Lysation Love: Epilogue
Sea gulls cried overhead. A soft rocking motion soothed her and made it difficult to wake up. The brilliant sun made her squint as she at last opened her eyes. Her body felt heavy; lifting her head was too much work, so instead she contented herself with looking at what she could see without moving.
"How do you feel, my Lady?" Came a soft voice. Blinking, Semele saw a woman draped in white lean over her, a cool hand touched her cheek.
"I-I'm tired," Her voice was dry and strange sounding. The boat they were in rocked and Semele noticed there were three other white-clad women who appeared to be directing the boat.
"We feared you were dead my Lady. However, it seems that the Gods are not done with you yet." Memories of what had happened rushed into her mind, and Semele struggled to sit up.
"What was that explosion? Where is the Empress?" The woman's serene expression did not alter as she calmly answered her questions.
"Lord Philammon is dead. It was his order that the Palace be destroyed, however the army revolted and the Lysation people defeated the Geithans." Struggling to take all this in, Semele nodded and asked her to continue. "I'm afraid that the Empress was killed, as were most who had been in the Palace." Semele's heart sank as the woman bowed her head in respect.
"Mother...Seamus!" In a rush she asked the woman about the foreigners. Had they been in the Palace?
"Your maid spoke to me. She wanted me to tell you that she had seen the blonde boy, the one you had dinner with?" She asked questioningly, Semele nodded eagerly and the woman continued, "He was covered in blood, though his Captain was alive. We believe they escaped before the explosion. It does not seem likely that he lived though, my Lady. One of the few who survived was a Geithan guard. He said that Philammon had injured him severely. In any case, it is too late." The woman's words sank into Semele's mind and she sputtered,
"Too late? What do you mean by that?"
"It has been nearly two weeks since the Palace's destruction, my Lady. We had little hope that you would survive, so great were your injuries."
"No...no, it can't be," Semele lay back down and closed her eyes. Two weeks? Seamus had been gone for two weeks? She didn't want to think about him being dead. She pushed the thought into the back of her mind, determined to think about it later. At last she sat up, rubbed her eyes, and continued her interrogation of the woman in front of her.
"Who are you? Where are you taking me?" The woman gave a slight bow.
"I am the Priestess Tilandelle of the Sisterhood of the Gods. We are taking you to a convent on Verum Isthmus. It was your brother's, His Imperial Majesty's, wishes."
"You mean Corin, he's already been crowned Emperor?" This sudden rush of information was making her head spin, and Tilandelle must have realized it, for she gently pushed her back onto the blankets in the boat.
"Rest now, my Lady, we can talk more once we reach the Temple." So Semele closed her eyes again and drifted off to sleep. But she could not rest; her dreams were filled with images of Seamus.
Over the next few weeks, once the initial shock of all that had happened began to dull, Semele learned of what had happened after she'd been knocked unconscious by the explosion. Once the people of the capital realized what the Geithans had done, they'd been enraged and took the city back from them. The soldiers themselves seemed sickened by what their Lord had done, as the Palace had housed many innocent lives. So, quietly the Geithans had left, leaving the Lysations to mourn. Corin, Semele's eldest brother, had arrived in a matter of days. He'd taken charge of the cleanup and rebuilding. Shortly after his arrival Semele was found, buried beneath the rubble, but miraculously alive. Uncertain of the population's feelings towards his youngest sister, Corin asked the Priestess' to escort her to the Temple.
And no word had been heard of from the foreigners. From Seamus. Semele's first impulse had been to return to the Hunting lodge, just in case he had returned there to wait for her. But surely he would have heard of all that had happened, were he still on Lysat? Although the peaceful atmosphere of the Temple soothed Semele, the quiet made it far too easy for her thoughts to stray towards Seamus.
Her Torque had been brought along with her, for which she was immensely grateful, and every night Semele would take out the necklace from a special case she'd had made, and run her hands along it. Did Seamus, if he was still alive, keep the one she'd given him? Did he know she was still alive, or did he think she was dead? The questions haunted Semele. It seemed she could only feel two things: anger or grief. If Seamus were dead, then she grieved for him, if he was alive, she could not help but feel resentful. Why didn't he look for her? Surely if he truly desired to return, his Captain could not stop him? Had he abandoned her, deciding she wasn't worth risking his life? After she had been ready to give up her home, family, and everything else important to her, to be able to stay with him?
