Chapter 26-Reunions
"Does our newest Squire desire anything other?" King Louis asked from the throne. "Especially in gratitude from the monarch?" King Louis added.
"Your Majesty, the Cra have a saying. "Always leave one arrow in the quiver." Shibu replied. "I can ask no more of you then you have so generously given." Shibu replied, as the etiquette of the court required him to do.
"Fear not, Squire." The King replied sounding regal. "We are well certain that what you will do for us will merit all the rewards which we are certain lay in your future." King Louis replied, as the etiquette of the court required of the King.
But Louis beckoned Shibu closer with a subtle gesture, meant to be more private between the two.
Shibu stepped closer still.
"You've done fair enough for me this day, squire Shibu. But is there nothing you wish for yourself?"
"There is, your Majesty." Shibu finally confessed in a quiet whisper. "I wish my mother and my big sister could be here too.'
King Louis nodded sympathetically, as Shibu stepped back a bit from the throne.
"Summon Master Chang into the Royal presence, at once!" King Louis called out with a tone of stern authority.
Almost before the echo of his words had died away inside the throne room, a small orb of bright sparkling light seem to appear in the space all its own, just a few steps away from the throne.
Before Shibu could get a very good look at it, the orb became a slender column of light the same color as the orb.
From the middle of this column of light, there stepped a tall, slender figure, more than three times taller than anyone else in the room. The new arrival wore a slender, close-fitting gray cloak, closed at the throat by a glowing gemstone larger than a dragon turkey egg. Beneath the cloak were light gray robes, that were so long and flowing that no one could see any sign of his feet. His clothing alone would have made him one of the most remarkable figures in any kingdom.
But what caught and held Shibu's attention as the figure appeared was not his accouterments. Shibu found himself unable, and perhaps unwilling, to look away from the pure blue, gem like quality of the light in Chang's eyes!
Shibu suddenly found it difficult to breathe as he looked into another set of eyes which identically matched his own!
Master Chang didn't walk. Rather, he seemed to flow, like the steady current of the river, or leaf borne on the wind.
Chang seemed to flow around, rather than through the members of the royal court, and the people gathered before the throne for the Royal audience.
Chang came close enough to Shibu that the dark-haired boy might have reached out and touched the Master's robes out of simple curiosity. But something deeper inside him told Shibu not to try. The boy had never been afraid of anyone or anything that he could remember. And it was still true. But what restrained Shibu's hand wasn't fear. It was a sort of respect, the kind that Shibu felt at home when he stood among his mother's most prized books.
Shibu held his place, but his eyes never left the tall, serene figure that swept by him by a step or two, before Chang knelt with a stately sweeping bow to the throne.
"What service may I perform for your most august Majesty, and the citizens of The White City?"
Hearing Chang speak took Shibu's breath away. He did not hear Chang's words with his ears as strongly as Shibu felt them echo in his mind!
"We have two special dignitaries who require transportation into our presence." King Louis told Master Chang directly.
It was then that Chang turned his head slightly, and for the first time looked directly at Shibu.
For just a moment, Shibu felt smaller in those deep blue eyes, than he ever had before. But then, a moment later, in the same blue light, Shibu felt himself uplifted somehow, and he could only think of two people, and absolutely nothing else.
"Madame Felice of Amakina, and Celia Starshine, The Cra hunter, Your Highness?" Chang asked King Louis without ever looking away from Shibu.
King Louis smiled with delight at the mixture of shock and surprise that mingled in Shibu's expression as he heard their names. "Exactly so, Master Chang. You would do The Throne High Service if you could bring these two before us now, Thank you." King Louis said to the tall figure before him.
"As your Majesty desires, so shall we do." Replied Master Chang, who bowed, lowering his head to the King.
When Chang stood up again once more to his full height, he still seem to be looking directly at Shibu as he spoke.
"I shall need your help, little brother." But this time, Chang's request, although seemingly spoken aloud, could be heard only in Shibu's mind.
