Little White Flower

Lyla found Vincent in front of Ekatrina's grave. He held a Tiny Flower in his hands. "I wonder who left this here. These are very rare. Even Boot Hill and Baskar don't have many flowers, and they have the best environments left. So where would my uncle and aunt get this flower to place on mom's grave?" Then he put it down. The boy read his mother's name and the dates of her life. She was only thirty three when she died; that was awfully young. A single tear fell from his eyes and hit the stone.

"Don't worry Vincent," Lyla told him, "We'll look for what happened to your father and the others in the Council. After all, Jessica would tear up heaven and earth if only to find out what happened to her lost father and brother. Since both of your fathers worked together, finding one will help us find out what happened to the other. We're a team, and by working together we can achieve anything we want to."

"I know. It just hurts to think that I am unable to tell my mother in person. She's my family. But Leehalt took it away from me in order to get his sick and twisted revenge on my father. How can one man hate so much that he is willing to steal away another man's son?" the youth asked to no one in particular.

Lyla put her hand on his shoulder and smiled. Then she told him, "You shouldn't worry about him. He might have ruined your past but you can still find your future. Let's go back and see the others. Then we can get this show on the road and find your answers. I know that one day you can come back to this town and tell your mother that you know what happened to her husband. Then she will be released from her eternal sorrow. Some people are restless if they die in such a way and don't make it to the Land of the Dead. However, if you find out what happened to your father and tell her about you and him, she can rest in peace and continue her journey towards the Land of the Dead where she will be happy forever."

At that moment, Jessica came up and tapped Lyla on the shoulder. "Excuse me for interrupting this little conversation, but we of Doria did everything to make sure that Princess Ekatrina could rest in peace. We had the body left out in the coffin for seven days, applied spices to preserve and honor her every morning at five thirty AM, prayed fervently, left incense offerings, and then buried her with every single honor that benefited her rank. I might add we fought the idiots inside the house to make sure her Will was followed to the letter. They were planning on using their own tradition and bury her right away."

"Wait a minute!" exclaimed Vincent, "The woman we believe to be my mother is of royalty? So why in the world would anyone want to go against the wishes of a princess? Not only that, but why did she live in a little town like this and not an extravagant palace? Is there something wrong with Doria?"

"Well, that dates back a millennia. We of Doria are strong mages and fought the Demon that attacked Filgaia with all the fervor in our souls. However, we were stronger than the average human being. Thus, they believed us to be Demons too. They were scared of death like all people so they thought to attack and kill us off before we could attack them. The queen and many soldiers stayed in Adlehyde to allow the citizens who made it to the palace escape. Sadly, many innocent men, women, and children were slaughtered before they made it to safety. Ironically, it was a Demon that saved the lives of the Demon Slayers. He was reformed two hundred years prior to this incident," Jessica stated.

Laura, who was just arriving with a drink, asked her, "So then, what happened at this funeral? It seems quite interesting. And what was your role in all of this? I didn't think kids went to funerals. My mom always made us stay home if they had to go for a relative or neighbor who had passed away. They said we were too young. But if it was ten years ago, you would only have been six when it happened."

Jessica sighed. She thought the story was funny but not many shared her sentiment. After all, she and Emily had made some trouble for Tesla and Shalte. "Well, they looked at her Will and said that seven days was too long to leave a body out; something about spreading a disease. Also they didn't have any of the spices needed for the ceremonies. Thus, they were planning to bury her after the first night despite Virginia's protests. But the Guardian of Death saw that she was likely to become a wandering spirit if not buried right; as Lyla said she died with a heavy heart. So he himself froze her coffin. They didn't find out until the next day."

"Well, that does seem unlike the typical funeral," Vincent added, "I never knew the Dorian way of handling things. But it is a part of me like my own blood. However, where do you and the people of Doria come in? You act like you had some fun and made a lot of mischief in order to help her rest properly."

"You'd bet your pistol on that. We came just in time for the first early morning vigil. Of course, if you come downstairs and see a group of people holding a strange ceremony, you'd think it was some sort of witchcraft too. But they were even more surprised to see Virginia there as well. The only reasons that my friend Emily and I came was to keep her company. So after locking her in the room to keep her from the influence of a 'wicked cult', Tesla got into a shouting match with my mother; as High Priestess she was presiding over the ceremonies. Then they found out the coffin wouldn't move," Jessica continued.

Lyla looked down and whispered, "I hope their actions didn't cause the Dorian Soul Calming Methods to become null and void. Then again, if it is their fault that her soul cannot rest, I hope she haunts them to the ends of the earth. I usually don't wish bad on people, but if this hurt Vincent's mom in any way they would deserve the wrath of the Guardians. And the Dorian people are not a crazy cult."

Jessica waved her hand to calm Lyla. "We don't even wish bad on them so don't you start. I know that doesn't help one little bit. Well, we of Doria understood their feelings and didn't act in ways to hurt them. But we could use trickery to keep the ceremony going in the right way and help Virginia to honor her mother. Emily would manipulate the winds to get us up to her balcony and I'd then pick the lock with my magic. She'd come out, I'd put the lock back in place, Emily would manipulate the winds to get us down, and Virginia would use an illusion so we wouldn't get caught sneaking away. That was for ceremonies outside of the house. The adults would manipulate the locks and get in for the early morning prayers over the coffin. But in the end, it caused one big problem. Seeing the arguments mounting, Ekatrina's father, King Edwin, decided he should take custody of his granddaughter. The Will only said she would be raised by her father if Ekatrina died but he wasn't there. That's why he doesn't speak with Tesla and Shalte; they had a bitter argument that only ended because Virginia wanted to stay close to her mom's grave and her grandfather understood her feelings had nothing to do with who she liked better."

Vincent let out a sigh. There was bitterness in his family. But no one knew he existed. The only way to handle this was to find his father and convince him somehow. If he heard that Leehalt had took the boy, and the reason he wasn't told was that Ekatrina didn't want to upset him, he might think about it and believe him. After all, Werner of all people would know that Leehalt hated his guts with a passion.

Teefa's Last Words...

Well, we had the crazy story and a little support. I thought it was interesting to see how two opposite traditions would butt heads over how to handle it. Doria is different from the rest of Filgaia; just like the people of Baskar. So the team is now going to look for answers to Yggdrasil's whereabouts. They need to discover some other important clue. And if you were wondering where Frisky was, and why nobody was shocked to see her, they left her in the Sandcraft. People in towns give them odd stares so she stays there if they are heading for town. Besides, I tend to forget about the animal characters if they can't speak or only say weird words. Thus, they don't tend to get mentioned; they stay silent in the back unless they come up in the story dynamics. Or unless I have a scene where a character is agitated and the pet wants to play; that would be Hound Buster in "Three Princesses" a La Pucelle fic I wrote and have yet to post cuz I need to post the earlier fics in the series first.