Sorry if this chapter's a bit short, but I was really busy this week. Most
of this was written on the train. It was a nine hour ride, but I couldn't
concentrate most of the time, cause all the other passengers were either
tourists or people from New York City. . But here's the chapter anyway!
~Enjoy!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Nagaki yo ya omou koto iu mizu no oto
{Long is the night, and the sound of the water speaks the things I that feel.}
(a haiku by Gochiku, translated by me)
Have things changed for the worse…? Tabito slouched against the windowsill of his chambers, once his mother's. Far below him beyond the moat lay the town of Alexandria, her citizens bustling back and forth as they always did. It's a long way down from here, he thought, noting the irony but not appreciating it. Steiner and Raven were attempting to comfort Garnet, and Beatrix was holding a now crying Chizitsu in the next room. But the crown prince couldn't stand it; he withdrew.
Father… What has happened? Tabito held his fears down in the pit of his stomach as he tried to reason a way Zidane might be able to come back. Terra was a nearly dead planet, but the Terrans still wished to save it. Flying to Terra was not routine, but it was not dangerous either. Nine times, Zidane had gone to the planet to help the reconstruction. Nine times, the trip was uneventful. What happened…? The door opened behind him. Tabito whirled around, frowning.
"Tabby?" asked Faun. "Are you alright?"
"You could have knocked," Tabito muttered as he turned back to the window. His expression remained the same as he heard the redhead's footsteps come toward him.
"I…heard what's going on…" Faun waited for a response, and getting none: "I don't know what to say."
"Then say nothing," Tabito replied, although he didn't look at him. He could feel Faun's presence hovering at his shoulder, making him feel crowded.
"You must be…pretty upset, huh?" Faun just stood there, feeling like an idiot.
"Hm," came the brief response. Faun continued to simply stand there for a few minutes. Finally he reached out and rested his hand on his friend's shoulder. The muscles immediately became rigid as stone beneath his touch, making him feel more awkward.
"I wish there was something I could do to make you feel better…"
"Just leave me alone," Tabito said, pulling away, his back now to the young artist.
"I only wanted to help," Faun flinched. "It's what friends are for."
"I want to be left alone," the prince repeated heaving a sigh. Faun stared at his back a while, before turning to leave.
"I…see," Faun said, backing away, and feeling rather stupid. "Um, I'll go home." Tabito remained motionless until the door closed. He then turned his head to make certain that it was actually closed, his lower lip trembling. The door was closed tightly; the air was still but for the sounds he himself made. "Friends stick with you when you're down…" came the thought. What about when you should be up? Who then? He gasped back a sob that ripped up his throat, bringing the chill from his stomach with it. Sobbing again, softly this time, he sank to his knees, grasping his bicolor locks of hair in trembling hands. Moaning… forcing back tears… and his chin down.
Keep your chin up.
The only man he'd let see him like this was absent.
~~~~~
"How is his highness?" Lance asked Faun, who had just come down the stairs, easel and bags in hand.
"I dunno," Faun sighed tetchily. "He doesn't want my company, so there's no point in staying here."
"He becomes ornery when he's upset," the knight said softly. "Do not take it personally." Faun nodded wearily. "Shall I help you with your luggage?"
"Yes, thanks," he smiled. The larger man hoisted a bag onto his shoulder and began following the smaller to the harbor. "I just don't get it," the artist finally spoke up. "It's like I'm only ever his friend when he's happy."
"Hm," Lance responded. "I know what you mean."
"You too, eh? What, are we not good enough for you, Tabby?"
"I do not think that is why," the knight said.
"Oh? Then why?" Faun kicked at a stone on the path.
"The princess always says that he 'needs his space,'" he explained.
"Raven says that, eh?"
"Yes."
"Fine then," Faun pouted some more. "He can enjoy his misery, then. See if I care!" Lance said nothing, so Faun continued ranting. "Geez, I felt so stupid. If I had known he'd just boot me out, I wouldn't have bothered to go in!"
