Chapter 4: Diplomatic Immunity
Aboard the INS Vingerhut bound for the Queendom, 337 Solar Year
Lazlo laid on an uncomfortable make shift bed, his face staring up at the wooden ceiling above him. He closed his eyes and soon his mind drifted away. He could hear what sounded like a music box playing its soft melody in the background. Suddenly, there before him in the darkness of his mind's eye stood the shining figure of a woman's silhouette, then as the light dimmed her form became more apparent.
She had blonde hair and a round face with gentle blue eyes like his. She wore a white top with green trim along the edges. The bottom part of her dress was red, which matched the red sash and bandanna that completed her wardrobe. There was also a strange green aura that surrounded her at all times.
On several occasions, he had tried to speak to her, ask questions, and even tried to gesture with his hands. But each time she stood there silently never saying a word, but she always seemed to acknowledge him with a pleasant smile. However, the one phrase, this man always heard in his head before this strange woman would disappear from his vision was: "Farewell my children, my husband, I'm sorry."
Her lips would not move, but he knew that it was her speaking to his spirit. This seemingly familiar, but otherworldly figure, became in many ways a source of comfort for the man over the years, for he had learned that this woman was in fact the former Queen of Obel, wife of King Lino En Kuldes, and more importantly than that, she was his mother.
This vision of her was possible thanks to the Rune of Atonement and Forgiveness, otherwise known as the Rune of Punishment. This accursed rune was 1 of the 27 True Runes, which were the source of all magic and other lesser runes in the world. This particular Rune was cursed for centuries consuming the life of any bearer foolish enough to unleash its deadly power.
As anyone, who died bearing this Rune, part of their soul and memories were left captive inside the rune itself and their memories became part of the burden of the next bearer of the rune. Moreover, with each sacrificial act of using the True Rune's power the wielder would confront the memory of a previous bearer, in addition to having their own life force drained away.
His mother had been no exception to this curse, for she had unleashed the power of the rune to destroy a group of pirates that were on the verge of destroying their royal ship, along with her husband and two children who happened to be onboard. She saved their lives, at the expense of her own. However, in the confusion her son somehow fell overboard, was lost at sea, and was presumed dead by all.
About 15 years later, she again saved her son's life, when the same Rune was used not to save the boy's life this time, but to take it. However, once again she acted to protect her now teenage son. She used her powers to shield her son from the rune's devastating attack. The boy had no knowledge of this until later on when he himself became the new bearer of the Rune of Punishment.
However, unlike those before him, he would not fall victim to the curse of the Rune, thanks to his willingness to forgive those who had wronged him coupled with the power of the 108 Stars of Destiny he had gathered to save his country from an invading enemy nation.
Lazlo overcame the True Rune's deadly affliction. Thus, the curse of the rune changed from its normal atonement phase to its rare forgiveness phase. This meant he could use the rune to its fullest power without having to worry about it absorbing his life energy every time he used its magical power.
Because of the unique power of the Rune to retain the memories of its passed owners, Lazlo could now see the woman he had never known, but always wondered about as a boy. These past few decades had been very comforting to him in that sense. The musical tune would play in his mind and she would be there, smiling, and watching him.
As he watched her, that phrase: "Farewell my children, my husband, I'm sorry," entered his mind every time before she left him. Several times he tried to tell her she didn't need to say sorry anymore and that he did forgive her. She did not need to carry any more guilt, as he, Flare, and Lino were all right and together again. But whatever he said did not matter, because she always left his dreams the same way, saying that phrase.
Over time, Lazlo had come to realize when she said, "Farewell my children, my husband, I'm sorry," before she left him, this sentence was his only memory he could recall of his mother speaking, since she had died when he was so young it was the only thing of her that he could remember. So, every time she left Lazlo, she was reminding him of this memory of her speaking. In this way she was not asking him for forgiveness, rather she was using this lone memory to say: "I love you."
Once Lazlo had realized this, he started saying, "I love you too." to the Queen after the phrase appeared in his mind before she left. He could swear the first time he said this to the Queen, a tear formed in her eye before she had faded away, but no such tears ever appeared again in all their encounters since.
In addition, to the encounters with the former bearers, he also was able to witness some of their intense and personal memories. Sometimes they were frightful and painful, while other memories were joyful, and even intimate. All of them were extremely vivid and so real to Lazlo it was as if he himself had actually lived those moments in time.
In truth, he felt a little awkward and even embarrassed because some of the memories were about people he knew in his own life. Because of the True Rune he saw through Brandeau's eyes the romance between his 2 best friends Kika and Edgar. Lazlo saw Edgar and Kika's farewell before that faithful night, when the 2 men encountered the Pirate King Steele. He saw Edgar's death and Kika's remorse all thanks to Brandeau's memories.
Lazlo, also, had visions of Rikie's husband, the father of Rakgi, dancing with his wife before he too was cursed by the Rune. Plus, he saw the personal moments between the king and queen of Obel with their 2 small children. These memories and hundreds of others like them, all different, yet all with one thing in common: they all regretted the Rune of Punishment.
