1 Chapter 2: The Girls From the Mystic Moon
Van had long since clambered awkwardly from the roof back to his bedroom, where he had changed into his kingly robes. He stood in front of the full-length mirror, taking in what he saw. What he saw was a foolish man who wore the royal robes of the king of Fanelia, a bitter man because of the choices he made as a teenager. Why had he let her go? The image returned to him, Hitomi smiling downward as she drifted slowly away in the giant stalk of light, having just revealed that she loved him.
But he hadn't asked her to stay with him. Van turned away from the mirror, his face one of pain and angst. Gritting his teeth, he straightened his robes and left the room, two servants closing the huge wooden double doors behind him as he started down the hallway.
"Lord Van!!" Merle cried, bounding out of nowhere. She skidded to a stop, trying her best to fight the urge to tackle him. "I almost forgot," she said sheepishly. "Damien told me not to tackle you when you're wearing the royal clothing."
Van just laughed, masking his unhappiness as he did every day that preceded this one. "He has been hassling you a lot lately, hasn't he?"
Damien de Branton was the newest of the royal advisers, and quite a stern one at that. The son of a distant cousin to the royal family, Damien was born in Fanelia, then moved with his family to Freid so he could begin study. After he heard tell of the adventures of his distant cousin with the girl from the mystic moon, he made it his business to be appointed chief advisor to the king of Fanelia. Though his plans did not completely succeed, Damien had managed to rank as a very highly respected advisor by this point. Van never did like him much. There was just too much coldness in his eyes. Van could always feel their piercing gaze on him as he spoke at council, offering the solution to best his people. When he looked at Damien, he would stare back, his silver hair hanging down past his shoulders, sometimes in his face, his icy, black eyes seeming to slice through his very soul. It was creepy, and there were times when Van thought that Damien could tell what he was thinking.
Merle's ears flattened against her head. "Yes, and I think his only pleasure is keeping me from having any fun," she said, growling softly.
Van chuckled. "I just think he's a bit touchy about tradition, Merle. No need to get upset over a person like him." Actually, Van thought it perfectly right to get upset over a person like him. Damien made him anxious, but he wouldn't tell Merle that. He didn't want to burden her with issues that couldn't be helped. It was just the way things were, and that was that. Such was the life of being king.
Merle stood up, her tail swinging back and forth as she still thought of Damien and his stupid rules. "Anyway, he sent me to get you. It seems that there's something they need to discuss with you."
Van groaned as they started walking. Lately, every time there was "something we need to discuss with you" it was about marriage. That's all the council seemed to have on their minds recently. "I don't want to talk about that today," Van pouted, putting his hands behind his head in a very un-kingly fashion as he and Merle strolled down the hall.
Merle's face softened. She knew exactly what he was talking about. "You miss her, don't you?" she asked quietly.
"Of course I miss her," he replied in a sigh. Merle had to be the only person who had known Hitomi almost as well as he had. She knew how they felt about each other. She also knew all about Van having to acquire a queen in the very near future. "Merle, what am I going to do?"
"Bring her back!" Merle cried, near shouting at him. "I've told you near a hundred times now! Bring her back and ask her to stay!"
But Van just shook his head. "I've answered a hundred times, Merle. It's selfish of me. I can't ask her to stay. And even if I could, I can't bring her back here. It's just not working. I've hoped and I've dreamed and I've waited for the day when she'd return, hoping she'd find some way to come back that I didn't know about. But it hasn't happened, and soon it'll be too late."
Merle had opened her mouth to reply when she bumped into something directly in her path. She fell to the floor and shouted, "Why don't you watch where you're going, you –" She froze. Damien was staring down at her, scowling. He smirked when she stopped in mid-sentence.
Damien turned to Van and said, "Greetings majesty. I see that the feline has found you. Was there any trouble?" Van knew that he was referring to Merle pouncing him.
"No, none at all," Van replied, offering Merle a hand to help her to her feet. "In fact, Merle and I were just discussing something of great importance. What did you want to see me about?"
Damien bowed. "I apologize, majesty, but this matter must be approached under security." He glowered at Merle as he spoke these words. "May I suggest the cat be brought outdoors before we begin?"
Now it was Van's turn to scowl. Merle growled at him as she dusted herself off, ears flat against her head and tail swishing back and forth angrily once more. "I think she can find her way well enough, thank you Damien. She has lived here as long as I have, after all."
