Authors' notes: Yes, another hair brained idea of mine. Please bear with me
as I ramble on endlessly. Okay, mebbie I won't. I only got to say that I
don't own Slayers but I do own up to any original characters and of course,
my story line. Now, please enjoy the show! (By the way, the title is
translated roughly as "Story of Memories")
1 Fabulae Memoria
The light from the setting sun spread across the broad expanse of the nearly barren room that faced the flaming sunset. All the furniture occupying the room was a large mahogany desk that was intricately carved with historical dedications from the creation of the world up to the breaking of the Mazoku barriers in more recent times. But, aside from that a high backed chair stood at the head of the immense desk that was facing in direction of the quickly ascending sun and seemed strangely unoccupied.
A soft rapping at the door into the bare room resonated throughout the hallowed room making the space seem even emptier then before. A soft creaking sound could be heard before a well-dressed servant girl entered the room, quietly entering and shutting the door quietly behind her. Clearing her throat politely the young woman, bowed her head respectfully, stepping forward to acknowledge herself and to be better heard to the other person. "Hime, dinner shall be starting in just a bit. His Lordship requested that I come and remind thee of the time, ma'am," she said bowing her head down a bit as a respectful gesture.
A pair of sapphire eyes lazily shifted to look over at the attendant awaiting her response by the door patiently. She shifted her eyes back to the breathtaking sunset before to take one more lingering look, before stepping forward out of her hiding spot within the dark folds of the curtains. She nodded once, acknowledging her summons to the attendant then shifted herself to face more directly, her eyes shining more kindly to the younger girl. "Tell, my Father, I shall come down as soon as I change for supper, like always," she said good-naturedly, her lip quirking into a small smile.
"I shall tell his Lordship, as you wish Hime," the servant girl said with a trace an amusement, then bowing her head once again.
"Arigato, Aoi-chan," she replied then bowing her head a bit. The servant girl politely curtsied then turned leaving the room quietly without another word. Amelia slowly turned her head to peer over her brightly illuminated desk, seeing if she had anything else pressing to attend to before going off to dinner. Spying no tasking work, laying hauntingly on her desk, she gathered a small handful of material of her dress, before walking off to the door and quietly leaving the blissfully serene room behind her.
~*~
The Dinner Hall was already buzzing as people were slowly starting come in, to be seated for supper. The room whirled with the sound of servants moving about serving out pre-supper drinks and the guests delighted in many light conservations along the elongated table (for the occasion), awaiting the arrival of King and Crowned Princess of Sailune to arrive.
"I wonder, my good gentlemen, if we shall finally meet the gracious Hime, this evening," one man dressed in a political attire casually asked the others of his group that hailed from one of the independent countries to the south.
"Don't know for sure, Bernardo-san. I've heard that royalty can be very frivolous at times. So prepare for no show, Grisdas-san," the man said coolly, than turning to his head to the companion left of him to see his reaction.
The man sat quietly seemingly the wine in his glass in his hand was truly fascinating to himself, as his eyes staring into the still liquid before him. He replied softly to his companions, "That may be so gentlemen, but her majesty shall join us in supper this evening." His lips quirked into a mysterious smirk, as he continued, "I have a good hunch." And with that two disgruntled groans followed suit at the man's ever famous 'hunches' that seemed always to true out the way he said they would.
~*~
Amelia sighed softly as she shifted herself upon the bench that she was seated upon, awaiting the arrival of her father. She had chosen to sit at her favorite spot, back away from the entrance of the dinner hall that was partly cast in shadow by the positioning of the candles around the entrance. Aside from being hidden, it gave her the opportunity to watch the different diplomats and ambassadors enter into the hall, noting to herself that she had not seen any ladies or such enter as of yet. Amelia frowned slightly at this and leaned back, resting her back on the cool stonewall behind her, in thought. 'I suppose, it's just going be all business related agenda for me and Daddy, for a while,' she mused, before she caught sight of a large burly man descending the stairs to her right. She rose quickly and took a few steps towards the end of the stairs, calmly waiting for her father to reach her.
The large man smiled broadly as he reached the last steps, finally spotting who he had been looking for. He took two giant sized strides and immediately gave Amelia a bear hug. "Ah, Amelia. Were you waiting long for this old man?" King Philionel said good-naturedly to his daughter, as he released her.
