This chapter is entitled "aware," a Japanese word that is
nearly untranslatable to the English language. It means something like
"beautiful sadness" or "beauty tinged with sadness." It's something we
really need a word for, but we don't. Which is why I entitled the chapter
aware. Warning: more foreshadowing than you can shake a stick at.
~Enjoy!
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Kyou wa hana sakujitsu made wa tsubomi kana
{I wonder [at] the blossoms today, [they were] buds until yesterday.}
(a haiku by Seian, translated by myself)
The fair sky blushed as the sun kissed her left hand. The bright light of the afternoon gradually amended to a warm glow, tinting the water that buoyed the Prima Vista II an evening red. Likewise, the stage that was supposedly set in darkness was flooded with setting sun. But night descended slowly, as if creation was unwilling to bring the end of the Queen's birthday. The show went on.
"Nay Father, I shan't return!" Cornelia shook her head vehemently. Year after year, the exact same story: same love, same angst, same outcome, Tabito thought poetically, knowing his siblings would be thinking the same. On the other side of the balcony, Raven was examining the tips of her hair, mouthing the dialogue the actors spoke. On this side, Chizitsu was staring off into nowhere, seeing only with his mind as he considered unrelated ideas. Tabito held a refined manner, although he desperately needed to stretch. He had never much cared for "I Want to be Your Canary," but the lack of an intermission was indefinitely unbearable. He shifted his shoulders back in his formal wear, trying to get some blood up his back and into his head so that he would not pass out. He had always disliked shirts in general, but the padded jackets were particularly stifling. His Terran sense of touch was informing him that he was suffocating. He tried to ignore it and found himself concentrating on an itch that had placed itself where he should not scratch. When he tried to ignore this, he found himself concentrating on the fact that his hair was pulled back too tightly. Partially his own fault, he knew, for he insisted on keeping it trimmed so that it was half blonde and half black, leaving it hanging somewhere by his mouth in the front, and layered two inches below his chin in the back. It was, unfortunately, a difficult length for the palace dressers to work with, and they insisted that every single strand be off of his face. Why can't I ever win? Tabito thought angrily as he realized his foot was falling asleep.
He glanced at his parents, only to begin watching them. Garnet was resting her cheek on Zidane's shoulder, and he his on her head. Their fingers were intertwined into one another's, their joint hands resting between their two laps. Periodically, Garnet would smile, and squeeze her husband's hand, causing him to smile as well. And Tabito found himself smiling; he knew the story well: twenty years ago, this day, Zidane had returned to his beloved. Thirty-eight Garnet was now, although she did not look into her thirties just yet normally, and at the moment looked even younger. Zidane, too, although Terrans showed age differently than Gaians, Tabito could tell that the years were gone. Timeless, was the word that came to mind as he looked upon his mother and father, and he wondered faintly if this was how they had looked that day so long ago. The same play, the same place, and the same day for twenty years, and still cherished every minute of it. I see what it means… love does not grow old. For years past, he had been always begging Marcus to hurry up and die, but this year, Tabito was slightly disappointed when it was over, for his parents quickly reverted to their older selves as they all made their way back into the castle for the banquet celebration. I don't suppose it was for my eyes, he mused. He did not like feeling jealous of his father.
~~~~~
A sentinel, standing silently against the winds… A guardian, watching over the grand hall, keeping all things from being amiss: such was how Lance envisioned himself, as he stood apart from the festivity. It's becoming of a soldier to be prepared at all times, he told himself. But becoming of a knight? The thought pestered him as he placed his hand upon the hilt of the Ragnarok, the sword his father gave to him on the day he was knighted. One year, he mused. Even more… and I still have yet to win her heart. What must I do? He gazed longingly across the room upon the princess. Then he frowned upon the tall redheaded figure beside her. Roy Coral was not actually with the maiden, just trying to be. He was following her about the room making grand gestures with powerful arms, and she completely ignoring him. And yet, this did not pacify Lance's blood: What does that scoundrel think he is? I have known the princess all her life…
On the other side of the room, a more placid pair of dove gray eyes watched the same object of affection. No work of my hands could ever compare with this child of nature, he thought as he studied the light playing across the stream of black the flowed down her back, her ice blue skirt billowing from beneath it. She gracefully turned her moon-like face towards some person who addressed her, her swan-like neck tilted delicately, her silky hair falling back to reveal her bare shoulder… Suddenly, the admirer realized the hot feeling at his base. Embarrassed, he turned to leave the room, only to run directly into his mother.
"Faun, suga'," Ruby chided with a flick of her wrist. "Y'all don't come to a pa'ty, to spend all yore time alone outside!"
"I was just gonna look for Tabito, Mom, honest!" Faun said quickly, holding up his hands to prove his innocence. Gray eyes met gray eyes for a split second, as Ruby sized her son up.
"An' why don'tcha ask his old man then?" she suggested. Faun looked over towards Zidane who was enjoying an animated conversation with his father, Blank, and the rest of Tantalus.