Damien nodded as he turned to a nearby door that bore great resemblance to that of Van's bedroom, only engraved a little more elaborately and a little bigger. "Very well, highness," he hissed, obviously displeased, "I will await you in the council room." And with that, Damien disappeared behind the double doors as they shut with a muffled "boom", which to Van sounded synonymous to that of a dungeon.
Before Merle could start her usual spiel of complaints and profanities, Van told her to wait for him at the usual spot. She wanted to protest, but Van's pleading eyes held authority over her harsh words. Merle simply nodded and took off scampering down the hallway.
Van sighed. He clasped the pendant in his right palm, which had been visible on the outside of his robe the entire conversation between he and Merle, and closed his eyes. 'Give me strength to hold on.' He then dropped the pendant down the front of his robe to hide it once more and opened one of the doors.
The council was in an uproar. Many of his advisors, distinguished by the simple mahogany robes they wore and where they were seated at table, were arguing amongst themselves, yelling and trying in vain to convince the other that his standpoint was correct, and the one that the king would chose. Van just strode past them all in his elaborate red and navy blue, used to this kind of thing nowadays for they near always fought about everything, and took his place at the head of the table in a huge chair that reached nearly to the ceiling of the great council hall. Only when he raised his hands for silence did the council take notice of his presence, and all rose to greet his majesty. He sat down, and the rest of the council did as well. Damien stared at Van from his place on Van's right, three seats away, waiting for the council to start deliberation. Van eyed him cautiously, before looking around the long table at the rest of the delegation.
"You all wanted to see me?" he simply asked the now silent room.
An elderly man in mahogany stood and cleared his throat. "Sire," he began, "we know how you tire so of having to hear us men natter on and on about this topic, but…" He looked to his right at another gentleman, who nodded and bade him continue. "…but we as Fanelia's royal council feel that it is our sworn duty to arrange a marriage between you and another of royal blood. It is the only way we are going to resolve this…problem."
Van was shocked. An arranged marriage? Marry a girl he had never seen before in his life? How could he do that? How on Gaea could he just forget about Hitomi? How could he just give in to the challenge of not seeing her for so long and marry another woman?
"No," Van said simply, closing his eyes. "I'm sorry Miguel, I just cannot bring myself to marry a woman whom I have no feelings for."
"But sire," the elder man protested further, "how do you know that you have no feelings for her? You have not even met her."
"Because," Van replied, "my heart is pledged to another."
"Your highness," another man, much younger than the other said as he stood, "if it is to the girl from the mystic moon that you refer, you cannot possibly await her return. She has not come back, and you are aging. We all are."
Van stood up to shout at them all for this unthinkable betrayal, when it was that Damien stood up and told Van as if he were a child, "We apologize, sire, but the young duchess Arabella of Tyran is already on her way here. When she arrives, you will have 3 days to court her and prepare before you wed. The matter is no longer in your hands." His cold eyes held Van's frightened gaze. "Do I make myself clear?"
Van felt as if he were caged, trapped. All odds were against him now. But his council was right. It was time he moved on. He was getting older, with the possibility of bearing children becoming more and more slightly unlikely as each year slowly crept by. Soon it would all add up, and there'd be no chance to produce an heir whatsoever. He slumped back down into his seat, defeated. "Yes, very clear," the grown man replied, nearly in a whisper.
Damien didn't have to hear what Van said to know that he'd won. "Excellent majesty," he said. "We have much to prepare. Why don't you go seek your feline while we make plans? There are no more duties for you to see to today."
If Van had to say he wanted to stay, Damien would have shooed him off. But he wanted to be anywhere but here, anywhere except around these conspirators who had just ruled out the possibility for him to be happy ever again. He regained his dignity as he strode back out the door, but as soon as it boomed shut behind him, he broke out into a run down the hallway, back to his chambers.
It was only when he was changing into his casual clothes did Van realize that the pendant around his neck was pulsating in a kind of funny way. It shone once, dimmed, and shone again for a couple of seconds. It repeated this over and over, and Van could only hope that his wildest dream had finally come true, after 7 long years. He rushed to pull on his shirt and boots and bolted out the door, not stopping until he reached the royal stables, where he saddled a gray horse with a few black spots. 'This would be so much easier if Damien didn't forbid me to use my wings,' Van thought to himself, panting in the effort. He quickly swung one leg up onto the stirrup and set himself on the horse. 'Please let it be her,' he prayed. 'Please.' The horse took off at rocket speed as Van smacked its rear, in the direction of the forest.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Meanwhile in the 'usual spot', which just happened to be Van's father's grave, Merle had been relaxing in a tree, awaiting Van to return when a familiar stream of light shot vertical out of the sky, aimed at the ground. She nearly fell out of her tree when it happened, but she managed to hold on, scrambling, and she watched in awe as two figures were slowly lowered to the ground inside of it. And then, all of a sudden, it was gone, and the two figures lay in a heap on the grass in front of the grave.