Before Master Chang offered any explanation, Shibu saw the Master's cape drop away from his left shoulder, and as the Master drew back one arm, and thrust the other one forward, the form of a bow made of a pure white, nearly blinding light came to Master Chang's hands.
The bow itself was six times larger than any great longbow, Shibu had ever seen in any of Cici's ancient books.
Yet, as Master Chang drew the bow, he did so in such a way as to offer the very end of the bottom limb to Shibu's touch.
Place your hand there, little brother, and think of they who are your heart's desire.
Once again, Chang's thoughts became as if words spoken directly into Shibu's mind, so that no other could hear them.
Shibu obeyed, and suddenly he could see Felice and Cici directly in front of him, as if someone had opened a window through all of the time and distance between them. Shibu held the sweet warm thought for just a moment, and that was enough.
Chang loosed the arrow from the bow, and its substance seemed to pass through the marble walls, and the translucent blue glass dome over the top of the throne room. But as it left Chang's bow, Shibu saw the arrow change color. It altered from the same blinding white as the bow from which it had come to a soft, and gentle green color, like the purest green in all the forests that Shibu knew so well.
Shibu instantly knew this arrow, as well as he did his own fingers.
An arrow of recall!
Shibu knew what Cici would do when she saw it.
Almost before he was done thinking about it, there was a white flash!
Its brightness stole Shibu's eyesight for just a moment, but as the flash faded, and his vision returned, Shibu could see both Cici and Felice standing a short distance away! And this time, they were more than sweet memories!
"Mom! Cici! Over here!"
"Shibu, my boy!" Felice practically shouted as she zipped directly toward him, and managed to lift him off the floor as she hugged him close, as her wings beat furiously with happiness.
Shibu was so happy, he didn't know he was crying, but his first words to his mother were familiar ones. "Mom!" Shibu whispered quickly. "The King.. The court.. I can't breathe!" Shibu whispered almost frantically, as Felice practically squeezed the stuffing out of him!
Somewhat absently, in reaction to Shibu's whisper, Felice looked up, and looked around her as she fluttered in midair.
It took only a moment for Felice to know exactly where she was.
During that same moment, her lightly strawberry cheeks seemed to blush as red as the fire flowers in bloom!
Only then did Felice's ears bring her something other than her own heartbeat. What she had first taken for thunder was the gentle applause of every single person in the throne room, including the King, who wore the biggest smile that Shibu had ever seen from the diminutive monarch.
Felice set Shibu down quickly, back firmly on his own two feet. She began brushing him off frantically.
"My stars!" Felice whispered quickly. "This is the court of Bonta! We've got to get you looking your best before you see-"
"See the King?" Shibu asked playfully. "He's right over there, and we met some time ago. It's okay mom, really it is." Shibu explained hurriedly to Felice.
But the Enripsa healer only became more flustered upon hearing the words of her son. Very soon, Felice was as red as a ripe strawberry, and so breathless that she nearly fainted from the anxiety, as the King of Bonta smiled at her, and waved mischievously from the throne!
While most of the focus was on Shibu and his mother, there was another figure with the bow standing calmly next to Chang as his arrow of recall faded away, it's mission accomplished.
Cici looked up at the abnormally tall figure next to her, and without the slightest trace of fear or fluster in her eyes or her voice, Celia Starshine made a courtly bow to Chang, by way of both thanks, and reunion.
"Thank you so much. The arrow saved us so much time, and Felice had become very worried about Shibu." Cici explained as she looked up transfixed by eyes as blue as Shibu's.
"T'was Shibu's love that fetched you here, Fair Cra." Chang replied. "My bow did nothing but provide another, quicker road to follow." Chang replied easily. "Go see little brother now, Cici. For he needs you, as much as Felice. Hurry now."
Cici nodded, and going up on her toes in her best Rangers run, Cici dashed directly at Shibu across the marble floor which allowed the young Ranger to move more swiftly than any deer.
Felice had barely set him down, and Shibu had barely caught his first breath when another familiar figure made a high, bounding jump worthy of a stag into the middle of the group!
