Shingujisakurachan: LOL. Your review is hilarious! Hitomi did worse. Hitomi slapped Van! Only Christina would need a veil. Mel's is a little past her shoulders. But I have something planned that Christina's short hair has to be noticed. At least by a certain blonde ditz who is getting her hopes up.

They were back on the ground, and Van was kissing her while rubbing his hands all over her. He had always wanted to do this with Hitomi, but he didn't have the chance. Here was someone else he loved, and he wasn't going to miss the chance.

Christina was feeling a bunch of emotions she thought only possible for people in romance novels. Suddenly, it felt as though her brain clicked on, and she pushed Van slightly so that he wasn't kissing her anymore.

"What's wrong?"

"I don't think we should be moving this quickly. If we do this now, we might not like each other as much later. I love you, Van, and I'd like this to last."

Van smiled.

"I understand."

Christina smiled back. They got up and started walking back down the mountain.

The two couples got back at about the same time. The sun had set, and supper was laid out in the dining hall. Christina had never tasted such wonderful food. Mélanie neither. They each sampled everything. The drink was wine, and while Mélanie took hers without hesitating, Christina was a little apprehensive.

She leaned towards Van, and asked:
"This isn't very strong, is it? It's just that I never drank alcohol before."

"Oh, no. I never have very strong drinks served here. And it's not straight, there's water in it, too."

"Phew."

Christina drank her wine, which tasted a bit like soda pop. She felt slightly light-headed after the meal, but she could still walk straight. The boys left the girls at the doors to their rooms, and then Van walked down the right hall, while Elijah took the left. As soon as the boys were out of sight, Mélanie followed Christina into her room, and the two sat on the bed.

"Chris. You'll never believe what happened: I love Elijah and Elijah loves me. We even kissed."

"Well, same thing for me. Van kissed me, and I honestly thought I would die of happiness."

"Oh! Good. I was feeling bad cause I thought that for you two it was still only show."

"Nope."

Mel giggled, and got up.

"I better go to my own room, now. Night, Chris."

"Night, Mel."

Thank God for that.

"Thank God for what, Mel?"

"I didn't say anything."

Man. thought Christina. This is weird.

"Ohmygod!"

"What, Mel?"

"I heard you say something, but your lips didn't move!"

"What, are we telepathic?"

"Maybe. Maybe there's something about this place that brings out powers in people. Think something that's not easy to guess, and try to make me hear it."

Elijah is butt-head nincompoop.

"He is not! Take that back!"

"Whoa! Mel! I was kidding! I just wanted to see if you'd hear it, remember?"

"Oh. Right. Isn't this cool? We can talk to each other telepathically!"

"Definitely. Well, good night. I wanna talk about this after some good shut-eye."

"'Night."

And Mel left closing the door behind her.

Christina opened the closet which Van had said was at her disposal, and found a white nightgown which buttoned up to her throat and went down to her ankles.

She undid the zipper that led to the top of the small of her back in the back, and let the dress drop to the floor. She also removed the lingerie, and put it all in a box Van had said was for laundry, then pulled on the nightgown, walked toward the bed, and slipped between the sheets.

She fell asleep relatively quickly, but woke up suddenly, because she thought she heard someone cry out. She got out of bed, and went out in the hall. Christina heard it again, coming from down the right hall, except she seemed to be hearing it with her mind, more than her ears. She walked quickly, stopping when she noticed guards in front of the very last door. They hadn't seen her. She turned back, tried to keep in mind the number of doors between her room and the guarded one and went to her room. Christina forced out her wings, ripping a hole in the back of the nightgown, opened the large window, and jumped. The wings acted like a parachute, stopping her from falling. Instinctively, she flew in the direction of Van's room, and when she stopped in front of what she hoped was the right one, she sighed in triumph. Trying her best to stay in the air without making to much noise, she silently opened the window, stood on the sill, retracted her wings, and stepped inside without a noise. Christina walked towards Van's bed, and sat on the side.

Van was still making sounds.

"Muh...Mother. Please...don't...don't cry. Mother."

Oh. She should have guessed.

Poor Van. His parents must be dead. Why else would he be king? If his parents were still alive, they'd be ruling instead. The fact that's he's king must mean that they're both dead.

