...well I thought it was boring. Yei! I finally finished the equally boring
chapter one. Character introductions, oh joy! And it's not even the whole
cast yet! But if you liked the prologue, methinks you'll like this too. One
more recap, this is the story, so the present time is 20 years after Zidane's
return from here on out.
~Enjoy!
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Tsuki no kao toshi-wa jûsan sokora kana
{I think the face of the moon [appears to be] about thirteen years old.}
(a haiku by Issa, translated by myself)
All the flowers of spring look the same in the moonlight. Not that any in Alexandria noticed. Her citizens were resting in the lovely dreams that warm weather brings, some unknowingly snoring under their thatched roofs. Only one section of town had their curtains drawn: the side that slept in the strip of reflection from the great sword. Beneath this one sword, that gleamed so in the silvery light, the halls were silent. The few guards were outside dozing in the balmy spring night underneath the sky, laden with stars, and the soldiers lay slumbering between their sheets, for they had laid their comforters to rest long ago. The grand halls were streaked lazily with silver light, for even the stained glass glows uniform in the paleness of the moon. Silent were the half-lit passages. Silent, and yet the shadows stirred.
Movement is most suspicious when it is represented by the absence of light. But cold shadows are not nearly as dangerous as warm ones. From the corner parallel the door, a warm form passed upon the wall. It stilled against the entrance, its liveliness lost and yet betrayed by the faintest of whispers. An answering hiss pierced the stillness. Shadow became figure as the blackness reacted in time to avoid the projectile that whizzed through the doorway. Figure became phantom once more as it retreated into the darkness beneath the stairs and disappeared altogether, waiting. The return of the stillness belied the truth. By and by, a darkness approached the doorway, avoiding the scarce light that might pierce it. Whispers of breath at the entrance suggested a creature, probing the cavity before it. Open spaces are not safe for the hunted.
A shape ventured forth, haloed by the silver light that speckled the room behind it. The shape evoked a head, a target. And target it became, although not a victim. A flash, movement became human, and was gone. The ammunition slipped through the air slower than its mark, and vanished into the dim-lighted distance in the chamber beyond. After a moment, the shadow again passed forward, lingering again at the door. Then it withdrew, becoming a creature that walked silently back towards the stairs. Assuming the phantom form once more, it drifted out the opposing door, leaving the midnight moon hovering at the window to an empty room, the only witness to a stalemate.
~~~~~
The unintelligent babbling of red-necked tourists filled the broad main hall of Alexandria Castle. Truth be told, very few of them were actually listening to the hard-studied tour guide, who was explaining with great length and admiration the giant portrait of her Majesty, Queen Garnet til Alexandros the 17th. The country folk mostly could not get over the vastness of the hall, although some were carrying on about the carpets.
"How d'ya s'pose they done an got it this red, Weatherbee?" one asked rather loudly in an awful drawl.
"Dunno, paw," she answered in a tone that needed oiling. "Be a mahty 'spensive waste o' gil, iffin ya arsk me."
"Garsh, they be wastin' gil everwhere," he agreed, even louder than before. "Ain't nobuddy that needs a house this big." Tucked away in his hiding place amongst the statues that lined the corner where the wall met the ceiling, Tabito wondered how they could understand each other. Their words rang quite clearly in his ears, and yet he comprehended none of it. He found this highly annoying, for they were pointlessly drowning out any slight noise his quarry might make. There was too much heat, as well, from the sweaty bodies below, so feeling his opponent out was also impossible. Yet, he knew he was close, that the hunted was on the other side of the chamber. He let out a sigh, feeling quite safe in doing so, yet remained still as the statues he was hiding amongst. He scanned the far wall with his eyes once more, although he doubted the fruit of it. Chasing an unseen enemy with ones eyes often brought more harm than good.
He bit back a groan of more annoyance as several strands of hair fell in his eyes. His hair, much like his eyes, was most unusual. "Ticked" the Terrans called it, that is it was one color until it grew past a certain length, at which point it became a darker color. A rare gene caused this, only appearing once every hundred or so years. In Tabito's case, his hair was a flaxen blonde that quickly graduated to jet-black at the level of his eyes. The change point rested clearly in his line of vision as he contemplated how he might move it without drawing attention to himself. Finally, tilting his head ever-so-slightly to the left, he blew a stream of air out of his mouth. Agreeably, the strands lifted up and settled at the side of his face with the others. Satisfied, the crown prince turned his attentions back to the opposing wall.
