Fates Redeeming Ways

IV

Castaways

*

~Few survived the attack

Now we're being sent away

Living with royalty would be different

Would I have my way?~

*

*Hitomi*





Before I knew it, dawn was upon us- us consisting of one hundred and fifty-three men, women and children that had survived the attack. Amongst them were Yukari's mother and father.

"Hitomi! Did you see her?! Did you see Yukari? She came looking for you! Please tell me you know where she is!" I've never seen her mother so desperate in her life. It had to be the hardest thing to do- to tell her what had happened. She was heartbroken. I didn't blame her. I was actually expecting worse. Possibly for her to hate me and never speak to me again sounded reasonable.




A few days past after the royal guards of Asturia had come in to aid the survivors and send them off to new places to live. When the approached me and told me where I would be staying, I almost fainted.

"The . . . wait, I'm staying with the Fanel family? What the hell is this, I don't even know who the hell they are!"

"Please, miss Hitomi. You know very well that you have no other living relatives that don't live continents away, now please settle down. A carriage is on its way and it will take you there. Your mother was a good friend of the Queen of Fanelia."

This was news to me. Gods, all of this just sucked. I wanted everything to go back to how it was before that day I had seen the gypsy woman. Back to when things were perfect.



I arrived in the lush green lands of Fanelia that afternoon. I had to admit that it was simply stunning. I had always adored green pastures and this land was certainly presenting me with just that. The carriage took me all the way to the castle and I was greeted by whom I was told was the Queen.

"Miss Hitomi Kanzaki. I pray that your journey was well."

I curtsied in admiration. She was a beautiful woman with long, flowing black hair which was tinted forest green in all the placed sunlight it. Her eyes reflected knowledge and wisdom in their rosy color. One thing that confused me was that she had two pink spots on her forehead. A marking of some sort to symbolize something, but I didn't know what. She was tall, with many articles of clothing covering her. It was amazing she didn't pass out from heat.

"It was." I had no chance to make a mistake here. I had to seem like a nice woman. Not that I wasn't or anything but sometimes I just messed up.

"I am Vari Fanel. Queen of Fanelia. I am sorry to say that my husband passed away a matter of weeks ago and my eldest son is not currently located in Fanelia, but my youngest song is. You will be able to meet him later."

I smiled and nodded.

"I'm sorry for your loss, but I also thank you for your hospitality. I don't know what I can give you in return, however."

When she smiled, it reminded me of my mother's smile.

"You are so kind and polite. It will be just like having your mother here with us. Come, I will have some maidens show you to your room. Please, do not feel like you owe me, or anyone here anything. Your loss has been the greatest out of anyone here."

Now let me tell you, royalty knows how to live. The room I got- wow. That's the only word that came to mind. Wow. It was simply, yet so very elegant. Before the maiden left, she placed my bag on my new bed which had lavender sheets, just like my old room. The room smelt of flowers, lilies to be exact. Yukari's favorite flowers.

After I unpacked my things, I immediately left the room. It brought back too many painful memories. When I finally ran into another maiden, she directed me to the kitchen. I was famished so I didn't object when I was told to help myself. Just as I had sat down at a window frame to a nice meal, however . . .

"Who are you?!" a perky voice asked. Out of fright, I screamed, knocking over my plate of fruit and bread and falling off of my chair. In front of me stood a cat woman, probably no more than a year younger than myself with shoulder-length blushful colored hair and deep blue eyes. She wore a dark orange shirt that hung down to her thighs and her color was darker than any other cat woman I had ever seen. Her stipe pattern was different as well. I could see three distinct and individual dark brown stripes on the side of her forearms and thighs, as well as two lining her jaw. One thing that struck me as odd were the tufts of white fur that she still had on her shoulders, wrists and ankles- the looked to be thinning, indicating she was reaching a more mature age. Her ears were perked and alert as I tried to stand back up. Instead of letting me do as I pleased, she pinned me down and sniffed my hair and face.

"What the hell are you doing?! Get off of me!" Of course, she didn't listen. I couldn't break free from her grip because she had the upper hand on me.

"You must be that Kanzaki girl. Do not lie to me, because I know for a fact that's who you are. I was told that you came from my homeland and you smell of it."

She jumped off of me and grabbed the bread that sat beside her on the floor.

"You . . . you lived in Irini?"

"I know more about that city than you would believe, girl. Now clean up your mess."

I glared at her as she walked to the exit of the kitchen. When I heard her talking to someone in the midst of my cleaning, I turned to see who it was. All I saw was a mess of raven black hair and a cherry red shirt accompanied by cream-colored pants and calf-high dark brown boots. He was slender and his arms were very muscular. Wow, this guy was really nice looking. No sooner had I took in his features, did he disappear. Damn. Maybe I'll meet him soon.

After getting some food and retreating back to my room, I found a woman to be in there with some clean towels in her hand. She wasn't dressed like the other maidens so I had questions. She must've realized that as well by seeing my raised eyebrow.

"Hello. You must be Hitomi Kanzaki." I was really getting sick of that line.

"So I've been told." She understood what I meant, judging by her next comment.

"My name's Selena." She curtsied. "It'll take a good two weeks before everyone has met you. I know how you feel. It was the same for me."

She took my plate from me and placed it on the small table across the room.

"For you?" I asked quietly.

"Yeah. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a handmaiden. I just help out with the chores around the castle. My brother sent me here a few years ago. Apparently Asturia had become too dangerous a place for a girl like me to live. I was sent here to learn to defend myself and to sword fight. They'll no doubt want to teach you as well since you're becoming a permanent resident here."

"Sword fighting? Are you insane? I'm a woman! What use would I have for such a thing?" She laughed in my direction, placing her hands on her hips.

"You're gonna need something to occupy your time besides going out to the market. Judging by the way I've seen you act so far, I'd say you've had your entire life handed to you on a golden plate, along with many trimmings. You'd better shape up and not act like a spoiled brat. You won't get along here well if you do." With that, she left.

"What a bitch."

~*~



Please leave a review :)