Amoro Revidi
Title: Missing Queen - Asturia [Part
Twenty-Two]
Series: Vision of Escaflowne
Rating: PG-13
A/N: Chapter 22, done while in the middle of
the tech week from heck. Hope you guys enjoy it! Check the end of the chapter
for a response to reviews! As for the reason this one's got Asturia in the
title, it's because most of the action does take place in Asturia this chapter,
with a little blurb to explain something brought up in a review about Hitomi and
Van. I'll try to make sure that I keep them in every chapter, however small,
even when the chapter focuses on other countries and characters.
***
Allen paces his sister’s room in a preoccupied manner, his thoughts grim and distracted, bordering on agitation, something Celena rarely sees so openly written across her brother’s face, and so she makes the effort to sit up in bed.
“Brother… what’s troubling you?”
“Nothing,” Allen responds in a gruff voice.
“Lying doesn’t suit you, brother, and you’ve never done it very well.”
Allen pauses, facing his sister’s temporary window which overlooks the courtyard leading to the ballroom and also the throne room, his thoughts suddenly a panic. Had Celena seen the duel-spar? Would she already know what was preoccupying his time so?
He glances over at her.
No, he decides, Celena cannot possibly have so much knowledge of him hidden deeper than her eyes can show, he turns to glance back out the window and sees a commotion.
He moves to open the window when the cries of alarm and panic start inside the castle, in the hall just outside Celena’s room.
“Queen Millerna is missing!”
***
“So how long until we’re back in Fanelia?” Hitomi asks Van, peering out the window of her cabin in the ship.
“A day or so by ship and then it’s another half a day’s ride into the capital.” Van reclines in a chair and toys with his gloves, glad finally to be out of the formal attire he had to parade himself in for the celebration in Palas. “You know… I meant what I said.”
Hitomi freezes, glancing at Van from the corner of her eye and then claps her hands as a dolphin-like creature leaps out of the water just outside of the window. “Hitomi…” he cuts himself off with a sigh, seeing that she has no intention of bothering with the subject at the moment, he lets his eyes drift closed slightly as he imagines what will happen in Fanelia once she’s gone back to Earth.
Hitomi turns to regard Van, his body slumped in the chair, his brow furrowed slightly with a preoccupied tension to it. She sighs silently to herself, and turns back to the window, staring out at the frolicking creature in the water. If only I was a part of this world, like you, she thinks to herself, drawing a step away from the window and turning to kneel at Van’s side. Carefully, gently, she leans her head down on his leg, and without opening his eyes, he slips one glove off and strokes her hair gently.
***
Chid finds himself caught in Asturia, in the commotion. His escort is delayed in aiding his uncle’s men to search for Millerna, and he has no other safe means of transit back to Freid. Quietly, he wanders the halls where his aunt was last seen. They were the first area covered in searching for her, and so are vacant of soldiers and knights and his own guards.
An eerie silence seems to seep through the floor and into the air. A single door opens slowly and a cautious head peeks out, wearing the platinum blond hair and azure blue eyes of Celena Schezar. She starts as she sees him and begins to retract herself into her room.
“Lady Celena!” Chid calls out, quickening his step to reach her. He knows little of Allen’s sister, in the past six years he was far too busy dealing with the troubles of Freid to pay social calls to Asturia in order to visit his friends and relations, but, he figures, some company in the castle turned prison is better than none, and it will be a change to speak with her, at least.
“I am sorry to have interrupted you, Duke Chid,” Celena says, her head slightly bowed as she pauses, motionless in the doorway, hands clasped in front of her.
Chid blinks, not having known the woman, he had never seen such poise in her, never known her at her stillest. He had often seen her treading slightly in Allen’s shadow during his visits, or perhaps in windows when he himself would pass by, but had never gotten the chance to inspect what sort of woman claimed to be the sister of the famous Allen Schezar, Knight Caeli and master swordsman of Asturia.
