Kai: Thanks:)
kogaijilynz: Thank you. I really liked that chapter too. It was very fun to write.
Macky: Thank ya much.
QueenTatooine: I'm excited about the coming 'adversary'. I've been thinking about it for over a week. I just hope I get it all out right.
maeko14: Things will get very interesting.
mysisterisasquijum: HA! I love your name! I think yours is the most creative name I have ever seen. Thanks for the review and the explanation about your name.
Eternity-san: Thats the way everything is with me. I see it all in my head like I'm watching a movie. I thinks thats why I love books so much.
blackstarryday: I had a great visual of you lunging out of the bushes with a spork in your hand only to miss her completely and tackle Van.
steves-girl: Thanks.
shadow Glider: Your review was what got me typing this chapter earlier than I normaly would have. I think's it's one of the best reviews I have ever recieved.
kelsey: No one found out about the wedding. The council would have tried to put a stop to it had they known what was happening.
pure hope: I'm glad you have fun while reviewing. It's also very amusing for me. There's no need for a 'mood'. lol. I love writing this story so there'll be no shortage of new chapters for awhile.
Inda: I read your Esca story:) Thanks for the review.
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Van ran his finger lightly over Hitomi pale arm. He still couldn't believe that they were really married. Not only were they married but they couldn't stop kissing each other once they were back in their room. He had been afraid that the weight of what was coming their way would ruin their wedding night.
It hadn't.
Hitomi mumbled in her sleep and rolled onto her back, one hand coming up to lazily push her hair out of her eyes.
When Hitomi had walked through the doors at the Ball Van thought there was no way she could ever look more breath taking than she did that very moment. Van found that he had been terribly mistaken.
As Hitomi stepped up next to him at Escaflowne's feet she looked the Moons come down to Gaea.
Van laid back and tried to fall asleep. It was close to 4 am and he knew he would need all the sleep he could get before facing the council. But the temptation to stay up and watch his new wife sleep was too much and after a minute Van found himself once again propped up on his elbows to place light kisses on Hitomi's exposed shoulder and the skin just below it.
He was captivated by her. Never had he seen a woman unclothed and every curve and every inch felt like silk.
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Sitting as straight as she could on her throne Hitomi's were knees shaking. It wasn't the council she was worried about...it was what Van would do if they reacted badly to their marriage.
Van himself had said that they would be upset about the secret wedding but if any of them dared question Van's intentions or Hitomi's right to be Queen then Van would be forced to banish them. It was what any King would do. It was what Van's own father ended up doing when many of his councilors objected, even after the wedding, to Varie being Queen.
Hitomi smoothed the sleeve of her green riding shirt. Van had chosen Hitomi's outfit when the new Queen proved too nervous to pick one herself. The riding dress split down the fron to reveal Hitomi's beige pants and brown knee high boots. The blouse and skirt were one piece of material and Van assured her over and over again that they didn't want to look too formal. The riding outfit matched with a delicate gloden crown that sat on Hitomi's hair line made her feel like an elven Queen from those movies Yukari had been obsessed with.
Van's nerves were also begining to show as he paced in front of the dias the thrones were seated on. Hitomi smiled as Van ran his hands nervously over the front of his tan shirt before smoothing his already wrinkle free pants.
The King's crown was lovely. Gold with Fanelia's blue crest set in gems. The new Queen's thoughts weren't on crowns exactly. Her latest worry sat with Rori. A man Van had put on the spot this morning. Rori had the choice to either break under pressure or swallow the weight of what he was doing and get through it.
Rori proved to have steel in his spirit and he hadn't faultered once.
Hitomi managed a smiled when Van turned to look at her. He smiled back and some of his stress seemed to lift from his shoulders.
"I love you." Hitomi whispered just as the doors to the throne room opened.
Pennin led the council members into the empty room and Christopher followed at their rear. All 12 members looked frightened and pale. Even the younger ones who had litlle to worry about looked shakened.
Christopher stepped up to Van's left and bowed, "Aidren has news of three riders not far from our boarders."
"Thank you. This won't take long." Van nodded to his newest knight and glanced at his wife before turning to the men before him.
"Fanelia is at the edge of a dangerous time." Van hadn't raised his voice but everyone could hear him perfectly, "Riders are aproaching and with them they bring a change. I can not say if this change is good or bad but I highly doubt anything good will come of their visit. A warning was given to me of their coming. Advice was also given and followed. I trust that none of you have missed the fact that Hitomi sits before you crowned. She and I wed last night." there was an intake of breath from the councilors,many looked ready to faint, "She was crowned this morning by myself and a few of Fanelia's Knights."
