Daisy Pragnya: I'm glad your enjoying this story. I've honestly had a lot of fun writing it because I get to add in a bunch of little details about Gedonelune I've come up with, and a bunch of other things I can only write with Marelda because she notices a lot of really interesting yet minute details. As for Luca revealing his past, that's more of next chapter. In this chapter, it's actually Selene we learn about. Things Selene doesn't even get to learn until sometime in Halfling.
TheFallenHer0: Well, you might confirm your connection in this chapter or the next! There are a lot of things we get to learn in the next two chapters. I love this story, I get to reveal so many things and make so many hints to other things…
Update: April 21, 2017—Added some details for something.
Chapter 5
Luca's POV
I was so surprised when Marelda demanded to know what was going on, well, not really, what really surprised me was she said it was because she was worried about me. Other than Selene, that was new. She looked into my eyes and I was toast. I lose.
I don't even entirely know why. It doesn't make sense to me. Why am I so willing to do what she says?
Authoress: Because you're falling in love, duh.
I've told you before that isn't the case.
Authoress: And I've told you it was. And I'm the one making this story, so I'm just going to tell you that you two are eventually going to end up married with two children.
I can see why the Prince finds you annoying.
Authoress: And I can see why he finds you annoying.
Touche.
Authoress: Well, bye now! I'm going to go work on my two English portfolios.
Goodbye.
"So," Marelda said, "Are you going to tell me what this is all about or not?"
I had led her to a more secluded area, namely, a clearing in the forest. I knew for sure that there were no human eavesdroppers. Since we're in nature, I cannot dismiss the fae, since they love listening in, but they're not going to tell anyone what they've heard. For them, the thrill is doing it without getting caught. But nevermind them.
"I am. But first, take a seat." I plop myself down and start rifling through my bag, and pull out a notebook where I've been putting my thoughts down. "I had an epiphany earlier today, after history. You saw the sketchbook. I'll get back to that later. The lesson in history was on the Tower of Sorrow, but the topic at one point strayed to talking about the Vanished Princesses. That got me thinking: the Tower is supposed to protect the greatest treasures of the royal family, right?"
"Yeah, and?" She didn't look like she was getting it.
"In a country so wealthy, most of the royal treasure is stored in the treasury. So what if the treasures stored in the Tower aren't physical wealth? What if it's something a lot more precious than silver or gold? Something not so easily regained?"
Her eyes widened as she came to a realization, "Information?"
"Precisely." I nodded, "I mean, what better place to hide secrets?"
"Wow. You really aren't as dumb as you like to play."
I laughed outright, "Thanks again for the double-edged compliment."
She rolled her eyes, "Just continue, will you? How are you and the Selene girl connected to the Vanished Princesses?"
"I'll get to that. First, I have to tell you a few things. The reason I was copying things down is because you can't take things from the archives without special permission, because most of the things in there are rare, old, valuable, or all three. The book I've been focusing on is a book that magically updates itself with the genealogy of the royal family, and there's probably only one or two other copies of this book. However, it is limited and can only tell you a few things. One, that the person either married into the royal family, or was born into it. Two, the birth and death dates. Other than that, not much of anything. There are only pictures for those the family tree tapestry at the palace. I've known about this book for a while. I found it shortly before the old king died."
"That means you've been at the academy longer than I have. Why in heck aren't you in a higher class?" She raised her eyebrow.
"Ah ha…haa…I got held back a few times." I rubbed the back of my head with my hand.
"I should've known. Lazy moron."
"Thanks." I grin at her briefly before continuing, "Anywho, I thought it was interesting, because there was a husband for Princess Aurora, meaning she had eloped with some unknown man. They had seven children. The father died about six months before the youngest of the seven was born."
"What about the eighth, the one you think is Selene? She's not connected to a father." Marelda looked a bit confused.
"I think it's because the princess wasn't married to the father. Remember King Jacob, about five crowns back? He had several children out of wedlock. When you look back at those pages, none of the illegitimates are connected to mothers, but the two he had with his legal wife were. You can see the same thing with Princess Aulelia. She's got a child but there's no father listed for the child." I explained.
"Okay. I guess that makes sense. And why do you think it's Selene's family?" she asked.
"Princess Aurora had eight with her husband. Three of those children are married, with six of their own children between them. Selene has seven older brothers, three sister-in-laws, and six nephews." I said.
"Wait, back up. You said the princess had eight children, not seven." She scrunched up her forehead in confusion.
"One of them has the same birth and death date." I said quietly. She was silent for a moment, realizing what this mean. I decided to move on. "Selene and her youngest older brother, Merlin, are less than a year apart. She's said that neither her nor Merlin have met their fathers, because both passed before they were born. Not to mention, the youngest child of the princess was born on the winter solstice almost seventeen years ago. Selene turns seventeen this coming winter solstice. What really made it click, though, was recent. You've heard all the rumors that she's disappeared, right?"
"Yes. But you know I don't put much stock in secondhand information." Marelda shrugged.
