Amare Dividere

Title: Before Dawn [Part Seven]
Series: Vision of Escaflowne
Rating: PG-13 for some violence.


***

Merle steps quietly into the chamber, blue eyes looking around in serious contemplation. Something is wrong with Hitomi, she figures, and it's up to her to figure it out. The Fanelian queen is lying in bed, the light from the two moons illuminating her form in the darkness of the night that enshrouds the castle.

"Hitomi," Merle says softly, stepping over to stand next to the bed and glance down at the unconscious woman. "What's wrong?"

Pale eyelids flutter in the only response to Merle's soft questioning, the silent queen deep in a confusing dream.

*

"Folken?" Hitomi asks, looking around the space of her dream. The ruins of Fanelia, as they had been in the last war, greet her eyes, the rumble of the dragons in the distance a pleasant reminder of home. She can not sense Van anywhere in the wreckage, so the only logical person that she might come across, in such a dreamscape, would be his brother.

But Folken was dead.

And the only noise was the echoing of the dragons off the mountains.

It was something she had only recently come to notice about her new homeland, her husband's country truly was defended by dragons. She wondered what had drawn the people and the dragons together before Varie had become queen, there never having been mention of other Draconians in Fanelia in the records she had looked through in the library.

"Hitomi?" the voice was startled, almost surprised, and as she heard it, the image of Folken, a whole Folken, appeared before her. "What's happened?"

"Van… he…"

***

Stumbling up the road, Nileyah forces herself to keep on her feet. The report has to be made, before anything else can happen. She managed, with the last of her strength, to cast the spell that brought her to the Compound, but it had drained her weak body more than she cared to admit, more than she would ever admit.

Luckily, the watchman on duty sees her weary approach and heads out quickly to help her inside. He helps her in and takes her straight to report to the overseer for the day, who happens to be Jujiin.

"Nileyah? What's happened… is Cesario in trouble?" He asks, calling for Mot to bring the healer to the room as he helps her to stretch out before the fire.

"I was kidnapped before I could return from Palas to Zari with the prince… hasn't word come from there that I was missing?"

"None," Jujiin replies, tipping a glass of water up to her lips. "Does this mean that…"

"Aden is still in Norte… he was at the anniversary in Palas… he must've-" she breaks off into a fit of coughing and cannot finish her sentence.

"Of course, that's all I can think of that makes sense…" Jujiin soothes the water down her throat, keeping a hand firmly on her shoulders to steady her body as she convulses involuntarily. "It would, afterall, explain why we haven't had word of your 'disappearance' from the Queen Emman or the Prince." He hesitates slightly before adding, "Or the princess."

"Kira?" Nileyah asks in response, attempting to catch her breath. When Jujiin nods, she relaxes a little, "She will… be good to him."

"Word is that she is pregnant," Jujiin says, offering her more water, "Which means that you won't be called upon for that duty. However, this means that you will still be required to protect the prince and princess…"

"I am aware," she replies meekly to the Etiquette Master. "I will be more than happy in such a position, should he be happy himself."

"Good," Jujiin replies as Selassie enters, bearing supplies to dress the wounds on her wrists and ankles, as well as the scrapes on her arms and legs through the tattered clothing she is wearing. "I will see what can be done about the situation regarding him, and perhaps about getting you a companion for your post, now that there is official war among the countries. Selassie," he smiles at the woman as she kneels next to the padded bench, her white hair drawn back from her face by two intricate braids, "will bring you up to speed on what's been happening while you have been away."

As Jujiin leaves the room, Selassie gently encourages Nileyah to lie back against the padded bench, hushing her comments with a quiet, "It will be all right, mother," before beginning to relay the required information.

***

"What's wrong, Jasper?" Kira asks quietly, slipping her arms around him from behind as he climbs into bed, later than her, as had become the norm recently.

Blowing out the candle and setting it on the bedside stand, he turns and tucks Kira's face under his chin. "Nileyah hasn't returned yet… I'm beginning to assume the worst, which is probably the truth. She was acting strangely since we returned from Palas, and throughout the wedding…"

"I thought that was just because of how she feels about you," Kira says softly against his neck, easily slipping closer and closer towards falling asleep.

"I wonder, now, if that's all that it was that was making her act so," Jasper muses, aware of the change in her breathing and stroking her hair soothingly. "It's of no concern at the moment, if something's gone wrong there is little we can do about it… yet."

Perhaps, if Kira had been a little more awake, and a little less pregnant, she might have noticed the tender tone of her husband's voice, and gotten somewhat jealous. But as it is, she simply allows the hand in her hair to do it's job, and falls gently asleep.

Staying awake, Jasper glances down at his wife for a long moment, contentedly, and then out the window at the night sky. 'Nil… I didn't want to hurt you, but we both knew that it couldn't have been any other way.' He sighs, softly, resigning himself, 'But if I have anything to do with what's happened to you… I don't know if I'll ever forgive myself.'

***

Sitting up slowly in bed, Hitomi puts a hand to her lips in thought. Something about the dream she has just had is disconcerting, but hope inspiring. It wasn't what has woken her up, however, and shortly after gaining her bearings she feels the tug of the reason she has been awoken, and makes her way quickly to the bathroom, brushing straight past Merle.

"Hitomi?" Merle asks, following the queen tentatively.

After recovering her wits, and glancing down at the remains of her dinner in disgust, Hitomi wipes her mouth and reaches for a glass of water to ease the burning in her throat before answering. "Merle… what are you doing in here?"

"Did something you ate not agree with you…?" the tall cat woman asks with a serious look on her face. "You've not been sick since you came to Gaea, have you?"

"No," Hitomi replies. "It's probably nothing… the meal was a little spicy last night, I don't always eat spicy things… that's probably what the matter is." Arching a brow at her friend, she counters with, "What are you doing in Van's bedroom anyway?"

"It's yours too, now," Merle says quietly. "And I haven't spoken to you in a few days, I was wondering if something was wrong." Hitomi pushes herself to her feet and walks back towards the bed, the sky outside her window just starting to lighten with the first hints of dawn. "Obviously my concern was not misplaced…"

"What do you mean by that, Merle?"

"Hitomi, how long have you been getting sick in the mornings?"

"A few weeks," comes the hesitant reply.

"And waking up this early? You've been sleeping poorly, I can tell, because of the circles under your eyes…"

"People died, Merle," Hitomi replies, collapsing in a heap on the large bed and drawing one of the pillows to her chest and hugging it. "I hate war… it's so brutal…"

"But if you had to go to war, because Fanelia would be attacked, you'd do it, wouldn't you?" A slow nod of Hitomi's head is the only response as she tucks her chin down against the pillow. "Even if Van doesn't get home before that time comes?"

"Especially," Hitomi replies, softly, "I won't let Fanelia fall because he was away, I don't think I could… live with myself if I lost his country after he's done so much to protect and maintain it."

"You are a good queen for him, Hitomi," Merle says, stepping forward to brush the sandy blond hair from Hitomi's face, her bright perwinkle eyes searching Hitomi's jade green ones for a long moment before she finishes with, "and I'm sure your child will be just as fit of a successor for the two of you."

Startled, Hitomi's head snaps up. "What do you mean?" she exclaims, eyes wide.

"It's morning sickness, from what I can tell," Merle replies matter-of-factually, stroking her cheek gently, once, before drawing away. "Don't worry, it'll pass."