(AN: Thanks to those that commented on the first chapter. Much appreciation. You know who you are)

Chapter 2

As the carriage rolled quickly along the white stone roads, Hitomi occupied the time looking out the small window, gaping at all the sites around her. Everything here was just so rich and elegant, it seemed like it had absolutely no flaws, and she found herself beginning to wonder if it were possible. It seemed like it was at the time.
Every shops sported fancy clothing, fabrics, jewellery and everything in-between. Healthy looking livestock, lush and well grown vegetables and fruits that she had never seen before. She didn't care to go to the castle at the moment, she wanted to just walk around the market place.

She hadn't seen a single run down building on their ride into the huge city. Only beautiful well built and maintained buildings, some reaching to around 4 or 5 stories tall. They definitely conserved their space well, and maybe, because of this, they repaired any damaged and eyesores. Seeing the city for herself proved what her dad said, it being beautiful and all that. She actually felt herself start to get giddy with excitement. She couldn't even remember the last time that happened.

They pulled up to the castle gate, a tall brass coloured design of bars was opening slowly as they went through, guards in fancy robes holding spears were pushing them. She noted just how tanned all the humans were here. And by humans, that discludes the pale furred Griffin. By the almost sticky humidity in the air, she guessed that the country must get a lot of sun. For a moment she wondered if she could go swimming in the ocean. Perhaps there was a beach to go to?

Her attention was brought back to the here and now when the carriage rolled to a sudden stop and Griffin climbed out. She stared around for a minute, watching as more guards rushed forward to meet them followed by women in silky robes of vibrant and pastel colours.
Griffin finally stuck his head in, giving her a confused look. "Are you coming?"
She blushed slightly and stood up, heading out through the door. She felt a hand on her arm as she stepped out. She looked to her side in shock, than smiled.
"Can't let a beautiful lady trip and embarrassed herself now can I?" The cat boy whispered.

She smiled shyly at him than stepped off, only to be greeted by the well dressed women in colourful garments. She guessed they were maids. "Please follow us Princess." One spoke politely bowing slightly. Hitomi did as told, looking back for her cat companion as she walked towards the steps leading into the castle.
"I'll see you later!" He called to her, waving a goodbye. She nodded and smiled at him, than continued on her way.

When they reached the steps, a young man walked from the shadows of the tall doorway. He dressed in a grey loose sweater and a black version of what Hitomi remembered Van's pants to be like. His brown boots reached to his calves and he wore a brown belt along his waist. Snug in holders were two sinister looking daggers.

When he reached them, he bowed, his arms crossed loosely across his waist, either hand resting on the hilt of a dagger. His mop of dark brown hair falling over his face. Hitomi noticed quickly that he had strange markings on his hands in a baby blue colour. When he straightened, he only did so halfway, just enough to look up at her face. "Welcome to your new home Your Majesty." His voice was light, but he sounded slightly irritated.

Hitomi began to bow to him, but one of her maids shook her head, a distinct 'no'. She straightened quickly. "Erm.." The maid who shook her head lightly touched her upper arm.

"Shall we move along?"

She ushered Hitomi up the steps. When they passed the still crouched man, he stood up straight and fell into step with the group, directly behind all the maids.

The maids led her to a large room near the front of the castle. It was well furnished in dark rich colours well tapestries hung around the room. There wasn't any windows, but a small fire burned in the hearth, giving it a warm effect.
The maids bowed politely and left the room, closing the red wood doors behind them. She watched them leave in confusion, wondering why on earth they would bring her to this room and just leave. To her surprise, the man with the daggers stepped silently into the room before the door closed.
"You must be my granddaughter than." She jumped slightly and looked over in the corner. An elderly women dressed in more fancy robes of dark hues sat on a plush burgundy chair, eyeing her with a smile on her wrinkled features. "Ah yes.. you have your fathers eyes." She ushered Hitomi over, which she obliged to, not really knowing what else to do.

