To most Gaians, the Great War was a quickly fading memory. Countries that had been ravished were steadily regaining prosperity, families that had been destroyed were healing with time, and—for most—the humdrum routine of daily life had quickly replaced the terror they had lived with for so many years. In fact, for old kingdoms, which had remained torpid and stagnant, trapped in their own history, the Great War was, in some strange way, almost... a blessing. Gaia was experiencing something that it hadn't seen since the time of the Draconians; an opulent flourish of art, technology, science, philosophy, music, literature, architecture, medicine, mathematics, trade, agriculture and on and on and on... In mere months, entire lives, entire industries, entire civilizations changed, developed, grew. With Fanelia at the vanguard, Gaia was entering a new time, a new era, a...
RenaissanceChapter 1- Da Capo (From the Beginning)
There was an interval in the procession of floats, and Hitomi's eyes wandered past Ken, who was sitting beside her, and around the park. It was the typical scene, replete with parents, children, teenagers, dogs, and a lot of birds. Her gaze passed over all of these, and snagged on one bedraggled grayish-colored feather. She reached out and picked it up, fingering it wistfully.
University was over, and soon she'd be going back to Japan. She'd be a writer, she thought, or an editor. There wasn't much opportunity for a World Literature major. But she did have a flare for it, and an awfully good idea for a book that took place in another world, where there were two moons in the sky, and angels were considered to be demons, and with a handsome and strong king with a tragic past, and his catgirl sidekick.
Hitomi's eyes stung. Van... if only she hadn't been such a coward... now she would never get the opportunity to tell him.
How she wished she were in Fanelia right this very moment...
There was a blinding flash of blue light.
Excerpt from page A3 of the London Times, June 15:
"UFOs? TEENS VANISH MYSTERIOUSLY IN FRONT OF HUNDREDS!!
"Yesterday, onlookers at the Margaret Stannings Memorial River Festival received the shock of their lives as a large blue beam enveloped and carried off two London teenagers.
"The teens, a male and female, both of apparently Japanese descent, were sitting on a red and white blanket beside the Chatham River, when, at approximately 3:35p.m, the light appeared. It centered on the female, pulling her upwards first, and when the male grabbed her arm to help her, it surrounded him as well.
" ' I thought it was just a publicity stunt at first,' said Mary Richards, who witnessed this spectacle. 'But when nothing happened after half an hour, I wasn't so sure'.
"The teens, who were later identified as Hitomi Kanzaki(24) and Kentaro Yamata(25), had just graduated from nearby Regents University. Their distraught dorm-mates described them as 'wonderful people and great friends'.
"Oxford University's Dean of Astronomical Irregularities, Michael York, had the following to say, 'UFO sightings are quite common, but mostly it is only one or two people who see it. This "blue light" sounds like something straight out of a sci-fi flick so I am disinclined to believe that it is the work of aliens. Keep in mind, however, that the imagery of alien abduction must come from somewhere...'
"The two teenagers are being considered Missing Persons and their families have been notified. Scotland Yard proposes to organize a nation-wide personhunt for the two.
"As we know very little about the nature of the beam at present, anyone with information should call the police hotline at 1-888-234-2345
"Hitomi, Kentaro, wherever you are, we all pray for your safe return."
Viarie, Fanelia...
"VAAANNN!!!" yelled Merle loudly, as she dashed through the teeming bazaar of Viarie, the capital of the re-stored Fanelia. Down the street several window panes cracked, and Merle's ears twitched in annoyance. She took a deep breath and opened her mouth again.
"Merle!" came a quick voice before she could scream again. Merle closed her mouth and looked around. Down the street, a vegetable vendor nonchalantly took out the carrots he'd stuffed in his ears, and several people emerged from the cart they'd dived under and casually re-occupied themselves with their interrupted tasks.
"Mica!" cried Merle cheerfully. "How's the business?"
Mica Resanndi was an excellent source of news, and had a surprisingly benevolent nature for a 12-year-old.
"Oh, excellently," she said, smiling fondly at Merle. "With King Van around all business is wonderful as usual."
Van was the best kind of king to have. He was kind, compassionate, generous and extremely gullible. Compliments made his ears turn red, and caused the people around him to suppress sniggers.
Merle beamed. "Speaking of Van, could you tell me where he is?"
"Certainly! He's helping to rebuild the Arts Pavilion today," she said, gesturing in the vague direction of the Inner City area.
"Thanks, Mica! Oh, and by the way, I needed to order a couple of bushels of assorted vegetables from your mother."
"Really?" asked Mica, as she jotted down the order. "What's the occasion?"
