Contend
Author's Note
Disclaimer
Chapter 9
Author's Note
Wuhu, no more research! ^_^ Jep, I finished that stupid paper and I feel great^^
Clement Rage and Kyubi-Emz-Chan are (as always ^.-) totally awesome for reviewing^^
Disclaimer
Final Fantasy IX (and all related content) belongs to Square Soft/Square Enix.
(Honestly? If I owned that company *please insert one random thing you wish had been better*)
Chapter 9
Whenever I cried he would always make me feel like he would change the world if he could so it couldn't hurt me anymore. But now I'm crying and he's not here
Adelbert Steiner, captain of the Alexandrian Queen's Knights of Pluto, grumbled surlily as he watched the black haired man lead his Queen towards the more secluded parts of the castle grounds.
He – along with the royal general Beatrix – had tried their best to discourage even the most persistent of the Queen's suitors, who had showne more interest in the title 'Prince consort' than any other aspect that a marriage would involve.
Having said that, this one, a very popular and aspiring adopted stepson of one of Alexandria's most influential nobles, proofed to be a hart nut to crack. The Captain couldn't lay his finger on it, but 'something' about that young man made him want to unsheathe his sword and get into action.
"'How did it happen that their lips came together? How does it happen that birds sing, that snow melts, that the rose unfolds, that the dawn whitens behind the stark shapes of trees on the quivering summit of the hill? A kiss, and all was said.'" he finished his performance with a theatrical knee-fall, the velvety tone in which he rendered the play died away all too soon.
"Bravo." Garnet said smilingly and gave a small applause as Nathan de Lairén bowed gracefully and took a seat in the wrought-iron chair opposite the young queen's.
"'Kissed by Dawn'," she stated approvingly,"a highly unknown piece of literature."
"True, true. To the best of my belief, I dare say, it presents Lord Hugo's chef d'oeuvre, a truly unappreciated masterpiece, only rivaled by Lord Avon's work."
"I agree wholeheartedly, especially -" At that very moment a she noted a fast approaching silhouette and rose from her seat, as did her companion.
Soon, she identifyed the figure as one of her 'Venus Verticordia' – a regiment of female soldiers, that had been initiated almost three hundred years ago by King Alexander XIX - who hadn't trusted any man whenever it came to his beloved daughter – as an exclusive life guard for all Alexandrian princesses and queens.
"Your Majesty," the girl said breathlessly as she bowed deeply before the pair,"the Hilda-Garde 5 just landed outside the castle walls."
Garnet's face lit up and she nodded for the lady-knight to continue. "Captain Steiner and his Knights of Pluto went to escort the Regent and his family to the castle."
"Tell General Beatrix to await my return shortly. You are dismissed."
The soldier saluted, took a few backwards steps and run back to the palace.
"Would your Majesty honor this lost soul by accepting his company on the way back to the right path, which leads out of this vast gardens - without the opprobrium to admit he has entirely lost his ways?" he asked with a beautiful smile and the most convincing imitation of lost-puppy-eyes she had ever seen.
Garnet smiled.
"It shall be my pleasure." She took the arm he offered to her and they continued their conversation on their way pack to the palace.
The heavy footsteps were audible long before the guards opened the big iron doors leading to the throne-room.
"Cid Fabool the ninth, Regent of Lindblum. Accompanied by his wife Lady Hilda Fabool the third and daughter Eiko Fabool the first." another guard announced formally.
Garnet's joy increased even more as she heard the last part, for she knew her aunt and uncle had planned to adopt the little summoner but - until today - Eiko had always been announced separately with her grandfather's surname.
Obviously overjoyed by this exact change, the small family entered the room.
Regent Cid – an older, white-haired man with an v-shaped mustache, which disputed the existence of gravity – was endeavored to hide his excitement during the formal, in cliches greeting, but his deep blue eyes shone with the love for his assembled family. It was the same light she saw reflected in Lady Hilda's features.
