I ended up holding Dryden's hand the entire way to the palace which was fricken huge! The guards allowed us right in without so much as a body search and I wondered about the security of the place. Inside the main gate which stood at least 20 feet tall stood long stone paths with tall stone arch ways and water trickled here and there… The actually palace took longer to get too. It was like a mountain… you had to walk for what seemed like forever before gaining any ground it seemed.
"We are entering the south wing of the palace. We will meet with Millerna seeing as she is present with week it seems… Please wait here." Allen separated from Celena though he turned his eye to Kaen as an extra measure of some kind.
"I have to ask… while we have the chance… did you arrive like your mother did?" I knew I only had to say yes or no… but I wasn't really sure if Mother had been beamed up like I had and dropped in the middle of nowhere.
"I'm sorry… I do not know for sure… Mother told me things when I was young… but my father made her stop… he demanded her to not play with the cards either…" That seemed to interest Dryden, the mentioning of the tarot cards. "I don't have them with me… mother had them when I left…"
"Your mother knows you are here then? I suppose that is a comfort… well… she did tell you to find Van after all so… Ah… Millerna." Dryden walked passed me and greeted one of the prettiest women I'd ever seen and oh my god the dress she was wearing… Mine looked… like a whore's dress now that I looked at it. "How have you been?" The princess ignored Dryden and walked passed him as if he was not important and stop right in front of me.
"You are the daughter?... Of Hitomi?... I almost didn't believe Allen when he told me! How did you get here? Why are you here?" I was completely confused by that and could only stare.
"Good evening Princess Millerna. My name is Keori Kanzaki!" I bowed and stayed for longer than needed but I'd never met a princess before and had no idea what was considered polite or not.
"What have you done to this poor girl? She is Hitomi's daughter and she is… this will not due. She cannot go before Chid like this… Allen. Dryden. Be ashamed. You have paraded her through the city like this? She might as well be naked…" I looked down and had no idea what she was talking about. I wore fewer clothes when I went to school. "Come with me." I eyed Kaen and he got the message. 'Don't attack anyone!'. When I glanced at Allen he was pink and Dryden looked indifferent if not mildly amused.
.
As I was lead ahead of the group with the princess Millerna she remained silent about anything regarding my mother. She did however ask everything else.
"How did you get from Freid to Palas so quickly if you got here only a month ago. And you said you stayed at the beast-tribe village for a few weeks as well. You must have almost flown." I stared at my feet wondering if it was alright that the princess tugged around a whore… the servants were certainly staring.
"I landing somewhere in Freid where Allen picked me up. We traveled by air for a while where I literally jumped ship and met with Ragan. Chieftain of the beast-man tribe. I stayed two weeks there before I left with Kaen. We traveled quickly as we were being followed by strange men that had tracking skills, jumped into the sea and decided to sail from Astrain to Palas rather than go right to Fanalia because chances are Van wouldn't even see me… Kaen and I thought if we could meet with King Chid that we might be sent as a messenger or something to Fanelia and get seen right away and he could send me home… but everything is going wrong. I ran from Allen, had to run from Ragan. I escaped those trackers, yelled at Kaen, got sick on the ship, got lost and ended up at the Dancing Flower as a whore-gift for Dryden…" I hadn't noticed by I started to hyperventilate and Millerna ushered me into a room and sat me down in a chair while the other filed in behind. Poor Kaen looked ready to kill anyone while Celena took orders from Millerna.
"I need some water…" Dryden left for what I assumed was the water.
"What have you been feeding this girl?" She turned to Kaen and he was startled at being directly questioned by Millerna. "I am trying to help her… she's not in the best health. I need to know what she has eaten in the last little while. She has been running on nothing but the need to survive." Kaen explained about us eating rather well before cliff jumping into the sea, but who I'd barely eaten a thing for the last 7 days… I'd been too sick.
"You should have said something before. We would have gotten you something…" Allen looked ashamed of himself and I gawked at all of them like they were mad.
"Listen to your selves! I'm sorry princess, but think about it! I've been chased whether rightful so or not…" I eyed Allen. "I don't know who is my friend and who is not and you expect me to all just up and believe in you? Trust in you? I didn't know any of your names until I landed. The only one I thought I could rely on was Van! One of you is a knight! We don't have those in my world anymore. One is a princess. A princess!" I stood up and backed away from all of them while my throat tightened up. "Kaen is half man half animal! I am so thankful to you Kaen, but where I come from you don't even exist! You want me to come to terms? You want me to just accept this all as normal?" Little black dots started to dance in my vision and my head felt lightheaded. "My pendant was stolen and I had to walk around while everyone thought I was a whore... This…. Is….na…mal…."
.
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Keori swung forward without even trying to brace for a fall. Kaen grabbed her and picked her up before she hit the ground and Millerna told him to place her on the bed to rest.
"She's dehydrated and needs rest…" Dryden came in with the water which Millerna promptly took from him and poured a small amount into a basin to wipe Keori's face with. Kaen sat on the other side of the bed and was clearly guarding her, but he allowed Millerina to work whatever magic she was working to make her healthy.
"Hurin will be fine?" Millerna stopped and looked at him.
"'Hurin'? Oh… Yes. Yes she will be fine… Allen you might wish to relax in another room with Celena while I care for Keori… The meeting with Chid can wait… or perhaps you would like to explain this in advanced?... I'm not sure what we should be doing here… It's so strange…" Millerna looked back down at Keori and ran her hands through brown hair and over a pale cheek. "She's been through so much, like her mother and she had done so much already. I don't think she realizes just how much she seems to know already… and she hasn't even met Van yet…"
"She will." The group spun to the door and in the frame stood the youthful frame of Asturias's child-like King Chid and a woman cloaked from head to foot. She yanked back her hood and Kaen stood up and moved to the end of the bed.
"You went through Hurin's things. Later the stone necklace got lost. Where did you put it?" The woman turned to Kaen and looked at Keori.
"I never took the pendant from her… I saw it, but never touched it. It was not mine. Why do you call the girl 'Hurin'?"
"Because she is important to me and to Ragan." That named woke something in the woman and she shook her head.
"This is Hitomi's daughter? She is so old… Older than I…" The King walked towards his sister and looked down at Keori.
" Yes… and she is just like her mother… In strange ways. I am Merle. Advisor to the King of Fanelia. I left Fanelia to find the girl Allen lost, but it seems I was beaten to it… It is unfortunate the dowsing crystal is gone… it could have been useful I think… As for Ragan. How is it that you came to owe a life debt to him?" Kaen tilted his head and stood straight without all the menace.
"I do not owe a life debt as you think. My debt is as his kind while he rules."
"Ragan rules? Since when?"
"Ragan claimed village protection for Hurin when Allen Schezar tried to take her when she did not wish to be taken."
"Is this true Allen?" Allen nodded and she smiled as if everything was making sense.
"She had more strength than Hitomi…" Her smile faded then. "Van has to be informed of her status now. Knowing him he is more than likely ready to kill for me leaving without permissions and without his knowledge… And if someone as strong as her has come along, I wonder what Gaia is in for… and we had just made peace after three years…" Merle walked over and placed her palm on Kaen's shoulder. A greeting between those in the beast tribe.
"When we get Fanelia informed of Keori's condition we will need to sort all of this out. Again three countries have been drawn together by a woman of the Mystic Moon… the last time almost saw Gaia's destruction… I do not want to know what might be shifting the balance of peace this time…" Chid gazed at the girl in the bed and wondered why it was always the mystic moon that answered Gaia's calls for help before anyone knew help was needed.