Birthright: Chapter 6
Chapter 6
"You will have to be ready if you wish to face Kelar," Anala said as she sat under a tree, just outside of the Castle. She was crafting something out of several tweeds of grass as the sun reflected off the water near them.
"How do you mean?"
She smiled. "What you saw me do yesterday, is nothing compared to the acute mind of Kelar,' she said. "He has trained his mind all of his life. He has a considerable advantage over you. He has always been powerful. One of the reasons he was able to overthrow King Vellum."
"If everyone on Vallis is able to, why can't they fight back?" he asked as he turned to her. "A million minds against one."
"Not if he holds access to all our resources," she said. "He controls the access to our water, our food. He stores them in underdground areas, which he and few of his generals have access to. Not even our mother has access."
He nodded. "So how can I be ready for him?"
She smiled as she set her small creation, a little boat, afloat on the surface of the water. She then got to her feet and walked over to where he stood. She then pulled out a knife from her hip belt, and handed him the blade.
"The task...throw the knife at the tree," she said. "The result...stop it before it hits it."
"What?"
She shook her head as she walked away from him and she came to stand under it.
"Just think of how the knife will fly," she said. "Feel it with your mind. And just when you think it will strike, think of how much you wish to stop it."
"But with you standing there..."
"Close your eyes," she said. "And when you think you are the only person left, you will understand."
He slowly nodded as he took in a deep breath and closed his eyes. He let his senses numb out the noise and stimulus around him. Soon, he found that he was in silence, then he could soon hear the beating of his own heart. and as his mind reached a state of peacefulness, he threw the knife.
Anala smiled as she breathed in deeply, seeing the knife suspended in the air, inches from her heart. She reached out grabbing the weapon by the blade, as the power that held it ther dispated.
"Excellent."
Keith smiled seeing that he had succeeded in that small feat.
"Though you will need more practice," she said. And just as he thought everything was fine. She threw the knife toward him.
In a blink of an eye, he saw her standing under the tree, and in the next moment, she was standing before him, holding the knife in mid air, holding it there with her own mind. She let go of it, and they both watched as it fell to the ground.
"How did..."
"Once you fine tune your own skills, you will find that anything can be controlled by your mind," she said as she picked up the knife and returned it to its sheath on her hip. "Includng the perception of time."
"Time.."
She smiled. "We can only control it so much," she said. "Its not so much as time itself, its how others perceive it."
"I dont understand."
She turned away from him, slowly walking back to the spot she was sitting at earlier. She let out a sigh as she seated herself on the ground again. She picked up the boat and fiddled with it.
"Time is only a measure, a tool that we measure the distance between one moment and the next," she started as he came to sit next to her. "But, in our own minds we can make a moment last longer than it seems, or make a moment much faster than what it really was. This is how we perceive time."
"So, like the saying, a watched pot never boils?" he asked.
"Yet it takes the same amount of time to have that water boil," she said. "Your mind is able to slow its perception of time down, or make it seem a lot faster. A minute may feel like the fastest moment you'll ever experience, or the slowest you can ever experience. And this is how the Vallusians are able to manipulate the perception."
"Making it seem that you move a lot faster than it really seemed?"
"How I was able to move from the tree to be standing in front of you in mere milliseconds."
He nodded.
"I made you see what I wanted you to see," she said. "Altering your perception."
"Has there been anyone on Vallis who can be much stronger in these gifts than Kelar?" he asked.
"None that I know of or read about," she said. "But Vera used to tell us an old story. About a wariorr who fought to protect his people from on overlord. According to that story, he was the very first to learn to use his mind as a weapon, and to use it against this overlord. And ever since, we Vallusians have been gifted with telekenisis."
"Sounds like a fable," he said. "But i would love to hear the rest of it, in full detail."
"Its a bed time story told to us when we were growing up," she said with a smile. "I dont even remember half of it."
"At least try." he said. "Vallis is a part of me now. I need to know to learn why I am here."
