::Yay! Two more reviews! This means another chapter! I have to ask if you want the last chapter REALLY long or if two slightly shorter ones are okay, though. Whaddya want?? Okay, without further delay, ficcy!::
There was a formal dinner served to celebrate the recovery of Hitomi's mother. Her family was more carefree and relaxed that night than the whole time they'd been on Gaea. Her parents insisted on not imposing on Van's hospitality any longer than necessary, and after a week they had acquired (through Van) a rather large inn on the road to Austuria. Millerna, Dryden, Alan, and Selena left a couple of weeks after the wedding because of their duties back home. Hitomi tried stalling her parent's departure, but eventually gave in to the inevitable.
"I'm going to miss you," she said to her mother on the day of their, tears in her eyes.
"Oh, don't cry, at least we'll be in the same country," her mother said. Yoii had decided he'd stay behind and continue the lessons he'd started getting from Van in swordsmanship, become a knight. The children bid their parents farewell and watched the plain coach leave the castle gates and go down the road and around a bend. Hitomi gazed at the road for a while after the coach was out of sight before turning around and going back to dealing with queen business.
Van's advisors were relieved their king had finally married, but they wanted an heir. The assassination attempt had scared them out of their wits, and they hoped that a wife would force Van to spend less time abroad, in the least make him take an armed escort. No such luck. While the attack had scared Hitomi and made them both cautious, being able to mingle with normal people as confidently as he did was something Van's people admired in him. Most of the time they completely forgot he was a Draconian.
One of Hitomi's hobbies, now that she understood the workings of castle and country, was gathering information on Atlantis. It wasn't an obsession, just an avid interest in the pendants' role in current events. Yoii left with the small group of soldiers Fanalia sent to Gous, saying he'd enjoy an opportunity to get away from the soft life.
This left Hitomi with only Lisa and Merle to talk to when Van was away on business, which was often. She and Merle had come to accept each other, but they couldn't help but tease each other once in a while It was a hard habit to break. Lisa enjoyed her new life on Gaea as Hitomi's lady-in-waiting. She confided in Hitomi that she'd lived with a woodsman and his wife for the three years she'd spent on Gaea as a child. When Hitomi spoke of it to Merle, the cat-woman had jumped up and said with enthusiasm, "I know who that is! They live just a half-day's walk to the west! We can go visit!"
When Hitomi told Lisa, her friend had grown pale. "What if they think I returned to Earth because I didn't like them? What if they don't want to see me?" Hitomi decided a trip to meet her friend's former foster parents was just what was needed, and made the necessary arrangements.
They left a few days later, Merle carrying a picnic basket, and Lisa biting her nails and tripping on the hem of her new dress. Hitomi had insisted on them all wearing plain dresses and going without an escort. The most worrisome of Van's advisors, Velt Reed, had almost fainted when she'd mentioned the excursion. Certain his fears were unfounded, she'd simply 'insisted' and eventually got her way.
It was just before noon when they arrived at a quaint little cottage in the woods. Nearby an elderly man stacked wood. In a small garden to the side of the cottage there was an old woman collecting greens and vegetables. Merle raised her voice and waved her hands above her head, "Hi! I'm back! And look who I brought with me!"
The old man turned with a smile on his face and said, "Well my, my, it looks like Merle brought some friends." The old woman came out of the garden, shutting the gate behind her, and came over at and easy walk. Merle, being impatient, rushed over and dragged Lisa with her. The old woman lost her smile and studied Lisa. Seeing her reaction, the old man came over.
"Meg, Dece, meet Lisa. She's from the Mystic Moon," Merle said with her usual energy. Hitomi had followed at a more sedate pace and waited to be introduced. Merle ignored her, and instead continued on about Lisa. "She says she lived with you guys for a while when she was a kid. She finished growing up back on the Mystic Moon, but came here for the Lord Van's wedding and decided to stay."
The old woman, Meg, stared at Lisa and then her eyes watered and she trapped the young woman in an enthusiastic hug. Dece hung back and just watched, teary-eyed until his wife was done checking Lisa over for any damage she might have sustained in the years she'd been gone, then he ruffled Lisa's hair as if she were a child and said, "It's good to see ye haven' forgotten us."
Lisa gave them both another hug and then turned and held a hand out to Hitomi, who'd stood by and watched silently, grinning at her friend's obvious happiness. "This is my best friend, Hitomi. We went to school together on the Mystic Moon and it's thanks to her that I got to come back."
