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Disclaimer – I do not own Escaflowne or the characters of Escaflowne.
Friends and Warnings
Chapter Two
"Dilandou?!"
"Highness, with all due respect, I do not think the Lady Selena appreciates being called Dilandou…"
"You want me to marry Dilandou?" Van was pacing rapidly between the grouping of men called his Counsel and Allen's sister, gesturing wildly at the thin girl with wavy silver-blue hair. He stopped suddenly and faced Selena. "And I apologize for my rude behavior, but DILANDOU?!" he screamed, whipping around to face his Counsel again.
"Lord Van, it has come to our attention that Fanellia would benefit greatly from an alliance to the Lady Selena's home country…"
"Benefit is great for economic gain, but … Dilandou?"
"I too thought this match was wrong," Selena's soft voice interrupted Van's booming loud one.
He ignored his Counsel and walked closer to her. She may be beautiful, but she was still Dilandou to him. "I'm deeply sorry if I embarrassed you, Lady. It's just…this choice of the Counsel's was quite unexpected. And I do not mean to remind you of…"
"My brother has attempted to keep the truth of my terrible past from me, Highness, but I am aware of the atrocities that I've committed five years ago. I only hope that your Highness can forgive me, and perhaps we can settle with being just friends." Selena's blue eyes sparkled as she looked up at Van.
And Van couldn't resist the smile that broke his stern facial expression. "I would very much like to have a friendship, Lady," he replied, lowering to one knee as he kissed the back of her hand. A bit formal, but after not seeing the alter ego of his arch enemy for five years, he thought formality would be the safest way to breach the void between them.
Counsel members grumbled as they left the room, their plans to get their king married off thwarted yet again.
"You do realize that Millerna was their second choice," Gus spoke up from his place beside Van's throne.
"Oh no, not Millerna," Merle groaned as she appeared from the shadows somewhere in the King's Hall.
"She's worse than I am," Selena added, smiling a little at her self-insult.
Van merely sighed and flopped into the soft cushion of his throne, a most undignified pose. "I truly am sorry for my reaction earlier," he mumbled to Selena. Since his brash enthusiasm had passed, he felt infinitely tired and weighed down by his station.
"I am aware of my past, as I said Highness. I am not happy with it either." She smiled as she looked at him, but that warmth never reached into her blue eyes. "And I too would like to apologize for my reactions, five years ago."
"Five years is too long to hold a grudge," Van muttered. But he almost wished it was five years ago. Things were so much easier when he had been gallivanting around with Hitomi, and when he didn't have a country to rule. With the end of the war came the beginning of his responsibilities, and at first things were easy enough. Rejoin, rebuild, and rejoice. Now though, the country wasn't focused on creating its former glory. It looked to expand, to grow economically, and that forced Van to take on more than one person could handle. And this whole marriage nonsense only added to his stress.
"Highness?"
"Yes, Lady?"
"Nevermind, Highness, I see that you are in thought. Perhaps I shall see you after dinner tonight." Selena looked nervous as she held her hands together in front of her.
"Of course," Van replied politely. He and Gus cast each other curious looks, but did not question after the lithe girl who excused herself and exited the Hall.
"What was that?" Augustus asked after Selena's footsteps could no longer be heard echoing down the hallways.
Van shrugged and remained in his lopsided pose on the throne. Absentmindedly, he reached up and felt the bulge under his tunic, the small lump that concealed Hitomi's necklace underneath. He didn't have to look down to know that the pink stone was glowing lightly through the thick weave of his red tunic, just as it did every time he thought of her.
*******
Selena wasn't at dinner. It was something that Van pondered about as he lay on his overly-large bed. The ceilings of his chambers were painted dark, with small spots that glowed like stars amidst the bluish-black expanse of the ceiling. The similarly dark-colored gauze curtains drifted in the breeze, blowing into his room and making the soft blue light from the Mystic Moon and moon dance across his floor.
Suddenly, Hitomi's pendant filled his mind's eye. It dangled softly before glowing bright pink and swinging out…in the direction of his door. He'd learned long ago to take these visions as true fortunetellers of danger. Without a second thought, he got off his bed and grabbed his sword.
He was half-way to his door when the light knock sounded, a woman's voice calling just as softly after the rapping on his door. It was Selena's voice. Van relaxed slightly, and only slightly after remembering that Selena had also been Dilandou, and opened the door. His sword was still within easy reach, not drawn and ready, but at his side as if it were a walking cane rather than a dangerous weapon.
"Highness," Selena whispered, keeping her voice down considering the late hour. And since it was extremely scandalous for a woman to be visiting the King in the middle of the night, she was extra quiet so as not to get caught.
"Is there something the matter?" Van asked, his face visibly showing all the confusion that his whispered words couldn't quite convey.
"May I speak with you, privately, Highness?"
"Please, just call me Van, Lady Selena. And yes, come in." Van stepped aside and let Selena enter his room. Earlier this afternoon, he would have been extremely wary of having the former-Dilandou in his bedchambers. Something about Selena's appearance, though, warned him of things much more important than long-dead rivalries. Something about her expression seemed familiar.
"Lord Van, I…" Selena stumbled over her words as Van closed the door, allowing them both to talk a little louder now that they couldn't be heard down the hallways. She looked frightened, and worried. At the same time, she seemed nervous, as if what she was going to say would upset him. And then he remembered why her expression seemed so distantly familiar.
She looked like Hitomi after she'd had a vision.