As she came forward she heard a low rumble. Looking at the women's feet, she saw a great white Siberian tiger, curled up, eyeing her curiously, it's deep purr filling the room. Hitomi gasped.
"She won't hurt you." Again the women's cracking voice filled the silent room. "She is very kind to anyone she finds trustworthy." The women reached a wrinkled hand down to pat the huge animal's head affectionately. "She's from your planet.. but I'm sure you've realized that already." Hitomi nodded. "Her name is Yuki... I believe that means snow in your language, does it not?" She eyed her with baby blue eyes, waiting for her to answer. Hitomi realized that, like Griffin, she spoke with an accent.
"Yes it does." She replied slowly. Then, "are you.. my grandmother than?"
"That I am." She sighed. "You may call me Grandmama though." She stands up from the chair, using great force for her age, balancing her weight on a golden, jewel encrusted cane "I'm sorry I couldn't have met you sooner Hitomi dear."
Hitomi shook her head with a smile. "It's all right."
The older women smiled. "You are quite beautiful you know." Her smiled turned mischievous. "Do you have a certain someone in your life?"
Hitomi blushed and looked away.
Her grandmother laughed, sounding quite young all of a sudden. "I understand that that's your own business. I would have been surprised if there wasn't someone. You'll make a lovely Queen some day."

She ushered Hitomi into the chair she was sitting in previously. Hitomi did so hesitantly, eyeing the tiger cautiously. She carefully brought out a hand and brushed it along it's back, happy when the giant feline moved into the touch. "She's gorgeous." She smiled. "She reminds me of Griffin."
"Ah, Griffin." The Queen took up the matching chair across from her, watching her happily. "I trust he's been treating you well?"
"He's very nice." She smiled sincerely.
"I knew I made a right choice appointing him to you. He's been here since a little boy, his village was destroyed with the brutal raid years and years ago." She frowned.
"What raid?"
The elder women sighed and eyed her seriously. "All the half breed villages we're attacked long before the destiny war, causing many orphans. A lot of them were sold as slaves. Griffin came to us on his own though."
"Oh.." She thought about it for a moment. 'Naria and Eriya must have been orphans from that raid, and came to Folken.'

"And I see you've met Josceline." She nodded towards the door. Turning, Hitomi found two piercing grey eyes bearing into her. "He will be your bodyguard. He came to us not as an orphan. He's trained for just this job." The old women leaned back into her chair. "He is a Celestial Gate... I have no doubts in his ability." She gave a small nod to the boy. Hitomi looked over at him just as the young man nodded to his queen. She realized that he must only be about her age.

"But enough of such talk." She stands up again, Hitomi follows. "You must be tired, I'll get one of the maids to take you to your room." She heads to the door and opens it. "Hana..." A young women bowed to her. "Could you please show Hitomi her room?"
"Yes your majesty." She replied politely, giving another bow. "Come this way please Princess Hitomi."

They headed down many dimly lit hallways and into an area that out did all the other hallways she had come across. Josceline right on her back. The solid stone was all painted with intricate designs of dragons and Angels. No... not angel's, Draconians. Why they had this was strange to her. Draconians were not a race much cared for on Gaea.
The paintings reached from the blood red carpet to on top of the rounded roof, giving it a strange effect. It was stunning.
Oil lamps were all lit down the straight hallway, held in gold handles attached to the walls. Every door they passed was rich burgundy colours, obviously something close to red wood.

Hitomi never realized how much the maids and guards uniforms clashed with the surroundings in the castle. They fit on the outside, but inside with all the dark colours, they threw off the whole thing with there vibrant happy colours. Only Josceline seemed to fit in with his dull grey, black and browns.

They finally reached a set of doors that were opened up, allowing air to circulate through. Hana stopped in front of it. "Your room Princess Hitomi." She bowed than stood up straight. "If you need anything, please just call."
Hitomi nodded, slightly numb from the whole thing. When she looked back at the girl from the doorway, she found she was gone.

