Prologue: Part 2
"She's my what!?" Albert almost blurted the next morning. The maid bowed to him, a little nervous.
"Well, when she woke up this morning, she claimed to be your cousin," the maid said, "as much as I'd like to think she's crazy, it seems to be true. She was wearing a dress that was made only in the Royalties of Sandora where your uncle rules."
Albert wanted to see this "cousin" for himself. The maid escorted him to the guest room where Ace was laying in bed, fast asleep.
"She was soaking wet when I brought her in," the maid said, "I saw a strange boy run off into the city before I saw her. He must be some poor child to abbandon someone this young." the maid walked over to the chair and picked up a nearly torn, black dress, "This is what she was wearing before I took it off. I found something hidden in this dress when I took it to wash."
The maid reached into a pocket of her apron and pulled out a black marble. By then Minister Noish had appeared and caught sight of the marble.
"Hmm," he said, scratching his chin. He then walked up to the maid and took the marble from her hand, "may I borrow this? I'd like to see if this is what I think it is."
"What do you mean?" Albert asked. The wise Minister turned to the young King.
"I think you should know about this, Your Majesty. It could be important." With that, he walked out of the guest room and towards the study. Albert scratched his head before following.
In the Study Room, Minister Noish flipped through some books before he found what he was looking for.
"I've found it," he said. Albert stood behind him and looked over his shoulder, "This is the Icy Dark Moon Dragoon Spirit. These appeared some time after the Dragon Campaign. Nothing much is said about this one, but it is said that this little marble won't respond unless its counterpart, the Blazing White Sun Dragoon Spirit belongs to the brother or sister of the one who bears the Icy Dark Moon Dragoon Spirit."
"So what you're saying is..."
"If that marble resinates whenever the child holds it, there's a slight chance you may have more than one cousin." Minister Noish closes the book and turns to Albert, "we must keep this information between us until we can reconize the bearer of the Blazing White Sun Dragoon Spirit."
Fire-Star used some of his money to buy new clothes. He didn't want to spend the rest of his life looking like a begger. A kind tailor made him some clothes for only 10 G. After a few hours, Fire-Star walked with a different appearance. His red, calf-long hair was no longer messy and was tied back in a loose ponytail with a hair bandage. He wore a white shirt over a fire-red, hooded trench coat with white fire designs around his lower sleeves, white pants, red and white, furry, sock-like boots that reached his knees, red gloves and a pair of goggles on his forehead.
"The poor old lady," said a buff man, "she's so scared, she can't even get past us."
He and another man wearing nothing but red pants had cornered an old lady carrying a bag of groceries. Their evil stare sent chills down her spine and made her tremble in fear. One of them smacked the bag out of her hand, causing everything to spill out as it hit the floor.
"I bet this old lady is loaded," the man in red pants said, "She looks like she lives in a mansion."
"Oh yeah. Let's search her for some money!" said the buff guy. It was around that time that Fire-Star had shown up and "accidentally" stepped on the foot of the guy in the red pants. He cried in pain and hopped around, holding his bruised foot.
"Hey! What's the big idea steppin' on my foot like that, boy!?" he yelled.
"Oh, that was your foot?" Fire-Star asked, "I was going to check to see if I stepped in horse apples, but I guess that was you."
The man was bright red with anger, "How dare you! Are you some kind of child who thinks he can taunt me and get away with it?"
"Ha! I bet he's just as scared as granny here!" the buff guy said, "maybe we should beat him down and take his money instead." the two nodded in agreement and jumped on either side of Fire-Star.
Just as the two where charging towards Fire-Star with their fist ready to fly, Fire-Star bent down and picked up an orange that rolled towards him.
"You dropped your groceries, ma' am. Let me help you..." Fire-Star was interupted when he heard fists hitting flesh and bone. The punks stood over him, their fists almost buried in thier faces, "Don't you know it's painful to punch each other in the face?"
After helping the old lady pick up her groceries, he offered to walk her home. When they got there, Fire-Star was a bit surprised at how huge the house was.
"Whoa! You live here!? Its as big as a castle!" he said in awe. The old lady giggled.
"It is big," she said, "how about staying with me and having some lunch? I'd like to hear a lot about you."