Dece and Meg gasped. "Ye mean…This is…" Meg stammered, and she immediately curtsied. "Forgive me, Your Majesty, I didn' recognize ye."
Dece bowed low and asked for forgiveness as well. Hitomi smiled and said, "Nothing to forgive. We don't have many kings and queens on the Mystic Moon, so I don't expect anyone to treat me any differently than they would anybody else." She poked Merle and the girl handed over the basket.
"Here," Merle said, offering the basket's contents to the woodcutter and his wife. "We brought some food for a picnic and would be delighted if you would join us." The kitten-like gaze she gave the couple almost made Hitomi choke. If she were anyone else, that would count as blackmail…
Meg grinned and said, "Why, we couldn' refuse." The group chose a spot by a stream where Lisa had learned to swim, and talked about memories and old times. Merle was content to sit and listen to Dece and Meg talk about Lisa as a child. Some of the stories made Lisa blush, but on the whole, it seemed she'd been the daughter the old couple had never had.
At long last, they returned to the castle. "Lisa," Hitomi had asked, "are you sure you don't want to stay with them? I mean, they are sort of your family."
Lisa had shaken her head. "No, I'll love them for as long as I live, but in truth I'd rather make my own life. Besides, you can't be that eager to get rid of me."
Hitomi had let the matter rest, and returned to the room she now shared with Van to change into cleaner clothes. As she did so, she realized something. Her period was late. In fact, in all that had happened so far during her marriage, she'd completely missed missing two months. Feeling brief excitement over this, she quickly finished changing and went to the castle midwife before planning dinner.
Van returned from his trip to the border five days later. He'd gone to see the troops off, almost sad that he couldn't join them. "I just wish there was a way we could know for sure if they can even handle the power. If only I could've gone with them," he said wistfully.
Hitomi leaned against him on the balcony and said sleepily, "I'm glad you didn't go. Yoii going is bad enough, but I need you here." Van gazed down at his now sleeping wife and held her close. How could he have been so luckless in the first week of his reign, then so fortunate in just the past year? Hitomi had returned to him, she had her family here now, too. Her brother was a natural strategist, better than Alan even, and was leading the Fanalian troops in a campaign against a power that would soon be safely contained. Add to that that, Hitomi had married him, become his queen. The love they felt for each other was almost too great for their fragile bodies to contain.
The moonlight reflected off the pendant hanging around her neck. He'd worn it six years, then returned it to her, and now there were four more. One had gone to Yoii, one to her friend Lisa, but who had the other two?
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She tossed and turned on her bed, it was too hot, too dry. With a sigh she threw back the sheets and walked across the floor to the wash basin. One day they'd have been lucky to have enough water for the horses, the next they were taking regular baths in pools of water that never dried up. She tipped the basin over her head and sighed at the feeling of the water against her skin. A quick glance out the window told her it was late morning and she should be up.
For some reason, her father—the chief—had decided their clan would stay at this water hole. It was too big to be a water hole, more like an Olympic-sized swimming pool. Day after day it never dried up, no matter how much they used. Soon people from all around the world started to arrive to set up shops or farms. Good soil had appeared out of thin air one night, providing plenty of good land as long as it was watered properly. Then the soldiers had started to show up, and they built walls and battlements out of stone around her clan's camp. Now she lived in a large house, with wood furniture, and slept on a bed instead of her old rugs.
Why had this happened? Her father was never surprised about any of it. The people all seemed so afraid of him, because just as surely as people appeared, they disappeared. Because her father had never needed to be told about the new house or farmstead which appeared overnight, Lika had never seen it necessary to tell him about the beautiful necklace that had appeared around her neck. It was gold, with a bright blue stone that reminded her of endless expanses of water. She knew she'd seen the ocean before, but her father said she hadn't. 'You were born in the desert, my child, but I will not have you dry up and die here,' he'd told her when she was still little. As she grew up, she'd half forgotten about it.
She knew something was different about her from her other sisters and brothers. They all had dark hair, dark brown eyes, and dark skin. Her hair was bleached white as clouds, her eyes were light blue, and her skin was always paler than theirs. They loved to tease her for it, especially since it made her their father's favorite. But lately, not even that could protect her from the pranks of her siblings. Without the endless hours of work they used to have, they could spend more time torturing her.
