Chapter 4

Hitomi felt the air rushing past her ears. For the first time since deciding to jump, Hitomi was truly scared. Van… please. She held her eyes closed as she plummeted towards the cement below. What if Van really couldn't hear her. What if he did, but couldn't come? She hadn't thought about that possibility before. The pain it would cause Van to know what she had done… Well it was too late now. Hitomi opened her eyes to see the ground coming up to meet her. She thought suddenly about how funny it felt, as if she was falling up towards a ceiling, instead of down towards the ground. Hitomi was only a number of feet from the ground. This is it. She closed her eyes and braced herself for the inevitable impact. Van…

Yukari screamed as her friend fell backwards from the ledge. She rushed to the wall and was able to see Hitomi falling towards the street below. It happened so fast that Yukari wasn't sure what happened at first. Hitomi was almost at the ground, and then…

There was a bright flash of light right where Hitomi was. The air all around it seemed to ripple, then a pillar of light shot down from the sky, and just as suddenly it was gone.

Yukari looked down at the ground, terrified of what she might see.

Hitomi wasn't there. There was no broken body, there was no blood. There was no one there at all.

Yukari couldn't contain herself. Joy welled up inside her, and she jumped in the air and did a small victory dance on the ledge.

"Yata! You did it Hitomi!" Yukari's hand dropped to her side. Her face became somber once again, but with a glow of happiness. "I love you too Hitomi. I hope you find what you're looking for"

Hitomi could feel grass underneath her. Her eyes were still closed, but the light coming through her eyelids seemed a lot brighter than it had a moment before. The air was warmer as well.

She opened her eyes.

She was on a grassy hill with trees in the distance. She was alone.

I made it… Hitomi began to check herself for possible injuries. But where is Van… was he even the one who brought me here? She couldn't feel him in her mind anymore than she could on Earth. She checked her duffle bag to make sure the contents were intact. When she unzipped it she found the photo of Yukari she had packet on the very top. "I'm sorry Yukari…"

The breeze lifted the hair from the back of her neck. The smell of Gaea… It felt like coming home. The grass was soft beneath Hitomi's fingers, and she could hear the sound of strange but familiar birds in the distance. It's like I've just woken up from a dream.

Hitomi stood up on the hill and looked around. There were trees in all directions, but no landmarks to give her any idea where she was. She waited for a little while as the wind lifted strands of her hair. It was good to be back. Hitomi saw movement near the distant trees. She crouched so she would be harder to see. Even with Gaea at peace, there was no way of knowing whether anyone she happened to run in to would be friend or foe.

The person coming out of the woods seemed to be pushing a small cart. It appeared to Hitomi to be laden with wood. Hitomi tried to move around the hill to get a better view.

The person had the head of an animal, somewhat like a dog, with a crest of fur that trailed down his spine. He pushed his wooden cart along the treeline until he reached an opening that Hitomi had not seen before. Hitomi decided to follow but at a distance. At least if she could find some kind of civilization she could ask where she was.

The trail was small, probably only used by locals. It was darker under the tree cover, and the smell of sap was strong. After a little while the dog person seemed to be slowing down. He stopped to sniff the air a few times.

"Okay, who's there?" He turned quickly and looked almost directly at Hitomi, though she had ducked behind a tree. "I don't want any trouble. I don't have any money if that's what you're after". He seemed more frightened than anything. It would probably be worse if she tried to remain hidden.

Hitomi stepped out from behind the tree.

"I'm sorry… I was just trying to find my way into town." Hitomi stood still, waiting for a reply.

The dog person visibly relaxed. "I'm glad… we've been hearing rumors… you don't look dangerous to me. You can follow. It's not far to the wall."

The two travellers continued to walk in silence for some time.

"I'm sorry if I scared you young lady. You can't be too careful these days. With such odd rumors about, it's not safe to be outside of the gates. No one leaves except for necessities, such as this firewood I carry."

The image of a ruined Fanelia came unbidden into Hitomi's mind.

"Isn't the war over? What is there to be careful about?"