The burden of all these things was much for the former prince and renowned war hero, but now the cycle of death was broken. Lazlo would often remind himself. As long as he continued possessing the Rune, there would be no new victims for the Rune's curse to start anew; so long as he had anything to say about it. The Rune was indeed a heavy burden. However, because of it he had also gained many things as well.
Things such as a knowledge of historical events, foreign places, and even a few new languages from other past bearers that Lazlo could never have learned without having spent years of reading volumes and volumes of books and tomes. Plus, he had gained a far greater magical expertise and prowess thanks to the Rune of Punishment. He knew he was no Warlock or Simeon, or even a Ms. Jeane, but he felt he could now a least give Katarina or maybe even Maxine a run for their Potch in the magic department.
In addition, he had always been a gifted swordsman, and even from a young age, his unique dual weapon form had enabled him to give even the most veteran and seasoned soldier something to stand in awe of. But now since traveling around the Northern Continent and learning sword techniques from other warriors, he had encountered everywhere from Harmonia to Kanakan, he had honed his melee skills to such a fine point, that it was second to none. Yet in spite of all of this, he still felt nervous about all the unknowns that awaited him in the Queendom of Falena.
Suddenly, there was a knock on the door of his cabin, Lazlo quickly jumped out of bed startled by the abrupt noise. Rising to his feet and his hand instinctively reaching for his sword's hilt as the unknown voice turned the door knob. A young woman dressed in a white uniform complete with the traditional aqua and burgundy shaped patterns adorning the Naval Obel garb entered the room with a now hesitant and nervous posture as she saw the hand of the man on the hilt of his saber.
"I'm sorry to disturb you, ambassador, but the captain wanted me to inform you that we have just sailed out of Federation controlled waters. And that should you want to stop near the location of where it is believed the pirates attacked the envoys' vessel, so that you can investigate for clues. Please, know that it will be another 3 or 4 days before we arrive in that general area around Nirva. Then, it'll probably take around 7 or 8 more days after that until we reach a port town on the east side of their country called Estrise. That is assuming the winds stay with us as the captain expects they will. That is all of my message, sir. Is there anything you would like me to tell the captain for you before I returned to my post?" expressed the young woman.
Lazlo, now calmer, took his hand off his weapon and instead reached for the glass of water he had set next to his bed, responded after he had finished taking a drink, "No, that will be fine, please give my thanks to the captain. Oh, what was the name of that area again?" Lazlo now said with a small grin on his face and a soft tone in his voice, which was his attempt to help the young officer relax a little bit herself.
She, too, was now calmer then when she had first entered, but she still had a sort of intimidation in her body language, perhaps because she realized she had just walked in on a Federation ambassador without actually asking for permission to enter. Something she thought she might lose her position over had the ambassador pressed that very issue with the captain.
"The area, s-sirrr!?" She said with a bit of a stutter, "Sir, I believe that part of the ocean is called the Nirva Sea, because of a small chain of uninhabited islands in the area. The largest of those islands bears that same name." "I see, that will be all. Thank you." replied the young ambassador. With that the female sailor quickly and quietly left the brown-haired man's room.
Knowing he would be unable to go back to sleep, Lazlo decided it would be a good time to maybe go and catch up with some old friends. They had boarded the ship yesterday after docking briefly at Elenor's old island. Lazlo had already been on this ship since it left Obel a week ago, but was lost in his own thoughts about his True Rune and what may await them in Falena. So much so, that he had not yet bothered to leave his own room and go meet the other two ambassadors yet.
Thus, he walked into the hall and started to make his way to the other side of the ship where there was a private cabin for meetings. He figured he would find the other two ambassadors in there discussing negotiating strategies. When he opened the door, there sat the two familiar faces, both glanced up at him when he entered.
Desmond stood up from the table first and went to greet his old comrade. Tanya, however, smiled as he entered the room as her mildly aging face made eye contact with his, but soon she returned her gaze back on the table to the book she had been reading before Lazlo had entered the room.
The now curly white haired and bearded man stood before his old friend shaking his hand, and appraising him with his eyes starting at the head and working his way down to his feet and back to the man's head, "Why you haven't changed a bit!" Desmond said with a grin and a sort of jovial sarcasm that only a man of years could pull off.
"Yes 'sir, it is darn good to see you again." the old man said smiling. "You too, Desmond. I am glad we'll be able to catch up. I am sure you've got some pretty good stories to tell, eh?" retorted the rune bearer.