"Why bother?" Faun shrugged. "He isn't hard to find, you know." Quickly, he darted from the room. Breathing a sigh of relief, he ran a hand through his short, dark red locks and strode off in search of his friend.
As he had predicted, the crown prince was not hard to find. A swarm of noble girls milled about the base of two pillars outside the antechamber, giggling and gasping among themselves as the prince climbed, no-handed mind you, for their amusement. Faun watched for a moment, noting that the only frightening thing was that the younger man was actually making progress—steady progress. Making his way to the edge of the squealing mass of pink bodies, he called out:
"C'mon! That's nothing!" Tabito started at the sound, losing a whole inch of ground before quickly jamming himself against one marble column with his foot pressed securely against the other. He grinned down over the group of doubly startled daughters of the nobles, his perfect teeth gleaming for he was level with the chandeliers.
"Poor sportsmanship, that, I'd say," he remarked as he regained his footing.
"Is that the best you can do, your highness?" Faun called up loud enough to draw more of a crowd, for he knew the prince would be glad about it. Not that your fencing skills aren't already enough to impress your 'fellows of the higher class'… he thought.
"I appreciate your bode of confidence, player, but this is not quite as easy as it looks," Tabito called back, pulling himself a full three more inches towards the ceiling.
"Is that so?" Faun goaded from his position on the ground.
"Try for yourself, if you cannot take my word," the prince played along as he continued to climb. The suitable maidens all nodded haughtily at the son of the actors, waiting for his response.
"When Baku told me to 'break a leg,' he meant for me not to." The company gathered at the spectacle all began to murmur among themselves. Prince Tabito simply glanced downward.
"It's not so far down," he shrugged. "Less so for you." Peals of laughter broke out at this statement: far much more appreciation for the remark than Faun thought it deserved. But such was what being royalty was about. By and by, the crown prince of Alexandria came to touch the ceiling with his nose, thus filling the courtyard with the applause of approval. He then slid down the one pillar and came over to where Faun was.
"Wretch," he muttered with a smile, before turning to his admirers, "my apologies, ladies, but I am too small an enterprise to be monopolized, and I have business to attend to. I shall return sooner if I remain undisturbed." Thirty wealthy girls curtsied simultaneously as Tabito reentered the castle with Faun in tow.
"My butt, you are," he snorted. "More like small everything but enterprise…" Tabito stopped and drew himself to his full height, which was less than an inch shorter than his friend's, but he made no comment.
"If a single one of them so much as understood that, I'd marry her on the spot," he shook his head in disgust.
"You're so picky," the redhead teased as they started for the parlor.
"I can be," he teased back. "It's even my duty to be. My mother did not marry my father for his stupidity."
"Of course not," Faun nodded. "She managed to see past it—ugh!" He rubbed his rib where he had just been elbowed. "Geez…" Tabito closed the door to the parlor and then bent over with a groan, grabbing his shoulders. "Aw, Tabby," the redhead sighed, for now that they were out of earshot, he could call the prince by his special nickname. "Just take it off."
"If that didn't sound perverse," the half-Gaian chuckled, standing back up. "They'd know if I did… I can't put in back on properly."
"You can't put on a shirt?"
"Properly," Tabito stressed. "Three layers, and they all have to be done just so."
"You're pathetic," Faun laughed. The two-tone sent him a glare that most undeniably said: "Watch it." "You're touchy today," he observed. He had always known that, despite their friendship, Tabito never liked being teased much, but normally he tolerated it.
"I am not well," the prince admitted. "My shoulders are swollen and stiff from two weeks ago."
"Why, what happened?" he furrowed his eyebrows in concern.
"Raven."
"Oh," Faun remarked, trying to sound as natural as possible, although he suspected that Tabito already knew about the monstrous crush he had on his sister.
"I'll be all right," Tabito said to the wall, nearly confirming his suspicions, and then turning back to him, "have you turned out anything?"
"Um…" Faun stuttered, surprised by the complete change of subject. The younger man slung an arm around his shoulder and eyed him suspiciously.
"Don't tell me that you've squandered 5,000 gil's worth at the local pub!"
"Tabby, Tabby," he laughed and shook his head. "The word 'pub' sounds like something else, coming from your mouth." Tabito sent him a glance that read quite clearly that he didn't completely understand. Why does the boy even need words? Faun wondered. He gets on great without them. "To answer your question, I spent a week up at Pinnacle Rocks." Another silent expression from the prince: wistful, almost jealous… "I brought some for you."
"I'll have to open a gallery for all the paintings you give me," Tabito laughed softly, and lifting his somewhat striped tail, slid onto the piano bench and began to play the expensive instrument. Faun listened to what came out as he wondered again about his friend. The Crown Prince of Alexandria was not the open book many believed him to be. Faun wasn't even sure where he stood concerning the cards fate had given him, but he did know of Tabito's want to experience.
"You've never seen the falls?" he asked his young patron.
"From an airship," he said. "If that counts." A gentle melody filled the air: hammers on strings.