"Whar are thay, dya 'spose?" asked another hick exceptionally clearly. "Ya'd think that they use this here place. Waste 'o room and gil, with 'em all sittin' on their duffs." Tabito restrained another sigh. He had spent so much time learning to use his ears rather than his eyes, and it was proving difficult to revert. Such is life, he thought. One can never be properly prepared for everything.
There! A fleeting shadow by the far entrance to the library proved his quarry had moved to the corner of the mantle. There you are. There was no possible way for him to strike from this position, so he scanned the area below. The statue on the banister would provide suitable cover, he decided, but it was quite a jump from where he was. Not too unlikely for him, but the consequences would be dire if he missed from this height. For a second, he considered waiting some more. However he had missed both the night's rest and breakfast so his patience was wearing thin, and he knew his opponent would not give up until one of them had won. So, despite the goodly possibility of failure and the fact that there were several dozen bystanders, Tabito favored the chance. The challenge is the most fun anyway. Gripping a dart between his teeth, Tabito catapulted himself fifteen feet down and away towards the banister. The gasps began immediately, and increased when Tabito caught the rail one handed, his other hand sending a dart straight towards the dark figure on the far mantle. It missed by two inches, the blur of black and red fleeing back and away from the splatter of green paint, but he distinctly made out the peel of girlish laughter that rang out over the general hubbub. Quickly, the prince grabbed the rail with his other hand and flung himself out, dropping another five feet to the base of the statue, which he quickly hid behind. He was safe, for now, but also a sitting duck.
"There is no need for concern," the tour guide called out, attempting to calm his patrons. "It is merely sibling rivalry." For a moment, Tabito considered requesting silence from the tourists, but decided against it, returning his concentration to the whereabouts of his opponent. He peered around his guardian of stone. A flash of red revealed that she was ascending to the corner of the far staircase. Quickly, he brought out another dart and stood up. He never got the chance to aim. Having badly misjudged her speed, he was greeted by a dart right between his eyes, bright red paint spurting all over his face. In shock he pulled back, seriously upsetting his balance. He did not recover from this either. His tabby striped tail flailing about helplessly, the Crown Prince of Alexandria dropped seven feet to land squarely on his back with a sickening thud. Silence prevailed among previously irreverent commoners.
"And in this chamber…" the tour guide broke in quickly, leading his group off into the library. Princess Raven til Alexandros sped down the stairs with nearly unnatural grace.
"Um…Tabi?" she questioned as she drew next to his side. "Do you fare well?" At first, he didn't respond. Nervously, she held her breath until she heard him groan. "Do you fare well?" she repeated, a little more quietly, in case she was overheard. It was pointless, for she was.
"Really," giggled a voice from above. "Are you ever in trouble." Raven turned her ice blue eyes up to glare at her younger brother, Chizitsu. He was grinning impishly, his honey blonde hair falling over his horn to hang in his chocolate brown eyes.
"Are you looking to die young, nosey?" she challenged with a hint of a growl.
"Was that a threat I just heard then?" Chizitsu's grin spread further across his face.
"Mayhap, snitch," she cocked a slender, black eyebrow. "You'd best keep to your own business, if you wish to fare better than your brother."
"A threat, then, I take it," the boy feigned a thoughtful look. "Although who's to tell? It is everyone's business. It's long been expected that the two of you be late to breakfast Thursday mornings, but to miss it entirely? Such is generally not a good sign. And well proven, it would seem." With one last glance at his eldest sibling, Chizitsu dashed to the next room. Raven considered chasing after him, but then decided it would be pointless to try to conceal this mishap. She gently prodded Tabito's leg with her foot.
"I am down…" he muttered with a groan.
"Do you fare well?" she asked a third time.
"Not nearly as well as I should," he answered, trying to move, but quickly ceasing with a hiss of pain. She giggled softly, now that she found he was still alive.
"That was the most hilarious thing I've seen for months," she laughed.
"I'm glad one of us finds it so amusing," he would have rolled his eyes, had they not been shut tight. She stifled her giggling with her hand.
"Spare a girl some emotional reaction."
"Most girls would scream, not laugh," he pointed out.
"Would you prefer I screamed?"
"No, you've already given me quite the headache."
"I'm sorry," she apologized. "I didn't mean to."
"I'll forgive you when I'm better," he groaned.
"Fair enough," she shrugged and looked up to see her father run into the room, followed by the tattletale. He stopped and leaned over the railing to look at the two miscreants.
"Raven!" Zidane's normally gentle voice boomed down. "That had better be paint!"
"It is," Tabito confirmed weakly, "and it is getting in my eyes!"
