Celena Leona Shezar opened her eyes. The pale daylight tiredly glowed through the window. She rolled over, blinking slightly and looked out of the large back window onto the gardens below. The rain was lightly pitter-pattering on the glass, reflecting the sky's dark mood. Running five delicate fingers through her ash-blonde hair, She yawned. The banquet last night had taken a lot out of her and rather than enjoying herself she had been miserable…until Gaddes had spoken to her. Celena closed her eyes happily for a moment, letting the thought of his thick moss green hair, dark amethyst eyes and chiselled jaw line run through her mind. He was a very handsome man. Not in the way that made women fall about her brother's feet, but in a much more real and gritty sense. He'd danced with her last night, whirling her around the room. It had taken a while for her face to cool down from its red flush after having felt his strong hand on her waist. Celena rolled onto her back and studied the sculptured plastering on the ceiling as she revelled in the memory of the feeling. He really was a nice man she decided.
Throwing back the covers, Celena sat up and stretched. A yawn escaped her lips as she realised it was a week day, and that meant Allen would be home and she'd have to attend her studies with him. Pulling a cord near her bed, the faint echo of a bell ringing sounded from downstairs in the servant's quarters. Allen had told her all about his household – which servants did which jobs, who she should ask for things and where she was and wasn't permitted to go. Right now she waited patiently on the edge of her bed for Drasil, her personal maid to come and help her bathe and dress.
It still took a lot of getting used to. Celena couldn't remember any of her life before she came face to face with Allen on that strange battlefield. Oddly enough she remembered nothing but his name. She knew he was her brother right away and she knew where she lived, her parent's names and many other details but not how she got onto the battlefield and even what she looked like. It was all a blur, however one feeling had been constant throughout. The feeling of being trapped seemed to levitate throughout all of her dreams and nightmares. She never told Allen any of this and didn't expect him to understand. Well how could he? He hadn't had amnesia for the last ten years of his life. What a waste.
There was a small knock on the door and the familiar face of Celena's maid popped around the frame. She was an older lady, very friendly and with warm hands too. "Good morning Miss Celena" The old woman chirped as she waddled inside. The woman had an air of sturdiness about her, Celena thought as she roughly threw open the curtains with a dutiful smile on her face. Celena watched silently as the servant went about her chores. People fascinated her. Not complex, troubled people like her brother and his friend Dryden, but people like Drasil and…Gaddes. Once again her thoughts were driven back to that nice man. She liked all the crew of the Crusade, but none as much as she liked him. He smiled at her genuinely, not in that strange uncomfortable way everyone else did. He was genuine. The old woman returned and led her behind her screen to be changed
Celena glided, rather than walked down the stairs. The wide Asturian dress had become a real nuisance. She had thought that given time she would eventually get used to all the ruffles and layers the way Milerna had. She liked Princess Milerna. She had only met her once but she was a really nice person who cared about ordinary people but who seemed awfully lonely. Maybe Allen could cheer her up. Coming to the head of another flight of stairs, Celena recognised the corridor she was on and a bright smile lilted her features. Glancing up and down the passageway quickly, Celena hoisted her dress around her knees. Then with a running stride, she took off down the corridor. Gauging her distance from her destination she suddenly turned on the breaks and skidded down the marble corridor. The thrill was marvellous! So this was the type of fun she'd missed out on for the longest time. Maybe she'd ask Gaddes to join her sometime. She had a feeling he might enjoy doing something like this.
Sliding to a halt, Celena dropped her hems and straightened her hair before, floating, once again towards a door on her left. Inside sat a large mahogany desk and bookcase filled to brimming with books. There, in the large leather bound chair sat her brother, tall and blonde as he was. He looked up and smiled at his younger sister.
"Ah, Good morning Celena. Did you have a good breakfast?"
Celena bit her tongue. Her brother was always preaching about how important it was to eat first thing in the morning, but Celena had discovered that she really wasn't much of a breakfast person. She nodded politely and proceeded to take a seat next to him. She noted that he was wearing his blue Knight's waistcoat and his white gloves.
"Brother, are you going somewhere today?" She asked politely, her voice soft and timid.
He smiled at her, all the while continuing to write down instructions with his quill. "Yes, Celena. I'm needed at the palace. I'm leaving instructions for your study today. Gaddes will be coming to help you"
Celena's stomach did a back flip and she did her best to stop her brother from noticing the reaction the mention of his name had caused. She nodded in understanding, dying to laugh and smile at the prospect of a full day in the company of Sergeant Leopold Gaddes. She'd only ever heard his name mentioned once, by a new member of the Crusade. A scrawny young boy only a year or two older than herself, with ginger hair and clear blue eyes. Gaddes had turned a strange sort of pink colour before giving the boy a quick rap about the head.
