Heirot

Tenele laughed at the doctor. "Its alright, Queen Sinead said that we could be friends still as long as it was in an appropriate way... this is appropriate isn't it?" Tenele asked, she really didn't see anything wrong with it.

She pulled herself into a comfortable sitting position with her back against the headboard. She suddenly looked very meloncolly as she was reminded that she had to keep her distance from a man she loved. She glanced at Vlad for a moment with her sparkling green eyes... and then immediatly averted them, looking down at her hands.

Mizuki's eye twitched. 'They have no idea' she thought. She could tell by just looking in their faces they had no idea a city just burned down.

"Hepian has been burned to the ground by Arken military." Mizuki said with a sharp tone. She gestured to Sid behind them. "We have this prisoner, an Arken soldier. We need to tell the Queen immediantly!"

---

In the remains of the destroyed and charred Hepian city, a young boy knelt by the remains of a home near a lake side, as if studying it intently.

"They're not here." he said with some urgency in his voice and look to his shoulder, listening to something. "Where else could they have gone? I know their not dead!...Ok, to the nearest town then..." Done listening to whomever had been speaking to him, to young boy took flight in the skies. He flew in the direction of the closest town hoping to find answers about the people he sought.

The guard stared hard at Mizuki like she'd just spoken some foreign language. It was clear he didn't get this one every day. "This is no lie that you speak?" he said very seriously, watching her eyes to be sure she was sincere.

Mizuki's eye twitched in flared anger. "I would not lie about seeing my home destroyed and watching people die." she seethed, glaring at the guard fiercely.

Soran gritted his teeth warily as Mizuki grew fresh to the Queen's guard. This was not something he would have dared to do.

The guard leaned down in a bow-like motion so that he was eye to eye with Mizuki. "I will heed the relevance of this story, and seek out a special audience for you. But. You will henceforth recognize that the guards and the entire staff of this palace are rigorously trained and long-standing officers of your Queen and your government, and are all to be addressed with due respect, ESPECIALLY at a time when the country is in danger." He made a gesture to the other guard, who joined him. They consulted briefly with each other, and then the guard raised a brightly glinting disk up and flashed it in the sunlight up at a tower overhead. Apparently there was a lot more security monitoring the gate than it had appeared, because after a moment an escort of six guards emerged from inside the palace gate. They formed two rows of three that were to guide them into the palace.

"Your names," the guard who was standing with them requested, procuring a small scribing pad.

Mizuki glowered. 'I'll remember that next time people I love are DYING.' she thought nastily to herself.

"Your names," the guard who was standing with them requested, procuring a small scribing pad.

"Mizuki Ryoko, and this is Rai. Our adopted daughter." Mizuki stated, motioning to the little girl who looked to be staring off at their surroundings in wonder.

Vlad smirked at Tenele and chuckled slightly, contemplating whether this was a good time to tell her that Sinead had forbidden him to see her. The thought left a sour taste in his mouth.

Meanwhile, said Queen stormed hastily down the long corridor that led toward the medical ward, all but running and still somehow seeming to glide gracefully. She wasn't wearing her usual formal robes yet this morning; news of Vlad and Tenele's adventures the night before had sent her out of her dressing room in plain linens with a particularly cross look on her face. Her hair was still down, falling around her back, beautiful and straight. That Vladimir....sparks leapt between her fingers as she curled them at her sides, lost in thought.

***

Soran looked at the Guard stiffly. "Soran Nightblade," he said, watching the man write down his name like watching someone locking him in a cell.

"And this is a supposed prisoner of Arken?"

"Sidney Borden," Sid said cordially, hardly looking like a prisoner of war.

The guard raised an eyebrow. "Until your claims are verified, we cannot arrest an unknown civilian. All of you can follow these men to the receiving chambers."

Soran stepped forward into the line of guards, his mouth set in a thin line. The group was led down an enormous marble hallway, up a wide, elegant staircase, and down another hallway. As they turned the corner, a form came around it so swiftly that it literally collided with Mizuki.

Queen Sinead stumbled backward, for a moment not sure what hit her, and focused on the person in front of her. The guards stared at the queen's plain state of dress in confusion, without comment.

"Excuse me," Sinead said, her eyes traveling over the group curiously but mostly resting on Mizuki, for all the world looking like any maiden you might find residing at the palace.

Mizuki was baffled that someone had run into her, but they were now in the Queen's hospitality and no matter how much Mizuki was aggitated by their way of doing things, she showed patience. She recollected herself and gave a small, polite smile to the woman before her.

"I'm sorry," she apologized, feeling the woman's gaze on her but figuring she was just one of the nobles of court here. She brushed hair from her face back behind her ear and inclined her head slightly at the woman, thinking it only the right thing to do. "They were just taking us to wait for the Queen..."

The loud walking stopped, however a softer pair of foot steps came from across the hall. Tenele held her breath as the door opened. On the otherside was a woman dressed in light blue. She was a Queen's Maiden. For a moment the woman looked at Vlad with a stern expression.