"Chizi," Zidane called to his youngest child, "go get some servants to bring some rags and water." Obediently, the goody-goody ran left into the kitchens. Zidane slid down the banister and crouched next to his son's prone form. Tenderly, he began to wipe the red paint out of Tabito's eyes with a handkerchief. "Don't try to move. Where does it hurt?"
"You mean aside from everywhere?" came a hiss of sarcasm. "I almost only landed on my shoulder blades," he added with an attempted smile.
"That's the general idea," Zidane chuckled slightly. Several servants arrived with water and carefully washed the prince's face.
"Mind that you don't drown him," Raven joked lazily and began to pull the barrettes from her head. Glossy streams of black hair tumbled down to their full length, hanging just above the base of her equally black tail that hung straight down to her ankles but curled back up mere inches above the floor. Finally, Tabito opened his deep violet eyes with a groan and surveyed the ceiling.
"The world is green," he remarked bemusedly. His sister glanced up at the very white ceiling before looking back down at him.
"Have you hit your head or such nonsense?" she asked snidely.
"Yes," he cast her a wobbly glance, "thanks to you." She held up one defensive hand.
"You see green, your highness?" called Beatrix, who had just come in from the library, where she had been informed of the accident by the tour guide.
"A lovely, lovely shade of green," the crown prince murmured.
"It only means you were knocked unconscious, Tabi," Zidane soothed, although he sent a sharp glance in his daughter's direction.
"He might've done much worse to himself," Raven defended herself again, "I am not entirely to blame. Maybe we should call it a draw, for your acrobatic accomplishment."
"Accomplishment?" Zidane scratched his head.
"That way, Tabi, I shan't be ahead by four," Raven finished with a grin.
"Keep your blasted win," Tabito sniffed. "It's the only way you'll be happy for a week."
"Are you suggesting I'm a warmonger?" she came forward to stand over him.
"No, only overly competitive," he cocked an eyebrow up at her.
"Just when I was about to commend you for losing to a girl gracefully," she patronizingly placed a finger to her lips and chided, "tut, tut."
"Give him a break, Raven," Zidane chided back, a hint of a smile playing at the corners of his mouth.
"More breaks than he already has?" she asked, giggling again.
"Nothing's broken," Zidane shrugged.
"Are you certain, your Excellency?" Beatrix asked, after drawing a wince from the fallen prince with her prodding his shoulder.
"Trust me," Zidane nodded, "if he had, he'd be crying like a baby."
"Why is everyone picking on me?" Tabito complained to no one in particular.
"No offence, your highness," Beatrix pointed out, "but I believe you most foolishly brought it upon yourself."
"How deviously un-prince-like of me," he mused, dryly.
"One might ask what you were doing, pulling a stunt like that, and in front of the subjects!" Beatrix scolded.
"You're lucky your mother's indisposed," Zidane agreed.
"Pah, you're lucky Steiner's indisposed," Beatrix corrected. "Raven, I simply don't know what to do with you. You're sixteen now; one would've thought you'd have developed some common sense by now. And Tabito, if you hadn't already received your dues, I might be tempted to suggest punishment."
"Please, Beatrix," Raven broke in. "The 'Stephen-esc Castigation' is really not becoming of you."
"Someone's got to at least scold you," Beatrix insisted, quirking an eyebrow in Zidane's direction. The father simply matched her expression.
"Give it a rest, please," Tabito heaved a sigh. "I've had a long day."
"It is only eleven in the morning," Beatrix quipped.
"My day started at midnight." At this point, Chizitsu returned with a medic from the barracks in tow.
"I though it prudent," he explained before he bent over panting.
"For a scurry-hurry such as yourself, you are incredibly out of shape," Raven remarked spitefully.
"Health fades regardless," he answered, using his trademarked "big" words. "The mind is the most important to maintain."
"For someone who maintains his mind so continuously, you really lack a lot of brain," she finished. The eleven-year-old boy sighed, knowing that it was pointless to object. Raven always got the last word. Tabito, in the meantime, was attempting to rid himself of the fussy nurse.
"If I tell you it hurts there, will you stop touching it?" he asked, refraining from a more malicious remark. Blushing slightly, she pulled her hand away from his chest, and out from under his shirt.
"Your highness," she heaved an exasperated sigh that came out sounding rather disappointed instead, "you must cooperate. You may be seriously injured."
"I've had worse," he shrugged against the ground. He immediately wished he had not said that, for no sooner had he then her eyes began to shine with admiration. And they tell you it's the wounded men who flirt with the nurses, he thought, slightly amused. However, he had no strength to fend her off further so he twitched his tail three times. Zidane had been watching for this the entire time.
