Disclaimer: Escaflowne does not belong to me. Harumi, Nikki, Mia and Tatiana do.
Chapter Five
A couple mornings later Harumi awoke to loud talking outside her bedroom door. Instinctively, she reached out to hut off her alarm clock. Instead, she fell right out of the pale blue canopy bed she was given. It was much higher than her normal bed and the floor hurt a lot more than when she normally did it, which wasn't that rare, since she had somewhat of a clumsy streak. She picked herself up and peered out the window. The sun was just beginning to rise and the Mystic Moon was still visible.
"Just my luck," Harumi grumbled, "that they use people instead of roosters." She climbed back into bed and covered her head with a pillow. But the noise only seemed to grow louder. She heard a thump and then a giggle. The door swung open and Nikki bounded in.
"Wake up sleepyhead! Come on!" She pulled the covers off.
"Hey!" Harumi exclaimed. "What the- er, heck is going on here?" One of the drawbacks to living with a five-year old was having to watch your language. Harumi still had a little trouble with at. When she was in high school two years ago, she, like her cousins, was on the track team where the boys were well known for their filthy mouths. She supposed she just picked it up from them. Hitomi didn't believe it was fair to blame them, more likely the somewhat wild crowd she often hung out with nowadays. But she understood and let it slide. Still, she hoped she would someday find a nice boy that she'd fall in love with.
Nikki leaped onto the bed and jumped up and down. "Get up, get up, get up!"
Harumi covered her ears. "All right. No need to shout." Reluctantly she got out of bed again. Nikki wouldn't wait for her to get dressed. She simply dragged her down the hall.
Van, Hitomi, Allen, Merle and Mia were in the dining hall waiting.
"Good morning," Hitomi, Merle and Van said cheerfully. Allen just grunted in greeting. He appeared to be rather ticked off at something. She knew how that felt.
Mia surveyed her nightclothes, which she had borrowed from Merle. "That's how you dress formally on the Mystic Moon? In your night gown?" Harumi suddenly noticed that the others were all dressed up, at least compared to when she first met them. Well, all except Allen. Clearly he'd been to busy sulking, for whatever reason, to put much thought into what he was wearing.
"We do not!" Nikki retorted, more bravely than she normally would have around her. Mia hissed. "I- um, take that back." Hitomi and Merle glanced at them oddly, then looked at each other and shrugged. They knew they would get over it eventually. After all, they did.
"I didn't have time to get dressed," Harumi replied wearily. "It's the crack of dawn."
"Are you kidding?" Van asked. "The sun's been up for hours and so have the rest of us."
"No, it hasn't, you've just been bouncing off the walls all night," Allen said.
Harumi looked confused. "Why? Is it a custom in Fanelia to have a sugar rush before bed."
Allen shook his head. "No, Van's just excited. We received word that Chid was arriving this morning. Like yourself, I was dragged out of bed against my own free will."
Van scowled at him. "Could you be any more unpleasant? You've been complaining all morning."
"Yeah, you're such a liar," Merle added. "You know you want to see him, you just won't admit it."
"That's not true," he said, "I'm just anxious to see Celena, that's all."
"Yeah, right." He stuck his tongue out at her.
"For grown-ups," Nikki commented, "You sure act like a bunch of little kids."
"For one, I have to agree with you," said Mia.
It didn't really matter to Harumi how Allen felt. She was sorry for him, but she, for one, was anxious to meet this guy, after hearing so much about him.
Meanwhile, Hitomi was looking out the window. "He's here!" she announced.
Van peered out next to her. "That's not Chid. That's from Asturia."
"Wow, already?" Merle looked impressed. "That was fast."
"Let's go meet them!" Mia sped down the hall. The others followed at her heels.
There was a carriage standing in front of the castle. A footman went to open the door, only to be hit in the nose full-force. Millerna and a young girl jumped out. Princess Eries followed.
"Hitomi!" Millerna exclaimed. She hugged her.
"Millerna! It's so good to see you!" Hitomi laughed. "No offense, but I can't believe I actually said that."
"Me neither," Millerna said. "Congratulations!"
"Thanks. You too."
"Oh, thank you." She motioned for the girl to come forward.
"Tatiana, what are you doing here?" asked Allen.
"I got here right after you left. Father sent me home because he said I have a cold." She sneezed. "I don't know what he's talking about."
"You've been sneezing and coughing the whole way here." Eries frowned disapprovingly. "You should have stayed home."
"I'm f- f- f- ACHOO!"
Millerna handed her a handkerchief. "You wouldn't be sick if you took better care of yourself. Who knows what you eat. I can only imagine. Your father ought to keep a better eye on you."
