Disclaimer: Sadly, I do not own Rurouni Kenshin...pity.
Some say the glass is half empty, some say the glass is half full, I say, are you going to drink that?
--Lisa Claymen
May You Never
Chapter Three: The Fifth Day
It was the fifth day.
The palace was in a rush trying to get preparations all ready for her departure. Why were they making such as fuss? after all she was only one person. It wasn't as though she and her father were leaving together; she was leaving on her journey alone. It was her life, her journey, no one else's.
She stood idly outside her on her balcony that over looked the vast gardens over the mountainous land's sloping hills as they patterned rising back up again in the same motions until they met the wild mountains who kissed the sky. Inside the maids scrambled about, busy as bees, packing all her necessary belongings and tidying the room up once they were done with one part.
This was her last day in the gentle breeze of her kingdom; the land she loved and worked over. Stretching out her hands in front of her she eyed them. She had helped mold her country back to heath after the war with Uthum, she had done it with her own two hands. She defied those who proclaimed on their high soap boxes that a woman could never do a man's job, and that she was only meant to host parties and other such affairs. Oh, how she had proved them wrong.
"Princess." A timid voice exclaimed softy. "You need to be dressed now." Kaoru looked back into her room noticing that she, the little girl, and one other chamber maiden were still in her chamber.
Kaoru smiled, "You have no need to help me. I'm old enough to dress myself."
'And pack for myself...' she thought to herself quietly. With a simple wave of her hand she dismissed her and the other. They bowed and left.
With one last furtive glace to the gardens she strode inside her less occupied room. The decor remained the same, and except for a few tidbits of her own missing, everything was as it had always been, except for the feeling of home that had now vanished.
She noticed on her bed her gown that she was to wear. It was a simple white color that had long clear sleeves that stretched passed her hands, and flowed down her body till it licked the floor. A red sash adorned the waist line. It was her favorite clothing item, except for her training cloths that a maiden of her standard was never to wear. Though she hadn't worn them in years, since the last time she practiced her sword play.
After she dressed she pulled down her hair that was up in her normal ponytail that ran down her back in silky ebony waves and sat at her vanity brush out the knots that loved her hair dearly. With her final action done she pulled her hair up once again, stood, dusted her dress and walked out of her room for the last time.
"Goodbye." Was her last faint word she called out down her childhood condor.
She walked for what seemed an eternity breathing in all the scents so had become so accustomed to, her last visions of the scenery cherishing every last moment until she came upon her father.
He stood erect in front of the palace doors, sided by all the servants in straight lines that worked in the palace.
His timeless eyes for the first time looked tired as her walked up to his only daughter. Grasping her in his arms he held her as the child she was, and always would be...His little girl. She could feel, to her surprise, wet drops of water fall onto her hair, whilst her muttered a thousand pardons and my little girls.
She herself wanted to cry to her father, she wanted to scream at the top of her lungs for this whole nightmare to be over. She wanted to fall to her knees and ask her father to protect her, to help her escape from this treaty that encaged to her to a man she didn't know, but to all her wants none of them mattered. Kaoru, as she had always done, stood her ground patting her aging father's back as she clung to him for the last time in a long while.
"Father will you visit me." Came her meek reply. He pulled back from her just enough to look at his daughter.
"Kaoru, I don't think I have ever this to you, but I'm so proud of you." Kaoru lowered her head covering her proud smile. "And don't ever question that I will come visit you, because you know I will." She nodded clinging to her father who had been her best friend for so long.
"I only wish that you can meet that little girl once again." She lessened her grip a little. "I know she is in there somewhere, sometimes I can even see that flicker of fire that once was hers in your eyes Kaoru. Why don't you let her out anymore?"
"I have a duty father, and no matter what I want, I have to be strong a serve the people. To keep their hopes up. I cannot focus on my own wants." He simply shook his head.
"One day my dear little girl, you will let who you really are out again." He pulled her close to whisper in he ear. "I can see the sadness in your eyes my dear. You try so hard to hide it, but I know you better."
Her eyes widened, and with a futile voice she replied, "Father I'm not sad." She pulled on her best political smile.
"As you say my dear. Emotion is nothing to be ashamed of." Nodding her head, she kissed his cheek.
"I'm sorry that I could not go with you to the docks and wave you off." Her father stood back once again, and the servants came back into view.
"No need. The people after all should come first." He smiled sadly.
"I will always love you my child." He replied full in any father's deep love.
"I love you daddy." Hugging him once more, she set off saying her farewells to all the servants who had been her friends since she was a child; they all loved their princess. Her father though stood in place smiling truly. She hadn't called him daddy since her mother died. And with that one simple word he saw her vibrant sapphires twinkle once again.