"He's alright," Zidane quickly assured her. "Just a slight blow to the head, nothing serious. You can see straight now, Tabi?" The slanted eyes looked upward, their unique color twinkling in the light.
"The ceiling is white," he answered as he glanced over at his sister. "Raven's outfit is red, two shades darker than the carpet." He then glanced upon himself. "My outfit is green… deep green. A good color for me."
"He's seeing green again," Raven muttered.
"I'm hungry, I'm tired, and my head hurts," Tabito ignored her. "There's not much else you can add to that. So can I go now?"
"Can you?" Beatrix asked. He cast her a slight smile, then gracefully brought his feet beneath himself and rose from the floor.
"Hold your applause," he said quickly as he grasped his forehead with a groan.
"Raven, help your brother to his room," Zidane ordered his middle child and then the nurse, "have the kitchen send some food up to him."
"I will, your excellency," she nodded.
"Sans ditsy confession of true love in letter, if you'd be so kind," Tabito whispered in his sister's ear. The princess nodded compassionately, as she led her brother up the stairs. She too knew what it was like to be rich, powerful, and attractive: the triple threat.
"What would his highness like for breakfast?" the female medic called up to him.
"Whatever's there would be fine," he answered. "Although I do have a hankering for a cheese Danish…"
"Perhaps that means you're pregnant?" Raven remarked, making the one quip too many.
"That wasn't funny," Tabito gave her a disdainful look as they continued towards his chambers.
"I'll admit it was a reach," she nodded after a moment.
"Don't flatter yourself," he sniffed. "You don't have to reach to not be funny." And they continued thus up the stairs. Chizitsu listened to them for a while, but then turned toward the library, shaking his head as he went. The servants and the nurse had long since departed for the kitchen, so this left Zidane and Beatrix alone in the grand hall.
"Teenagers," the general sighed. "I am so glad that Lance is past that stage. He was such a pill."
"It's because you only had one," Zidane explained.
"Having more is simpler?" she was incredulous.
"Sure," he nodded. "They have each other to fuss at or talk to. They get along fine that way. Raven and Tabi used to fight like hell, but now they're very close."
"They should've gotten over it all by now," Beatrix shook her head.
"It's a rough transition," he defended. "Especially for a Crown Prince and Duchess of Treno."
"Prince Tabito, at the least, should be acting a little more mature," she insisted. "Is he not already a man in the tradition of your people?"
"That's why he's so reckless," Zidane sighed softly. "Little chances here and there make him feel alive, you know; keep him from going insane. He could do much worse."
"I suppose," she admitted. "Yet you could've at least reprimanded him."
"If I have words for him, they are for his ears alone," he said. "I won't embarrass my son in public."
"That might teach him."
"I tried it eleven some years ago," Zidane shook his head, "when he was six years old. That's when he taught me just how much my approval meant to him. Tabi never cried much, but he was crying then. 'You told everyone,' he said. 'You told everyone that I'm no good.' It's enough for him, Beatrix. Don't judge so quickly." For a moment, the general said nothing.
"I still say it's your fault. You shouldn't have taught them your thievery skills."
"What, ninjitsu?" he asked. "It'll come in handy."
"It's not appropriate for the heirs to the throne to practice such dirty fighting."
"Hey, there isn't much I can pass on to them," he shrugged. "Those skills saved my life hundreds of times. It'll come in handy."
"I suppose, but they're obsessive about it," Beatrix said. "Every Wednesday night, they're up until dawn getting paint everywhere. They're both practically masters now."
"That's on Raven account," Zidane shrugged again. "She's second born, so she has to prove herself better than Tabito. She's out to master everything. Of course, Tabi can't let himself get thrashed like that, but since he has little natural talent with the magic arts, he turns to the physical arts. His form is actually much better than Raven's, he's just more concerned that he could hurt her than she is about him."
"Apparently."
"And that bothers me about Raven…"
"Well," Beatrix shrugged, "I think she's yet to realize her own power."
"We could hope," he sighed. "She doesn't tend to listen to me."
"So the boys do, and the girl doesn't," she rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "Does she listen to Garnet?"
"Sometimes," he replied. "Other times she's just self-righteous."
"I see," Beatrix nodded. "It's interesting that you used different methods for different children and can get away with it. I'd think they'd complain about fairness and justice."
"It's easier when they get older."
"I don't see how," she responded.
"That's because you only have one."
