Chapter Two- The Trip to Fareari

Psalm 31: 24- "Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the Lord."

A communiqué from Fareari? What could it mean? Why was Fareari contacting Hidon? And why on Tielle's Recognition Ceremony night? Tielle's mind swirled with questions and thoughts and worries. Did this mean war? Or was Fareari contacting Hidon for an entirely different reason. Did they want to make amends with Hidon?

If they did, they would have to grovel to win her father's acceptance and forgiveness. All Hidonians knew that Farearians were enemies of not only Hidon, but of their God also. The pagan Farearians worshipped gods that Tielle did not entirely understand, as well as being involved in gene- altering practices that created strange powers that allowed them to sense the emotions and thoughts of others. Gene-altering was strictly forbidden on Hidon, as it allowed for generations of gene-altered people who could invade others' privacy. Hidonians also knew that if their God had wanted people to be able to sense emotions and uncover motives, He would have created them that way.

King Partini sternly looked at Tielle. "Do not tell anyone what I have just told you. It must not be known that the King of Fareari has sent a communiqué to me. Understood?"

Tielle nodded dumbly, her mind still whirling with the implications of what she had just heard.

"Then I will be leaving now. Go dance and mingle with the guests," Tielle's father instructed her, and he left. Tielle lifted a hand to her forehead and attempted to rub away the soreness that was growing behind her temples.

"Tielle! I believe I have this dance," a cool voice interrupted Tielle's reverie. She looked up to see her Uncle Klane, her father's younger brother and the Grand Duke of Chepsco. He took her elbow and steered her towards the dance floor. "Come now, Tielle. Surely you want to celebrate your Recognizing, Tielle?" Klane used Tielle's name more often than necessary to show the fact that since he was related to her, he didn't need to use the obligatory "Princess". When she was Queen, however, he would have to use her title unless she said otherwise.

She wouldn't. She disliked her arrogant uncle and would not give him anything that she did not have to, including the honor of addressing her without her title.

As they danced to the haunting Hidonian music, Klane insisted on bothering Tielle about where her father had gone. "I just think it is a bit strange that he would be missing the Recognizing Ceremony Ball," Klane confided, a strange gleam in his eye. "After all, other than the Coronation Ceremony, it is the most important Hidonian ritual, don't you agree, Tielle?"

"Surely you understand that being the King of all of Hidon has its pressing responsibilities Uncle Klane? My father is a very important man and has many duties, not all of which can be attended to during normal hours. Being the King is not an easy task."

"Then I wish you success as you one day attempt that same rule, Tielle. When you are Queen, I am sure that you will find it just as difficult as your father is…or perhaps more so."

Now what did that mean?

Early the next morning, after the ball was over, King Partini finally emerged from his communication quarters, all energy spent and his eyelids dropping even as he called for his private shuttle. The trip to Fareari was not long enough to need his private ship.

And Fareari was where he was going.

When Tielle heard of Fareari's peace proposition, she was stunned. Could the Farearian King be serious with this offer? This was completely contrary to everything Tielle had ever seen from the conniving Farearian King Faihn, whose personality was legendary for revenge and the lust of battle.

But of course her father would have to assume that it was a real attempt towards peace. So he had left, saying that soon enough he would send for Tielle so that she would get the experience at witnessing the event of a peace treaty. For now she was supposed to relax and recover from the long and vigorous night of her Recognizing Ceremony.

As if she could relax with the news of a possible treaty! So instead she had come to her private target range and was practicing her laser-shot. As the heir to the throne, assassination attempts were a very real danger, and she couldn't entirely rely on bodyguards.

Not only was she an expert shot, but she could also kill with nothing but her bare hands if necessary. Tielle didn't know if she could do such a thing even if her own life was in danger, and she prayed to God that she would never have the chance to find out.

But even if she never used her lethal self-defense training, it was a welcome outlet for pouring out confusion and frustration. Tielle put away her laser and cued the mats to come out of their storage places underneath the gymnasium's floor.

She practiced her martial arts and diving, rolling and shooting skills for the next hour without instruction from any of the many personal instructors that she had. Sometimes it was better to just practice alone.

After a last particularly vicious set of kicks and punches, Tielle stopped and tried to slow her quick, shallow breathing and racing heartbeat. She had had enough of this. As her first official act as the confirmed heiress of Hidon, she was going to demand that she be allowed to go to Fareari immediately. She didn't want to wait any longer.

Tielle glanced at her younger sister, Arilana, who had wanted to come with her to Fareari. "Let me go," she had implored, looking to both Queen Shari and Tielle for permission. "I'm going to be a Grand Duchess one day; I need to know stuff and travel too."