Suddenly, the song his mother would sing simply came to mind, and she sang.

"Win dein a lotica
En vai tu ri
Si lo ta
Fin dein a loluca
En dragu a sei lein
Vi fa ru leshtai am
En riga lint..."

"Mother!" Van suddenly jumped forward and caught her in an embrace, and then cried in her shoulder.

"Shh, shh. It's okay. I'm here."

Christina felt a little guilty as she whispered this, but then Van fell asleep, and his breathing was more regular. She felt better now that she was able to make him feel better. She laid him on his pillows, tucked him in, and walked back to the window.

Stupid guards. They didn't even notice there was a second voice in the room. They probably fell asleep. Imagine if I was an enemy here to assassinate Van?

She stood on the window sill and spread her wings.

Van felt happy. His mother's spirit had visited him, sung to him. He opened his eyes for moment, in time to see a winged figure fly away from his window. Then he fell asleep.
When he woke up the next day, and saw his window open, he was confused. Then he saw feathers around the window. Hadn't it been a dream? And how could a spirit leave feathers?

Christina!

He jumped out of bed, ran out of the room, waking the guards with the ruckus, and ran till he was in front of Christina's room.

He went in without knocking, but without making a sound.

Walking up to the bed, he could see the rip in her nightgown, exposing her back. Her window was open, too, and there were feathers around the bottom. His first thought was anger. How dare she impersonate his mother like that! But then he remembered. She had said she loved him. He was probably crying in his sleep, which woke her up. She did it to help him. Because she loved him. Such a kind girl, and creative, thinking of something like that.

Wait. How did she know the song?

He'd ask her later when she woke up. Van went back to his room to get dressed, and then went to his study to continue reading his mother's diaries.

When Christina woke up, she had totally forgotten the past night's events. She put on a new dress, white with a yellow sash and pleats, also backless, and went to the study.

She wanted to know more about Draconians, and the study was packed with books. Chances were she'd find something about them.

When she got to the study and saw Van, she suddenly remembered what she had done. She felt her cheeks turn hot. She felt so ashamed. She had pretended to be his mother. A tear ran down her face, which she wiped away quickly. She cleared her throat, and Van looked up from his book.

"Christina! Good morning. Did you sleep well?" he asked uncertainly, because of the tear.

"Very well. Thank you. Um, Van? I did something last night, and I feel really bad about it, so I think I should tell you."

"Pretending to be my mother? I already figured that out. A spirit wouldn't leave feathers, so I went to your room while you were still asleep, and I saw the rip in your nightgown."

"Van, you have to understand." A steady stream of tears began to decend her face. "I just wanted to make you feel better. You seemed so upset, thrashing around in your sleep... "

"It's okay, Christina." Van interrupted. He got up and wiped her tears. "The fact that you did that for me, proves that you care about me because you worried. The fact that you admitted it proves that you're loyal and honest. Those are rare qualities, and you have them all." he kissed her then, a full kiss on the mouth, tongue and all.

"Thank you, Van."

"But I do have one question: How did you know the song?"

"The first few nights I was here, I was too homesick to sleep. Your mom would sing to me to help me fall asleep."

­"Well, that explains it. I was still half asleep, though. Would you mind singing it again for me sometime?"

"That's a possibility."

"For now though, I should instruct you on how things are going to be in Asturia. We have to make sure that no one notices you're not from Gaea. Shall we begin your, uh, 'lessons'?"

"Bring 'em on."

The week passed fairly quickly, but somehow, Christina managed to learn enough to be inconspicuous during the stay in Asturia. Elijah was teaching Mélanie at the same time, because she had to pretend to be from his planet.

Mélanie was pacing her room back and forth. The day had arrived. They were going to a royal gathering. She was expected to behave like a princess before all of Asturia, and during a high-class party. Luckily, when it was just her, Christina, Elijah, Van and Van's friends, she could 'take off her royalty mask' and such.

During the week, when they weren't at 'princess lessons', Mel and Chris had gone through the wardrobe that had once belonged to Hitomi and chosen who would have which dresses so that Van could send the ones which Mel had picked to be altered to her size. Mélanie was looking out the window which overlooked all of Fanelia when Elijah walked up to her.