"The mother and the doctor," Hitomi said under her breath. Van laughed.
Tatiana scowled. "I don't need anyone to baby-sit me. I'm old enough to take care of myself. Besides, Father's too busy." Mia looked at her sympathetically.
Hitomi studied the girl carefully. She looked like a miniature version of Millerna. But nothing about her came even close to resembling Dryden. Automatically, she glanced at Allen. He glared at her as if to say, "I don't think so."
"One is enough," he muttered. Merle, who'd been listening, frowned at him.
"Let's go play," Mia suggested. The girls ran inside. Nikki lagged back. She knew that didn't include her.
Merle called them back. "Don't you want to see Chid when he comes?"
"Ooh, he's coming?" Tatiana asked excitedly. She adored her cousin, but he was too busy to visit often, or so he said. Privately, his aunts believed that he just didn't want to run into Allen. They had seen each other only a couple of times since their fight and wouldn't even look at each other when they did. They didn't speak, but that was even worse. Despite the efforts of Van and the women, nothing worked. The quiet hostility when they were in the same was relevant even to the children, although Tatiana was the only one who knew the whole story. She had a way of finding out things that she wasn't supposed to know.
Van heard a horse's whinny in the distance. "I think that's him now." Sure enough, another carriage pulled right up to the castle.
Chid jumped out as quickly as his aunt and cousin did. Mia and Tatiana ran to him and squeezed him so hard he could barely breath.
"Wow, he sure grew up," Hitomi whispered. "He looks more like Allen than ever." And he did. He was much taller than Allen, a feature which Hitomi suspected he got from his mother. His hair was now about shoulder length and pulled back in a ponytail. He had long since grown out of that look of boyish innocence he had when he was a child. He was a man now, now doubt about it. Although, he appeared somewhat stern, he smiled warmly at his young friends. But his smile faded the moment he saw Allen. The two stood there, staring each other down. If someone hadn't noticed their resemblance before, they would now. Both wore identical sour expressions. Chid's fists were clenched. Hitomi almost expected him to punch Allen in the face. Van did too. He stood ready to break them up. Millerna seemed greatly upset, Eries opened her mouth to scold and the little girls nervously backed away. They didn't have to anything however.
Celena hopped out of the carriage and put her arm around her nephew, more to restrain him than to show affection. "Hello, everyone!" She said cheerfully. She glanced at Hitomi and grinned. Hitomi smiled at her, but she was puzzled. She wasn't sure why she was with him.
Van noticed and quickly explained. She returned to Freid with him after the fight. Now she was Chid's chief military advisor. The other advisors were a bit worried about this, but she proved herself. The soldiers were completely loyal to her. They knew she knew what she was doing. At the beginning, they weren't happy about listening to a woman and a few tried to hit on her. They soon learned that that was a mistake. If they hit on her, she'd hit right back and it wouldn't be pretty. Now they knew better. She was glad of it. She hated to have to do that. Even after fifteen years, she still felt guilty of her mistreatment of the Dragons Slayers and felt that their loyalty to her caused their death. Dilandau or not, she missed them.
Celena hugged her brother fiercely. It was a hard decision to leave him, but she felt it was something she needed to do, partly to make up for what she did to Freid as Dilandau, and also to try and get her family back together. Over and over she had tried to get them to reconcile, but neither would go for it. That was the reason she and Van had planned this trip. But it didn't seem to be working so far. After he finally let go of her, there was another awkward silence. Van broke it by telling Chid and Celena about the wedding. They were as excited as the others had been.
"I can't wait!" Tatiana exclaimed. "I've always wanted to see a wedding. I could, but some people are just too slow." She glared at Allen and Eries. They blushed.
Millerna raised her eyebrow. "Why would they be getting married?'
"Because I saw them kissing and…" Allen clapped his hand over her mouth.
"Tatiana," he hissed, "that was supposed to be our little secret, remember?"
"No," she replied sweetly, "I don't remember that at all."
"I knew you couldn't keep a secret," Eries said.
"So it's true?" asked Hitomi. "How come no one told me you were an item?"
"Because we didn't know," Van replied. "Allen, how could you not tell me?"
"Or me?" Millerna said to her sister. "I can't believe this."
Chid snorted. "I can. It's no surprise. He's probably going for a full set: first my mother, than Aunt Millerna, now you." He was annoyed at the somewhat instability of his father. He couldn't settle for just women, not that Allen didn't try. It just wasn't in his power to actually keep a relationship back then, but he and Eries had been together secretly for quite some time now.