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I guess the next'll take me another week. -_- I'm sorry ya'll but I'm in a play again. We have rehearsal practically every night and I still have classes! Well, next chapter, more from Lance and introductions to the other second gens and *drum roll* plot developement! Yeeeii! So... what'd ya think of this chapter?
~Enjoy!
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Tsuki no kao toshi-wa jûsan sokora kana
{I think the face of the moon [appears to be] about thirteen years old.}
(a haiku by Issa, translated by myself)
All the flowers of spring look the same in the moonlight. Not that any in Alexandria noticed. Her citizens were resting in the lovely dreams that warm weather brings, some unknowingly snoring under their thatched roofs. Only one section of town had their curtains drawn: the side that slept in the strip of reflection from the great sword. Beneath this one sword, that gleamed so in the silvery light, the halls were silent. The few guards were outside dozing in the balmy spring night underneath the sky, laden with stars, and the soldiers lay slumbering between their sheets, for they had laid their comforters to rest long ago. The grand halls were streaked lazily with silver light, for even the stained glass glows uniform in the paleness of the moon. Silent were the half-lit passages. Silent, and yet the shadows stirred.
Movement is most suspicious when it is represented by the absence of light. But cold shadows are not nearly as dangerous as warm ones. From the corner parallel the door, a warm form passed upon the wall. It stilled against the entrance, its liveliness lost and yet betrayed by the faintest of whispers. An answering hiss pierced the stillness. Shadow became figure as the blackness reacted in time to avoid the projectile that whizzed through the doorway. Figure became phantom once more as it retreated into the darkness beneath the stairs and disappeared altogether, waiting. The return of the stillness belied the truth. By and by, a darkness approached the doorway, avoiding the scarce light that might pierce it. Whispers of breath at the entrance suggested a creature, probing the cavity before it. Open spaces are not safe for the hunted.
A shape ventured forth, haloed by the silver light that speckled the room behind it. The shape evoked a head, a target. And target it became, although not a victim. A flash, movement became human, and was gone. The ammunition slipped through the air slower than its mark, and vanished into the dim-lighted distance in the chamber beyond. After a moment, the shadow again passed forward, lingering again at the door. Then it withdrew, becoming a creature that walked silently back towards the stairs. Assuming the phantom form once more, it drifted out the opposing door, leaving the midnight moon hovering at the window to an empty room, the only witness to a stalemate.
The unintelligent babbling of red-necked tourists filled the broad main hall of Alexandria Castle. Truth be told, very few of them were actually listening to the hard-studied tour guide, who was explaining with great length and admiration the giant portrait of her Majesty, Queen Garnet til Alexandros the 17th. The country folk mostly could not get over the vastness of the hall, although some were carrying on about the carpets.
"How d'ya s'pose they done an got it this red, Weatherbee?" one asked rather loudly in an awful drawl.
"Dunno, paw," she answered in a tone that needed oiling. "Be a mahty 'spensive waste o' gil, iffin ya arsk me."
"Garsh, they be wastin' gil everwhere," he agreed, even louder than before. "Ain't nobuddy that needs a house this big." Tucked away in his hiding place amongst the statues that lined the corner where the wall met the ceiling, Tabito wondered how they could understand each other. Their words rang quite clearly in his ears, and yet he comprehended none of it. He found this highly annoying, for they were pointlessly drowning out any slight noise his quarry might make. There was too much heat, as well, from the sweaty bodies below, so feeling his opponent out was also impossible. Yet, he knew he was close, that the hunted was on the other side of the chamber. He let out a sigh, feeling quite safe in doing so, yet remained still as the statues he was hiding amongst. He scanned the far wall with his eyes once more, although he doubted the fruit of it. Chasing an unseen enemy with ones eyes often brought more harm than good.
He bit back a groan of more annoyance as several strands of hair fell in his eyes. His hair, much like his eyes, was most unusual. "Ticked" the Terrans called it, that is it was one color until it grew past a certain length, at which point it became a darker color. A rare gene caused this, only appearing once every hundred or so years. In Tabito's case, his hair was a flaxen blonde that quickly graduated to jet-black at the level of his eyes. The change point rested clearly in his line of vision as he contemplated how he might move it without drawing attention to himself. Finally, tilting his head ever-so-slightly to the left, he blew a stream of air out of his mouth. Agreeably, the strands lifted up and settled at the side of his face with the others. Satisfied, the crown prince turned his attentions back to the opposing wall.
"Whar are thay, dya 'spose?" asked another hick exceptionally clearly. "Ya'd think that they use this here place. Waste 'o room and gil, with 'em all sittin' on their duffs." Tabito restrained another sigh. He had spent so much time learning to use his ears rather than his eyes, and it was proving difficult to revert. Such is life, he thought. One can never be properly prepared for everything.