Merle gestured vaguely. "Oh, you know, banquet this, honor that. The Elders never get tired of it." She flashed Mica a hand signal. Princess arriving.
"You realize, of course, that any rotten vegetables that may or may not end up in the Princess' plate are not the fault of Resanndi and Daughters," said Mica.
Merle smirked, and the sunlight glinted off her teeth. "What princess?"
She dashed along until she came to Arts Pavilion that was being built on one side of Fanelia's large Centre Square. The Pavilion was on the East side; behind it was the cultural district, and behind that was the recovering Escaflane Forest, and Lake Fanel. To the South was Fanelia's industrial district- the market place, the emerald mines, and the Weaving Circle. To the North was the agricultural district- the farmland and the mountains behind it. To the West was the residential district, and at the furthest end was the Fanelian Castle.
"VAAAAANNNNNN!!" yelled Merle as she reached the Centre Square. Some of the workers at the Pavilion winced as the glass doors they'd just installed shattered. Merle sprinted over Drakian Bridge, one of the many bridges spanning the River Hitomi, which meandered through the kingdom.
"I'm afraid Van isn't here anymore, Lady Merle," said a young male half-cat, by the name of Sweyn Rezard, falling into step beside her. He was tall, with desperately messy red hair, and features that were not soon disregarded.
"Call him King Van!" she insisted, though she knew full-well that he was one of Van's closest friends, and that the young king had maintained that the honorific be forgone.
"As you wish, Lady Merle," he complied, a little too easily. Merle frowned. "Why does the Lady Merle desire King Van this morning?" continued Sweyn.
"The Armistice Meeting has already started, and the kings are already in a huff because Van isn't there," she mumbled.
Sweyn grimaced slightly. "Poor Van. A few of the kings have been looking for an excuse to get their daughters here."
"Where is he, then?" she asked.
"Well, he may be here, he may be there, but I'm sure we can find him together."
"Do you know where he is, or don't you?" hissed Merle, impatiently.
Sweyn gave her an infuriatingly sweet smile. "That depends."
"On what?"
"On whether he's still where I suppose him to be."
Merle stopped and glared at him, but Sweyn sauntered on.
"Hey! Wait up!" She caught up to him, pouting.
"Why? Does the beauteous Lady Merle desire my attentions?"
"No, of course not!"
"You do!" crowed Sweyn, triumphantly.
"I do not!" Merle exclaimed, blushing and indignant.
"You do!"
"I do not!"
"I do not!"
"YES, I DO AND THAT'S FINAL!" yelled Merle, stomping away.
Sweyn smirked to himself. "I can live with that."
"Van, this is inexcusable! It's three days in a row now that you been late for an Armistice meeting." Elder Sammael waggled two bony fingers under Van's eyes. "Three days!"
Van just managed to stifle his smirk at the Elder's mathematical skills.
"I'm sorry, Van, but you know what has to be done."
Van snapped to attention. "C'mon, no! Don't do that! Princess Anameria has just left, and she was a pain in the-"
"Van Fanel!"
"-neck."
Elder Sammael sighed. "King Gossam has been trying for weeks now, and finally he has an excuse. Van, you know you bring these things upon yourself."
"I do not!" he said, frowning. "I can't just sit in my palace while everyone else works to rebuild the city!"
Elder Sammael put his head in his hands. "But that's what you're supposed to do!!!!" he cried. There was a pause, in which the Elder took a deep breath. "Okay, okay. Just...just... let Gossam's daughter visit and we'll... umm... we'll grant you one request that we absolutely hate." There were nods from the elders around him.
"Fine," acquiesced Van, frowning. "But I won't like it."
"No one is asking you to like it. The main thing is that you like her."
Van grimaced. "As long as you realize that I promised nothing. I'm leaving."
Sweyn caught up with him as he slammed through the double doors, and into the courtyard. "And?"
"King Gossam's daughter."
"I thought so...Gossam, hmm..." murmured Sweyn casting around for a name. "No! Calliope of Gossamer?"
"Guess so," muttered Van. "I didn't ask." He sighed at Sweyn's wide-eyed expression. "What?"
"Calliope Amerlda de Gossam. Five foot, four. Considered to be quite the beauty. Blonde, blue-eyed. Great figure. Lovely voice. Not a total airhead, but not the sharpest sword on the rack either. Her rack itself however..."
"Shut up."
"Van, look, if you stopped messing up when it comes to the Coalition of Kingdoms, those Kings would have nothing to so beatifically forgive you for, and you wouldn't have to do them any favors by allowing their daughters to visit."
"Or," said Van. "They could just realize that I'm not interested in their daughters, and that I am in love with someone else altogether."
