Milerna pulled back the lace of her bedroom curtains to watch the procession below her. Two large heavy yaks plodded out past the crowds, on top of one sat King Van, courteously waving to the large crowd as he began the long trek out of Palas back to Fanelia. Behind him were several smaller beasts of burden carrying his personal guard. She wished she had been able to spend the evening in his company, anything and anyone who could help her to feel like herself again. She'd been so preoccupied last night with state affairs that she'd only been able to dine with him before retiring to her chambers. Suddenly she felt like a small bird that had escaped only to find itself in a room without any windows. It was just as bad outside the cage as inside. Even through the troubles of his country, Van had kept his hope alive in Hitomi, and Milerna knew as well as he did that one day Hitomi would return and be mother to Fanelia's heirs. What a promising future he had ahead of him. Milerna's looked bleaker than ever.

Resigning from her perch upon the window-ledge, Milerna returned to her dressing mirror where she began absentmindedly brushing her long champagne locks. At eighteen years old, she felt she had more experience of the world than any of her sisters had. Even though Marlene had been a mother and wife at her age, Milerna knew that she was still older than her years. Milerna had been the only one of the three to manage to break from her confines and escape the lovely gilded cage for even an instant during the war. Now this taste of freedom had crippled her dreams. As much as she resented admitting it, if it hadn't been for Dryden, Milerna would probably have been sent back to Asturia. Allen would surely have wrapped her up in cotton wool and posted her to Palas with "fragile" stickers stuck all over her. The image made a smile come to her face. The smile quickly vanished as realisation brought a frown to her pretty features. Dryden had done his best to let her live a free life, giving her the choice to come with them on their mission to Atlantis and the freedom of having her semi single status returned. But it left her, the worst for wears. She was stuck in limbo, without Dryden there she had no husband and was lonely, but with the insufferable loon in the palace, her life was utter chaos and turmoil of despair.

The familiar knock sounded in the doorway, Milerna waved her hand and Eries entered. Her fair hair flicked out behind her as she glided towards her younger sister.

"How are this morning Milerna? Did you see King Van leave?"

Milerna nodded and smiled, reassuring her sister.

"So you gave him an extension on his loan?" Milerna could see what her sister was really getting at, so she swivelled around on her stool.

"Don't start Eries, Van is a dear friend of mine and Fanelia is in real trouble, what could I do?" She protested but was shocked to find her sister smiling affectionately at her. "What? What did I say?"

Eries turned her around by the shoulder and looked at her with a motherly air in the reflection of the mirror. "Oh Milerna, you're such a pretty girl, far more than Marlene and I ever were. Why should that beauty go to waste?"
Milerna gave her sister a sceptical glare. "What do you mean Eries?"

Eries sat herself on the edge of the stool and picked up the comb Milerna had been using to brush her hair. She began finely pulling the beautifully engraved piece of coral through her sister's wavy tresses of platinum. "You know I overheard a young woman commenting to her elderly father what a good match King Van and yourself would make. Her father then corrected her by reminding that you were already married to Dryden Fassa. She shook her head and laughed reprimanding herself for not having remembered. Now it would be understandable if the roles had been reversed. It's not so unusual for an old man to make a mistake like that, but for young woman of your age…" Eries trailed off as Milerna caught her hand on the back of her head and turned to her, panic darting on her face.

"Eries? What are you saying?"

"Nothing dear, I just think that it would "sensible" of you to invite "your husband" home again" The emphasis on certain words, made it impossible for Milerna to conjure a reason to deny her sister's suggestion.

"But he's insufferable! I can't stand him and you want him to come back to Palas and live with me? I'm never going to stoop to asking him!" She cried exasperated standing up abruptly. Her sister's visage was as placid and amiable as usual as she folded her idle hands neatly into her lap.

"You wont have to dear, it has already been arranged. He'll be heading out tomorrow. It just happens that he is not to far away. Freid to be exact, he offered to bring Chid with him, but our little nephew declined. He insisted it would be too much trouble for Dryden."

Milerna listened incredulously while her sister calmly laid out her future like a slab of meat at a butcher's, just waiting to be cleaved up. "You did what?" I Can NOT believe you did such a thing, after you knew exactly how I feel about that…that…man!"

With a swish of her skirts Milerna disappeared down the hallway in search of a childhood hiding place, she'd so often cried alone in.