The docks smelled delicious crisp and fresh with a little hint of fish wafting around the area, but that was to be expected. It seemed as thought the entire city and some of the surrounding little villages had gathered to see her off. Kaoru smiled in the mist of it all, as she said her final farewells to her friends in the town and the orphanage children who would surly miss her. Time rushed by at a marathon rate for her because in what seemed a couple of moments she was being escorted on to the vast wooden ship adorned with brass linings.
The ship was magnificent. It's pale cream veils flapped in the westward wind sounding like a mighty bird flying over the high above the mountains. Her steps were smooth as she walked up the platform to the deck of the hardened vessel that was to take her to Hiten, she had outgrown her childness clumsiness, or at least she had tried to. Around people she was able to be remarkably graceful and elegant, something that require some amount of concentration, but she had pulled it off with time. Though sometimes it would come back at unexpected times, to her clumsiness was innate, just as it was for her mother.
Walking to the side of the deck where the huge crowd of over a thousand was gather she lifted her hand and waved good bye. They returned her favor with might cheers that rose up to meet the tips of the mountains. A sudden sadness filled her heart...this was no longer her home, she would not longer see her beloved people, but when another higher adulation of yells rose her mind went blank to all else and she smiled warmly whispering to herself, "Farwell O Beloved Kadir."
Distantly back in condors of Ivory Hall, a the King of Kadir rose from his table, as did the ten other parliament members who weren't able to wish their princess goodbye, walked to the window hearing loud cheers of praise and looked out giving the wind his last parting words to his daughter. "My child, fare you well."
In a matter of hours the grand vessel was far past the City of Lome, and on its way to the sea of Hiten, better known as Tethela Sea. It was a fresh water sea and all else around it was land locked for the most part, since Hiten was in the central spot of all the Kingdoms and was enormously grander in size as well as in stature.
The Chain River flowed into the sea as it was connected by five over major rivers; the Mahla River, Chasque River, Tribunate River, Silver River, Anomcity River. They all flowed together at one point a hundred leagues away from reaching the sea.
"Princess I hope your trip is enjo- ...pleasant so far." The captain held his tongue from the ironic word of enjoy. She the lass surely wouldn't; being married off to some chap that she didn't even know, no matter if he was the Prince of the Nation he was still a stranger to her.
Kaoru turned her head from the wind and smiled childness at him, something she rarely did. She loved the feeling of sailing. The wind in her hair, the smell of the water, the feeling of the lullaby rocking ship. She was taught how to sail early, so she knew her way around the deck as well the rest of the ship.
"Yes, Captain Kleta. You know very well that I love ships." Her eyes sparkled for a second as they once had when she was younger, and it wasn't unnoticed by the Captain. He was in his middle thirties having a round belly that shook jolly when he let out one of his riotous laugher that came and went like summer storms, with expressive brown eyes and floating black hair that curled up against gravity, but it was always neatly tucked underneath his red sea cap.
"When will we reach the Tethela Sea?" She asked looking around and waving to some of the crew who she had become friends with instantly.
"In a few days, maybe around six at the most. It depends on lady luck and the Lord's winds." He replied.
"You know I have always thought that Tethela Sea was a beautiful name." She sighed smirking at her comment. "I have always wanted to name my daughter that if the Lord so blessed me with one." Kaoru looked at him and the back in front of her repeating the name. "Tethela...I wonder what it means."
"It means 'Blessed Sorrow'." The captain tore her thoughts. She looked mutely at him.
"Lass did'ja know why the sea was named that?" Her head instantly shook her head in excitement. "Ya, you never heard the story?"
"No sir, I was always too busy. Not even as a little girl do I remember hearing lots of legends." He nodded.
"I see...well," He sighed, "I guess I will have to tell it then."
A crew member who was near to them had heard the last part of the conversation and yelled out whiningly cheerful. "Princess! Look what you did now! Your going to have him say another legend! May God help us now!"
The crew members who were on board starting laughing promptly after the statement as well as Kaoru. She hadn't had this much fun since....she didn't have to ponder about that now.
"Silence you scurvy animal!" The captain joined in on the fiasco.
"Yes captain." The man saluted dumbly. Shaking his head the Captain turned back to her.
"Anyway what I was saying the sea has a story behind it. Would you want to hear Princess?"
"Yes please do, and don't call me princess." She smiled.
"The legend tells a story of a time a millennia ago in Hiten, this of course was when all the nations were one." She nodded and he continued. "Well there was a girl who went by the name of Tethela. Legend states she wasn't a girl of great beauty, she was just lovely girl with an even lovelier soul, and she was determined to give her life up to God that is until the young reigning prince of that time, Zavlier, went missing. The kingdom searched throughout the land but not a trace of him was to been seen."