Sighing, she looked into the room in front of her. Only to let out a quick gasp of shock. The room was absolutely stunning, and not to mention huge!
A king sized Victorian style bed was against the wall to her left, thin see through colourful fabrics were draped over it. This room, unlike the other ones, was all softer, less dark colours. A large wardrobe stood by the bed and her trunks and boxes of stuff all sat in the middle of the room, centred on a large, plush beige carpet. Intrigued, she walked in further.
A door hang open to her right, and after further inspection, found that it was her own private bathroom. The bath itself the size of a hot tub.
Among other things, there was a beautiful carved wood desk and fireplace. The desk in front of French door, leading out onto a balcony.

Curious, she walked fully into the room and drew back the slightly darkened drapes, looking out the windows. She had a full view of the city and harbour, still sparkling in the decreasing light. She all of a sudden felt intensely giddy and skipped over to her huge bed. She let herself drop down onto it with a content sigh and a small giggle.

She started though when a small cough came from the doorway. She sat up, a large blush splashed across her fair cheeks. She moved a strand of hair from her face as she did so.

Josceline stood in the doorway, looking as if he would start laughing. He bowed, as if to hide it, than stood straight. His arms still crossed, hands on his daggers. "My room is next to yours. I am not permitted to enter your room, unless you call or are in danger." With that, he bowed low once more, and left down the hallway. She heard the small bang of a door closing close by.

Sighing, she plopped back onto the bed. What a strange person... She stared up at the ceiling. Like the hallway, it was painted with Draconians and beautiful vines, flowers and trees. She smiled. She would definitely love it here.

Another small sound caused her to sit up, ready to be embarrassed again, but found herself only looking curiously at the white tiger in the doorway. "Yuki?"
The giant cat walked slowly into the room and sat patiently by the bed, watching her with just as much curiosity, her light blue eyes showing as much emotion as an animal could. Than jumped onto the bed beside her, stretching out.

Hitomi sighed. "I guess I should start unpacking." She got off the bed, pats the tiger on the head, lightly scratching behind her ears, than headed to her trunks. Looking at them for a moment, she walked over the wardrobe and opened it up. "Oh!" Dress after dress were already hanging up in the tall wood structure, but there was enough room to put her own stuff in. She traced a finger over one of the dresses, delighted by the lightly woven fabric. They were sarong like, made perfect for the warm sticky weather, all of loose flowy fabric and beautiful pastel and light colours. She sighed in content. She didn't like wearing dresses, but she figured she could definitely make an exception for these.

She began to unpack her Earth belongings, smiling happily to herself.

The Next Day

Griffin took it happily upon himself to show Hitomi around the city, as long as it was under cover. The whole time being trailed by the quiet Josceline When he was a good enough distance away, Hitomi turned and whispered to the cat boy. "What is with this guy?"

Griffin looked back at the guard as if just seeing him there for the first time. "Josceline?" He laughed slightly. "He's a bitter one. It could be because he had to leave his brotherhood to look after you... or it could be the fact that his 'kind' had to swear off women to do they're job." He grinned. "No contact whatsoever. They take is very seriously." He grinned. "If it were me, I wouldn't keep to that rule very well." He nudged her playfully. "Especially with such a pretty person to look after."

Hitomi blushed despite herself, but ignored the comment. She had Van... at least she hoped she still did. She didn't need another person interfering. She opened her mouth to reply, but Griffin nudged her, motioning to the now approaching bodyguard. She kept quiet.

He took her into lots of shops, restaurants, and down to the busy sea port, explaining all the while about the culture, history, agriculture and anything else that he knew off the top of his head. To Hitomi's surprise, he knew quite a lot almost like he downloaded the whole volume of books about the area into his brain. Strangely though.. he only seemed to be wise when it came to that, for when she asked him about Fanalia's royal family, he became quite embarrassed and changed the subject. It was really amusing actually, seeing as she already knew most things about Van's family anyway. It was cruel, she knew, but he didn't need to know that bit of information.