"But a crowning isn't official unless the council has documents of it's happening." Albert had turned a very unattractive shade of puce.
"We have documents." a voice from among the councilors spoke up. Van grinned as Rori stepped forward, "I witnessed and blessed the crowning freely."
Rorirlan who was 28 and the youngest on the council knew this could loose him his place among men he called friends. He pushed back his short brown hair and produced a copy of the documents.
"We didn't over look anything, Albert. Fanelia's livelyhood depends on that." Van straightened his back and continued the pacing the had stopped when the council entered, "We know of course that a royal wedding must take place and we agree to hold it the week of first snow."
Hitomi felt her hands sweating horribly and faught the urge to wipe them on her pants, "But as you all know," she was proud to hear that her voice was steady despite her nerves, "Your priorities have been put into question. No one knows Fanelia as well as the people in this room and therefore you all will stay and be her keepers."
The council, as one, sighed.
"But do know that if anyone, and Albert I do mean anyone, is thought to be going against what is best for this Kingdom just to cause trouble in the council chambers then they will be executed for purosely acting in a way that could bring pain and troubles to the Fanelian people." Van smiled grimly, "Now, if any of you after hearing this would like to step down from the Council you may do so with no questions asked. This is the only warning you will recieve." Van fell silent, looking the men over.
No one stepped forward or met his eye.
"Very well. We must now prepare for what is heading our way. You are all given leave to go to your families for the week. I do not expect any good to come of these riders and as Fanelia's Council, the men who knew her workings, I want you all to be in safe places for the next few days. Word will be sent when I need you to return."
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Merle was happy that the guests were all leaving for the Trades Council which would be held just south of Fanelia's boarder but she worried that they would travel into the path of the three riders.
Secretly Merle was also on the verge of tears. Tina would leaving and if they were lucky they would meet again at next year's Trade market. And that was if they were very lucky. From the look of Lord Marlen he would have very much liked to be able to spit on the palace and be done with it for the rest of his days.
A gentle hand turned Merle's attention away from the carriages and horses being readied to leave and to Hitomi who still wore her crown and riding outfit.
"As you know I will have my own Ladies Council, women who are my friends. On my world I think they were called Ladies in waiting. I name you, Lady Merle, my second Lady of Council." Hitomi smiled at her.
"Who was your first?" Merle asked, offended to have been asked second.
"We knew you would ask that!" Came a happy, laughing voice and Merle turned to see Tina beaming at her, "Hitomi had to practicaly bash my father over the head with her fist before he said yes."
"You're staying?" Merle asked, bouncing up and down.
"Yup. You are all stuck with me!" Tina laughed as Merle rushed forward to hug her and Hitomi.
"Thank you Hitomi!" Merle was so happy she went so far as to lick the side of the new Queen's face.
"I didn't do it just for you!" Hitomi laughed, "If Tina can keep up with you and your wierd ideas I think she'll be able to help a new Queen with her worries."
"You have nothing to worry about with us at your side!" Merle beamed.
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"You should have seen it!" Tina cackled as she and Merle walked the hallways arm in arm, happy as only best friends can be in each other's presence, "Once Hitomi pointed out that a Lady of Council to the Queen has a much higher standing than a Lord's youngest daughter- I thought he was going to breathe fire! Of course he had to say yes. He had no good reason to say no and refusing the Queen wouldn't have put him in the King's favor at all!"
Merle was grinning in her feline manner and Tina laughed harder, "I wish I could have seen it." Merle confessed, "I love it when Hitomi puts people in their place."
"It was one of the loveliest things I have ever seen." Tina sighed dramaticly and they both burst out laughing, causing the passing maids to turn and stare.
"Van wants us in the front hall." Merle said once she had her giggles under control, "The riders will be here before sunset."
This sobered them up. All the laughter was gone from both sets of eyes.
The girls turned and headed back to hall. They had left to have a few minutes of pure 'best friend time', promising as they headed for the stairs to be back an hour before sunset. Van's face had been both serious and sad as made them both promise him they'd be back.
"Be carefull." Van had said, putting a brotherly hand on Merle's shoulder.
Tina smoothed her blonde curls back as they rouned the last corner. Something told her that they would see things they were not yet ready to see, but as a Queen's Lady she was suppose to be there. Hitomi had given them a way out but Merle had refused, knowing it was important for them all to be there waiting for the Riders when they arrived.
