Revolutions- Chapter Three

Tsubasa; Revolutions
Chapter Three

Chapter Three: A Perfect, Broken World
Chapter Rating: General - still pretty harmless
Chapter Summary: The group is invited to stay in the palace and learn more about this strange world
Status: Chapter 3 of 16 (*complete)
Chapter Word Count: 3724


( Chapter Three: A Perfect, Broken World )

“Fai-san! Kurogane-san!” Sakura-chan smiles brightly at us which causes the rest of the room to turn and look at us as well.

 

“Sorry to have kept you waiting,” I nod my head towards King Ienyn before smiling at Sakura and taking the empty seat beside her.

 

Kurogane just shrugs and slips into the empty chair beside Syaoran and immediately begins to reach for the food so elegantly laid out before us.

 

I still remember the taste of normal, good food. I remember being very fond of it all; sweet cakes, juicy fruits, hearty meats, fresh vegetables, cool drinks, warm breads. I wish that I was still able to say that such things still sounded appetizing to me, but in all honesty I don’t crave them at all. I suppose it is has much to do with the fact that a normal person would not crave the diet I am on. I wish that is was not the case, but unfortunately there is nothing much to be done about it for now.

 

I keep up the act of being a normal person still, serving myself what looks and smells like some sort of poultry, some heavily seasoned starchy vegetable that looks like it might be potatoes and a helping of strawberries Ienyn had been talking about earlier.

 

“I must ask,” I raise my glance to the faire blonde king as I choke down a strawberry and pretend to enjoy it. “If it is perfect weather all year round, how is it that you have a strawberry season?”

 

“I have no idea,” he shakes his head and laughs. He slouches slightly in his chair and rests his elbow casually on the armchair as he speaks. “I guess it gives people something to look forward to every year. Another reason for a festival. Strawberry Festival. The Festival of Flowers. Corn Festival. Potato Festival. Apple Festival. We have them all. There’s a festival thrown for one thing or another practically every month. I can’t say for sure exactly because I stopped caring long ago.”

 

I suppose that made some sort of sense. At least as much sense as something could possible make in a place like this.

 

“They really are very good strawberries,” Sakura says with an eager nod to him. “Aren’t they Fai-san?”

 

“Indeed,” I lie through my smile and choke down another.

 

It startles me when Mokona jumps into my lap. I am not entirely sure where he had been hiding until now. Probably in Sakura’s handbag. 

 

“Mokona wants a strawberry too!” Mokona says happily and opens his mouth in anticipation.

 

I know that it is entirely in Mokona’s nature to get excited over delicious food, but I am also aware that he is entirely more observant than those who have never met him would ever possibly imagine. I’m sure he does want food. But I’m sure that the real reason he’s sitting here in my lap is to give me an escape from having to eat anything more.

 

In many worlds, Mokona’s very existence is viewed as highly suspicious, but Ienyn doesn’t seem to even raise an eyebrow. He doesn’t so much as breathe a whisper of a question about him as he happily devours the food I feed him, and I am glad for this. I don’t like having to make up some story as to why we have a walking, talking fluffy white creature that looks a bit like a disproportioned stuffed rabbit.

 

We finish our lunch in relative silence before Ienyn leans back into his chair and asks where we are staying for our visit.

 

When we tell him, he smiles and says, “Well that simply won’t do. Would you all like to stay here at the palace?”

 

“I don’t think that will be necessary,” Syaoran-kun shakes his head.

 

But Ienyn persists. “Please, I insist. Besides, I can’t afford you all wondering around confusing the people my kingdom. And if you really are here for the feather, there is no telling how long your stay will be – you’ll run out of money if you don’t get jobs and you’ll find those to be rather difficult to come by. I must insist you stay here at the palace. Never mind it will be refreshing to have someone normal around here to talk with.”

 

I don’t know that I would jump straight to ‘normal’ as an adjective to describe us, but his meaning is easily understood.

 

We all exchange glances, nodding quickly to one another to make sure there was no confusion among us before Sakura-chan spoke up for us all. “Thank you Ienyn-sama,” she says and bows her head to him. “We promise not to be a bother to you.”

 

“It’s settled then,” he grins at us all. “Please, come and go as you please. I will have my servants prepare rooms for you all and fetch your things.”

 

“That really isn’t necessary,” Syaoran shakes his head.

