Point of No Return 8/8

[Nightheart]

Merle looked out over the rooftops of the capitol city from her perch on a south-facing roof of the palace. It was just barely dawn and already the streets were bustling with people milling about on various tasks; setting up stalls in the open square, stringing garlands and streamers over the streets from the windows of the buildings, food vendors prepared with alacrity to do brisk business, there were several performing troupes who had staked out different districts to hold their shows in, it appeared that everyone was looking forward to the holiday for either a chance to relax or to make even more money. Merle knew that Van would be even more busy; at least for the opening day. He had grumbled about having to memorize a speech for later; he hated making speeches, he thought of them as being overly formal and rather pompous? he would far rather have said ?Greetings everyone, enjoy the bash! Bye now!? than to have to make some long winded presentation of welcome while standing in front of a crowd in a heavy and uncomfortable formal garment.

Since Lord Van had become King Van he hadn?t had a lot of time to spend with Merle and she missed him. She helped him out where and when she could, but Merle the palace brat didn?t have a lot of experience in the world of management; she was too outspoken and blunt to want to spend any time trying to smile and placate those idiots who composed Van?s nobility. She would have been more likely to threaten to use them for scratching posts. The fact remained that she didn?t get to spend as much time with her very busy Lord Van since he had taken up the mantle of leadership and she missed him; when they?d been children they?d been inseparable, always running around the palace together getting into messes and dodging the wary palace guard. Those carefree days when she hadn?t had to worry about anything at all besides staying at the side of her very best friend in the whole world glowed golden in her memories; she missed those times! She barely ever got to see him at all anymore and when she did he was always right in the middle of fifteen things. She just wished that things could be the way they used to be when she had had all the time in the world to play with her best friend and they could get into mischief and have fun just like they used to.

Truth to tell, Merle was feeling lonely. With Lord Van so busy being a king all of the time there was no one left for Merle to talk with, to laugh with and share jokes with. There wasn?t really anyone else near her age in the palace, the other nobles tended to look down their noses at her? she was after all a catgirl. She just wished she had one really good friend, someone she could talk to and hang out with; at least when Hitomi had been there she had been some form of amusement (she had been so much fun to get riled up) even if she had stolen Lord Van?s heart away from her. Hitomi had been really weird with her funny clothes, that odd pendant trick she did, and always seeing those crazy visions of hers; but Merle had come to see her as a good friend, even a surrogate elder sister. Even if she hadn?t always understood how lord Van felt about her Hitomi had always tried to be a good friend. Right now Merle wanted a good friend, she didn?t blame Lord Van for always being busy; being king was a tough job and he handled it well. It just seemed to her that he could use more help than she knew how to give him.

Merle shrugged her thin shoulders and hopped down from the roof and into her room just below the eaves. She could at least help Lord Van memorize his speech for later that day, what else were best friends for? He had really worried her the night before when he suddenly came down ill, she had taken him some soup earlier this morning but her told her that he felt perfectly fine, that whatever had bothered him the previous night was long gone and he was felt absolutely normal. She had searched his face and by all signs it looked like he?d been telling the truth. Perhaps Hitomi?s weirdness was catching, she hoped not; Lord Van had more than enough to worry about without adding crazy visions into the mix. Perhaps it was all that pendants fault; stupid thing probably was broken. She went off in search of her king to find him, predictably, standing in the middle of his office with his formal robes being fussed at by three different tailors while hearing another pointless dispute by two or three of his noblemen even as he tried to memorize his speech for later that day. Out of consideration for his precarious position on a low stool Merle resisted the urge to leap at him and hug him. It was a brand new day.