"Perhaps you don't know him as well as you think you do?" he suggested. This time, Faun said nothing, but simply took his baggage from Lance and boarded the ferry to Lindblum.
~~~~~
The rest of the day passed slowly. Tabito stayed in his chambers and refused dinner. He watched the sun seep into the western horizon, filling the sky with the colors of a garden, all the while wondering. Finally, as the stars blinked awake in the sweep of midnight blue, he turned to his bed. The sheets that looked like cream by day looked like ice now, but he slid between them anyway. He let his body relax in the downy softness, his hair falling off of his face to rest upon the pillows, every joint in his body easy down to the very tip of his tail, and yet his mind remained tormented. He closed his eyes against the room, and his breathing became steady, and still his mind rushed. This is ridiculous… he tried to tell himself. Half of him believed strongly that his father would be all right, but the other half was giving into the nagging doubts.
A knock on the door made him jump. Angrily, he turned his deep violet eyes on the door, willing the disturber to go away. The disturber was too strong for that.
"Tabi?" came the voice of Raven. "Are you even in there?"
"Where else would I be?" he muttered, leaning against the pillows.
"I don't know," she answered as she opened the door. "Someone suggested you might have sneaked out…and I had a doubt."
"I'd think you'd know better," he snorted, turning his head away. Word of mouth. Can people not leave alone what they fail to understand? Or is humankind so conceited that they think they know all?
"I would but…" she trailed off, staring out the window.
"But?" he looked back at her. After two endless minutes, he sat upright. "Raven?"
"I've been surprised…now," a whisper. He waited for her to continue. Seconds dragged by, and slowly, he could feel trembles in the air. He wasn't the one shaking.
"Raven?" he asked, more concerned this time.
"I thought he was…invincible."
"Maybe he is."
"Maybe?" she shook her head, black hair flying. "Mother… she'll never be the same Tabi… She'll… I—she'll never be the same again."
"Who ever is?" he sighed, getting up. "Everything changes, Raven. We can't stop that."
"Mother was happy, Tabi!" Raven shouted. "I… don't want her to lose that."
"Nor I, but we can't help it," he sighed.
"Why not?" her eyebrows rose in anguish.
"Some things…are beyond our control," he answered.
"Why?" she growled.
"Why?" he echoed. "Because…we can only do so much. We had no clue that this would happen, we couldn't have possibly been prepared."
"So it's beyond our control…" her hands clenched into fists.
"Yes, that's the future for you," he said gently.
"I don't like that," she looked up at him, frowning. "That's not the way it should be."
"I don't know about that," he blinked.
"So acquiescent!" she sneered at him, her fists shaking. "I don't want circumstance to control my future!"
"It doesn't," he shook his head his eyebrows lifting in concern. "Not all of it."
"It shouldn't at all!" she yelled. "I should control destiny! All fate should be available to me!!" Upon Alexander, Tabito suddenly realized, she's cracking…
"Raven!" he grabbed her shoulders. "Snap out of it!"
"If fate does this to me, it shouldn't exist!" she screamed in his face. "It should be mine to choose!"
"Don't be ridiculous!" Tabito shook her. "Nobody can handle that sort of power! The balance we call existence shouldn't be tampered with… Not that we can." He stopped shaking her as her expression softened.
"Tabi," asked she, "how can you be satisfied with this?"
"Because good can come from anything," he answered. "It is only the past that is irreversible. What time stamps is; what we help will be." She looked up at him a long time, staring unblinkingly into his eyes.
"And yet, you think father is alive?"
"And will believe so until proven otherwise," he nodded.
"Why do you hide behind such hopes, Tabi?" she sighed, a wetness gathering in the corners of her eyes. "Why can you not face the facts?"
"I think, rather, that it is the realists who fear disappointment, that are weak," he answered. "The ones without hope never created anything new." She continued to stare at him for a while.
"You should…" she sniffed softly, "you should tell that to mother."
"She knows," he said. "She knows for herself."
"But," Raven shook her head, "she cried for three hours straight."
"Mm," he nodded thoughtfully. "She's a woman. She needed to cry."