Since neither of these arguments helped Semele, she instead concentrated on thinking as little as possible. Most of her days were spent in prayers. Indeed, she spent so much time either in meditation or in prayer that Tilandelle had cautiously asked if she wished to take the vows and make herself a Priestess. At first, Semele had seriously considered doing so, but had finally decided against it. She wasn't sure what to do with herself, or with the rest of her life, but she was sure she would not always want to live in the Temple.
On the other hand, neither could she return to the capital. Her other brother and sisters had offered places at their courts for her, but Semele refused. Corin had denied her request to live with him, saying he still wasn't sure how she would be received. It was, technically, her fault that the Geithans had attacked in the first place. Not that her family blamed her of course, Corin was merely thinking of her safety.
So Semele spent a year at the Temple, caught between feelings of frustration, sadness, and anger. It wasn't until an injured man was brought in for healing that Semele began to feel a reason for living. The man was old and not remarkably different from any of the others admitted into the Temple for healing. Except this man was a spacer. When she heard this, Semele requested permission to assist in his care. Her request granted, she spent most of her time giving the man company. He explained that he was headed for Tarazed, the capital of the Commonwealth, to visit his son, who was at the Military Academy there. Lysat wasn't really on the way to Tarazed, but he had somehow ended up there after some bad slipstream jumps. For some reason this sparked Semele's interest, and she spent many hours talking with the man, who told her all he knew about Tarazed and the Academy.
Within a month he was better and had left on his way. The Temple settled back into its normal pattern, but Semele was disquieted. She became restless and found herself going to the nearby village more and more, rather than spending hours in prayer. Seamus was no longer foremost in her thoughts, though when she did think of him it still made her heart ache. Whenever young men talked or showed interest in her, she tended to snap at them. Tirandelle, after observing Semele's quick dismissal of a young acolyte, stepped forward.
"He was only trying to be friendly you know," She said, as though commenting on the weather. Semele shook her head angrily, staring out a window that overlooked the ocean.
"When will they learn that I have no interest in them?" She replied tersely.
"You cannot close off love forever, my Lady," Tirandelle murmured softly. Semele's only response was a snort of disdain. As Tirandelle bowed and walked away, she couldn't help feeling that she had already closed off her heart. Lost in her thoughts for a moment, Semele remembered something she'd been meaning to ask the High Priestess. Turning, she called after the retreating figure,
"Wait! Lady Tirandelle, may I ask you something?" The woman turned and gave another slight bow.
"How may I help you, Lady Semele?"
"The Empress—my Mother, her ship, it was my inheritance. Do I still have claim over it or does it belong to the Emperor?" She asked the question breathlessly, and Tirandelle looked her over for a long time before answering.
"As far as I know, it is still considered yours."
"Thank you. If you will excuse me, I must go and write to my brother," Semele gave a dazzling smile and hurried away to her quarters, excitement running through her.
To her relief, Corin's reply letter arrived swiftly. Eagerly Semele took it from the courier, opened it, and began to read.
'To my dear sister, Her Highness Princess Semele
From her loving brother, Emperor Corin IV
Greetings Semele,
Although glad to hear you are doing well, I confess to being confused about your intentions. Of course our Mother's ship is still yours; the Empress' Will was most specific and I wouldn't dream of taking anything that belongs to you. The ship is at your disposal, however I must question your plans. What makes you think you would be welcome on Terazed? Lysat is independent of the Commonwealth, and the people would surely think this was a step to becoming part of it. This matter is too important to discuss in a mere letter, however. I am sending an escort to bring you back to the Capital, if you so wish, so that we may talk more.
Semele re-read the letter, and for the first time in a year, a smile broke over her face. Running to go tell High Priestess Tilandelle, she was overjoyed at the thought of returning to the capital. And she was sure that Corin would give in to her wishes.
"How's he doing?" Captain Dylan Hunt asked his ship's avatar, better known as Rommie.
"Well, he's been talking more. He's also started eating again, which is usually a good sign. Beka even reported that he made a joke yesterday,"
"In other words, he's about back to normal." Dylan felt immense relief, and allowed himself to grin as he watched the engineer through the screen. Harper was in Machine Shop Five, fiddling with various tools and occasionally whistling.
