Amoro Revidi

Title: Proposals [Part Nineteen]
Series: Vision of Escaflowne
Rating: PG-13
A/N: Part 19, looks like I'll be getting the next couple chapters out faster. I got this one started the same day I posted the last one and it's done, so while I'm sunning myself this afternoon I'll start part 20. As for those two missing pages, eh, I don't know what happened to them, but they'll be around as we keep going. Enjoy.

***

"This is… all so fast, Jasper."

"I realize it might be, but given the current circumstances, I was afraid that if I waited any longer to ask you, it might be too late."

"Current circumstances?"

"Kira…" she inhaled as he finally dropped the 'princess' from the beginning of her name. "You must know what that attack means… someone's trying to start another war on Gaea… I don't want to risk you falling through the cracks when that happens."

She blinks her violet eyes again at him and he squeezes her hands gently. "Please don't tell me you don't care for me at all… I don't know if I could handle that."

"No, Jasper, it isn't that. It's not that I don't care anything for you, quite…" as she speaks she realizes how true it is, "quite the opposite in fact." She glances around again, looking for the stern-faced Kathis almost always in the shadows nearby, and finally catches a faint outline in the shadows. "But isn't there anyone else you would think of-"

He looks down a moment, and when he looks back up his green eyes are clouded over, "No one that I may have."

The outline, as Kira watches, turns its back and disappears deeper into the shadows down the hallway. "I accept then, Jasper."

"Come," he says, rising and clasping her hand tightly, "let me go and speak to your father then," he smiles broadly.

***

"Van…?" Hitomi asks quietly as he leads her into the courtyard of the palace. The other guests had opted to stay inside on the slightly chill evening, but the rains had stopped, and with Van so close by her side she only felt the chill lightly. He pauses as they reach the edge of the courtyard and takes off his cape, wrapping it around her shoulders with a hint of a smile.

Hitomi smiles back, enjoying the happy look on Van's usually stern or impassive visage. "What's gotten into you?" she asks as he leads her out to the central fountain and offers her a seat after brushing water and dirt from the stone.

"I just… wanted to get out of there for a little while. Is it so much to ask that I get to spend some time alone with the woman I love?"

Hitomi finds herself blushing, and it has nothing to do with the slightly chill wind blowing in the open expanse of the courtyard. She looks up at him with wide eyes. During the journey to Palas she had told him how she felt, but he had said nothing definite in regards to his own feelings, though she felt she'd always known what was inside his heart. "No," she says quietly, looking down at her hands, which she folds in her lap a little self-consciously.

"I'm sorry about how I acted in there," Van says quietly, his back partially to her, and she looks up, catching his profile against the white marble of the palace in the bright moonlight, "I just… don't like to see you treated that way."

"Van, I…"

He turns to her with a lop-sided smile, "Well that makes three words you've said since I whisked you out here."

She arches a brow and folds her arms over her chest, turning her face away from his in a huff, the cloak slipping down from her shoulders as she does so, and almost falling into the frosty cold water of the fountain. Van slides over onto the lip of the fountain next to her and lifts it, tucking it more securely around her neck. He gently lets his arm linger around her shoulders.

"Please don't be mad, I just want to hear your voice," he says in almost a whisper to her ears alone.

***

Nil moves at a quick walk through the palace, making her way outdoors, despite the cold, and finds herself in the wrong place suddenly. She pauses, fighting the tears threatening her eyes as she glances around, Jasper's words echoing in her mind as she replays them over and over, his conversation with Kira a fresh wound at the surface of her mind.

No one that I may have.

She leans against the wall, banging the back of her head up against it, 'Cursed Kathis, cursed, cursed Kathis and our duties. I knew this day might come, I knew how Jasper felt, feels… and yet still…'

A door opens quietly and a tall, blond haired figure steps out into the small recess in the hallway, freezing as he lays eyes on Nil. "Who are you?" the deep voice asks, blue eyes kind as he takes in her appearance.

Nil has one hand to the hilt of her sword before she realizes what she's doing, but a sharp word from the tall man stops her, "Don't."

Breathing returning to normal she recognizes the uniform the man is wearing, "I am sorry, Sir Knight, I got a little turned about. I was… on my way to the courtyard."

"You must have gotten quite turned around, this is the east wing of the palace, nowhere near the courtyard. Who are you?" Allen narrows his eyes, preparing for a confrontation with this unknown, sword-bearing young woman.

"Kathis Nileyah Calipse, currently in service to Prince Jasper of Cesario."

"Knight Caeli Allen Schezar."

The two shake hands uneasily and Allen is the first to break the silence with, "Would you like for me to escort you to the courtyard, since you are so turned about?" He glances absently over his shoulder at Celena's room, but feels frustrated at his inability to assist her.

"If you would be so kind," Nil says, looking down at her feet.