The old lady came out an hour later with a cup of tea and some jerky. She sat next to Fire-Star, sipping her own cup of tea.
"So tell me," the old lady said, "where do your parents live?"
Fire-Star felt a bit uneasy about the question. He couldn't tell her he was from Sandora. He had to think of a different story, "I'm an orphan. My parents died in a fire out in the farm."
"Oh, I'm so sorry. I hope this doesn't burden you." she said, a bit upset.
"I've learned to get over it over the years," Fire-Star said. He then looked around, "Do you live here all alone?"
"Oh, not ALL alone," the old lady said, "my son is the head of the First Knighthood of Basil. He isn't home all the time because of his duties as a knight, but I do manage to keep this house clean by myself. How would you like to stay here. My son's always wondered what it's like to have a brother."
"I'm flattered," Fire-Star said, a bit shocked, "I mean, I don't want to be too much of a problem for you."
"You protected me from those thieves even if it was on purpose. And since you don't have a home and family, you're always welcomed here."
"Th-Thanks."
"Oh, my. We've been talking all day and I haven't gotten your name."
"It's Fire-Star."
"Fire-Star...such a strange name to give to a boy. But in a good way."
After lunch, the old lady went into the kitchen to do some cleaning. Fire-Star didn't know what to do at the moment and decided to look around and get a feel for the house he was soon going to call "home". That afternoon, the door to the house opened as the old lady was sweeping the floor. A man in a green Serdain knights uniform walked in, resting his spear next to the coat rack near the door.
The old lady saw him and almost dropped the broom, smiling, "Oh, Lavitz! You're home!"
"Hi, Mom," the soldier said as they embraced in a welcoming hug, "Anything happen while I was gone?"
"You're not going to believe this, Lavitz," the old lady, Lavitz's mother said, "but today, I was saved by a young orphan."
"Orphan?" Lavitz asked.
"Yes. He is called Fire-Star. The poor boy's birth parents were killed in a fire out in a farm. I couldn't just let him spend the rest of his life out in the streets, so I decided to take him in. It's a good experiance for you to have a brother, even though he doesn't fully belong to us."
Fire-Star sat on the roof of the house near the open window leading to the library, looking at Indels Castle at the far distance. He didn't know how long it would take before he would be able to risk his neck protecting Bale and being closer to his sister.
"Suprising how a farm boy like you wanted to become a knight here," Lavitz said, cutting Fire-Star from his thoughts. He almost thought Lavitz had already found out who he really was, "Mom told me about you. How you saved her 'accidentally' and why she decided to take you under her wing. Your birth parents must be very cunning."
After hearing this, Fire-Star silently sighed with relief. The last thing he needed was someone who found out who he really was before realizing why he was hiding his true identity.
"Yeah. My parents always love to annoy thieves with 'accidental' moves," Fire-Star said, looking back at Indels Castle, "I must've got it from them." Lavitz looked from him to Indels Castle, seeing a somewhat homesick look on Fire-Star's face.
"You look like you haven't been in a castle for years." that sentance almost made Fire-Star fall off the roof, startled.
"Wha...what!? I've...I've never been in a castle before. What makes you think that?" Lavitz gave Fire-Star a suspicious look that made him think his fib had hit a dead end. After a moment, Lavitz shrugged.
"I guess I was imagining things," he said, "I could've sworn you looked homesick when you saw Indels Castle."
For the next week, Fire-Star's fib went unnoticed until the day he and Ace where going to meet. Fire-Star was walking around town, doing some chores for Ms. Slambert when he saw a figure waving to him. It was Ace, desguised in a black shirt with sleeves that went past her hands and her left shoulder was bear with red trimmings along the bottom sleeves and collar. She also wore knee high, short jean pants and bandages on her feet in the form of footwear.
"There you are, Fire-Star!" Ace called as she ran up to him. Luckly, the people of the market were too busy talking to notice what was going on.
"I see you got over that fever." Fire-Star said. Ace giggled.
"Our cousin's maids were THE best! They made sure I got plenty of fluid and rest before I was well enough to get out of bed! And look at me now! Being a princess of Indels Castle, I know I'll be the next heir to the thrown when Albert's role as king is over!"