"Shibu!" Cici shouted, forgetting entirely where she was, and not caring in the least except for the little brother that she swept into her arms into a more gentle, but equally loving hug.
"Hey little brother! What have you been up to? We hadn't heard a word from you in days." Cici asked him, as she tousled the thick mop of black hair visible under his unique hat.
"Well.." Shibu replied slowly. "That might take some explaining, and I'm not sure I'm the best one to tell you all that's happened." Shibu replied more confidently as he spoke up.
A few steps away, another sound rose as the applause from the assembled citizens in the throne room died away. It was a slight, but still slightly raspy cough, directly from the throne!
"Perhaps I can assist.. Squire Shibu, if he will be so good to get me another of the fine potions which he brought with him." King Louis asked softly, still struggling to find his voice in spite of the cough.
"My stars!" Felice piped up quickly. "Please stay still your Majesty, I've heard that cough before!" Felice fluttered quickly into midair, and flew quickly toward the throne itself.
As she went, Felice took one of the familiar bottles which she always carried out of the pocket of her smock. Before Felice had stopped moving, the small bottle was open, and Felice was hovering at the side of the King, who gladly took more of the warm ruby red liquid down his throat.
There was a brief interval for the potion to work this time, but after a moment, King Louis set himself up straighter than before as he sat on the throne, and as he spoke, his voice and manner had restored vigor and strength about them.
"Ah, thank you, Felice!" King Louis said in a renewed and much stronger voice. "This is proof positive that you and Shibu and none other, have made these wonderful potions." King Louis told the Enripsa, as Felice blushed again, this time with modest pride.
"Thank you very much your Maj-" Felice stopped in the middle of her salutation, as she glanced into the King's blue eyes for what seemed the first time. But as she looked at them, an expression of familiarity flickered through her eyes and across her face.
"Louis?" Felice wondered aloud. "Prince Louis? Is that you, Louis De la Fer? Prince of Bonta?" Felice stammered for a moment, unsure what she knew in her mind, or in her heart.
"No one since the siege of Bonta has called me that, Felice of Amakina." We are now Louis IV, King of Bonta." The King pronounced with a gentle grandeur worthy of his former and present titles.
"As a young girl, helping my mother, I treated a prince of the royal house after he was touched by the black mist." Felice remembered fondly, but shuttering slightly at the awful memory of the darkest day Bonta had ever known.
Sitting on the throne, Louis sat completely up right, and moved far forward in his seat to take a long deep look at the cherubic strawberry face that fluttered in front of his own.
"Fel-ice?" He repeated slowly, as a nearly forgotten memory returned to an older man from his boyhood. "Felice, of clan Silverwood?"
"I am, your Royal highness." Felice replied without putting on airs. "I was the youngest daughter of Silverwood, your Majesty." Felice remembered, treading delicately on the edges of a fond memory set among some of the worst ones she had ever known.
As King Louis looked even more deeply at Felice, their noses touched gently, and the King's recall of the memory was complete. As he spoke, the elderly monarch had tears of joy in his eyes.
"Welcome home, Felice of Silverwood. Welcome forever to all of you and yours, from one who has never forgotten the life you returned to him." King Louis said to Felice, his voice breaking at last as he embraced her.
As the pair parted, King Louis could manage but a few words. He used them wisely.
"Shibu is your adopted son, my dear?" King Louis asked.
"He is my son, my life, and my joy, Your Highness." Felice responded, being capable of only a few words of her own.
"Squire Shibu and Master Chang, stand before me." King Louis commanded, as Felice fluttered to one side, and took the opportunity to use her lace hanky on her moist eyes.
Master Chang put out one finger. It touched Shibu who was standing next to him, as gently as a butterfly lighting on the back of his hand.
The next moment that Shibu could sense anything, both he and Chang were standing side-by-side, the proper five paces distance from the throne.
"By your command, noble highness." Master Chang said as he bowed, and came down to one knee so that he and Shibu could be something close to the same size as they stood together before the King.