There! A fleeting shadow by the far entrance to the library proved his quarry had moved to the corner of the mantle. There you are. There was no possible way for him to strike from this position, so he scanned the area below. The statue on the banister would provide suitable cover, he decided, but it was quite a jump from where he was. Not too unlikely for him, but the consequences would be dire if he missed from this height. For a second, he considered waiting some more. However he had missed both the night's rest and breakfast so his patience was wearing thin, and he knew his opponent would not give up until one of them had won. So, despite the goodly possibility of failure and the fact that there were several dozen bystanders, Tabito favored the chance. The challenge is the most fun anyway. Gripping a dart between his teeth, Tabito catapulted himself fifteen feet down and away towards the banister. The gasps began immediately, and increased when Tabito caught the rail one handed, his other hand sending a dart straight towards the dark figure on the far mantle. It missed by two inches, the blur of black and red fleeing back and away from the splatter of green paint, but he distinctly made out the peel of girlish laughter that rang out over the general hubbub. Quickly, the prince grabbed the rail with his other hand and flung himself out, dropping another five feet to the base of the statue, which he quickly hid behind. He was safe, for now, but also a sitting duck.
"There is no need for concern," the tour guide called out, attempting to calm his patrons. "It is merely sibling rivalry." For a moment, Tabito considered requesting silence from the tourists, but decided against it, returning his concentration to the whereabouts of his opponent. He peered around his guardian of stone. A flash of red revealed that she was ascending to the corner of the far staircase. Quickly, he brought out another dart and stood up. He never got the chance to aim. Having badly misjudged her speed, he was greeted by a dart right between his eyes, bright red paint spurting all over his face. In shock he pulled back, seriously upsetting his balance. He did not recover from this either. His tabby striped tail flailing about helplessly, the Crown Prince of Alexandria dropped seven feet to land squarely on his back with a sickening thud. Silence prevailed among previously irreverent commoners.
"And in this chamber…" the tour guide broke in quickly, leading his group off into the library. Princess Raven til Alexandros sped down the stairs with nearly unnatural grace.
"Um…Tabi?" she questioned as she drew next to his side. "Do you fare well?" At first, he didn't respond. Nervously, she held her breath until she heard him groan. "Do you fare well?" she repeated, a little more quietly, in case she was overheard. It was pointless, for she was.
"Really," giggled a voice from above. "Are you ever in trouble." Raven turned her ice blue eyes up to glare at her younger brother, Chizitsu. He was grinning impishly, his honey blonde hair falling over his horn to hang in his chocolate brown eyes.
"Are you looking to die young, nosey?" she challenged with a hint of a growl.
"Was that a threat I just heard then?" Chizitsu's grin spread further across his face.
"Mayhap, snitch," she cocked a slender, black eyebrow. "You'd best keep to your own business, if you wish to fare better than your brother."
"A threat, then, I take it," the boy feigned a thoughtful look. "Although who's to tell? It is everyone's business. It's long been expected that the two of you be late to breakfast Thursday mornings, but to miss it entirely? Such is generally not a good sign. And well proven, it would seem." With one last glance at his eldest sibling, Chizitsu dashed to the next room. Raven considered chasing after him, but then decided it would be pointless to try to conceal this mishap. She gently prodded Tabito's leg with her foot.
"I am down…" he muttered with a groan.
"Do you fare well?" she asked a third time.
"Not nearly as well as I should," he answered, trying to move, but quickly ceasing with a hiss of pain. She giggled softly, now that she found he was still alive.
"That was the most hilarious thing I've seen for months," she laughed.
"I'm glad one of us finds it so amusing," he would have rolled his eyes, had they not been shut tight. She stifled her giggling with her hand.
"Spare a girl some emotional reaction."
"Most girls would scream, not laugh," he pointed out.
"Would you prefer I screamed?"
"No, you've already given me quite the headache."
"I'm sorry," she apologized. "I didn't mean to."
"I'll forgive you when I'm better," he groaned.
"Fair enough," she shrugged and looked up to see her father run into the room, followed by the tattletale. He stopped and leaned over the railing to look at the two miscreants.
"Raven!" Zidane's normally gentle voice boomed down. "That had better be paint!"
"It is," Tabito confirmed weakly, "and it is getting in my eyes!"
"Chizi," Zidane called to his youngest child, "go get some servants to bring some rags and water." Obediently, the goody-goody ran left into the kitchens. Zidane slid down the banister and crouched next to his son's prone form. Tenderly, he began to wipe the red paint out of Tabito's eyes with a handkerchief. "Don't try to move. Where does it hurt?"