"Fanelia is beautiful, isn't it?" Mel said

"Yes, extremely. One would never find such beauty on my world. The natural state of the planet is too cold, since it's too far from the sun to get any real heat. It didn't used to be so far, though. No one knows what happened that changed the orbit. Anyway. I love coming here. It's almost like my sanctuary. Van is a most excellent host, and a great friend."

"Well, according to Christina, he's a great kisser, too."

"Oh, I knew about their little relationship. The first night, after we left you two at your rooms, Van gave signal for me to follow him. We went to his room and he told me about how he felt towards Christina, and it sounded as though he was describing a goddess. I told him how I felt towards you, and I probably gave the same impression."

Not thinking about what she was doing, Mel jumped around his shoulders and pressed her lips to his.

Christina was sitting in the garden, having a tour of it with the gardener, Misha, along with Merle, whom had been visiting some friends in one of the small villages found in the woods, named Adom. She would be returning there for while Van and the others were in Asturia. Christina hadn't told Merle about her relationship with Van, because she had immediately gotten the impression that Merle was infatuated with him, due to the way she jumped into his arms when she first arrived.

"This is an apple rose bush. The reddest roses of all the species. We have a pink kind, too, right here called cat-nose rose. Do pardon the expression, Merle."

"Why would I mind such a pretty flower having a cattish name?"

"Of course. These blue ones over here are called fickleberry roses, for they produce the sour fruit in the autumn. Sour if taken straight off the bush, that is, but it is used to make pies, juices, and all kinds of pastries which actually taste quite sweet. I know a juice recipe actually. Perhaps I could show you how when you return?"

"I'd like that, thank you. My grandmother was a really good gardener, so I thank you for giving me this tour."

"Oh, no problem at all my dear girl. An old woman like me loves showing people the ways of her skills."

"Christina, can I talk to you for a minute?" said Merle

"Uh..."

"Oh, you two girls go on and have fun. I'll just be tending the Icoberry bush further on in back."

And she left.

"Christina, you do realise that Misha guessed you're from the Mystic Moon, don't you?"
"Well, how? Do I still stand out that much?"

"Not really, but Christina isn't a name found around on Gaea. She's really clever, plus she knew about Hitomi."

"Oh, shit. What am I supposed to do in Asturia? Use an alias? Hitomi is the girl that came here before, right?"

"You mean Van-sama didn't tell you about her?"

"Not really."

"Well, they fell in love near the end, but then they were seperated when Hitomi went to the Mystic Moon. She died two years ago. She got hit by something, I can't remember what it was. Something only found on the Mystic Moon. People use them to get around, I think."

"A car?"

"Yeah! That's it!"

"Poor Van. He lost his parents, his mentor, his brother, and the woman he loved."

"He tries to lead a happy life anyway. And having a new girlfriend helps matters."

"Huh?"

"Don't play dumb. I see the way you look at each other. I don't really like it, But I'm willing to tolerate it, for Van's sake."

"Hey, there!" Christina turned to see Elijah and Mel standing on the steps leading out of the garden.

"Are you two girls done gossiping?" asked Elijah

"Christina, it's time to leave!" Mel shouted.

"On my way! Do I look okay, Merle? No dirt on the dress? I really shouldn't have come out in this dress, it's the one I'm wearing to go to Asturia."

"No, it looks fine. Hitomi would wear that one for important gatherings, too. Van had found a way to have her visit for the six months before her death."

"You mourned for her, too, didn't you?"

"Yes. I didn't like the fact that Van wanted her instead of me, but she was very nice. I better go get ready, I'm going back to Adom. See you when you get back!"
"Bye, Merle."
Christina went into the castle, to see Van waiting at the front door, but Mélanie and Elijah were nowhere in sight.
"Mel and Elijah are already in the transport. The bags have been sent there, too. I came up with a story if anyone asks about your short hair: You were sick and had a bad fever, which resulted in your hair being cut so that it wouldn't be too heavy and make you perspire too much."
"Sound good."
"I'll tyr to think of a name between here and there. You'll know it because I'll use it to introduce you to the others." Christina nodded in agreement.
She walked up to Van, and put an arm around the one he was offering.