***

"How are the preparations coming?"

"They are moving along faster than expected, King Ouran," the advisor says, lifting on fist to cross his chest as he bows before speaking his next words. "The attack upon the Palas celebration was, however, unsuccessful."

"What?" he turns slightly, curly black hair moving to the side with the speed of his motion and his eyes nearly glowing with anger. "I was informed twelve had been taken."

"They were, my Lord King, but they were retrieved by a contingent…" he winces before speaking his next words, "of Kathis. Dispatched from the castle after their abduction."

Instead of taking it out on the advisor, Ouran turns to look at his window, "You may leave now," he says lowly. The advisor quickly slinks away, shutting the tall doors behind him. "Mot… your people did this… snatched my victory from me," he says to his own reflection in the glass. "But it is of no matter, once Sotet meets his father there will be no problem gaining control of you and your lofty outdated traditions." He smiles emptily at his reflection and then turns to stir the fire in the hearth, a little out of spirit after the news of his failed attack.

"I should never have used Gecko in the first place." He pauses, turning to the corner, "Isn't that right?"

As he turns slightly towards the corner, the pale, silver-haired figure lifts its head, and the corner illuminates itself with a faint, sickly greenish white glow. "That is correct, Lord Ouran."

***

Hitomi admits to herself quietly that she's very happy to hear that Van loves her back, but she feelis a twinge of doubt. 'Where do we go from here?' she asks herself as he escorts her back into the castle with a gentle hand on the small of her back. His cloak still draped across her shoulders as they greet the guards at the doors to the interior, and are informed that the gathering is breaking up as dinner will be served shortly.

"We'll be in attendance," Van says quietly to the valet that greeted them. He nods, bowing slightly, and turns to go on about his duties elsewhere.

"I'd like to freshen up if you don't mind," Hitomi says to Van, and he nods, leading her up the stairs and to their smaller suite of rooms.

As she changes in her own room, Van speaks in a falsely idle tone, "The festivities will be over in a few days, and then we'll be heading back to Fanelia."

"Oh? It seems like time's gone by so quickly since we arrived." She slips into the other gown, and one of the few attendants she'd permitted Van to have brought along for her does up the back of the gown, tying the laces snugly but not uncomfortably. It had taken some getting used to, not being able to dress herself, but she had grown somewhat accustomed to the exalted treatment she was receiving from everyone. Still, she couldn't wait to get somewhere she didn't need to have people help her put on her own clothing.

"Yes, quickly…" Van says idly. "Hitomi, have you… thought about how long you'll be staying in Fanelia, before you… go back to the Mystic Moon?"

"It's Earth, Van, and…no, I… haven't."

The two of them fall silent at that realization and the maidservant finishes the preparations of Hitomi's gown. "Thank you, Lesle," Hitomi says, taking her gloves with a smile and heading out to meet Van.

"My pleasure, m'lady."

"Well, Van, I'm ready," she says, stepping into the light of the room and offering him back his cloak.

Van looks her over and blinks, smiling as he appraises her figure in the gown, and takes the cloak back, attaching it around his shoulders and picking up his gloves before offering her his arm.

***

Mot strides out of the Council Chamber angrily, Sotet on her heels. "I'm sorry this upsets you so, Mother," he says in a quiet voice as they make it to her office. "You should be pleased to know, however, that the Ispano Priest and his Kathis have entered seclusion."

"Not pleased enough. He may care for her, but there certainly hasn't been any sign that the two of them are going to complete what must be completed. I had no wish to loose Arik because of this, but it cannot be helped, if she does not fulfill her duty."

"Mother… why do you never speak of my father?"

Mot stiffens, and whirls on her son. "Because I am forbidden to do so."

"Don't you ever question what the council forbids you to do or does not?" Sotet's eyes narrow slightly.

Mot frowns to herself, knowing this day would come, "Ceremony and tradition have gotten the Kathis through two hundred years of service, and I don't believe that now is the time to question such a matter."

Sotet eyes his mother a little distrustfully and turns to leave.

***

Xachary blinks as he is presented with the tall form of the Cesarian prince. "You… you're what?"

"I'm asking for Kira's hand in marriage."

"You're what?" Xachary repeats.

Jasper takes a disgruntled breath. "I'm asking for your daughter, King Xachary."

Xachary blinks again and then says, "And why should I give her to you?"

"You obviously don't want her. So why not let me take her off your hands, you can't doubt that being the queen of Cesario is a step down for a princess by election, can you?" Jasper arches a black brow and folds his arms on his chest, staring down the Basram monarch.

"You seem to understand her situation well," Xachary comments idly, adjusting his jacket. "I take it that is of little to no concern to you, Prince Jasper?"

"None," he says in a cold tone.

"Then if you can get her to accept, you have my consent as well."