"Needed to, you say?" she snorted haughtily. "What have you been reading, Tabito? Throw it away."
"You feel like weeping, Raven," he answered, "do you not?"
"I have no need for such weakness," she raised her nose.
"Weeping is the woman's strength and joy," Tabito corrected, almost wistfully. "You're doing no one any good to deny what you are."
"Me? Cry?" she looked as if she might laugh, but it came out as a sob.
"It's all right," he soothed, as his sister bit back her tears. "I'll tell no one, if you wish."
"If it's not weakness," she replied as one tear slid down her ivory cheek, "I feel no shame." Suddenly, she grabbed him around his waist and pressed her face into his shoulder, the salty water spilling down his back. For a moment he was still with shock, then he softly stroked her back, uttering soothing sounds deep in his throat. See, now, good can come of anything, he thought dryly. Minutes passed as she wept upon his shoulder, then, she slowly pulled her head back, long strands of evening falling back from her face to reveal her tear-stained cheeks. Oi, thought Tabito. He decided not to speak of this, for Raven was heartbreakingly beautiful when she cried. She liked being fussed over far less than he did.
"Are you finished?" he asked.
"How do you do it, Tabi?" she asked back, tears falling anew.
"Do what?"
"Believe…I just don't see it. I don't see the hope." He regarded her for a moment, before shrugging. "You're like a rock," she teased gently, "you just weather it." Just keep thinking that, he thought to himself.
"It's a little trick I learned," he explained, "from being heir to the crown." She regarded him a moment before tiredly falling back into his arms, weeping more slowly this time. Sweet, gentle Tabito, oh reckless, restless soul, thought Raven. But not quite… What are you, older brother, to remain sane at a time such as this? I swear, if someone flattened you against a wall and held a blade to your throat, you'd hope that the wall would crumble and blade would break to the last. That you would, son of Zidane. She smiled to herself as her exhaustion overtook her.
"How dare you be stronger than me," she murmured as she passed into slumber. Although weary himself, Tabito gently laid his sister on the bed. He stood and watched her for a moment, wondering if she might awake and leave on her own. But no, Raven simply fell deeper into sleep. Sighing softly, he looked out the window. It seemed like a pleasant evening, and he had been inside all day, so he decided to go for a walk.
Tabito's feet led him out into the garden, where he often went to think. The Alexandrian Gardens were they most beautiful in all of Gaia, it was said. The little known reason for this was the Queen's husband. Zidane was a renowned botanist among his people and was said to be able to make any plant grow anywhere. It wasn't true, Zidane had often said himself, and he simply explained that he had a close connection with plant energy. Tabito looked upon the tall red rose bushes that Garnet had planted in her mother, Brahne's, honor. Beside them, entwined around themselves, were the white rose bushes that Zidane had grown in Garnet's honor. There were no buds yet, for spring was young, but the plants themselves were healthy and full, making the other queen's bushes look nearly sickly.
"Will you, without your master, wither away?" he asked the bushes. Like my mother, waste away. Become as nothing, not even your own shadow. And thus, Tabito allowed himself to imagine life without Zidane. Chizitsu might be all right, since he spent most of his time learning anyway. Raven would get along, but would constantly worry over Garnet. His mother truly would never be the same. Tabito's heart began to wrench within his breast as he imagined, Garnet, coming to breakfast, not making any conversation then going to appointment after appointment, trudging steadily between them, as opposed to the kisses sneaked into the halls and the faithful foot massages between stiff-necked committees. Imagining Steiner never wondering where the queen may have disappeared to from her office. Garnet, sitting in her own chair for lunch… Garnet, sitting through ceremonies by herself, no one holding her hand… Garnet, keeping her feet to herself beneath the dinner table... Garnet, silently retiring to a giant, empty bed…
Tabito shuddered beneath the vast expanse of stars. And he himself…it was at least to say he'd never learn dyne. Instantly, Tabito felt loneliness. There were two people who still believed he'd make a good king someday: his mother and his father. But who was his mother without… Dad? Spring it may have been, but winter wrapped its fingers, fingers like branches coated in ice, around his heart. Life without Zidane. The prince clutched at his own chest as he peered up into the sky. Somewhere up there… wherever you are, Dad, please come back.