That night as Milerna crept wearily into her bed, knowing fully that in a few nights it would be invaded by the lanky figure of her "husband" Dryden. It was only expected, that in these times of peace, normal acts of marriage which were cast aside during the state of war, would now resumed uninterrupted. Much to her dismay, she knew that Dryden would be all too eager to comply with the wishes of Eries and the councillors. Rubbing her sore swollen eyes, the young princess reached for a pillow on the other side of her large clean bed. The light from moon and its mystic partner illuminated the foot of her four-poster queen size, casting an elegant pearly whiteness over the mauve sheets. It was so calm, so clean and so pure it made her body wrack with envy. She didn't know who or what the jealousy was aimed at. But the seemingly free light of the two free roaming giants, gave Milerna a thirst for escape, but a sense of which she knew she could never achieve. Not the freedom of spirit Hitomi could achieve on the mystic moon. A freedom of spirit that Van had fallen in love with, before he had considered her looks. Milerna had never shared that with anyone and would never know the filling feeling it left upon someone's heart. She was beginning to see why she had been so desperate to see Van. Somewhere in her desperate subconscious she had longed for him to be a knight from her past who would save her from the desolation she was feeling. But neither shared feelings beyond friendship. Milerna wept bitterly into the bed sheets. She didn't want to be lonely inside, she wanted to be in love and she knew that although Dryden loved her, she couldn't return the feelings. Sleep could make it better; it would at least numb the pain.

Shifting inside her shoes, Milerna waited impatiently outside the Palace as the crowd began to grow slightly edgy. Where was that man? Dryden knew how to be fashionably late but this was becoming an embarrassment! Suddenly outside the large painted iron gates, black against the sun-bleached promenade, a large procession of coaches stopped. Dryden's fleet had arrived first thing that morning, but it had taken them till two o'clock in the afternoon to get organised to bring ashore all of the items which need to be brought. Now the benefactor himself stepped regally from the cab of the head of the procession and began to slowly meander his way up the formally carpeted entrance. Milerna subtly rolled her eyes, desperate for the man not to make a fool of himself. The strong afternoon sun, made Palas shine like a very large piece of reflective glass. Dryden stood out as he sauntered towards the welcoming party. His wife dutifully stepped forward her eyes cast at the ground.

He stopped in front of her and smiled. She was just as beautiful as when he'd left her. He gently took her shoulders and made a formal performance of affectionately pecking both cheeks. The crowd cheered and he put on his best cheesy grin to wave to them. The mostly sober party made its way inside. Dryden sighed and hugged Milerna against his side smiling down at her.

"Hey honey it's good to be home" He commented trying to break the tension. His wife was not impressed and forced herself out of his embrace, tearfully fleeing from the grand reception hall. A bewildered Merchant regent was left to watch after her, his hopes withering and dying. Eries soon joined his side.

"I'm sorry Dryden, she's been like this ever since father died. Don't take it personally. We just want you to feel welcome here as it is your home once again." The young man managed a smile down at the reserved sister-in-law at his side.

"It's okay, I'm used to the cold shoulder by now, it wont take long before she's begging you for my company don't worry about that" He said intimating a small wink as he did so. A large thump disturbed their cordial conversation. Dryden turned to find to somewhat puzzled and shaken Asturian guards gathered round a large covered box of some sort. "Hey, hey! Careful with that!" He shouted running over beside his oversized possession.

"Uh…Dryden, my dear brother, they are going to unload your belongings through the servant's entrance. There's no need to bring this in the main door" Eries said quietly trying to cover her embarrassment. But Dryden was not to be reached; he was caught up so much in his worrying that he hardly heard the hushed words of the dowager Princess. The box was covered in a giant heavy plastic covering of some sort of brown tarpaulin. Reaching underneath, he slowly stroked a hand along a surface of some sort. Immediately clicking noises and strange echoing whines were heard. Dryden cooed soft whispers to whatever was kept inside the box. It seemed to help sober whatever was so terribly distressed. Dryden stuck his head beneath the flap of material and in a few seconds ducked back out again. Patting the solid case, he wandered rather informally back over the Milerna and sighed.

"Sorry about that, but eh, well…" He pushed the brim of his spectacles up the bridge of his nose and titled his head so that his eyes could not be seen for the sheen of the sun across the lenses. "…I like to keep track of certain possessions of mine"

Eries smiled gently and bowed her head. She understood that before being regent to the whole of Asturia, he'd always be a businessman. "Of course, brother, whatever you wish"