They finally headed back up to the castle and had a short tour of the wonderful, lush garden attached to it.
Hitomi smiled broadly and sat carefully down on the side of the fountain, looking at it with definite awe. It was made of light blue stone and was carved in great detail to resemble a dragon. Not the typical land dragons that she encountered before. It was much more skinnier and seemed to have a long form. Great wings stretched out from its back as it seemed to scan the skies above them.

"It's so beautiful." She gasped out, turning towards the cat boy who was looking at it also.
"You should have seen how long it took to make it." He sat down beside her and flicked his tail in almost annoyance.
"What's with you?" She asked, eyeing him curiously.
He shook his head. "It's just that they built this and everything around here that's seemingly useless when the great war was going on instead of helping the other countries. We just cut ourselves off from everyone else."
Hitomi frowned. So that's why she hadn't heard to La Vallex until now. "I thought you said that Fanalian's came her after Fanalia was destroyed?"
"They did, but we could only hold a certain amount, a lot had to be turned away." As he spoke, his ears seemed to droop in sadness. He was quiet for a moment. "You know... Fanalia and LaVallex used to be really close, you know, family wise. Your grandmother was best friends with the queen of Fanalia, until she went missing."
"What happened, why aren't they close anymore?" She asked.
A lot of complications came up. Prince Folken was suppose to marry your dad's sister, but..."
"My dad had a sister!" She stared at him. She saw Josceline stir off the side at her sudden outburst.

He nodded. "Princess Naria Shalita Do' Urden."
'Naria? Is that why Folken named the Naria I knew... He must have actually loved her...' "What happened to her? She must have been pretty young."
"Ya, she was way younger than your dad. She got sick, and they couldn't help her, so she just passed away one day. I wasn't around then though."

Hitomi stared at him. How come she hadn't known all this before?
"And you..." He stopped, shaking his head. "Never mind, I shouldn't be the one to tell you."

"Tell me what?" She pressed, nudging him slightly.

Griffin opened his mouth to speak, but at that very moment, Josceline sauntered over. He bowed as usual when he reached them, and spoke with his eyes on the ground. "Night is closing in, Your Majesty. It would be best to head in."

Hitomi caught the small sigh of relief that Griffin let out. "Good idea." He stood hastily, offering a hand down to her. "We don't want you to catch cold."

She was about to retort that she didn't think she would catch a cold with such warm weather around, but thought better of it as a small drop of water fell onto her cheek.

"Josceline, good instincts I must say." Griffin smiled at the bodyguard, but he just shot the cat boy a glare.

However, they were unable to outrun the downpour. The group of three were completely drenched by the time they raced into the castle, Griffin laughing hysterically, well both Hitomi and Josceline felt a strong need to strangle the cat boy. The came to a halt in one of the foyers, Hitomi and Josceline both rung out their clothes in irritation well Griffin took to shaking the water off him, very dog-like, splashing the already annoyed guard in the mean time. But before he could snap at the cat boy, Griffin was already racing down the hallway.

"Take a nice warm bath, Lady Hitomi, you'll cheer up afterwards!"

Hitomi glared at the cat boy's retreating back, than turned to her guard. "I hate the rain."

Josceline nodded in what she thought was silent agreement.

"The bath does sound very inviting at the moment."

They trudged along, water splattering all over the stone halls as they went.

After taking a long hot bath in the large tub, she was getting dressed into a long flowy skirt she picked out from her wardrobe, and a sleeveless blouse that did up at the back when a knock sounded at the door.

Josceline stood at the door, the large Yuki at his side. She smiled at the pair, reached down, and scratched behind the cat's ears.

"Her Majesty wishes to speak with you." Josceline bowed.