Tabito was tired before he had gone outside, so he was exhausted by the time he had returned to his room. Raven was still there, sleeping soundly. For a moment, he considered going to her room and sleeping in her bed. However, since she was finicky about her chambers, and since he was exhausted, Tabito simply took one of the pillows and took it to the foot of the bed, where he curled up, his tail against his body. It was less easy to get comfortable here, but since he was already quite tired, he slowly drifted off to sleep, the last thing he remembered was wondering how long he'd have to wait for it.
~~~~~
The sun rose on the other side of the castle, so the two siblings slept undisturbed until Chizitsu burst into the room.
"Tabi!" he shouted as he ran to the bedside, "get up now it's an—oh. Good morning, Raven." His sister sat up slowly, adjusting her hair, and giving her younger brother the evil eye. Chizitsu ignored her and, running back to the doorway, shouted: "I found Raven!"
"So much for your emergency," muttered an irritated Tabito, as he sat up on the far corner of the bed, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.
"Oh, is Mother in here too?" asked Chizitsu.
"No," said Raven, stretching.
"Than there is a problem," he continued. "We couldn't find mom or Raven this morning and everyone's searched everywhere. We weren't going to disturb you, Tabi, but now we have searched everywhere."
"Mother's gone?" Tabito bolted from the bed, zipped straight out the door, and grabbed Steiner by the collar of his armor. "What's this about the queen missing?!" he demanded. Although startled, Steiner saluted.
"Your highness," said he, "no one has seen her since last night. We have searched all of the premises, and now most of the town." And Beatrix added:
"As well as several other places I know she likes to go—Tabito!" But the prince was off and up the stairs to the queen's chambers. She wouldn't leave me like this! he decided as he searched about for any sign she would have left. But it was just an empty room.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
No, I won't make a habit of this, my sweet, lovable reviewers. But the cliffhangers do help to build the tension, dontchathinkso? ...Okay, okay... I'll shut up now. Until Saturday.
~Enjoy!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Nagaki yo ya omou koto iu mizu no oto
{Long is the night, and the sound of the water speaks the things I that feel.}
(a haiku by Gochiku, translated by me)
Have things changed for the worse…? Tabito slouched against the windowsill of his chambers, once his mother's. Far below him beyond the moat lay the town of Alexandria, her citizens bustling back and forth as they always did. It's a long way down from here, he thought, noting the irony but not appreciating it. Steiner and Raven were attempting to comfort Garnet, and Beatrix was holding a now crying Chizitsu in the next room. But the crown prince couldn't stand it; he withdrew.
Father… What has happened? Tabito held his fears down in the pit of his stomach as he tried to reason a way Zidane might be able to come back. Terra was a nearly dead planet, but the Terrans still wished to save it. Flying to Terra was not routine, but it was not dangerous either. Nine times, Zidane had gone to the planet to help the reconstruction. Nine times, the trip was uneventful. What happened…? The door opened behind him. Tabito whirled around, frowning.
"Tabby?" asked Faun. "Are you alright?"
"You could have knocked," Tabito muttered as he turned back to the window. His expression remained the same as he heard the redhead's footsteps come toward him.
"I…heard what's going on…" Faun waited for a response, and getting none: "I don't know what to say."
"Then say nothing," Tabito replied, although he didn't look at him. He could feel Faun's presence hovering at his shoulder, making him feel crowded.
"You must be…pretty upset, huh?" Faun just stood there, feeling like an idiot.
"Hm," came the brief response. Faun continued to simply stand there for a few minutes. Finally he reached out and rested his hand on his friend's shoulder. The muscles immediately became rigid as stone beneath his touch, making him feel more awkward.
"I wish there was something I could do to make you feel better…"
"Just leave me alone," Tabito said, pulling away, his back now to the young artist.
