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Meeting of Light and Dark
The Arrival A young girl no more then sixteen sat in a garden picking flowers. The sun shone on her long black hair as it pooled into her lap of her skirt. �Hello,� a voice came from behind her. She paused momentarily, but did not bother to turn around. �Miss?� She continued to ignore him. �Dinah!� A woman yelled from the castle. Her head jerked up. She quickly moved the flowers from her lap to the basket and stood up. The blossoms clung to her hair almost as if they grew from it. She stepped towards the garden path when she was suddenly grabbed by the wrist. She followed the arm up to see a man dressed in dark blue armor. Her eyes traveling further up to see a handsome man with black hair and dark blue eyes. �Dinah,� he said, �What a lovely name.� She stared at him, something about him wouldn�t let her pull away. He smiled warmly at her. �My name is�� �Dinah! Get in here now!� Again she jerked her head towards the voice. She looked up at him, then at her hand. The young man let go. Her hand lingered as she looked up at him once again. She watched him as she slowly walked backwards. �Dinah!� She turned, picked up her skirts and ran. ****** �Dinah! You good for nothing half-wit. What took you so long? I swear you get dumber everyday.� The woman said while smacking her in the head with a wooden spoon. �Go fill the guest rooms with the flowers you picked. They have already arrived. She nodded and headed towards the guest wing. ****** �Welcome to the Negamoon Kingdom, Princess Serenity.� A tall young man with fiery orange hair and bright green eyes greeted. �My name is Fiore. I will be showing you around.� He said while opening his hand to display a beautiful pink blossom. �Oh, how lovely.� All the girls chimed together. �Yes, a lovely flower, for a lovely girl.� He said handing it to Serenity �How cheesy�� Rei muttered under her breath. �Chill out, Rei.� Lita said nudging her. �He reminds me of my ex-courtier. Those eyes, that hair�tres cool!� All the girls groaned at once. Fiore sweatdropped as he smiled nervously. �How about I show you to your rooms?� �That would be nice.� Ami supported cheerfully, as Fiore turned to lead them down the hall. �Darien? What�s wrong?� Serenity asked looking a bit worried. �Huh? Oh, nothing. It�s just�a girl.� He said suddenly seeing Dinah run across the hall with her basket of flowers. �You deserve better.� Serenity said watching the maid. �You are my brother. You shouldn�t lower yourself to a common level.� �You overstep your bounds, Princess.� He said passively gesturing for her to follow the others. She gave him a sharp look before accepting his suggestion. ****** Darien stepped into his room. It was lavishly furnished with a marble fireplace, sitting table, and a large oak bed covered in quilted spreads. He removed his sword setting it against the wall. He had begun to remove his armor when he heard a door open from the back wall. He quickly unsheathed his sword, as the figure slipped out. She silently made her way to the fireplace mantle and placed lilacs into the vase. �I prefer roses, Dinah.� She turned around sharply, in surprise of both hearing his voice and her name, only knocking over the vase. He set his sword down and approached her. In a flip of his hand a red rose appeared. He ran the silken petals along her cheek. She closed her eyes and breathed in the fragrance. Someone knocked on the door. �Prince Darien.� He turned away from her with an annoyed expression on his face. He strode across the room and opened the door to see a woman holding a tray of tea. �Prince Darien�� she said with a smile. Dinah�s heart stopped as she paused in picking up the porcelain shards of the vase. The woman�s voice turned into abrupt anger. �Dinah!� She cast an apologetic look at Darien before placing the tray down on the table and running over to acquire the girl�s ear. �You clumsy oaf. I don�t know why we haven�t gotten rid of you yet.� Dinah winced as she braced herself for a slap. She waited and waited, but it never came. �Is this how you treat all the servants, and you expect them to function properly?� Dinah slowly opened one eye then the other only to see the hand inches from her face, with Darien�s hand firmly around the wrist. �Actually, I startled her which caused her to knock over the vase, which makes it my fault. If you wish to beat someone, it should be me.� The woman stood there staring at Darien in a state of shock and incomprehension. �One more thing�I want you to make sure that�Dinah�� he said slowly. ��is assigned to me personally, as my servant as long as I�m here.� Dinah couldn�t believe her ears. She quickly dropped to her knees and began to clean up the new pieces of vase, acting as if nothing happened. �Dinah�please stop doing that.� She paused briefly then continued. �If you don�t want to you can refuse.� She stood with her skirt full of porcelain and broken flowers. She looked up at him. �Will you accept?� His voice was soothing, his eyes filled with kindness. He was so handsome at that moment, the most attractive man she�d ever seen. She realized he was the only one he ever pictured that way, and her cheeks flooded with color. She stared into his midnight gaze, eyes locked for what seemed like an eternity before she finally nodded. Letting out a sigh of relief, he released his grip on the woman. Dinah nodded to her before casting her eyes to the ground and scurrying out the door. Darien watched curiously. �Tell me�does she ever talk?� �No, she�s mute. Has been ever since we found her.� �Found her�� //I�ve found her.// �You may leave, and take the tea with you. I don�t care for it much.� �As you wish.� She curtsied before grabbing the tray and rushing out the door. �I�ve found her�.� |