"You oughtta sometime," the artist said, feeling as if the two of them had just become very distant.
"I will," Tabito nodded decisively, and with that they were best friends once more. "Sing with me."
"No way," Faun shook his head. "I sound like an oglop with a cold."
"Exactly," he grinned. "You make me sound good."
"As if you needed the help," Faun rolled his eyes. Tabito stopped playing and looked up at him, an amused expression on his handsome features. "What?"
"Thank you…finally." A second, and then the two of them burst out laughing.
"Why was that funny?" Faun suddenly realized.
"Why do you care? A laugh's a laugh," the prince remarked as he made for the door. "Come along; I really shouldn't miss my own mother's birthday celebration."
~~~~~
Mother talking with Eiko and Freya, Father talking with his old friends, Tabito off "princing" somewhere, Chizitsu probably showing his supposedly secret computer to Freya's brats, and me trying to rid myself of an overgrown, dense, bush-head. Why me?
Raven cast a distasteful glance over her shoulder. He was still there. Oh, sure, he was handsome enough, tall and dark-skinned, with bright red hair and emerald green eyes. Like a shop display that follows you. No, his looks were not the problem; that fact that he was there was. Raven attempted to pour herself some punch, only to have Roy pour it for her. She looked away from him as she did, looking down upon her gown and smoothing out her skirts. It's their fault, dressing me up in baby blue. More suiting of a princess, they say. Hmph, more approachable is more like it. Give me a stronger color, and sure enough they'd let me pour my own drink.
Dipping her shoulders the slightest bit as a graceful gratitude, she took the glass and quickly departed for the other side of the room. He came along behind her, his long legs covering the same amount of space with disgusting ease. I suppose I should be charitable. Following is all they can do. They have their motives, sure, and they follow the one who suits those motives best, for they can never find one who suits them exactly. And then they complain. Pitiful. Wandering around, wanting something, but unable to get it: the weak. The many. The ones on my tail—mindless all! Thankfully, there's only so much power they can withstand. Sure enough, the closer she drew to her mother, the more distance she put between herself and the boy.
"There's my peach," Garnet crooned with a smile as she stretched a beckoning hand toward her only daughter. Quickly, Raven sidled up beside her, the queen's hand gripping her shoulder to bring her against her side. She slipped a hand around her mother's waist and gripped the silvery white material of her gown. Garnet's dark tresses were done up in braids against her head, so it was impossible to tell if they were as long as her daughter's. Mother and daughter looked very little like each other.
"You look well, Raven," Eiko smiled, her dark blue hair wisping over her shoulder as she tilted her head slightly to the right.
"As do you, Lady Eiko," the princess returned, bowing respectfully to the Regent of Lindblum. "And you, Lady Freya." The rat-woman nodded with a smile as the orchestra began to play.
"You're blossoming like a rose, I see, princess," she smiled.
"The reddest rose in the garden of many," agreed a gentle male voice and a finger brushed aside several wisps of night. She turned her ice blue eyes up to look at Zidane, who simply beamed at her before he turned his more liquid eyes upon his wife. "I see where she got it, I do." Tacky, thought Raven, although she could not say that she did not appreciate it. Garnet blushed slightly, even though he had complemented her many times a day for twenty years. Raven backed up a bit as her mother's hand came off of her shoulder and into her father's hand. They gazed at each other for a second before Zidane murmured, "Come with me," and led her off towards the other swirling couples. You must admit: they are rather precious together, Raven thought fondly as she watched her parents begin to dance. She nodded at Freya who had just been intercepted by Fratley, before she turned to Eiko.
"I'm not too keen on having some random man walk on my toes, you?" she asked.
"Oh, I think I could handle it," Eiko winked one green eye.
"Better you than me," the princess shrugged. "I think I'll try to find some conversation, since I won't be finding any here."
"You do that," the Regent said, adjusting her corset. Rolling her eyes, Raven did. I guess I'd be desperate to procreate too if I were her age, but still…
~~~~~
"I don't understand…" fourteen-year-old Otto rubbed his head. Chizitsu peered at what he was doing.
"X-button, there," he pointed.
"You do it," the rat boy shook his head. "I'll break it."
"You won't break it," he rolled his eyes, but took over anyway. He wasn't supposed to be sharing Terran technology, he knew. The computer was given to him because the Terran researchers were hoping someday he would join their ranks. Nonetheless, he was a little too proud of the tool to keep it hidden all the time.
"Lemme try," Norder finally found the courage to say, taking his fingers over to the panel. Chizitsu rolled his eyes again and glanced back to see Nerthus and Lillian arguing over who was cuter: Puck or Tabito. He wasn't too thrilled with the idea of a rat thinking about his brother that way, but he said nothing. To upset one of the quadruplets was to upset the whole lot of them…
~~~~~
"There were thirty of them?" Tabito asked.
"Girls? Yeah, why?" Faun answered around the cake in his mouth.
"Fudge," the prince sighed. "I want to dance."
"So? Any one of them would be more than happy to."