I feed Mokona a bit of what I assume to be chicken.

 

“Don’t be foolish,” he shakes his head and downs half his glass of whatever it is he’s drinking. “You’re guests of royalty. You should be treated as such. And please, I insist that you make yourself as home as possible here.”

 

We agree and finish our lunch in relative silence, with me feeding my entire plate to Mokona without trying to look to suspicious to our gracious, royal host. But he smiles at me in a way that makes me think he knows something anyway. Had he been a normal human, I might have thought otherwise.

 

It did get me thinking just what it was he meant about being a dragon. He sure didn’t look like what I had always thought dragons to look like – big scaled, fire breathing lizards with wings.

 

Maybe he would explain that to us later.

 

The palace is all but crawling with helpful servants dressed in their clean, perfectly pressed matching black suits and neck ties. It’s no less than an hour after Ienyn gives them the order that a handful of them return with our belongings in toe and have hauled them up to our new rooms.

 

“Everything’s all settled,” a young blonde girl with braids in her hair comes happily up to Ienyn and flashes a perfect white smile at us all. We had retired to the gardens to watch the cherry blossoms after lunch. Ienyn didn’t seem too eager to start talking about Annabelle or the feathers again, and I imagine he will not bring it up for the rest of the evening.

 

I have my slight suspicion that he’s really more excited just to be in the company of people who understand him for once than to really get to work on setting things right.

 

After all, he’s lived this way for a thousand years now. I can only imagine that the thought of a change might be a little frightening to him, even if it is what he wants.

 

He’s sitting on a grey stone bench next to Sakura now under a blossoming tree that carries her same name. They talk happily to one another about one thing or the next, but nothing particularly interesting or important.

 

Syaoran is off in the distance, leaning against the trunk of a tree and staring at the sky. Often times I wonder what he thinks about. He is far more wiser than the Syaoran I had become used to seeing.

 

“You think he’s up to something?” Kurogane asks me. He’s sitting near by on a stone bench much like the one Ienyn and Sakura are occupying.

“It’s hard to say right now. He seems like a good enough person though,” I shrug. “After all, if what he says is true, he couldn’t even be here if he wasn’t a good person.”

 

“If that’s true,” he lowers his voice a bit, “Then why are we still here?”

 

“What do you mean by that?” I honestly am not sure where he’s going.

 

“I’ve killed many people in my lifetime. By their standards, that makes me a bad person.” he says very matter-of-factly. “I know you refuse to say anything about your past, but I’d be willing to wager you’re not too innocent yourself.”

 

“Don’t put me in the same category as you,” I grumble. Jerk. As if I’d tell you that. “Besides, we’ve not done anything wrong in this world. They would have no way of knowing anything about any of our pasts; yours, mine or even Sakura’s.”

 

“I guess that’s possible.”

 

Don’t give me that crap. You know that’s obviously how this world works. You’re just prying again.

 

“But I still think we should be wary of him.”

 

“I agree,” I nod. There is a time and place for me to be difficult, and subjects such as this is not one of them.

 

I guess that was all he wanted to talk to me about, because after that he remains silent and leaves me be. I am quite content with this actually, and am quite satisfied to simply sit here and look out over the gardens.

 

The grass is a perfectly trimmed carpet of vibrant green lined with rows of spring flowers in full bloom; a small sea of pinks and yellows that sway in the breeze like the waves of the tide as honey bees and red butterflies flutter above. I’d bet my left foot those bees don’t even have stingers. The stone walls that lay beyond are ancient and overgrown with thick, deep green ivy vines and topped with silver stone statues of what appear to be dragons – at least the versions of dragons I am familiar with. And beyond the palace walls we can see the edge of the seemingly endless forest that stretches to the south and the west of the city further than even the best eyes in the world can see.

 

The books in the library mentioned the forest often, but only that it was a place few often went. That strikes me as rather odd actually, as one would not have anything to fear inside if, if the world truly was as Ienyn had mentioned.

 

I must have been staring for quite some time. And obviously not paying much attention to anyone else for that matter.

“Forgive me for being so forward, Fai-san,” Ienyn says with a grin and I look at him in a bit of a daze. I had no idea he had come up to stand next to me. “But you possess a great deal of magical ability, do you not?”

 

“What makes you say something like that?” I ask, hoping not to come off sounding rude.

