Adrina woke up with a start. She had just awakened from the dream she'd had two nights in a row before Folken left. She hadn't had that dream in ten years, why now, all of a sudden, was it coming back to haunt her? Her first thought was that something had happened to Van. She quickly dismissed this thought. She had never really had a sixth sense, but when Folken left, she had felt the dread throughout her entire body. Now, she felt nothing. She was almost certain Van was alright.
Then what could it be?! She decided she was going to stay up until she figured it out, or until she came up with an explanation suitable enough to please herself. She thought for a long time, but came up with nothing. She glanced out her bedroom window and saw that the sun was already rising. Defeated, she decided to get out of bed and get ready for the day ahead of her.
It was then that she was struck with an explanation. This explanation was outrageous and didn't make much sense, but it was something. Maybe Folken wasn't dead. Maybe he was still alive somewhere. Maybe Adrina was going to be reunited with him soon. After all, the her in her dream looked exactly like she looked now. And she was pretty sure Folken was the right age too. She couldn't be sure because she couldn't really see his face this time and couldn't remember what he looked like from her dream ten years ago. Her whole childhood after Folken left she had made up reasons as to why he hadn't returned. She was the only one of the three choldren who believed he could still be alive. She had abandoned these silly thoughts for the most part when she had gotten older, but then the dream again and the explanation out of nowhere...
After thinking all this, she realized how stupid those thoughts actually were. She pushed them far from her mind and got dressed.
After she had completed this, she went downstairs to get some breakfast. Ever since their parents had died a year ago, Merle and Adrina had been living in the castle with Van. She was surprised to find Merle was already downstairs.
"Good morning," Merle greeted.
"Morning," Adrina said, "Couldn't sleep?"
"No," Merle confessed. Adrina sat down next to Merle a the table. Two serving girls immediately brought her a plate of food. She didn't eat much and ended up pushing the rest around on her plate.
Suddenly, there was a commotion among the servents in the kitchen. Merle and Adrina got up to go see, but before they got there, a servant ran out and told them what all the fuss was about.
"Prince Van is back!" she shouted. Merle and Adrina looked at each other, then made a dash for the courtyard. When they got outside, they had to push though a huge crowd of people. They had already seen Van perched ontop of a wagon.
"Lord Van!" Merle yelled, still pushing through the crowd. Finally, they broke through and ran to Van. Merle literally jumped into his arms, while Adrina opted for a more calm hug.
"Merle! Adrina!" Van said and hugged them.
"We were so worried about you Lord Van!" Merle exclaimed and began to lick his face.
"Cut that out!" he laughed, "everyone's watching!"
Adrina was about to say something when Balgus and the three other generals of Fanelia approached. Adrina and Merle bowed quickly and backed away.
Van held up an energist and said he had completed the task of dragonslaying. Balgus and the three others said it was true and bowed. It was then that a movement ontop of the wagon caught Adrina's eye. She looked over and saw a strange looking girl of about her age sittong on top of the wagon.
Adrina nudged Merle with her elbow and pointed to the girl.
"Who's she?" Merle whispered fiercely, her tail bristling in the characteristic fashion of cat anger.
"I don't know," Adrina said, then added, "Don't get all bent out of shape. I'm sure there's an explanation."
"There better be," Merle hissed, "a good one. Or she'll end up a scratching post."
"Be good!" Adrina urged, knowing it was no use. At that moment, Balgus asked Van who the girl was. He said he had accidently brought her back from the Mystic Moon.
Merle and Adrina both gasped. The Mystic Moon?! Van had gone to the Mystic Moon? Adrina couldn't wait to hear the story, but it would have to wait until after the Coronation Ceremony.
Balgus helped the girl off the wagon and she introduced herself as Hitomi Kanzaki. Balgus told her she could stay in the castle until he could figure out how to send her home.
At that point, Van disappeared into the castle and Merle followed quickly. Adrina was about to do the same when Balgus called to her.
"Yes Balgus?" Adrina acknowledged and walked over to him.
"Could you show our guest to one of the vacant rooms in the castle?" he asked her, "I would do it myself but I need to prepare for the coronation ceremony."
"Of course," Adrina agreed. Balgus thanked her and left. After he was gone, Hitomi walked over to Adrina.
"Sorry to trouble you," Hitomi apologized.
"It's no trouble," Adrina assured, "I'm Adrina."
"I'm Hitomi."
"Come on," Adrina turned and started toward the castle, "I'll show you to your room."
"So," Hitomi asked as they walked down the hall, "Are you Van's sister?"
"No," Adrina informed, "I'm just a friend."
"You mean like a girlfriend?" Hitomi inquired.
"No," Adrina corrected, "I've known Van ever since her was born. Our parents were good friends." Adrina stopped in front of a door. "This will be your room."
"Thanks," Hitomi said.
