Disclaimer: Vision of Escaflowne is not mine… Sob!
RETURN TO HARMONY Chapter Three: Welcome To Gaia"This place is beautiful. Good choice, Hitomi," Millerna complimented as she looked around.
The queen laughed and nodded. "I know. This was the place where Van would take me when he started teaching me how to ride a horse. After the riding lessons, we'd just come back here to talk or spend some time together."
They were in the middle of a picturesque meadow somewhere in the outskirts of Fanelia. No matter how much Hitomi wished that she, Millerna and Merle could have gone to the picnic on their own, it was practically unheard of for the queen of Fanelia to go outside the castle without the proper escorts. Off to one side were the three soldiers that had come with them and Jemme, Hitomi's personal maid.
"So Hitomi," Merle said after she had run back to them. "Will you tell us exactly what the purpose of this picnic is?"
Hitomi smiled and quirked an eyebrow. "What? I'm not allowed to indulge in picnics with two of my closest friends?"
"Nice try, queenie," Merle shot back. "After years of living with you, I can almost read you as well as I can read King Van and I can definitely see that something's bothering you."
The comment caught Millerna's attention and she looked back at Hitomi. "Something's bothering you? What is it?"
"Anything to do with what I saw in the kitchen yesterday?" Merle piped up.
Hitomi sighed but before she could answer Millerna put up another question, "Wait. What do you mean what you saw in the kitchen yesterday?"
Merle made a face. "I went to fetch Hitomi from the kitchen yesterday to tell her you were here but when I found her, she seemed all lost in thought. Like she was looking at something that wasn't there."
That tidbit caught Millerna's attention. "Is Merle trying to tell me that you had a vision, Hitomi?"
"Oooh!" Merle's ears pricked up. "A vision?"
Hitomi sighed as Jemme laid a soft blanket on the ground. She murmured her thanks to her maid and proceeded to sit down on it. Merle and Millerna followed suit, their expressions still demanding an explanation. The queen grimaced.
"Alright, alright! I had a vision yesterday and it's been bothering me. Happy?"
Millerna adjusted her skirts all around her. "Have you told Van?"
Hitomi frowned. "No. Not yet."
Merle stared at her. "What! Why not?"
"That's part of what's been bothering me. I don't want to tell Van yet because the vision didn't make any sense," Hitomi confided.
Millerna frowned. "Didn't make any sense? Do you mean it was cloudy or – "
"No! Nothing like that. The image was very clear but it made no sense at all."
"What was the image?" Merle asked curiously as Jemme set a big basket of food on the blanket with them.
Hitomi sighed. "There was darkness all around me. As though I were floating in an endless black void. The image was something I saw in front of me. In the center was this round, flat crystal that had strange thing inscribed on it. And on either side of it were two girls and they seemed to be reaching for it. The weird part is that they both looked exactly the same. The only thing that was different was the color of their hair and eyes."
"That's all?" Merle asked.
"No. A voice said something then."
"What did it say?"
"Only in unity can there be balance. Only when they join together can there be peace. Let the dark meet light and the light meet dark and when they complete the broken circle, let harmony return," Hitomi recited.
"That is strange. And that was all?" Millerna prodded.
"Yes. After that, Merle slapped me on the head." Merle giggled at that.
"The eerie thing is the last part. Let harmony return? But Gaia is already at peace. There's no need for harmony to return," Hitomi voiced out.
"You're right," Millerna assented. "How very queer…"
"Well I think you should tell King Van about it," Merle told Hitomi.
Hitomi opened her mouth to say something when a bright pillar of light dropped down from the sky. She gasped. Millerna, Merle, Jemme and the three soldiers saw it too and they exclaimed. The pillar of light. The very same one that had brought Hitomi from the Mystic Moon into Gaia. What – or who – was it delivering now? It ended somewhere by the edge of the meadow.