Anala met his gaze and slowly nodded.
"It was a long time ago, long before kings and queens, but we had masters and overlords...."
Allura smiled as she walked ino the Recreation Room and found Anala there, playing a game of chess with Pdige. the youngest member seemed to be on the losing side.
"Check mate," Anala said as she moved her queen piece into a position to block his king.
Pidge let out a sigh. "Are you sure you've never played this game before?"
Anala smiled. "Never," she said. "But I can see why you enjoy it."
Pidge nodded as he stood. "Well, I then thank you for the game," he said. "It's my turn to report for watch, so i bid you goodnight."
"Goodnight."
"Goodnight, Allura," Pidge said as he walked toward her.
"Goodnight, Pidge."
Allura walked over to where Anala was sitting.
"Im glad that you're feeling at home here."
"Its much like Vallis," Anala said. "However. our days are a lot shorter than yours."
Allura slowly nodded. "Although our days run a bit longer than others, we govern our time by the Galaxy Alliance Standard. It makes it easier on us."
"I understand," she said. "I want to extend my thanks to you, princess, for allowing me to come here. I would have thought you would not belive what I had to say."
Allura shook her head. "I see that trust is something you have some difficulties with."
"It's something mose of us do lack," she said. "I see that you trust everyone you associate with very highly."
"We've learned to work with each other," Allura said. "It's something we value greatly."
"May I trust you with something?"
"If you feel that I can, yes," Allura said.
Anala smiled weakly as she leaned back in her chair.
"My mother, Keith's mother," she started. "She has sacrificed so much for her family...for the world she loves. She tries to protect us from harm."
"I think that's a mutual feeling shared with all mothers, Anala," Allura said. "Lady Alysson is trying to look out for the best interest of her people, even under the circumstances she faces."
Anala nodded. "And that's what made me so curious about her, about who she was," she added. "She alwasys says that she is doing all she is doing to protect the Princess Lyana from harm. But in all my time, all the time I've ever been with my mother, I've never seen this Princess."
"If Kelar is as you say he is, Anala,...."
"No, no," she said. "but it got me to learn on my own. And in my search, I came to a realization."
"What is that Anala?"
"My mother is Princess Lyana."
"What?" Allura asked. "How?"
Anala shook her head. "I understand her reasons, I understand why she wanted to say that she was someone who she wasn't. To make this Lady Alysson up so that she could protect herself from harm. To confirm my suspicions, I had to dig up some guarded information."
"And that was?"
"Princess Lyana and who she was." she said. "She was a beautiful child, and I found an old photo of her, the only I could find. She was about 8 years old in the picture, but her trademarked feature was how black her hair was. She had the most beautiful black hair I had ever seen. For a child that young, it was the most striking freature she could bare."
"but how does that make your mother..."
"There was another feature I saw in that photo, that I found, but I had to hide it all these years," she said. "The photo of the princess was the only known photo of her in existence, and if Kelar ever found it, he would have figured it out eventually,"
"What was that feature?"
"A small birthmark near the nape of the neck," she said. "An easy birthmark that could be hidden, if the hair is worn right, but in this photo, she had worn it off to her side, exposing it."
"And?"
"It is said that the royal house will have children bearing a special mark, one that would distinguish them from the civilians. In case someone wishes to impersonate them, this was the guarantee with which could determine the real from the impostor."
"but if everyone knew."
"No one knew of this," Anala said. "this secret was only shared by those members of the royal house, and the nursemaids, who took a vow of silence. I had to chase this information down until I was able to get it out of one the old servants who worked for King Vellum. She didn't have to say it to me, but she pointed to my neck."
"Your neck?"
"I bare the mark as well, princess," she said. "Why I too, wear my hair long. It is not known whether Kelar knows this secret or not, but its the only way to protect myself against him from learning the truth."
"If you bare the mark."
"He has it," Anala said. "Small and a bid faded, compared to mines, but he does have it."