"If you need anything, just find a servant and they'll help you," Adrina told her, "If you need me for anything, I'll be outside. Have a servant come and get me." She turned to go, then hesitated. "One more thing, if my sister Merle comes to visit you, ignore her."
Adrina walked back down the hallway and out the main entrance of the castle. She walked out of the courtyard and onto the dusty road that led to the gate. She hurried down the road and stopped when she got to the tree. She walked over and sat down beneath the tree, the large branches wielding off the sun's harsh rays. Adrina leaned back and closed her eyes.
The second she closed her eyes, the dream came back to her, floating around in her head like a lost spirit. She opened her eyes in an attempt to drive the dream away, but to no avail.
"Ooh... go away!" Adrina shouted out loud. Luckily there was no one around to hear her. Adrina reached up and begain to play with the feather on her necklace. Could Folken still be alive? No, he couldn't be. He would've come back, wouldn't he've? These thoughts troubled her. She didn't know how long she sat there mulling over these thoughts in her mind, but when she looked up the sun was already dipping low in the sky.
Adrina stood up and began walking back to the castle. She was met half way by Merle.
"Where have you been?" She asked angrily. Before Adrina could answer, Merle continued. "The Coronation Ceremony is about to start! If I miss it because I had to come and get you, I'm going to be very ANGRY!"
"We better get going then," Adrina agreed, ignoring Merle's mock anger. They headed toward the castle quickly.
When they arrived in the courtyard, they had to push through the crowd to get to the front. They made it just in time because as soon as they had made it to the front, Van entered the courtyard and the ceremony started.
Adrina glanced over and saw Merle watching the proceedings intently. Adrina, on the other hand, was considerably less interested. She thought it was great that Fanelia was going to have a king again, but she wasn't sure if Van could handle it. He was a very sweet and caring person and the pressure of ruling a country by himself might overwhelm him. She was afraid that taking over the country so young might take a toll on him and force him to become bitter. She didn't want that to happen to such a loving and caring person.
Adrina was drawn out of her thoughts by a tug on her arm. She looked down and saw Merle, shiny-eyed and smiling. Adrina turned her attention back to the coronation ceremony adn observed the last part of it. Van was now the King of Fanelia. Adrina sighed, then thought, "He'll be fine. He has me and Merle to help him."
Suddenly, there was a shout towards the back of the crowd. Adrina and Merle turned around and saw a man on a horse yelling something to the crowd. Adrina couldn't make out what he was saying, so she grabbed Merle's arm and started toward the back of the crowd.
"Get all of the women and children to the mountains!" Adrina heard the man shout as she got closer. She turned to the nearest person, an elderly woman from the village.
"What's going on?" Adrina questioned.
"Zaibach is attacking Fanelia!" the woman shrieked, fear in her eyes.
Adrina was shocked. Why would Zaibach attack Fanelia? The man began to shout again, saying he needed every able-bodied man to stay and fight. This got the crowd moving. They all began to hurry toward the main gate int he direction of the mountains, taking Adrina and Merle with them. Adrina quickly grabbed Merle's hand so they wouldn't be separated and followed the crowd.
"NO!" Merle shouted to Adrina and tried to pull away, "I want to stay and fight with Lord Van!"
"No Merle!" Adrina told her, "Lord Van can handle it!" Her words left no room for arguement. They continued forward with the crowd, heading towards the mountains. The mountains weren't very far away, and it didn't take them very long to reach safety.
The people of Fanelia gathered at the edge of a cliff that overlooked their beloved country. Adrina and Merle were in front.
"Look!" Merle shouted and pointed down into the valley, "It's Escaflowne!"
Adrina was shocked to see Escaflowne kneeling outside a gaping hole in the wall of the shrine. As Adrina watched, guymelefs began to appear around Escaflowne.
"Oh no!" Merle gasped after seeing the guymelefs as well. Suddenly, a bright light surrouned the Escaflowne and led up into the sky. The light then diappeared, taking Escaflowne with it.
"I-I don't believe it," Merle cried, "Lord Van!"
Adrina couldn't believe her eyes. Escaflowne had disappeared! Now all that was left was a ring of Zaiback guymelefs. As she looked on, one of the guymelefs turned toward the palace and lifted one of it's arms. A stream of fire spewed out of the arm, cathcing the palace on fire. The rest of the guymelefs began to light fire to things until the whole kingdom was set ablaze.
"Oh no," Adrina whispered.
"Nooo!" Merle screamed suddenly. Adrina turned and saw her little sister was in tears. Adrina hugged her in an attempt to comfort her. "Why?" Merle asked Adrina, "why would they do such a thing?"
"I don't know," Adrina told her, tears streaming down her own face now. In fact, Adrina wanted to know the answer to the same question. Why would Zaibach burn Fanelia to the ground? Fanelia had never done anything to cross Zaibach. Adrina hoped the answers would be revealed to her soon.