“It was no interruption, my lady,” Chid says with a kind smile, hoping to quell her apparent fears of him. “I am taking a walk… would you like to accompany me?”
Celena sneaks a glance up at Chid and freezes, if possible, going stiller than she stood before at the sight of him. For a moment her mind is blank, and then a whispering voice in the back of her mind speaks up, a fury of thought accompanying it, Why, he looks just like brother!
Chid smiles at Celena and offers his arm to her, which, almost numbly, she takes, and the two of them continue on down the hallway. “I bet the courtyard will be clear of scrutiny by now.”
“Clear of…?” Celena begins, not quite sure what there is to scrutinize about the two of them walking.
“Oh, please don’t mistake my intentions, Lady Celena. I just figured that if you were frightened by me, the sight of soldiers and knights searching so ardently for the Queen might distress you even more.”
“You are most kind and considerate, Duke Chid.”
“Please, call me Chid,” he responds, glancing up the few inches to look into eyes that seem, at once, entirely too familiar to him. Chid cannot put his finger on it, but the Celena’s eyes seem altogether comforting and disturbing.
“As you wish… Chid.”
*
The search for the Queen in the palace took four days to complete, and the entire city seemed to be holding its breath. After the four days, the guard and the military moved on to searching the homes and buildings in the city. It was another three weeks to complete the search there, but the citizens were helpful, rather than chafing. It appears, remarked Dryden sourly one day to his uncomprehending son, that the people of Asturia know and love their queen as much as we. Exeter merely smiled at his father and climbed into his lap, embracing the much larger man precariously, as though he could sense some need for comfort in his father.
It was not for a week after that, a month after her disappearance, that the first news of her found its way into the capital. The news caught Celena and Chid by surprise, in the courtyard, as they were taking a walk in the sunshine, and the bearer of the news to them looked very displeased with the scene he saw.
*
“In case either of the two of you care,” Allen begins, a stiffness in his voice. Chid gives Allen a sharp look, reminding him of his position, and motioning slightly with his head to Celena at his side. Allen blinks and begins again, “Word has come of the Queen…”
“Aunt Millerna?” Chid replies, taking a step towards Allen hopefully.
“She was taken hostage in the name of the King of Norte.”
Chid steps away from the two Schezar siblings, head slightly bowed and muttering to himself about the recent news he’s heard from the reclusive country. It seems to Chid rather fitting, that Norte would be behind his aunt’s disappearance, and most likely the attack on the castle, since the newly crowned king had most firmly declined the invitation to the festivities honoring Asturia.
“If you’ll both excuse me, I need to go speak to my uncle,” Chid says to the siblings quietly, turning and walking off in the direction of the depressed king’s library.
Allen watches Chid walk off, a serious and determined expression on his face, and for a moment, pride swells in his chest at the thought of his son’s progression towards manhood. The look in Chid’s eyes, the reproach, reminds him of how Marlene could look at someone and stop them in their tracks, and for that he is glad. So preoccupied is he with his inner musings that Celena has to repeat her question twice.
“So, brother, does this mean that we’re at war?”
Allen nods slowly, “At this point, not physically, but politically, this was an act of war on the part of Norte.”
Celena nods in return, her gaze following the young Duke of Freid’s pathway for a moment, and then returning to glance at her brother from the corner of her eye. She compares the two in her mind and then frowns slightly, deciding to spend her time alone for a while.
Chid’s attentions to Celena, at first, had been absentminded, of a sort. The two of them were lonely in a castle, a country, full of purposeful people. Everyone who could help was searching for the queen, and it seemed that the nephew-Duke and the knight’s younger sister were the only two that could do nothing to aid the search. On the contrary, the two of them seemed to hinder the efforts of whatever group they were assigned to, until eventually, they had both simply stopped appealing to help the search efforts and stuck to the castle, and each other.