"Oh the war with Zaibach is long over, but recently… there are rumors. I heard people have been disappearing. "

Hitomi stopped in her tracks. "What do you mean?"

"I mean… people leave the walls of Fanelia, and don't always come back, especially young ones."

Hitomi's apprehension and worry vanished. "We're near Fanelia?"

"Of course! That's where I'm headed."

Hitomi began to smile. She did come back near Fanelia, so Van must have been the one to bring her back. For the first time since she left Gaea, she began to fill with joy again. The tight knot that had filled her chest for so long was beginning to loosen.

The gates of Fanelia were tall and majestic. They were newly carved with pictures of dragons around the outer edges. The guard at the lookout tower greeted Hitomi's travelling companion and called down for the gate to be opened. Once they were through the door, there was a set of guards waiting.

"Halt, Jakana." The head of the guard stepped forward from the crowd.

"What is this, sir? Did I do something wrong?" The dog man seemed confused.

"Who is this you travel with?" The guard indicated Hitomi.

"A girl I met in the clearing when collecting wood. She said she needed to find Fanelia. I'm sorry, I didn't ask her name."

The guard turned to Hitomi. He was a tall man, wearing chest armor and a helmet. "What is your business in Fanelia. Where have you come from."

"I..umm…" Hitomi could hear muttering among the growing crowd.

"Jakana, didn't you think it was strange to find a girl alone in the clearing? She could be a spy. Stephen, escort her to the main compound. We'll question her there."

The guard who was identified as Stephen stepped forward and gently took Hitomi by the arm. "Come with me please." A few of the other guards fell in formation behind Stephen as they made their way through the streets to the main compound.

Once inside, Hitomi was asked to sit in a chair, and her bag was removed from her possession and placed on a nearby table.

The head of the guard arrived shortly after and stood in front of Hitomi, glaring.

"We don't get many strangers here. What is your name"

"Hitomi Kanzaki."

"Where are you from."

"Umm… That is a little complicated sir."

"Why? Does it have something to do with the odd clothing you wear? I've never seen anything like it."

Hitomi was becoming more and more anxious. She hadn't been gone that long, surely someone would recognize her. She started to worry that maybe it had been longer in Fanelia since she had been back than it had been for her. Gaea wasn't always in temporal sync with Earth.

"I asked you a question girl." He was beginning to get more stern.

"I.. I'm sorry, I can't answer that question." Hitomi was becoming more fearful. If they didn't remember her, would they even believe her if she told them where she came from? They certainly wouldn't believe that she knew Van, not coming in through the front gate with a commoner, and in such strange clothes.

"Can't… or won't." The guard turned his back on her for a moment, then turned around with a raised hand.

At that moment the door to the compound opened and a man in a generals uniform walked in.

"Captain, stop." He was a big man with a big mustache. Hitomi didn't recognize him, but knew from his uniform that he would have come from the palace. She felt a small amount of relief.

"Sir, I was just about to begin the interrogation. She could be a spy…"

"Captain, you are trying my patience. Always wait for orders before beginning a physical interrogation. This girl is not a spy. She was expected. I came as soon as I heard the description of her clothing. Now turn her and her belongings over to me at once!" His voice was calm, but the anger in it could not be ignored. The other guards in the room immediately scrambled to help Hitomi up from the chair, and deliver her duffle to the General. The General then lead Hitomi back outside into the bustle of Fanelia, and up the main road to the palace of Fanelia.

"You will be housed in one of the guest rooms in the palace until the King calls for an audience. He is a busy man, so there is no telling how long that will be. Stay out of trouble. Do not leave the palace grounds. If you need anything just ask. You are to be treated as a guest of the King, as such you have access to all the amenities the palace has to offer." By the time he had finished, they were in the main yard of the palace, and there was a handmaiden waiting to take the duffle bag. "Do you have any questions?"

"Van knows I'm here?"

"The King has been made aware of your arrival. I would refrain from speaking of him so informally, however. He is to be addressed as His Highness, King of Fanelia, unless such time as you are instructed to do otherwise by the King himself. Margery, please escort the Lady Hitomi to her guest quarters." The General turned and left the main yard.