"I don't know about 'normal', but he does seem to be getting better in any case." Rommie's words were true; in the four months since they'd left Lysat, Harper had rarely spoken and had been listless. He'd avoided the others and spent most of his time working. Lately he had started to socialize again, though his manner was still much more subdued than any of them were used to.
"It will take time; he'll probably never be quite the same, but he'll stop being so depressed," Dylan said wisely. Rommie glanced at him and raised an eyebrow.
"You seem to talk from experience," She commented.
"I do. I imagine Harper feels about the same way I did when I realized I'd lost Sara," Indeed, the first person Harper had been willing to have a full conversation with had been Dylan. It had not been a lighthearted chat; Harper had asked him questions about Sara. Knowing that he was probably the only one on board who had some idea of what Harper was going through, Dylan had not hesitated to talk.
"Keep an eye on him. Just in case," He ordered before leaving the room. Still, it was a relief to know that things were slowly going back to normal onboard the Andromeda.
Semele's heart fluttered with nervousness. She gazed up at the gleaming ship with pride; it was truly hers. And it was her new home. In a month's time she would be leaving Lysat; the first Royal to ever, in fact, to go beyond the small sector of space in which Geitha and Lysat were located.
The next month would be spent in training; she had to understand everything about the ship, how to fly it, how to use slipstream. For although Lysations had little use for space travel, they had nevertheless remained in touch with such technology. Semele's teachers, men and women who had done the unthinkable and willingly left Lysat in order to go and study foreign subjects, were delighted to at last have a student.
It had been harder than Semele had expected, convincing Corin to go along with her plan. She insisted that she wanted to go completely anonymous, but Corin was reluctant to let his sister, a Princess and sixth in line for the Throne, to travel alone. And if her identity was kept a secret, she would be subject to all the dangers faced by ordinary people, rather than enjoying the relative protection a foreign Dignitary was offered in the Commonwealth.
But Semele had persisted. She would pass herself off as a subject of the Commonwealth. Anyone on Lysat who ever bothered to wonder where the Princess Semele had gone to could easily be fed some likely story. Finally Corin had run out of arguments. Although Semele claimed to have every intention of eventually returning to Lysat, they both knew it was a lie. So he gave her his blessing, she visited each of her siblings to say goodbye, and prepared to leave her home forever.
Once on Terazed, she would enter the Academy. Only a life completely severed from the one she had hoped to share with Seamus would be able to give her a purpose. And perhaps...a small, treacherous voice in her heart whispered, perhaps on Terazed she would hear word of the Andromeda and its crew...
She shook her head, determined not to think of Seamus, not now. If she had to, she would even change her name, once on Terazed, although she hoped she wouldn't have to.
"Your Highness, are you ready?" Glancing over her shoulder Semele saw one of her teachers ambling towards her. Grinning to herself, and answering someone other than her teacher, she called out,
"Yes; I'm ready."
Birds singing. The smell of salt in the air, the sound of waves crashing. Tree filtered sunlight...a dark haired girls laughter...
Seamus bolted upright, breathing heavily. He hadn't dreamed of Lysat, or of Semele, in a long time. Rubbing his eyes, he leaned over his bed and fumbled for something in the dark. His hand grasped the slippery metal and he brought it close to his face so he could examine it. Somewhere, in the vast universe, on the planet Lysat it was daytime; mid afternoon, if the bright, sparkling gold on the torque was any indication. Sighing, he ran his hand over it again. Recently he'd wished again that Rev Bem was there; he wanted to talk to him about Semele. Rev had always had something to say that could calm his mind.
Harper hesitated, then quickly brought the torque to his lips and kissed it, before putting it away again. Judging from the peace and quiet they had experienced on board for the past few weeks, something big was bound to happen soon, and he'd need his rest. Trying hard not to think of a gleaming white Palace, of a cozy wooden house in the middle of a bright forest, of sparkling violet eyes, Harper lay back down and tried to sleep.
End of Epilogue
Finally, tis all done. And in case anyone's wondering, I got the idea of Semele's going to Terazed from the episode where Dylan went to the alternate future. (The one where Harper and Rhade are evil). In the episode, it said that Harper had met his wife (If I remember correctly) at the Military Academy...::Wink Wink:: Hint
Anywho, hope this was a satisfactory ending. Ta ta.