"Hey sonny, you can quit the Sergeant stuff, and call me anything you like except the "L" word, got that?" The boy looked thoroughly embarrassed from where Celena had been hiding. He saluted and scurried away from the peeved commander.
Allen's lips upon her forehead brought her back from her reminiscence. He smiled warmly and proudly at her. "Please try and get all of today's work done, I'll be checking with Gaddes you know." His sister smiled and nodded. Allen was such a fuss, but a very protective and loving one at that. He may have wanted to shut her away from all the evil in the world…but she didn't mind. The Shazar estate was all she ever remembered and all she really needed. However, there had always been a strange feeling of something missing in Celena's mind. Someone or something she didn't understand and wasn't sure if she wanted to remember. Shrugging her thin shoulders to herself. Celena watched Allen disappear from the room, and waited patiently until her new tutor arrived. Her stomach felt alive with butterflies in anticipation.
Finally the slightly less glamorous but no less welcome figure of the Crusade's captain arrived. He looked around the office awkwardly, before fixing a lively grin on the young lady of the house. "Hey-ho kiddo. How are you this morning Lady Shazar?"
Celena looked at him pie-eyed as she smiled. "I'm very well, thank you for asking Mr Gaddes."
Taking her brother's former seat, he smiled "Hey its just Gaddes remember?" She blushed a little. Taking off his heavy brown gloves, Gaddes made a small sniff as he looked over Allen's handwriting. Young Celena couldn't force her eyes away from him. His manners were so different from her oh-too polite brother. It was refreshing and fascinating. A small flick of green hair fell away from the surrounding wave and rested over his creased brow and weathered features. He surely wasn't as model-like as her brother. With broad thin lips, creased by the sides and a heavy dark brow, he was in some ways more attractive. His eyes travelled quickly over the paper. "Okay, Miss Celena, your brother wants you to finish reading "Of Hills and Pastures" by lunchtime and then we've to move on to you're mathematics." He made a small face. "What does a lady need to know about Mathemantics?"
Celena giggled; "You mean Mathematics Mr…I mean, Gaddes" He looked at her puzzled for an instant before a large grin crept over his features.
"Well I'm glad you're here keeping me right, eh Celena?" She loved it when he just used her name. She felt like a real person with him then, not just his boss's kid-sister. She was a real normal woman enjoying a handsome man's company on an equal basis. Or as equal as etiquette would allow. Pulling out two copies of "Of Hills and Pastures", Celena handed one to her substitute tutor. He graciously accepted the copy, but subsequently looked a little baffled.
"So, how does it go, do I read to you, or do you read to me? I was only ever meant to fly levy-ships I'm afraid." He apologised in that comely way of his. Celena smiled
"Well usually, I read a paragraph and then Allen will explain some of the more difficult words and sentences to me, until I understand their meaning and subtext." Gaddes looked utterly abandoned. It had been a long time since he'd read anything other than the local newsprint or the odd bedtime story to his sister's children.
"Uhh okay, so you read and I explain?" Celena nodded brightly. Gaddes smiled uncertainly. Opening their books in silence Celena found the passage. She leant over to Gaddes and helped him flip the pages and find the correct reference. He smelt of clean soap, nothing like cologne her brother wore; and fresh air from his horse ride up to the estate. It was exciting being so close to him. Her hand briefly brushed his as they both reached for the top corner of the page. Gaddes hardly reacted but for an apologetic smile of a sort, whereas Celena ducked behind her book, fearing to look at him. She steamed ahead in her reading.
"The nature, my friend, of nature is to diversify, to become as we shall see, adaptable and interchangeable. Life follows no straight passage as comfortable as the concept might be. Fate is not to be determined by any man, lest he forget his origins in this cruel hard world, which we call Gaia. Life is to the rich-rich and to those of the meagre poor, meagrely poor." Celena finished her small section and looked to Gaddes. He frowned cruelly at the parchment.
"That's a load of bull. I don't count on being "meagrely poor" for the rest of my life. I plan to be stinking rich, just like Lord Dryden." Celena giggled again. She did that a lot in Gaddes' presence. He shot her a look that meant, "I'm deadly serious – I'm going to be rolling in it". The young girl's eyes strayed to the window as her tutor began to re-read the passage struggling to understand it, never mind explain it.
