Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

Escaflowne: All you need is Love, Isn't it?

Chapter 67

Along the path toward the harbor

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It had been two weeks since Hitomi returned to Gaea and while Merle had become her regular running partner, Van only ran with her the one time. As she made her way down the path several meters ahead of her young friend, she contemplated her time there and Van's peculiar absence during much of that time.

'I should have taken it easy on him. I probably humiliated him in front of his own men. He's probably too embarrassed to be seen with me anymore. I bet people have been talking behind his back. "How could the king let a girl beat him? That girl from the Mystic Moon really showed him up." Why do I have to be so competitive when it comes to running?' She sighed. 'Van, I miss you. I only see you a couple hours each day now, sometimes not even that much. I thought everything was fine between us that night we walked through the streets of the city, two weeks ago.'

~~~

"So Sir Baschan is going to Asturia?" She asked as they walked hand in hand down the city streets.

"Mmm." Van nodded. "He's been wanting to go there for sometime, and with Sir Charson going to Freid, this was the perfect opportunity for him."

"I suppose he has to deliver the bad news about the Fanelus trees to Millerna." She said sadly.

"Unfortunately, but the region beyond the Beira Mountains that border Fanelia and Asturia is almost entirely treeless. It may be that the ore deposit is present there as well. If so, they will be able to plant the trees there. It's about as far from Palas as you can get but at least it is still within Asturia's borders." The young king explained.

"Good evening Lord Van. Enjoying a pleasant evening stroll I see." A merchant called out as he was closing his shop. "Evening Ma'Lady."

"Evening." They said in unison then turned to stare at each other. They smiled and continued walking.

"Why hello Lord Van. It's been sometime since you've stopped by my stand. I have some fresh sour root, I'll be sure to save you some." The grocer's wife said as she swept the front of her stand. "Hello Lady Hitomi."

"I'll be sure to stop by soon." The king assured the middle-aged woman.

As they turned down another street, "Lord Van! Lord Van!" Two small children ran up to him. "Did you bring us any candy today?" They asked.

The king reached into his pocket and pulled out a handful of sweets, crouching down he handed each an equal amount and patted them on the head.

Hitomi smiled as she watched how Van's face lit up as he talked with the two children when suddenly one of them turned to her and asked. "Are you the lady who beat Lord Van running today?"

Hitomi gasped, bringing her hand to her mouth.

"Children, what have I told you about bothering Lord Van." Their mother called out from down the street as she walked toward them.

The king assured her it was fine and accepted her warm embrace with a smile.

As they continued to talk, Hitomi stared at him with a concerned look on her face. 'He looks a little upset. Is what the boy said bothering him? Maybe I should try to reassure him some how? But how?' Finally, she spoke, "You know Van, I've been running track ever since I was twelve years old, over three years now, almost four. You shouldn't let what that boy said back there bother you. I've beaten lots of boys my age and older even." She gave a weak laugh.

The young king looked over at her and gave her a faint smile then turned his attention back toward the path they were walking. After walking several blocks in silence, the king asked. "Have you been getting enough of a workout? Will it help you when you return home?"

Turning toward him, she looked up at him with a faint sense of guilt on her face. "Actually, it's not as helpful as I thought it might be." She replied.

"No." A look of confusion crossed his face. "Why not?"

"Well, for one, the grass is a little too tall. It's hard to get good traction. I'm actually quite lucky I haven't slipped and pulled a muscle yet. Besides that, the ground isn't perfectly level; it kind of rises in the middle, which makes it hard to get in a good rhythm. And I don't have a stopwatch to time myself accurately with. Of all the things I remembered to bring, I forgot to borrow Yukari's stopwatch." She looked down, not wanting to see his disappointment when she said what she had to say next. "I may have to leave sooner than I planned; otherwise I won't be able to compete against the other girls during summer practice."

~~~

'First I embarrass him, then I complain to him.' She sighed as she ran. 'No wonder Van's avoiding me.'

As she broke into the clearing and looked in the direction of the open field she spotted a large number of men working on the field. "What the…" she whispered to herself.

As she got closer she saw a very familiar face. Van spotted her a moment later and waved as he started walking toward her.

Slowing down to a walk she headed toward him as well. "Van, what is all this?" She inquired.

"I had hoped to have this done before you arrived." He said with a smile.

"But what is this?" She asked again.

"It's a track field. I had it built just for you." He said proudly, gesturing for her to accompany him over to it. "They finished leveling the ground underneath it just a little while ago and they should be done securing it any moment now." He said with a smile.

As they drew near, she looked at the thing that was being secured to the ground about every three meters apart. It was twelve meters wide and over a hundred and sixty meters long. The top was a loosely fitting canvas that the men moved easily to position the long spikes that they drove deep into the ground.

"Van, thank you but …" She hesitated for a moment not sure how to tell him.

"But what?" He gave her a confused look.

"The canvas top is way to loose. I'd be better off running on the grass." She answered.