Merle leapt from her tree, and crept up to them. They were two women, one with long black hair, and one with long, sandy-brown hair…Merle sniffed her hand. "HITOMI!!" she cried happily, jumping to her feet. She shook her. "Hitomi, Hitomi wake up!! You couldn't have come at a better time…oh, wake up, will you?!"
It was then that Van came galloping up behind her. He had seen it happen as he rode closer and closer to the gravesite, the two shadows being brought to Gaea from the mystic moon once more. 'Why two of them?' he had wondered, but didn't want to get his hopes up. It might not have been Hitomi at all.
But when Van leapt off his horse, he recognized her at once, despite all the change that time had brought about. He came around the side of Merle and pulled Hitomi off the other woman with the black hair. He glanced at her, not remembering seeing her before, before cuddling the unconscious Hitomi in his arms like a baby.
She was so beautiful, not that she wasn't anything to look at 7 years ago, but time had certainly not been unkind to her. Van had to use every ounce of willpower in his body to not kiss her right there on the very spot. He brushed a stray strand of hair out of her face and smiled broadly. "Lord Van?"
"Hmm?" Van said in the most contented tone since the days of the war as he looked up. Merle was poking at the other woman's cheek, who was still sprawled out on the rich, green grass.
"Who do you suppose she is?" Merle asked, sniffing her and scowling at the same time. It looked like Merle had a new person to tease in Hitomi's place.
"I'm sure Hitomi will be able to tell us everything when she wakes," Van replied, staring intently into his beloved's face once more. "For now we should just focus on getting them back to the palace. Can you go and get another horse please, Merle?"
Merle grimaced, but once again Van's pleading eyes held higher influence than her speech and with a small sigh Merle darted off towards the palace to retrieve another horse.
"Hitomi," Van sighed happily once Merle had left, "my darling Hitomi…"
Van had long since clambered awkwardly from the roof back to his bedroom, where he had changed into his kingly robes. He stood in front of the full-length mirror, taking in what he saw. What he saw was a foolish man who wore the royal robes of the king of Fanelia, a bitter man because of the choices he made as a teenager. Why had he let her go? The image returned to him, Hitomi smiling downward as she drifted slowly away in the giant stalk of light, having just revealed that she loved him.
But he hadn't asked her to stay with him. Van turned away from the mirror, his face one of pain and angst. Gritting his teeth, he straightened his robes and left the room, two servants closing the huge wooden double doors behind him as he started down the hallway.
"Lord Van!!" Merle cried, bounding out of nowhere. She skidded to a stop, trying her best to fight the urge to tackle him. "I almost forgot," she said sheepishly. "Damien told me not to tackle you when you're wearing the royal clothing."
Van just laughed, masking his unhappiness as he did every day that preceded this one. "He has been hassling you a lot lately, hasn't he?"
Damien de Branton was the newest of the royal advisers, and quite a stern one at that. The son of a distant cousin to the royal family, Damien was born in Fanelia, then moved with his family to Freid so he could begin study. After he heard tell of the adventures of his distant cousin with the girl from the mystic moon, he made it his business to be appointed chief advisor to the king of Fanelia. Though his plans did not completely succeed, Damien had managed to rank as a very highly respected advisor by this point. Van never did like him much. There was just too much coldness in his eyes. Van could always feel their piercing gaze on him as he spoke at council, offering the solution to best his people. When he looked at Damien, he would stare back, his silver hair hanging down past his shoulders, sometimes in his face, his icy, black eyes seeming to slice through his very soul. It was creepy, and there were times when Van thought that Damien could tell what he was thinking.
Merle's ears flattened against her head. "Yes, and I think his only pleasure is keeping me from having any fun," she said, growling softly.
Van chuckled. "I just think he's a bit touchy about tradition, Merle. No need to get upset over a person like him." Actually, Van thought it perfectly right to get upset over a person like him. Damien made him anxious, but he wouldn't tell Merle that. He didn't want to burden her with issues that couldn't be helped. It was just the way things were, and that was that. Such was the life of being king.