Allura met her gaze in utter shock. "Then..."
"Please Allura, I have never shared this with anyone," Anala pleaded. "I haven't even told my mother that I know. But there is a reason why she hasn't told us yet, and I wish to respect her decision until she feels the time is right."
"You can trust me, Anala," Allura said. "But..."
"I know its hard to believe," she said. "But knowing that you are his friend, Allura, a trusted friend, you will protect him as well."
Allura nodded. "I just can't get over it..." she said. "That he is..."
"A prince?"
Allura and Anala looked up to see Lance standing near the table they were at, staring at the both of them.
"Lance...."
He held up his hand to the both of them as he leaned against the arm of the couch behind him and crossed his arms. "It aint my place to tell anyone anyway," he said. "Anala, you have some serious secrets burried deep in you."
"Please, Lance, until my mother feels its the right time."
"Hey, I can keep a secret," he said. "Cause I got other news, that may interest you."
"That is."
"Your old acquaintance contacted us," he said. "He said that he is going to have his fleet meet us at Vallis when we give him the okay."
Allura's eyes widened, and she saw in his expression, that he wasn't going to say a word about it to Keith or Coran.
"Thanks lance," he said.
"Dont mention it," he said. "I can't belive you asked him for help."
"He owed me a favor," she said. "And he has as much interest in this as we do."
He slowly nodded. "Well Pidge is on duty, and I came here to see if any of you young ladies would like to join Hunk, Keith and I outside to catch some fireflies."
"Fireflies?"
Allura nodded. "Actually , Lance, I am going to finish up some paperwork. Anala, I suggest you take this opportunity and have some fun."
Anala nodded as she stood. Lance smiled as Allura walked passed him.
"Just keep an eye on her, Lance," she whispered to him. "And nothing else."
Lance nearly gawked as Allura left the room.
"Shall we?" Anala asked.
That startled him, but he regained his senses. "We shall." He offered his arm to her and they both walked out of the room together.
Chapter 6
"You will have to be ready if you wish to face Kelar," Anala said as she sat under a tree, just outside of the Castle. She was crafting something out of several tweeds of grass as the sun reflected off the water near them.
"How do you mean?"
She smiled. "What you saw me do yesterday, is nothing compared to the acute mind of Kelar,' she said. "He has trained his mind all of his life. He has a considerable advantage over you. He has always been powerful. One of the reasons he was able to overthrow King Vellum."
"If everyone on Vallis is able to, why can't they fight back?" he asked as he turned to her. "A million minds against one."
"Not if he holds access to all our resources," she said. "He controls the access to our water, our food. He stores them in underdground areas, which he and few of his generals have access to. Not even our mother has access."
He nodded. "So how can I be ready for him?"
She smiled as she set her small creation, a little boat, afloat on the surface of the water. She then got to her feet and walked over to where he stood. She then pulled out a knife from her hip belt, and handed him the blade.
"The task...throw the knife at the tree," she said. "The result...stop it before it hits it."
"What?"
She shook her head as she walked away from him and she came to stand under it.
"Just think of how the knife will fly," she said. "Feel it with your mind. And just when you think it will strike, think of how much you wish to stop it."
"But with you standing there..."
"Close your eyes," she said. "And when you think you are the only person left, you will understand."
He slowly nodded as he took in a deep breath and closed his eyes. He let his senses numb out the noise and stimulus around him. Soon, he found that he was in silence, then he could soon hear the beating of his own heart. and as his mind reached a state of peacefulness, he threw the knife.
Anala smiled as she breathed in deeply, seeing the knife suspended in the air, inches from her heart. She reached out grabbing the weapon by the blade, as the power that held it ther dispated.
"Excellent."
Keith smiled seeing that he had succeeded in that small feat.
"Though you will need more practice," she said. And just as he thought everything was fine. She threw the knife toward him.
