Chapter Thirteen: Silence
The cruelest lies are often told in silence.
-Adlai Stevenson
xxXxx
"Are you sure about this, Baron?" Lune asked as they trekked up the winding staircase the next morning.
"Not completely, but it's the best I could manage when you consider the circumstances. Just remember that she values honesty and go from there," the kitten comforted as he struggled to keep up, holding a large thermos of tea in his arms.
He had wanted to have another go at his personal blend, but Lune had firmly put his foot down; fearing another bad batch would make Haru even more violent.
The crown prince looked away in sorrow. "Should I tell her about Yuki then?"
"Perhaps not that honest, my friend. She seems like the type to encourage you to elope, and I don't think you could handle that kind of temptation." 'Besides, I asked Yuki not to mention that she and the prince are in love. It would only complicate things.'
Lune groaned in agreement, readjusting his hold on a simple basket filled with fresh fruit and breakfast pastries, along with four simple cups for the tea. Neither of them wanted to burden Yuki with fetching breakfast, and Baron was certain Haru would be more agreeable if they presented food themselves.
After what felt like eternity, they reached the door at the top of the tower. It was unlocked, but only because the one at the base was locked and kept under guard at all times.
Privately, Baron was certain that the real reason was because Yuki forgot to lock it the night before.
Taking a deep breath, Lune grabbed the handle, and eased the door open. It creaked loudly as they entered the room.
Haru was sleeping on the modest bed, her arms around Yuki's shoulders as she breathed long and deeply. Yuki was asleep as well; her arms around Haru's waist and shifting around a bit from the creaking door.
"Yuki," Lune whispered hoarsely, making the girl of his dreams sit up in an instant.
She rubbed the sleep out of one of her eyes as she gazed back at him; love more than present in her features. "Lune."
Baron forced himself to look away from the two, feeling more insignificant than ever. 'Why couldn't she say my name like that?'
Yuki stretched once, Haru's arms now limp on the bed. "Should I leave?" she asked in a tiny voice.
"Actually, I… we would rather you stayed," Lune answered with difficulty. "Baron has a plan, and having you around might keep her from tossing one of us out that window until he explains it." He gestured to the tiny window that was framed with broken glass, clearly wondering how the Sea Maiden had managed to toss two cats out of it already.
"I doubt she would do that. The advisors are much more… well, themselves," the pale maid answered evasively, nudging her human's shoulder. "Haru? Haru, it's time to wake up."
The half-human murmured incoherently, and rubbed her cheek against the pillow. "Two more minutes… Muta-san," she slurred before returning to slumber.
"She still sleeps like a log," Yuki sighed, and gave a sheepish smile to Lune and Baron. "Please don't tell anyone about this." She leaned down, and gave a swift lick to one of Haru's furry cheeks.
She immediately sat up with wide eyes. "I'm awake, I'm awake! Oh great," she groaned, glaring at Baron. "Not you again!"
"Good morning to you as well, Miss Haru," he sighed while setting the thermos on a table near the window. He had been expecting a hostile reaction.
She gave him a look filled with venom, and turned her gaze to Lune as she got off the bed and prepared a fighting stance. "Just for the record, your highness, I hereby swear to serenade you with Magic Dance every day I'm forced to be your wife!"
Lune shuddered in horror. "Must you? It's not as if I'm the one that wants this marriage!" he protested.
"Well, I didn't exactly hear you making your case last night!"
"I tried before you came, and all it did was make even more trouble!"
"More trouble? What's more trouble than this?" she demanded while waving her arms around, clearly indicating the tower and why they were in it.
Baron came between them and held out his hands. "Must we start this off with a shouting match? It won't solve anything," he interjected while looking up at the Sea Maiden.
"Who elected you referee?" Haru snapped at him.
"Vulcan did, and for the record, no one here really wanted you to be in the Cat Kingdom."
"You're the one who brought me here!"
"The king threatened to behead him if he didn't, Haru," Yuki interrupted, pulling on one of her arms to ease her away from the two males. "He even warned the king that you wouldn't go along with the marriage quietly, but his majesty wouldn't listen. He's not the one you should be angry at; he's as much a casualty as you and Lune are."
'Thank you, Yuki!' Baron inwardly cheered, giving her a grateful look.
Haru sighed in exasperation, unable to keep her temper with Yuki holding her arm. "So what am I supposed to do; make an escape from the tower and assassinate the king?"