Merle stood up, her tail swinging back and forth as she still thought of Damien and his stupid rules. "Anyway, he sent me to get you. It seems that there's something they need to discuss with you."
Van groaned as they started walking. Lately, every time there was "something we need to discuss with you" it was about marriage. That's all the council seemed to have on their minds recently. "I don't want to talk about that today," Van pouted, putting his hands behind his head in a very un-kingly fashion as he and Merle strolled down the hall.
Merle's face softened. She knew exactly what he was talking about. "You miss her, don't you?" she asked quietly.
"Of course I miss her," he replied in a sigh. Merle had to be the only person who had known Hitomi almost as well as he had. She knew how they felt about each other. She also knew all about Van having to acquire a queen in the very near future. "Merle, what am I going to do?"
"Bring her back!" Merle cried, near shouting at him. "I've told you near a hundred times now! Bring her back and ask her to stay!"
But Van just shook his head. "I've answered a hundred times, Merle. It's selfish of me. I can't ask her to stay. And even if I could, I can't bring her back here. It's just not working. I've hoped and I've dreamed and I've waited for the day when she'd return, hoping she'd find some way to come back that I didn't know about. But it hasn't happened, and soon it'll be too late."
Merle had opened her mouth to reply when she bumped into something directly in her path. She fell to the floor and shouted, "Why don't you watch where you're going, you –" She froze. Damien was staring down at her, scowling. He smirked when she stopped in mid-sentence.
Damien turned to Van and said, "Greetings majesty. I see that the feline has found you. Was there any trouble?" Van knew that he was referring to Merle pouncing him.
"No, none at all," Van replied, offering Merle a hand to help her to her feet. "In fact, Merle and I were just discussing something of great importance. What did you want to see me about?"
Damien bowed. "I apologize, majesty, but this matter must be approached under security." He glowered at Merle as he spoke these words. "May I suggest the cat be brought outdoors before we begin?"
Now it was Van's turn to scowl. Merle growled at him as she dusted herself off, ears flat against her head and tail swishing back and forth angrily once more. "I think she can find her way well enough, thank you Damien. She has lived here as long as I have, after all."
Damien nodded as he turned to a nearby door that bore great resemblance to that of Van's bedroom, only engraved a little more elaborately and a little bigger. "Very well, highness," he hissed, obviously displeased, "I will await you in the council room." And with that, Damien disappeared behind the double doors as they shut with a muffled "boom", which to Van sounded synonymous to that of a dungeon.
Before Merle could start her usual spiel of complaints and profanities, Van told her to wait for him at the usual spot. She wanted to protest, but Van's pleading eyes held authority over her harsh words. Merle simply nodded and took off scampering down the hallway.
Van sighed. He clasped the pendant in his right palm, which had been visible on the outside of his robe the entire conversation between he and Merle, and closed his eyes. 'Give me strength to hold on.' He then dropped the pendant down the front of his robe to hide it once more and opened one of the doors.
The council was in an uproar. Many of his advisors, distinguished by the simple mahogany robes they wore and where they were seated at table, were arguing amongst themselves, yelling and trying in vain to convince the other that his standpoint was correct, and the one that the king would chose. Van just strode past them all in his elaborate red and navy blue, used to this kind of thing nowadays for they near always fought about everything, and took his place at the head of the table in a huge chair that reached nearly to the ceiling of the great council hall. Only when he raised his hands for silence did the council take notice of his presence, and all rose to greet his majesty. He sat down, and the rest of the council did as well. Damien stared at Van from his place on Van's right, three seats away, waiting for the council to start deliberation. Van eyed him cautiously, before looking around the long table at the rest of the delegation.
"You all wanted to see me?" he simply asked the now silent room.
An elderly man in mahogany stood and cleared his throat. "Sire," he began, "we know how you tire so of having to hear us men natter on and on about this topic, but…" He looked to his right at another gentleman, who nodded and bade him continue. "…but we as Fanelia's royal council feel that it is our sworn duty to arrange a marriage between you and another of royal blood. It is the only way we are going to resolve this…problem."
Van was shocked. An arranged marriage? Marry a girl he had never seen before in his life? How could he do that? How on Gaea could he just forget about Hitomi? How could he just give in to the challenge of not seeing her for so long and marry another woman?
"No," Van said simply, closing his eyes. "I'm sorry Miguel, I just cannot bring myself to marry a woman whom I have no feelings for."
