Disclaimer: Escaflowne isn't mine, so tell your lawyers to go home and leave me alone.
Descendants of Escaflowne
Chapter Ten
"And five, six, five six seven eight." Harumi walked sideways three steps before she realized no one was following her. "Oh, come on people, where's your energy?"
The rest of the bridal party was sprawled on the floor, exhausted. They looked most undignified amid the otherwise fancy and sophisticated setting. The castle's ballroom was decorated from top to bottom with garlands and candles. On three walls, the forth being for the musicians, long tables were covered with Fanelian delicacies, including, but not limited to, loin of dragon. Despite Van's insistence that it was not real dragon, but roasted lizard, the girls from the Mystic Moon (even Nikki, who was famous for eating anything as long as it was dead) decided to skip that. But there were plenty of more appetizing things to choose from for the main course, plus a plethora of sugar-filled desserts. At each table, the nobles sat according to their rank, with the king, queen, and bridal party located at the north wall, next to a big window that overlooked the city. There, the lesser classes were having their own festivities to celebrate the new queen. Van (a very radical king, by their standards, especially since he'd declared, at his wife's insistence, that women could own property) wasn't too crazy about this division (and being stuck with the grouchy upper class instead of the friendly 'peasants' as they called them), but his advisors had insist- well, okay, begged him to go along with it. The middle of the floor was reserved for dancing. Those same advisors had intended on waltzes, minuets, basically, normal stuff for their, rather medieval, society. But no one had expected anything quite like this.
"Thank you for teaching us, Harumi," her cousin said wearily, sitting very carefully on her husband's lap, so she wouldn't get her dress dirty. "But we're all really tired."
"My feet hurt," Nikki whined, rubbing her now bare and blistered toes.
"Mine too." Mia chimed in. She winced as she ripped off a hangnail (claw?).
"Please, we need a break," Van added, too tired to make it a royal command. Not that anyone ever listened to him, at least no Kanzaki anyway, nor any of his other friends. He looked on the verge of whining as well.
Harumi rolled her eyes. "I can't believe you guys! It's only the Electric Slide, for god's sake. American children learn it in elementary school at least, and without breaking a sweat. My friend from New York taught me when I was eight in one day. How did you people ever survive a war, if you get tired from this? Don't you have to be fit to be a swordsman? For that matter, Hitomi, how did you even make it on the track team?"
"I was young and vibrant," she moaned. She pushed her bangs, which were soaking with sweat, away from her face. "Now I'm getting old."
"And they're paying for all that physical work now," Millerna, the doctor, informed her. "Fighting takes quite a few years off a person's life."
"Yeah," Van added. "Soldiers' joints predict storms. Or something like that. It's an old Atlantian saying. So please, take pity on us. We've been dancing for over an hour already."
Chid jumped to his feet. He looked more energetic than the rest of them combined. "You guys are wimps," he scolded, but in jest. "Come on, Harumi, let's leave these old geezers and go for a walk." He bowed and offered her his arm. Blushing at the gentlemanly gesture, something all Mystic Moon boys wouldn't do, not even joking, she took it and followed him out of the ballroom.
"Your son certainly takes after you, Allen," Van told him. "He doesn't waste anytime." Hitomi drew in a sharp breath, but let it out when he chuckled. Apparently, he no longer bore any ill will towards Allen, which she thought was a good thing. She was afraid his comment had been more than just a simple joke. It was nice to know that those days were behind them.
"Yep," she added. "It's a good thing you don't have any other male relatives, or else Nikki might be in trouble. Although I suppose there's still time." She glanced sideways at Princess Eries, who lowered her head in embarrassment. But Hitomi could tell she wasn't unpleased with the idea.
The little girl made a face. "Yuck! Boys have cooties."
Dryden ruffled her hair. "You say that now. But just you wait, I'm sure they'll start flocking around you once you hit Tatiana's age." He winked at his daughter.
"Daddy!" she exclaimed her cheeks turning rosy.
Her mother laughed and hugged her. "In any case, it runs strong in the Schezar family. What about you, Celena? I haven't heard anything about your romantic life. Does that mean the Schezar women don't inherit the gene?"
"Huh?" Celena looked up from the floor, which she seemed to find so fascinating. "I'm sorry, what did you say?"
Millerna frowned, somewhat insulted at being ignored. "Never mind."