Merle saw Hitomi lean in and kiss Van's lips gently just as she and Tina stepped out the front doors. For a moment the cat girl felt sad for the young couple at the foot of the stairs. They hadn't even been married for 24 hours and aready they were preparing to face something, that according to Varie, could tear them apart if they didn't stand together.
She watched as Van reached out and linked his fingers with Hitomi's.
"I feel very sorry for anyone wanting to cause them trouble." Merle said with a grin, no longer feeling bad for her friends,but instead sad for whoever earned their anger "They are strong as one. The Gods knew just what they were doing when they placed Hitomi in Van's path."
"Or placed Van in Hitomi's path." Tina said with a smile, "I recall that it was Van who appeared on the Mystic Moon before bringing Hitomi back here."
"True." Merle smiled, "She was ment to be his."
"There's dust on the road." Aidren called out, "Horses aproaching."
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Hitomi tilted her head. She thought she heard a womans voice calling her name.
The dust was getting closer and from the looks of it the three aproaching horses were being pushed to their limits.
Hitomi's head snapped around as she once again heard her name being called.
"Do you hear that?" she asked Van.
Van, his eyes still on the dust shook his head, "Hear what?"
"Someone calling my name." Hitomi said as it happened again, "There! Did you hear it?"
"No." Van turned to look into her eyes, worry on his face, "But my skin feels itchy, like I've walked through something I couldn't see."
"What do you think it is?" Hitomi asked, spreading her senses out.
"I'm not really sure but it feels like magic." Van shivered and squeezed Hitomi's hand, "What do you feel?"
"Is Aidren sure there are three riders coming?" Hitomi asked, very confused, "Cause I only feel two...no third."
"I trust Aidren's eyes." Van said quietly then turned to Pennin and Christopher, "Be on your guard. Something's not right. There's magic on them and one of them is beyond Hitomi's senses. This could be more than we can handle."
Cailas and Tren nodded their understanding from behind the Queen. Their job was to get Hitomi out of harms way if things were to go badly.
"Here they come." Hitomi whispered, knowing at once when the riders crossed onto the Palace grounds.
Everyone fell silent as the three cloaked riders slowed to a trot. One of them had their hood thrown back and just about everyone there recognized Selena, Allen's little sister at once. Gone was the childish joy that had usualy glowed apon her face. Now she sat straight with a look of anger and understanding darkening her lovely features.
"Hail, Fanelian King." Selena called out as she tossed her silver hair out of her eyes, "We come bearing news of Zaibach's rebuilding. We are it's ambassadors and even come bearing a gift for you."
"As ambassadors we can not harm them without just cause." Van whispered to Hitomi and she nodded barely hearing him as her attention was on the pale, thin hands of the second rider as they rose to remove the hood it wore.
"Dilandau." she breathed, knowing even before the hood was all the way back that she wasn't dreaming. This was all happening.
But how?
"Zaiback still covets magic." Selena grinned at their alarm and reached out to touch Dilandau's shoulder, "Great magics were used to bring us into seperate beings."
"Don't ever forget, Little King, that Zaiback knows the old magics and uses them without fear." Dilandau's smile hadn't lost any of it's manic glint, "I'm not the gift my sister spoke of. Not by far." Dilandau turned sharply in his saddle and barked out one word Hitomi didn't understand at the rider on the horse behind him.
"We brought you back something you miss dearly." Selena's expression was the oppsite of her twin's. While Dilandau was grinning evily, Selena was suddenly serious and cold.
The third rider dropped from the saddle to walk forward and stand before Selena's horse. With shaking hands the third rider pulled back her hood to reveal raven hair and large eyes.
"Mother." Van's hand went limp in HItomi's and she turned just in time to catch him as his knees gave out.
"True, it is only an image, her spirit trapped here by Zaiback magics but it's good isn't it?" Dilandau said gleefully, "She looks perfect and even though the magic will fade this is really your mother, Little King."
Van gained his feet and walked forward to knee before his mother's spirit. Varie, spirit or no spirit looked frightened and sad as her youngest son kneeled before her.
Varie turned her sad eyes to Hitomi and it was then that the voice called her name again.
Hitomi.
Varie had been the one calling her, trying to warn her.
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A/N: I had been so tempted to leave it at Aidren saying "Horses aproaching." but I knew that would have been mean. :) I know shadow glider would have had a few choice words for me. I hope this was a surprise for you all. It's been bugging me- it took me a week to figure out how to do this just right. At first it was going to be just Dilandau and Varie but then I had too many problems with where the plot would go from there. Review!