In a blink of an eye, he saw her standing under the tree, and in the next moment, she was standing before him, holding the knife in mid air, holding it there with her own mind. She let go of it, and they both watched as it fell to the ground.
"How did..."
"Once you fine tune your own skills, you will find that anything can be controlled by your mind," she said as she picked up the knife and returned it to its sheath on her hip. "Includng the perception of time."
"Time.."
She smiled. "We can only control it so much," she said. "Its not so much as time itself, its how others perceive it."
"I dont understand."
She turned away from him, slowly walking back to the spot she was sitting at earlier. She let out a sigh as she seated herself on the ground again. She picked up the boat and fiddled with it.
"Time is only a measure, a tool that we measure the distance between one moment and the next," she started as he came to sit next to her. "But, in our own minds we can make a moment last longer than it seems, or make a moment much faster than what it really was. This is how we perceive time."
"So, like the saying, a watched pot never boils?" he asked.
"Yet it takes the same amount of time to have that water boil," she said. "Your mind is able to slow its perception of time down, or make it seem a lot faster. A minute may feel like the fastest moment you'll ever experience, or the slowest you can ever experience. And this is how the Vallusians are able to manipulate the perception."
"Making it seem that you move a lot faster than it really seemed?"
"How I was able to move from the tree to be standing in front of you in mere milliseconds."
He nodded.
"I made you see what I wanted you to see," she said. "Altering your perception."
"Has there been anyone on Vallis who can be much stronger in these gifts than Kelar?" he asked.
"None that I know of or read about," she said. "But Vera used to tell us an old story. About a wariorr who fought to protect his people from on overlord. According to that story, he was the very first to learn to use his mind as a weapon, and to use it against this overlord. And ever since, we Vallusians have been gifted with telekenisis."
"Sounds like a fable," he said. "But i would love to hear the rest of it, in full detail."
"Its a bed time story told to us when we were growing up," she said with a smile. "I dont even remember half of it."
"At least try." he said. "Vallis is a part of me now. I need to know to learn why I am here."
Anala met his gaze and slowly nodded.
"It was a long time ago, long before kings and queens, but we had masters and overlords...."
Allura smiled as she walked ino the Recreation Room and found Anala there, playing a game of chess with Pdige. the youngest member seemed to be on the losing side.
"Check mate," Anala said as she moved her queen piece into a position to block his king.
Pidge let out a sigh. "Are you sure you've never played this game before?"
Anala smiled. "Never," she said. "But I can see why you enjoy it."
Pidge nodded as he stood. "Well, I then thank you for the game," he said. "It's my turn to report for watch, so i bid you goodnight."
"Goodnight."
"Goodnight, Allura," Pidge said as he walked toward her.
"Goodnight, Pidge."
Allura walked over to where Anala was sitting.
"Im glad that you're feeling at home here."
"Its much like Vallis," Anala said. "However. our days are a lot shorter than yours."
Allura slowly nodded. "Although our days run a bit longer than others, we govern our time by the Galaxy Alliance Standard. It makes it easier on us."
"I understand," she said. "I want to extend my thanks to you, princess, for allowing me to come here. I would have thought you would not belive what I had to say."
Allura shook her head. "I see that trust is something you have some difficulties with."
"It's something mose of us do lack," she said. "I see that you trust everyone you associate with very highly."
"We've learned to work with each other," Allura said. "It's something we value greatly."
"May I trust you with something?"
"If you feel that I can, yes," Allura said.
Anala smiled weakly as she leaned back in her chair.
"My mother, Keith's mother," she started. "She has sacrificed so much for her family...for the world she loves. She tries to protect us from harm."
"I think that's a mutual feeling shared with all mothers, Anala," Allura said. "Lady Alysson is trying to look out for the best interest of her people, even under the circumstances she faces."
Anala nodded. "And that's what made me so curious about her, about who she was," she added. "She alwasys says that she is doing all she is doing to protect the Princess Lyana from harm. But in all my time, all the time I've ever been with my mother, I've never seen this Princess."