"Yes, you see," Tabito explained as he glanced around the room, "I can't dance with all of them, so I'm going to have to pick favorites."
"So?" he asked as he bit into some more cake.
"I don't really care for any of them," he sighed again. "I'd hate to get a girl's hopes up like that, you know." The artist regarded him for a moment.
"You're too nice, is the problem," he decided. "Geez, Tabby, what do you care?"
"I have to figure," said he, "an airhead's feelings are all she has." Faun laughed until the prince grabbed his wrist. "I know; you can dance with me!"
"Hell, no!" he pulled back, his eyes bulging out of his head.
"Oh, come along," violet eyes twinkled mischievously, "it'll be hilarious!"
"No, no way!" the redhead shook his head vehemently.
"I'll let you lead."
"Nooo…" he yanked his hand back to himself adamantly. "Dance with Raven."
"She won't," Tabito shrugged. "She's like you. Anti-social." He bit back any signs of amusement as the man's skin slowly began to match his hair. He glanced out over the crowd of heads, to catch sight of his father's retreating form. "I'll see you later," he quickly told Faun and took off across the room without waiting for his friend's sigh of relief. He had almost made it across the minefield when he was caught in the back.
"You leaving so soon, your highness?" came the confident female voice. Tabito turned his head to look at her, but kept his foot pointed in the direction he was going. Ashley de Granville was the one girl whose heart he would've liked to break, had he not been unwilling to touch it with a forty-foot pole.
"I've been called," he stated.
"I didn't hear anything," she pulled her gaze up along his body. Oh, I can be flirtatious too, he suddenly decided.
"That is because you're not a dog."
"You're a…dog?" she looked slightly confused.
"Surely," he nodded. "I'm their well-trained puppy, so I know all the commands, but…" he leaned his face closer as if to tell her an intense secret, "I'm too smart to let them control me, so I howl at the moon, sniff the visitor's rears, and wet the carpet as I please, for there is nothing they can do about it." Too bad that lacked vulgarity, he thought as he cast her a last grin before he strode out the door. She would be speechless until she decided that he had not actually said that.
Tabito made his way through the gardens until he found his father standing amongst the rose buds, his figure illuminated with moonlight as he stared up at the stars. Tabito watched him for a moment. Zidane had a tendency to seem younger than he was, but there were times when he seemed quite the opposite. Like a sage, thought the son as he moved forward.
"You're leaving again, are you not?" he stated, sadly almost. It happened from time to time.
"I've put it off too long now," Zidane nodded. "I didn't want to miss your mother's birthday."
"She's particular that way," Tabito turned his eyes up to the stars and heaved a sigh. To Terra, a barren wasteland, and yet... "All women are."
"Yep," Zidane agreed as he began to make his way through the flowers, motioning for his son to follow. "It's because they feel like some things should not change. You miss a birthday: it means something that was good has changed for the worse."
"How insightful," the younger nodded, almost smiling, but then, unable to avoid the subject any longer, asked: "How long will you be gone?"
"Six weeks," he answered.
"Your tenth journey to Terra, then."
"Since you were born. They need my help up there, you know. It's a real mess."
"I don't doubt it," Tabito looked to the ground, flicking his tail. Zidane watched him a while, then glanced over at an early spring flower, it's petals wrapped closely around it.
"Dyne can make all the difference," said he, as he stretched a hand out towards it. It's true color was imperceptible in the starlight, but it soon glowed pink, with fragments of ancient thought surrounding it. Majestically, the petals opened their faces up to the sky, one by one. "You try," he told his son.
"I shall," he finally said, and stretched out his hand to another closed flower. Minutes passed. Finally, a glimmer of light traced the folds of the petals, a lilac tint this time. The glow intensified, with traces of hoshina words appearing here and there, but the flower remained unto itself. Finally, the light blinked out, and Tabito heaved a deep sigh, wiping his forehead. He looked up at his father, sorrow burning in his violet eyes. "I need a vacation," he suggested with an attempted smile.
"A passage is more like it," Zidane smiled, placing a hand on his shoulder. "It's all right, Tabi. You really haven't had any time to yourself for such endeavors. Skills like this only come with time and practice."
"A passage, a rite…" the boy looked up at the stars. "I would that I could go with you."
"Little man," Zidane sighed deeply. "Not yet. I know it's hard, but try to understand that you're still too young for travel between planets. You do want to get bigger than me, right?" Tabito looked back with a small smile on his lips. The two men stood up straight as they could, facing each other. Dead even. The son laughed softly and turned around, walking back towards the party, his proposition failed. Zidane watched him go, studying his movement. He was stronger than he looked, the Terran in him, for his step was light. And yet, he didn't walk without presence, the Gaian in him. He was too slender to be a Gaian; too muscular to be a Terran, no, he was something else. My son, Zidane thought proudly.
"Tabito," he called out as he quickly came after him. The face that was again neither Gaian nor Terran looked over the shoulder, its two-tone eyebrows raised in query. "Just remember... no matter what happens, I'll always be proud of you."
