Me: Hello! Sorry for the really long wait, I've been braindead. According to the reviews I got last chapter, Seto didn't deserve to die! Oh well, sorry. -.- I hope everyone is having a great summer! I've been getting a lot of rain and Thunderstorms. Anyways, I only own Tenionia and her family as well as minor OCs. Cleopatra, Azeneth, Delilah and Leo all belong to white petal, who I borrowed from. And the song isn't mine either. Happy reading!
"So why are you here, Tenionia? I thought that you could stay in the palace." Mana asked and Tenionia sadly shook her head.
"Sadly that's no longer the case. Cleopatra is keeping me on my toes." Mana sighed, glancing at Leo who was still talking with Azeneth.
"I know what you mean, poor Leo is a victim of the queen's shameless flirting." Tenionia blew a piece of hair out of her face.
"I don't care if she is the queen. As far as I am concerned, she isn't worthy of wearing the crown." Mana hushed the older magician.
"You shouldn't talk so loud, the guards will hear you." She looked sheepish.
"Sorry Mana."
Tenionia scowled when she heard yelling from the center. Azeneth looked to see a crowd forming around a wooden platform. She looked back at the pair of female magicians.
"What is going on, Princess?"
"I don't know, child. Let's find out." Mana and Leo followed Tenionia and Azeneth as Tenionia maneuvered her way through the crowd. Azeneth gasped quietly at the sight. It was a man, bond and bloody as a guard stood over him with a whip in hand. The man cried out as the whip found its mark on his torn back.
"Enough!" Tenionia called out, making her way on the platform with Azeneth following close behind.
"Who issued this?" Azeneth demanded and the guard quickly got over his shock that a small fourteen year old was demanding such a thing.
"Your queen Cleopatra herself, this man is a thief and he deserves to be punished for his crime."
"Not in this way!" Azeneth snapped.
"This isn't punishment, this is blatant cruelty!" The girl turned to the poor man and slowly approached him.
"Don't be afraid." The man winced and Azeneth knelt.
"I'm sorry you had to suffer like this." She gently wiped the man's mouth with a small piece of cloth and Tenionia smiled.
'She has her father's heart. Atem would never stand by while such cruelty took place.' She thought with a smile.
"You girl! Get away from that man." The guard demanded and Azeneth shook her head.
"Not until I have helped this poor man."
"Then you will pay the price!" Azeneth shut her eyes and waited, but the whip never fell on her. She opened her eyes to see Tenionia standing in front of them both holding the whip with her bare hands. The guard looked terrified.
"That is enough." White flames came to life in Tenionia's hands and the whip turned to ash.
"You will not harm this innocent girl. She never did anything wrong and you should be ashamed that you would dare to strike her."
"Who are you to step in like that?" The guard asked and Tenionia smirked.
"How quickly we forget." Tenionia willed her magic to display itself and whispers of awe sounded through the crowd. From a distance, Delilah smirked. The guard gulped.
"Princess Tenionia..." The crowd bowed in respect and Tenionia allowed her magic to depart.
"Now, do you understand what you have done?" The guard nodded and hurried off. Tenionia rolled her eyes and turned to find Azeneth helping the man stand. The man looked at Tenionia.
"I'm not one to say this, but thank you both." Tenionia nodded.
"You're welcome." Azeneth nodded. Tenionia looked over her shoulder to see that the guards were coming.
"It seems we need to go."
"Can't you use your magic, Princess?" Azeneth asked. She turned and winked at her.
"I thought you would never ask." Tenionia whistled and Abyss trotted up. Tenionia smiled as her hand glowed crackling white.
"Get to Abyss, Azeneth!" Tenionia yelled as she fired a bolt at the ground, causing chaos and sand to kick up. People yelled as sand filled the air. Tenionia mounted on Abyss behind Azeneth and rode away, weaving in and out of the crowd with skill. Azeneth glanced back to see Leo and Mana standing in the midst of the crowd, watching.
"Be safe you two!" Mana yelled over the commotion. Tenionia smirked.
'Don't worry, Mana. We'll be fine.' Soon Tenionia and Azeneth were too far ahead, and the guards gave up the chase. Delilah who was watching nearby waved her hand to lessen the sand in her face. She hummed.
"That woman is hiding something." The Greek woman smirked.
"And I want to find out what it is."