He simply smiled at her for a moment before calmly saying, "The canvas is just a cover to protect the top of the track."

"Oh, sorry." She turned away slightly, turning a pale shade of red.

From the far end of the field, the foreman called out. "The track is secured my Lord!"

"Draw back the covering!" The king commanded.

With that, two men took hold of the crank, one on either side of the track; several other men began pulling the canvas tight along the length of the track and at the far end of it. Slowly, they turned the cranks and rolled up the covering. After several minutes, the canvas was completely wound up. Four other men came and assisted the two that had wound it up and removed the pins that secured it to the track then they lifted it and moved it off to the side.

"Whew!" Merle yelled as she walked up next to Hitomi. "What is it?"

"It's our new track." Hitomi smiled. She walked up to it and crouched down next to it, running her hand over the surface.

Van came and crouched down next to her. "It's made out of corcha wood which is very similar to cork but somewhat more ridged and durable." Running his hand over the surface like she was doing, he added. "It's covered with saffur cloth." He held out his hand and taking her hand, turning her so she could sit on it. "Here, let me help you."

As she sat down, he gently took her foot and unlaced her shoe then he slipped it off and carefully put her track shoe on and laced it up. Hitomi watched wide-eyed as the King of Fanelia changed her shoes for her.

"How is that? Tight enough?" He asked.

"A-yeah, they're fine." She said with the look of shock written across her face.

Then he stood up and helped her up as well. Out of the corner of her eye, the shorthaired girl noticed her feline friend staring at them with her mouth hanging open. Casually, Hitomi placed her hand under the friend's chin and gently pushed up causing her mouth to snap shut.

Shaken out of her stupor, Merle snarled at her friend but only for a moment.

"Go on, walk on it." Van said with a smile.

Gingerly, the girl from the Mystic Moon stepped onto the lanes. Walking back and forth a few feet, she let herself get accustom to the feel of wood and the cloth under her feet. "It feels wonderful." She said happily as she broke into a slow jog then into a faster run. Running back toward the man she loved, she threw herself into his arms and giggled. "Thank you! Thank you so much Van. This is the most wonderful gift anyone's ever given me." She said as she pressed her cheek against his.

Laughing softly, the young king replied. "I'm glad you like it. But there's more."

Pulling away from him, she stared up at him wide-eyed and asked. "More? What else can there be?"

Then she heard pounding coming from each end of the track. She looked down one end first then the other. "What are they doing?"

"They're installing starting blocks. Just as you described them to me." Van replied, taking her hand and walking her over to one end to see two of the craftsman measuring and carefully positioning the center channel then driving long nails into it to secure it to the track. Then they took out the foot blocks that would slide into place on either side of the channel.

One of the men looked up and said, "If Ma'Lady will position herself over the channel, we can set the blocks in the proper position for you."

Hitomi gave Van a look of hesitation to which he smiled and said. "Go on." Pulling her forward by the hand he was still holding.

Stepping forward she stood over the channel and crouched down in her starting position. Seeing where she positioned her feet the man asked her to move for a moment then they positioned the blocks and she tried it once again. "Ready, Set…" And she pushed off out of the blocks and ran about 10 meters before stopping. Turning around and walking back over by Van, she said, "They're perfect."

"Thank you Ma'Lady." The man bowed his head. "Miss Merle, would you like to set the other?"

"Sure!" The catgirl replied enthusiastically as she sprang over to the next channel that was already secured.

As Merle duplicated what Hitomi had done, Van and Hitomi walked over to the other end of the track.

"Why are they putting blocks on the other end as well?" The teen asked.

"You can see that there are a total of eight lanes. Four in each direction so you don't have to walk all the way down the length to the field to run another sprint. The marked portion is precisely fifty cubits with an additional fifteen cubits extending on each end so you have time to slow down without having a sudden change in terrain." The king answered.

Reaching the other side, she helped set the blocks as before, in both instances on the third lane. Then Van took her hand again and walked her over to his last surprise.

"What is this?" The woman he loved asked as they came to a stop in front of very sturdy table that had an item on top of it that was covered by a sheet.

Van pulled the sheet off and turned to see Hitomi's reaction.

She stared at it for a few seconds before saying. "It's a clock?"

"Not a clock, a stopwatch." He replied.

"Why does it have three separate facings?" She asked.

Pointing to each facing in succession, he answered. "This one keeps the seconds, this one the tenths of a second and this one the hundredths of a second. See." He pressed one of the three buttons on top of the devise and a loud bang went off causing Hitomi to jump just a little. After a few seconds, Van hit the second button, which stopped all three clocks.

"There, five point seven four seconds have just past." He smiled.

Hesitantly, Hitomi smiled as well. "It's great Van, but…"

"But what? What's wrong? Don't you like it?" He asked with a look of confusion on his face.

"Well, keeping time isn't just a matter of spinning the hands of a clock really fast. How do you know if it is really accurate?"