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Shoot if that wasn't long. I had to cut a few ideas from this chapter, because I really didn't have the time to compose them. Did you like it anyway?
The plot picks up next Saturday, so don't miss it!
~Enjoy!
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Kyou wa hana sakujitsu made wa tsubomi kana
{I wonder [at] the blossoms today, [they were] buds until yesterday.}
(a haiku by Seian, translated by myself)
The fair sky blushed as the sun kissed her left hand. The bright light of the afternoon gradually amended to a warm glow, tinting the water that buoyed the Prima Vista II an evening red. Likewise, the stage that was supposedly set in darkness was flooded with setting sun. But night descended slowly, as if creation was unwilling to bring the end of the Queen's birthday. The show went on.
"Nay Father, I shan't return!" Cornelia shook her head vehemently. Year after year, the exact same story: same love, same angst, same outcome, Tabito thought poetically, knowing his siblings would be thinking the same. On the other side of the balcony, Raven was examining the tips of her hair, mouthing the dialogue the actors spoke. On this side, Chizitsu was staring off into nowhere, seeing only with his mind as he considered unrelated ideas. Tabito held a refined manner, although he desperately needed to stretch. He had never much cared for "I Want to be Your Canary," but the lack of an intermission was indefinitely unbearable. He shifted his shoulders back in his formal wear, trying to get some blood up his back and into his head so that he would not pass out. He had always disliked shirts in general, but the padded jackets were particularly stifling. His Terran sense of touch was informing him that he was suffocating. He tried to ignore it and found himself concentrating on an itch that had placed itself where he should not scratch. When he tried to ignore this, he found himself concentrating on the fact that his hair was pulled back too tightly. Partially his own fault, he knew, for he insisted on keeping it trimmed so that it was half blonde and half black, leaving it hanging somewhere by his mouth in the front, and layered two inches below his chin in the back. It was, unfortunately, a difficult length for the palace dressers to work with, and they insisted that every single strand be off of his face. Why can't I ever win? Tabito thought angrily as he realized his foot was falling asleep.
He glanced at his parents, only to begin watching them. Garnet was resting her cheek on Zidane's shoulder, and he his on her head. Their fingers were intertwined into one another's, their joint hands resting between their two laps. Periodically, Garnet would smile, and squeeze her husband's hand, causing him to smile as well. And Tabito found himself smiling; he knew the story well: twenty years ago, this day, Zidane had returned to his beloved. Thirty-eight Garnet was now, although she did not look into her thirties just yet normally, and at the moment looked even younger. Zidane, too, although Terrans showed age differently than Gaians, Tabito could tell that the years were gone. Timeless, was the word that came to mind as he looked upon his mother and father, and he wondered faintly if this was how they had looked that day so long ago. The same play, the same place, and the same day for twenty years, and still cherished every minute of it. I see what it means… love does not grow old. For years past, he had been always begging Marcus to hurry up and die, but this year, Tabito was slightly disappointed when it was over, for his parents quickly reverted to their older selves as they all made their way back into the castle for the banquet celebration. I don't suppose it was for my eyes, he mused. He did not like feeling jealous of his father.
A sentinel, standing silently against the winds… A guardian, watching over the grand hall, keeping all things from being amiss: such was how Lance envisioned himself, as he stood apart from the festivity. It's becoming of a soldier to be prepared at all times, he told himself. But becoming of a knight? The thought pestered him as he placed his hand upon the hilt of the Ragnarok, the sword his father gave to him on the day he was knighted. One year, he mused. Even more… and I still have yet to win her heart. What must I do? He gazed longingly across the room upon the princess. Then he frowned upon the tall redheaded figure beside her. Roy Coral was not actually with the maiden, just trying to be. He was following her about the room making grand gestures with powerful arms, and she completely ignoring him. And yet, this did not pacify Lance's blood: What does that scoundrel think he is? I have known the princess all her life…
On the other side of the room, a more placid pair of dove gray eyes watched the same object of affection. No work of my hands could ever compare with this child of nature, he thought as he studied the light playing across the stream of black the flowed down her back, her ice blue skirt billowing from beneath it. She gracefully turned her moon-like face towards some person who addressed her, her swan-like neck tilted delicately, her silky hair falling back to reveal her bare shoulder… Suddenly, the admirer realized the hot feeling at his base. Embarrassed, he turned to leave the room, only to run directly into his mother.
"Faun, suga'," Ruby chided with a flick of her wrist. "Y'all don't come to a pa'ty, to spend all yore time alone outside!"
"I was just gonna look for Tabito, Mom, honest!" Faun said quickly, holding up his hands to prove his innocence. Gray eyes met gray eyes for a split second, as Ruby sized her son up.
"An' why don'tcha ask his old man then?" she suggested. Faun looked over towards Zidane who was enjoying an animated conversation with his father, Blank, and the rest of Tantalus.
"Why bother?" Faun shrugged. "He isn't hard to find, you know." Quickly, he darted from the room. Breathing a sigh of relief, he ran a hand through his short, dark red locks and strode off in search of his friend.