Amelia giggled and shook her head slightly, smiling broadly back up at her father. "Oh, Daddy. You're not an old man!" she said taking her father's arm as he offered it.
Philionel reached behind his neck, laughing heartily then continued, "Ah, well I'm glad you don't think that even though I am getting older."
Amelia gave her father a slightly puzzled and worried look, but before she question him further, he spoke again.
"But, I hope I hadn't left you waiting too long, my child. I had some work to attend to before coming down," he said apologetically looking to her somberly.
Amelia shook her head once again, taking her father's hand squeezing it reassuringly for him. "I wasn't waiting long, Daddy," she said softly, letting go of his hand and taking his arm once again. "Now, let's go. We can't let our guests go starve, now can we?" she reprimanded, then smiled warmly up at her father.
"Ahahaha! No, we can't," he said then let out a hearty peal of laughter before leading his daughter towards the entrance of the dinner hall for supper.
~*~
Trumpets lifted and started up in a time old fashion of regal announcement to the dinner guests in the hall. Everyone within the hall paused simultaneously, all eyes veering over to the open doors, where his lordship King Philionel De Sailune and his gracious daughter stood patiently, awaiting their formal announcement.
The royal announcer's voice resounded across the room, as he stated the obvious to all the guests in the hall," His Lordship King Philionel De Sailune and m'lady, Crowned Princess Amelia Wil Telsa Sailune!" Polite bows and curtsies from standing servants followed the proclamation, as the guests enthusiastically rallied to the royalty with an abundant welcoming applause and cheers.
Amelia almost grimaced as her blue orbs swept across the room, assessing the room of ambassadors, visiting lords and several other groups of people, no doubt there to ask favors of herself and her father. Automatically, her lips curled into a small but sincere smile, nodding to various people, as her father led her onwards to her place at the grand table. As she went on, she couldn't ignore the fixated stares upon her body and silently cursed herself for wearing such a revealing gown opposed to her much more modest attire. Even though she had developed long ago, it still unnerved her how men could openly ogle her and all she could do was accept it. Curse it! Ah well, I had no choice, besides this dress is my most favorite color of blue that I own, she thought to herself as she was seated to the right hand side of her father. She nodded to him and said a quiet 'thank you' as she quietly sat there, receding back into own mind, thinking about various things of immediate and mundane importance.
~*~
Her mind drifted on carelessly, as she gazed curiously down the table at the sea of different faces both familiar or not. She continued to note the ridiculous fashions that most of the men were wearing this evening and almost outwardly gaped as she spotted one man with a hat that suspiciously resembled a male peacock's display of bright feathers. Indeed! All these bright colors just to win favor over Daddy and me? Really, it's worse than some courtiers. Amid all her people watching she had totally ignored her Father's dinner conversation and was gently reminded of her by tugging on her arm a bit, drawing Amelia's attention back to her Father.
"Amelia?" Philionel asked quietly, as he gave her a withering look, before smiling warmly to her as he saw he got her attention.
Amelia paled slightly in embarrassment for annoying her Father and allowing herself to go of into La-la land when she should be dutifully converse with the multitude of guests that surrounded her. Smiling and nodding to him, giving him a graceful smile, "Sumimasen, Otousan. I was just distracted." More like mesmerized by all the pageantry, she thought snidely. " Now, what were you saying?" she cocked her head slightly towards him to let him, he had her attention now.
King Philionel smiled broadly to his daughter and then leaned his body forward gesturing to a group of strangely dressed gentlemen sitting a few seats down to his left side. " I wanted to introduce you the newest delegation group from the far south, in the outlands," he paused giving the men to bow and say their own various 'hellos' and such before continuing. "I'd like to introduce Bernardo-san, the head of delegation from the nation of Murasaki," motioning to a large man with short spiked black hair. Amelia, however, noticed his bright violet and blinked dumbly, before smiling and nodding to him politely. Philionel continued onwards, " And this is Shiro-san, he's the high priest in the courts of their homeland."
Amelia leaned forward and took a look at the amazingly young priest. He had blonde hair that was trimmed neatly but she was taken back when she saw his pale grayish-lilac eyes.
"Milady, I would enjoy discussing religion with you, sometime," Shiro-san said softly, giving her a hopeful smile.