One fleeting thought crossed Hitomi's mind as she jumped up. Does it have anything to do with my vision? A few moments later, the pillar of light dissipated. Hitomi knew she had to find out what it had brought, what had caused it and why.
Without another word, she hiked up her skirts and ran to the spot where the pillar of light had ended. Footfalls followed close behind her and Hitomi knew without looking that they belonged to Millerna and Merle. One of the soldiers had called out to her but when she refused to acknowledge it, all three of them ran after her.
Although she had not gone to a track meet since she came here to Gaia, Hitomi still kept in top running shape by practicing. Now that practice was paying off and soon she was near the spot where the pillar of light had ended. Hitomi could see a figure was lying there. She hurried her pace. When she got to where the figure was lying down, she skidded to a stop and nearly fainted both from shock and the fatigue of running so fast.
Merle saw Hitomi's frighteningly pale face. Frowning, the cat-lady looked at the girl lying on the ground.
It didn't take a genius to figure out she was from the Mystic Moon. Her clothes were strange. Not like Hitomi's but Merle knew no one else in Gaia dressed like that. She was wearing trousers made from some strange, blue material and a loose shirt but Merle could see that the shirt was designed for a girl. And she was a very pretty girl too.
She was slender, and her dark, glossy hair was fanned out behind her. Her features were delicate and her skin pearly white. Merle wondered what had caused Hitomi's reaction to the girl.
Hitomi was also staring at the girl, more intensely than Merle was. She recognized that face. The queen knew that behind the closed eyelids, the girl had strange silver violet eyes.
It was the girl from her vision.
She blinked. Unbidden, a groan rose out of her mouth. Calix grimaced as her vision cleared. Confused, she looked around. She was in a large, airy room. It had a medievalish look and feel to it, but it was very lovely. Tapestries and paintings adorned the walls, soft rugs were spread out on the floor and the furniture was beautiful. Calix herself was lying on a large, canopied bed.
Frowning, she tried to recall what had happened to her. Dissection, the frog being mended up, the glowing pendant, the pillar of light and the deep blackness…
"…Shit!" she exclaimed as she shot up on the bed. Where was she?
"Don't worry," a soft voice said. "You're safe."
Calix trained her eyes to the direction of the voice. A woman stepped out of the shadows and smiled at Calix. The woman was beautiful, with long honey hair and brilliant green eyes. Calix noticed she was wearing a long, flowing gown. She felt like she had been dropped in some sort of strange play where she didn't know the story, the characters or her role.
"Where am I? Who are you? What is this place?" she couldn't stop herself from blurting out.
The woman laughed. "Okay, okay, one question at a time."
The woman pulled a chair from a nearby desk near the bed where Calix was sitting and began to talk, "Firstly, you want to know where you are?"
Dumbfounded, Calix nodded.
"You're in the castle of the kingdom of Fanelia," the woman gently told her.
Calix's eyebrows shot up. "I beg your pardon. The where!"
The woman sighed. "I guess this isn't going to be as easy to explain as I thought. Stand up, I have something to show you."
Calix pushed the blankets back and stood up. She noticed she was still in her shirt and jeans. The woman led her to a balcony. Calix hesitantly followed. The balcony looked out into a picturesque view of a beautiful landscape. It nearly took Calix's breath away. It was only then that she noticed.
"Hey, wait. I'm on a castle!"
The woman smiled. "I know. But that's not what I wanted you to see. Look up at the sky."
Calix obediently did as the woman asked and couldn't prevent herself from gasping. The dawn sky was just lightening with pastel hues. Up on the sky though, instead of the single silvery moon that usually lit the night sky, there were two moons! One of them was the moon as Calix knew it but the other one… It looked like…
"Is that… Is that Earth!" she exclaimed.
The woman was looking at her amusedly. "Yes. Yes it is. This is not Earth. Basically, that's what I've been trying to tell you. This planet is called Gaia."
Calix blinked. "I believe you failed Science class in elementary. There are only nine planets in the solar system and as I recall, none of them was named Gaia," she declared, sarcastically.
