Disclaimer: Tenkuu no Escaflowne is property of Bandai and Sunrise, all rights reserved. I am in no way affiliated with these companies, and am not making a profit by writing this novel. Any similarities between my work and that of any other fan-author is purely coincidental. "Escape" song lyrics are property of Hoobastank, all rights reserved.

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"Broken" - Chapter 11: The Call of Duty

By The Last Princess of Hyrule

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"We could be living how we wanted to,
Instead of doing things we're forced to do,
With no one to tell us,
That we should be going though,
What they went through . . ."
-Hoobastank, "Escape"

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Things weren't sorted out the next morning between the Asturian rebels and King Aston. With their leader in jail, the entire rebellious force seemed to lose steam, fearing that they would meet the same fate. The bearded man, Moore, never showed up the next morning to meet with the King and his daughters, despite the trouble Sansom went through to arrange it. Not to anyone's surprise, the leader wasn't there either. A quiet standstill settled over the Palas, and out in the streets one could fairly sense the disdain of people too afraid to speak out.

None of this seemed to be bothering Millerna one morning a week later as she burst into Hitomi and Folken's room in an even more chipper mood than usual. "Good morning!" she called, swinging the door open with flourish. "It's such a beautiful day!"

Her bright voice brought Hitomi out of a restless sleep, and she rolled over with a frustrated groan. "Do you plan to come in here and wake me up like this every morning, or just after I've had a really bad night?"

"What's wrong?"

"I just couldn't sleep, that's all. Just leave me alone."

"I'm going to take that comment as morning impoliteness and ignore it," said Millerna good-naturedly. She walked over to the heavy curtains and flung them open to a sky scattered with clouds, one which presently obscured the sun. Millerna's face drooped. "Well, maybe it won't be such a beautiful day after all."

"That's the spirit," said Hitomi. She pulled the covers up over her head. "Goodnight now."

"You can't hide in bed forever." Millerna walked back to the bed and plopped down by the lump of blankets that was Hitomi. "Come on, just because some stupid rebel made an ass of himself doesn't mean you have to hide in your room. That was a while ago, anyway. You've got to stop worrying about it. That's what's keeping you up all night."

Hitomi moaned. "Go away, please."

"Hitomi, this isn't like you," Millerna pointed out. She waited for Hitomi to respond, but Hitomi didn't say anything. The princess sighed and bounced up and down on the mattress a little. "Hitomi . . ." she called in a singsong voice. "Hitomi, Hitomi . . ."

"Who is awake at this inane hour?"

Millerna turned to the sofa, which presently doubled for Folken's bed. He rolled over, and upon realizing exactly who was behind this unappreciated awakening, turned apologetic. "Oh, Princess Millerna, I beg your pardon."

"You too." Millerna looked back at the lump that was Hitomi. "Both of you, quit moping!"

"With all do respect, Princess Millerna, but did it ever occur to you that we might simply be tired?" asked Folken.

"Yeah, that's what Hitomi said." Suddenly, an underlying meaning registered in her mind. Millerna looked from Hitomi to Folken, and a bright blush appeared on her fair cheeks. "Oh, I'm sorry. I should have guessed."

Hitomi slung a small pillow into the back of Millerna's head. "Keep your mind out of the gutter, that's not what happened. I was just really troubled last night, and it kept us both awake."

Millerna smiled. "Well, at least that got you up."

Hitomi gave her an unfriendly smirk.

"Okay, no more sad talk," the princess announced, bouncing to her feet. "We've definitely had enough of that by now. Anyway, now that you know about all the problems around here, let's start doing something to fix them. After all, that's what you came back for, isn't it?"

"Yeah." Hitomi swung her legs over the massive bed. She turned to Folken, stretching her arms above her head. "Are you coming with?"

Folken shook his head. "I think I'll stay here and get a little more sleep."

A flash of concern crossed Hitomi's fate. "Are you doing all right? You slept for a really long time yesterday, too."

"I'll be fine," he assured her. "I'm just tired."

Hitomi still looked skeptical, but she passed it off with a wave of her hand, and allowed the conversation to turn to the homeless shelter Millerna was taking her. Folken listened without comment for several minutes until the cloud covering the sun drifted away, and the morning sunlight beamed inside. The bright light only served to aggravate his eyes, and he pulled the blankets over his head, falling asleep in a matter of minutes. Hitomi and Millerna shared a moment of quiet laughter at the sight before they went down to the Hall for breakfast.