-Luna Sealeaf
Sea gulls cried overhead. A soft rocking motion soothed her and made it difficult to wake up. The brilliant sun made her squint as she at last opened her eyes. Her body felt heavy; lifting her head was too much work, so instead she contented herself with looking at what she could see without moving.
"How do you feel, my Lady?" Came a soft voice. Blinking, Semele saw a woman draped in white lean over her, a cool hand touched her cheek.
"I-I'm tired," Her voice was dry and strange sounding. The boat they were in rocked and Semele noticed there were three other white-clad women who appeared to be directing the boat.
"We feared you were dead my Lady. However, it seems that the Gods are not done with you yet." Memories of what had happened rushed into her mind, and Semele struggled to sit up.
"What was that explosion? Where is the Empress?" The woman's serene expression did not alter as she calmly answered her questions.
"Lord Philammon is dead. It was his order that the Palace be destroyed, however the army revolted and the Lysation people defeated the Geithans." Struggling to take all this in, Semele nodded and asked her to continue. "I'm afraid that the Empress was killed, as were most who had been in the Palace." Semele's heart sank as the woman bowed her head in respect.
"Mother...Seamus!" In a rush she asked the woman about the foreigners. Had they been in the Palace?
"Your maid spoke to me. She wanted me to tell you that she had seen the blonde boy, the one you had dinner with?" She asked questioningly, Semele nodded eagerly and the woman continued, "He was covered in blood, though his Captain was alive. We believe they escaped before the explosion. It does not seem likely that he lived though, my Lady. One of the few who survived was a Geithan guard. He said that Philammon had injured him severely. In any case, it is too late." The woman's words sank into Semele's mind and she sputtered,
"Too late? What do you mean by that?"
"It has been nearly two weeks since the Palace's destruction, my Lady. We had little hope that you would survive, so great were your injuries."
"No...no, it can't be," Semele lay back down and closed her eyes. Two weeks? Seamus had been gone for two weeks? She didn't want to think about him being dead. She pushed the thought into the back of her mind, determined to think about it later. At last she sat up, rubbed her eyes, and continued her interrogation of the woman in front of her.
"Who are you? Where are you taking me?" The woman gave a slight bow.
"I am the Priestess Tilandelle of the Sisterhood of the Gods. We are taking you to a convent on Verum Isthmus. It was your brother's, His Imperial Majesty's, wishes."
"You mean Corin, he's already been crowned Emperor?" This sudden rush of information was making her head spin, and Tilandelle must have realized it, for she gently pushed her back onto the blankets in the boat.
"Rest now, my Lady, we can talk more once we reach the Temple." So Semele closed her eyes again and drifted off to sleep. But she could not rest; her dreams were filled with images of Seamus.
Over the next few weeks, once the initial shock of all that had happened began to dull, Semele learned of what had happened after she'd been knocked unconscious by the explosion. Once the people of the capital realized what the Geithans had done, they'd been enraged and took the city back from them. The soldiers themselves seemed sickened by what their Lord had done, as the Palace had housed many innocent lives. So, quietly the Geithans had left, leaving the Lysations to mourn. Corin, Semele's eldest brother, had arrived in a matter of days. He'd taken charge of the cleanup and rebuilding. Shortly after his arrival Semele was found, buried beneath the rubble, but miraculously alive. Uncertain of the population's feelings towards his youngest sister, Corin asked the Priestess' to escort her to the Temple.
And no word had been heard of from the foreigners. From Seamus. Semele's first impulse had been to return to the Hunting lodge, just in case he had returned there to wait for her. But surely he would have heard of all that had happened, were he still on Lysat? Although the peaceful atmosphere of the Temple soothed Semele, the quiet made it far too easy for her thoughts to stray towards Seamus.
Her Torque had been brought along with her, for which she was immensely grateful, and every night Semele would take out the necklace from a special case she'd had made, and run her hands along it. Did Seamus, if he was still alive, keep the one she'd given him? Did he know she was still alive, or did he think she was dead? The questions haunted Semele. It seemed she could only feel two things: anger or grief. If Seamus were dead, then she grieved for him, if he was alive, she could not help but feel resentful. Why didn't he look for her? Surely if he truly desired to return, his Captain could not stop him? Had he abandoned her, deciding she wasn't worth risking his life? After she had been ready to give up her home, family, and everything else important to her, to be able to stay with him?