The woman sighed. "I know it's hard to believe but just listen to me, okay? You really are on Gaia. It's not visible from Earth and you have all the proof you need up there," she indicated the sky. "The kingdom of Fanelia is here on Gaia and that's where you are right now."
Calix was having a somewhat hard time believing everything that was being said to her. But the proof was before her right now. Her head was spinning.
"Come on back inside," the woman said.
Calix followed. They walked back inside and sat down on the edge of the bed. There was silence for a few moments then the woman spoke, "My name's Hitomi. Hitomi de Fanel," she smiled a bit before she continued, "Queen of Fanelia."
Calix did a double take at the woman again. There was a circlet of gold around her forehead. Queen? "Oh, um well… Am I supposed to call you Your Highness or…"
Hitomi laughed. "No. Just call me Hitomi. What's your name?"
"Calixta Fairfax. Call me Calix."
"I guess you're pretty confused right now. Don't be. I was the same when I first came here. Believe it or not, I also grew up on Earth and I came here when I was somewhere around your age."
Calix's eyes widened. "Shut up. No way! You came from Earth?"
Hitomi nodded. "I was born there…" she began. Over the next few minutes, she told her story to an astounded Calix. How she had met Van, was taken to Fanelia, her abilities to see the future, everything, right down to the downfall of the Zaibach Empire.
"Wow," was all Calix could say when Hitomi had finished. Then she burst out laughing. "Wow! That's awesome."
Hitomi looked amusedly at the girl's reaction before continuing hesitantly, "Calix, I had a vision yesterday…"
"Really?" Calix's bright eyes were questioning. "Being able to see the future is so cool! What was it about?"
"In the vision I saw you and another girl. She looked exactly like you, except she had blond hair and blue eyes," Hitomi saw Calix's expression change to a confused one. "I also saw a crystal disk and that was all. Then a voice said something." Hitomi repeated the words she had heard to Calix.
"I-I don't know what that means. I honestly don't know what your vision is talking about. I'm an only child. And if the other girl did look like me, then why was the color of her hair and eyes different?" Calix's eyes widened as she realized something. "Are you trying to tell me that one of the reasons why I might be here is because of your vision?"
Hitomi nodded. "You see, I was brought here partly because of my abilities to see the future," she searched the young girl's face. "Do you have any strange powers that might have been the reason why you're here?"
At that, Calix paused. The incident with the frog was still very fresh in her mind and all at once, her childhood memories of the animals she had touched that had then gotten better assaulted her.
She shook her head. "No. I'm just… an ordinary average girl," she replied softly.
Hitomi looked at her closely before acknowledging what she said. "Okay. Maybe you'd better get some rest. Don't worry, I'll have some clothes sent up here for you. Make yourself at home and feel free to go around the castle. Don't be afraid to ask where I am whenever you need me."
Calix nodded and Hitomi smiled before standing up and walking out of the room.
Calix looked at Hitomi's retreating figure before sighing. Guilt was like a needle stabbing at her. You should have told her about your abilities! a part of her mind was arguing. Another part, though, ignored it and told her she did what was best.
"Besides, I don't really know anyone around here," she muttered to herself as she examined her hands.
She liked Hitomi – good Lord the woman was a queen! – but Calix knew better than to trust strangers especially in a different place. Make that a different planet, she thought and winced. Gaia. The place was alien and very unfamiliar. A thousand miles away from the home that she had known.
Her hand crept up to the pendant that lay around her neck. She felt better holding it, even if it was the reason why she was here in the first place. Calix brought it closer and examined the smooth surface. Lifegiver. Lightbringer. Did her mother know anything about her powers? Argh!
This wasn't helping. Calix desperately wanted to cry out of fatigue, the fact that she was in a foreign land and because crying sounded so bloody comforting. But she held back. Crying was not something cynical, sarcastic, realistic Calix indulged in.