"You know, I think I'm starting to understand why you fell for that man," said the princess suddenly.

Hitomi, who was near the door, looked back.

"I remember that letter you sent to me with Celena," Millerna went on. "Ever since you came back, I've been watching you two together to see if I can figure out what it is that attracted you to him. I mean, he is the most unlikely person I'd ever expect you to fall in love with." Her expression contorted with concentration. "At first, I really didn't get what you might see in him, but now it's just so obvious. He really loves you, Hitomi. I've never seen someone so dedicated.

"Honestly, the first time I met Folken, I never believed he was even capable of loving someone. He just always seemed so callous and distant. When you two ran off, I thought he kidnapped you. I would have staked my entire country on it. I never would have guessed Folken would take you anywhere on pure good intentions." Suddenly, she smiled again. "You've got some charm, Hitomi, if you could get him to fall in love."

Speechless, Hitomi stood frozen as Millerna joined her at the door and pushed it open. "What?" the princess asked, still smiling.

"I just never thought I'd hear you say that," Hitomi admitted.

"What, did you think I hated Folken?" Millerna laughed. "I'm not Allen! Besides, I know people can change. And you changed him for the good. I've got to believe that."

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"All right, all you really have to know about this place is that it's almost exactly like the chapel you volunteered at before you left."

"Why don't I just go back there? I already know the people."

"Well, Zaibach kind of destroyed it when they came here the last time. So now all those people that were helping there are refugees themselves."

Hitomi and Millerna stood on the doorstep of a massive white wood-and-plaster building a few hours later. The building had once been used as a large common hall by Palas citizens, but now served as a hospital, mission house, church, homeless shelter, and often temporary morgue. It was easily twice as big as the old chapelmaybe a little moreand must have been just as grand. Now, however, several places in the walls were covered with heavy canvas, and more than a few holes in the shingled ceiling let in the chill of rapidly approaching winter.

Millerna noticed Hitomi's agape expression. "Believe me, it looks just as bad on the inside."

"I know you said very little money went into the relief effort, but this is just absurd," said Hitomi. "I mean, this building doesn't look like it's gotten any attention, and it's in such a sad state."

"But you'll noticed that the palace is just fine," Millerna pointed out. "This city certainly looks like Zaibach attacked. They came in to destroy us, but were so captivated by the palace that they flattened the city around it instead." She started up the stone steps and pushed open one of the lopsided makeshift doors. It creaked a little on its uneven hinges. "Come on, I'll show you around."

The inside of the shelter was just as decrepit as the outside. It was drastically under furnishedthe shelter was one large, empty room filled with rows upon rows of cots, almost every single one of them occupied. Among the rows were carts on wheels manned by ragged volunteers who could pass for refugees themselves. They wheeled around with food, drink, and medicine to take care of those too weak to even get out of bed.

"This is the main hall," said Millerna. "It's where everybody who's homeless stays. As you can see, we're in need or an additional room or two." She strode purposefully among the sick and ailing toward the back of the hall. "The doors on the far left lead to the kitchens, the ones on the right lead to storage, which is where you'll find the medicine, blankets, clothes, and anything else. Just don't expect to find anything really high quality. All this stuff had to survive a Zaibach attack, so it'll last a while, but it isn't very pretty."

"Okay." Hitomi nodded, but was quickly distracted by a loud cry behind her. She and Millerna whirled around to see the doors they had entered through burst open. Three people caked in dust and grime ran inside, supporting a bloody, mangled body between them and screaming for help.

Forgetting about Hitomi, Millerna dashed up to meet them, and directed them toward an open bunk. She tried to calm them, but their hysterics were already waking many of the sleeping patients throughout the makeshift hospital.

"Please, Princess, you have to help us," one of them begged, hanging on Millerna's arm as she helped the others lay their beaten comrade on the cot. "We were just trying to make them let him go. We didn't expect they'd come back so strong."

Hitomi slowly started to inch closer as Millerna yelled at the other volunteers to bring her some tools and medicine as she pulled the fabric of his shirt away from the wound. The man on the bed wailed at the top of his lungs, writhing back and forth as Millerna placed a hand on his bloody chest.

"What happened?" Millerna demanded, her voice suddenly businesslike.

