| Friends are dear. Be sure you never betray them and try your best not to let them down. -Dragon�s Words; vol. 4, pg. 39 Part 54 In the morning I was greeted with sounds every mother shudders when she hears. Being no exception, I rubbed Zidane�s back even as I cringed inside. I cooed at him, soothing both of us. He apologized repeatedly, as if he could help being ill, and I finally had to tell him to shut up. [It�s not your fault, Ziaden.] When he finally quit and relaxed, he said it again. � I�m . . . sorry, Mother.� [Ziaden, I am not angry. Stop apologizing. I must give you credit for not making a mess.] � If I had, I would�ve---� [No you wouldn�t�ve because you�re unwell and I wouldn�t let you.] He shivered. � I hurt all over.� I stretched out alongside him and nosed his cheek gently. [I�m sorry I can�t do anything more for you. I will remain right here until you�re better, though.] It seemed to be only a tiny virus because it was gone a few days later. Garnet came to visit and Zidane made a joke out of it. � Watch out Dagger, I�ll get you sick and then you�ll be puking up your guts like I was.� � Oh~h,� Garnet cooed half-sarcastically, going over to his side of the bed and hugging his head. � Poor little Zidane.� He had a look on his face like that of the cat catching the canary. Tiovex entered the room a bit later with yet another family book. [Kitiane, you will not believe what I found.] [Another one?] I asked. � Another one what?� Zidane inquired. Tiovex dropped the book in my lap and started flipping pages. � Hey! You�re getting my bed dusty!� [Don�t worry. It�s not alive.] � What does that have to do with it?!� The emperor stopped and pointed at a picture. [Look!] I did so. It was . . . me?! [Sovereign Kitiane Dranoc III.] He pointed at the page across from mine. [And look over here.] [Sovereign Tiovex Hariq V.] Zidane leaned over the book to stare at my picture. � Look, it�s Kiti�s baby picture! Aw~w.� It was, in a way. The picture was one of me as a two d-age dragonling. The only thing that gave my young age away was my crest, which was obviously nowhere near fully-developed, my almost-not-there pinion aegises, and my small horns. I frowned. [Why are we in here?] Tiovex shook his head, removing the book from my lap. [I have no idea. We shouldn�t be, and if I�d had my way we wouldn�t be.] � Oh come on,� Zidane groaned. � You two are so dense! Don�t you get it? You�re in there because the queen put you in there.� [Why?] He baby-slapped me. � Because you�re royalty, duh!� [But---] � The queen obviously put Tiovex in there because he�s her son and would be the next king. She put you in because she thought the previous king had no children and it was sort of like an apology. Besides, you�re the king�s daughter. You still are a princess, just like Tiovex was prince.� [That�s stupid.] � Tell me how much sense it would make if you two weren�t in the book, but--oh, let�s say you got together and had a clutch--and your kids were put in there. People would wonder who their parents were and why they weren�t in the books. It doesn�t matter that you�re only �half royalty� because you�re still royalty. Still better than any peasant on the street becoming king just because Tiovex only has half of the royal blood in him.� [But---] � Get over it already. Everyone, no matter their status, has royal blood running through them somewhere. Everyone also, no matter their status, has the blood of thieves and peasants running through them. It�s no big deal.� He had a point. It�s why I hate arguing with the boy. � Well, we�ve been here a long time. The others are probably getting worried. We should go back.� [Getting tired of Swiftwing?] � No. I�d stay here forever if I could. I�m just thinking about everyone else.� So we gathered Vanel and left, searching out the Hilda Garde 3. We landed lightly on the deck and Steiner, of course, was the first to greet us. Well, greet Garnet. � Princess, are you all right?� Funny how he had a tendency to call Garnet �Princess� even though she was actually queen now. � I�m fine, Steiner. Thank you for your concern.� � Did you enjoy your stay in Swiftwing?� Tiovex asked. � I know the citizens were rather stiff and I apologize, but other than that?� � It was lovely, Tiovex. Thank you.� Something appeared to hit her. � Oh, I�ve been meaning to ask you this for a while, Tiovex. The garden on the east side of the castle . . .� � Yes?� � Is there any way it could be recreated?� Tiovex sat. � Well . . . I suppose, but I don�t know for sure; it�s very old . . . Why?� � After Alexandria gets back on its feet I�d like to have a garden exactly like the one you have created.� � Oh! Well . . . Let me look into it. I don�t really know how the garden was built. I�ll get back to you on it, though, I promise.� � Thank you.� I watched Zidane head up to the bridge. Are Zidane and Kuja really dragons or is it all just a coincidence? How would Zidane handle the truth when he heard it? Should I even tell him . . .? <--Part 53 Part 55--> |