Feathers of Love

Chapitre Nine: The Queen


The queen sighed as she sat down heavily on her throne. Four years had passed and there was still no sign of her son. It was difficult for her to search for her son by herself, for she needed her magical powers to defend her country against Debonair and her army. For many years, she had held against Debonair and she only just managed to do so. If she were to set her attention somewhere else, her country would be captured by Debonair. Thus, she was not able to search for her son.

It was already difficult for her to govern her country since her husband's death, and she would do so until her son was of age, that was, before he was captured. Now, she had to depend on her four daughters, Fuutie, Shiefa, Fanren and Feimei and their husbands to race and be the first to produce a male heir, in no particular order, as long as there was a heir to inherit the throne.

"Why must life be so hard for me?" Queen Yelen thought to herself. "It is not as if I have done anything to cause Syaoran to be caught by Yubaba. It is not my fault at all!" This was what she had thought all day, all night, day in, day out. Her son. The only heir to the throne who was caught by Yubaba.

Luckily, at that moment, her four daughters came into the throne room. They were back with their husbands from different missions and they had to report to their mother, the queen.

"Good evening, mother dear!" Fuutie, Shiefa, Fanren and Feimei chorused. "Why are you not at the dining hall eating dinner with the others? The cook has told us about this."

"No, I just have no appetite, that's all." Yelen smiled weakly at her children.

Fuutie frowned. "You must be thinking of Syaoran again, aren't you?"

Yelen sighed. "Yes, I am thinking about him. After all, it has been four years since he had disappeared."

"We know, mother." Feimei said as she went to her, arms outstretched as she went to hug her mother. "We know that you want to search for him, but you can't. We also know that it has been four years since he was captured and today is the day that he was captured. We know that you are missing him and everything. However, mother, you should remember that our country is important too. You have to remember that if you collapse, what will happen? Our people will suffer and you know that we four sisters are not able to protect the country without your help." Feimei went back to stand next to her sisters as she released herself from her mother.

"I know, I know." Yelen said sadly. "So, how were your missions?"

"I'll start first then." Shiefa volunteered.

"Yes, your mission is to look for those who are in missions, and have things to report back. Did you bring whatever they had asked you to?"

"Yes, mother. I have quite a lot of information that are useful to us, especially from the spies, and some gossip that I heard from the people of Deboanir's country when I walked disguised among them with my hubby. What interests me most is that recently, Yubaba went to Debonair's palace with someone called Haku. I think that it is Syaoran for they say that he can change to a dragon. However, I am not very sure. But I have heard that the dragon has stolen the harp that Debonair has been trying to search for for a long time. It seems that the dragon had also escaped with two women, one with brown hair and the other with black hair. I am not sure of their names but I believe that they are slaves, for their clothing, according to the people, are in tatters."

"Thank you, dear." Yelen listened to what Shiefa had to say, which was quite a lot. "Fanren, you next."

"Yes, mother. My mission is to of course, search for possible areas where we can make our defense stronger. I have realized that many areas are in need of more defense and I believe that they can be better, for I realized that even though, for now, Debonair had not realized that there are areas that she can effectively flush us out, I have already found them and my husband and I have started to deploy more people to go there and repair the fortresses and also to protect the places there. I think that the works are half-way done, if I am not wrong."

"Me next!" Feimei said.

"All right."

"I was supposed to look for places where we can penetrate Debonair's palace without putting our army into any trouble and I found out that there is a staircase used by slaves and servants and it is very good for us, for I have found the entrance and we can start our small attacks from there. The entrance is near our borders and it stretches across the whole country, which means we can start taking the small villages and towns first before attacking the larger ones. Plus, the place is not guarded and it has signs where each place leads. A good one for us."

"Hmm...a good one. However, we can only send small armies into the place each time, not more than a hundred, for fear of being found out if too many people congregate there. Good. This is the best news I have had all day after all the petitions." Queen Yelen smiled. "Fuutie?"

"I know that my job is the most important of all. And the good news is, we have more people who are willing to take up arms and protect our country now. I have sent the first batch of soldiers to their hometowns to teach the civilians there. The best ones, of course. I told them to teach everyone, even young children, so that they can protect themselves. Of course, we must drill in the message that it is only for Debonair's army that we harm and not our own people. They are very happy that they finally have something to do so that they can protect the country, from what I gather from the first reports I receive."

"Good. I guess we will have more defenders in time. Now, why don't you all go and eat? After all, you have just come back and you are probably hungry. Go on. I'll be down soon myself."

"Yes mother." Yelen's four daughters answered in unison as they went to the dining hall.

When they left, Yelen started reading the book that Shiefa had left with on her table. However, she could not read anything and she was a bit tired of this war. The war that had caused so many people to die and suffer. It was dragging on and on and she knew that she would not have the strength to protect the country any more soon.

Thinking about what Shiefa had said, about a dragon bringing two slaves out of the palace, she hoped that they were Syaoran, Sakura and Nadeshiko, for if they were not who she had thought would be, she would be sad and she had to be strong.

"My son, where is your cherry blossom? Have you found her yet? Have you remembered who your father is and what he did? Have you remembered what your fate is?" Yelen thought as she closed her eyes. Life was painful, but she had to live on. If it was not for herself, it was for her people, for her country. For that, she had to live on, to carry on the job of protecting this country until either her son returned or a heir born and until of age to carry her burden. It was not easy, but she would do her best.

She did not go down to dinner in the end, despite her daughters pleas.


Disclaimer: I do not own anything except the plot!

Well, how is this chapitre? I have finished it and what do you think? Please review and also read Angelic Destiny! Ja!