アニャの秘密
Log 20: Anya's Secret
The next thirty minutes were a blur. At one instant Keith, Kathryn and Derrik were in the Denbridgan palace's entryway; in the next they were hustled to the grand staircase, up to a clockwork lift that transported them to a room in the higher reaches of the palace.
The room they entered was a hall surrounded by windows and five stories of terrace levels above. A crystal dome capped the roof, bringing light to the marble floor and stone columns. Across from the clockwork lift was a double-throne, a woman with platinum hair swallowed by it. By her feet was a giant cat with purble-striped blue fur.
The lift whirred again; Tamara was behind the party, the sword that marked her rank in her hands.
"Come forward." The command came from the throne.
The group walked forward towards the throne, the Herald a pace behind. They stopped a few steps from the throne, warned by a feral glance from the giant cat.
"Your Eminence," Tamara began, "I, the Herald Tamara, bring to your presence the Sultana Kathryn of Sálíphirá--"
"No need to, Tamara. She's family." The woman arose, arrayed her blue gown, and looked down at the party. "Kathryn ... your mother told me about you. Nice to meet you at last."
"Thank you, Grandmother Anya." Kathryn tilted her head at the men behind her. "These are General Derrik and ... my guardian, Keith."
Anya bowed her head in acknowledgement at each of the men. "Pleased to meet you, Derrik and ... Keith...."
The angel at the rear of the group captured her in his green-blue eyes. He gazed at her, fingering his jewel-adorned staff, seeming to search into her heart....
Just like my father, Anya thought, her brow furrowing. But he's dead....
Or was he? The last she had heard of him was before her coronation. One day he was in the royal palace, and the next ... she did not want to recall.
The queen felt something softly probing her thoughts, another sensation she had not felt since her coronation. There was a voice in her head now, not her own.
"Who was your father?" It was a male voice, serene and kind. It could only be the angel - her father had whispered that way in her childhood.
"Humans cannot speak this way, mind to mind, memory to memory," the angel continued, a touch of confusement in his thoughts. "Why can you?"
Anya closed her eyes - it was the only way she remembered to shut the foreign memories away. I have to talk to him now, she thought as she looked upon the group again. "Tamara, find quarters for the Sultana and her general. And bring me the Annals. I must speak with ... the angel."
{Ashita wa Motto and ending animation plays....}
After the next episode, I was planning on posting the special issue I advertised earlier. I have decided that it will have the current start and end themes, the new end theme (to be put in place later in the story), and some background information that has been heavily requested. Until then, though, wait patiently for me to get the next episode up!