 

“You’ve been staring at the forest for a very long time now,” he says as though I should get his meaning. “It’s not a habit many people have unless they’ve got some sort of magic.”

 

“It’s very lovely,” I tilt my head and smile.

 

He laughs quietly. “I suppose that hearing you say that is… a very good thing.”

 

“Why?”

 

“Not many people do,” he shrugs. “Most people now days seem to just forget its there entirely. And before any of this, it was a place most people feared to even step foot into. Even now, knowing that it is completely safe to enter, I still have a hard time going in. The only person I’ve even known to love that forest is Monagan.”

 

“The previous prince?” I ask to be sure I was remembering things correctly.

 

“Technically, he still is the rightful prince. If he wanted to be.”

 

“Where is he now?”

 

“He comes and goes. He’s always out scouring the world for a sign of the old world, or a way to change things back. I’d help him do so if he’d let me, but he thinks that watching over Annabelle is more important.”

 

“And you don’t?”

 

“I don’t think I’d say that exactly,” he looks down with a slight tinge of pink on his cheeks, obviously not wanting to speak ill of his post. “But there isn’t much danger for her here. I think what he really wants me to do is find a way to wake her up.”

 

He sighs and draws in a long breath, standing at my side and gazing over the canopy of the trees beyond, “I’ve tried everything I can think of…”

 

“Sakura-chan will find a way. I’m sure of it.” I tell him with a smile. And I do not doubt my own words for even a moment.

 

His face seems to lighten a bit and he offers me a pleasant smile before inviting us all back inside to give us all our official tour of the palace.

 

Our guest chambers are all near one another on the third floor of the east wing of the palace and all but surround a gigantic living area with a roaring fire place, shelves upon shelves of books, long, over-stuffed couches and ornate statues.  I forget from time to time that the world we are now in is so technologically advanced, since the palace is practically void of anything overly advanced. Occasional silver screens previous worlds have called “televisions” are tucked into corners, and all the palace servants seem to have some sort of listening device in their ears. But other than small things like that, it seems as though the palace is an entirely separate world than the one we had been staying in the past two weeks.

 

“I’ve had my servants fetch you all a few new changes of cloths while they attend to your laundry. You’ll find fresh changes and new sleep attire on the beds in your rooms. We weren’t sure on your usual sleeping arrangements, so you all have separate rooms, but don’t hesitate to move around. This entire area of the palace is kept strictly for guests and visitors, so you’ll be the only ones up here for now,” our host explains to us, obviously about to show us to our rooms.

 

Just in that moment, a tall silver-haired girl appeared at the top of the stairway and approached the king. “Sorry to interrupt, sir, but… ” she leans close to him to finish her announcement.

 

“Alright. Tell him I’ll be along shortly then,” he tells her, and she rushes off just as quickly as she had arrived. He smiles and nods to us before showing us each our rooms.

 

“I do fear I have something to attend to now,” he nods. “Please make yourselves comfortable, and if you would all like to join me, dinner will be served at seven.” He walks away and I hear him laugh quietly at the top of the stairs, “It’s always at seven.”

 

Mokona is quick to take advantage of the spacious sitting room and bounces happily on one of the couches, “Bounce, bounce, squish, squish I’m a happy kangaroo!” he sings.    

 

“Ah! Look at this view!” Sakura-chan exclaims as she approaches the window. The eastern gardens are a few stories below us, so we are just barely above the trees and able to look out over the eastern part of the city of Ádiea. Long, sleek trains on rails of light wind through the tall towers of the silver city, lights buzzing, pictured screens moving soundlessly in the distance, it all looks like a completely mismatched world outside the window.

 

“It’s so… clean.” Syaoran says almost bitterly. Not to say that we hadn’t noticed it before. But it really was.

 

I don’t think that he meant to do it, but just moments after his statement, he bumped into one of the small side tables next to an armchair and the long golden vase full of long-stemmed white tulips toppled over onto the floor. A loud crash echoed through the high ceilings and water splashed upon his tan boots for a brief moment.

 

And then…

 

The mess was gone.

 

An instant later, the vase was back in its place, unbroken and untouched. The flowers, unbent and pristine as ever.

 

That was undoubtedly one of the strangest things I have ever seen.

 

For a moment, we all looked at one other, at the vase, and at the floor.

 

“Did that… just happen?” Syaoran-kun finally asks us all, his thin brown eyebrow raised suspiciously.