"It is our royal pleasure that Squire Shibu shall be apprenticed this day to the noble Master Chang, who has been of long, kind, and noble service to us." The King commanded, his voice restored along with his health.
"It is our pleasure moreover, that she who has been known as Felice of Amakina, shall also be created the title of Lady Felice Silverwood, potion maker in chief to the royal house of Bonta in perpetuity."
As Shibu stood back, listening with pride as his mother became Ennobled, Shibu felt someone slip up behind him with a Ranger's silent step.
"It seems you've been busy, little brother!" Cici whispered to him, using the forest voice that only other rangers could hear.
All Shibu could do was manage a modest smile, before King Louis looked in his direction once again.
"Squire Shibu, attend us please." King Louis commanded firmly.
Shibu rose slowly from his spot at Chang side, and walked up the series of steps directly in front of the throne. Shibu knelt again at the top of the steps, this time only a single pace distant from the King.
"At your command, noble highness." Shibu repeated, already having learned something from his new Master. The moment was not lost on King Louis who smiled in a warm and friendly way at the boy with a black hair.
"Fine fellow!" The King whispered to him by way of complement. "Now is this something sort of like what you wished for?" King Louis asked Shibu.
"Oh yes, your high majesty!" Shibu answered quickly. "Even if I were back home." Shibu added quickly.
"Home is where your family is, Shibu. You have helped me learn that today as well. We find ourselves even more deeply in your debt, my fine young Squire." The King told Shibu.
"I wish all my friends in Amakina could be as happy as I am right now." Shibu responded, speaking from his heart rather than from his mind.
"Then you must bring them here to visit, all of them." King Louis said simply.
Shibu's face lit up like the brightest full moon of the autumn sky.
"But your Majesty has already done so much for us." Shibu replied.
"Never fear my boy." The King replied with a regal wink. "With the potions you and your mother can make together, I don't believe money will be a problem from now on."
"Your Majesty, may I ask one more thing, for my big sister Cici?"
"What would you have, before I declare celebrations for this day throughout all of Bonta, my fine noble squire?"
"You see, your Majesty, I owe my big sister a bow." Shibu said by way of slight embarrassment. "And Cici taught me that Cra always pay their debts."
Behind him by a few steps, Shibu could hear Cici gasp softly.
"As King of Bonta, and admirer of the Cra, who stood at our side during the siege of Bonta when I was young, I grant Cra Celia Starshine the gift of the finest bow that can be crafted in all of Bonta, in memory of the sacrifice and loyalty of her people."
A few steps behind him, only Shibu's Cra trained ears could hear the gentle sound of Cici's tears falling gently onto the velveteen carpet around the throne.
"Thank you, most noble sire." Shibu responded in the well mannered way. "Your generosity and kindness touch my heart, and leave me without breath in wonder. I am yours in perpetuity, your Majesty." Shibu said. He wasn't quite sure what some of the words meant, but he knew that when speaking from your heart, words didn't matter quite so much.
"I hope Your Majesty might be pleased to grant my Brother Shibu leave to carry a bow within these walls." Cici asked the throne. Her voice wavered at first but then became stronger as she continued. "I swear upon my faith in Cra that squire Shibu has been my student since he has been able to stand and walk, and that upon mine own life, I avow that he keeps the code of the Ranger as much as any Cra who will stand forever at your own right hand."
Cici told King Louis formally, in a stern tone of voice. 'Shibu is my heart, and I take him in as I do all the blessings of the bow."
King Louis considered the request. Cici knew that fewer than a dozen of her people in five-hundred years had been granted what Shibu had heard Cici request. It was a promise to her People from the Kingdom of Bonta that carried back to the darkest days of the Siege almost half a century before.
"If Squire Shibu is as adept with his bow as he has proved to be with a potion, and the Cra elders will test him, I will grant the dispensation which I extended to the entire Cra people in Bonta's darkest hour." King Louis replied, remembering another promise made in days bygone, and now renewed in this day and time.
"For now, my fine young squire, you belong at the side of Master Chang. It is there that you may serve me most faithfully and well." The King told the boy with a black hair.