"Alright then, Lady Hitomi, please follow me." Margery was a thin woman, dressed in a handmaidens dress, with her hair braided and pinned to her head. She was older than Hitomi, but only by a few years by Hitomi's estimation. Hitomi followed her through the halls of the palace until they stopped in front of a modest door.

"This is where you will be staying my Lady. The wash room is down the hall…" Margery gestured to her left, where they had come from. "If you need anything, there will always be someone near, so ring the bell that is in your room and someone will come." Margery opened the door to the room and motioned for Hitomi to enter. "Dinner will be served at sun down. It is not likely that his Majesty will have time for a court dinner, so your meal will be served to Fanelia." The handmaiden turned and left.

Hitomi looked around her room. It looked very similar to the one she occupied before she left, but it was in a different part of the palace. Much of the palace had been rebuilt as well. As she followed Margery through the halls, Hitomi had seen many parts of the palace that were new to her. Hitomi walked to the other side of the room and gazed out her window. Her room was on the front of the palace, so she had a full view of the valley that contained the kingdom of Fanelia. It really was beautiful. Hitomi hadn't had much time since finding herself in the field to think about what she would do now that she was back.

She had hoped that Van would be here to meet her. She had imagined it over and over once she had decided to come back. She would return to Gaea somehow, most likely by Van bringing her back, and they would be reunited. She would find herself in Van's arms, and everything would be as it was before she left. So far, reality had not catered to her imagination. How long had it been in Gaea since she had left? She had hoped that it only would have been six months, just as it had been for her, but she was beginning to worry that it had been much longer… How old would Van be now?

Hitomi began to think about how little she had felt from Van over the last few months. Could it have been because their time was out of sync? Was he all grown? The general sure talked about him like he was. Van was too busy for a court dinner… she had to refer to him as His Majesty… It was all so strange to her.

There was a knock at the door. Hitomi noticed how far the sun had dipped on the horizon. Sunset already. Hitomi went to the door.

There was a man carrying a tray of food. It held rice, pickles, and some kind of meat that Hitomi couldn't immediately recognize. "Thank you." She accepted the tray, and the man bowed and left.

Hitomi found a table in one corner of her room and she ate her food in silence. She had not expected to be lonely once she finally got back to Gaea. She finished her food and climbed into bed, worried about what the next day might bring.

Hitomi awoke to a knock at her door. It took Hitomi a moment as she woke up to remember where she was. She rolled out of the large bed and went to the door.

Margery was at the door with a rack of clothes behind her. "Pardon me, my Lady, I was instructed to bring you some more suitable clothes for your stay. You are to try on and find a few that fit properly. I will be back later today to collect the ones you do not want."

"Okay."

Hitomi stepped out of the way and Margery wheeled the rack of clothing into Hitomi's room.

"Breakfast will be served in an hour, I will be back to collect the rest at that time." Margery left Hitomi with the rack of clothing.

Hitomi only found four dresses among the rack that fit her properly and didn't look ridiculous. She placed the rest on the rack and waited for her handmaiden's return. The rest of the day was uneventful. After breakfast, there were two more meals brought directly to her room. Hitomi was not summoned, and while no one prevented her from leaving her room, she didn't really feel like wandering yet. So far the once familiar palace of Fanelia felt completely foreign. Had she made a mistake coming back?

She lay on the bed after dinner wondering if Van had ordered the clothes for her, and what was keeping him so busy. There was a noise at her window.

"Hitomi! It is you!"

Suddenly Hitomi was wrapped in the arms of a familiar friend who was purring loudly.

"Merle, no claws!" Hitomi was smiling as she pulled Merle's paws from her back.

"I heard they found a girl in the woods, and that she wore funny clothes, and I knew it must be you, but no one would tell me! I'm so glad you're back! Maybe now things will get better." Merle sat back on her heels on the bed and looked at Hitomi.

"What do you mean, things will get better?" Hitomi began to worry again.

