Midnight: Your english is just fine. Thank you for the review! I took 3 years of German and can still only speek simple sentences and count. My boyfriend speeks much better german than I could ever hope to. ;)
ann: You are great:) It is unfair isn't it?
Tsunami: Sorry you didn't like the kissing. I'll try to put more other stuff in this one.
Mysisterisasquijum: Kaitlyn possessed is a great visual. :) But she is gone for good. I must say that I am very happy to have her out of head.
Asavako: Thanks. It's nice to see that you're still reading this. Thanks for the review.
chibihitomi: There will be more of Merle. I was already working things out in my head and then I got your review. :) Feel free to ask- I love Merle, she is quite the character. Sin City was weird but good. As a word of advice go to an early show- I think the only reason I didn't fully enjoy it was because I was so tired. Scott made fun of my Inu Yasha shirt as soon as he saw it! It was playfull but I still wanted to kick him. :)
QueenTatooine: Did I ever tell you that I love your name? If not, I am now- it's a cool name. ;)
Ryme-chan: They are good together, huh? I've no idea how or when this will end. :) I just love this story so much!
Macky: OOOOsmiles and wavesOOOO Thank ya much.
Inda: You are always the first! Thank you so much for reviewing all of these chapters. You are way cool.
steves-girl: Thanks!
brezzybrez: Sorry to have cut it short. Thanks for the review.
Goddess-Hitomi: Yea, I'm kinda proud about getting that shirt. I love it and for once an anime shirt wasn't a horrid color that would clash with my red hair.
pure hope: I'm crazy too. I mean who else would spend almost all of their nights planning out a fanfiction chapter but a crazy. I always update- at least once a week. Enjoy!
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO This part is for chibihitomi :) and Tsunami:)
Merle paced her room waiting for Tina. Surprisingly Lord Marlin had let Tina to go to the dinner the night before and Tina promised to sneek away this morning to Merle's room.
The light knock on the door was only heard because of Merle's sensitive ears. The door opened and Tina slipped in, pale and out of breath.
"Arla almost caught me but-" Tina took a deep breath, "She doen't dare run. It messes up her hair too much."
Merle laughed, "I am so happy I have no sisters."
"What about Hitomi?" Tina asked, leaning against the door.
"That's different. Hitomi is older than me and marrying Van. They'll be involved with each other for awhile and then she'll just be a sister. No older or younger about it. She treats me like an equal."
"You're lucky." Tina huffed, her blonde hair falling out of it's bun.
Tina was about to say something else when Merle held up her hand for silence-a move she had picked up from Hitomi, "Someone's in the hall." she whispered and motioned for Tina to follow her to the window, "We'll escape- just in case Arla tipped your dad off."
Tina turned away from the window in time to see the door shake as someone knocked on it-hard. When she turned back to the window Merle was gone.
"Merle!" she hissed, rushing to the window.
As soon as she leaned out to see if Merle was in sight hands came down and grabbed her arms. The next thing she knew she was on the roof with Merle holding a hand over her mouth.
"Shhh." Merle warned.
There was the sound of wood hitting wood and then low voices coming from Merle's room below them. Tina turned large, shocked eyes to her friend. That wasn't her father and Arla down there and they both knew it.
Merle once again warned her to be silent before pointing behind her. Tina saw a basket with a yellow silk covering. When she looked at Merle again, the cat moved slowly, sliently over to the basket and pulled back the yellow material to show her friend the Orbs Van had asked her to hold on to.
Tina's eyes grew in size and she pointed down, indicating Merle's room and the pointed at the Orbs.
What she was saying was clear and Merle nodded.
They, whoever they were, wanted the Orbs.
There was a crash followed by a muffled curse and Merle grinned. They had opned her closet. That ment they were also close to the chest. If they opened that they were in for the surprise of their lives.
If they opened the chest everyone would know who these invaders were. They'd be smelling like a sewage for the next week no matter what they did to get rid of the smell. It was a trick Gades had taught her durring the war. The chest was rigged with thin sacks full of beetle weed sludge. If the person opening the top didn't know to drag a finger along the right back corner, detaching the trigger then they'd be getting a face full of sludge.