Father had also been changing lately. He was turning fat, and he was always sleeping when he wasn't eating or talking. As the eldest daughter of the clan's headman, she was supposed to marry, but at nineteen she wasn't ready. She'd tried to tell him she'd never be ready, wherever she went people stared at the pale girl in native clothes. No man would willingly marry the outcast of the headman's family. Her father had plenty of other daughters from his five marriages. As he told it, her mother had died giving birth to her, so she had no one to go to besides him, and she couldn't tell him about her sibling's antics. If she did, things were bound to get worse.
Then the siege had begun. Troops from the King had arrived on their fields demanding the energist her father kept in his deepest of vaults. She could hear him ranting about the power not working, just bouncing off something the soldiers carried with them. Only yesterday, two days after the siege had begun, her father was found dead in his bed. It was assumed he'd died of a heart attack, and Lika had no reason to doubt it. She only worried now about what her eldest brother, Timo, was going to do.
She dressed, and after a brief hesitation, pinned some of her jewelry to the inside of her skirts. Lika walked down the hall to the breakfast room and stopped short. Only her brother Timo, now headman, and a stranger were seated at the table. She was used to being the first to the morning meal, but allowed herself a mental shrug and sat in her usual spot.
Timo looked up as she sat down and smiled. Lika didn't like that smile. "Sister, I have been talking with Captain Yoii here about the surrender terms." Lika looked at the stranger and was surprised to see him staring at her neck. What was wrong with him? Was he one of those northerners who drank blood? No, they weren't supposed to come out in the sunlight…
"I am honored to meet you," Lika said. The captain nodded and said,
"As I am honored to meet you." This genuine greeting surprised Lika, and it surprised her brother a bit, that was obvious, but the captain didn't seem to pay their surprise any mind. He took a sip of juice and ignored the look Lika was giving him.
Timo cleared his throat and said, "Anyway, in addition to taking over command of the energist, I have asked them to take you to one of their cities so you can find a decent husband. They have not answered yet on the terms."
Captain Yoii sipped his coffee and said, "I can assure you, my sister would be thrilled to have Lady Lika stay with us and arrange a marriage. It shouldn't be a problem." This was obviously news to her brother.
The rest of the family arrived and they ate in silence. After the meal, Lika got up and followed her brother into the hall. "Why are you sending me away?" she asked him. Timo turned slowly and sneered.
"You're a blemish in this household, a flaw. Father never should have adopted you."
Lika couldn't believe what she'd just head. "What?"
Timo laughed. "We found you wandering around the desert. Father brought you into our tent one night and my mother revived you. My baby sister had just died you see, and you were little more than a baby yourself, so you were accepted as his daughter, but never as one of us. No desertman would ever want to marry you. As I see it, I'm doing you a favor. You now get to see that ocean you talked about so much."
Too stunned to move, Lika watched him go down the hall after the captain. Why? Why had father lied to her? Was he afraid she'd run away to find her real parents? Where would she have run to?
Wait, if she left the clan, she could get away from her siblings. No more jokes, no more pranks, no more stares. Yes! She'd go with the captain to his sister's home. What would she be like? Would she be nice? Was she rich?
Lika packed in a rush, but only one small bag. They hadn't lived in one place long enough for her gather many personal belongings. She waited at the door for the captain. He came down the steps with a strong box. Presumably it held the energist her brother had seemed so happy to be rid of. Timo saw her at the door and grinned and waved goodbye. She raised a hand in farewell and followed the captain and his escort to the gates of the town.
The captain's camp was where the party seemed to be. Men of all shapes and colors were milling around. The captain set the box down in his tent and turned to see her standing patiently by the tent flap. "My men have cleared out one of the smaller tents for you to use for tonight. Sir Alan's ship is going to be stopping by tomorrow to take us and the men from Austuria home. I would appreciate your joining me for dinner tonight so I could explain what will happen when we get back."
Warmed by his kindness, Lika curtsied quickly and dashed out to find the smallest of the green tents. To her surprise, a bedroll and small table with a lamp had been left for her. She left her bag on the table and walked around the camp. The soldiers were all polite and friendly, not a one asking her what she was doing in the middle of their camp. A group in the same colors as Captain Yoii invited her to share their lunch and she silently listened to their stories of prowess in other battles or in training.