"All right." Hitomi stepped out into the hallway, and followed as Josceline led her down to a room near where they entered from the garden earlier.

This room was different than the last one they had met in. It was open, with large windows peering out into the rain drenched garden outside. Lightning was flashing across the sky as she entered the room, lighting the room even more than the large amount of candles spread across the room did.

"Come in, dear." Her grandmother sat in a large plush chair wearing a slightly heavier light fabric over her frail figure. Her gold topped cane leaned against the beige chair.

Hitomi moved forward, taking a seat on the cushioned footstool she was ushered to in front of the old women. It too was beige to match the chair.

"I hope you enjoyed the tour around the city."

"Very much, grandmama." She smiled sweetly at the old women. "Not so much the storm though."

She chuckled and scratched the top of Yuki's head as the tiger came to rest beside the old women. "I am very proud of this country. But the weather is a problem all on it's own a must admit." The deep wrinkles around her eyes crinkled as laughter shone in the blue pools. "You are quite the perfect young women, Hitomi. I'm glad to see my son did something right in raising you." She sighed, as if giving in. "And growing up on the Mystic Moon has given you more experience than I myself could ever wish to grant you."

"I think so." She smiled, than frowned slightly. "Won't I be considered bad luck? Coming from the Mystic Moon, I mean?"

She chuckled loudly. "My dear girl, of course not! Those silly people from other countries don't know what they're talking about. In La Vallex, the Mystic Moon is a symbol of peace, prosperity... it is of good luck! And anyone from there would be considered heavenly."

Hitomi smiled bitterly "I'd hardly consider myself 'heavenly'."

"You have the make of a goddess, my dear." She winked suddenly. "It runs in the family."

Josceline made an almost choking cough from the doorway.

"Now, onto business, I'm afraid." She lay her wrinkled hands in her lap and smoothed down her already smooth dress. "There will be a ball in your honour Hitomi. Now, don't look at me that way, it's necessary of a future queen to be welcomed into her country the proper way." 'That way' Hitomi had been looking was with a distinct look of someone who had just swallowed a lemon.

"What kind of ball? Will it be big."

"Oh heavens, Yes, Hitomi!" She smiled brightly at her granddaughter. "All of Gaea should see such a beautiful young lady welcomed into her position."

Hitomi felt faint. "All of Gaea?" Her voice escaped her in a scraggly whisper. "But-"

The queen laughed. "Dear girl, it's an expression. All of Gaea means, all of royalty." She shook her head. "My dear, you'll give yourself grey hairs long before what is natural if you keep that up."

Hitomi felt like saying 'You'll give me grey hairs before I give any to myself' But she resisted. Than something her grandmother said registered. "All royalty?"

"Oh yes... Asturia, Fanalia, even Zaibach for that matter."

"Fanalia?" Her heart started to race.

"Of course, as a neighbouring country it would be rude to leave them out." She watched her granddaughter a moment, a small strange smile coming to her face. "Why does the prospect of the Fanalian king attending sound so strange to you. I hear that him and the Seeress were good friends during the war."

Hitomi blushed. "We were friends yes... I just haven't seen him for so long..."

"You'll get plenty of time to speak with him again. He and Lady Merle will be arriving earlier than the rest. It's been so long since I've seen the boy... Though I'm sure he's grown into a handsome man by now."

Hitomi blushed as the thought of what the 'grown up' Van would maybe look like today.

Her grandmother suddenly stood, well Hitomi hastened to follow. "Josceline will show you back to your room. You should rest. Your parents arrive tomorrow, and probably his Majesty Van Fanel as well."

Hitomi nodded, made a small bow to her grandmother, than left the room with Josceline at her heels.

"I didn't plan on seeing Van again so soon." She half muttered to herself, forgetting that the quiet Josceline was behind her.

"I'm sure it will be fine, Your Majesty."

She jumped slightly, remembering he was there, than continued on, blushing as she did so.