"Well, I've got it from the closest source that I can get it. This morning I was listening in to a conversation between the headmaster and Schuyler…"
"Really? Are you kidding me?" She glared at me, clearly unhappy about my actions, "You are so lucky you don't have a buddy. I shiver to think of what the poor buddy would have to suffer through. Grades and record trashed. And there should be a 'professor' before his name, Luca."
"Yeah, yeah, sure thing. Back on track. I heard them discuss a note they had gotten from the Emperor today. Apparently, Selene's oldest brother died in an accident on Friday." I flipped my sketchbook to the page where I'd been copying the genealogy book. "Earlier today when I looked into the book, one of the empty portraits had greyed itself out. They do that when the person is deceased. The picture of the old king did that, about two years ago. The portrait that did that was the oldest son of Princess Aurora. And look at the death date." I angled the sketchbook towards her.
Marelda gasped, "That was last Friday…"
"And that's why I think her family is the family of Princess Aurora. I've had a theory that the princess somehow escaped to Terra. They weren't able to find her here, and it was like she completely disappeared. Back when this happened, the ability to go between Myula and Terra was extremely limited. There weren't any permanent, stable transfer areas like there are now. Most of the common people thought Terra in and of itself was a myth. It was actually Selene who made me think of this, about two, three months ago. She said that most people in Terra viewed magic as a fictional concept, and that the majority of magical people and families kept to themselves, and were spread out about the entirety of their world. Her family was the only magical family, with the exception of a really small one that actually married into her family, for over five hundred miles. However, nowadays the locations of these magical families are very carefully kept track of, as communication and travel abilities far exceed what we can do here, and news can spread within hours, minutes, seconds to the other sides of the world."
"What do you mean? They can't be that advanced. I mean, we have trains and such. And magic." Marelda couldn't seem to comprehend what I had told her. I sigh. This is another explanation.
"According to Selene, the lack of magic spurred immense technological advancements, particularly in the last century. They don't really need magic. They don't have fae, so they don't have to worry about them. They can do all sorts of things not even magic can always do. They've got horseless carriages that run on some sort of non-magical energy and can travel a thousand miles in a few hours. They have metal birds that can contain lots of people and fly around the world, as well as smaller versions that can be used for fighting and pleasure. They have these things called 'guns' that can shoot little bits of metal at high speeds over distance as weapons. They have explosives that can destroy everything for miles and leave toxins that last generations. They have devices that can communicate with anyone in the world almost instantly—I've seen one. They're called 'phones' and Selene's brother, Merlin, has enchanted several of them for their family to be able to reach across the dimension barrier to Myula and talk to another enchanted phones on this side. They've had people leave the world, up into the sky, among the stars. They've had people who have walked on their moon."
Marelda was frozen, eyes wide, mouth open, "Y-you're kid-kidding! You must be trying to pull something over on me!"
I shook my head, "I've seen pictures on Selene's phone. She's not kidding. Terrans don't have magic, yes, but they sure as heck don't need it. But we've strayed from the matter at hand. When the princess would have escaped there, the tabs that were kept on the magical populations were very poor and non-current. She once mentioned that when her oldest brother first started going to a magical school in Myula, that the entire family had to be registered on both sides, because none of them had been. It would've been a perfect place for the princess and her lover to hide and raise a family, to remain unnoticed until the searching died down. Selene's mother was originally from Myula, Gedonelune to be exact. Selene, I'm pretty sure, knows nothing about the Vanished Princess', nor do I think she would've made the connection to her mother if she did. After all, I'm pretty sure I'm the only one who knows about the book."
Marelda rubbed her temples, her eyes closed, "This is all making too much sense. But didn't you say something about other copies of the book existing? And why haven't you told anyone about the Princesses having children to anyone? I'm pretty sure that's something that people would want to know."
"Ha!" I snorted, "The other copies, I assume, are in the royal archives. No one at the palace seems to care enough to check, or have thought to check. Or, if they know, they're keeping quiet about it for some reason or another. Besides, I hate giving away incomplete information. I deal in full facts, not partialities."
She nodded, understanding, "And so what are you going to do now that you've figured all this out?"
"I'm going to keep doing my research." I said, "When Selene gets back, I'll likely share it with her, see if she or any of her brother do, in fact, have any missing details."
"One other thing." she said slowly.
"Yeah?"
"What about the other princess? The younger one, Princess Aulelia? Why do you think you might be her son?"
I sighed. I might as well tell her.
Earlier, Luca saw Marelda using a sword which she conjured up with her wand. The name of the sword is Copprus. It is stored, when not in use, in a little pocket dimension. Anything stored in a pocket dimension, or a magically created space that doesn't exist in the normal planes, has to have something tying it to the physical world. Copprus is attached to a coppery metal ring embedded in the base of Marelda's wand. It's about two feet in length, a coppery color, and has two modes: practice and combat. Practice mode is dulled on the edges, and combat had edges so sharp it could cut a hair in half. Watch out for it.