"No!" Lune shouted, blocking off the door with outstretched arms. "Please don't; he's still my father."
Haru glared at him while crossing her arms, freeing herself from Yuki as she did so. "You do know I could brush you off like a fly if I wanted to, right?"
"Please don't kill my father," Lune begged with tears in his eyes, making his best friend sigh in exasperation.
"She was being rhetorical. Vulcan said that she doesn't have it in her to kill," the kitten informed him.
"Just because I won't kill doesn't mean I can't maim," she pointed out while sitting on the bed and rubbing her temples. "Check out your infirmary if you don't believe me; I think I put at least twelve guards in it last night."
"Fourteen, but three are going to be released this afternoon," Baron answered promptly.
She gave him another angry glare and curled up on the bed so that she could put her head on Yuki's lap as she sat down as well. "Just out of curiosity, why are you putting up with all this?" Haru demanded of the darker feline. "You're the prince, aren't you? Can't you make yourself be heard?"
"Believe me; I tried," Lune groaned, burying his head between his hands. "But Father's bent on this marriage, despite both of our objections."
"What did he promise to do to you if I don't cooperate? Take away your claim to the throne?" she asked with a glare, burying her face in Yuki's lap.
Baron wanted to look away when Lune and Yuki locked eyes. He didn't want to see all the pain and helplessness that they shared.
However, he was still treated to a generous helping of it.
"Even if he could, I assure you I would have walked away by now," Lune said after a long silent moment. "Unfortunately, he's holding something much more precious than succession to the throne over my head."
Haru looked up curiously, completely oblivious to the pain on Yuki's features as she sat up. "Oh? What's so important to you, that you're willing to marry a complete stranger for it?"
"A life," Lune answered honestly, closing his eyes in agony. "Not mine, however; someone very dear to me."
"Who?" Haru pressed, but the prince wisely shook his head.
"Isn't it enough that this person is important enough to me to even consider marrying a human? Uh, not that there's anything wrong with being a human," he added hastily.
"I know what you mean, your highness. That was partially why I was saying no in the first place." She sighed and laid her head on Yuki's lap like a child in need of comfort. "But what can we do? Even though you're nicer than your old man- er, cat- that doesn't mean I'm willing to marry you."
Lune nodded, and looked at Baron.
He took the hint, along with a deep breath for courage. "I have a plan that could get both of you out of the marriage, but its success completely depends on your cooperation."
The Sea Maiden cocked her head, and sat up again. "I'm listening," she said in a tone that gave no promises.
"I understand that there is a tradition among humans that if a woman doesn't care for a suitor, she sends him on a quest of her choosing."
She laughed at that, although the sound was slightly bitter. "That's incredibly old-fashioned. Nowadays we get a restraining order or a weapon if talking doesn't do anything."
"Considering the fact that the one in charge of the government here is the one who wishes to marry you off, how would you get either of those items?" Baron asked gently.
"A weapon's easy enough. But the king could overwhelm me with sheer numbers, even without your firebird," she admitted with difficulty, clearly hating the truth.
"Then a quest is probably your only way out of the palace, at least. I can't do anything to give back your world or your original appearance, but if you make the penalty for failure your freedom and clemency for Lune's friend…" he trailed off purposefully.
"It might just work," Haru finished, standing up to start pacing the tower. "But would the king agree? It's hanging on a pretty big 'if'."
"If you specify that it's the only way to get you to agree to marry me, I'm pretty sure Father would go along with it," Lune informed her. "As a personal request, could you make it something really difficult? Something no cat can do?"
"I'm thinking," she assured him, pacing a little faster than before with one hand to her chin. "As difficult as it has to be, it still has to sound possible so that the king gives it a chance."
"I wonder if golden apples really exist," Baron mused.
Haru laughed. "No way am I going to bet my future against a cliché that used. Especially since commercialism probably made some by now."
"Maybe it could be permission from your family?" Yuki suggested before Baron could ask what she meant by 'commercialism'.
He settled for slamming his hands over his mouth to hold back a series of horrified chuckles.
"Yuki, we're trying to get Lune off the hook, not on death row. Renny hates cats now," Haru informed her old pet gently. "Since he knows I saw a dressed-up one just before disappearing, he'd probably take a gun to any feline he sees."
"What's a gun?" Lune asked in a sick voice.
"It's a descendant of the crossbow, except it shoots farther, faster, and has multiple shots. It's quite a deadly weapon," Baron quickly explained, feeling a little sick himself.