"I only wanted to help," Faun flinched. "It's what friends are for."
"I want to be left alone," the prince repeated heaving a sigh. Faun stared at his back a while, before turning to leave.
"I…see," Faun said, backing away, and feeling rather stupid. "Um, I'll go home." Tabito remained motionless until the door closed. He then turned his head to make certain that it was actually closed, his lower lip trembling. The door was closed tightly; the air was still but for the sounds he himself made. "Friends stick with you when you're down…" came the thought. What about when you should be up? Who then? He gasped back a sob that ripped up his throat, bringing the chill from his stomach with it. Sobbing again, softly this time, he sank to his knees, grasping his bicolor locks of hair in trembling hands. Moaning… forcing back tears… and his chin down.
The only man he'd let see him like this was absent.
"How is his highness?" Lance asked Faun, who had just come down the stairs, easel and bags in hand.
"I dunno," Faun sighed tetchily. "He doesn't want my company, so there's no point in staying here."
"He becomes ornery when he's upset," the knight said softly. "Do not take it personally." Faun nodded wearily. "Shall I help you with your luggage?"
"Yes, thanks," he smiled. The larger man hoisted a bag onto his shoulder and began following the smaller to the harbor. "I just don't get it," the artist finally spoke up. "It's like I'm only ever his friend when he's happy."
"Hm," Lance responded. "I know what you mean."
"You too, eh? What, are we not good enough for you, Tabby?"
"I do not think that is why," the knight said.
"Oh? Then why?" Faun kicked at a stone on the path.
"The princess always says that he 'needs his space,'" he explained.
"Raven says that, eh?"
"Yes."
"Fine then," Faun pouted some more. "He can enjoy his misery, then. See if I care!" Lance said nothing, so Faun continued ranting. "Geez, I felt so stupid. If I had known he'd just boot me out, I wouldn't have bothered to go in!"
"Perhaps you don't know him as well as you think you do?" he suggested. This time, Faun said nothing, but simply took his baggage from Lance and boarded the ferry to Lindblum.
The rest of the day passed slowly. Tabito stayed in his chambers and refused dinner. He watched the sun seep into the western horizon, filling the sky with the colors of a garden, all the while wondering. Finally, as the stars blinked awake in the sweep of midnight blue, he turned to his bed. The sheets that looked like cream by day looked like ice now, but he slid between them anyway. He let his body relax in the downy softness, his hair falling off of his face to rest upon the pillows, every joint in his body easy down to the very tip of his tail, and yet his mind remained tormented. He closed his eyes against the room, and his breathing became steady, and still his mind rushed. This is ridiculous… he tried to tell himself. Half of him believed strongly that his father would be all right, but the other half was giving into the nagging doubts.
A knock on the door made him jump. Angrily, he turned his deep violet eyes on the door, willing the disturber to go away. The disturber was too strong for that.
"Tabi?" came the voice of Raven. "Are you even in there?"
"Where else would I be?" he muttered, leaning against the pillows.
"I don't know," she answered as she opened the door. "Someone suggested you might have sneaked out…and I had a doubt."
"I'd think you'd know better," he snorted, turning his head away. Word of mouth. Can people not leave alone what they fail to understand? Or is humankind so conceited that they think they know all?
"I would but…" she trailed off, staring out the window.
"But?" he looked back at her. After two endless minutes, he sat upright. "Raven?"
"I've been surprised…now," a whisper. He waited for her to continue. Seconds dragged by, and slowly, he could feel trembles in the air. He wasn't the one shaking.
"Raven?" he asked, more concerned this time.
"I thought he was…invincible."
"Maybe he is."
"Maybe?" she shook her head, black hair flying. "Mother… she'll never be the same Tabi… She'll… I—she'll never be the same again."
"Who ever is?" he sighed, getting up. "Everything changes, Raven. We can't stop that."
"Mother was happy, Tabi!" Raven shouted. "I… don't want her to lose that."
"Nor I, but we can't help it," he sighed.
"Why not?" her eyebrows rose in anguish.
"Some things…are beyond our control," he answered.