Kaoru listened intently to the captain's story, her hand gripping the rail as the old man eyes became a mist color. "That is until she found him. She was in her region, which is now Slader, when he was washed up on the banks of the Silver River. She took him to where she dwelled, a little hut off the bank and slowly nursed him back to heath. He slept for about a month, in a coma like state, and she felt a great compassion for him and need to care for him. She found out by his injuries that he had sustained a massive head wound and floated down the river, and when he woke and saw her face he felt as though he never wanted to leave her. Now he knew who he was, but the girl did not. He was a decent prince; strong, but arrogant, kind, but greedy, dutiful, but overbearing, but the girl would not stand for it, and from the moment he had seen her he was in love."
He started to walk about the deck, "His rash behavior and arrogance and her humbleness and elegance clashed together like fire and water, but they soon found common ground, through the mist of their differences they found that they loved one another, but her want to only belong to God was one difference that challenged them too much. She loved him with all her heart, but she was confused. Slowly but surely through their time together she changed him into a better man. Most everyone say it was she who made him into one of the greatest kings this land has ever seen."
Kaoru nodded, King Zavlier, was one of the greatest kings the land had ever seen. It was by his actions that he gave reign over different regions to his most trusted companions. Through his rein it was called The Era of Serenity.
"But the time came when royal guards came upon her house looking for the prince. It had been a year since his disappearance, and it was then that they found him. You couldn't have imaged what she felt; deceived, hurt, and happiness. He couldn't bear to leave her, soon he took her with him. They spent another five years together, before she left him to do what she had always wanted; serve the Lord and help others. It was by the sea where she bid him farewell with a heavy heart, and for the first and last time kissed him gently under a pale moon. She went alone on a small boat against his wishes, but there was nothing he could do for she was gone into the night sea."
Sighing he smiled. "She was a loss to the whole Kingdom because in those five years everyone came to love her dearly. It was said that that night see gave him something precious to her, no one knows what it is. It is said only the royal family of Hiten knows it and keeps it, but what legend does tell is that Zavlier never married, and he was true to her till the very end of his days. As for Tethela she was never heard from again.
Some say that she drowned that night on the sea. Others say that she went to far distance lands to help others, and others say that she never went anywhere. It was said that some people saw her roaming around the city streets of the capital but to these I know not." Smiling regretfully he sighed.
"Sorry that I'm not that great of a story teller...that was the short version." She smiled and shook her head. She had really enjoyed listening to him, and she told him as such.
"But I do have on question though. Why didn't she marry him? she could have served God at the same time." Kaoru had sometimes thought of never getting married, but now that was out of the question.
He sighed, "She wanted her life for God, that and she knew that she wasn't of royal lineage. She didn't want to hold him back, that is what I was told, and also she never knew how he loved her. My mother told me that she never fully believed him, I do not know why."
Silently she nodded her head. Could she believed if some said they loved her? Would she accept it fully? Truthfully Kaoru was terrified at the thought of love and...marriage, but it was something she was obligated to do. Nothing, not even her phobia of it would stop it now.
"So now do you understand the name 'Blessed Sorrow' and why the sea is named in her honor?" Kaoru nodded again. The girl, Tethela, was a blessing because she changed the prince for the better and helped the land, and she was a sorrow because she honored his love but still never gave hers fully to him and in the end left him in sorrow. It was truly one of the best stories she had ever heard, very far apart from all the stories she had read...most dealing with politics or history.
Looking further towards the west Kaoru basked in the setting shimmering sun that bleed the color red. The sun was dying being replaced by the pale perfect face of the moon. It was like a golden skinned person slowly dying and then becoming pale once dead. It was a morbid thought she knew, but fascinating at the same time.
She walked to her cabin that she only held the essentials on her request, she need not to be pampered, she would get plenty of it the rest of her life. Thinking further she wondered, as she fell into a dreamless sleep, if she would be able to help rule as she had done in Kadir. It had always been said to her from other women that other kingdoms would not stand for such an unorthodox situation. She wondered if it was true.
A/N: Hey everyone! PLEASE REVIEW...PLEASE!!!! Okay well thanks to everyone who read my story....I know, I know ya'll are probably wondering when Kenshin and the rest of the RK characters are going to come. Hopefully Kenshin will show up in the next chapter, and sorry that the legend was so sucky .
Okay can ya'll please help me think of situations to the scene when Kenshin and Kaoru will finally meet, if you want to please give me some ideas! Okay well got to go. Bye!
Don't Hate Me,
CrypticMaidenRK