"Who's Renny?" Yuki asked in confusion.
"It's another name for Muta-san. His real name's Renaldo Moon, but he prefers Renny or Muta. He's been convinced for years that it'd be thanks to a cat that he was going to lose me." She gave a serious look to Baron, and smiled grimly. "Turns out he was right."
Baron felt like even more of a slime bag from her words.
"But it's a little weird for a kitten to have been the one to separate us," Haru continued thoughtfully. "Why did the king send you to get me when he had older cats at his command?" she asked while she stopped pacing.
His left eye twitched as his gloved fists tightened. "I'll have you know I'm nearly twenty-four, and I've been in the king's service since before you met Yuki," he informed her between clenched teeth.
Her eyes widened in shock, and she sent Yuki a questioning look.
"He's telling the truth. He looks exactly the same as he did when I first came here. Childhood illness, as I understand it."
"Hurimalthia," Baron provided, in case humans had a strain of sickness that stunted growth.
Haru was staring at him incredulously. "Are you sure?" she asked.
"Very sure, Haru," Lune said, putting himself between the human and the frustrated kitten. "But we should focus on the task at hand; you need to come up with a quest that I can't do, remember?"
She snuck another confused look at Baron before resuming her pacing. "… Right; something difficult, but believable."
'I wonder if my appearance is why she can't harm me,' Baron thought ruefully. 'She seems like the type to refuse offering violence to children.' He had to fight to keep from growling in frustration. 'I'd rather endure her fists than her perception of me! I'm older than she; why is that so hard to understand?'
She kept pacing, first in a straight line, and then in a circle around the tower room before pacing at a different angled line than the first and then circling again. In order to avoid her, both Lune and Baron joined Yuki in sitting on the bed, although there was a decent amount of space between them and the maid as they shared the contents of the breakfast basket and the tea thermos. As much as it pained Lune, he didn't dare sneak more than a few glances at the white feline for fear of the half human's notice.
Suddenly, Haru stopped dead in her tracks, in the middle of eating a peach. With wide, understanding eyes, she put one hand against her throat, which was covered by the collar of her white button-up shirt. "Something no cat can do," she whispered as a decidedly wicked grin overtook her strange features.
"You've thought of something?" Lune asked excitedly.
Haru answered with an equally evil smirk, and finished her peach.
ooOoo
The king looked at Haru worriedly as the royal scribe finished writing up the contract. He gave a dry cough, and rattled off the contents in a raspy voice.
"On this day, the fourth of Fishal in the year 999 Post Humanis, that the Sea Maiden, also known as Haru Yoshioka, will agree to marry Prince Lune Felinus if he retrieves her family locket from her home world and presents it to her by the eleventh of Fishal in the same year. If he should fail, the Sea Maiden will be free to make a living on her own, and no action will be taken against the prince or his loved ones for his failure."
"That seems straightforward enough," Haru remarked, tapping her clawed fingers against one leg. "Is it satisfactory, your majesty?"
The king glared at the document, since he had never been forced to compromise before. But he sighed, and pushed the contract closer to her and Lune so that they could sign it.
Lune wrote his name first, in an elegant scroll that was slightly shaky. Haru signed next, but the strange symbols were nothing Baron had seen before.
"That's not the dialect of your area," he complained as the king snatched the document to sign on as a witness.
"No, it's my native one. It's a bit more binding," she explained with a shrug.
'Native? So she wasn't born in that cold village,' Baron realized.
Perhaps that was why they had despised her so. His studies showed that different countries within the Human Kingdom were brutally competitive with each other.
Baron shrugged the idea off, and also signed on as a witness.
"There! Now you can't get out of marrying my son, even if you wanted to!" the king told her forcefully.
"Only if he can find my family locket. Have fun, your highness!" she told Lune cheerfully, getting up to leave.
"Hold on! Can't you at least tell me what a locket is?" the prince asked desperately.
Haru stopped dead in her tracks, and turned to face him incredulously. "That was a joke, right?"
"No, I really don't know what a locket is. Can't you at least give me a description?"
She stared at him a little longer, and shook her head in disbelief. "Well, it's a pendant that opens up to reveal pictures of my family. It's about this big," she demonstrated, holding her thumb and finger about an inch apart. But then she blinked, and sighed. "But now that I'm cat-size, it's probably about this big." She switched the size closer to about three inches. "It's a gold circle with a pearl imbedded in the front of it."