Since neither of these arguments helped Semele, she instead concentrated on thinking as little as possible. Most of her days were spent in prayers. Indeed, she spent so much time either in meditation or in prayer that Tilandelle had cautiously asked if she wished to take the vows and make herself a Priestess. At first, Semele had seriously considered doing so, but had finally decided against it. She wasn't sure what to do with herself, or with the rest of her life, but she was sure she would not always want to live in the Temple.
On the other hand, neither could she return to the capital. Her other brother and sisters had offered places at their courts for her, but Semele refused. Corin had denied her request to live with him, saying he still wasn't sure how she would be received. It was, technically, her fault that the Geithans had attacked in the first place. Not that her family blamed her of course, Corin was merely thinking of her safety.
So Semele spent a year at the Temple, caught between feelings of frustration, sadness, and anger. It wasn't until an injured man was brought in for healing that Semele began to feel a reason for living. The man was old and not remarkably different from any of the others admitted into the Temple for healing. Except this man was a spacer. When she heard this, Semele requested permission to assist in his care. Her request granted, she spent most of her time giving the man company. He explained that he was headed for Tarazed, the capital of the Commonwealth, to visit his son, who was at the Military Academy there. Lysat wasn't really on the way to Tarazed, but he had somehow ended up there after some bad slipstream jumps. For some reason this sparked Semele's interest, and she spent many hours talking with the man, who told her all he knew about Tarazed and the Academy.
Within a month he was better and had left on his way. The Temple settled back into its normal pattern, but Semele was disquieted. She became restless and found herself going to the nearby village more and more, rather than spending hours in prayer. Seamus was no longer foremost in her thoughts, though when she did think of him it still made her heart ache. Whenever young men talked or showed interest in her, she tended to snap at them. Tirandelle, after observing Semele's quick dismissal of a young acolyte, stepped forward.
"He was only trying to be friendly you know," She said, as though commenting on the weather. Semele shook her head angrily, staring out a window that overlooked the ocean.
"When will they learn that I have no interest in them?" She replied tersely.
"You cannot close off love forever, my Lady," Tirandelle murmured softly. Semele's only response was a snort of disdain. As Tirandelle bowed and walked away, she couldn't help feeling that she had already closed off her heart. Lost in her thoughts for a moment, Semele remembered something she'd been meaning to ask the High Priestess. Turning, she called after the retreating figure,
"Wait! Lady Tirandelle, may I ask you something?" The woman turned and gave another slight bow.
"How may I help you, Lady Semele?"
"The Empress—my Mother, her ship, it was my inheritance. Do I still have claim over it or does it belong to the Emperor?" She asked the question breathlessly, and Tirandelle looked her over for a long time before answering.
"As far as I know, it is still considered yours."
"Thank you. If you will excuse me, I must go and write to my brother," Semele gave a dazzling smile and hurried away to her quarters, excitement running through her.
To her relief, Corin's reply letter arrived swiftly. Eagerly Semele took it from the courier, opened it, and began to read.
'To my dear sister, Her Highness Princess Semele
From her loving brother, Emperor Corin IV
Greetings Semele,
Although glad to hear you are doing well, I confess to being confused about your intentions. Of course our Mother's ship is still yours; the Empress' Will was most specific and I wouldn't dream of taking anything that belongs to you. The ship is at your disposal, however I must question your plans. What makes you think you would be welcome on Terazed? Lysat is independent of the Commonwealth, and the people would surely think this was a step to becoming part of it. This matter is too important to discuss in a mere letter, however. I am sending an escort to bring you back to the Capital, if you so wish, so that we may talk more.
Semele re-read the letter, and for the first time in a year, a smile broke over her face. Running to go tell High Priestess Tilandelle, she was overjoyed at the thought of returning to the capital. And she was sure that Corin would give in to her wishes.
"How's he doing?" Captain Dylan Hunt asked his ship's avatar, better known as Rommie.
"Well, he's been talking more. He's also started eating again, which is usually a good sign. Beka even reported that he made a joke yesterday,"
"In other words, he's about back to normal." Dylan felt immense relief, and allowed himself to grin as he watched the engineer through the screen. Harper was in Machine Shop Five, fiddling with various tools and occasionally whistling.