At dusk, she sought the captain's tent once again. He wasn't there, so she sat at the table and waited. It was almost dark before he returned with a small pot of stew and some drinks. "Sorry," he said, with a slight accent she couldn't identify. "Here, I hope you like stew, it's the best food we've had in weeks." He dug in with enthusiasm and she ate hers a little more slowly.
When they were finished he sat back and sighed. "Ah, just like mother used to make, but better." Seeing her surprise he said, "Everything tastes better here. My whole family noticed when we arrived, I think my parents put on some pounds, but my sister just runs them off."
Lika looked at her bowl. She was feeling a little uncomfortable around this relaxed captain from the north. She asked, "Why did you agree to take me back with you?"
Captain Yoii scratched his head, "Well, let's see. First, I noticed your necklace." Lika's hand flew up to her neck where the pendant was. To her amazement, the captain took out an almost identical pendant from underneath his shirt. "It's one of a set my sister had collected. They got scattered around when she put them all on. I got one, her best friend got one, and now, so do you. The only thing I could think of doing was either take you if you were the unfortunate Lika, or risk my sister's wrath and kidnap you."
Lika gasped. "Kidnap me? Over a necklace?" She undid the clasp and held it out. "If it's just the necklace you want, here. I have no use for it." He shook his head.
"It doesn't work that way. If you have that pendant, it's because it was meant for you. If Hitomi couldn't keep them all, I'm certainly not going to try." He sipped his drink. "Now, once we get to Fanalia—"
"Fanalia!" Lika said. "Where a Draconian is the king, and the queen is from the Mystic Moon? That Fanalia?"
Yoii looked a little irritated. "Yes, the Queen of Fanalia is my sister. You see, so far everyone who has one of these pendants is from the Mystic Moon." He looked at her meaningfully.
Lika laughed. "You mean to tell me you think I'm from the Mystic Moon?"
Now he looked surprised. "Well, aren't you? Oh, it doesn't matter, Hitomi will probably have some way of knowing when we get back." Silently he made a note to ask Hitomi about this whole 'Draconian' thing. What's the big deal? Van's normal enough.
They discussed Lika's past a little while and she realized that she very well could be from the Mystic Moon. The circumstances around her adoption and her appearance certainly wasn't normal for the desert region. Maybe…
It took two weeks to cross the Gous desert and hills on the Crusade. In Austuria, Lika was shown entire cities built of stone and wood. Yoii took her to visit Millerna and Dryden, the latter spent countless hours studying the blue pendant in his study. The last princess of Austuria spent quite some time talking to Lika about court life in Fanalia. Lika was fascinated by it. She still found it hard to believe that she was going to live with the King and Queen of Fanalia. To think, that she was actually from the Mystic Moon. How exciting life had become!
The group of Fanalian soldiers left Austuria's capital in high spirits and with visions of home on the horizon. It took half a week to cross the mountains into Fanalia because of weather, and when they entered the castle, Lika thought she'd go blind. People were streaming out of the gates and doors into the courtyard to greet the men who'd come home. Brightly colored clothes and banners were all around, a shock to her senses, if not as much as the abundance of trees. Then the whole scene seemed to pause when a young woman appeared at the top of the steps. She had relatively short, light brown hair, green eyes, and looked about Lika's height. Her gown was a light blue, and even though it was simple, it was very well made. Across her forehead one could see a thin gold circlet, and around her neck was a gold pendent.
She ran forward, holding up her skirt only to let go once she'd reached Captain Yoii so she could wrap her arms around his neck. He returned the embrace and whispered something in her ear, which made her back up and look him over again.
The other soldiers had dismounted and were kneeling. A tall man now stood at the steps coming down. He had a shock of black hair and warm, brown eyes. In all, the way he carried himself made it clear who he was. One of the soldiers kneeling nearby said, "Don't you know to curtsy when you're in the company of royalty?" Lika quickly did her best and felt her legs tremble as she tried to maintain the position. Finally the king nodded to them all and they stood. She sighed with relief. King Van spoke in a low voice to a couple men, then the young woman in blue came over and gave him a peck on the cheek before whispering in his ear. Queen Hitomi?
Then the Captain spoke to the couple and the King of Fanalia went to one of the carts they'd brought back with them. Suddenly, Yoii and the queen were standing in front of her and he said, "This is Lika, she's been living with the desert people since she was an infant. She agrees that she may have come from Earth, and look." Yoii pointed to Lika's pendant and she started to wish she were invisible.
