His heart started to ache as if pierced by a frozen blade, shattering it into many sharp pieces. But he knew it would heal, become stronger, and fate would lead him to another noble lady who deserved his love. Though next time, he would make sure he knew her well before he let his love grow too strong.
“Contact Knight Captain Voringa, inform him I will require private quarters away from prying eyes,” The guard walking silently a few steps behind him raised a hand to the combat PDU on his ear as Georigi's eyes glanced beyond him, to the fading apartment doors.
“...and goodbye...my love.”
*********
“Lady Regalia, I think we should leave this to the professionals. It could be dangerous and Sir Seb'Losh would be furious if I let you go into danger!” Donnlie tried to rebuke her, but she wouldn't listen, having already made up her mind.
“I'm sorry, Donnlie, but I have decided. This is a mystery, and I...I am going to solve it!” she stated with authority, the same way she'd seen Sasha on so many past occasions. Donnlie frowned as his chin dropped to his chest and Regalia knew she'd won.
There'd been a noticeable change within Donnlie since the incident with the Royal Guard. No longer was he the child who would follow her blindly, hanging on her every word. Instead, he'd constantly second guess her, his goofy demeanor hidden behind the concern that harm may befall her at any moment. She knew, and understood, why this change had taken place, but she didn't have to like it. So, she had decided, she would try to force him to return to the way he was before, return to the friend she had grown to love. Without waiting for Donnlie to recover, she continued on, following the mysterious trail of green slime down one of the many corridors that ran through Alutia Palace.
She'd stumbled upon this latest mystery as she explored the ever growing palace interior, finding a hole bored right through one of the palace's thick outer walls. At first, she thought it a shadow, born from one of the many artistic decorations found scattered throughout the hallways. But upon closer inspection, she found it to be a hole, about a meter round, cut straight through the living wall, with a strange, sickish green, liquid-like substance oozing from within, pooling on the floor below. The slime then flowed down the hall, as if something had been dragged through the puddle, creating an unbroken path that vanished around a distant corner. Donnlie thought they should report it, saying it dangerous. But she refused.
Ever since the wedding, everyone had left her alone, and she was ever so bored. She did enjoy the mornings and evenings spent with her newly rejuvenated mother, who had embraced her new role as tutor to full effect. But even though she did enjoy her mother’s company and studying new things, she missed the constant intrigue and banter of being in the company of Sasha and the other ladies.
Her mother had been surprised by the small changes that had occurred within Regalia. The young girl who would follow her every word had changed into an independent young lady, who no longer had any qualms with questioning her mother's teaching. Initially, her mother had been furious. But later, as Belia realized that she had fallen due to blindly following the traditionalist mentality, her anger started subsiding and a new curiosity took its place. So instead of dismissing outright the realist viewpoints that Regalia had begun showing, Belia would listen intently, allowing logical discussion and debate about the many matters of state that she'd long ago disregarded as propaganda and lies. It made the study sessions much more bearable, but it still didn't help the fact that Regalia had nothing fun to do outside these sessions. Except now she had found something to abide her free time, something to break through the stress of studying and being left behind by Sasha, Vickie, and Tiana. Donnlie was always with her, of course, but he would no longer play their games, no matter how much she begged. So she would force him to play along, by exploring this mystery, even without his consent.
The trail led through the many labyrinth-like hallways, concourses, and forays that crisscrossed Alutia Palace, making its way into one of the guest wings before disappearing. A servant, coming from the opposite direction, furiously pushed an auto-cleaning reclaimer that moved too slowly for her taste, face flush with anger. When she noticed Regalia following the trail with eyes full of delight, the servant must have assumed she was to blame.
“Do you know how long this takes to clean? How dare yo-,” the servant started to scold, but stuttered to a stop as Donnlie stepped to the front. The servant's skin went pale when she recognized the Alutia Guard uniform, falling to the floor, planting her brow to its stone surface.
“Lady! Forgive me! I forget myself!” Regalia hid a smile.
“I don't mind, I was actually following the trail...could you show me where it started?” Regalia asked kindly as she helped the aged servant back to her feet. The servant seemed surprised by Regalia's compassion.