Amelia nodded and said quietly, "I would very much enjoy to do that, sometime very soon, Shiro-san."
Philionel grinned happily then turned to the last gentlemen, introducing him, "This is Grisdas-san, the delegation's official translator and historian."
Amelia raised a mental brow at the mention of historian. Why would they need a historian, if they are here on political business, she thought as she looked over in confusion at the man who still had his head bowed.
"Do not be confused Hime. I and like many of the peoples from Murasaki have an interest on the story of the great Aojiroi Shukujo," he said calmly, raising his eyes up to meet Amelia's sapphire ones.
Amelia blinked, staring at the man across the table from her. The man was slightly older than her with long chocolate brown tied back into a sloppy ponytail with long bangs that hung messily about his face hiding some deep scars that stretched across his face. However, what intrigued her was that man had different colored eyes, one was the color of a summer sky and the other one was green, like the color of the ocean's depths. Regaining her composure she continued onward, " I don't think my story is really that interesting, Grisdas-san. I would think that they would be more interested in Lina Inverse's tales, not my own."
Grisdas smiled slightly to the Princess, " That is partially true, but your good deeds seem to have been mixed up with Inverse-san's tales. I wish to set the record straight with your help, Hime."
The princess smiled graciously to Grisdas-san, " Good sir, I'd like to tell you my tale whenever you wish, if you'll stand to hear it."
"Milady, It's a deal," Grisdas-san said, his lips curling into a small smile.
~*~
The morning air seeped briskly through the opened windows in the spacious room. No warm morning sunshine filtered through windows, as they faced the east and only the light of the skies lit the dim room up barely. It was still early, yet. But, royal duty never ceases at any time, thought Amelia as she moved to sit behind her desk armed with a mug of strong coffee. Sinking down into the chair, she let her eyes slide to gaze out into the beautiful morning, admiring the view of the gardens and city further out. Finally, she drew her eyes back to the desk in front of her and the annoying large amount of paperwork. I think, I need a very long vacation, she thought, giving the papers a baleful glare before setting her coffee mug down and starting her work for the day.
~*~
She hadn't been working for very long, at least it hadn't seemed like a long time to her but time did fly when you were working hard. However, not matter the time it was she was more than welcome for the distraction when she heard a faint knocking on her office doors. Her head shot up and looked over at the door, hoping that it wasn't a courier bringing her more work to do. She straightened up her desk quickly before calling the person in. Holding her breath, she waited till she saw her own personal maid Aoi walk into the room quietly, but staying near the open door.
"Hime, you have a someone that wishes to have an audience with you," Aoi said softly, looking to the princess expectantly. Amelia nodded and motioned to Aoi-chan to let the visitor inside. Aoi nodded and disappeared back into the hall, to return a few moments later with the Grisdas-san buried under a massive amount of supplies.
Amelia merely blinked, then smiled to Aoi, who then bowed leaving her and the floundering man in the room. Her blue eyes lit up with amusement as Grisdas clumsily moved to in front of her desk, setting down his supplies with an audible grunt. Amelia lips curled into a small-amused smile before clearing her throat for attention. "I see, you have the impression that my story shall be terribly long, Grisdas-san," she stated lightly, as her eyes sized up the pile of papers and supplies thoughtfully.
Grisdas straightened up quickly, and then gave a sweeping bow to her highness more for amusement than for formality. "Milady, you should not belittle yourself so much. I am sure you have many tales to tell the world through my pen," he said kindly, then taking a seat when she motioned he could, "Besides, you are the infamous Aojiroi Shukujo!"
"You shower too much praise upon me, Grisdas-san," she said gracefully, being too old now to blush at such compliments. "However, the way you verbalize things, one would think you are a bard not a historian," she teased lightly as she leaned forward to pick up her cold coffee and take a small sip.
"There is, I suppose, a fine line between the two, Hime," he picked up a piece of hard board and paper, poising himself to begin writing. "Now, are you ready, Milady?" he asked, giving her a curious look.
Amelia took another sip of her cold coffee and nodded slowly. Her eyebrows furrowed together in frustration, " Where should I start?"
"How about with the very beginning?" he said, trying to be helpful but to no avail.