The young woman gasped and stared at Lika's throat. "She does have one of the pendants! Please, tell me how you got it?" she asked.
Lika swallowed and dipped her head a bit as she said, "I woke up one morning and it was in my hand, Your Majesty." Hitomi waved a hand and said,
"Don't bother with the 'Your Majesty' stuff, not if we're to spend the next few weeks together. Now, follow me and I'll show you to a room." Lika reached up and grabbed her bag off her horse. Queen Hitomi led the way inside, with Lika right behind her.
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He could have given me more notice, Hitomi thought glumly. She and Yoii had figured out that they could use the pendants to communicate over distances, and he had told her about the girl and the blue pendant only two nights earlier. Hitomi had rushed around for two days to prepare for the soldier's arrival. No one questioned how their queen knew when the men would arrive, or why she would need a seamstress to be available. Lika's desert skirts wouldn't hold up to Fanalian weather.
She turned down halls and across large rooms until they reached the hall of bedrooms close to the royal chambers. Then she counted the doors until she reached the one cleaned up for Lika's use. "Here, you can get settled for now. The privy is over there, and I'll be back shortly to help. Welcome to Fanalia!" Hitomi closed the door and rushed back down the hall. Yoii came around the corner with Van and she almost bumped into them.
Yoii looked down at her. He had grown. "Is she in a room? I think she's going to need new clothes, that desert stuff won't do much good out here," he said.
Hitomi nodded. "Yes, I already arranged for a seamstress to come and she should arrive soon. Right now, I have to check up on the feast, see you soon." She gave him and Van a peck on the cheek before scurrying off towards the kitchen.
Van and Yoii watched Hitomi go. Yoii stared after her, then looked at Van. "What was that for?" he asked. Van looked at his brother-in-law in surprise.
"Didn't she tell you? She's pregnant." Yoii blinked. Then he shook his head and said,
"Mom's not going to like hearing that. She told Hitomi not to even think about kids until she was in her mid twenties because, in my Mom's opinion, early marriages never work out. However, I think she'll make an exception. I've seen her look at you, and I must say, I'm jealous that she could ever love anyone as much as you."
"Jealous? She loves you, too." They started towards Yoii's room when Merle came rushing around the corner at the far end of the hall.
"Yoii! You're back!" she cried. Yoii's face lit up and he swung Merle around in circles when she jumped into his arms. "How are you? Are you Okay? Did you do any fighting?" Van left the two to catch up and went to his study. Merle and Yoii, who'd have guessed?
He went to the map room to check up on something. He pulled out a map of the world and pulled out a handful of markers. First he marked Fanalia with two dots, then one in the dragon's forest, then one in the Gous desert. Hmm, where could the last pendant be? Who has it? Questions, questions, so many questions. The wish-powered energist sat in a lock box on the desk in his study. He swore at the foolishness of leaving it there, and opened the vault behind his bookcase.
Before putting it away, he opened the box and looked at it. The energist glowed an eerie red. His heart pounding, he slammed the lid down and locked it. He shoved it as far back as it would go and closed the vault. Then he leaned against the wall and sighed. Now what? How was he to destroy it? He doubted it could be destroyed as easily as a normal energist, and hadn't found anything in his studies that suggested a means by which to cancel its power or get rid of it. The idea had just never occurred to the Draconians, so it hadn't been written about. But there had to be something he could do. He was expecting a baby to be born in several months, and didn't want it to live in the same world as that thing.
He didn't want Hitomi in any danger, either. Part of all of their theories on destroying it based itself on Hitomi and the other pendant bearers using the pendants to purify something. Whether it was an abused Gaea, or the energist itself, they all involved Hitomi. He wondered if that much power was safe for an unborn child, if it was safe for any living thing. There was nothing he could do right now, they just had to find the last one, the yellow one, but where?
The blue pendant had been found in the desert, the white had appeared to Lisa in Fanalia, the pink to Hitomi on the Mystic Moon, the green to Yoii in the forest. There was no pattern! Oh, wait! There was! Van immediately pulled a book out of a stack on the desk and started scanning the pages. There was a connection; they were all from the Mystic Moon! So the other pendant had to be in the hands of someone who was also a native of that planet. This book had mentioned something about a day when people from the Mystic Moon would travel to Gaea to renew powers lying dormant.