"Why?" she growled.
"Why?" he echoed. "Because…we can only do so much. We had no clue that this would happen, we couldn't have possibly been prepared."
"So it's beyond our control…" her hands clenched into fists.
"Yes, that's the future for you," he said gently.
"I don't like that," she looked up at him, frowning. "That's not the way it should be."
"I don't know about that," he blinked.
"So acquiescent!" she sneered at him, her fists shaking. "I don't want circumstance to control my future!"
"It doesn't," he shook his head his eyebrows lifting in concern. "Not all of it."
"It shouldn't at all!" she yelled. "I should control destiny! All fate should be available to me!!" Upon Alexander, Tabito suddenly realized, she's cracking…
"Raven!" he grabbed her shoulders. "Snap out of it!"
"If fate does this to me, it shouldn't exist!" she screamed in his face. "It should be mine to choose!"
"Don't be ridiculous!" Tabito shook her. "Nobody can handle that sort of power! The balance we call existence shouldn't be tampered with… Not that we can." He stopped shaking her as her expression softened.
"Tabi," asked she, "how can you be satisfied with this?"
"Because good can come from anything," he answered. "It is only the past that is irreversible. What time stamps is; what we help will be." She looked up at him a long time, staring unblinkingly into his eyes.
"And yet, you think father is alive?"
"And will believe so until proven otherwise," he nodded.
"Why do you hide behind such hopes, Tabi?" she sighed, a wetness gathering in the corners of her eyes. "Why can you not face the facts?"
"I think, rather, that it is the realists who fear disappointment, that are weak," he answered. "The ones without hope never created anything new." She continued to stare at him for a while.
"You should…" she sniffed softly, "you should tell that to mother."
"She knows," he said. "She knows for herself."
"But," Raven shook her head, "she cried for three hours straight."
"Mm," he nodded thoughtfully. "She's a woman. She needed to cry."
"Needed to, you say?" she snorted haughtily. "What have you been reading, Tabito? Throw it away."
"You feel like weeping, Raven," he answered, "do you not?"
"I have no need for such weakness," she raised her nose.
"Weeping is the woman's strength and joy," Tabito corrected, almost wistfully. "You're doing no one any good to deny what you are."
"Me? Cry?" she looked as if she might laugh, but it came out as a sob.
"It's all right," he soothed, as his sister bit back her tears. "I'll tell no one, if you wish."
"If it's not weakness," she replied as one tear slid down her ivory cheek, "I feel no shame." Suddenly, she grabbed him around his waist and pressed her face into his shoulder, the salty water spilling down his back. For a moment he was still with shock, then he softly stroked her back, uttering soothing sounds deep in his throat. See, now, good can come of anything, he thought dryly. Minutes passed as she wept upon his shoulder, then, she slowly pulled her head back, long strands of evening falling back from her face to reveal her tear-stained cheeks. Oi, thought Tabito. He decided not to speak of this, for Raven was heartbreakingly beautiful when she cried. She liked being fussed over far less than he did.
"Are you finished?" he asked.
"How do you do it, Tabi?" she asked back, tears falling anew.
"Do what?"
"Believe…I just don't see it. I don't see the hope." He regarded her for a moment, before shrugging. "You're like a rock," she teased gently, "you just weather it." Just keep thinking that, he thought to himself.
"It's a little trick I learned," he explained, "from being heir to the crown." She regarded him a moment before tiredly falling back into his arms, weeping more slowly this time. Sweet, gentle Tabito, oh reckless, restless soul, thought Raven. But not quite… What are you, older brother, to remain sane at a time such as this? I swear, if someone flattened you against a wall and held a blade to your throat, you'd hope that the wall would crumble and blade would break to the last. That you would, son of Zidane. She smiled to herself as her exhaustion overtook her.
"How dare you be stronger than me," she murmured as she passed into slumber. Although weary himself, Tabito gently laid his sister on the bed. He stood and watched her for a moment, wondering if she might awake and leave on her own. But no, Raven simply fell deeper into sleep. Sighing softly, he looked out the window. It seemed like a pleasant evening, and he had been inside all day, so he decided to go for a walk.