The very beginning, she thought to herself as she leaned back further into her high backed chair comfortably. After a few moments, a light bulb went off in her head and her face lit up happily. "This is how it began," she started and paused for moment before continuing, "It started all on an 'Once a upon time..'"
1 Fabulae Memoria
The light from the setting sun spread across the broad expanse of the nearly barren room that faced the flaming sunset. All the furniture occupying the room was a large mahogany desk that was intricately carved with historical dedications from the creation of the world up to the breaking of the Mazoku barriers in more recent times. But, aside from that a high backed chair stood at the head of the immense desk that was facing in direction of the quickly ascending sun and seemed strangely unoccupied.
A soft rapping at the door into the bare room resonated throughout the hallowed room making the space seem even emptier then before. A soft creaking sound could be heard before a well-dressed servant girl entered the room, quietly entering and shutting the door quietly behind her. Clearing her throat politely the young woman, bowed her head respectfully, stepping forward to acknowledge herself and to be better heard to the other person. "Hime, dinner shall be starting in just a bit. His Lordship requested that I come and remind thee of the time, ma'am," she said bowing her head down a bit as a respectful gesture.
A pair of sapphire eyes lazily shifted to look over at the attendant awaiting her response by the door patiently. She shifted her eyes back to the breathtaking sunset before to take one more lingering look, before stepping forward out of her hiding spot within the dark folds of the curtains. She nodded once, acknowledging her summons to the attendant then shifted herself to face more directly, her eyes shining more kindly to the younger girl. "Tell, my Father, I shall come down as soon as I change for supper, like always," she said good-naturedly, her lip quirking into a small smile.
"I shall tell his Lordship, as you wish Hime," the servant girl said with a trace an amusement, then bowing her head once again.
"Arigato, Aoi-chan," she replied then bowing her head a bit. The servant girl politely curtsied then turned leaving the room quietly without another word. Amelia slowly turned her head to peer over her brightly illuminated desk, seeing if she had anything else pressing to attend to before going off to dinner. Spying no tasking work, laying hauntingly on her desk, she gathered a small handful of material of her dress, before walking off to the door and quietly leaving the blissfully serene room behind her.
~*~
The Dinner Hall was already buzzing as people were slowly starting come in, to be seated for supper. The room whirled with the sound of servants moving about serving out pre-supper drinks and the guests delighted in many light conservations along the elongated table (for the occasion), awaiting the arrival of King and Crowned Princess of Sailune to arrive.
"I wonder, my good gentlemen, if we shall finally meet the gracious Hime, this evening," one man dressed in a political attire casually asked the others of his group that hailed from one of the independent countries to the south.
"Don't know for sure, Bernardo-san. I've heard that royalty can be very frivolous at times. So prepare for no show, Grisdas-san," the man said coolly, than turning to his head to the companion left of him to see his reaction.
The man sat quietly seemingly the wine in his glass in his hand was truly fascinating to himself, as his eyes staring into the still liquid before him. He replied softly to his companions, "That may be so gentlemen, but her majesty shall join us in supper this evening." His lips quirked into a mysterious smirk, as he continued, "I have a good hunch." And with that two disgruntled groans followed suit at the man's ever famous 'hunches' that seemed always to true out the way he said they would.
~*~
Amelia sighed softly as she shifted herself upon the bench that she was seated upon, awaiting the arrival of her father. She had chosen to sit at her favorite spot, back away from the entrance of the dinner hall that was partly cast in shadow by the positioning of the candles around the entrance. Aside from being hidden, it gave her the opportunity to watch the different diplomats and ambassadors enter into the hall, noting to herself that she had not seen any ladies or such enter as of yet. Amelia frowned slightly at this and leaned back, resting her back on the cool stonewall behind her, in thought. 'I suppose, it's just going be all business related agenda for me and Daddy, for a while,' she mused, before she caught sight of a large burly man descending the stairs to her right. She rose quickly and took a few steps towards the end of the stairs, calmly waiting for her father to reach her.
The large man smiled broadly as he reached the last steps, finally spotting who he had been looking for. He took two giant sized strides and immediately gave Amelia a bear hug. "Ah, Amelia. Were you waiting long for this old man?" King Philionel said good-naturedly to his daughter, as he released her.
Amelia giggled and shook her head slightly, smiling broadly back up at her father. "Oh, Daddy. You're not an old man!" she said taking her father's arm as he offered it.
