Chapter 16: Evening entertainment

Merle sat on the edge of her chair, watching the animated conversations among all her friends in the room. It was after dinner and they had moved into one of the more comfortable assembly rooms of the castle to continue their conversations. Dinner had been a loud and gregarious affair, with the crew of the Crusade trying to outdo each other in recounting tales and updating Hitomi on their most recent escapades. Merle had laughed more in one hour, she felt, than in a month from the past five years.

She was happy and was tempted to purr. But, she reflected to herself, that was something only kittens did. Not grown cats of eighteen. Especially not a cat who was the acting mistress of a castle. She had spent most of the morning making arrangements for their guests. During the afternoon she had given Millerna a tour of the partially completed castle with Celena and Hitomi tagging along and had sketched out the remaining plans to them. Van, Allen and Dryden had disappeared to go over the newly arranged trading agreement, emerging in time for dinner with satisfied expressions and an officially sanctioned treaty. She was afraid to ask how the crew of the Crusade had spent their time, but so far had not received any complaints from the citizens or castle staff.

Merle surveyed the room; Celena and Millerna were in a heated battle over where the new Asturian hospital should be built with Allen interjecting his comments. She watched Allen for a moment, seeing him interact with Millerna with no sign of heartbreak or discomfort. She remembered how he had been five years ago and shrugged. "Fickle," she thought privately "but a devoted brother." Her gaze wandered, focusing on Van and Hitomi, who were sitting together. For a moment she studied them, noting how Van frequently glanced at Hitomi, and the smiles she in return directed at him.

Joy bubbled through Merle at how happy Van looked relaxing there. He was alternating between arguing with Gaddes over recollections of five years ago and verbally sparring with Dryden on the finer points of international trade. Even if she did not already love Hitomi as a sister, Merle would have loved her for this. Making Van happy and bringing all their friends together, even if she did it unconsciously. She would gladly give up her position as mistress for Hitomi. Merle almost allowed herself to purr thinking that this is how it should be: their eclectic family back together again.

Merle grinned as she heard Van laughingly yield to Gaddes's description of the account of the first guymelef fight between Allen and himself at the fort in Asturia. Gaddes was glorifying his commander's victory while Van hung his head in feigned humiliation. Satisfied that he had bested the king, Gaddes stood and stretched.

"I think it is time for some liquid refreshment!" He called to the rest of the crew, who were sprawled around the fireplace. They cheered in agreement and joined him in bowing to the king and Princess Millerna. They left, uproariously demanding the location of the nearest tavern.

Merle watched them go, cheerily waving goodbye. The room was much quieter after their departure. She noticed Dryden solicitously getting a drink for Millerna. She wondered what was going on with those two. When they had rejoined them this morning, Dryden appeared to be in some state of happy daze and Millerna looked very satisfied. She and Hitomi had exchanged cheerful glances, but nothing was ever said. Merle sighed, feeling a little out of the loop.

"Tired?" someone asked. She turned to see Phiat leaning against the wall behind her.

"No," she said. "Just...happy." She turned to look at Van again. Phiat followed her gaze and smiled.

"She certainly brings out the best in him. I've never seen him smile so much," he said quietly to her. Merle nodded in agreement, a sad expression passing quickly over her face.

"What is it?" he asked, noticing.

"Nothing really. I was just wondering how long she'll stay this time. I know Lord Van loves her. How will he be if she doesn't stay?"

Phiat looked at them again. "We can only hope for the best. Why don't we join them?"

Merle slid off the chair and walked with him over to the group, settling on the floor at Van's feet and leaning against his chair. Van smiled at her, then turned his attention back to Dryden, who was explaining some recent research he had done on the history of mermaid clans. Hitomi was listening, fascinated. She had not known such things existed outside of fairy tales and was horrified to learn the rich captured them for decoration. Merle was soon caught up in Dryden's descriptive narrative.