"You mean aside from everywhere?" came a hiss of sarcasm. "I almost only landed on my shoulder blades," he added with an attempted smile.
"That's the general idea," Zidane chuckled slightly. Several servants arrived with water and carefully washed the prince's face.
"Mind that you don't drown him," Raven joked lazily and began to pull the barrettes from her head. Glossy streams of black hair tumbled down to their full length, hanging just above the base of her equally black tail that hung straight down to her ankles but curled back up mere inches above the floor. Finally, Tabito opened his deep violet eyes with a groan and surveyed the ceiling.
"The world is green," he remarked bemusedly. His sister glanced up at the very white ceiling before looking back down at him.
"Have you hit your head or such nonsense?" she asked snidely.
"Yes," he cast her a wobbly glance, "thanks to you." She held up one defensive hand.
"You see green, your highness?" called Beatrix, who had just come in from the library, where she had been informed of the accident by the tour guide.
"A lovely, lovely shade of green," the crown prince murmured.
"It only means you were knocked unconscious, Tabi," Zidane soothed, although he sent a sharp glance in his daughter's direction.
"He might've done much worse to himself," Raven defended herself again, "I am not entirely to blame. Maybe we should call it a draw, for your acrobatic accomplishment."
"Accomplishment?" Zidane scratched his head.
"That way, Tabi, I shan't be ahead by four," Raven finished with a grin.
"Keep your blasted win," Tabito sniffed. "It's the only way you'll be happy for a week."
"Are you suggesting I'm a warmonger?" she came forward to stand over him.
"No, only overly competitive," he cocked an eyebrow up at her.
"Just when I was about to commend you for losing to a girl gracefully," she patronizingly placed a finger to her lips and chided, "tut, tut."
"Give him a break, Raven," Zidane chided back, a hint of a smile playing at the corners of his mouth.
"More breaks than he already has?" she asked, giggling again.
"Nothing's broken," Zidane shrugged.
"Are you certain, your Excellency?" Beatrix asked, after drawing a wince from the fallen prince with her prodding his shoulder.
"Trust me," Zidane nodded, "if he had, he'd be crying like a baby."
"Why is everyone picking on me?" Tabito complained to no one in particular.
"No offence, your highness," Beatrix pointed out, "but I believe you most foolishly brought it upon yourself."
"How deviously un-prince-like of me," he mused, dryly.
"One might ask what you were doing, pulling a stunt like that, and in front of the subjects!" Beatrix scolded.
"You're lucky your mother's indisposed," Zidane agreed.
"Pah, you're lucky Steiner's indisposed," Beatrix corrected. "Raven, I simply don't know what to do with you. You're sixteen now; one would've thought you'd have developed some common sense by now. And Tabito, if you hadn't already received your dues, I might be tempted to suggest punishment."
"Please, Beatrix," Raven broke in. "The 'Stephen-esc Castigation' is really not becoming of you."
"Someone's got to at least scold you," Beatrix insisted, quirking an eyebrow in Zidane's direction. The father simply matched her expression.
"Give it a rest, please," Tabito heaved a sigh. "I've had a long day."
"It is only eleven in the morning," Beatrix quipped.
"My day started at midnight." At this point, Chizitsu returned with a medic from the barracks in tow.
"I though it prudent," he explained before he bent over panting.
"For a scurry-hurry such as yourself, you are incredibly out of shape," Raven remarked spitefully.
"Health fades regardless," he answered, using his trademarked "big" words. "The mind is the most important to maintain."
"For someone who maintains his mind so continuously, you really lack a lot of brain," she finished. The eleven-year-old boy sighed, knowing that it was pointless to object. Raven always got the last word. Tabito, in the meantime, was attempting to rid himself of the fussy nurse.
"If I tell you it hurts there, will you stop touching it?" he asked, refraining from a more malicious remark. Blushing slightly, she pulled her hand away from his chest, and out from under his shirt.
"Your highness," she heaved an exasperated sigh that came out sounding rather disappointed instead, "you must cooperate. You may be seriously injured."
"I've had worse," he shrugged against the ground. He immediately wished he had not said that, for no sooner had he then her eyes began to shine with admiration. And they tell you it's the wounded men who flirt with the nurses, he thought, slightly amused. However, he had no strength to fend her off further so he twitched his tail three times. Zidane had been watching for this the entire time.
"He's alright," Zidane quickly assured her. "Just a slight blow to the head, nothing serious. You can see straight now, Tabi?" The slanted eyes looked upward, their unique color twinkling in the light.