“Of course, My Lady! This way,” the servant said with a bow, leaving the auto-cleaning reclaimer to continue on its own while she led them quickly through the palace corridors, out of the guest wing, down the main concourse, and into what Regalia recognized as the queen's private apartments.
King Johan had left immediately after the wedding, but Queen Vahna had decided to stay, as she put it, for as long as it took for her to reconnect with her daughter. Regalia smiled, knowing she just wanted to be close to Sasha now that the ban on parental influence was lifted.
The Vn'Oco Royal Guards on duty recognized Lady Regalia immediately, saluting as they opened the doors to the apartment proper. She nodded her thanks and followed the servant down a concourse where every centimeter was designed to be aesthetically pleasing, then down a side hallway that was just as stunning, before finally stopping outside a modest door where raised voices could be heard faintly from within. The servant went rigid and Regalia, seeing this, smiled and chimed the door.
“Enter!” Queen Vahna shouted, her tone making the servant shiver.
“You can go back to cleaning,” Regalia whispered to the older servant, who looked as if she would hug her. Instead, she backed away while bowing, many more times than necessary, before fleeing down a hidden servant’s corridor. Regalia giggled, though quickly regained her composure before gracefully walking into the sitting room.
Queen Vahna stood next to a familiar looking hole in the wall of her sitting room, two terrified servants kneeling at her feet. Queen Vahna's eyes shifted from anger to surprise as she noticed Regalia enter.
“Lady Regalia, I wasn't expecting you,” she shooed the servants away as Regalia curtsied and Donnlie bowed.
“Your Majesty, I was investigating a mystery and it led me to here,” Regalia explained.
The Queen's eyebrows rose. “Oh...that sounds most interesting, my dear. This room is not proper for a ladies discussion, let us move to another,” Queen Vahna gestured for her to follow as she started towards the door.
“Actually, Your Majesty, it's the hole we are investigating. We found one similar in a guest wing,” Regalia told. The queen froze, her ears seeming to twitch, her interest peeked.
“Go on,” she instructed, gracefully leading them to a couch and table directly adjacent the hole.
“I just finished my studies and I was exploring the palace, which is very lovely, Your Majesty,” the queen smiled at Regalia's compliment, then nodded for her to go on. “We happened to stumble across a hole with a strange green liquid appearing from within. The hole...like this one, was roughly cut...” she took a closer look, finding this one was almost identical to the first, but with one minor difference. “Your Majesty, was the inside of the hole cleaned as well?” Queen Vahna's furrowed her brow in thought.
“No...just the floor. Why do you ask?” Regalia smiled. I like this game.
“See the fibers,” she pointed to the inside of the hole, Queen Vahna leaning closer, “where it was roughly cut? They aim outside. The other hole, they were aiming inside. So whatever made this hole would have cut from the inside. Where with the other hole, it would have cut from the outside,” she said, though couldn’t fi
gure out what her deduction actually meant.
“Have you reported this?” Queen Vahna asked seriously, staring over Regalia's shoulder at Donnlie, who stood frozen with fear, sweat pouring off his innocent, freckle covered brow.
“No, Your Majesty, I'm sorry, I wanted to but....but Lady Regalia insisted on investigating it herself,” Vahna turned her gaze on Regalia, a single eyebrow raised. Regalia blushed in embarrassment.
“Well...Knight Constable Regalia, I believe we have a mystery on our hands, do we not? I too believe it would be wise to deduce additional details about this extraordinary phenomenon before reporting it to the architects,” Queen Vahna stood, peering at the hole with a new found interest.
“I do believe you are right, Your Majesty. We should compare it to the other hole immediately and try to collect a sample of the green liquid that the perpetrator left behind,” Regalia couldn't keep from grinning as she moved next to the queen.