"What did you see?" Van asked.
Selena's head snapped up, with questions in her teary eyes. But she chose not to ask how Van knew, she simply said what she'd come to tell him. "I've seen horrible things."
Van took a deep breath and sat down directly on his carpeted floor. Selena followed his example, looking too weary to keep standing. A pink glow from Hitomi's pendant illuminated both figures in an eerie rose light. He remained silent and waited for Selena to continue.
"I've seen fire. Such heat that my own flesh cooks and melts off my bones as I stand and watch. I've seen the Escaflowne swallowed by those flames, turned black from the smoke." Selena paused and shivered, wrapping her arms about her shoulders, trying to ward off a chill that only she seemed to feel. "And then there is ice. The flames turn ice cold, sucking in heat rather than giving it off. They turn blue, and I start to burn in a new way. The air freezes the inside of me every time I breathe. Before I die, I see your black guymelef shatter like broken glass."
Tears were running freely down her cheeks now, and she shivered from more than just her imagined cold. Selena trembled with fear.
"What should I do?" Van asked. It was almost too much. He was reminded too much of Hitomi and her strange visions. He half-expected her to burst through his door and tackle him, the same way she did on the bridge to protect him. His own eyes were moist with unshed tears.
"You planned on visiting Freid tomorrow, didn't you?"
"Yes."
"Then continue on that path. Prince Cid has called you there for a reason, Lord Van, and you must answer his call. I see only fires here in Fanellia," she said cryptically.
"Fires?"
Selena nodded. "Fires of anger, and revenge. Fires of hatred."
*******
The King of Fanellia was there, in front of her. Flames burned the palace behind her, consuming the rebuilt castle. Fire would again claim all of Fanellia, ruining it to nothing but ash and lost hopes. The same as her village.
She wanted it to burn! His guymelef had crushed her family, had killed her people, and had destroyed all of her dreams in one night. One night of flames and fury had robbed her of everything she'd ever known, everyone she'd ever loved.
Her vision tinted red, the figure of the King distorting from tanned skin to light red. His formerly silver sword flashed now in neon bright red streaks, blinding her for only a moment as he readied himself, then charged.
Estrella held up her hands, meaning to stop him, to ward off an attack. She hadn't expected the heat to swell up inside her, nearly burning her with its intensity. At first she thought she'd gotten too close to the flames. But the fire was inside, spreading from her heart and licking along the skin of her arms down to her fingertips. It gathered there, like trying to hold liquid in her hands, some of it spilled over the edges of her palms and to the ground below. Grass withered and died at the touch of the liquid flames. Black spots remained after the flare of burning grass died down.
She smiled.
The flames that killed her people, the flames that destroyed her life, were now in her hands. She could wield them, like she could wield a sword. Her instincts told her how. Estrella cupped her hand and held it out in front of her, the liquid pool of fire growing into intense and hot flames. Her fingers closed around her palm, nurturing the flames to burn even hotter, before throwing her hand out. She opened her fingers wide, letting the held-in flames leap from her fingertips. They struck out for one target. The flames clamored over each other like writhing snakes as they flew through the air, attempting to be the first to reach the King. They wanted to please their Master.
Estrella could feel it in the way they fought to be the first to burn Van Fanel. The flames wanted to please her. She was their Master.
And she could hear them scream in pain as they withered and died, steam rising from the snake-like flames. Estrella's heart singed with the same pain, making her clutch at her chest. Her fire was dying.
A strange woman stood in front of King Van. She was tall and lithe, her wavy silver-blue hair drifting in the breeze like ripples on a lake. Her light blue eyes looking like the sky after a rain. The woman's arms were outstretched, similarly to the way Estrella imagined she herself looked when she released her flames. But this woman did not have fire in her hands. This woman had water dripping from her fingers and palms. Her blue gown ended in a pool of water at her feet.
Thunder cracked, and lightning lit up the darkness more than Estrella's flames ever had. Clouds rumbled in acknowledgement, and the rain poured.
Estrella sat up, panting and trying to gather her wits about her. Her dream was still fresh in her head, haunting her now awake mind with visions of the water woman. Rain fell around her, soaking her clothes and the blanket she'd been using as a bedroll.
Muttering curses about her dumb luck at getting caught out in the rain, Estrella busied herself with rolling up the blanket and slinging it over her back with her other small pack of things. She didn't have much. Only enough dried meat to sustain her if she couldn't catch any game, and only her swords. The guymelef had destroyed her village completely, leaving very little to be scavenged afterward.
Not even a horse was left behind.
And a horse would be very useful in her journey to Fanellia. She'd even settle for a goat. But all the livestock had been killed as well, or so scared that it took off fleeing into the woods. Wild predators probably had a feast.
With the rain, sleep was impossible. Estrella frowned and steeled herself against the cold driving water and took step after weary step south. Fanellia was two days away, and she was going to kill the King. The warmth of vengeful hatred kept her moving. She paid no mind to the sleet and hail that soon accompanied the pelting rain.
The dream, however, would not leave her alone.
It replayed in her mind, again and again. She felt the tingle along her arms and hands as she remembered giving birth to the flames from her own flesh. She felt the ache in her heart as the silver-haired woman poured water over her children flames. Her ears rang with the screams of the dying fires. She didn't know what it all meant. It was only a dream. But something told her it was more than just a dream. It was a vision of what was to come.
More than just the King was awaiting her in Fanellia.
Is it interesting yet?
I hope so.