Abyss neighed as he and his riders galloped onto the tall sand dune that looked down on the city. Azeneth looked at Tenionia, who was watching the city with sorrow and forlornness.
"Princess? Are you alright?" Tenionia smiled down on the girl.
"I'm fine. It's just sad that I have to leave my home again." She sighed.
"I suppose it for the best." Tenionia turned Abyss and the pair rode west again.
Soon the pair came to a small abandoned village. Tenionia lead Abyss on foot as Azeneth rode side saddle. Tenionia scanned the village for any sigh of danger as she walked.
"It seems to be safe. We'll rest here for the night." They rested in an abandoned house. Azeneth pulled the blanket tighter around her as Tenionia focused on keeping the fire burning.
"Princess? Can I ask you a question?"
"You just did." Tenionia chuckled at the look she got from Azeneth.
"What is it, child?"
"Why did you stop that whip?" Tenionia leaned back and smiled.
"Like I told the guard, I wouldn't stand by as the innocent are punished for no good reason. You have Atem's heart and his compassion. He wouldn't have stood by as that kind of cruelty was issued in the streets." Azeneth hummed in thought.
"My mother told me that it was the job of someone to call out on other people's wrong doings. Though it can hard, but you have to defend what is right." Tenionia smiled.
"I think your father would have agreed whole-heartedly with that statement."
"What about you? Where did you learn to be so caring?" A look of sorrow and pain crossed Tenionia's face.
"My brother. He and some of the other magicians raised me like their own daughter. They taught me compassion and the fact beauty lies within."
"Where are they now?" Tenionia bowed her head, letting her hair cover her face.
"Princess?"
"They... They are gone. My brother was killed because my father charged him for treason to him." Azeneth's eyes widened.
"What about the magicians?" Tenionia shrugged.
"I don't know where they went. After the fall of my kingdom, they scattered and disappeared. I haven't seen any of them since." Azeneth shook her head in bewilderment.
"I don't understand. Why would a father have his own son killed?" Tenionia sighed.
"My father was a tyrant. He grew power hungry and sot to use me as a weapon to seize control of Egypt." Azeneth gasped. Tenionia hugged her arms.
"He mistreated all of us children, but he mistreated my sister, Zireria like dirt. What was use was my mother didn't say anything. She idly stood by as we all suffered under him." She sighed.
"That's why it was so hard to fight him and Zireria."
"That's not fair!" Tenionia gasped and looked up to see Azeneth trembling with rage.
"How could your parents do that to you? Not only did they mistreat you and your siblings, they made you fight them. That's not fair!" Tenionia weakly smiled.
"That's the same thing your father said to me when he first heard my story. Azeneth, whoever said that life was fair? Yes, it was painful to fight my family, but I won and I came back stronger. You know as well as I do, that life isn't fair. You lost your mother and your father at a young age. True, life can be cruel, but as long as you don't dwell on the sadness, you will grow stronger. I've learned that, and I hope that you learn that lesson as well, just not the way I did." Azeneth looked down.
"I'm sorry, Princess. My mother always told me that when you become a mother, your child is the first thing on your list of priorities. You love them and you have to protect them." Tenionia smiled as she patted her head.
"I would have loved the mother who raised you, Azeneth. I think she would have liked me." Azeneth chuckled.
"I think she would have." Tenionia smiled as she pulled the blanket around Azeneth once again.
"Rest little one, you need it." Azeneth yawned.
"Princess? Can you sing me a lullaby?" Tenionia smiled.
"Of course, and Azeneth?"
"Hmm?"
"Call me Tenionia." Azeneth rested her head on Tenionia's lap as Tenionia sang the soft lullaby that one of the female magicians taught her as a child.
"Hush now, my baby.
Be still now, don't cry.
Sleep like you're rocked by the stream.
Sleep and remember my lullaby, and I'll be with you when you dream.
Drift on a river, that flows through my arms.
Drift as I'm singing to you.
I see you smiling, so peaceful and calm, holding you, I'm smiling too.
Here in my arms, safe from all harm, and holding you, I'm smiling too..." Tenionia smiled down on the smaller girl that was wrapped in a blanket with her head on her lap. Tenionia turned and gazed out.
"Mother, Father... I know that you two are out there, waiting. I promise that no matter what happens, I wouldn't let you harm Azeneth or me. That is a promise."