As he had predicted, the crown prince was not hard to find. A swarm of noble girls milled about the base of two pillars outside the antechamber, giggling and gasping among themselves as the prince climbed, no-handed mind you, for their amusement. Faun watched for a moment, noting that the only frightening thing was that the younger man was actually making progress—steady progress. Making his way to the edge of the squealing mass of pink bodies, he called out:
"C'mon! That's nothing!" Tabito started at the sound, losing a whole inch of ground before quickly jamming himself against one marble column with his foot pressed securely against the other. He grinned down over the group of doubly startled daughters of the nobles, his perfect teeth gleaming for he was level with the chandeliers.
"Poor sportsmanship, that, I'd say," he remarked as he regained his footing.
"Is that the best you can do, your highness?" Faun called up loud enough to draw more of a crowd, for he knew the prince would be glad about it. Not that your fencing skills aren't already enough to impress your 'fellows of the higher class'… he thought.
"I appreciate your bode of confidence, player, but this is not quite as easy as it looks," Tabito called back, pulling himself a full three more inches towards the ceiling.
"Is that so?" Faun goaded from his position on the ground.
"Try for yourself, if you cannot take my word," the prince played along as he continued to climb. The suitable maidens all nodded haughtily at the son of the actors, waiting for his response.
"When Baku told me to 'break a leg,' he meant for me not to." The company gathered at the spectacle all began to murmur among themselves. Prince Tabito simply glanced downward.
"It's not so far down," he shrugged. "Less so for you." Peals of laughter broke out at this statement: far much more appreciation for the remark than Faun thought it deserved. But such was what being royalty was about. By and by, the crown prince of Alexandria came to touch the ceiling with his nose, thus filling the courtyard with the applause of approval. He then slid down the one pillar and came over to where Faun was.
"Wretch," he muttered with a smile, before turning to his admirers, "my apologies, ladies, but I am too small an enterprise to be monopolized, and I have business to attend to. I shall return sooner if I remain undisturbed." Thirty wealthy girls curtsied simultaneously as Tabito reentered the castle with Faun in tow.
"My butt, you are," he snorted. "More like small everything but enterprise…" Tabito stopped and drew himself to his full height, which was less than an inch shorter than his friend's, but he made no comment.
"If a single one of them so much as understood that, I'd marry her on the spot," he shook his head in disgust.
"You're so picky," the redhead teased as they started for the parlor.
"I can be," he teased back. "It's even my duty to be. My mother did not marry my father for his stupidity."
"Of course not," Faun nodded. "She managed to see past it—ugh!" He rubbed his rib where he had just been elbowed. "Geez…" Tabito closed the door to the parlor and then bent over with a groan, grabbing his shoulders. "Aw, Tabby," the redhead sighed, for now that they were out of earshot, he could call the prince by his special nickname. "Just take it off."
"If that didn't sound perverse," the half-Gaian chuckled, standing back up. "They'd know if I did… I can't put in back on properly."
"You can't put on a shirt?"
"Properly," Tabito stressed. "Three layers, and they all have to be done just so."
"You're pathetic," Faun laughed. The two-tone sent him a glare that most undeniably said: "Watch it." "You're touchy today," he observed. He had always known that, despite their friendship, Tabito never liked being teased much, but normally he tolerated it.
"I am not well," the prince admitted. "My shoulders are swollen and stiff from two weeks ago."
"Why, what happened?" he furrowed his eyebrows in concern.
"Raven."
"Oh," Faun remarked, trying to sound as natural as possible, although he suspected that Tabito already knew about the monstrous crush he had on his sister.
"I'll be all right," Tabito said to the wall, nearly confirming his suspicions, and then turning back to him, "have you turned out anything?"
"Um…" Faun stuttered, surprised by the complete change of subject. The younger man slung an arm around his shoulder and eyed him suspiciously.
"Don't tell me that you've squandered 5,000 gil's worth at the local pub!"
"Tabby, Tabby," he laughed and shook his head. "The word 'pub' sounds like something else, coming from your mouth." Tabito sent him a glance that read quite clearly that he didn't completely understand. Why does the boy even need words? Faun wondered. He gets on great without them. "To answer your question, I spent a week up at Pinnacle Rocks." Another silent expression from the prince: wistful, almost jealous… "I brought some for you."
"I'll have to open a gallery for all the paintings you give me," Tabito laughed softly, and lifting his somewhat striped tail, slid onto the piano bench and began to play the expensive instrument. Faun listened to what came out as he wondered again about his friend. The Crown Prince of Alexandria was not the open book many believed him to be. Faun wasn't even sure where he stood concerning the cards fate had given him, but he did know of Tabito's want to experience.
"You've never seen the falls?" he asked his young patron.
"From an airship," he said. "If that counts." A gentle melody filled the air: hammers on strings.
"You oughtta sometime," the artist said, feeling as if the two of them had just become very distant.
"I will," Tabito nodded decisively, and with that they were best friends once more. "Sing with me."