Van's smile grew. "Hitomi, I know in many ways our technology here on Gaea lags far behind what you must be used to on the Mystic Moon but believe me, the ability to measure time has been one that has existed on Gaea for many years. I would stake my life on the accuracy of this time piece." He said proudly.

"Ookay. If you say so Van." She gave him a weak smile.

Van smiled as he shook his head and pressed the third button that reset the timer. "Come, let's give it a try." He took her hand once again wand walked over to the end where Merle was setting her blocks with the craftsmen.

As they walked a thought occurred to Hitomi. "Van, is this what you've been doing the past two weeks?"

He turned his head and smiled.

"You did all this for me?" She smiled as her eyes began to water.

Stopping he turned to face her fully. "I did this and I would do so much more. I love you Hitomi. Nothing is too great a task for you." He said, opening his very soul to her.

"Oh Van." She hugged him tightly as she pressed her cheek against his chest. "No woman anywhere deserves the love you've given me." She whispered.

They held each other tightly, strengthened by the love they shared, basking in the glow of each other's eternal soul. After several minutes, they were drawn back by a loud and impatient voice.

"Hitomi! Are we going to run or what?" Merle called you waiting with her arms folded over at the starting blocks.

Slowly the lovers separated. Van leaned forward and gave his true love a gentle kiss on the lips then he released her completely. "Go and stretch out. I'll man the stopwatch." He said.

She nodded with a smile then turned to meet her feline friend. After taking about fifteen minutes to stretch out, they both stood just behind the starting blocks. All the workers who helped create the track and assemble it on the field stopped what they were doing to look at their creation put to use.

Standing over behind the timer, Van called out. "READY!" And the two girls stepped into the starting blocks. "SET!" And they positioned themselves properly in the blocks, lifting their back ends and tensing up their muscles like a spring. Then the king hit the start button on the timer, causing the loud bang to sound again and starting the timer.

Instantly, Hitomi flow out of the starting block and raced down the length of the track with Merle close behind but steadily losing ground. Van watched with amazement, still unable to get over how very fast Hitomi was capable of running.

As the older teen stepped across the finish line, her foot triggered a pressure plate sensor that caused the timer to stop immediately. Van walked around to the front to the table and to see what her time was. "Amazing." He said to himself.

After taking a couple of minutes to catch her breath, Hitomi turned and called out to the young king. "What was my time?"

He answered. "Thirteen point two three seconds."

"Hmm, I guess it is accurate." She said to herself with a smile. Turning she said to her young friend. "Ready to go again?"

Merle nodded. "Anytime you're ready."

"Okay then." And they walked over to the other set of starting blocks and did it over again.

During the course of the morning, Hitomi ran over 20 sprints. Her best time came in the fourteenth sprint when she ran the hundred meters in thirteen point zero three seconds. After that one, her times slowly started going down but she was very happy with the day's results. As she rode back to the castle with Van on his horse, she held him tighter than she needed to as she pressed up against his back and smiled.

"So it took you two weeks to build the track?" She finally asked.

"Not exactly. It took about a week and a half to come up with a design that would work. We tried different kinds of wood, different types of cloth but in the end I think we came up with the right combination." He explained.

"Well, I love it. It's about as close as you can get to a real track on earth. Thank you Van. You don't know how much this means to me." She kissed him on the back. "I feel like the luckiest girl in all of Gaea." She smiled and pressed up against him a little tighter.

Van smiled with pride, knowing he succeeded in making the woman he loved, very happy.

~~~~~~~~

AN: Sorry this chapter took so very long. But this was the first chapter I had to completely re-write. I had almost finished it about three days ago when I read it over and realized it wasn't what I wanted. I've had to do the same thing with other stories but never with this one. But I like what I came up with, and I hope you do too.

I must day, I was totally overwhelmed by the number and quality of the reviews I've received for chapter 66. It is the most reviewed chapter so far. I'm glad you all enjoyed it so. ^_^ I'm also thrilled to see the number of new readers that have started following my story. It's nice to know more and more people are taking the time to enjoy the journey along with the rest of us. The other think that has me overwhelmed is the number of ff.net members who have added me to their favorite authors list. Way back when I first started this story, I was one only two peoples FA list, one for my Daria story and one for my OLS story. Now it's up to 29, some for my other stories but mostly for this one. I am so very honored to be considered among the favorite authors of so many people. I thank you all from the bottom of my heart, really I do. I'd especially like to thank Datexan and Fushizen na for your help in pre-reading my chapters and I'd like to thank Specialpal14 for your friendship and words of encouragement and support. I love you guys so very much. You're the best.

Hitomi's second trip to Gaea should be ending fairly soon, in a couple more chapters. Afterward, we'll see the results of Hitomi's training during the summer practices and we'll spend some time with Van's ministers and captains on their journeys to find a solution to Fanelia's water problem.

Again, I thank you all.

I love you all.

A. Amishi