Tabito's feet led him out into the garden, where he often went to think. The Alexandrian Gardens were they most beautiful in all of Gaia, it was said. The little known reason for this was the Queen's husband. Zidane was a renowned botanist among his people and was said to be able to make any plant grow anywhere. It wasn't true, Zidane had often said himself, and he simply explained that he had a close connection with plant energy. Tabito looked upon the tall red rose bushes that Garnet had planted in her mother, Brahne's, honor. Beside them, entwined around themselves, were the white rose bushes that Zidane had grown in Garnet's honor. There were no buds yet, for spring was young, but the plants themselves were healthy and full, making the other queen's bushes look nearly sickly.
"Will you, without your master, wither away?" he asked the bushes. Like my mother, waste away. Become as nothing, not even your own shadow. And thus, Tabito allowed himself to imagine life without Zidane. Chizitsu might be all right, since he spent most of his time learning anyway. Raven would get along, but would constantly worry over Garnet. His mother truly would never be the same. Tabito's heart began to wrench within his breast as he imagined, Garnet, coming to breakfast, not making any conversation then going to appointment after appointment, trudging steadily between them, as opposed to the kisses sneaked into the halls and the faithful foot massages between stiff-necked committees. Imagining Steiner never wondering where the queen may have disappeared to from her office. Garnet, sitting in her own chair for lunch… Garnet, sitting through ceremonies by herself, no one holding her hand… Garnet, keeping her feet to herself beneath the dinner table... Garnet, silently retiring to a giant, empty bed…
Tabito shuddered beneath the vast expanse of stars. And he himself…it was at least to say he'd never learn dyne. Instantly, Tabito felt loneliness. There were two people who still believed he'd make a good king someday: his mother and his father. But who was his mother without… Dad? Spring it may have been, but winter wrapped its fingers, fingers like branches coated in ice, around his heart. Life without Zidane. The prince clutched at his own chest as he peered up into the sky. Somewhere up there… wherever you are, Dad, please come back.
Tabito was tired before he had gone outside, so he was exhausted by the time he had returned to his room. Raven was still there, sleeping soundly. For a moment, he considered going to her room and sleeping in her bed. However, since she was finicky about her chambers, and since he was exhausted, Tabito simply took one of the pillows and took it to the foot of the bed, where he curled up, his tail against his body. It was less easy to get comfortable here, but since he was already quite tired, he slowly drifted off to sleep, the last thing he remembered was wondering how long he'd have to wait for it.
The sun rose on the other side of the castle, so the two siblings slept undisturbed until Chizitsu burst into the room.
"Tabi!" he shouted as he ran to the bedside, "get up now it's an—oh. Good morning, Raven." His sister sat up slowly, adjusting her hair, and giving her younger brother the evil eye. Chizitsu ignored her and, running back to the doorway, shouted: "I found Raven!"
"So much for your emergency," muttered an irritated Tabito, as he sat up on the far corner of the bed, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.
"Oh, is Mother in here too?" asked Chizitsu.
"No," said Raven, stretching.
"Than there is a problem," he continued. "We couldn't find mom or Raven this morning and everyone's searched everywhere. We weren't going to disturb you, Tabi, but now we have searched everywhere."
"Mother's gone?" Tabito bolted from the bed, zipped straight out the door, and grabbed Steiner by the collar of his armor. "What's this about the queen missing?!" he demanded. Although startled, Steiner saluted.
"Your highness," said he, "no one has seen her since last night. We have searched all of the premises, and now most of the town." And Beatrix added:
"As well as several other places I know she likes to go—Tabito!" But the prince was off and up the stairs to the queen's chambers. She wouldn't leave me like this! he decided as he searched about for any sign she would have left. But it was just an empty room.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
No, I won't make a habit of this, my sweet, lovable reviewers. But the cliffhangers do help to build the tension, dontchathinkso? ...Okay, okay... I'll shut up now. Until Saturday.