"Don't pet that thing, Hayato, it'll take your arm off."
Hayato Kobayashi looked up at Kai Shiden. The Japanese pilot of the Guntank appeared as doleful as the Irish wolfhound he was petting. The dog and the young man were sitting on a couch in what had once been some Jion officer's quarters.
"I don't think he's got that in him, Kai. He knows that Dozel Zabi's dead."
"He bit me on television."
"You were teasing him. Dogs bite when you do that. And when their territory's invaded."
Kai ignored that. "So where's your girlfriend?"
"I guess you mean Frau Bow. She's with Amuro. So's Sayla."
"Sheesh, makes me almost wish I'd gotten wounded in that last battle."
"I know what you mean," Hayato admitted. "I haven't seen Bright and Mirai lately, either."
"One guess where they are," Kai sneered.
"Haven't gotten out of bed yet?"
"Got it in one. I heard they went to Bright's room after they were debriefed and nobody's seen them since."
Hayato sighed. "I wonder when they'll let us off this rock. Kyonpei Island's pretty comfortable, but I really don't want to be here anymore."
"The brass are waiting to interview Amuro. They want to interview us about Amuro after they do."
"Amuro, Amuro, Amuro. It's all about Amuro, isn't it? Makes you wonder if we'll ever get recognized for what we did in the war."
"I gave up on that a long time ago, Hayato. I tell you one thing, though. You're coming out of this better than I am."
Hayato looked at Kai dubiously. "Oh yeah?"
"Yeah. I didn't come out of this with a girlfriend. You did, even if she is hovering around Amuro right now. Maybe you and this walking carpet should go chase her down. No one is going to do it for you."
Hayato nodded. "You're right. Besides, what's the worst that can happen? Maybe I'll find Frau and Sayla in the middle of a catfight over Amuro."
"Now you're talking! Call me up if that's what's going on, 'cause I wanna watch."
Hayato stood and the dog stood with him. "Frau will kick Sayla's ass."
"Dream on!"
When Hayato had left the room, Kai's lustful grin faded immediately. He dropped onto the couch and stared at his shoes for a while. Then he picked up the remote and turned on the TV, looking for something to distract himself.
In the infirmary, Amuro Ray was lying in his bed, looking glazedly up at the television suspended from the ceiling. Frau sat on one side of him, holding his hand. Sayla Mass sat on the other, reading a book and periodically checking the bandages wrapping his upper arm. He'd lost a good amount of blood from the wound Char Aznable had inflicted on him, and he'd needed to have it stitched up. They were all in that "nothing to say" state when Oscar from White Base came running up to them.
"Turn on JBC Snoozeworld."
"Snoozeworld" was their slang term for "Newsworld", the Jion Broadcast Corporation's 24-hour news station. Sayla picked up the remote and turned it on.
Kai had had the same idea. After a few minutes, he picked up the phone by his side. "C'mon, Bright," he said to himself, "Get off of Mirai and pick it---Bright! Hi!"
"I wasn't on Mirai," Bright growled at him. He was in bed with Mirai, certainly, and she'd been feeding him potato chips as they watched TV, but Kai didn't need to know that.
"Turn on Snoozeworld."
JBC newsreader Peter Jansen was intoning the recent events on Jion in what Kai liked to refer to as "the voice of Doom". The middle-aged man was balding but still handsome, his presence full of paternal authority.
"Jion will officially have a new ruler. Prime Minister Darcia read the Intention to Ascend the Throne on behalf of Kishiria Zabi this afternoon. General Zabi is of course the only surviving one of the late King Degin's children."
There was a shot of the National Assembly, in its baronial hall with Gothic vaulting and dark wood. With Kishiria sitting on a throne behind him, Darcia was reading from a parchment, "It is thus the intention of Kishiria Elizabeth Zabi to succeed to the throne of her father Degin, lest the people of Jion find themselves without a monarch. The King is dead, long live the Queen!"
"In related news, further developments were in store as Brigadier General Char Aznable, hero of the battle of Ruum and Jion's most recognizable soldier, revealed himself to be in fact none other than Casval Rem Deykun, son of Jion Deykun."
There was footage of Char Aznable, in uniform but without his mask, speaking to a scrum of reporters, many of whom were holding out microphones to him.
"Yes, I am Casval Deykun, this was confirmed today in the lab of the University of Jion. We used cells from the corpse of my father, who was exhumed today just for this purpose."
Frau glanced over at Sayla, who had curled into a fetal position on her chair. Her eyes were closed and one hand was clamped over her mouth. "Sayla, you don't need to panic. They probably won't show the body..."
"It's not that," Sayla breathed. "You don't understand."
"General Aznable! Is it true a second autopsy was going to confirm or deny the rumours that the Zabi family murdered your father?"