After a few moments of fruitless brain wracking, Gaddes gave up. "Hey, Miss Celena, how about we go outside for a little while. It's stopped raining and the sun is out. My brain needs a rest" Celena smiled at the idea. A lovely walk in the sun with Gaddes: what a beautiful idea.
The large dogman's legs felt better once he reached the breast of this hill. An old man at the last field had told him he wasn't far away from the Shazar estate and he had been right. The large colonial style house, sat nestled behind a flurry of beautiful almond trees, blowing in the cold Purple winds. The rain had stopped not long ago and a beautiful rainbow reached across the grey sky to a break where the sun shone lovingly upon the beautiful house. A large hedge lined the whole giant estate and kept other buildings hidden from sight. Shifting the small duffle bag on his shoulder, Jajuka walked on. A slight twinge of uncertainty tugged at his heart. It had all seemed so straightforward back at the shelter. He would simply meet Allen, find out if Celena had totally recovered and his life would be in her brother's hands from then on. It was easy, but now there were so many other, almost trivial details as the house came into view. What if Celena wasn't in? He didn't think he would be permitted as a guest. Maybe he could sneak in and wait. But then he might make it harder for himself to be taken seriously without fear or anger. How would he explain himself? The moment he explained that he had been a Zaibach soldier and had had a hand in Celena's horrific transformation, he would feel the cold edge of Allen's steel for sure. How could he phrase his words to just get the knight to listen to him? So many questions and so many problems. However, he resolved to cross that bridge when he came to it.
Celena walked with a small blue parasol in one hand as Gaddes vainly tried to walk like a gentleman, his hands behind his back. She smiled at his gentle chatter, not very talkative herself; she enjoyed simply hearing his voice. The gardens were exceedingly beautiful and were starting to bloom again after the winter's cruel frosts. Gaddes commented on a small part of the garden.
"Oh, Allen gave me that part for myself, Dorcas and myself take care of that. I plant roses there." She said quietly, imagining the beautiful array of colours the summer would bring to the small patch. Gaddes smirked.
"My father had a small flower patch for my mother, just under my window." He stared off fondly, revelling in a child's memory. "He was a farmer you see, he had a few fields, a few cows and stuff, and planted wheat in the other field. But he always found room for my mother." He smiled thinking upon the small round people his parents had been when they were alive.
Celena looked up at him. "Where do you live now then Gaddes?" He looked down at her inquisitive face.
"My sister lives there, I just live at the barracks, I get the Boss's room since it was rebuilt" The idea seemed to be a boast almost as Gaddes straightened up.
"So…" Celena wasn't sure if it was impertinent of her to ask, but she had to know. "You're not married then?" Gaddes ran a gloved hand through his handsome mossy hair.
"Well not right now, but there's a young maid that Allen asked me to consider courting. He can't employ her here anymore, but she's a lovely lass, so I said I'd see about seeing her alright. I've known her since I was boy. We used to be sweethearts" He seemed to ramble on, as much to himself as to Celena, who simply stared dumbfounded at the handle of her parasol.
He was going to get married? The thought was like an ice pick piercing a great gaping hole in her heart. It seemed to deflate inside her. He was getting married? She felt so embarrassed and naïve to think that Gaddes could even look at her as more than simply just his Boss's little sis. She wanted to cry.
"Miss Celena, are you alright?" He was staring at her intently. Moments earlier she might have mistaken his look of concern as genuine interest in her feelings, caused by a deep emotion. But now she understood he only cared about her because she was his "Boss's" sister and if he wanted to keep his job, it was a good idea to keep her happy. No, maybe that was being too hard on him. He just didn't realise that she…well…she liked him. That much she knew. She nodded gently, giving him her best smile to put his mind at ease, even if hers was not.
"Good" He smiled in that irresistible way of his "We'd better be getting in, looks like it's going to rain again. He took her softly by the arm and they walked towards the servant's door. However before they could reach it, there was loud female scream. Gaddes drew a small dagger from his belt, as Allen did not allow swords in the house or in front of Celena. He raced around the side of the white building, with curious Celena tagging along behind. A maid was trembling, bosom heaving against a white washed wall; a basket of smashed eggs at her feet. In front of her, looking rather razzed, was a large scabby looking beast man. Celena's breath caught in her throat as she took in the sight before her. That was no ordinary beast man.
His face was scarred and very nearly bald down one side, the tissue beneath raw and very thin. His shoulders carried a lot of extra loose skin beneath his fur, and he didn't have the upright strength he's seemed to have in her brief youth. She marvelled at how anyone could be scared of that gentle face, no matter how deformed it had become. There was no mistaking those patient blue eyes. It was Jajuka. Her Jajuka.