"Don't you know? Lord Van has been so busy… He's in meeting after meeting with his advisors, and I've seen people coming into the city from other parts of Gaea. Lord Van wont tell me anything, but we've all heard the rumors. People disappear. Something is happening in Gaea, and it's troubling Lord Van…"

"Merle… How long has it been since…"

"Since you left Lord Van?" Merle said this with a sneer. Hitomi thought Merle would have been happy to have Van all to herself again. "It's been over a year. I was beginning to think you might never come back. I don't think Lord Van thought you would come back at all. He has been so serious ever since you've been gone. He doesn't do anything but work. I hoped if you came back… but it isn't better yet. In fact he's busier and more serious than ever."

Hitomi was relieved to hear that only a year had passed. She had had dreams the night before of finally getting to see Van and finding out that he had aged many years. It was good to know that that was not so. But then… why had he not yet come to see her?

"What is he so busy with Merle, what has been happening?"

"Well… after the war was over and you left him, he was busy overseeing the rebuilding of Fanelia. It took a long time before most of the people came back, which meant it was slow at the beginning. I'm sure you noticed all the new parts of the palace. I'll have to show you some more of it tomorrow. Anyway, everything was fine for a while. Gaea was finally at peace. There was still petty crime and stuff, but everything was okay and Fanelia was rebuilt. BUT then we started hearing rumors."

"The villager I followed back here mentioned rumors or people disappearing…"

"Yeah. It started a few months ago. We heard about children disappearing in Freid. There were no bodies or anything, and no one ever saw who took them, they just disappear. We heard rumors from Asturia as well, children were taken from outside their gates. That was when Lord Van gave the order to bring everyone inside the gates of the city." Merle sat wide eyed across from Hitomi, flicking her tail back and forth.

"Do they have any idea who is taking the children?"

"Lord Van has an idea. Zaibach. Just because Dornkirk was destroyed doesn't mean the rest of Zaibach couldn't keep going. They have sealed their borders. No one goes in or comes out, or so it seems. Lord Van thinks they are stealing the children for some reason, but I don't think he has any ideas about why. This is all he's told me in the rare times we are alone. It seems there is always some advisor around now, and there are visitors from the other kingdoms all the time now to talk about the troubles."

Hitomi and Merle sat in silence for a moment.

"Merle… do you know what he hasn't come to see me yet?"

Merle's tail twitched. "No. I don't. I haven't seen him either since you got here." There was another pause.

"Hitomi… make things better again. Like they were before you left. Like when we had a family." With that she hopped of the bed and out the window.

When we were a family? Hitomi was too tired to think about it. Zaibach was sealed off? They were stealing children? The images from Hitomi's dream flashed through her mind. The dream must have been a premonition than. She would have to stop it from coming true. She would not let war tear Gaea apart again. This was her home.

The following day Hitomi decided it was time she explore the palace. Merle found her as she was wandering one of the southern halls. Fanelia palace wasn't as extravagant as the palace of Asturia or Freid, but it wasn't small either. Merle showed her the new gardens, and the new ball room, as well as the new training fields, and the melef storage facilities. Along with the rebuild of the palace, they had rebuilt all of the melefs that had been lost in the war, and had built ten new ones to increase Fanelia's defensive power, especially after the rumors about Zaibach began.

Their last stop in the tour of the palace was the resting place of Escaflowne. it had been placed as the centerpiece in the dragon temple at the center of the palace. This was sacred space. Escaflowne's energist was dark, and motionless, just as Van had wanted it, just as Hitomi had seen it the day she left. It seemed odd to see it displayed as an ornament or museum statue.

Hitomi knelt before it impulsively. Escaflowne was the divine protector of Fanelia after all. It deserved the respect of any divine being. Hitomi lowered her eyes and silently thanked Escaflowne for all it had done for her and for Van in the war with Zaibach. Thank you for preserving Van's life.

On their way back to Hitomi's room a procession passed in one of the cross halls. Guards were placed on either side of the hall preventing Hitomi and Merle from crossing.