"The second autopsy was done, and it confirmed that there is no truth to those rumours. We've put that to rest."
"Is there any connection between your revelation and Princess Kishiria's taking the throne?"
"I have no comment on that at this time."
They switched to another story. Frau stood and walked over to Sayla, who was bleached from shock.
"Sayla? What's wrong? Why did that story affect you like this? Sayla?"
Sayla looked up at her with tear-filled eyes. "There's something I'd better tell all of you."
They assembled in Bright's room. Frau pushed Amuro in a wheelchair. To Hayato's evident happiness, she sat down on the floor beside him as Amuro remained in the chair. Sayla sat in the desk chair and Bright and Mirai seated themselves on the bed.
Sayla recounted the story of her birth on Jion, her life on Earth, her returning to space. "And there you have it. I am really a Jion. Not just any Jion, but the sister of the Red Comet himself. That's why I never was open with all of you as I would have liked. I hope that you all won't throw me out of your lives now."
"Sayla." Frau stood and hugged the other woman. "It's okay. You've proved yourself over and over. You're one of our family, and family don't just go throwing each other out."
"Frau's right," Mirai added. "Artesia Deykun is part of Sayla Mass, and we love Sayla Mass."
"Give me half a chance and I'll prove it!" exclaimed Kai. There was an awkward pause, then much-welcome laughter from around the room.
"One thing's troubling, though," Bright said, rubbing one of Mirai's hands between his fingers. "It was clear from that news report that Char's little revelation has something to do with Kishiria Zabi becoming monarch. They gave it as 'related news'. What do you think they mean by that, do you suppose?"
"That's easy," Kai said. "You've got a Zabi and a Deykun making all friendly. 'Oh no, Degin Zabi didn't kill my father.' You gotta think, exactly how nice have those two made with each other? I dunno if you've all noticed this, but Kishiria Zabi's gaining weight. I think she's got a bun in the oven."
There was silence around the room for the moment.
"Good thing we all escaped with just the clothes on our backs," said Kai. "We don't have to worry about packing again."
"There will be war, won't there?" Hayato asked gloomily.
"God no. No," Amuro moaned. "Not all this again."
*****
Char was not comfortable being inside St. Michael's Cathedral and didn't know why Kishiria would be in there herself. However, when he'd phoned the queen's office, Margaret had said that was where Kishiria was.
It wasn't difficult finding her. All he had to do was look for the royal guards. They were in the crypt under the church, facing outward from an open iron gate. They saluted him through the gate and he found himself in a stone room around ten meters by five meters. The nature of the room was immediately obvious; it was the Zabi family tomb. He passed the grave of Saslo Zabi first, a rectangular base on which rested a life-size marble image of the second Zabi son. Kishiria was sitting beside the one grave he did not want to see.
"I thought there weren't any remains," Char said, coming to stand beside her.
"Since you had to face your father's grave today, or at least the thought of it, I felt I should inflict the same thing on myself. To answer your question, yes, there were remains. It just took a while to find them." She reached out to touch the stone hair of her younger brother. "We of course had to send an investigative team to try to recover the Gau's black box. They also looked for any bodies, or parts of bodies. About a week after Giren's charming memorial service, they found some. They only recovered Garma's skull, pelvis, and most of his right arm, but it was better than nothing. I was on Earth at the time and flew out to bring them back to Jion. Since they needed a DNA sample from me to confirm it was him, I asked to see the remains. It was just blackened bones and some tendons still on the arm. We buried them here privately. We couldn't inflict another big public ceremony on poor Dad." She fell silent and Char saw that she was suppressing tears. "The sculptor did a good job though, didn't he?"
Char stood back to study the marble figure. While the image of Saslo lay flat on its back, limbs straight, eyes aimed at the ceiling, hands folded in prayer, Garma's was much more expressive. It lay loosely on its back as if fallen, eyes closed, head tipped to the right. One arm hung slightly off the platform, the hand turned palm up. One knee was bent upward. The expression on the face seemed tranquil at first until Char examined it more closely. That's when he noticed the subtle furrowing of the brow, the tension around the mouth forming a delicate grimace. This image of Garma showed the young prince as having died stoically in pain.
Or betrayal, he thought to himself grimly.
"It's beautiful," he told Kishiria finally.
"Dad chose a really good artist."
"Kish." Char reached for her hand. "We've got the evidence we need. No one can argue that I'm Casval Deykun. Let's only look to the future."
"You're right." She stood and put her hand on his arm. Char led his fiancee from the crypt, noticing that her step was heavier than usual. The reality was beginning to sink in for her, he realized.
Char knew that he as Casval Rem Deykun would only be beside throne, not on it. For the first time, though, he wondered if this might not be a good thing.