"Chid…" Celena began.
He pushed her aside. "They say you're such an honorable knight. What's so honorable about the way you treat women? If only they knew the truth about you. You're a… a…"
"Pig?" Harumi supplied.
"No, much worse than that. You're a…"
"Wait a minute!" Merle shouted. "How many times must I say this? NOT IN FRONT OF THE KIDS!"
"I'll take them outside," Tatiana offered, guilty about the trouble she caused. They trailed after her reluctantly.
"Okay, now you can go ahead."
"A… a… um, I can't think of the word. But you are, don't deny it."
"Chid…" Celena tried again.
"I'm leaving. I can't take being in the same room with you, you disgust me so much."
Eries attempted this time. "Chid…" He stomped out of the room.
"Well," Celena said. "Ooh, déjà vu." She was referring to their last argument.
"What do you expect me to do?"
"Allen," Millerna began gently, "he is your son…"
"Not as far as he's concerned."
"But you have to," Hitomi said. "Remember what happened with your father?"
He shook his head. "I got over it in time, so will he."
"Yes, but you're alive, so he can forgive you in person," Van said.
"I'm not going after him," Allen said firmly.
While the others fought him some more, Harumi slipped out. She was going to do this herself. She felt that she had to. She knew what it was like not to have parents. But he still had a chance, she didn't. That door was closed the moment they died. No one deserved that. Too many got it already.
Harumi passed the girls on her way out. Seeing Nikki made her even more determined. She didn't want Chid to have the same fate as they did. "Have you seen Chid?" she asked them.
"He went that way." Tatiana pointed to the right. Harumi followed the path and found Chid amidst the graves of the dead Fanel family. He was sitting on his heels, staring into space. There were tears in his eyes.
Harumi studied him for a minute, unsure of what exactly she was going to say, before she finally announced her presence. "Um, Chid?"
He looked up. "What do you want?" he asked sharply.
"I just wanted to talk to you."
He sighed. "Yeah, I imagine a lot of people do."
She sat down next to him. "I'm not here to lecture you, if that's what you're thinking. That isn't like me. I'm usually the one to be lectured."
He laughed slightly. "Good." They sat in silence. This gave Harumi the chance to get a good look at him. He was every bit as handsome as his father was, but that wasn't why she felt so drawn to him. Perhaps it was because she understood what it felt like to be an orphan. But she was trying to change that. Maybe it was something else. Something about him, she thought. He's shy, but he's strong too. Ha, the strong silent type. Not what I usually look for in a guy. But that's not why I'm here. She figured he was probably about twenty, the same age as her, so at least they were somewhat on the same level. The best way to break the ice, she decided, was to talk about her own experience.
"Mind if I tell you a story?" she asked.
He shrugged. "Go right ahead."
"When I was five, my parents died in a car accident. I don't' remember very much about them. What I do remember, I don't like to talk about much. After that, I moved in with Hitomi's family. They were great, but…"
"But what?" he prompted her.
"It wasn't the same as having my real father and mother. There's a strong bond there, you know." He shrugged again. "There were so many things I missed out on that a lot of normal kids have. And now Nikki has to go through what I did."
"What's your point?" Chid asked.
"My point is, having a father, uh, parent rather, is something you can't let go of. If you have the chance, you have to grasp it, no matter what…"
"Mistakes they may have made," he finished for her. "Thanks for the story, but I don't think I'll take your advice."
"I didn't say you had to. It was just a suggestion. " She stood up. "I just have to say one last thing."
"What?"
"Every minute of every day, I regret not being able to spend a lot of time with my parents. Every single day. " She turned to leave.
"Yes, but…"
She spun around. "But what?"
"I'm scared to. I want to, but I'm just not sure if I can face him. And I never know if I can trust him or not."
"So? Take a chance. You don't have anything to lose. It's not whether you can or not, it's if you believe you can. It's hard, but you have to at least try."
Chid nodded. He thought back for a moment, remembering how Allen had said that it takes a lot of courage to believe in someone. That made sense, he understood it now. "I guess you're right. Thank you. Now two people in your family have helped me."
She smiled. "Don't mention it."
He got up. "I'd better go inside and talk to him. Can I ask one favor?"
"Sure, what is it?"
"Can you come with me?"
"Uh, well…" His eyes pleaded with her. She knew it was best for them to speak in private, but something about him had warmed the cold heart she had towards most others. She couldn't refuse. After all, she could always leave. "All right." She took his hand. "I'll be there for as long as you need me." They walked back into the castle together.
(5 R) To be continued