"You really did enjoy yourself, didn't you?" Fire-Star asked.
"Oh yes! Definatly! By the way, bro. Did you finally become a rookie knight yet?"
"Well, I did find myself living with one." Fire-Star said.
"Oh COOL!" Ace squeeled, "One of Albert's favorite knights was talking about his new brother! Was that you, Fire-Star? I'm surprised he even knows where you really came from."
"Maybe not..." Fire-Star said, a bit nervous, "But I think he's about to find out!"
"What're you..." Ace was interupted when a voice nearly startled her.
"You weren't really raised on a farm, were you?" Ace whirled around and saw Lavitz almost towering over her, looking at Fire-Star with his arms crossed, "I hope you have an explanation for this."
The two panicked and yanked Lavitz into a nearby ally where Fire-Star pratically rammed the knight against the wall with his hand over the his mouth.
"You are NOT going to tell ANYONE about this! Not even your mother!" Fire-Star hissed, "If this information reaches Sandora, our father won't hesitate to tear this city apart looking for us even if we already left! He'll put me on the thrown against my will and force me to start a war against our cousin and I don't want to start a family fued that would put all of Serdio in danger."
Lavitz, although a bit shocked at the deadly glare on Fire-Star's face, looked at Ace who was almost on the floor with a frightened look on her face. Having to abide by Fire-Star's plea would put his career as head of the First Knighthood in jeopardy, but then again, if he did let the information leak into Sandora, he would have to put up with trying to keep them from getting their hands on the future rulers of their own country.
Reluctantly, Lavitz had to hide Ace's true relationship with Fire- Star from public ears. But what they didn't know was that Albert knows Ace wasn't an only child. Luckily, he has yet to find out where the other sibling is.
OOC: Blah! Even if I proof read it a million times, it'd still look lame. *Sigh* oh well. I'll try and improve if I have any better ideas. In the next chapter, Fire-Star starts his training as a knight and is suddenly shot up from rookie to second-in-command in less than a month. But could a freak and mysterious accident between a jealous knight-in-training and the response of his Blazing White Sun Dragoon Spirit end his career for good?
"She's my what!?" Albert almost blurted the next morning. The maid bowed to him, a little nervous.
"Well, when she woke up this morning, she claimed to be your cousin," the maid said, "as much as I'd like to think she's crazy, it seems to be true. She was wearing a dress that was made only in the Royalties of Sandora where your uncle rules."
Albert wanted to see this "cousin" for himself. The maid escorted him to the guest room where Ace was laying in bed, fast asleep.
"She was soaking wet when I brought her in," the maid said, "I saw a strange boy run off into the city before I saw her. He must be some poor child to abbandon someone this young." the maid walked over to the chair and picked up a nearly torn, black dress, "This is what she was wearing before I took it off. I found something hidden in this dress when I took it to wash."
The maid reached into a pocket of her apron and pulled out a black marble. By then Minister Noish had appeared and caught sight of the marble.
"Hmm," he said, scratching his chin. He then walked up to the maid and took the marble from her hand, "may I borrow this? I'd like to see if this is what I think it is."
"What do you mean?" Albert asked. The wise Minister turned to the young King.
"I think you should know about this, Your Majesty. It could be important." With that, he walked out of the guest room and towards the study. Albert scratched his head before following.
In the Study Room, Minister Noish flipped through some books before he found what he was looking for.
"I've found it," he said. Albert stood behind him and looked over his shoulder, "This is the Icy Dark Moon Dragoon Spirit. These appeared some time after the Dragon Campaign. Nothing much is said about this one, but it is said that this little marble won't respond unless its counterpart, the Blazing White Sun Dragoon Spirit belongs to the brother or sister of the one who bears the Icy Dark Moon Dragoon Spirit."
"So what you're saying is..."
"If that marble resinates whenever the child holds it, there's a slight chance you may have more than one cousin." Minister Noish closes the book and turns to Albert, "we must keep this information between us until we can reconize the bearer of the Blazing White Sun Dragoon Spirit."
