was suddenly acting cold and distant."

Kalah had cooled just a little bit. Zeeda continued.

"I hadn't counted on her telling King Pluto so soon. But he asked me about Remmus and I spoke on your behalf about my brother."

His eyes blazed again, and he started to open his mouth.

"Oh, stop that." Zeeda snapped. "The two of you have never met, so how did you expect him to contact you about Remmus?"

"You shouldn't have said anything to anyone!" he growled, if not quite as angry as before. She did have a point on that one.

"And what kind of standing would we have with them by keeping secrets? You know as well as I do how observant Queen Serenity is. You think they'd trust us anymore if this continued? You think they'd like to know we were keeping something from them that involves them, no matter how trivial? It's not like it was a truly enjoyable experience father."

Zeeda finished, crossing her arms and flopping down in a nearby chair. Holding a sound shield was hard work when you were attempting to calm an angry Kalah at the same time.

"Father, look at it this way. Either we get closure by Remmus being allowed to pursue his love, or we get it when he finds out she doesn't share his feelings. Either way you look at it, we win a little."

"Not entirely," he said, resigning himself to the situation. "If he gets to be with his princess, we lose him."

"Wouldn't you rather have a soon far away that's happy over the Remmus we currently have here at home?"

"I hate it when you make sense." Kalah finally said, with a small smile.

"Are we done with the whole angry, yelling at me thing?"

"What?" he then sensed the shield around the room. "Yes, you can release the shield."

"And now, since that earlier shouting undoubtedly woke the rest of the household, shall we see if they made us breakfast?"

"What would I do without you, daughter of mine?"

"Probably not have quite so many gray hairs."


Queen Saturn had been at the Clan Centurious stronghold for four months. It had felt odd at first, and seeing Zornah with her children had made the pain come back every night. But they had seen her through those times, and it had been a bright spot when the youngest, little Husel, had started calling her Aunti Turna. They had made her feel like a part of their family, and she finally felt at peace. Zeeda found her in the garden one evening, sitting in the midst of the purple flowers she loved so much.

"Oh, Zee - thank you all so much." she said, taking hold of the younger woman's hand. "The pain is still here, I don't think it will ever go away. But, I feel like living again."

"Come on." Zeeda said, tugging her to her feet.

"Where are we going?" Turna asked.

"I believe the com room is available."

"Oh, but he's probably asleep by now!"

"And he'll be supremely happy to be woken up and see your smiling face. You two haven't managed to catch each other for a conversation these past couple of weeks." Zeeda reminded her.

Turna waited while Zeeda set up the call. A few minutes later, she found herself staring at the groggy and worried face of her husband.

"Turna! What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong dear."

It took him a moment to clear the sleep clouding his head before he noticed the smile on her lips, and the sparkle in her eyes that had been missing for so very long.

"I've just missed you is all." she said softly.

"I can be there in two days."

And that was all it took.


Two days later, a very anxious Queen Saturn was pacing about the transport room. Turning as the light flashed behind her, she was in his arms before he even had a chance to step down from the platform. Neither of them noticed Zeeda slipping silently from the room.


"Where are our guests?" Kalah asked as they gathered for dinner.

"They're - indisposed - at the moment." Zeeda answered

"Ah." came the reply, with a knowing wink directed at his wife.


"I don't think I've ever had a more memorable welcome." King Saturn smiled into his wife's hair. "Though, I'm sure our hosts have wondered what happened to us."

"I'm quite sure Zeeda has covered for our absence."

He pulled her into a tighter embrace, not wanting to ever let go again. The pain was still there, they would share it until the end of time, but they had survived. Things would never be the same, but all that mattered right then was the woman he held in his arms. The wife he had been missing since before her stay in the void.

"Light, how I missed you." he murmured.

"And I you."

And he found out, again, just how happy his wife was to see him.


They finally joined their hosts late the next morning. The boys had already eaten and were off at their duties, so it was a nice couple's gathering.

"You two must be famished." Zornah said with a knowing smile.

They both blushed slightly as she passed around a basket of fresh warm pastries.

"I don't know how to thank you." King Saturn said to them.

"Nonsense, it was our pleasure." Kalah replied. "Next time, we expect you both to stay a while."

"No one has ever done quite so much for us before." Turna said softly.

"Then they are fools. Blind fools who don't know what they're missing." Zornah smiled at her from across the table.

"I'd better get down to the practice hall and make sure they haven't hurt themselves." Zeeda said, rising from the table. "You two just make yourselves at home."

She winked at Turna before dragging Lienta from the room.


"It's as beautiful as you described."

King Saturn stood in awe. Looking about the garden, lush with the large, strange purple flowers of the void and lit by the ever changing lights from the edge of the galaxy slowly spinning behind them. It was a different beauty than what they had at home, and even that of the grounds about the Moon Palace - and it felt more comforting than either place. He sensed it would be hard for the two of them to leave.

"I wish these flowers could grow at home, but they probably wouldn't look right." his wife mused beside him.

"Probably not. But if we had them at home, what other excuse could we use to come visit?"

She joined him in laughter, both knowing full well they would never need an excuse to come visit what they now considered extended family.


We thought everything was right in the universe at that time. Prosperity and happiness flowed freely, even the shadows became quiet - the fragments stilled. For two years we enjoyed ourselves, and all life was beautiful around us.

The signs were there, though we didn't see or hear them. And I begin to doubt that we would have truly understood them anyway. I've had a few thousand years to mull them over, and I still don't see everything they tried to show us.

No, that end is still a ways off, but the losses we soon suffered were just as painful, if not more so. Sometimes, I wish I could forget. But then I remind myself that without sorrow, there is no place for joy. Without despair, there is no room for hope.