A/N: Oh, geez. What can I say? School's been shoving work at me and I'm really really sorry! I had no time whatsoever to write. The week before spring break I had to work on a research paper (gag!) and a project and loads of other crap in between and I sill have a project due after spring break. This may not seem like a lot but for me, it is. And for the beginning of spring break I was visiting my sisters . . . and she lives six hours away. SO! I am really sorry this is late and . . . well . . . there's not much more I can say. please read and enjoy!

Chapter 6: Questions of the Unanswered Kind

The door closed with Lana still standing there. Not rude exactly but definitely not polite. There weren't that many homes in the town, surely one of them would know who it-he-she, belonged to? Lana growled her frustration wordlessly but quickly hushed as the bundle snug in her arms started to squirm.

"Oh! I'm sorry! Sorry!" She cried in a whisper hoping to calm the child. The baby continued to whimper but nothing else. She bounced the small child just a little as she continued to walk down the street back towards the inn. Vincent and Damien will not be happy with me at all.

The more often than not, unused corridor stretched for yards and yards. Paintings and hangings decorated almost every space along the walls without looking too crowded. Emereth stopped at one and sat down at the opposite wall to look at it.

A pure white horse, except for the legs, which were black from each knobby knee down, reared. The rider had perfect control, the face not showing shock or fear. The hand that faced the looker-on grasped a silver gleamed sword while the other went up into the sky in a closed fist. On the fist a distinctly blue falcon perched, wings outstretched to their full glory. Both occupied hands showed she held no bridle.

A deep blue cloak billowed out around the rider's form and falling partly onto the horse. Dark wavy hair fell partly down the blue cloak while some of it flew out from the face as if the rider had whipped her head around in a moment. A perfect delicate crown of jewels sat atop those waves.

Crystal blue eyes looked out from a lightly tanned yet elegant face. They were stern and serious, lips held firm in a no-nonsense way.

The painting had been done by one of the most famous artists in all of Karucia. He had meant for it to be an honorable gift which showed all of their wonderful Queen's attributes. Strong, beautiful, ready for anything, etcetera, etcetera . . .He had thought, as many of the artists who had contributed their own masterpieces, that all kings and queens loved to look at themselves. So what better gift that something that showed them and in the best light possible to boot?

As the story goes (because he had not been born yet as this had taken place in the first year of their reign), she had accepted it gracefully, as a queen should. After that however, Liam had had to convince her not to throw it away or burn it.

Arra had never really elaborated as to why she didn't like the painting. She would simply say she didn't like it and that would be that. She was "kind" enough to put it upon royal walls but she put it in a hallways she personally hardly ever used. Other artworks were held in the same respect also took home in the hallway.

Emereth liked it though. He had studied it and studied it and could find nothing wrong with it. Nothing that would be offending. So why did his mother dislike it? He had even gone to ask her himself.

He remembered that conversation perfectly, perhaps because it was so short. After he had asked, she had looked into nothingness before turning to him and looking at him for long moments. Finally she let out a long sigh and answered,

"It shows to the world the part of me I dislike." And that was all she said on the matter.

After that, Emereth had studied it again. With that answer surely he would find something. What had she disliked? When he had asked her she had given him a seemingly straightforward answer. But . . .

Had it been the weapon? No, she loved to fight, he had seen the joy in her eyes before. The bird? No, if stories were true he had existed at one point and she had loved him too. Emereth had a few fractured memories of a bright blue falcon but nothing detailed. The horse? No, she had loved her trustworthy mount.

Then what?

Emereth raked his fingers through his hair and sighed. Sometimes his mother was as straightforward as anyone he had ever met and other times she retreated to be as vague as a fortuneteller.

He looked up at the portrait again and saw a younger version of his mother's face looking down at him. The artist had captured Arra's look so well, Emereth could feel a taste of his mother's gaze just looking at it.

The prince dusted himself off with jerky movements. He had not come back to this painting in some time. What had him in this thoughtful mood on this day?

He shook his head. He knew exactly what it was.

Arra's tension. Liam's worry. Both because of the triplet's absence. The negotiations with the Yamanis. . . . Though that last one had been on his mind for the past three or so years as it affected who he would marry.

Someone coughed from a little ways away from him. Emereth jumped in surprise. Sometime during his thoughts someone had snuck up on him.

The person filled the last few steps but Emereth had realized who it was by the red hair held back in a horsetail. With every step he took the large sword he carried clinked. Emereth was already smiling by the time the shorter man came to stand by him.

Andrew of Emeraldpeak, Commander of the Army was the kind of man with the presence to make anyone smile. Perhaps that is what made him good at his job. Throw off whoever he's talking to with his boyish face and easy smile and catch them off guard. But the most observant person would notice the hardness of his blue eyes that looked so out of place on him.

"I come here too sometimes." He stated.

"Why?"

Andrew—Andy as he preferred—shrugged. "Why do you?"

"To think." He answered shortly.

"About your mother's thought process?" Andy guessed with a grin.

Emereth couldn't help but grin back. "Sometimes."

"Well, I'd give up on that. Not only is she royal, she's a woman. They always think differently from others." The red-haired man said turning his attention to the painting.

"Who? Women or Royalty?"

"Both."

"I'm Royal you know."