Van relaxed in his chair, listening to the discussion. His mind began to wander, mulling over the events of the past few days. Despite the attacks and Hitomi's injury, he was happier now than he had been in a long time. He closed his eyes, absorbing the laughter and merriment around him. Suddenly the weariness from receiving only seven hours of sleep in three nights caught up with him. The tension that had held the fatigue at bay was slipping away as he unwound amidst his friends. Van reopened his eyes, trying to pay attention to the topic at hand, but his eyelids grew heavy. Succumbing to the exhaustion, he slipped into sleep.

Out of the corner of her eye Hitomi saw Van's head began to nod. She watched him surrender to his exhaustion and then nudged Merle to get her attention, pointing at him. Merle frowned, hissing "That's what he gets for only sleeping one night out of three!" She gently edged away from his legs as Hitomi nodded and whispered to the others that she would be right back. Standing, Hitomi softly called Van's name. He blearily opened his eyes, looking at her. He allowed her to pull him to his feet and groggily followed as she led him out of the room.

Hitomi guided him to his room, smiling at the guards who opened the door for them. She pulled the cover back on the bed and forced him to sit. He complied, his eyes closing again. She pulled his vest and shirt over his head, leaving a thin undershirt, then knelt and pulled his boots off. Gently she pushed him back until he was lying down and covered him. He asleep even before his head hit the pillow.

Hitomi stood by the bed, his shirts clutched in her hand, studying his face. He looked so young and boyish, all the lines on his face smoothed out. Asleep, he looked more like the boy from her memories than the man he had become. She leaned over him, breathing in his scent. Brushing his hair back from his face, she let it run through her fingers, then kissed him softly on the forehead. He mumbled and turned over, clutching the sheets in his hand. She stood again, feeling a lump form in her throat. He was so precious to her; she could not let anything happen to him. She shook her head at her sappiness and blew out the candles, leaving the shirt over a chair as she left the room.


When Hitomi reentered the room, she found everyone looking over some books on the various species of Gaea that Dryden had brought with him. He was gesturing widely, describing the ones he had seen in person. Merle spotted Hitomi as she came in and waved her over enthusiastically.

"Read this!" she said, thrusting a book under Hitomi's nose. "It is all about cat people! I never knew there was so much written about my clan's history!" Merle puffed up with pride, pointing out the chapters she had marked.

Hitomi obediently took the book from her, glancing at the page. Blankly she looked at the words. "I can't read it," she said slowly.

"Sure you can!" Merle said. "It's nothing bad!"

"No," Hitomi corrected, starting to feel embarrassed. "I mean, I can't read your language!"

Merle stared at her incredulously. "You don't know how to read? What do you do on the Mystic Moon? All those fancy machines and you don't even have books?"

Hitomi glared at her. "Of course I know how to read! I know how to read my language, and two others from my world, I'll have you know. Let me remind you of the monument I read in Atlantis! But your writing is different."

Merle looked scornful and opened her mouth, but Celena interrupted quickly. "Hitomi, do you want to learn?"

Hitomi turned to her gratefully, realizing that they all had been listening to her and Merle squabble. "Could you teach me?"

Celena and Millerna exchange quick glances and said "Yes!" simultaneously.

Merle jumped up in excitement. "I'll get paper and writing quills!" she squealed.

"Since when can you teach me anything?" Hitomi asked sourly.

Merle glared at her. "You need all the help you can get!" She skipped out to fetch the supplies. Dryden, Allen and Phiat stood together.

"We'll leave this to you." Allen said. "Sword fighting and piloting guymelefs I can teach, but I am afraid reading would surpass my patience."

Phiat agreed with him while Dryden just protested that he couldn't do any better than the three women already present. The three of them quickly retreated to the other side of the room as Merle came back in with Eri, who held a tray with inkwells, quills and paper. Eri looked shyly at Princess Millerna as she bobbed a curtsy.

"Can I learn, too?" she whispered to Hitomi, who looked at her in surprise. Eri looked at the ground. "My father didn't believe women should know writing and reading," she admitted.

Hitomi indignantly said, "Of course you can learn!" scooting her chair over to make room for Eri to sit. Millerna smiled kindly at her then began to explain the basic rules of the alphabet.