"The ceiling is white," he answered as he glanced over at his sister. "Raven's outfit is red, two shades darker than the carpet." He then glanced upon himself. "My outfit is green… deep green. A good color for me."
"He's seeing green again," Raven muttered.
"I'm hungry, I'm tired, and my head hurts," Tabito ignored her. "There's not much else you can add to that. So can I go now?"
"Can you?" Beatrix asked. He cast her a slight smile, then gracefully brought his feet beneath himself and rose from the floor.
"Hold your applause," he said quickly as he grasped his forehead with a groan.
"Raven, help your brother to his room," Zidane ordered his middle child and then the nurse, "have the kitchen send some food up to him."
"I will, your excellency," she nodded.
"Sans ditsy confession of true love in letter, if you'd be so kind," Tabito whispered in his sister's ear. The princess nodded compassionately, as she led her brother up the stairs. She too knew what it was like to be rich, powerful, and attractive: the triple threat.
"What would his highness like for breakfast?" the female medic called up to him.
"Whatever's there would be fine," he answered. "Although I do have a hankering for a cheese Danish…"
"Perhaps that means you're pregnant?" Raven remarked, making the one quip too many.
"That wasn't funny," Tabito gave her a disdainful look as they continued towards his chambers.
"I'll admit it was a reach," she nodded after a moment.
"Don't flatter yourself," he sniffed. "You don't have to reach to not be funny." And they continued thus up the stairs. Chizitsu listened to them for a while, but then turned toward the library, shaking his head as he went. The servants and the nurse had long since departed for the kitchen, so this left Zidane and Beatrix alone in the grand hall.
"Teenagers," the general sighed. "I am so glad that Lance is past that stage. He was such a pill."
"It's because you only had one," Zidane explained.
"Having more is simpler?" she was incredulous.
"Sure," he nodded. "They have each other to fuss at or talk to. They get along fine that way. Raven and Tabi used to fight like hell, but now they're very close."
"They should've gotten over it all by now," Beatrix shook her head.
"It's a rough transition," he defended. "Especially for a Crown Prince and Duchess of Treno."
"Prince Tabito, at the least, should be acting a little more mature," she insisted. "Is he not already a man in the tradition of your people?"
"That's why he's so reckless," Zidane sighed softly. "Little chances here and there make him feel alive, you know; keep him from going insane. He could do much worse."
"I suppose," she admitted. "Yet you could've at least reprimanded him."
"If I have words for him, they are for his ears alone," he said. "I won't embarrass my son in public."
"That might teach him."
"I tried it eleven some years ago," Zidane shook his head, "when he was six years old. That's when he taught me just how much my approval meant to him. Tabi never cried much, but he was crying then. 'You told everyone,' he said. 'You told everyone that I'm no good.' It's enough for him, Beatrix. Don't judge so quickly." For a moment, the general said nothing.
"I still say it's your fault. You shouldn't have taught them your thievery skills."
"What, ninjitsu?" he asked. "It'll come in handy."
"It's not appropriate for the heirs to the throne to practice such dirty fighting."
"Hey, there isn't much I can pass on to them," he shrugged. "Those skills saved my life hundreds of times. It'll come in handy."
"I suppose, but they're obsessive about it," Beatrix said. "Every Wednesday night, they're up until dawn getting paint everywhere. They're both practically masters now."
"That's on Raven account," Zidane shrugged again. "She's second born, so she has to prove herself better than Tabito. She's out to master everything. Of course, Tabi can't let himself get thrashed like that, but since he has little natural talent with the magic arts, he turns to the physical arts. His form is actually much better than Raven's, he's just more concerned that he could hurt her than she is about him."
"Apparently."
"And that bothers me about Raven…"
"Well," Beatrix shrugged, "I think she's yet to realize her own power."
"We could hope," he sighed. "She doesn't tend to listen to me."
"So the boys do, and the girl doesn't," she rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "Does she listen to Garnet?"
"Sometimes," he replied. "Other times she's just self-righteous."
"I see," Beatrix nodded. "It's interesting that you used different methods for different children and can get away with it. I'd think they'd complain about fairness and justice."
"It's easier when they get older."
"I don't see how," she responded.
"That's because you only have one."
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I guess the next'll take me another week. -_- I'm sorry ya'll but I'm in a play again. We have rehearsal practically every night and I still have classes! Well, next chapter, more from Lance and introductions to the other second gens and *drum roll* plot developement! Yeeeii! So... what'd ya think of this chapter?