"But sire," the elder man protested further, "how do you know that you have no feelings for her? You have not even met her."
"Because," Van replied, "my heart is pledged to another."
"Your highness," another man, much younger than the other said as he stood, "if it is to the girl from the mystic moon that you refer, you cannot possibly await her return. She has not come back, and you are aging. We all are."
Van stood up to shout at them all for this unthinkable betrayal, when it was that Damien stood up and told Van as if he were a child, "We apologize, sire, but the young duchess Arabella of Tyran is already on her way here. When she arrives, you will have 3 days to court her and prepare before you wed. The matter is no longer in your hands." His cold eyes held Van's frightened gaze. "Do I make myself clear?"
Van felt as if he were caged, trapped. All odds were against him now. But his council was right. It was time he moved on. He was getting older, with the possibility of bearing children becoming more and more slightly unlikely as each year slowly crept by. Soon it would all add up, and there'd be no chance to produce an heir whatsoever. He slumped back down into his seat, defeated. "Yes, very clear," the grown man replied, nearly in a whisper.
Damien didn't have to hear what Van said to know that he'd won. "Excellent majesty," he said. "We have much to prepare. Why don't you go seek your feline while we make plans? There are no more duties for you to see to today."
If Van had to say he wanted to stay, Damien would have shooed him off. But he wanted to be anywhere but here, anywhere except around these conspirators who had just ruled out the possibility for him to be happy ever again. He regained his dignity as he strode back out the door, but as soon as it boomed shut behind him, he broke out into a run down the hallway, back to his chambers.
It was only when he was changing into his casual clothes did Van realize that the pendant around his neck was pulsating in a kind of funny way. It shone once, dimmed, and shone again for a couple of seconds. It repeated this over and over, and Van could only hope that his wildest dream had finally come true, after 7 long years. He rushed to pull on his shirt and boots and bolted out the door, not stopping until he reached the royal stables, where he saddled a gray horse with a few black spots. 'This would be so much easier if Damien didn't forbid me to use my wings,' Van thought to himself, panting in the effort. He quickly swung one leg up onto the stirrup and set himself on the horse. 'Please let it be her,' he prayed. 'Please.' The horse took off at rocket speed as Van smacked its rear, in the direction of the forest.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Meanwhile in the 'usual spot', which just happened to be Van's father's grave, Merle had been relaxing in a tree, awaiting Van to return when a familiar stream of light shot vertical out of the sky, aimed at the ground. She nearly fell out of her tree when it happened, but she managed to hold on, scrambling, and she watched in awe as two figures were slowly lowered to the ground inside of it. And then, all of a sudden, it was gone, and the two figures lay in a heap on the grass in front of the grave.
Merle leapt from her tree, and crept up to them. They were two women, one with long black hair, and one with long, sandy-brown hair…Merle sniffed her hand. "HITOMI!!" she cried happily, jumping to her feet. She shook her. "Hitomi, Hitomi wake up!! You couldn't have come at a better time…oh, wake up, will you?!"
It was then that Van came galloping up behind her. He had seen it happen as he rode closer and closer to the gravesite, the two shadows being brought to Gaea from the mystic moon once more. 'Why two of them?' he had wondered, but didn't want to get his hopes up. It might not have been Hitomi at all.
But when Van leapt off his horse, he recognized her at once, despite all the change that time had brought about. He came around the side of Merle and pulled Hitomi off the other woman with the black hair. He glanced at her, not remembering seeing her before, before cuddling the unconscious Hitomi in his arms like a baby.
She was so beautiful, not that she wasn't anything to look at 7 years ago, but time had certainly not been unkind to her. Van had to use every ounce of willpower in his body to not kiss her right there on the very spot. He brushed a stray strand of hair out of her face and smiled broadly. "Lord Van?"
"Hmm?" Van said in the most contented tone since the days of the war as he looked up. Merle was poking at the other woman's cheek, who was still sprawled out on the rich, green grass.
"Who do you suppose she is?" Merle asked, sniffing her and scowling at the same time. It looked like Merle had a new person to tease in Hitomi's place.
"I'm sure Hitomi will be able to tell us everything when she wakes," Van replied, staring intently into his beloved's face once more. "For now we should just focus on getting them back to the palace. Can you go and get another horse please, Merle?"
Merle grimaced, but once again Van's pleading eyes held higher influence than her speech and with a small sigh Merle darted off towards the palace to retrieve another horse.
"Hitomi," Van sighed happily once Merle had left, "my darling Hitomi…"