"No way," Faun shook his head. "I sound like an oglop with a cold."
"Exactly," he grinned. "You make me sound good."
"As if you needed the help," Faun rolled his eyes. Tabito stopped playing and looked up at him, an amused expression on his handsome features. "What?"
"Thank you…finally." A second, and then the two of them burst out laughing.
"Why was that funny?" Faun suddenly realized.
"Why do you care? A laugh's a laugh," the prince remarked as he made for the door. "Come along; I really shouldn't miss my own mother's birthday celebration."
Mother talking with Eiko and Freya, Father talking with his old friends, Tabito off "princing" somewhere, Chizitsu probably showing his supposedly secret computer to Freya's brats, and me trying to rid myself of an overgrown, dense, bush-head. Why me?
Raven cast a distasteful glance over her shoulder. He was still there. Oh, sure, he was handsome enough, tall and dark-skinned, with bright red hair and emerald green eyes. Like a shop display that follows you. No, his looks were not the problem; that fact that he was there was. Raven attempted to pour herself some punch, only to have Roy pour it for her. She looked away from him as she did, looking down upon her gown and smoothing out her skirts. It's their fault, dressing me up in baby blue. More suiting of a princess, they say. Hmph, more approachable is more like it. Give me a stronger color, and sure enough they'd let me pour my own drink.
Dipping her shoulders the slightest bit as a graceful gratitude, she took the glass and quickly departed for the other side of the room. He came along behind her, his long legs covering the same amount of space with disgusting ease. I suppose I should be charitable. Following is all they can do. They have their motives, sure, and they follow the one who suits those motives best, for they can never find one who suits them exactly. And then they complain. Pitiful. Wandering around, wanting something, but unable to get it: the weak. The many. The ones on my tail—mindless all! Thankfully, there's only so much power they can withstand. Sure enough, the closer she drew to her mother, the more distance she put between herself and the boy.
"There's my peach," Garnet crooned with a smile as she stretched a beckoning hand toward her only daughter. Quickly, Raven sidled up beside her, the queen's hand gripping her shoulder to bring her against her side. She slipped a hand around her mother's waist and gripped the silvery white material of her gown. Garnet's dark tresses were done up in braids against her head, so it was impossible to tell if they were as long as her daughter's. Mother and daughter looked very little like each other.
"You look well, Raven," Eiko smiled, her dark blue hair wisping over her shoulder as she tilted her head slightly to the right.
"As do you, Lady Eiko," the princess returned, bowing respectfully to the Regent of Lindblum. "And you, Lady Freya." The rat-woman nodded with a smile as the orchestra began to play.
"You're blossoming like a rose, I see, princess," she smiled.
"The reddest rose in the garden of many," agreed a gentle male voice and a finger brushed aside several wisps of night. She turned her ice blue eyes up to look at Zidane, who simply beamed at her before he turned his more liquid eyes upon his wife. "I see where she got it, I do." Tacky, thought Raven, although she could not say that she did not appreciate it. Garnet blushed slightly, even though he had complemented her many times a day for twenty years. Raven backed up a bit as her mother's hand came off of her shoulder and into her father's hand. They gazed at each other for a second before Zidane murmured, "Come with me," and led her off towards the other swirling couples. You must admit: they are rather precious together, Raven thought fondly as she watched her parents begin to dance. She nodded at Freya who had just been intercepted by Fratley, before she turned to Eiko.
"I'm not too keen on having some random man walk on my toes, you?" she asked.
"Oh, I think I could handle it," Eiko winked one green eye.
"Better you than me," the princess shrugged. "I think I'll try to find some conversation, since I won't be finding any here."
"You do that," the Regent said, adjusting her corset. Rolling her eyes, Raven did. I guess I'd be desperate to procreate too if I were her age, but still…
"I don't understand…" fourteen-year-old Otto rubbed his head. Chizitsu peered at what he was doing.
"X-button, there," he pointed.
"You do it," the rat boy shook his head. "I'll break it."
"You won't break it," he rolled his eyes, but took over anyway. He wasn't supposed to be sharing Terran technology, he knew. The computer was given to him because the Terran researchers were hoping someday he would join their ranks. Nonetheless, he was a little too proud of the tool to keep it hidden all the time.
"Lemme try," Norder finally found the courage to say, taking his fingers over to the panel. Chizitsu rolled his eyes again and glanced back to see Nerthus and Lillian arguing over who was cuter: Puck or Tabito. He wasn't too thrilled with the idea of a rat thinking about his brother that way, but he said nothing. To upset one of the quadruplets was to upset the whole lot of them…
"There were thirty of them?" Tabito asked.
"Girls? Yeah, why?" Faun answered around the cake in his mouth.
"Fudge," the prince sighed. "I want to dance."
"So? Any one of them would be more than happy to."
"Yes, you see," Tabito explained as he glanced around the room, "I can't dance with all of them, so I'm going to have to pick favorites."
"So?" he asked as he bit into some more cake.