Philionel reached behind his neck, laughing heartily then continued, "Ah, well I'm glad you don't think that even though I am getting older."
Amelia gave her father a slightly puzzled and worried look, but before she question him further, he spoke again.
"But, I hope I hadn't left you waiting too long, my child. I had some work to attend to before coming down," he said apologetically looking to her somberly.
Amelia shook her head once again, taking her father's hand squeezing it reassuringly for him. "I wasn't waiting long, Daddy," she said softly, letting go of his hand and taking his arm once again. "Now, let's go. We can't let our guests go starve, now can we?" she reprimanded, then smiled warmly up at her father.
"Ahahaha! No, we can't," he said then let out a hearty peal of laughter before leading his daughter towards the entrance of the dinner hall for supper.
~*~
Trumpets lifted and started up in a time old fashion of regal announcement to the dinner guests in the hall. Everyone within the hall paused simultaneously, all eyes veering over to the open doors, where his lordship King Philionel De Sailune and his gracious daughter stood patiently, awaiting their formal announcement.
The royal announcer's voice resounded across the room, as he stated the obvious to all the guests in the hall," His Lordship King Philionel De Sailune and m'lady, Crowned Princess Amelia Wil Telsa Sailune!" Polite bows and curtsies from standing servants followed the proclamation, as the guests enthusiastically rallied to the royalty with an abundant welcoming applause and cheers.
Amelia almost grimaced as her blue orbs swept across the room, assessing the room of ambassadors, visiting lords and several other groups of people, no doubt there to ask favors of herself and her father. Automatically, her lips curled into a small but sincere smile, nodding to various people, as her father led her onwards to her place at the grand table. As she went on, she couldn't ignore the fixated stares upon her body and silently cursed herself for wearing such a revealing gown opposed to her much more modest attire. Even though she had developed long ago, it still unnerved her how men could openly ogle her and all she could do was accept it. Curse it! Ah well, I had no choice, besides this dress is my most favorite color of blue that I own, she thought to herself as she was seated to the right hand side of her father. She nodded to him and said a quiet 'thank you' as she quietly sat there, receding back into own mind, thinking about various things of immediate and mundane importance.
~*~
Her mind drifted on carelessly, as she gazed curiously down the table at the sea of different faces both familiar or not. She continued to note the ridiculous fashions that most of the men were wearing this evening and almost outwardly gaped as she spotted one man with a hat that suspiciously resembled a male peacock's display of bright feathers. Indeed! All these bright colors just to win favor over Daddy and me? Really, it's worse than some courtiers. Amid all her people watching she had totally ignored her Father's dinner conversation and was gently reminded of her by tugging on her arm a bit, drawing Amelia's attention back to her Father.
"Amelia?" Philionel asked quietly, as he gave her a withering look, before smiling warmly to her as he saw he got her attention.
Amelia paled slightly in embarrassment for annoying her Father and allowing herself to go of into La-la land when she should be dutifully converse with the multitude of guests that surrounded her. Smiling and nodding to him, giving him a graceful smile, "Sumimasen, Otousan. I was just distracted." More like mesmerized by all the pageantry, she thought snidely. " Now, what were you saying?" she cocked her head slightly towards him to let him, he had her attention now.
King Philionel smiled broadly to his daughter and then leaned his body forward gesturing to a group of strangely dressed gentlemen sitting a few seats down to his left side. " I wanted to introduce you the newest delegation group from the far south, in the outlands," he paused giving the men to bow and say their own various 'hellos' and such before continuing. "I'd like to introduce Bernardo-san, the head of delegation from the nation of Murasaki," motioning to a large man with short spiked black hair. Amelia, however, noticed his bright violet and blinked dumbly, before smiling and nodding to him politely. Philionel continued onwards, " And this is Shiro-san, he's the high priest in the courts of their homeland."
Amelia leaned forward and took a look at the amazingly young priest. He had blonde hair that was trimmed neatly but she was taken back when she saw his pale grayish-lilac eyes.
"Milady, I would enjoy discussing religion with you, sometime," Shiro-san said softly, giving her a hopeful smile.
Amelia nodded and said quietly, "I would very much enjoy to do that, sometime very soon, Shiro-san."