She perked up, though, when she heard voices outside her door. The voices were female. One sounded girlish, and the other sounded purring and catlike. She stood up from the bed. They sounded like they were arguing. A moment later, the voices stopped. Calix stood frozen on the spot as she saw her door slowly creaking open. For a moment, no one came in. And then two figures appeared.
The first one shocked Calix. It seemed to be something of a cross between a cat and a female. It was built like a woman, but had fur, pointy ears, amber eyes, claws and a tail. The strange part, though, was that it was talking. The other one was a girl about her age. She had dark blond hair and garnet red eyes. The two girls who entered were standing a ways from Calix, looking hesitantly at her.
The cat-lady walked up to her first. "Hi. My name's Merle and this is Larissa."
Calix blinked. "Are you for real?"
The cat-lady growled as though insulted. The other girl, Larissa, shushed her. "Stop it, Auntie Merle. She's probably not used to seeing you. Mother said that there aren't any people like you in her world."
Larissa then stepped forward and smiled at Calix, "Sorry about that. We just wanted to see how you were doing. Auntie Merle was one of the people who saw you being brought here by a pillar of light and took you to the castle."
"You – you found me?" Calix was slightly embarrassed now. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean what I said with that comment, um, because… ah…"
The cat-lady, Merle, surprised her by laughing. "Don't worry about that. You probably do think I'm pretty strange. But I get that a lot."
Calix smiled a bit before speaking, "Um, well, nice to meet you. I'm Calix."
"Calix. That's a nice name," Larissa complimented. "I see you met my mother."
Calix was confused for a moment. "I'm sorry? Your mother?"
Merle licked a paw as she ran over to where Calix's backpack was and began examining it. "Yeah. You met her a while ago. Hitomi. She's Larissa's mother."
"Oh. She was your mother? Then that would make you a princess," Calix said.
Larissa laughed. "Yes, actually. But please don't call me princess or any of those other royal titles," she grinned impishly with a twinkle in her eye. "I just prefer being Larissa."
"So… why are you here?" Calix wanted to know.
"Well, Larissa here wanted to see you," Merle replied rolling her eyes as she walked back to the two.
Larissa nodded. "And, um, I also figured you would be lonely. I mean I know what that feels like. Being princess, I'm almost always cooped up in here and I've only got a few friends. But since you're new here and unfamiliar about everything, I figured you kind of needed friends too. So can we? Be friends, I mean."
Calix looked from Larissa to Merle and back again. Friends. Here she was in a distant land, confused and most definitely lost and these two were offering to be her friends. Calix felt touched. She offered them a smile.
"Sure."
They were in a small, circular tower room whose windows looked out to the rugged terrain of the mountains.
"Damn it, Katya! You had but one task and that was to look after the girl! You were supposed to make sure she did nothing to foil our plans!"
"I know that, Lightner."
"Ah, then pray tell explain how she got here when she's supposed to be on the Mystic Moon!" the sarcasm and anger in his voice were extremely evident.
"For the umpteenth time, I don't know. All my informant tells me is that her necklace just started glowing and a pillar of light dropped from the sky and took her here."
"Pillars of light do not just drop from the sky without anyone causing them to drop. Someone knew. Someone wanted her here."
"That's impossible, Lightner. No one knows of our plans."
"Apparently, someone does." His tone was icy. "I want you to find out who that someone is. Understood?"
"Yes."
"Well… since it is too late to rectify your mistake, we must make sure the girl never finds out about our plans. Where is she right now?"
"She… The light dropped her somewhere in the outskirts of Fanelia. We wanted to retrieve her but it turns out the queen of Fanelia was there on a picnic and got to her first."
"Damn it. Ever since she came here, that Seeress has brought only misfortune. As long as the girl is with her, our plans are still threatened."
"Well what do you want me to do?"
"The only obvious solution, of course…"
The man called Lightner paused and his blood-red eyes seemed to flicker.
"Kill the girl."