"And when your time comes as King, you'll have to promise that you'll make every decision with good reason. Or at least reasoning that makes sense." Andy said.

Emereth smiled. "What if the reasoning makes sense to me but not to others?"

Andy shrugged again. "That will be for you to determine and decide what to do from there, not mine."

"Lot of help you are."

"I've been telling your mother that for years but she insists I stay. Can't understand it." Emereth laughed at that. Andy was an important asset to the kingdom, no jest.

As they start walking down the hall Emereth tries for a question. "Has Mother always been like this?"

"Like what?"

"Well . . . " The general idea of what he meant seemed clear in his head, but putting it to words was hard. He gave up and shook his head.

"Do you mean before she was Queen?"

Emereth wanted to say no, thats not what he meant. But he wouldn't have been able to explain what he did mean anyways. This was better than nothing. He nodded and said, "Yes."

Andy didn't speak for a while. Finally, "I think she has tried her hardest not to change. Not to be like all the others." He paused for so long Emereth thought he might be done, but he waited anyways. "I don't think she realizes that some changes aren't bad, that some come with age."

Emereth held back a sigh. Andy's answers were hardly straightforward, and this was as straightforward as he got. Usually, he had more than one meaning to his words, no matter how straightforward it sounded. Emereth tucked the words away into his memory, he'd try to pick apart the complete meaning later.

Emereth's stomach growled suddenly. Andy laughed, wiping off the serious look on his face and replacing it with the smile, "Let's go beg some food off of the cooks."

"They hate it when we do that."

"All the more fun!" Andy said smiling and patting Emereth's back.

They had already exited the hallway with the many pictures and turned onto another one before Emereth realized another thing that had been on his mind. Why did people oh, so carefully not talk about the triplets? Was there some secret rule about it no one had told him yet?

Another thought hit him. Did they think that by talking about it he would want to run away, too? That was a crazy thought. This was more something the three of them would do anyways. Or at least he thought so. He had no great compelling urge to run away from home. It sounded fun and exciting, but anything that sounded like that usually had a downside. Not a pleasant one either.

Lana grinned sheepishly. Damien covered his face with his hands, shaking his head. "I knew I should have come with you. I just knew it."

"Are you saying you would have left her there?" Lana said, it had been confirmed the baby was in face a girl.

"Yes! NO! Maybe—I don't know! But we probably wouldn't have even seen it if I'd been there." He said. Vincent, Leon and Zain looked onto their conversation silently.

"And that would have been better? To leave her," She emphasized the gender because Damien refused to, "out there until Goddess knows when? She could have died."

"That wouldn't have been our fault."

"She's our—mine I guess. She's my responsibility now. I can't leave her there." Damien opened his mouth but Lana continued. "I already checked different houses, none of them want to claim her."

On cue, the child in question wails. Lana sends on last fierce look before turning her attention to the baby.

"A baby! Can you believe it? I always expect a stray dog, half dead cat, rabid bear even a half-crazed man that wants to kill us! But no. A baby." Damien ranted and seethed, quietly though.

"Does she do things like this often?" Leon asked.

"Yes." Vincent and Damien answered automatically.

Lana found that she only had to ask for certain items and the maids would do their best to try and find them, especially after seeing the very cute child.

Damien walked into Lana's room just as she placed a pillow on one side of the sleeping baby and a cover over the small form.

Damien sighed. "You can't keep it you know."

"I know," Lana said softly.

"I mean i—what?"

"I said, I know," She smiled at him. "I'm not stupid. We didn't come all the way here to be weighted down by a baby."

Damien opens his mouth then closes it and nods. "And I know you don't really want to be this little one's mother. If your wish had been to have children, you would have stayed home and waited to be married off to some prince."

Lana put some of her black hair that had escaped behind her ear and gave him a look. "We are going back, you know. That fate isn't wiped from our futures."

"I know. I'm just saying that if that had been what you wanted, you would have stayed and gotten it sooner." Damien smiled, something he rarely did. "So, it seems you've already come to terms with this. Have any plans?"

She let out a whoosh of air. "Not entirely."

Damien nodded and exited.

Lana knelt beside the baby. One tiny pudgy hand plunged into the mouth. Dark, thin, fluffy hair adorned the top of the child's round fleshy head. The slanted eyes she knew were dark stayed closed in sleep. Nobody would doubt this was a Yamani baby.

Tears brim her hazel eyes. How could someone leave a child like that? Why would someone do that? What could possess someone to just abandon some poor defenseless baby like that? Lana pressed her sleeve to the edges of her eyes to soak up the tears before they fell. How many people had passed by and not noticed? How long would it have been if she had not come?

Lana shook her head. Didn't matter, it really didn't matter now. Lana would make sure this baby had the best care possible, if not with someone else, then she would take it upon herself.

A/N: I read the book, A Child called "it" this weekend and . . . wow. Its sad when you think about it but while your reading it all you can think is HORRIBLE HORRIBLE HORRIBLE! How can anyone treat their child like that? I have no clue. Sorry sorry, I'm starting to rant . . . but seriously, sad book. I don't usually read books like that but my sister recommended it to me.

Anyways! Before I get started on that rant again I'll change direction. . Please REVIEW! And thank you all soooooooooooo much for your reviews on the last chapter!

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