Philionel grinned happily then turned to the last gentlemen, introducing him, "This is Grisdas-san, the delegation's official translator and historian."
Amelia raised a mental brow at the mention of historian. Why would they need a historian, if they are here on political business, she thought as she looked over in confusion at the man who still had his head bowed.
"Do not be confused Hime. I and like many of the peoples from Murasaki have an interest on the story of the great Aojiroi Shukujo," he said calmly, raising his eyes up to meet Amelia's sapphire ones.
Amelia blinked, staring at the man across the table from her. The man was slightly older than her with long chocolate brown tied back into a sloppy ponytail with long bangs that hung messily about his face hiding some deep scars that stretched across his face. However, what intrigued her was that man had different colored eyes, one was the color of a summer sky and the other one was green, like the color of the ocean's depths. Regaining her composure she continued onward, " I don't think my story is really that interesting, Grisdas-san. I would think that they would be more interested in Lina Inverse's tales, not my own."
Grisdas smiled slightly to the Princess, " That is partially true, but your good deeds seem to have been mixed up with Inverse-san's tales. I wish to set the record straight with your help, Hime."
The princess smiled graciously to Grisdas-san, " Good sir, I'd like to tell you my tale whenever you wish, if you'll stand to hear it."
"Milady, It's a deal," Grisdas-san said, his lips curling into a small smile.
~*~
The morning air seeped briskly through the opened windows in the spacious room. No warm morning sunshine filtered through windows, as they faced the east and only the light of the skies lit the dim room up barely. It was still early, yet. But, royal duty never ceases at any time, thought Amelia as she moved to sit behind her desk armed with a mug of strong coffee. Sinking down into the chair, she let her eyes slide to gaze out into the beautiful morning, admiring the view of the gardens and city further out. Finally, she drew her eyes back to the desk in front of her and the annoying large amount of paperwork. I think, I need a very long vacation, she thought, giving the papers a baleful glare before setting her coffee mug down and starting her work for the day.
~*~
She hadn't been working for very long, at least it hadn't seemed like a long time to her but time did fly when you were working hard. However, not matter the time it was she was more than welcome for the distraction when she heard a faint knocking on her office doors. Her head shot up and looked over at the door, hoping that it wasn't a courier bringing her more work to do. She straightened up her desk quickly before calling the person in. Holding her breath, she waited till she saw her own personal maid Aoi walk into the room quietly, but staying near the open door.
"Hime, you have a someone that wishes to have an audience with you," Aoi said softly, looking to the princess expectantly. Amelia nodded and motioned to Aoi-chan to let the visitor inside. Aoi nodded and disappeared back into the hall, to return a few moments later with the Grisdas-san buried under a massive amount of supplies.
Amelia merely blinked, then smiled to Aoi, who then bowed leaving her and the floundering man in the room. Her blue eyes lit up with amusement as Grisdas clumsily moved to in front of her desk, setting down his supplies with an audible grunt. Amelia lips curled into a small-amused smile before clearing her throat for attention. "I see, you have the impression that my story shall be terribly long, Grisdas-san," she stated lightly, as her eyes sized up the pile of papers and supplies thoughtfully.
Grisdas straightened up quickly, and then gave a sweeping bow to her highness more for amusement than for formality. "Milady, you should not belittle yourself so much. I am sure you have many tales to tell the world through my pen," he said kindly, then taking a seat when she motioned he could, "Besides, you are the infamous Aojiroi Shukujo!"
"You shower too much praise upon me, Grisdas-san," she said gracefully, being too old now to blush at such compliments. "However, the way you verbalize things, one would think you are a bard not a historian," she teased lightly as she leaned forward to pick up her cold coffee and take a small sip.
"There is, I suppose, a fine line between the two, Hime," he picked up a piece of hard board and paper, poising himself to begin writing. "Now, are you ready, Milady?" he asked, giving her a curious look.
Amelia took another sip of her cold coffee and nodded slowly. Her eyebrows furrowed together in frustration, " Where should I start?"
"How about with the very beginning?" he said, trying to be helpful but to no avail.
The very beginning, she thought to herself as she leaned back further into her high backed chair comfortably. After a few moments, a light bulb went off in her head and her face lit up happily. "This is how it began," she started and paused for moment before continuing, "It started all on an 'Once a upon time..'"