Chapter Nine
Mimi remained silent as Matt joked and teased with the girl Lyanna, feeling hot resentment rise in her at the closeness with which they talked. The little princess, Tarisha, fell back beside her and took her free hand in her smaller one, giving it a comforting squeeze. She looked down at the light purple haired child who gazed back at her with caring blue eyes slightly darker than Lyanna's.
"Why are you angry?" She asked bluntly, her childish voice serious. Mimi started, surprised that the girl had known she was jealous.
"How did you…?" Tarisha smiled innocently.
"I felt you in my head, all gold and green and warm." She giggled quietly, but her smile faded quickly. "Anger hurts, hurts my head. I like you, you have nice thoughts, but please don't be angry." Almost as soon as the words were out her bitterness vanished and she was able to smile back at the princess wholeheartedly.
"Okay, I'll try not to be mad anymore." She glanced at Matt who still held her hand as he talked with the envoy and her eyes fell on Lyanna just in time to see her smile and wink at her before turning back to what she was saying to him. Mimi, confused, looked back to the little girl who had caught the look as well.
"I dunno." She said with a clueless shrug. Mimi laughed.
*****
The Audience Chamber was really no more than a building on the ground, covered with flowers and green growth so that it looked like a small hill. Wondering if the other hills they had seen along the path were the same thing, Mimi asked Tarisha, who giggled at her as if it were the funniest she'd ever heard.
"Of course, the kitchen and stables cannot be in the trees like our houses." She giggled again.
"Tarisha, you must be silent! You know you're not to speak in the Audience Chamber!" Raena hushed her harshly as they were hurried through a door that had seemed to materialize out of the vines and flowers. Mimi found herself not liking the older princess, but Tarisha smiled lovingly at her.
"Sorry sister, I'll be quiet." Raena nodded and, true to her word, Tarisha said nothing more.
The room they were hurried into was dark, no candles burned or lights were on and Mimi clutched at Matt's hand that promptly returned the pressure. Just when their eyes had begun to adjust, a flare of blue light so brilliant it nearly blinded them burst to life before them, illuminating two figures on a raised dais in its ghostly hue.
"Children of Sincerity and Friendship," a voice, kind and soft, carried to them in thundering volume. "I am Queen Daenerys of the Lands Beyond the Mist, and this, my King consort Jon Karst. With our whole hearts we welcome thee and bid you stay in our humble vale." She stood and inclined her head gracefully, her husband doing the same beside her as the light above them slowly turned lighter until it was a perfect white.
Mimi looked them over, noting that the queen looked almost identical to her daughter Raena with long purple hair only slightly lighter, and dark gray eyes. She wore a scarlet gown with golden trim and belt, a gold tiara adorned her forehead dangling a tear shaped garnet to hang between her eyes. The king wore a black tunic that hung loosely on a thin, yet muscular frame, belted at the waist with a black and silver belt. He had black hair swept back with a slight wave, dark blue eyes, and a small triangle of hair on his pointed chin.
Matt whispered something to Lyanna, who smiled and nodded before turning to address the king and queen.
"They wish to speak with you, Your Grace, about why they're here, they are confused and would like to know why we welcome them as if they were expected." Queen Daenerys looked both of them over before smiling reassuringly.
"Come then, lets speak of this outside among the vale where I'll need not shout myself hoarse." She stepped down from the dais, the king at her side, the light bobbing over their heads doggedly and swept passed Mimi and Matt, both smiling and nodding. They continued out the door that the guards posted there opened, the light blinking out just before it reached the end of the darkness. Matt, Mimi, Lyanna, Tarisha, Raena, Palmon, and Gabumon followed.
They walked along another path leisurely, no one speaking but the atmosphere didn't seem ready to except speech yet and everyone was content to leave it so. Finally though, the queen broke the comfortable silence with a smile.
"You want to know why you are here and have been welcomed so familiarly do you?" She asked in an amused voice. "I suppose it's only natural for humans to find it difficult to simply except something as is without analyzing it, so I will indulge your curiosity."
"You wondered why you were in this world did you not? Surely my pawn, Gennai that is, told you that you were chosen for having something in common with each other. That is half the truth, you were chosen by us, working behind the scene if you wish. We planted the idea of choosing humans to fight for this world into their heads and heavily influenced their choice of candidates. The Digimon were merely a thought of there's, thinking that you would help them evolve and destroy the evil. That worked well enough, but it was not why you were summoned. We needed you to help us with a problem… actually, not just a problem, but my sister." She paused and took a breath before explaining.
"Kalabrys, being the second child of a family of four, she's always dreamed of ruling. But my father, King Ramynaris, decided that she was unfit to wear the crown and in a rage, she killed my elder brother Sandar, and would have killed me if our mother hadn't contained her power. She managed to escaped and has taken refuge in the mountains to the north for the last ten years. Just lately, she has started skirmishes on the border, calling herself the Queen of the North. She is more powerful than me, the only one who could hope to defeat her would be my daughter, Tarisha, but she is not of age and her powers are yet to fully flower. Kalabrys, somehow, has managed to kill all our experienced mage warriors except my husband and his sister, who can not afford to parish in a battle of magics with her. We've tried collecting mages, but all those who stand a chance of holding their own against her have all died mysterious deaths. If it weren't for the shield's my mother used her life energies to place around my children and family, I fear she would have destroyed us long ago." She sighed sadly.
"But what does this have to do with us?" Mimi asked. "I mean, not that we wouldn't try to help you, I just don't understand what we could possibly do." Queen Daenerys smiled warmly and looked her in the eyes.
"You, child, are a Healer, and you." She said, turning to Matt. "Are a Mage. Your friend, Sora, is an Empath, and the boy, Tai, is a Firestarter. Hikari has Animal Speech, Takeru has Telekinesis, Koushiro is obviously the Genius, and Jyou can see the possible futures. As you can see, you have powers that have been deprived of us for ten years, and something about you being human makes you immune to her powers of destruction. Unfortunately, although she cannot harm you magically, she can take control of you if you aren't protected and we were only able to attain two of your group and place them under shields before Kalabrys took the rest under her sway." She shook her head regretfully.
"Which ones? Who else is here?!" Matt demanded, his eyes excited.
"Calm now, Cloethia was sent to fetch them as soon as it was confirmed that you had reached the palace, they should be here shortly." The Queen stopped walking and waved up at one of the larger tree houses, a three story dome shaped structure that seemed to rely mainly on the trunk for support and started about fifty feet from the ground. "For now, this is the guest quarters, there are five bedrooms, one bathing room, and a sitting room. A kitchen is not needed since all food necessities are taken care of in the large kitchen. There will always be food there, though you'll find hot meals are only served four times a day with six different dishes; once in the morning, twice in the afternoon with three mark intervals, and once in the evening." She inclined her head and the king took up the conversation for the first time.
"The paths are marked." He said, gesturing vaguely at the stone they all stood on. "The blue flowers directly by the trial there, show that this path leads to your rooms, the one with red flowers is to the kitchen, and orange goes to the hot springs. Purple will take you to the pastures and stables where our four legged allies live. My sister, Lyanna, will search you out tomorrow around late morning so that we may go into more detail on our situation. But now, you must bath and rest, clothes have been laid out for you. If you wish to explore the vale, I warn you, be prepared for there are many things here that are different from what you are used to in your world."
"Believe me," Mimi said, starring up at the house and hoping she would be able to sleep in the tree, wondering what it would be like and if she would like this strange place. "After what we've been through I think we're prepared for anything."