Milerna wandered through her huge luxurious palace, feeling quite alone. Having avoided her husband's homecoming celebratory dinner by complaining of a stomach ach, she had found herself aimlessly milling through the quiet recesses of the old part of the palace. Sadness seemed to seep from the walls, it was a strange heavy feeling, so pathetic, so hungry and lonely. As though the walls themselves were telling tales of their lifetime, all that they had seen and heard. This was the original castle, during her grandfather's reign, he had had many children and Asturia had been a happy pleasant place without corruption or unhappiness. He had had such a large family that the confines of the palace no longer felt big enough. Wilton VIIth had built a beautiful marble extension to the front of his castle, a place for banquets and visitors and for his own people. It included a dazzling white plaza, which still marked the harbour of Asturia. It was a sumptuous fairytale come true. However the happiness did not last for such a long time. A mysterious plague, which was believed have been somehow brought from the Mystic Moon, shattered this picturesque kingdom. Thousands died, including twenty of Wilton Aston's children, his youngest child Ochre Aston, was left a sickly wreck of a baby. Ochre was Milerna's father and had had only three daughters. There was no need for the old part of the palace to be used any longer, only the new splendid apartments. Now only the dark coldness of the stone remained, no longer brightened by the laughter of children. A window had been left open and filled the walkway with a penetrating chill, stirring the curtains. The drapes of dusty purples and oranges which hung from the ceiling, drifted mournfully like banners of long dead and forgotten knights of yore. Such a drowning unhappiness seemed to crush Milerna even though the sight of dusk was so awe-inspiring. The sun rolled along the horizon like an orange, dark rich and spilling its pulp across the landscape. So sad, so lonely and like a lament.

Milerna approached the window, hearing a saint whisper of hope. The wind. It whistled playfully against the echoing silence of the immovable fortress. Like a tiny voice calling her, childlike and free. The young princess ran her fingers along the rusted rot-iron frame of the window, the paint hard and flaking against her delicate fingertips. The mischievous pull of the breeze whipped her long strands of hair out into the night air. Such a strange sensation, like dreaming, passed through her skin. She could go with the wind, lost with the wind, playing and flying forever. In a trance, she hitched her skirt around her thighs in the falling light of the dying sun. Placing her high-heeled foot upon the rim of the ledge she hauled herself against the massive window. Her feet balanced on a very thin edge as the granite outer ledge tapered sharply down. When she fell there would be nothing to stop her until she hit the steam below, snaking away into the fields beyond Palas. Tears stinging at her eyelashes for all the things she wasn't and would never be, she closed her eyes and felt the swirl of air running around her body, urging her forward to join it.

As she held her breath and was about to let her feet slide, two strong hands, far stronger than they need to be, grabbed her around the waist. Milerna tightened her grip on the frame of the window, digging her nails and peeling away layers of rotting paint. She had been expecting some sort of resistance at the last moment, but mostly from her own body, not someone else. The hands were relentless squeezing her sides until she was forced to call out.

"Let me go" She sobbed shaking uncertainly, a dam of depression hindering her speech any further

"Not until you come down from there." The familiar but more quickened depth reasoned.

Turning her head slightly, she looked through her mass of billowing hair at the figure. Her husband was holding her at arms length, his eyes wide in terror and visibly shaken. Milerna's features took on a steely firmness and she made a brake for the freedom of death. Dryden had a far greater grip on her than she had first thought and pulled her back, like a fisherman reeling in his catch. Both tumbled backwards, but without time to regain her bearings, Milerna was crushed in the arms of her saviour.

"Don't ever do that again!" He shouted into her hair as his embrace on her tightened. Struggling to break from him she strained her arms against his clothes and chest and pulled herself away, falling to the ground in a heap as she did so.  Dryden stared down his eyebrows twitching in confusion and desperation

"Don't touch me!" She barked through a sticky throat at him. The venom evident in her stare turned to a snarl of hatred. "Stay away from me!"

In a very unladylike fashion, the princess scrambled to her feet, tripping on her petticoats and leaving behind a pink lacquered shoe.

Dryden watched after her, bustle down the stone corridor, limping on one shoe, until she disappeared around a corner throwing off the other as she did so. He slumped against the wall and slid down, picking up the slipper as he came upon it. Such a pretty little thing and yet so easily broken. What had broken his wife and twisted her into such a shape that repair looked impossible. Perhaps it was loneliness. The loneliness of knowing you wont be loved by those you love. He knew how that felt, but perhaps it had been such a new experience for the Princess, it had over thrown her into a pit of depression. Was it his fault for returning to Palas? Did he actually achieve the thing which he had tried most not to do; trap Milerna?  Rubbing his eyes wearily with the back of his hand, Dryden decided to speak to Eries in the morning. Did she even know about Milerna? Would she want to know about this take on suicide?  Pulling his glasses from inside his coat, he placed them the bridge of his nose and sighed. He loved the girl too much to let her kill herself, even if in the end it meant…letting her go... again.