“Do you have a botany collection kit, my dear?” the queen asked. Regalia shook her head. She'd heard of them, but never needed one. “Well...we can't have that! Knight Captain, fetch my botany collection kit,” ordered the queen, garnering an immediate salute from the knight captain on duty, before he hustled out of the room. “It is a marvelous device, dear, able to analyze all types of biological matter. It was an old hobby of mine, you see, which I haven't had time for in years,” Vahna explained, seeming to fall into past memories, but she quickly returned to the present. “We should be able to analyze the substance to create an initial theory of what was responsible for its formation,” Queen Vahna continued, unable to fully mask her growing excitement, a sly smile crossing her voluptuous lips.
The knight captain returned with two other Royal Guards carrying a large, brown box. Regalia almost laughed. She thought it would be a small, handheld device, similar to a portable PDU, not a complete workstation.
“Ah, thank you. If you would follow me, we have a mystery to solve,” Queen Vahna waved for them to follow as she started forward. Regalia grabbed her hand, causing the queen's expression to change to surprised delight.
“Thank you, Queen Vahna, I've been ever so lonely since everyone left me behind,” Queen Vahna smiled, showing genuine affection.
“I to, my dear, you and your mother must visit more often. Now, let us discover the culprit who has cut holes in my dear daughter's precious palace walls!” She quick stepped towards the door, pulling a giggling Regalia behind as the Royal Guards fell into step. Regalia caught a glimpse of Donnlie falling into their formation, all sharing the same, understanding look.
*********
The music paused, the lights went low, and they stood motionless. With a deep boom, the symphony continued, its soulful beat, rhythmic, allowing the two girls to sway slowly to its tune, like the gentle waves rolling upon a white sand beach. A second beat joined the first, calling her partner to act, to increase her step, the vocal alongside singing of an innocent heart lost in a sea of corruption. The soulful beat responded, matching its call, leading her to a perfect step with her partner, now two dueling clouds swirling through an unstoppable wind.
A third beat pierced the first two, beckoning her to twirl away, to launch herself into the air like an angel returning to the bosom of the star gods, landing gracefully at the side of her partner who slid just beneath. Her hand brushed down her partner's hip, her giggle matching the deepening tone, then rising again with the quickening beat to flow back down her arm. Their fingers locked and they spun, forming the blooming flower of the symphony’s love, switching hands in interval as the distant vocal sung of the end of sorrow.
The music beat faster and they swirled, droplets of sweat flying about as they came to the finale. She prepared for the final jump, to launch herself majestically into the air, as from a cliff to join a love lost to conflict, and she slipped, taking her partner down with her into a pile of laughing limbs.
Squawks of discontent rose from their disturbed catillians, being forced to retreat from the forming of their newest feeding nodes that were now restricted by the floor. Tiana quickly recovered her feet, pulling the laughing Yukie up along with her.
“That was...was...your fault...this time!” Yukie tried to shout under exhausted breath. Tiana feigned shock, knowing the young empress was right, but would never admit it.
“You blame me, Empress? But I did everything perfectly. You must have been mistaken!” Yukie frowned, chest still heaving, but eyes twinkling as she skipped across the exercise room to fetch a drink of water. Tiana smirked with mischievous delight as she followed silently, freezing in shock as ice cold water splashed against her naked flesh.
“It was you, Lady Tiana! I'm an empress! I do not make mistakes!” Yukie exclaimed as she reached for another of the glasses of water that lined the table. Tiana recovered from her temporary shock, lunging for the glass, grabbing it before Yukie and tossing its contents at the startled empress. Yukie tried to dodge, but the icy water struck home, hitting her directly in the stomach. A surprised shout and giggle tried to come out as one as Yukie keeled over in delight.
“Oh, Empress? I'm ever so sorry...will you ever forgive me?” Tiana joked playfully as she reached for another glass. Yukie crept slowly backwards, then darted past Tiana, she barely missing the wily empress with her latest assault. She grabbed another glass, chasing after the giggling Yukie as she scurried through her private apartments, into a room with only one exit. Tiana smiled with delight, tiptoeing slowly forward as the empress backed into the corner, searching desperately for an avenue of escape.
“Admit it, Yukie! The mistake was yours!” Tiana shouted as she closed in, glass of water at the ready.
“Never!” Yukie responded as she charged unexpectedly, forcing Tiana to pull back at the last moment. The water splashed over them both as they collided, tumbling to the matted floor. Laughter once again overtook them as their baby catillians squawked, furious that their bonding was yet again, being interrupted.