The contrast, that the caramel curls created to the age-old wisdom which was so very evident in her blue-gray eyes, had always fascinated the young queen.
But as she took a look at the couple's 'daughter' she had to hold back laughter.
Eiko had mostly stayed true to herself in the months since she'd received the Regent's invitation to spent some time with him and his wife in Lindblum.
At first she had felt bad for leaving Dagger to herself ("What are you just gonna do without me?") but soon found herself enjoying all the attention and company a newly crowned queen couldn't offer.
But weeks had turned into months and eventually the little girl had accepted the couple's offered to move out of the guest-room into a private chamber on the top-floor of the grand castle, right next to the regents' chamber.
Seeing her now, standing quietly next to an elegant Lady, in a soft pink, lace trimmed dress - which reached half way down her calf – with her hand demurely in front of her, Garnet hardly recognized the wild, attention-starved child she had met more than two years ago.
Only when they moved on to a smaller chamber to talk in private, did the tamed facade crumble. There she launched herself at her cousin-of-sorts, burring her face in the light green fabric of her dress.
Garnet returned the hug, while she tried to keep the Summoner's Horn – which had gained less length than it had sharpness – off her skin. Smilingly she stroked Eiko's violet curls, until the girl calmed down enough to start telling the older one of all the exiting things she hadn't put in her letters, including every technical detail about airships 'father' had taught her.
"If ya enter t'e caboose one more time before I tell ya to, Zidane, I swear to t'e gods I will-"
He didn't have to stay long enough to hear, what - exactly - Ruby planned to do with him, to know he really shouldn't risk it. Therefore he hastily turned tail - literally - and headed towards the engine room - the only place she wouldn't follow him to– just in case he had actually annoyed her enough to give him a chase.
By the time he re-approached the deck of the Prima Vista II – a beautiful, steam powered reconstruction of the first one, although on a noticeable smaller scale – he perceived loud voices. As soon as he realized that they weren't directed at him, his curiosity flared up and he listened closer.
"... can't just abandon her! That bastard has kids who have kids older than her! Listen, we have to-"
"You listen to me now, boy," Baku's gruff voice interrupted the teen impatiently,"Tantalus won't interfere with this matter. If you're gonna do something, you better be ready to face the consequences."
"Hey Marcus," Zidane whispered as he joined the small group that had gathered outside the captain's quarters,"whats going on in there?"
"You remember Brunce and Lucille, right?"
The memory on the two Lindblum kids that had desperately tried to join Tantalus was fishy, but he nodded never the less.
"Well, Lucille's oldest brother just promised her to an old farmer with an army of kids who lost their mother a while back. Brunce wants to prevent that marriage from happening, but Boss won't hear any of it."
"She's fourteen for crying out loud!" Blank put in angrily.
"And has therefore been officially marriageable for the past two years." Marcus reasoned calmly, albeit he didn't seem to like the idea anymore than his bro.
"When it had been Ruby-" the redhead countered, imploringly trying to convince the older man of the necessity to act on this matter.
He knew neither Brunce nor he stood a chance against their boss in a one-on-one match, which would be inevitably should they decide to ignore his orders. The boy simply lacked the needed strength and combat experience, while Blank himself lacked the ability to predict this opponent's movements fast enough to gain the upper hand in a fight against the cat-man, who– despite his heavy and clumsy outward appearance – was an excellent fighter with a liking for unpredictable speed attacks.
Marcus on the other hand... If anyone could hope to be able to change Baku's mind, it was definitely Marcus.
"Ya know its not the same. Boss felt responsible for what happened to her. This," he nodded towards the door,"has nothing to do with us."
While Blank had to admit defeat – at least for the time being -, Zidane's mind wandered to Mikoto, who leaned with her arms on the ship's rail, intently watching the land below.
He joined her quietly, feeling the restlessness fade away, until it was only a small, soft reminder instead of a demanding need to stay active.