Hayato Kobayashi looked up at Kai Shiden. The Japanese pilot of the Guntank appeared as doleful as the Irish wolfhound he was petting. The dog and the young man were sitting on a couch in what had once been some Jion officer's quarters.
"I don't think he's got that in him, Kai. He knows that Dozel Zabi's dead."
"He bit me on television."
"You were teasing him. Dogs bite when you do that. And when their territory's invaded."
Kai ignored that. "So where's your girlfriend?"
"I guess you mean Frau Bow. She's with Amuro. So's Sayla."
"Sheesh, makes me almost wish I'd gotten wounded in that last battle."
"I know what you mean," Hayato admitted. "I haven't seen Bright and Mirai lately, either."
"One guess where they are," Kai sneered.
"Haven't gotten out of bed yet?"
"Got it in one. I heard they went to Bright's room after they were debriefed and nobody's seen them since."
Hayato sighed. "I wonder when they'll let us off this rock. Kyonpei Island's pretty comfortable, but I really don't want to be here anymore."
"The brass are waiting to interview Amuro. They want to interview us about Amuro after they do."
"Amuro, Amuro, Amuro. It's all about Amuro, isn't it? Makes you wonder if we'll ever get recognized for what we did in the war."
"I gave up on that a long time ago, Hayato. I tell you one thing, though. You're coming out of this better than I am."
Hayato looked at Kai dubiously. "Oh yeah?"
"Yeah. I didn't come out of this with a girlfriend. You did, even if she is hovering around Amuro right now. Maybe you and this walking carpet should go chase her down. No one is going to do it for you."
Hayato nodded. "You're right. Besides, what's the worst that can happen? Maybe I'll find Frau and Sayla in the middle of a catfight over Amuro."
"Now you're talking! Call me up if that's what's going on, 'cause I wanna watch."
Hayato stood and the dog stood with him. "Frau will kick Sayla's ass."
"Dream on!"
When Hayato had left the room, Kai's lustful grin faded immediately. He dropped onto the couch and stared at his shoes for a while. Then he picked up the remote and turned on the TV, looking for something to distract himself.
In the infirmary, Amuro Ray was lying in his bed, looking glazedly up at the television suspended from the ceiling. Frau sat on one side of him, holding his hand. Sayla Mass sat on the other, reading a book and periodically checking the bandages wrapping his upper arm. He'd lost a good amount of blood from the wound Char Aznable had inflicted on him, and he'd needed to have it stitched up. They were all in that "nothing to say" state when Oscar from White Base came running up to them.
"Turn on JBC Snoozeworld."
"Snoozeworld" was their slang term for "Newsworld", the Jion Broadcast Corporation's 24-hour news station. Sayla picked up the remote and turned it on.
Kai had had the same idea. After a few minutes, he picked up the phone by his side. "C'mon, Bright," he said to himself, "Get off of Mirai and pick it---Bright! Hi!"
"I wasn't on Mirai," Bright growled at him. He was in bed with Mirai, certainly, and she'd been feeding him potato chips as they watched TV, but Kai didn't need to know that.
"Turn on Snoozeworld."
JBC newsreader Peter Jansen was intoning the recent events on Jion in what Kai liked to refer to as "the voice of Doom". The middle-aged man was balding but still handsome, his presence full of paternal authority.
"Jion will officially have a new ruler. Prime Minister Darcia read the Intention to Ascend the Throne on behalf of Kishiria Zabi this afternoon. General Zabi is of course the only surviving one of the late King Degin's children."
There was a shot of the National Assembly, in its baronial hall with Gothic vaulting and dark wood. With Kishiria sitting on a throne behind him, Darcia was reading from a parchment, "It is thus the intention of Kishiria Elizabeth Zabi to succeed to the throne of her father Degin, lest the people of Jion find themselves without a monarch. The King is dead, long live the Queen!"
"In related news, further developments were in store as Brigadier General Char Aznable, hero of the battle of Ruum and Jion's most recognizable soldier, revealed himself to be in fact none other than Casval Rem Deykun, son of Jion Deykun."
There was footage of Char Aznable, in uniform but without his mask, speaking to a scrum of reporters, many of whom were holding out microphones to him.
"Yes, I am Casval Deykun, this was confirmed today in the lab of the University of Jion. We used cells from the corpse of my father, who was exhumed today just for this purpose."
Frau glanced over at Sayla, who had curled into a fetal position on her chair. Her eyes were closed and one hand was clamped over her mouth. "Sayla, you don't need to panic. They probably won't show the body..."
"It's not that," Sayla breathed. "You don't understand."
"General Aznable! Is it true a second autopsy was going to confirm or deny the rumours that the Zabi family murdered your father?"