Fire-Star used some of his money to buy new clothes. He didn't want to spend the rest of his life looking like a begger. A kind tailor made him some clothes for only 10 G. After a few hours, Fire-Star walked with a different appearance. His red, calf-long hair was no longer messy and was tied back in a loose ponytail with a hair bandage. He wore a white shirt over a fire-red, hooded trench coat with white fire designs around his lower sleeves, white pants, red and white, furry, sock-like boots that reached his knees, red gloves and a pair of goggles on his forehead.
"The poor old lady," said a buff man, "she's so scared, she can't even get past us."
He and another man wearing nothing but red pants had cornered an old lady carrying a bag of groceries. Their evil stare sent chills down her spine and made her tremble in fear. One of them smacked the bag out of her hand, causing everything to spill out as it hit the floor.
"I bet this old lady is loaded," the man in red pants said, "She looks like she lives in a mansion."
"Oh yeah. Let's search her for some money!" said the buff guy. It was around that time that Fire-Star had shown up and "accidentally" stepped on the foot of the guy in the red pants. He cried in pain and hopped around, holding his bruised foot.
"Hey! What's the big idea steppin' on my foot like that, boy!?" he yelled.
"Oh, that was your foot?" Fire-Star asked, "I was going to check to see if I stepped in horse apples, but I guess that was you."
The man was bright red with anger, "How dare you! Are you some kind of child who thinks he can taunt me and get away with it?"
"Ha! I bet he's just as scared as granny here!" the buff guy said, "maybe we should beat him down and take his money instead." the two nodded in agreement and jumped on either side of Fire-Star.
Just as the two where charging towards Fire-Star with their fist ready to fly, Fire-Star bent down and picked up an orange that rolled towards him.
"You dropped your groceries, ma' am. Let me help you..." Fire-Star was interupted when he heard fists hitting flesh and bone. The punks stood over him, their fists almost buried in thier faces, "Don't you know it's painful to punch each other in the face?"
After helping the old lady pick up her groceries, he offered to walk her home. When they got there, Fire-Star was a bit surprised at how huge the house was.
"Whoa! You live here!? Its as big as a castle!" he said in awe. The old lady giggled.
"It is big," she said, "how about staying with me and having some lunch? I'd like to hear a lot about you."
The old lady came out an hour later with a cup of tea and some jerky. She sat next to Fire-Star, sipping her own cup of tea.
"So tell me," the old lady said, "where do your parents live?"
Fire-Star felt a bit uneasy about the question. He couldn't tell her he was from Sandora. He had to think of a different story, "I'm an orphan. My parents died in a fire out in the farm."
"Oh, I'm so sorry. I hope this doesn't burden you." she said, a bit upset.
"I've learned to get over it over the years," Fire-Star said. He then looked around, "Do you live here all alone?"
"Oh, not ALL alone," the old lady said, "my son is the head of the First Knighthood of Basil. He isn't home all the time because of his duties as a knight, but I do manage to keep this house clean by myself. How would you like to stay here. My son's always wondered what it's like to have a brother."
"I'm flattered," Fire-Star said, a bit shocked, "I mean, I don't want to be too much of a problem for you."
"You protected me from those thieves even if it was on purpose. And since you don't have a home and family, you're always welcomed here."
"Th-Thanks."
"Oh, my. We've been talking all day and I haven't gotten your name."
"It's Fire-Star."
"Fire-Star...such a strange name to give to a boy. But in a good way."
After lunch, the old lady went into the kitchen to do some cleaning. Fire-Star didn't know what to do at the moment and decided to look around and get a feel for the house he was soon going to call "home". That afternoon, the door to the house opened as the old lady was sweeping the floor. A man in a green Serdain knights uniform walked in, resting his spear next to the coat rack near the door.
The old lady saw him and almost dropped the broom, smiling, "Oh, Lavitz! You're home!"
"Hi, Mom," the soldier said as they embraced in a welcoming hug, "Anything happen while I was gone?"
"You're not going to believe this, Lavitz," the old lady, Lavitz's mother said, "but today, I was saved by a young orphan."
"Orphan?" Lavitz asked.
"Yes. He is called Fire-Star. The poor boy's birth parents were killed in a fire out in a farm. I couldn't just let him spend the rest of his life out in the streets, so I decided to take him in. It's a good experiance for you to have a brother, even though he doesn't fully belong to us."