"Yes, Hitomi. We all know about Hitomi. I pity both of you should she ever return. It'll be hell for you to keep it a secret that you love her since you announced it publicly."
"Um...maybe she'll realize... that was just a political stratagem?" suggested Van, weakly.
Sweyn rolled his eyes. "Yes Van, and on the day that a girl is born so gullible may all of Gaea hail you as Supreme-Lord-High-of-Everything."
The young king looked very thoughtful. "You know..."
"No, Van."
"But---"
"No, Van."
"Fine, fine, it was just a thought."
Hitomi was sitting on his bed, smiling a provocative smile. Van grinned happily.
"I was nothing without you, Van," she whispered to him, and the smile got a little more provocative. "We should be together, Van, forever and for always."
He nodded, and contemplated wondrously that it was rather a positive thing that Hitomi was coming closer. Then she punched him in the side of the head.
"VAN FANEL! DAMMIT! WAKE UP!" Now that didn't sound like something Hitomi would say.
Van opened one sleepy eye. "Go to hell, Sweyn. I was having a good dream."
"Yeah, I know. You kept saying 'Hitomi, Hitomi!' and some other things that I don't think I'm supposed to say in public. At least not in front of anyone whom I don't fully intend to sleep with soon."
Now both Van's eyes and his mouth were fully open. "I w-wasn't..." he stammered. "...was I?"
Sweyn gave him a lopsided grin. "So you were having a dirty dream about—"
"Shut. Up."
Sweyn just kept on grinning that stupid grin of him. He opened the curtains, glanced out the window, and smacked himself on the forehead. "I was supposed to wake you up for a bloody reason. Throne room! Now!"
"What? Why?... No, you've got to be joking; Calliope's here already?! But she only left yesterday!"
Sweyn laughed. "Gossamer is at least a week's journey, even by airship, and her entourage is on the ground. Which means-"
"She was probably on her way weeks before the Elder's Council gave permission," finished Van, glumly. "I hate being part of these ploys. If Gossam wants an alliance between our countries, at least he could be upfront about it."
"Van, I sympathize and I empathize and I commiserate, but if you don't get your ass out of bed, into some formal clothes, and into that throne room, you will have to receive Princess Calliope in your bedroom. And I don't think she'll have any qualms about that."
Van started, and without a moment's hesitation, had grabbed his formal outfit, and dashed into the bathroom. A few minutes later, he and Sweyn arrived breathless in the throne room, and Van had just plopped down in his seat, when the guard announced, "Princess Calliope Amerlda de Gossam, Princess of Gossamer."
Princess Calliope swept into the room. Van eyed her critically. She was pretty, with long golden curls, and deep blue eyes, and everything else that Sweyn had accused her off. Of course, her eyes just didn't have that same sparkle that Hitomi's had, and her step just didn't have that same vivacity that Hitomi's had, and her lips didn't have the same intelligent curve that Hitomi's had. But then, Van was a very prejudiced judge.
"Good morning, Van. May I call you Van?" she asked. Her voice was startling. It was as a clear as cold water, and for all its sweet chime, it had a slight tang to it. Like a clementine orange that is just two days from full sweetness. And each word rang with sincerity, even when she asked the most common questions.
"Yes, you may," said Van, evenly.
"Good." Calliope half-smiled. "I hope we'll get to know each other well, Van." Van reflected that now her smile looked a lot like dream-Hitomi's had that morning.
"Owww!" yelped Sweyn, who was standing to Van's right. He glared at Merle beside him. "What'd you do that for?!" he asked, rubbing his injured side.
"Well, it got your tongue off the floor and back into your mouth, didn't it?"
"It was not on the floor."
"You were drooling!"
"Even if I was, why do you care?"
"I don't!" said Merle, too quickly. "It's just impolite!"
"You-"
There was the sound of a throat clearing in the most deliberate possible way. Merle and Sweyn paused to give Van a sheepish look.
Calliope's smile turned wicked. "As much this amuses all of us, we're trying to hold court here, so if you could take your barely concealed sexual tension outside, that'd be great."
"WHAT!?! We-"
"No! I ju-"
Van smiled. "Well, you heard the lady."
Merle and Sweyn sputtered for an instant longer, and then, glaring daggers at Calliope, shuffled out of the throne room.
"They're quite the pair, aren't they?" said Calliope to Van, conversationally, as if there weren't 50 other nobles, servants, and assorted bourgeoisie clustered in the relatively small room.
"That's very tactful of you. Most ask me right out if they're crazy."
"HEY!" protested the voices of Merle and Sweyn from the hallway. Van grinned. Perhaps this wouldn't be all that bad.