“Tiana! I've never had so much fun in all my life!” Yukie said through a grin that spread from ear to ear.
“I use to play like this with Sasha all the time,” she breathed, memories of her childhood flooding back, before the bad times, before Roberto. “But even when we were laughing, I could always sense the sadness,” Tiana admitted. Yukie's eyes lit, her interest perked, which Tiana had found happened quite often over the past three days they were together in isolation, especially whenever she mentioned anything in regards Sasha and Trent.
Future Empress Yukie was like no other person Tiana had ever met. Smart, well spoken, but bereft of any sort of life experiences. She'd spent almost her entire life on Planet Origin, since, as Yukie explained, the emperor had been terrified that she would vanish without a trace, as had happened with his wife.
Tiana remembered hearing the story of the vanishing empress, along with her escort fleet, years before. The only proof that they ever existed was a small escape pod, floating in the darkness of space, with the baby Yukie sleeping peacefully within.
So Yukie had taken to, during the years of being cooped up within the Seat of Humanity, using her authority to view restricted records from every corner of the NHA. Tiana had been shocked to discover this fact when she explored the question Yukie had raised earlier, the one that referred to what Trent and Sasha were doing behind closed doors. Yukie had been more than happy to elaborate, showing the mysterious records of Trent and Sasha, which Yukie's personal Program, Toonga, provided. The records would always end abruptly whenever the two lovers entered a bedchamber and Yukie couldn't understand why, or so she claimed.
Tiana couldn't contain her own wonder at the sight, being able to witness events Sasha had told her about in passing, as if she was there. She didn't understand how the Programs had access to such records, from places and times where no recording devices were present. But Yukie explained it had something to do with the Programs built-in abilities, or so she guessed, and since Trent and Sasha always had Vin with them, sh
e could always access their records, no matter the time or place. Tiana thought it may be a good idea to never tell Sasha of this, since she still hadn't completely conquered her fear of being seen naked by men.
“What happened? Sasha always seems so happy!” Yukie's eyes were wide, full of concern, and Tiana couldn't help but smile, discovering yet another of Yukie's exaggerated expressions.
“That is most likely because you did not know her before she met Trent,” Yukie nodded furiously, telling her to go on. Tiana sighed, knowing the girl's curiosity had no end. She led the empress to the hydrating chamber adjacent to the exercise room that would help the sweat and water dissipate from their skin without the loss of any needed moisture.
“It happened back when she was 18. There was this handsome noble she thought she loved, but I'm pretty sure she was just in love with his looks,” she paused, having a sudden thought. “For that matter, do you recall Prince Georigi?” Yukie nodded. “They were similar, tall and handsome, Sasha's type,” Yukie raised an eyebrow, then her hand to interrupt.
“I thought Trent was her type?” she asked innocently. Tiana chuckled, remembering Yukie was still inexperienced.
“Well, from my own experience, the type of man I'm attracted to, my type, isn't necessarily the man I'd fall in love with,” Yukie nodded slowly. “This is the case with Sasha. She is attracted to tall, handsome men, but I doubt she would ever be able to really fall in love with one just because they were tall and handsome. With Trent, it was love first, attraction second,” Yukie stared at her oddly, mouth slightly agape and eyes unsteady, appearing unable to grasp the slippery concept. “But back to the other matter,” Tiana decided to go on. “Sasha had met this boy at a noble rendezvous on Tidelia, away from the prying eyes of parents and the court. It was a very popular spot at the time and many couples would use the location to affirm their love. But this noble Sasha met, Sir Roberto, was just playing a part, acting her love. He had no real feelings for Sasha besides lust. So the second time he invited her to the noble rendezvous, he took advantage of her and her innocent love, assaulting her, stripping her and tying her to the bed...then...” she let out a long sigh, recalling her own failure at the time, having been present, but unable to help her friend. “His noble friends took full body scans of her...naked.” Yukie's expression turned to horror.
The Noble Petty, Complete Edition (Alutia Rising Series, Book 2) Page 27