 

Sakura-chan is quick to answer, “I guess that explains why everything is so tidy around here.”

 

“I guess it does,” I agree.

 

Syaoran gives me a quick smile, though it is rather apparent he forces it, “I think I’m going to take a look at my room.”

 

He is the first to do so, but the rest of us follow suit shortly after.

 

My room is large and decorated in soft blues and grays, with accents of deep black cherry wood. The bed is large and the closet is empty, there are two armchairs facing towards one another in front of the window now covered by curtains and in one corner I am surprised to find a small bar complete with several bottles of wine. It is somewhat of a delight for me that I can still appreciate the taste of wine, as odd as that may seem. I don’t much understand it myself really.

 

It’s a nice enough room I suppose, but there isn’t much to entertain me in there, so it isn’t long before I’m back in the sitting room, watching Mokona skip along the marble-tiled floor trying to avoid the cracks while singing one of his little songs I have no doubt he just is making up as he goes along. Syaoran too must have gotten bored, and in what I suppose you might call typical fashion, is now curled up on the couch with his nose in a book.

 

“Do you like to read, Syaoran-kun?” I ask him, bending over to try and see what the book’s subject was about. I knew the answer once before, but I don’t think its fair to him that I assume he is the same.

 

He looks up at me a bit confused and shrugs his slender shoulders, “Yeah. I guess I do.”

 

“What about?”

 

“Uh… I don’t know,” he blushes a little. “I haven’t really been able to read much lately.” He doesn’t say such a line harshly like you might expect him to. He has never been bitter or harsh to us at all. In fact, he has been very much the opposite and I feel a bit guilty now for bringing up things like that.

 

“Oh. I’m sorry.”

 

“It’s ok,” he smiles. “Do you like to read, Fai-san?”

 

“I suppose I do,” I nod.

 

“Kurogane-san does too I think,” he smiles.

 

If he were any other person, I’d probably say something bitter and snarky to such a remark. “I don’t care what Kurogane likes,” I would say. But the thing about saying something like that to Syaoran would not only be mean and hurtful to Syaoran himself, but he would know I was lying anyway. So I decide not to say anything and join him on the other end of the couch with my own book.

 

“A History of Black Dragons.”

 

That reminds me of Kurogane for some reason.

 

I am very pleased to find that I can read the letters of this world. It doesn’t surprise me that Syaoran can as well, but it is obviously taking him some effort, but none of the others seem to have much luck with it. I wonder if Mokona were not here, I would still be able to understand the people of this world somewhat?

 

I guess we’ll never know.

 

These books are much different than the ones in the city library. Death, destruction, wars and foul play; things you should almost expect in a world, even it isn’t particularly overbearing.  

 

“Do dragons really exist here, Fai-san?” Sakura’s sweet voice interrupts my reading and I see her bright, smiling face peering over the edge of my book to look at me.

 

“If any of this is true, I suppose that they must.”

 

“They must all look like Ienyn-sama then.”

 

“I don’t know,” I shake my head. You would think that in a book called “A History of Black Dragons,” they would tell you what they actually looked liked. I guess they just assumed the readers already knew…

 

She sits quietly between Syaoran and myself and plays with Mokona on her lap. They giggle quietly and from the sounds of things, Mokona is doing some sort of silly dance for her. But their noise is almost comforting really.

 

Things in this moment seem almost familiar. Our dysfunctional little family sitting in the living room while daddy’s off at work. Or perhaps in our case, in his room practicing his swordsmanship against the shadows on the wall. I don’t know what else he could be doing in there…

 

I don’t particularly care.

 

Much.

 

I continue reading for most of the afternoon. Later, a young maid comes up just as the light outside begins to turn purple and informs us that dinner will be served in an hour and that there will be a few more guests than expected. She also says that if we would like to freshen up, she would be happy to run baths for us and we all had fresh clothes waiting for us to change into.

 

I didn’t know it was to be a formal dinner. That seems rather unexpected and odd actually…

 

But a bath really does sound nice.

 

Sakura agrees as well, but Syaoran declines and tells the maid that he will go tell Kurogane that he should change.

 

Sakura disappears with Mokona bouncing on her head to take her bath and I retire to my own room as well and wait.

 

I wonder who the other guests are to be?


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 Hey, read on to chapter four, here