"I don't know about 'normal', but he does seem to be getting better in any case." Rommie's words were true; in the four months since they'd left Lysat, Harper had rarely spoken and had been listless. He'd avoided the others and spent most of his time working. Lately he had started to socialize again, though his manner was still much more subdued than any of them were used to.
"It will take time; he'll probably never be quite the same, but he'll stop being so depressed," Dylan said wisely. Rommie glanced at him and raised an eyebrow.
"You seem to talk from experience," She commented.
"I do. I imagine Harper feels about the same way I did when I realized I'd lost Sara," Indeed, the first person Harper had been willing to have a full conversation with had been Dylan. It had not been a lighthearted chat; Harper had asked him questions about Sara. Knowing that he was probably the only one on board who had some idea of what Harper was going through, Dylan had not hesitated to talk.
"Keep an eye on him. Just in case," He ordered before leaving the room. Still, it was a relief to know that things were slowly going back to normal onboard the Andromeda.
Semele's heart fluttered with nervousness. She gazed up at the gleaming ship with pride; it was truly hers. And it was her new home. In a month's time she would be leaving Lysat; the first Royal to ever, in fact, to go beyond the small sector of space in which Geitha and Lysat were located.
The next month would be spent in training; she had to understand everything about the ship, how to fly it, how to use slipstream. For although Lysations had little use for space travel, they had nevertheless remained in touch with such technology. Semele's teachers, men and women who had done the unthinkable and willingly left Lysat in order to go and study foreign subjects, were delighted to at last have a student.
It had been harder than Semele had expected, convincing Corin to go along with her plan. She insisted that she wanted to go completely anonymous, but Corin was reluctant to let his sister, a Princess and sixth in line for the Throne, to travel alone. And if her identity was kept a secret, she would be subject to all the dangers faced by ordinary people, rather than enjoying the relative protection a foreign Dignitary was offered in the Commonwealth.
But Semele had persisted. She would pass herself off as a subject of the Commonwealth. Anyone on Lysat who ever bothered to wonder where the Princess Semele had gone to could easily be fed some likely story. Finally Corin had run out of arguments. Although Semele claimed to have every intention of eventually returning to Lysat, they both knew it was a lie. So he gave her his blessing, she visited each of her siblings to say goodbye, and prepared to leave her home forever.
Once on Terazed, she would enter the Academy. Only a life completely severed from the one she had hoped to share with Seamus would be able to give her a purpose. And perhaps...a small, treacherous voice in her heart whispered, perhaps on Terazed she would hear word of the Andromeda and its crew...
She shook her head, determined not to think of Seamus, not now. If she had to, she would even change her name, once on Terazed, although she hoped she wouldn't have to.
"Your Highness, are you ready?" Glancing over her shoulder Semele saw one of her teachers ambling towards her. Grinning to herself, and answering someone other than her teacher, she called out,
"Yes; I'm ready."
Birds singing. The smell of salt in the air, the sound of waves crashing. Tree filtered sunlight...a dark haired girls laughter...
Seamus bolted upright, breathing heavily. He hadn't dreamed of Lysat, or of Semele, in a long time. Rubbing his eyes, he leaned over his bed and fumbled for something in the dark. His hand grasped the slippery metal and he brought it close to his face so he could examine it. Somewhere, in the vast universe, on the planet Lysat it was daytime; mid afternoon, if the bright, sparkling gold on the torque was any indication. Sighing, he ran his hand over it again. Recently he'd wished again that Rev Bem was there; he wanted to talk to him about Semele. Rev had always had something to say that could calm his mind.
Harper hesitated, then quickly brought the torque to his lips and kissed it, before putting it away again. Judging from the peace and quiet they had experienced on board for the past few weeks, something big was bound to happen soon, and he'd need his rest. Trying hard not to think of a gleaming white Palace, of a cozy wooden house in the middle of a bright forest, of sparkling violet eyes, Harper lay back down and tried to sleep.
End of Epilogue
Finally, tis all done. And in case anyone's wondering, I got the idea of Semele's going to Terazed from the episode where Dylan went to the alternate future. (The one where Harper and Rhade are evil). In the episode, it said that Harper had met his wife (If I remember correctly) at the Military Academy...::Wink Wink:: Hint
Anywho, hope this was a satisfactory ending. Ta ta.
-Luna Sealeaf