"The second autopsy was done, and it confirmed that there is no truth to those rumours. We've put that to rest."
"Is there any connection between your revelation and Princess Kishiria's taking the throne?"
"I have no comment on that at this time."
They switched to another story. Frau stood and walked over to Sayla, who was bleached from shock.
"Sayla? What's wrong? Why did that story affect you like this? Sayla?"
Sayla looked up at her with tear-filled eyes. "There's something I'd better tell all of you."
They assembled in Bright's room. Frau pushed Amuro in a wheelchair. To Hayato's evident happiness, she sat down on the floor beside him as Amuro remained in the chair. Sayla sat in the desk chair and Bright and Mirai seated themselves on the bed.
Sayla recounted the story of her birth on Jion, her life on Earth, her returning to space. "And there you have it. I am really a Jion. Not just any Jion, but the sister of the Red Comet himself. That's why I never was open with all of you as I would have liked. I hope that you all won't throw me out of your lives now."
"Sayla." Frau stood and hugged the other woman. "It's okay. You've proved yourself over and over. You're one of our family, and family don't just go throwing each other out."
"Frau's right," Mirai added. "Artesia Deykun is part of Sayla Mass, and we love Sayla Mass."
"Give me half a chance and I'll prove it!" exclaimed Kai. There was an awkward pause, then much-welcome laughter from around the room.
"One thing's troubling, though," Bright said, rubbing one of Mirai's hands between his fingers. "It was clear from that news report that Char's little revelation has something to do with Kishiria Zabi becoming monarch. They gave it as 'related news'. What do you think they mean by that, do you suppose?"
"That's easy," Kai said. "You've got a Zabi and a Deykun making all friendly. 'Oh no, Degin Zabi didn't kill my father.' You gotta think, exactly how nice have those two made with each other? I dunno if you've all noticed this, but Kishiria Zabi's gaining weight. I think she's got a bun in the oven."
There was silence around the room for the moment.
"Good thing we all escaped with just the clothes on our backs," said Kai. "We don't have to worry about packing again."
"There will be war, won't there?" Hayato asked gloomily.
"God no. No," Amuro moaned. "Not all this again."
*****
Char was not comfortable being inside St. Michael's Cathedral and didn't know why Kishiria would be in there herself. However, when he'd phoned the queen's office, Margaret had said that was where Kishiria was.
It wasn't difficult finding her. All he had to do was look for the royal guards. They were in the crypt under the church, facing outward from an open iron gate. They saluted him through the gate and he found himself in a stone room around ten meters by five meters. The nature of the room was immediately obvious; it was the Zabi family tomb. He passed the grave of Saslo Zabi first, a rectangular base on which rested a life-size marble image of the second Zabi son. Kishiria was sitting beside the one grave he did not want to see.
"I thought there weren't any remains," Char said, coming to stand beside her.
"Since you had to face your father's grave today, or at least the thought of it, I felt I should inflict the same thing on myself. To answer your question, yes, there were remains. It just took a while to find them." She reached out to touch the stone hair of her younger brother. "We of course had to send an investigative team to try to recover the Gau's black box. They also looked for any bodies, or parts of bodies. About a week after Giren's charming memorial service, they found some. They only recovered Garma's skull, pelvis, and most of his right arm, but it was better than nothing. I was on Earth at the time and flew out to bring them back to Jion. Since they needed a DNA sample from me to confirm it was him, I asked to see the remains. It was just blackened bones and some tendons still on the arm. We buried them here privately. We couldn't inflict another big public ceremony on poor Dad." She fell silent and Char saw that she was suppressing tears. "The sculptor did a good job though, didn't he?"
Char stood back to study the marble figure. While the image of Saslo lay flat on its back, limbs straight, eyes aimed at the ceiling, hands folded in prayer, Garma's was much more expressive. It lay loosely on its back as if fallen, eyes closed, head tipped to the right. One arm hung slightly off the platform, the hand turned palm up. One knee was bent upward. The expression on the face seemed tranquil at first until Char examined it more closely. That's when he noticed the subtle furrowing of the brow, the tension around the mouth forming a delicate grimace. This image of Garma showed the young prince as having died stoically in pain.
Or betrayal, he thought to himself grimly.
"It's beautiful," he told Kishiria finally.
"Dad chose a really good artist."
"Kish." Char reached for her hand. "We've got the evidence we need. No one can argue that I'm Casval Deykun. Let's only look to the future."
"You're right." She stood and put her hand on his arm. Char led his fiancee from the crypt, noticing that her step was heavier than usual. The reality was beginning to sink in for her, he realized.
Char knew that he as Casval Rem Deykun would only be beside throne, not on it. For the first time, though, he wondered if this might not be a good thing.