"I don't really care for any of them," he sighed again. "I'd hate to get a girl's hopes up like that, you know." The artist regarded him for a moment.
"You're too nice, is the problem," he decided. "Geez, Tabby, what do you care?"
"I have to figure," said he, "an airhead's feelings are all she has." Faun laughed until the prince grabbed his wrist. "I know; you can dance with me!"
"Hell, no!" he pulled back, his eyes bulging out of his head.
"Oh, come along," violet eyes twinkled mischievously, "it'll be hilarious!"
"No, no way!" the redhead shook his head vehemently.
"I'll let you lead."
"Nooo…" he yanked his hand back to himself adamantly. "Dance with Raven."
"She won't," Tabito shrugged. "She's like you. Anti-social." He bit back any signs of amusement as the man's skin slowly began to match his hair. He glanced out over the crowd of heads, to catch sight of his father's retreating form. "I'll see you later," he quickly told Faun and took off across the room without waiting for his friend's sigh of relief. He had almost made it across the minefield when he was caught in the back.
"You leaving so soon, your highness?" came the confident female voice. Tabito turned his head to look at her, but kept his foot pointed in the direction he was going. Ashley de Granville was the one girl whose heart he would've liked to break, had he not been unwilling to touch it with a forty-foot pole.
"I've been called," he stated.
"I didn't hear anything," she pulled her gaze up along his body. Oh, I can be flirtatious too, he suddenly decided.
"That is because you're not a dog."
"You're a…dog?" she looked slightly confused.
"Surely," he nodded. "I'm their well-trained puppy, so I know all the commands, but…" he leaned his face closer as if to tell her an intense secret, "I'm too smart to let them control me, so I howl at the moon, sniff the visitor's rears, and wet the carpet as I please, for there is nothing they can do about it." Too bad that lacked vulgarity, he thought as he cast her a last grin before he strode out the door. She would be speechless until she decided that he had not actually said that.
Tabito made his way through the gardens until he found his father standing amongst the rose buds, his figure illuminated with moonlight as he stared up at the stars. Tabito watched him for a moment. Zidane had a tendency to seem younger than he was, but there were times when he seemed quite the opposite. Like a sage, thought the son as he moved forward.
"You're leaving again, are you not?" he stated, sadly almost. It happened from time to time.
"I've put it off too long now," Zidane nodded. "I didn't want to miss your mother's birthday."
"She's particular that way," Tabito turned his eyes up to the stars and heaved a sigh. To Terra, a barren wasteland, and yet... "All women are."
"Yep," Zidane agreed as he began to make his way through the flowers, motioning for his son to follow. "It's because they feel like some things should not change. You miss a birthday: it means something that was good has changed for the worse."
"How insightful," the younger nodded, almost smiling, but then, unable to avoid the subject any longer, asked: "How long will you be gone?"
"Six weeks," he answered.
"Your tenth journey to Terra, then."
"Since you were born. They need my help up there, you know. It's a real mess."
"I don't doubt it," Tabito looked to the ground, flicking his tail. Zidane watched him a while, then glanced over at an early spring flower, it's petals wrapped closely around it.
"Dyne can make all the difference," said he, as he stretched a hand out towards it. It's true color was imperceptible in the starlight, but it soon glowed pink, with fragments of ancient thought surrounding it. Majestically, the petals opened their faces up to the sky, one by one. "You try," he told his son.
"I shall," he finally said, and stretched out his hand to another closed flower. Minutes passed. Finally, a glimmer of light traced the folds of the petals, a lilac tint this time. The glow intensified, with traces of hoshina words appearing here and there, but the flower remained unto itself. Finally, the light blinked out, and Tabito heaved a deep sigh, wiping his forehead. He looked up at his father, sorrow burning in his violet eyes. "I need a vacation," he suggested with an attempted smile.
"A passage is more like it," Zidane smiled, placing a hand on his shoulder. "It's all right, Tabi. You really haven't had any time to yourself for such endeavors. Skills like this only come with time and practice."
"A passage, a rite…" the boy looked up at the stars. "I would that I could go with you."
"Little man," Zidane sighed deeply. "Not yet. I know it's hard, but try to understand that you're still too young for travel between planets. You do want to get bigger than me, right?" Tabito looked back with a small smile on his lips. The two men stood up straight as they could, facing each other. Dead even. The son laughed softly and turned around, walking back towards the party, his proposition failed. Zidane watched him go, studying his movement. He was stronger than he looked, the Terran in him, for his step was light. And yet, he didn't walk without presence, the Gaian in him. He was too slender to be a Gaian; too muscular to be a Terran, no, he was something else. My son, Zidane thought proudly.
"Tabito," he called out as he quickly came after him. The face that was again neither Gaian nor Terran looked over the shoulder, its two-tone eyebrows raised in query. "Just remember... no matter what happens, I'll always be proud of you."
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Shoot if that wasn't long. I had to cut a few ideas from this chapter, because I really didn't have the time to compose them. Did you like it anyway?
The plot picks up next Saturday, so don't miss it!