"Well, I got a couple of stories that are exciting, but most of them are boring political stuff, but you, I'm sure you've got lots of good stories to tell. Traveling all over the world, meeting all kinds of exciting people, fighting monsters, saving beautiful girls from bandits. Yes, sir, I'm sure you've got some mighty exciting tales to tell." said the old timer. "Well, I don't know about all that, there weren't that many bandits, a few, but none of them had any kidnapped girls that needed rescuing. I did however encounter some very interesting…"
A middle-aged female voice now spoke and cut the dual-sword master off in mid-sentence saying, "Well, if you 2 plan on swapping 'war stories' for the rest of this mission, then I am going to have to purchase myself some more books once we reach Falena..." Now cutting her off in mid-sentence Desmond retorted, "My dear Tanya, we both know regardless of what is said or not said for the rest of this trip that you had already planned on acquiring for yourself a treasure chest of new books. Why else would you have brought an empty chest with you, otherwise?" grinned the old man.
Lazlo, smiling, turned and looked at the two more directly, "While I know one thing for sure at least, this won't be a boring trip with the two of you here." Desmond started to chuckle while Tanya just rolled her eyes and let out a small sigh. She rose from her seat and approached the two men who were now standing on either side of her.
She turned to Desmond, "I am going to have to cut the pay of my attendant. I heard him complaining as we got on this ship, and he's the only one that could have told you I had an empty chest." She said this to the aged-diplomat not as a question that she wanted him to verify, but simply more as a matter-of-fact statement, because she had deduced it as merely the most logical explanation.
However, Lazlo looked at his face for some nonverbal verification of what she said to be correct, and sure enough Desmond had all the look of a kid who had just gotten caught with his hand in the cookie jar before dinner time. "I knew it," she said, "I am going to have a talk later with that Daniel."
Then almost if on cue, the door to the private cabin opened and in stepped a frail looking body of a young man, whose pale complexion, short black hair, and brown eyes that were framed around by thick horn-rimmed glasses gave all the indication to Lazlo that this bookworm didn't get outdoors much.
In a nasally tone, Daniel asked, "Did you call for me, milady?" "No," she said, "but now that you're here I want you to go to my room, and get the tome, Codex Valous Volume 4: Dalan's Travels and be quick about it." "Yes, milady." said the booklover of a man in a voice that gave the indication that he was going to be sick. "Are you alright? You're looking a little pale." asked the bearer of the Rune of Punishment.
A bit taken aback by someone actually asking him how he was doing for a change. Daniel stood there silent for a minute almost as if to savor the long overdue moment, and finally spitting out the words said, "Yes, yes, I mean. No sir, I mean I'm always this color, sir. It's just this ship and the ocean, the rocking back and forth, up and down. I am just not that use to it. I grew up around the palace in Graska, traveling long distances by ship is something I hadn't had to do until recently. Say, you guys are Islanders, do you know any secrets or tricks for not getting seasick so much?"
"My dear Danny," Desmond finally spoke up, "the best thing you can do is just to try drinking lots of water and stay on the top deck of the ship." The young man replied, "Yes, I had read that in a book before I left, but it doesn't seem to be working very well. Is there anything else?"
Desmond winked toward Lazlo and then approached the boy closer as if to share a trade secret said, "There is a spell you see, that's the reason why we're fine. You see son, when you become an official diplomat for the Island Nation Federation, you're given certain privileges and rights above those of a typical private citizen and public servant. You're a smart lad, I mean I am sure you've read about this and know about diplomatic immunity, right? (Daniel nodded his head in acknowledgement.) As diplomats we're are immune to the laws and customs of the nation we're visiting."
Now in his most serious and secretive tone the old man went on, "However, part of that immunity included protection charms and anti-mind influences, and most importantly of all, immunity spells to physical ailments like motion sickness." The young man stood there his glasses falling a bit off the bridge of his nose and readjusting them he said, "That's amazing! How do I...?"
Laughter soon filled the room as the old grandfather could not help but enjoy himself, "I've still got it!" he said with a boastful cheer. Lazlo could not help but chuckle some as well given how contagious Desmond's laughter was. Even Tanya, had to smirk some, even if it was only for a moment. "HA-HA very funny" said Daniel a bit embarrassed at himself, for being so smart, but falling for such an obvious farce.
Then he said, "I am being serious, sir. I mean, I can't even read a book without feeling like my stomach is doing summersaults. Really, how much longer till we get to Falena?" Lazlo responded, "Well, according to the crewman, about 4 more days until we reach the area of Nirva to investigate those islands. Then about another week after that until we reach Falena, I suppose."
With a voice of melancholy, the servant cried, "The 5 days from Middleport to that Hermit Island were bad enough. Now you're telling me, I got another week and a half of my stomach feeling like this and nothing to read. What am I going to do?" he asked as if he was a small child lost in the woods with no compass.
"Well," spoke up a female voice in a scolding tone, "You, could start by getting the Codex, I Told You to get about 15 minutes ago." As if suddenly kicked in the rear, the young bookkeeper jumped to attention, bowed to his mistress and the other 2 ambassadors and left to get Tanya's requested reading material. Lazlo looking at both his old comrades said, "Yes, indeed, this trip will be many things, but boring will not be one of them."