"What's a pearl?" Lune couldn't help but ask, making Haru give him another 'are you an idiot?' look.
Baron coughed politely, remembering the piece of trivia from his books. "It's a precious stone found from the depths of the sea. It's usually round, very glossy, and comes in a small variety of colors."
"Mine's white," Haru added, a slight smirk starting to return. "And best of all, you already know where to start looking."
"I do?" Lune asked with surprise.
"Of course you do. You clawed it off my neck when we first met, remember?" she prodded, unbuttoning the top of her shirt so that she could expose her surprisingly elegant throat.
Although her hide was no longer in view, Baron could clearly see four long lines where her fur stuck up funny from scars.
Lune inhaled sharply as Baron suddenly remembered the pink ribbon he had glimpsed in the king's sphere. The locket must have been hanging off it.
"I didn't even notice that you had clawed me until after I got home with you, because of the adrenaline rush from jumping after you," Haru continued casually while buttoning her shirt up again. "I don't mind the scars all that much, but the locket happened to be my most prized possession, aside from my stepfather. He happens to despise cats, so there's no way you could bring him. I'll have to settle for my locket back."
Lune gaped at her in understanding horror. "But that would mean that your locket is at the bottom of a human ocean."
"Imagine that," Haru smirked with a small curtsy. "If you should happen to find it, I'll be up in the tower."
"No," the king struggled to say, after being unusually silent. "Other accommodations have been prepared for you. Natori; escort the Sea Maiden and her maid to her new chambers, now that the tower won't be needed."
Natori flinched noticeably, but got out of his chair and almost shot out the curtain. "Follow me," he called over one shoulder, eager to keep as much distance between the Sea Maiden and himself.
Haru did follow, but she had a slightly naughty smile on her lips as Yuki trailed behind her.
"… This… is impossible!" Lune exclaimed, sinking into a chair. "I thought it would have been bad enough, looking for a needle in a haystack, but no! The haystack is at the bottom of an ocean!"
"It's quite a pickle," Baron agreed, though privately impressed with Haru's cleverness. If she had given the slightest clue on her locket's whereabouts before signing the contract, the king never would have agreed to the quest.
"Oh, I don't know," the king purred. "I don't think it's all that hard."
Lune gaped at him. "What are you talking about, Father? We're talking about going back to the Human Kingdom and probing an ocean's depths! Do you have any idea what that water smells like? I had to take three baths to rid me of the scent the first time I left!"
"It's just salt water, Lune," Baron consoled. "It didn't smell any different than any of my wharfs." 'Save for that putrid scent, but I highly doubt that was coming from the ocean.'
"So, salt water doesn't bother you as much, my lord Baron?" the king asked coyly.
That immediately got the kitten's attention. Whenever the king used that tone, it meant that Baron would be called to do something in the near future.
"If your majesty wishes, I can accompany the prince when he visits the Human Kingdom," Baron offered.
"Oh, you'll be going back, all right. Alone."
The little kitten blinked. "I beg your pardon?"
"You heard me, and you already know the mission. Be sure to come back in a timely manner this time, will you?"
Baron stared at the king in horror. "Your majesty, this quest is for your son to accomplish."
"Except that it is impossible, and that is your area of expertise, is it not?"
"Father! She'll kill us if we try that!" Lune protested in horror.
"Only if she finds out, and I'm going to make sure she doesn't. Son, you're not allowed to leave your room until Baron comes back with her locket. I'll personally give Haru a tour of the castle grounds to pass the time, and I can't let her see you before then."
"Your majesty-" Baron tried to interrupt.
But the king wheeled around, and slammed his hands over the arm rest of Baron's chair. Then he leaned in quite close, his mismatched eyes starting to glow with madness.
"I am your king," he growled in a dark menacing tone. "You know what will happen, if you defy me."
Baron didn't want to follow along. He didn't want anything to do with the king's plan. This was supposed to be a way out of the marriage, both for Haru and Lune. A pathway to forgiveness, if what Vulcan had told him was true.
But once again, his good intentions were overridden by the king's selfish demands. Why on earth did he have to be the one to do all the dirty work? Why couldn't this burden have been for someone else?
"Say it, Baron," the king warned menacingly. "Say those words I love to hear, or you can say goodbye to your head."
The little kitten looked down at his lap, wishing that he had died from hurimalthia when he had the chance. But he still whispered the phrase he had spent half his lifetime repeating.
"Yes, your majesty."