Arilana hadn't been overly eloquent in her request as she begged to be able to travel and learn "stuff", but in the end Queen Shari had given her consent and allowed both of the girls to go to Fareari. They had with them a full squad of bodyguards and would be just as safe on Fareari as on Hidon.

Arilana's eyes now glowed with excitement and wonder at the experience of traveling without either of her parents. At the young age of fifteen Hidonian years, she had not done any traveling without either the King or Queen along. She had not had the experience and privileges that Tielle had gained as she entered her nineteenth year.

Arilana couldn't sit still. "I'm going in the sim," she declared, referring to the shuttle's simulator. Arilana had shown a great interest in piloting ships and would probably serve in Hidon's military when she came of age.

Tielle nodded her permission and reached for her datapad. She keyed up the profiles of all of the men who had proposed to her and continued the lengthy process of weeding out those who she didn't want to marry, and those who might be possibilities. The seven-hour flight would allow her enough time to choose a couple of candidates out of the thirty-six that her father had approved.

Five hours later, Tielle had decided upon not a couple possibilities, but she had actually chosen one. Kall Aswroth was a prince of Shansire, one of Hidon's neighboring worlds. Shansire's King had been very supportive of Hidon in everything that Hidon did, including their quarrels with Fareari. Prince Kall was the third in line for the throne, and, being from Shansire, shared Tielle's faith.

Tielle had talked and danced with him many times at various world affairs. He was fairly handsome and extremely easy-going and fun to talk to. Kall wouldn't interfere with Tielle as she ruled Hidon but would instead let her do all the official business while he would be the perfect King and host for world affairs like trade conferences and balls. Tielle knew that she would have no problem getting along with him and might even grow to love him when they got married. He's perfect, isn't he, Lord?

Tielle smiled and sent a message to her mother. Once the shuttle arrived at Fareari and was out of light-space, the message would be sent to Queen Shari's message pad immediately, and she could prepare to make the announcement when Tielle arrived at home.

King Faihn P'ashara of Fareari had been sick for a couple days, slowing down the peace treaty process, as he was the only one from Fareari with authority to negotiate the terms of the treaty.

He hadn't counted on the girl taking so much time to arrive! He had known from the source that she would come, but he had assumed she would come immediately, with her father. When she had not it had thrown all of his well-laid plans, but he had quickly managed to change the plans for the circumstances. Flexibility when dealing with uncontrollable circumstances was important, Faihn had been taught.

He had just always preferred to control the circumstance.

No matter. She was on her way now, and there would be no need to keep up this charade once she arrived.

"Five minutes until real-space, Your Highness." Tielle looked up to see one of her bodyguards. "Very good. And is there going to be an official escort from the Farearians to bring us down to the planet?"

The muscular man nodded. "It should take approximately ten minutes for us to reach Citaege, the capital city. Your father, His Majesty King Partini, will be meeting you there."

Tielle nodded. "And are we on schedule?"

"Yes, everything is going as planned."

"Excellent. Continue."

The man bowed slightly and left.

Tielle nudged Arilana, who after an hour in the sim had fallen asleep. She was not yet used to dancing all night and then traveling soon after. "Arilana. Wake up. We're landing in Citaege in fifteen minutes."

Arilana stretched and yawned. "All right, all right, I'm awake."

A sudden bump! caught Tielle off guard and sent her across the floor. She struggled to rise and staggered over to Arilana, who had also fallen off of her seat. "What's happening, Tielle?"

Tielle shook her head. "I don't know." She maneuvered around fallen objects and went headfirst into a wall when the ship lurched again. "But I'm going to find out."

She slammed a hand onto a button and the door slid open. She staggered out into the hall and walked in a zigzag line to the cockpit. "What's happening!"

The pilot and co-pilot ignored her, but one of the bodyguards gestured to the view-screen, where a large and menacing ship, twenty times larger than the small shuttle, hung in the oppressive darkness of space. "We've been pulled out of light-space, Your Highness."

Tielle glanced at the controls and even though she didn't know as much about ships as Arilana did, she knew it wasn't good. "How much damage did we take?"

The pilot grimly replied, "Too much. We don't have the power to fight the tractive-pull."

Tielle couldn't believe her ears. "You mean we're being captured by whoever is in that ship?" Deliver us, Lord, from our enemies! Protect us and keep us safe!

The silence told her everything she needed to know.

In Chapter Three- "We're Going Out Fighting!", Tielle and her sister face imprisonment or death on an enemy ship…