There was a louder burst of cursing and Merle was grinning fully. After reporting this to Van the culprits would be found and questioned within the day.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Merle had to pacticaly jog to keep up with Van as he stalked down the hall towards the front doors. Some one had reported back to Van not long after he had started asking about two or three men who were suddenly smelling fowl without reason.
He had Aidren grab the men and bring them to the front court. Outside was better than inside if Merle had the beetle weed sludge for as long as she claimed. Two years of just sitting in those sacks- that sludge must have felt like acid on their skin and to their senses.
To both their surprise there were four men kneeling out on the grass. Christopher and Aidren had been joined by two other men to stand guard over the smelly men.
Van could see tha they had tried to wash the sludge off but had only succceeded in leaving red streaks where the sludge had landed on their faces and arms.
Beetle weed was a poison. The men before him were lucky they hadn't ingested any of it.
Just by looking at the men Van could tell that they were a minor threat. Between the four of them they might have been able to pick a lock but anything bigger than that would have caused a collective head ache among them.
Aidren stepped forward and bowed, "My King, they have confessed to working for another. They don't even know what type of Orbs they were looking for. They called them 'glass balls' and 'Draconian glass'. They are a bunch of idiots."
"And what do you think should be done with a bunch of idiots?" Van asked, looking the men over. Aidren's advice was always well thought out and as Hitomi would have said- Aidren kept all the bases covered. Van didn't understand what that ment but he knew what she was trying to say. Aidren thought of everything.
"They should be kept locked up for a week at the very least. That way their 'master' or whoever the hell hired them will know that they failed."
Van turned to look at Merle and she was nodding. It made sense to her. Let whoever it was know that he can't get into the palace as easily as he thought.
"He might get impatient and make rash choices." Merle said quietly and Van nodded.
"Very well." Van said, "Lock them up for two weeks. If they survive each other for that long then they will be set free to face their master."
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Van walked slowly back to the palace. He was proud of the people he called his 'palace family'. He doubted that Merle realy knew it but he was training her to think like a fighter. He had been for nearly three years now. Merle needed to understand the ways of court and the threats that came with it.
Aidren and Christopher knew they were being trained. Van had told them he expected them to know as much about the law and courtly ways as he did. This had been Christopher's first taste of Fanelian law and had, as Van thought he would, stayed quiet. He was listening- learning the way things should be handled.
The Fanelian King couldn't have been happier with the people he had put his trust in. There was also Cailas, and Tren- his quieter, rather unkown eyes and ears. They were identical twins and the best quiet soldiers Van had ever had the pleasure to know.
The sudden appearance of the twins didn't surprise him. The fact that they chose to aproach him inside the palace was worrisome.
"Your Queen." Cailas said as he nodded to Van's chambers, "The Orbs have opened for her."
Van never questioned putting the twins on guard for Hitomi's safety. They were as he had always known, incredibly sensitive to their surroundings. They even knew that their furture Queen usualy used her magics at night before going to bed. Van didn't know how they knew. They had confessed when asked that they could feel it.
The young King expected to find the worst when he entered his rooms. Nothing had been going too well lately so why would the opening of the Orbs be any different? But Van found Hitomi sitting cross legged on their bed smiling as a tear ran down her cheek.
"Merle brought them to me." she said without looking up, "She said someone was after them and to keep them hidden." Hitomi's smile widened, "They kept calling to me and wen I held the first one the memory opened."
"What's in them?" Van asked cautiously. He still didn't think he could trust anything that happened on this day.
"They were your mothers, Van." Hitomi finaly looked up at him, her eyes were glowing, "These are her favorite memories of you and Folken when you were little."
"Then why were you crying?" Van asked, still worried.
"She burried these just before she went looking for your brother, Van. She left you a message at the begining of this one. She realy did love you."
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
A/N: Ok, it's late- I know and I'm sorry. Scott and I have been joined at the hip for the past week and he graduates soon. So to say the least there's a lot going on. I hope you all liked this.
Review! Please and thank you.