It had always been like this whenever he had been forced to stay put on an airship for a longer period of time. This behavior constantly drove the entire crew - who had to watch him run around from dawn 'till dusk – crazy. And two and a half weeks sure were a long time to anyone.
He directed his eyes on the ground, but didn't focus on the things he'd seen a thousand times before. Instead he concentrated on his sister's mind to see what she saw in the same scenery. And was amazed to say the least.
Suddenly he didn't see lakes and rivers, he saw water sources; no hills but superior battle-field positions. There weren't simply 'woods', they all were sources for wood, sustenance and shelter. She memorized the landscape while comparing it with obviously out-dated maps and corrected these inside her mind.
More often than not Zidane saw images of Genomes flickering through her mind. On board of The Ship, in Oeil Vert, the Blackmage's Village, Bran Bal.
For the first time, he got a glimpse of Terra he hadn't expected to ever experience himself, for he loathed the parasitic planet and its keeper Garland, who had created him and others to be his puppets, to destroy all life on Gaia. But now, he perceive its artificial tower construction as comforting, the painful blue light as training and the old man as a reliable source of guidance.
Zidane shut his eyes tightly and shook his head vehemently as if I could help him to get rid of this particular mental picture.
"Boa! C'mere, that's the Evil Forest!" cried a boy to the left from where the siblings stood.
Zidane spotted two boys - who traveled with the orchestra - about three feet away, one of them leaning dangerously far over the railing. Sean and Conor – as the identical twins were called – counted about ten years and their surname – 'Rohan', which could roughly be translated as 'little red one' – suited the two strawberry blond, green eyed boys perfectly.
"Ha, ain't looking evil to me!" Sean – or Conor – declared daringly.
"Eejit! That's 'cause it got petrified." his brother lectured, clearly smug about knowing something his brother didn't.
"Amn't!" the second one protested loudly,"Are you trying to cod me?"
"See that guy?" the first one shook his head and pointed at Blank with a motion he surely intended to be stealthy,"He'd been right in there, fighting a Behemoth single-handedly!"
"Is that why he looks... like that?"
"Aye." a deep voice replied.
Wide eyed, the kids turned and found themselves in the shadow of the very man they'd just talked about.
"I-I'm feeling peckish. C'on Sean, let's grab somethin'." Conor – the storyteller – mumbled before dashing towards the caboose.
Blank chuckled as Zidane theatrically rolled his eyes.
Very few knew which circumstances had really been responsible for the gray-eyed's hoydenish appearance, but most people felt the need to come up with an explanation anyway, which lead to one story being more bloodcurdling and sinister than the other. Blank, however had never denied any of them. 'Too entertaining' he'd say.
At first, Zidane had thought his Tantalus-brother just had a pretty twisted sense of humor – maybe he did anyway -, but after he had had his fair share of 'tail jokes', he'd realized, that it was easier to handle this kind of stupid statements if you viewed them as nothing but a big joke.
"Ruby is gonna love her new company." Blank said jokingly.
"Totally," the blond man agreed dryly,"At least she has plenty of experience with chewing out up-to-no-good redheads."
Blank skillfully ignored the allusion by calmly reviving an earlier conversation with the blond girl next to him, who'd followed the spectacle heedfully.
Zidane just couldn't get it. He was very sure he recalled close to everything about Ruby, as long as it was connected to other people, like the way her and Blank used to act rather confrontationally around each other, or how the boss would always tread her like a little princess. But whenever he really tried to think about how he'd met her, something seemed to block his memory.
"Castle ho!"
"The castle?" instantly forgetting his line of thoughts, Zidane climbed the main mast at a breakneck pace and stared at a little dark speck between himself and the advancing sunset. But there was no doubt that they were heading dead on for Alexandria's capital Castle Town.
The humongous sword that had been build into the castle's center reflected the red sun beams warningly.
"I'm finally here, Dagger. Just a few more hours before you'll know that, too."