He hadn't paid much attention to it, because when he'd read it Hitomi had just told him she was pregnant. Cursing himself for letting his wits falter because of personal matters, he found the chapter. It was only a page or two long, but it spelled everything out. The bearers of blue light would come from the Mystic Moon to renew the blood and power of Gaea! He read on. They would come at varying stages of life to become acquainted with the planet and its power. In two groups of two and one at adulthood. Well, Yoii was obviously in adulthood. Lisa and Lika had come as toddlers, but Lisa had returned later on. Hitomi had come alone the first time, and her grandmother before her. That didn't make sense! No—wait—forget Hitomi's grandmother, she didn't have time to really get to know Gaea. So someone else must have arrived on Gaea when Hitomi did, and near her age, but who?
Van finished the chapter and shut the book. There'd been no clues as to the prophesied peoples' locations when they would be needed, but plenty on how they were "the renewers of the Blood of Gaea's power" and so forth. Van didn't get it. How do you renew the blood of a planet? And what's Gaea's power? Just give me answers!
He left the study for dinner an hour or so later. The grand hall had two more tables set up to accommodate all the necessary guests, and some were already milling about, finding seats. Guessing he wasn't supposed to appear yet, he turned around and went to find Hitomi.
She was leaving their latest guest's room and paying the seamstress, thanking her and her assistants profusely. Seeing Van, Hitomi snatched his hand with a smile and said, "Come and see her!" Not being able to refuse, he followed her into the room.
Lika had on a beautiful dress, which suited her tan skin much better than the robes and layers she'd worn before. It was a simple cut and an interesting shade of light green. The edges had been done in gold thread, much like most of Hitomi's everyday dresses. There were a few more frills on the hem, though, and the neckline was much more complex, at least four descending layers pulling back to reveal the blue pendent. A nice touch, it changed a simple dress into a simple gown suitable for a feast.
Hitomi beamed at Lika and said, "Turn around!" The young woman did so and he saw that the back also had the numerous layers, but the last was trimmed with fine lace. "All of that done in less than an hour! I really didn't pay that poor woman enough!"
Lika smiled and rolled her eyes. "Oh, I think the court treasurer will say you spent quite enough on me. I can't thank you enough! I've never had to get fitted for gowns like this before, let alone five of them!"
Van put a hand on Hitomi's shoulder and said to his guest, "Please excuse us, we have to finish getting ready for the feast. I'll send someone to take you there and get you seated." He pulled Hitomi toward the door and down the hall to their room. Once there, he changed out of his casual clothes and put on a long-sleeved shirt, fresh pants, and a stiff tunic with a dragon embroidered on the back. He turned to see Hitomi pull on some kidskin slippers colored to match her gown. It was a dark green, like his tunic, with dragonheads embroidered on the hem and neckline. Unlike her usual clothes, it had petticoats underneath and was topped off with a pair of diamond earrings.
Arm in arm, they left the room. First Van checked Lika's room to make sure she had been shown the way to the feast, and then he and Hitomi went themselves. The dining hall was full of laughter and voices. There was a brief lull in the conversation when he and Hitomi arrived, but that was to be expected. Everyone bowed, moved to their seats, and sat at Van's signal.
Lika sat next to Merle on Van's left. He and Hitomi sat at the head of the table together. To Hitomi's right sat Lisa and Yoii. They learned very quickly to pronounce Lisa and Lika's names clearly or else to be confronted by both. They were very forgiving, but not when Yoii mixed up the names on purpose. The meal was your typical grab and eat feast. Manners at this kind of thing were to use your knife only to cut something away from the serving dish, use a spoon only for the soup, and don't hold anything with more than three fingers.
Grease got all over everyone and everything. Maids winced at the sight, knowing they would have to launder the tablecloths and clothes when it was over. The relaxed atmosphere made the occasion all that more enjoyable. Van and Hitomi learned about Lika's life in the desert as the 'pale one' while Lika learned about the two monarchs and the significance of her pendant. She found it absolutely fascinating that the comforts and good fortune her family had come into had been stolen from other lands. Is that where the people had come from? Why didn't they say so? So the spring at that village had dried up?
The meal was over by eleven, and everyone staggered off to bed, stuffed as full as pillows. Van and Hitomi walked Lika, Lisa, Merle, and Yoii back to their rooms, and then stumbled into their own. Hitomi sat on the bed and moaned, "I'm not going to eat for a week! This baby'll be too fat to be born!" Somehow, she and Van got dressed for bed and under the sheets before falling asleep.