* * *

Hitomi pulled out from the last of the trees at the foot of the mountains just as the sun finished coming up over the horizon. Lobo and his wife had awakened her before dawn just as the sky was starting to grey into that first morning light. Even though her bed was a pallet on the floor Hitomi had never felt so reluctant to rise in all of her life. She was bone-weary from the constant travel, but her journey would soon be over with and she had to make it as soon as possible. Felicia had given Hitomi a good breakfast of some kind of honey-tasting cake with dried nuts and fruit in it to bolt down for breakfast and wished her good luck as the girl from the Mystic moon sped along her way. It was much easier traveling without her heavy bag slowing her up. It was also mostly downhill through the mountains and Hitomi?s bike took the trails quickly and easily. By the time the sun was over the horizon she was clearing the last of the foothills and on the last leg of her journey. The road she was on was joined by one or two other minor trails and she at last saw a few travelers on the road, the first she?d seen ever; Lobo hadn?t been joking when he?d said that their road wasn?t well traveled.

Across the open fields on the plain that led to the capitol Hitomi could see other travelers all headed in the same direction; covered wagons, hay wagons, carts with horses, trader caravans, one-horse riders, even the occasional carriage and horse-team. It looked like anyone and everyone was trying to make it to the capitol for the festival. Hitomi was attracting open stares for her outr? mode of travel as she whipped past the few travelers on her dusty road; she was in a hurry and didn?t have a lot of time to waste. She stood up and pedaled hard again, with the terrain leveled off, the road well-packed and Hitomi?s load lightened she was making faster progress. Still, it was a full nights journey by bulky giant-yak-pulled-cart and she had but a few more scant hours left. She knew already that the streets of Fanelia would be too congested for her to make any progress on her bike; she?d have to chain it up outside the city gates. The hours slipped past as she sped through the flat planes toward her goal, the wind created by her movement whipping her hair and clothing around her. She was tired already from the previous two days non-stop travel; not to mention hungry, Felicia?s travel cakes from earlier that morning had long since worn thin. She hadn?t had much more to eat yesterday that that granola bar and the bowl of stew graciously given to her by her generous benefactors.

* * *

Van hated Formal garb. He detested it with an intensity most housewives reserved for rodent pests. For the duration of his speech, and opening ceremony Van would be shoved into formal attire that had to have been designed by a true sadist. The only thing comfortable about it was the pants and even that was dubious on account of the ornate sword belt and buckle that dug into his lower rib every time he sat down. He could barely move in the thrice damned over-coat, which had been cut to conform to his broad shoulders but due to the way it was cut his arms wouldn?t even raise perpendicular to his body nor would they stretch out in front of him for very far without seeming like he was going to rip open the back middle seam. The back was tight across his shoulder-blades forcing him to sit or stand stiffly erect all night, the collar was high on his neck chocking off his breath if he tried to bend his neck downward, the shirt tended to creep up whenever he moved forcing him to have to keep straightening it lest he begin to look rumpled, and the cravat around it?s neck seemed to have a life and will of its own for it grew steadily tighter as the night wore on. The less said about the shoes that went along with it, definitely the better. He would have preffered even to wear that ceremonial armor he?d worn at his coronation instead of that damned formal black, silver and blue thing he was stuffed into for formal State Occasions, but wearing armor to a greeting speech was a big no-no. Since Van wasn?t interested in offending the representatives and possibly starting a war, the formal suit it was.

He had three tailors circling around him like bees buzzing around a honeypot making minute adjustments to the fit, a stitch here, a tuck-and-pin there. He just knew they were going to say something about his hair. Allen stood nearby in his Knight Caeli formal attire looking amused as Van glared ineffectually at the fussing fashion artists. Van caught the look.

?What?? the young king inquired grumpily.

?Nothing,? Allen said smoothly, still looking amused at his expense. ?It?s just that you look terribly uncomfortable.?

?I am terribly uncomfortable,? he muttered, tugging at the collar, only to have his hands swatted away by one of the tailors.

?How is it you look so very comfortable in your formal attire when by the looks of it, it?s at least as uncomfortable as mine?? Van smiled as he added ?Those sleeves of yours look like they?re going to knock lamps off the tables.?

Allen shot Van a cool look as he brushed imaginary lint off one of the enormous puffs on his shoulders, primping and fluffing it a little vainly. In all but the Asturian High Court, the puffs of one?s sleeves denoted high rank; the bigger the puff, the higher the rank.