"We need to get Sansom out of there if the resistance is going to have any chance to make a difference for this country," the man explained hurriedly. "Aston isn't going to listen to reason, and you know Moore can't organize something like this all by himself. Some of us got together to bust him out, but the Royal Guard caught onto our plans, and they tried to massacre us in the streets before we could get away."

"This man has been stabbed quite a few times," Millerna pointed out. A young woman wheeling a squeaky tray of supplies rushed up beside her. "How'd he get so many if you was running away?"

"We couldn't just turn our backs on those pigs while they hassled us," the man said in a voice full of pride. "We did the honorable thing and stood up for ourselves."

"Well, you friend here isn't going to think that was so honorable if he doesn't come out of this," said Millerna as she grabbed a knife and clean towel from the tray. Hitomi continued to come closer. "He's in really bad shape."

The dirty rebel rubbed his tear-filled eyes with the back of his hand, pretending nothing was there. "If he dies, I swear I'll make that bastard Aston pay for it."

"Don't forget who you're talking to," Millerna warned him, not looking up as she reached for another tool.

"My humblest apologies, Princess." The man bowed his head. "Your honor gratifies you above your father, but nothing permits me to speak of him that way in your presence."

"Believe me, Her Majesty has heard it all," commented the young woman who brought the supplies. She now stood assisting Millerna. "Almost all of the people in here are unhappy with the king to some degree, and those in the greatest pain sometimes forget to hold their tongues when she's around."

Hitomi reached the cot and stood next to the man, leaning over beside him to get a better look at the victim. Her form cast a shadow over the wound, and Millerna looked up at her with a cold, get-back glare, a very professional and not Millerna-like expression at all. Hitomi took a few steps back.

They worked in silence for a few minutes, save for the man's whimpering, his comrade's piercing screams, and Millerna's instructions to everyone to keep calm. Hitomi circled the group slowly, unsure what to do with herself.

The other people in the shelter were all awake by now, and the background noise caught her attention. Children ran unattended at breakneck speed through the big room, crawling under occupied cots and bounding over the empty ones. People called out in hopeful and fearful voices for loved ones, some of them hallucinating, and the bodies of those who had died in the night were wrapped up and carted out to be disposed of.

Hitomi stepped beside Millerna. "Is there anything I can do to help?" she asked the working figure.

"Hitomi, please stay out of my way!" Millerna snapped. "I can't take care of you and this man at the same time."

"Your Highness," called the young attendant, who was monitoring the injured man's vitals by holding his wrist and watching his breathing. "His pulse is speeding up. He's going into shock!"

"Damn it," Millerna swore under her breath. She threw down her present tool and grabbed a new one.

The rebel folded his arms nervously and looked over his shoulder at Hitomi. "Hey, you girl. There are a lot more people waiting out there every morning to get help." He nodded toward the door. "And there are always plenty of people in here that could use some assistance. Why don't you go look over their shoulders?"

The injured man wailed as Millerna dug a knife into the ragged skin around his stomach, tearing into the flesh with a sickening squelch. Hot blood poured from the wound all over everything.

"Don't we have some kind of anesthetic!" she hollered. "We're going to lose him if he goes into shock before I can sew up the wound!"

"All I have are some brandy gags," said the young attendant, her hands scrambling through her tools. "There might be some anesthetic in the storeroom. You want me to go get it?"

"No, I need you here."

"I'll get it," Hitomi offered. She took two steps toward the storeroom when she stopped and turned back. "How will I know where to find it?"

The attendant groaned. "Oh, I'll get it. I'll be right back." She took off toward the storeroom at a dead run. Hitomi was left to stand and watch helplessly as Millerna tried to take on the surgery herself.

"Are you sure there's nothing I can do to help?" Hitomi asked again, more tentatively this time.

"Hitomi, just leave!" Millerna snapped. Her gaze and her hands flew all over the place. "You're just distracting me and getting in the way, and that's the last thing anyone needs right now!"

The young woman arrived back a few moments later as Hitomi was backing away. After only a few steps, the backs of her knees hit a bunk where its indignant occupant yelled at her to get lost. In the end, Hitomi wound up sitting in the far corner of the hall near the storeroom for the rest of the day. The stone flood was bitter cold, and the other volunteers rushed to and fro without a glance in her direction. They probably thought she was just another refugee.

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TO BE CONTINUED . . .

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