Over the few weeks, Chid had grown enchanted by Celena’s silent and slightly mysterious aura. She spoke about pleasant things, and was able to answer for herself when he asked her about philosophy or politics, but he could tell that her heart wasn’t in those things. She enjoyed gardens, and flowers, and sunlight. Occasionally he would chance upon her reading a novella or a book of poetry, and it made the fifteen-year-old duke smile to see her flush when he inquired after what she was reading.
Allen had never happened upon the two of them when they were together before, his own efforts in the search greatly helping to cover ground which might otherwise have taken months to scour in the search for the missing queen.
*
Chid enters the library quietly, straightening his shoulders and setting his mind to the task of rousing his uncle. Over the past month he has fallen more and more in on himself, the only ones able to come close to him were Exeter, Chid, and, surprisingly, Celena. The silent sister had been almost as much a companion to the king as his son, and more than his nephew, who had to deal with running the Duchy from afar in his absence, Dryden’s library accounting for all of her reading material.
“Uncle Dryden,” Chid calls, his voice empty of emotion. It is impossible, before seeing his uncle, to tell his mood, and some of his moods in the past four weeks, were cruel and cutting. Any sign of weakness in gesture or vocal tone were pounced upon and used as fodder to repel the person encroaching on his solitude. So Chid stands in the doorway to the dimly lit library and lets his eyes adjust to the darkness before he steps into the room and searches the rows and rows of stacks, looking for his uncle.
“They’ve asked to call Eries back from the convent,” Dryden says, voice weak, body slumped in his high chair. His reading glasses are strewn on the floor next to one of the side doors, with a book lying on top of them.
Chid assesses the situation quickly. “Who asked this, Uncle?”
“The council of advisors.”
Chid nods slowly, moving to retrieve the slightly cracked glasses and the book, and setting them on the corner of the platform where the chair is seated, movements slow and gentle. “Did they say why?”
“Apparently,” Dryden tips his head back, and Chid can smell the alcohol on the man’s breath from his position at the corner of the platform, “I’m in no state to rule.”
“They are exactly right, Uncle,” Chid says quietly. “Have you heard the news?”
“Have I heard anything but what you tell me for the past…”
“Month.”
Dryden’s face looses its color. “No… certainly it hasn’t been… that long…”
“It has. And word has come that Aunt Millerna was kidnapped.”
Dryden’s face goes slack, as though he has just seen his entire world crumble before his eyes, and Chid sighs, daringly mounting the steps up to the platform to look his uncle in the eye. “Uncle Dryden, what did you say to the advisors about calling Aunt Eries back from the convent?”
“I… didn’t.”
Chid narrows his blue eyes and thinks quickly, “Let them call her back.”
“Yes,” Dryden responds in a vacant voice. Chid hands him paper and he scrawls out the message. “Call her, she’ll know just what to do.”
Chid cringes inwardly at himself for using his uncle’s weakest moment against him in this manner, but for the love of his kidnapped aunt, and his nephew, Chid feels responsibility to the family to keep the country from ruin, and it is obvious that Dryden is in no state to protect his son’s future. He hands his uncle wax and waits as the broken down King of Asturia puts his seal on the note.
“Uncle Dryden, you should get some rest. Exeter has been looking to play with you for the past couple days, but he’s afraid of the dark in here.” Chid’s heart catches in his throat, remembering his own childhood, devoid of such a loving father as Dryden Fassa, trapped up in the need to learn protocol and duty and honor instead of being allowed to run and play as other children. He had grown up, as Hitomi remarked once during the festivities, far beyond his time. Dryden nods his head and stands on shaky legs, taking the support of the arm Chid offers him to help him down from the platform and out towards his rooms.
Once his uncle is safely deposited, Chid turns to go and find Allen, the note Dryden signed tucked firmly in his inner vest pocket.
*
Requesting Eries’ return from the convent was the first order of business the council of advisors did, and Allen was dispatched from Palas to collect the oldest Aston princess from her cloister as quickly as he can. Allen and the crew of the Crusade begin their journey at once, with well wishes from both Chid and Celena, who see them off from the air-ship docking above the city.