Princess Eries, in contrast, however, was concerned. "Is something wrong, Celena?" she asked. Over the years since her return, the two girls had become very close, almost closer than they were with their siblings. Allen often complained cheerfully that the princess knew his sister better than he did. She would certainly have no objection about another nephew, especially from that union.
"Oh, nothing, I'm all right," she assured her, but no one was very convinced. Then she sighed and stood. "I'm going for a walk." She scampered off, nearly knocking over a maid who was carrying in the wedding cake.
"Oh well," Kyle commented, licking his lips at the sight of the chocolate mass covered in white whip cream. "More for us."
* * * * * *
Harumi breathed in the fresh country air deeply. She looked out at the lush green forest before her. It was, as Millerna had once described it, like a green emerald. "Isn't Fanelia beautiful?" she sighed.
"Hm," Chid murmured, though he was looking more at her than at the landscape. His fingers itched to push a stray lock of hair out of her face. Contrary to what his family and friends had been saying, he was nowhere near the Casanova his father had been in his youth. Rather he was quite shy, not only around girls, but people in general. Being he'd spent most of his life ruling a country with little contact with normal people his age, it was understandable, but depressing all the same. The situation was worsened when, not too long ago, his advisors started nagging him about what Van's had for fifteen years: a royal marriage. But none of the supposed "beautiful maidens" placed before him had caught his eye, until now. True, Harumi's nose was a bit large and pointy (but she wasn't exactly in the minority in that world) and her light brown hair was rather unkempt, but to him, she was breathtaking. And, unlike the others, she was intelligent, strong-willed and actually had a mind of her own (a rare trait indeed).
"We lived in the city back on Earth," she continued. "It's nice to get away from all the traffic and noise. I've always wanted to live in the country. Don't you think this place is nice?" She turned to look at him and nearly bumped her nose on his. She edged away, alarmed at his nearness.
"Huh? Oh, yeah, Fanelia's great." He blushed, embarrassed at being caught staring. He backed off, giving her space.
Harumi gave him a funny look. "You okay?"
"Oh, yeah, I'm fine, never better." He tried to grin brilliantly as he imagined his father would do in this type of situation, but only managed a nervous half-smile.
Harumi covered her mouth to hide a giggle. He's so cute! The thought surprised her. She'd never felt that giddy with any of her old boyfriends, of which there had been many, and none long lasting. And none of them made her heart go pitter-patter when they looked at her like Chid was doing now. Oh God, what's the matter with me? I'm acting like I never saw a cute boy before, she chided herself. This "courting" thing, if that was what it was, wasn't something she was accustomed to either. It made dating without any lifelong commitments seem so much easier.
"So, you're willing to stay here?" he asked casually, trying not to sound too eager.
"Hmm? In Fanelia, you mean?"
"Wherever. On Gaea in general," he clarified. "I mean, do you have plans to return to the Mystic Moon?"
Harumi shrugged, her cheerfulness decreasing a bit. With all the excitement, she'd almost forgotten about home and the events of that morning. Would she see her family again? How could she if she remained on Gaea? What would her aunt and uncle say about it? Though she always kept her distance, she did love them dearly. And what about her friends, few though they were in number? Not only that, but also all her dreams, all her secret plans, they were based on Earth, not here.
She heaved a long sigh, this time of sadness, not pleasure. For Hitomi there was no question about it. Her fate had been sealed long ago. And Nikki seemed to fit in perfectly here too; not that she had much to leave behind in the first place. But what about her? What did this place have for her? Suddenly it didn't seem so beautiful, just cold and lonely. Even the sun wasn't shining anymore. It was like a dark cloud was covering it and her as well. A tiny teardrop rolled down her cheek.
"I'm sorry," Chid said, wiping the tear away gently. She'd almost forgotten he was there. "I didn't mean to say anything that would upset you."
Harumi shook her head, dabbing her eyes with the white silk handkerchief he had offered her. "No, it's not your fault. It's just, with everything going on, I never had time to think about it. I mean, do I really belong here? I kinda was just dragged along for the ride, maybe I wasn't supposed to come in the first place."
"I don't know," Chid began hastily. There was urgency in his voice as if, somehow, if she made the wrong decision it would harm him more than her. "Things in Gaea don't just happen by coincidence. If you were brought here, there was probably a reason. And I…" A faint blush crept upon his cheeks, revealing adorable freckles. "Maybe this is selfish of me, but I… I want you to stay. I've never really had a friend I could talk to. And, if you need a place to belong to, well, my country's always open. You're welcome to come any time. And… I… I'd really like it if you did."