Fire-Star sat on the roof of the house near the open window leading to the library, looking at Indels Castle at the far distance. He didn't know how long it would take before he would be able to risk his neck protecting Bale and being closer to his sister.
"Suprising how a farm boy like you wanted to become a knight here," Lavitz said, cutting Fire-Star from his thoughts. He almost thought Lavitz had already found out who he really was, "Mom told me about you. How you saved her 'accidentally' and why she decided to take you under her wing. Your birth parents must be very cunning."
After hearing this, Fire-Star silently sighed with relief. The last thing he needed was someone who found out who he really was before realizing why he was hiding his true identity.
"Yeah. My parents always love to annoy thieves with 'accidental' moves," Fire-Star said, looking back at Indels Castle, "I must've got it from them." Lavitz looked from him to Indels Castle, seeing a somewhat homesick look on Fire-Star's face.
"You look like you haven't been in a castle for years." that sentance almost made Fire-Star fall off the roof, startled.
"Wha...what!? I've...I've never been in a castle before. What makes you think that?" Lavitz gave Fire-Star a suspicious look that made him think his fib had hit a dead end. After a moment, Lavitz shrugged.
"I guess I was imagining things," he said, "I could've sworn you looked homesick when you saw Indels Castle."
For the next week, Fire-Star's fib went unnoticed until the day he and Ace where going to meet. Fire-Star was walking around town, doing some chores for Ms. Slambert when he saw a figure waving to him. It was Ace, desguised in a black shirt with sleeves that went past her hands and her left shoulder was bear with red trimmings along the bottom sleeves and collar. She also wore knee high, short jean pants and bandages on her feet in the form of footwear.
"There you are, Fire-Star!" Ace called as she ran up to him. Luckly, the people of the market were too busy talking to notice what was going on.
"I see you got over that fever." Fire-Star said. Ace giggled.
"Our cousin's maids were THE best! They made sure I got plenty of fluid and rest before I was well enough to get out of bed! And look at me now! Being a princess of Indels Castle, I know I'll be the next heir to the thrown when Albert's role as king is over!"
"You really did enjoy yourself, didn't you?" Fire-Star asked.
"Oh yes! Definatly! By the way, bro. Did you finally become a rookie knight yet?"
"Well, I did find myself living with one." Fire-Star said.
"Oh COOL!" Ace squeeled, "One of Albert's favorite knights was talking about his new brother! Was that you, Fire-Star? I'm surprised he even knows where you really came from."
"Maybe not..." Fire-Star said, a bit nervous, "But I think he's about to find out!"
"What're you..." Ace was interupted when a voice nearly startled her.
"You weren't really raised on a farm, were you?" Ace whirled around and saw Lavitz almost towering over her, looking at Fire-Star with his arms crossed, "I hope you have an explanation for this."
The two panicked and yanked Lavitz into a nearby ally where Fire-Star pratically rammed the knight against the wall with his hand over the his mouth.
"You are NOT going to tell ANYONE about this! Not even your mother!" Fire-Star hissed, "If this information reaches Sandora, our father won't hesitate to tear this city apart looking for us even if we already left! He'll put me on the thrown against my will and force me to start a war against our cousin and I don't want to start a family fued that would put all of Serdio in danger."
Lavitz, although a bit shocked at the deadly glare on Fire-Star's face, looked at Ace who was almost on the floor with a frightened look on her face. Having to abide by Fire-Star's plea would put his career as head of the First Knighthood in jeopardy, but then again, if he did let the information leak into Sandora, he would have to put up with trying to keep them from getting their hands on the future rulers of their own country.
Reluctantly, Lavitz had to hide Ace's true relationship with Fire- Star from public ears. But what they didn't know was that Albert knows Ace wasn't an only child. Luckily, he has yet to find out where the other sibling is.
OOC: Blah! Even if I proof read it a million times, it'd still look lame. *Sigh* oh well. I'll try and improve if I have any better ideas. In the next chapter, Fire-Star starts his training as a knight and is suddenly shot up from rookie to second-in-command in less than a month. But could a freak and mysterious accident between a jealous knight-in-training and the response of his Blazing White Sun Dragoon Spirit end his career for good?