*
The inland city of Thera, so named after the late queen Therese Aston, mother to the current queen and daughter Eries as well, is high enough to be sufficiently warm year round that there is no possibility of the ladies in the convent falling ill due to rain or cold weather, and also high enough to catch some of the sea air that travels even the four day journey from Palas and the seaport cities to the mountainy town. Allen’s journey takes him two days, going overland with a strong wind in the sails of the Crusade, and as he disembarks, he is met by the Mother Superior of the convent.
“A Knight Caeli sent to collect a princess… how fitting, especially for one having taken up this lifestyle,” the Mother Superior says.
“Allen Schezar, at your service,” Allen bows deeply, his formal uniform stretching despite the pounds of starch and ironing that went into its cleanup for the retrieval assignment.
“Ah, and no less than the best swordsman of the country, a pleasure to meet you, Sir Schezar,” the aged woman says with a delighted smile. “But of course I am not the reason you have come. Princess Eries,” the Mother Superior says, “is awaiting you in the garden, and saying her farewells to the sisters here. If you will leave your weapons and follow me, I will show you to her.”
*
Allen tries not to wince at the noise of his boots in the halls of the convent, which have high vaulted ceilings and beautiful stained glass windows. The convent, he believes he remembers correctly, was built before the castle in Palas, and it’s design shows it. Groined vaults above him, crenellated roof embankments, gargoyles, bell towers… the Tuloom Convent is a masterpiece of Asturian architecture. The noises within, however, echo so much as to make one uncomfortable.
Allen remembers, vaguely, having been in the convent as a child, when his mother had come to visit and pray with the sisters for the safe return of Leon. It had proved in vain, however, the weeks she spent at the convent, and, sadly, Allen also remembers that it was in the fields above the convent where Celena had disappeared.
As he steps into the garden, his eyes are slow to adjust to the renewed, unfiltered sunlight, but he can easily make out the erect and commanding figure of the princess, if not her face, standing amidst the gray clothed figures of the sisters of Tuloom. As his eyes finally adjust to the sunlight, he does his best not to stare.
Eries had retired herself to the Tuloom Convent a year after Dryden and Millerna had remarried, just after the announcement that Millerna was pregnant. Allen had silently approved of Eries’ decision, but sighed to himself, knowing that he would miss her company. After the last war, when Eries realized Allen had no intention of pursuing Millerna and ruining her sister’s chance at happiness, an easy but formal camaraderie had grown between the older princess and the head of the Knights Caeli. Allen had felt proud, however that she had chosen him to see her to the convent, and a little prouder that he would be the last person from Palas to see her dressed as a princess.
But the woman before him showed just what the potential within Eries had blossomed into. A tall, statuesque woman with the same shade of platinum blond hair as Celena, the long hair drawn back in a complex braid that reaches well past her waist. Covering her face is a thin sky blue veil that somehow matches the gray watered silk gown she wears. As Allen steps into the garden, a friendly smile upon her face, Eries says the last of her goodbyes to the sisters, and they affix a dark blue hooded cloak around her shoulders, despite the pleasant heat of the atmosphere, and she bows her head as the sisters all pray for her safety in her time away from them.
It is not until Allen has escorted Eries back to the ship and the crew has begun to carry what little baggage she has to her quarters for the journey back to Palas, that he has a chance to speak with her at all. “It is good to see you again, Princess,” he says formally. For the first time in a month… perhaps since her departure, feeling the placidness return to him.
“And you, Knight Caeli,” she responds with the hint of a smile on her face. After a small pause, the air in the room grows darker as her tone deepens with worry, “Millerna…”
“To the best of our knowledge,” Allen begins, pulling a chair out for her to sit down in at the table in the cabin, “she was taken the day of Exeter’s coronation.”