Harumi's face lit up. She'd heard little about Freid, but that was no matter. Someone wanted her. And it wasn't out of pity; Chid wasn't that type of person, she already knew that. And he didn't want anything from her (at least nothing she wasn't willing to give at any rate) but because he enjoyed her company. She'd never been able to say that about anyone before, even her own family to some extent. Still, it was good to be cautious, just in case, and Harumi wasn't one to get her hopes up normally. "You would really do that for me?"
"Of course! In fact, please come," he asked shyly.
She smiled at him. The giddy feeling was coming back, but she didn't want to fight it this time. "Thank you." Being the bold and somewhat impulsive person that she was, she leaned over and kissed him on the lips. What began as a light, grateful kiss turned deeper and more passionate quickly. But it wasn't the normal, base instinct passion that she'd felt with anyone else. Her heart did flips and somersaults in her chest. Is this what Hitomi feels for Van? Little did she know, the couple hadn't actually kissed until a few days before, but it was the same concept nevertheless, for, as Hitomi had told her (though she'd never paid much attention to her advice before) physical contact wasn't always necessary. Not to say she didn't find it an interesting activity. After what seemed like an eternity, but over too soon, they finally broke away, breathless.
"So does that mean you will?" he asked, both bewildered and pleased at the same time. None of the women presented to him had ever been so forward either.
Harumi thought for a moment. For once, she almost regretted her normal caution, but this time, it was also common sense too. "Perhaps. I don't really want to leave my family yet, but I'll come visit for awhile and we can hang out or whatever. And we'll go from there."
Chid was grinning from ear to ear. "Great!" He picked her up off the ground and hugged her so tightly he nearly cut off her circulation.
Harumi giggled, then she sobered. "I'm not making any promises yet," she warned him. "We haven't exactly known eachother for that long."
He nodded in agreement. "I know. I'm nowhere near ready for that kind of step, no matter what my advisors think. But I really could use someone my age around. All I have is Celena, and maybe Allen will come for awhile, but they're kinda boring. It'll be fun to spend time with you. Maybe you could teach the court that dance of yours. What's it called, the electric eel?"
She cracked up. "The Electric Slide," she corrected him.
He shrugged. "Whatever, it's cool anyway."
"Um, I think we'll have to see about that," she said, trying to sound serious, but it was difficult when she was near hysterics. "They, er, might not be ready for that yet." Though she was trying to act mature about it, inside, she was bubbling up with excitement. Who says there's no such thing as a charming prince, or king or duke, or whatever, she thought. Fairy tales could and would come true and she was finally getting the happily ever after she never even dared dream of.
* * * * * *
"… Yadda, yadda, yadda, so all the flowers died and we had to start again."
Nikki fidgeted in her chair. For the past half-hour, she and her aunt had been subjected to Lady Avalea, one of the oldest members of the Fanelian nobility, who was droning on about her garden. Why Hitomi needed to know this information was anybody's guess. Every so often, she would interrupt herself to say, "Sit up straight, girl," or "Stay still!" or "Didn't you raise this girl properly? Where are her manners?" as if she was talking to a lowly peasant instead of her queen. The girl wasn't sure how much more of this she could take. Luckily, a certain little cat-girl saved her.
"Lady Hitomi, can we go play outside?" Mia asked sweetly, fluttering her eyelashes.
"Of course. But don't go too far from the castle. Stay in the courtyard."
"Okay," the girls chorused. Nikki hoped out of her chair and turned to the old woman. "Later, cheese-breath," she crowed." They ran out as fast as they could, stopping only for a moment to drag Tatiana out with them.
"Why, I've never seen such an impolite child. You know, when my sons were young, I often found it best…"
Hitomi sighed to herself. Take me with you!
* * * * * * *
"Soccer is really, really easy to understand. All you do is kick the ball into the goal. And you can't use your hands, unless you're the goalie, then you can do any part of your body to stop the ball. Got it?"
"Yep!" The other girls nodded enthusiastically.
"I'll be the goalie, okay?"
"You're the boss," Mia quipped, giving Nikki a salute.
She grinned and saluted back, while dribbling the ball with her feet. She stuck two fingers in her mouth and whistled. "Begin!"
* * * * * *
"MUST. CUT. OFF. MY. EARS!" Hitomi sank into a chair next to her husband and leaned on his shoulder. "Does that woman ever stop talking?" she groaned.