"If Kelar is as you say he is, Anala,...."
"No, no," she said. "but it got me to learn on my own. And in my search, I came to a realization."
"What is that Anala?"
"My mother is Princess Lyana."
"What?" Allura asked. "How?"
Anala shook her head. "I understand her reasons, I understand why she wanted to say that she was someone who she wasn't. To make this Lady Alysson up so that she could protect herself from harm. To confirm my suspicions, I had to dig up some guarded information."
"And that was?"
"Princess Lyana and who she was." she said. "She was a beautiful child, and I found an old photo of her, the only I could find. She was about 8 years old in the picture, but her trademarked feature was how black her hair was. She had the most beautiful black hair I had ever seen. For a child that young, it was the most striking freature she could bare."
"but how does that make your mother..."
"There was another feature I saw in that photo, that I found, but I had to hide it all these years," she said. "The photo of the princess was the only known photo of her in existence, and if Kelar ever found it, he would have figured it out eventually,"
"What was that feature?"
"A small birthmark near the nape of the neck," she said. "An easy birthmark that could be hidden, if the hair is worn right, but in this photo, she had worn it off to her side, exposing it."
"And?"
"It is said that the royal house will have children bearing a special mark, one that would distinguish them from the civilians. In case someone wishes to impersonate them, this was the guarantee with which could determine the real from the impostor."
"but if everyone knew."
"No one knew of this," Anala said. "this secret was only shared by those members of the royal house, and the nursemaids, who took a vow of silence. I had to chase this information down until I was able to get it out of one the old servants who worked for King Vellum. She didn't have to say it to me, but she pointed to my neck."
"Your neck?"
"I bare the mark as well, princess," she said. "Why I too, wear my hair long. It is not known whether Kelar knows this secret or not, but its the only way to protect myself against him from learning the truth."
"If you bare the mark."
"He has it," Anala said. "Small and a bid faded, compared to mines, but he does have it."
Allura met her gaze in utter shock. "Then..."
"Please Allura, I have never shared this with anyone," Anala pleaded. "I haven't even told my mother that I know. But there is a reason why she hasn't told us yet, and I wish to respect her decision until she feels the time is right."
"You can trust me, Anala," Allura said. "But..."
"I know its hard to believe," she said. "But knowing that you are his friend, Allura, a trusted friend, you will protect him as well."
Allura nodded. "I just can't get over it..." she said. "That he is..."
"A prince?"
Allura and Anala looked up to see Lance standing near the table they were at, staring at the both of them.
"Lance...."
He held up his hand to the both of them as he leaned against the arm of the couch behind him and crossed his arms. "It aint my place to tell anyone anyway," he said. "Anala, you have some serious secrets burried deep in you."
"Please, Lance, until my mother feels its the right time."
"Hey, I can keep a secret," he said. "Cause I got other news, that may interest you."
"That is."
"Your old acquaintance contacted us," he said. "He said that he is going to have his fleet meet us at Vallis when we give him the okay."
Allura's eyes widened, and she saw in his expression, that he wasn't going to say a word about it to Keith or Coran.
"Thanks lance," he said.
"Dont mention it," he said. "I can't belive you asked him for help."
"He owed me a favor," she said. "And he has as much interest in this as we do."
He slowly nodded. "Well Pidge is on duty, and I came here to see if any of you young ladies would like to join Hunk, Keith and I outside to catch some fireflies."
"Fireflies?"
Allura nodded. "Actually , Lance, I am going to finish up some paperwork. Anala, I suggest you take this opportunity and have some fun."
Anala nodded as she stood. Lance smiled as Allura walked passed him.
"Just keep an eye on her, Lance," she whispered to him. "And nothing else."
Lance nearly gawked as Allura left the room.
"Shall we?" Anala asked.
That startled him, but he regained his senses. "We shall." He offered his arm to her and they both walked out of the room together.