“How is my nephew doing? I haven’t received word of him since he started walking,” Eries says, without a hint of bitterness at being forgotten in her voice.
Allen nods politely, impressed, yet again, at her poise, “Exeter is quite healthy, he runs his governess to the brink and back, daily, trying to keep up with him. He’s… really been all that’s kept Dryden stable in the past month… Along with Chid, and Celena. But I gather Chid has need to return to Freid as soon as he can. Now that Asturia may be at war…”
“No,” Eries says in a calm voice that holds enough steel in it to brook no refusal. “There will be no talk of war. Not yet,” she says, her voice turning introverted and reflective.
“As you wish, Princess,” he responds, bowing his head. Idly, the thought he often finds himself contemplating when in Eries’ commanding presence assails him again. Why didn’t Eries become Queen of Asturia? He shakes it off, unwilling to speculate, and compares Eries and Millerna in his mind once more.
Doing that had been part of his reasoning for discouraging, with a much firmer hand, whatever affection their was between himself and Millerna, for, despite her own claims that she would no longer rely on him, Millerna had been slipping back into her childish adoration of him once Dryden departed to help rebuild Gaea. With Celena back in his life, he found simply no use for another younger sister. If he were to look for a woman, she would have to be his equal, and with Hitomi gone, he had contented himself in tending to Celena, not looking for romance at all.
But, his mind guiltily reminds him, if there were to be a woman for me, she would be something very much like Eries.
“How is Chid doing?” she inquires in a light voice, none of the earlier edge she had once used when mentioning Allen’s son to him.
“He is growing up to be quite a man, and he has inherited Marlene’s commanding presence. He is a fairer Duke than his father, I hear.”
“And Celena?”
Allen pauses for a second before remarking on his sister, and Eries catches the hesitation. “Why did you pause, Allen?”
“She and Chid have been entertaining each other in the palace during the search… and…” Eries frowns slightly, catching the possible implication in the two unknowing relations’ actions, “she has again lifted a sword in battle.”
Eries takes a deep breath and sets her shoulders, folding her hands formally on the table. “You had better give me a detailed briefing on what transpired during the festivities, or I will be walking into this blind.”
Allen nods. “As you wish, Princess.”
***
Ok, so for responding to reviews:
Crystal - No, Merle hasn't gone anywhere.
She went back to Fanelia. I'm not done with the story, just Book I. As far as I
can tell right now there should be 2-4 books in total... so no, the story isn't
over. And I do intend to keep writing fanfiction.
Jane - Hope that cleared it up for you as to what was said between Hitomi and
Van and what wasn't. Amoro Revidi does mean something, but at the
moment... I don't quite recall what that is. (^_^). It's in another
language, I believe it's Italian, though it might be Esperanto, and it's rough
translation (because I speak neither Italian nor Esperanto, and Spanish is way
too easy. I bet it's Italian because I tried to have the language of Hitomi's
tarot cards in the fic somewhere) is Love Returned/Reunited.
To everyone else, thanks for reviewing! I hope you enjoyed the chapter and the return of one of my favorite underdeveloped anime characters, Eries! I'll most likely start mapping out the next chapter during tech tonight, if/when I get the chance... so hopefully I'll be able to keep up this one chapter a week update schedule I've made for myself, but the run of the show I'm working on is currently in tech, so I'm doing 11 hr days of pretty much hard labor in order to pay for the cost of living, so we'll see.
OH! Late, late response to DragonSun - No, I haven't read "Thousand Miles" "Puddle of Mud" or "A New Day Has Come". And since FF.net's search functions are kinda screwy... I can't find them... got a link to them? I've got a definite soft spot for babyshampoo's "Escaflowne the Continuation: Crusaders of Gaea". It gets a little heavy in description sometimes, but I like the story so far.
Well that's all for now. I'm thinking of working up a Glossary or guidebook for the story with all the places and people I've added... but I don't know when I'll have the time to get that done... so, um...
Ja ne!