Van shook his head. "Nope, never. Lady Avalea is the village gossip. You'd think with the war and all, she'd be afraid to come back and go find another country to bother instead, but no. She tortured my mother when she was still alive too."
"Couldn't she have turned her into a frog with the power of Atlantis or something?" the queen grumbled.
"Nope," he repeated. "My mother was one of her favorite topics. Convinced she was a witch or a demon or something of the sort. Mother always walked on eggshells around her, lest she find some reason to have her burned at the stake. No one would pay her any attention, but she's from a pretty powerful family. Her husband's one of my advisors. Nice man, seems very tired though."
Hitomi rolled her eyes. "Why could that be, I wonder?" She sighed. "With my luck, I'll be next."
Van chuckled. "Aw, forget her. Look, I think she's found another victim already. Poor Celena. She came back at just the wrong time. Think we should rescue her?"
Hitomi looked in the direction he was pointing. The noble's mouth was moving a mile a minute, but Celena seemed kilometers away. "Nah, I don't think she's really listening anyway. I know I don't know her very well, but is Celena always this…?" She let the rest of the sentence hang in the air for Van to complete.
"Dreamy?" he supplied. "No, I've never seen her act like this before. Do you think something's wrong?"
Just then, Celena's head perked up, like that of a puppy who'd just heard its master. She ran away like a bat out of hell, leaving the clueless old woman still talking. Her face was as white as a ghost's.
"I don't know. Maybe not. That's what I would do. It's what I did actually. She does look upset though. We should keep an eye on her. I wonder what's up."
As they were talking, the sky began to darken unexpectedly, as if there were an eclipse. But no one noticed; nor did they see the blob-shaped shadow on the ground.
* * * * * *
"Come on, get it past me!" Nikki hopped around, floating like a butterfly in her puffy dress. Her energy had returned as soon as she got outside. Dancing wasn't her strong point, nor was sitting still, but sports were. It paid off having an athletic father and an athletic aunt. It was her aspirations, at five years old, to win the Women's World Cup. Her new friends didn't have any idea what that was, of course, but they could see it was a possibility, even with their untrained eyes.
Mia gritted her teeth and focused on the hog skin ball they were using. She ran, aimed and kicked. Then she landed on her bottom as the ball rolled an inch. "Darn it!" she screeched, her face flushed from both the exertion and her embarrassment. "I missed again!"
"Well, at least you didn't rip the ball this time," Tatiana said philosophically, trying to be helpful. "We don't have another."
Mia stuck her tongue out at her friend and pouted.
"It's okay," Nikki reassured her. "It takes a lot of practice. I've been playing since I was a baby." It was a stretch, but not by much. Since Nikki could remember, Hitomi and her brother had taken her to every sporting event imaginable and taught her all of them. Except for sumo wrestling that is, but the reason for that is fairly self-explanatory. It was quite apparent that her father had wanted a son desperately, from his upbringing of Nikki. Unknown to him, however, it would never come to pass. But wherever he was, he could at least be proud of his daughter. "Give it another try."
"Well, okay," she said slowly, not completely convinced by her friend's comforting words.
"You can do it!" Tatiana encouraged, jumping up and down in an odd sort of cheerleading motion. Nikki grinned at her. If she had them, she would have given her some fans. Silly though it was, her enthusiasm was infectious. Mia backed up to almost the other end of the courtyard. Then she ran. She had her mother's speed, even if she lacked her coordination. She hit the ball with all the force her little feline body could muster. It soared in the air and Nikki set herself to grab it. She dove, but it flew past her out the open gate. Mia's face fell.
"That was much better!" Nikki said. "I'll go get it." She trotted off, forgetting her aunt's warning about staying in the courtyard. The ball, propelled by Mia's kick, was over a yard away and still bouncing along. She ran to keep up with it as it rolled into the forest.
"Hey, wait up!" she called after it. She hiked up her skirt so she wouldn't trip on it and stomped on the ball. It came to an abrupt stop. Nikki bent to pick it up and saw that the ground was filled with a great shadow. But this was cylindrical in shape, and unlike the castle wall, the shadow ended there, instead of coming off from where the wall stood. Nikki looked up and gasped at what she saw. "A floating castle?" She grinned. "Cool." But as she was about to find out, it wasn't so cool. In fact, it wasn't cool a bit.