?I?ll have you know that Asturian women find my sleeves very attractive,? Allen said, his tone sounding a little miffed.

?To each their own, I guess,? Van said dubiously. ?It looks to me like you?ve grown two extra heads.?

?Van, Van, Van,? Allen said in a worldly tone much like a condescending older brother. ?I?ll give you a piece of advice? women love a man in uniform.?

?Oh yeah? Why do you say that??

?Because it?s true, just ask any woman,? Allen said with a shrug. He put a hand to his chin consideringly and added judiciously ?I think it?s because they like to dress up and they like it even better when they get to see their men dressed up.?

?I suppose if we make them wear those torture devices disguised as a dress it?s only fair that we should have to wear this damned stiff formal uniform. Damned collar itches,? he grumbled.

?Hold still please your majesty,? the head tailor said as he made another adjustment. ?And on a side note, this is Dirki fabric.?

?It itches,? the young king replied.

?The fabric is made from the cocoon-nests of a rare insect that nests in only a few trees grown in the heart of the Heltari Mountain range in the northern edge of Fanelia. It is very rare and costly to produce. It is an honor and a privilege to wear Dirki fabric.?

?It still itches,? he muttered, but continued to submit to being fitted for his formal uniform.

* * *

Hitomi topped a rise and could at last see the city in the distance; the individual features were blurred with distance but her goal was finally in sight. Unfortunately, the sun was swiftly climbing into the sky nd the roads ahead of her were completely packed! Foot and cart travel along the roads leading to the gates had gradually grown more crowded as more and more people funneled in from different off shoots onto the wide roads to the main city gates, like tributaries flowing into a larger river. Hitomi at first weaved in and out of the carts and horseback riders as the sun continued to rise. But eventually the road grew too congested for her to maneuver at all between the travelers without hurting someone.

Well, mountain bikes were good for off-road travel and the grass was cropped relatively short. There were a few hardy souls trying to wade through the calf-high grass, so Hitomi, who was in a very great hurry, decided to go for it. Biking all-terrain was difficult even when she was fresh; the grass made her have to pedal hard to keep up her speed and she had to steer very carefully to avoid hitting any rocks or uneven patches hidden by the tall grass. Coming at the end of a three-day tour-de-France like the one she had just recently endured? it felt like her own specialized version of hell. Her muscles burned and complained all over again, screaming at her for a rest? but the sun rose unrelentingly into the sky so Hitomi just gritted her teeth and pedaled harder!

As her shadow grew shorter and shorter, Hitomi frantically tried to go faster. When foot travel spread off the sides of the roads and into the fields in front of her she gave up trying to get any farther on her bike. The sun was rapidly approaching its zenith as the city gates drew close. The odd girl from the Mystic Moon pulled her mechanical conveyance to the side of the road and chained it well to a nearby stout tree. She would finish the rest of her journey on foot. She jogged ahead trying to weave in and out of the crowd as much as the clogged road would allow and reached the gates only after what seemed like forever. Her legs were protesting mightily this unfair treatment she had forced them into; she gritted her teeth again and reminded herself that she was almost there? and it looked like she might even be a little early! She was feeling optimistic as she finally strode up to the enormous front gate.

The gate guards were out in force (fat lot of good it was going to do them) and questioning every traveler before they came through the gate. She was stopped by an amiable looking fellow with hay-colored hair and gray-blue eyes. Hitomi fidgeted impatiently and looked at the sun. Early or not, she was cutting it close.

?Name?? he questioned.

?Hitomi Kanzaki,? she replied, not really thinking about it.

?Place of origin??

?Tokyo.?

The guard was looking at her oddly, what was his problem?

?Excuse me miss? Did you just say your name was-?

?Hitomi Kanzaki! Yes, what do you want to write a book about me??