"Lady Tenele," the woman said, closing the door behind her and stepping forward towards the bed. "I heard about your misfortune... The ladies are preparing a room and were going to send a servant to tell you it was ready, but I decided to bring you the news myself and see if you were well enough to travel there?"

"She can travel in this," said the doctor as he rolled a whicker chair over with large wooden wheels on the side and two smaller ones at the foot of the chair.

"I can walk!" Tenele proclaimed as she glanced at Vlad, swinging her leg gently over the side of the bed and standing up. She held her robe closed, needing to tighten the sash around her waist.

"Sure, yes... but this palace is large and has many steps."

"How do you suppose I get up steps in that thing?" Tenele asked, pointing to the wheel chair.

"Well... We usually have soldiers who carry it up the steps."

Tenele looked at him and shook her head. "I'll walk."

"You mose certainly will not. The Queen doesn't need one of her finest Maiden's being so stuborn and hard headed that she uses all her energy before she's fully rested. You will use the chair." The Queen's Maiden said.

"What are you all going to do?" Tenele asked as she turned from them to tighten her robe, her back facing them. "Tie me to it and force me there?"

* * *

Rai gasped when the woman suddenly ran into her mother. She then giggled, unable to help finding the event funny in some way. She looked around the palace, still a bit dazed and awed by the beauty of it. She had never seen a building so large... and never seen one so decorated.

"Do princesses live here? Like the ones in the stories?" Rai asked her father as she looked up at him. "I want to be a princess!"

Sinead was disoriented at first. She took a slow step back from the woman she'd burst into and looked at the people in front of her. There was a young child, giggling and glowing with enthusiasm. The one she'd burst into, who looked passionate and earnest. And then a man who was glaring at her like she'd just shoved a kitten. Shoved...

"I beg your pardon," Sinead said again, "I was not paying attention to my heading. I understand you are here to see the queen?" she said courteously, but with a calm poise that stuck out. She focused her question on Mizuki, not acknowledging Soran's critical expression.

Soran wasn't paying much attention to her, either. "Real royalty and stories are two different things," Soran said to Rai warningly, taking her hand and holding her tight by his side.

Relief spread through Mizuki's face. Maybe she would take them straight to the Queen instead of having them wait. "Yes," Mizuki exclaimed, her weariness from travel spilling out with the word. "We have urgent news for her about Hepian and Arken.... please, we must see her now." Maybe begging wasn't dignified in the castle, but she would do anything she could think of to get the Queen's audience.

Sinead paused to think a moment, considering Mizuki's expression. She was about to tell them that the Queen had no appointment for such a meeting, but something in Mizuki's eyes prevented her. "Very well," she finally said, making eye contact with the guards. "Let us proceed to the Central Chambers." She turned and began leading them down a new corridor.

Meanwhile, Vlad had swooped Tenele easily up into his arms, much to the disapproval of the Queen's Maiden and doctor. "Tenele, the queen has instructed us that you are not to associate with Lord Dracul until further notice," protested the Maiden anxiously.

Tenele looked at Vlad and then to the two onlookers. "And how do you suppose I force him away? Encase you haven't noticed," she told the two. "His strength is three times that of mine... and its a little hard to make this hard-headed vampire go away. In fact its down right impossible. Trust me. So I figure I might as well just go along with it, better than being annoyed constantly."

Though, Tenele and Vlad both knew that neither one of them wanted to be parted, so she would pretend she had no say in the matter so no one would think she could force Vladimir away.

Mizuki grabbed Soran's arm suddenly. Horror stricken and going pale, Mizuki had the terrible notion that they had, in fact, just spoken with the Queen. How many more mistakes was she going to make? Once again, she would've know if she had her powers... She swallowed her shame at having acted thus with the very Queen they needed to see and moved closer to Soran.

"I think... we just spoke with the Queen..." she whispered in his ear. It was the Queen's very demeanor and the way she had spoken with a matter-of-fact tone that set off Mizuki's instinct. Well, at least she'll hear them now.

Soran glanced at Mizuki in confusion as she suddenly grabbed his arm. "The Queen?" he whispered in confusion, the meaning slowly setting in, although he couldn't bring himself to believe this person was actually Queen Sinead. Still, he felt cold at the thought of Mizuki's words being true. If they had truly collided with the Queen, the offense could be serious. He touched her hand protectively as they walked behind the strange woman through a series of corridors until they emerged in an enormous chamber tiled in marble. A wide veranda at the far end of the chamber opened to the fresh sea air, bright sunlight flooding into the whole room. A red carpet led from where they entered, across the length of the room to a wide, ornately carved throne of polished white marble. The seat was fabulous, but not tall like a traditional throne. In front of it was a long glass table with a cluster of lower chairs set at the opposite end.

"Please sit," Sinead beckoned to them as they approached it. She herself made her way to the head of the table and made herself comfortable on the throne in one regal movement, not seeming the least humbled by her state of dress. At that moment, it wouldn't have mattered if she were wearing a jester's robes; somehow, there was no doubt as to her identity now. Even Soran understood it, and his palm tightened around Mizuki's.

"Feel free to sit. Really." Sinead cocked her head curiously from her place on the throne, as if baffled by her guests' hesitation.