"This happens sometimes. Officials get priority when they travel through the palace." Merle twitched her tail as the officials began to pass. Hitomi got the impression that Merle was not fond of the officials.

The procession was fairly long and included a number of guards and people in royal colors from around Gaea. Hitomi recognized the colors of Basram as well as Asturia. Near the end of the procession the number of guards thickened. Hitomi was curious who would be so important when she saw him. Van was at the center of the knot of guards. He was dressed far more lavishly than she had ever seen, dressed in the royal colors of Fanelia. He looked as serious as he had when she first met him. He also looked older. He was definitely a little bit taller. Hitomi wanted to call out, to shout to him. She wanted desperately to get his attention, but her voice caught in her throat. She couldn't make any sound come out.

Van's eyes met hers. Hitomi's breath caught in her chest. She couldn't move.

The procession moved on, and Van was gone.

Hitomi lost the strength in her knees and found herself on the floor.

"Hitomi, are you okay?"

The knot was back in Hitomi's chest. Van was right there, and she couldn't even speak. It had only been six months, but for him it was a year… his face looked older.

"Hitomi?"

"I'm… okay. I think I need to lay down."

Merle helped Hitomi up and escorted her back to her room.

Hitomi spent the rest of her evening in bed. She wasn't even thinking much, but she didn't have the will to do anything else. She kept imagining the look in Van's eyes when his gaze met hers. It was so serious. She didn't have any idea what he was feeling. She couldn't feel him at all, and she couldn't tell anything from his expression. Hitomi didn't know what to think. The knot in her chest churned and twisted. Her sleep that night was not restful.

The next morning right after breakfast, a man in fancier dress than most of the palace personnel informed Hitomi that she was to appear in court that afternoon. She was to dress appropriately, which she took to mean she was supposed to wear one of the dresses that had been provided for her, instead of her own clothes.

Merle came in through her window as Hitomi was trying to pick a dress.

"Mrrow?"

"Merle, I've been summoned to appear in court."

"All right! Van finally called for you!" Merle bounced around the bed with excitement.

"I guess so…" Hitomi was looking at three possible dresses. She was incredibly nervous. After the encounter on the previous day, she wasn't sure what to expect. She was hoping Van would just come to see her. A court appearance seemed so… formal. " I don't know how I feel about meeting him in front of the court. I don't know what to think.."

Merle calmed down and sat down on one of the three dresses.

"Wear this one. It's pretty." The dress Merle chose was the green one with white collar and long skirt. It was simple, but Merle was right, it was pretty. Hitomi changed into it and stood in front of the mirror in the closet. Merle stood behind her. "It looks nice on you… here… let me comb your hair."

Hitomi sat down on the bed and Merle climbed up behind her and began to comb through her hair with a comb that had been placed on the side table. "Your hair is longer than I remember."

"I didn't think about cutting it after deciding to come back. I guess I just forgot." Her hair wasn't that much longer, but it had grown beyond her ears, and fell over her eyes some.

"It will be okay, Hitomi. If there is anyone Lord Van would ever want to see, it's you."

There was a knock a the door, and Merle ran over to open it.

"Hello Miss Merle. I'm here to escort Lady Hitomi to court." The servant was a tall man with dark hair. He was dressed in the same fancy dress as the man who delivered the message that morning.

"I guess I'm ready." Hitomi followed the man down the hall.

The court room was fairly large, with guards posted along the walls, and a number of commoners on one side, and a panel of representatives from other kingdoms on the other side.

"Hitomi Kanzaki, of the Mystic Moon." Hitomi was startled by the shout as she entered the room. She settled when she realized it was the customary announcement of her entrance. The servant nudged her forward. There was a long carpet that lead all the way up to a throne at the back of the room. Van sat in the throne with a cape around his shoulders and a circlet around his forehead. It was a strange sight for Hitomi to see. She never pictured Van as someone who would rule his kingdom from a throne.

She slowly walked down the carpet. She could feel all eyes on her. She stopped a number of feet in front of the throne and knelt.

"Your Majesty."