As they turned the corner to the royal quarters, Garnet spotted two figures joking freely in front of her chamber doors.
One of them was a young chamber maid of twelve years. Garnet recalled Beatrix telling her of the girl's request to be accepted as a knight's attendant into her ranks. She'd been refused due to her rather poor physical condition – one that had become all too common among the war-battered Alexandrian orphans – but had given her a position among the castle staff.
The second was a blond lad about the same age, who the queen recognized as one of the Lairén Family's messengers due to their heraldic device stitched to his chest. A wing spreading crow.
Both children visibly baled as they came face to face with their ruler and her heavily armed General – who's narrowed eye looked dangerously at them.
The dark haired maid Leila bowed hastily.
Before the boy could even start to state his business – obviously deeply intimidated by the General's 'Save the Queen' – Garnet stepped forward and indicated Beatrix to move on to the next room.
Inside, she accepted the manilla envelope the boy carried, along with two intertwined, thornless roses.
One red, one white.
Love at first sight. Unity.
A marriage proposal.
"Tell Lord Lairén to await my answer after tonight's play. You may leave."
He bowed deeply and backed out of the room, obviously glad he didn't have to explain an outright refusal to his master. He wasn't entirely if his master believed in "Don't shoot the messenger".
"My Queen," Beatrix said softly, stepping closer to the young woman by the window, who watched the newly arrived Prima Vista's crew finishing their last preparations for the upcoming event with a sad expression.
Garnet knew what she was looking for: A sign, only a tiny glance of a blond shock of hair, scurrying around below. She knew she was waiting for something that would never happen.
"You do not have to do this, not now. You are only nineteen, there is still time."
Garnet turned her head as she felt a tender hand on her shoulder.
"There is still hope." the older woman added in a gentle whisper.
The younger one shook her head.
"No Beatrix, there is neither. You may say 'only nineteen' but all I hear from the nobles is 'already nineteen'." She sighed. "Mother got married at sixteen," another heavy sigh,"and when she was my age, she already carried Alexandria's first heir."
Beatrix stayed silent. She knew the next point on the list, and she knew her Queen was right, but that didn't mean she approved of it.
"My people are afraid of a succession-conflict or even a civil war, should I pass away without having provided an heir. They shouldn't have to. They suffered enough already."
"But, I am sure you know he does not..." the general began, hoping to sway her ruler from making a decision to please the constantly clamor nobles instead of herself, even if she would clearly overstep her authorities.
Garnet pressed her lips tightly together before she answered in an unnatural stiff tone.
"Love me? I am well aware of this particular fact, thank you very much for pointing it out. Love belongs in fairy-tales. My fairytale ends when the curtains fall tonight." she tightened her grip on the letter to prevent her hands from shaking.
She couldn't bring herself to tell the woman face to face, for she knew Beatrix cared for her and would see straight through her mask of uncompromising devotion, but she had been selfish by evading reality for too long. She had to think about her people.
"Zid... he..." she took a deep, shaky breath, trying to swallow the lump building up in her throat.
"Zidane... died... doing what he felt was the right action to take, now its my turn emulate his deeds. Therefore," a silent tear run down her cheek and landed on the swatted blossoms,"I will accept Lord Lairén's proposal and announce my decision tonight."
A few things about this chapter:
"Venus Verticordia": a Venus cult of the 'changer of the female heart to discipline and morals'
Victor Hugo is the creator of the quote I humbly used as "Lord Hugo's 'Kissed by Dawn'" (yeah, that one actually is mine^^)
Age 12 (for girls, 14 for boys) had been the legal age for people to get married in the medieval times
Flower language: very interesting subject, indeed. A red and white rode stand for unity, when they're thornless its a sign for 'Love at first sight'.
Anything I forgot? Just tell me ^^
I cherish every single review like a newborn puppy!
PS: maybe a little inducement for you to review: since we all know Dagger is gonna do what she did in the final FMV, how would you reject a proposal using the language of flowers?