She suddenly rocked slightly on her feet as she was hit by a Vision; Van was stepping out onto a pavilion in front of a crowd, looking somber and handsome in a well-cut uniform of black and silver and blue. The crowd cheered as the nearby drummers drummed an introductory roll. In fanelia apparently they used drummers instead of a brass band, but to Hitomi they sounded like the drum roll of an execution. Her Sight divided into that of the assassin in a plain tunic opening a non-descript black box and piecing together the different components of a crossbow and tripod from a nearby rooftop. She wasn?t early after all? she was almost out of time!

?I?m sorry to be rude but I?m in a really big hurry, life and death stuff, I gotta go!?

With that she pushed past the stupefied guard and raced into the crowd. The guard called ineffectually after her to stop but Hitomi was already long gone. She shoved through the crowded streets knocking into men, women and children alike. At first she?d tried to keep up a string of apologies but eventually gave up and just shoved as hard as she could.

?Outta my way!? she yelled in frustration at a particularly crowed crossroad. She elbowed through and continued her mad dash through the city streets, Hitomi couldn?t say precisely what force told her which way to turn but she knew on the level of instinct which way was the way to Van?s side. The sight of the assassin finishing his preparations and looking down at the podium behind which Van was about to step flashed before her eyes and Hitomi pushed her legs harder than she?d tried before. They were alreadt tired from the abuse she had given them previously, but desperation gave her new strength. She wasn?t paying attention to the people around her save to shove past them. They?d thank her later.

<Must go faster! Must go faster!> she urged her legs to speed up just a little more. The city had never seemed so big before and it was so crowded, she wondered how she was ever going to make it all the way in time. She pushed herself harder, elbowing, kicking and shoving to make it through the crowd, leaping over tables like they were nothing more than minor hurdles in her track run? And finally she was there! She was there at the square where a crowd was gathered to witness Van?s speech.

?Van!? she screamed at the top of her lungs. ?Van!?

No good, he couldn?t hear her! The cheering crowd was simply to loud for her to shout over.

She Saw the assassin in her vision again; the sunlight gleamed along the arrow shaft as the assassin nocked it into place. Hitomi took off again, skirting around the side of the crowd, as Van stepped up to the podium and his killer took careful aim. She felt every stride jar through her; time seemed to slow itself to a crawl. Every step seemed to take too long. The stage was just too far. Her foot hit the bottom step that led up to the side of the stage where Van was, precious seconds. The vision of the assassin taking careful aim swam before her. She wasn?t going to make it. She leaped up the steps three at a time. She wasn?t going to make it. The assassin pulled back the bolt. She had to make it. The guards at the side moved to stop her but she was too fast. She had to make it.

?Van!? she screamed. The arrow flew.

Wham! Time snapped back into place as she launched herself bodily into a hard tackle that threw them both to the ground. Two arrows whistled past her hair and thumped into the podium and into the wood stage behind them. If she hadn?t knocked him out of the way both of them would have been on target. The scene erupted into chaos. Hitomi just lay on top limply unable to move and panting from the exertion.

?I?m so glad,? she gasped out. ?I?m so glad. I?m so glad I made it in time.?

?Hitomi?? Van said lifting them both into a sitting position; she couldn?t do anything more than lean on him and breathe hard. She nodded weakly and just rested in his arms limp as a rag-doll, panting. Her chest burned and her legs felt like water, she couldn?t have moved to save her life right then.

Before she could do anything else Hitomi was flooded by another vision, the assassin was going to try again!

?Van,? she pointed weakly up towards the roof. ?Get (pant) down (huff), he?s got (pant) another (huff) one.? Van acted quickly and kicked the podium over, shoving them both behind it and using it as a shield.

Finally the reality that she had indeed made it in time and that Van was alright hit her and Hitomi hugged him tightly with her remaining strength, burying her face in his shoulder, the stand affording them a moments privacy from the prying eyes of the crowd. The nightmare was over! She?d made it, he was okay! Van held her to him just as closely and for a moment they forgot the world, just delighted to be able to be with one another again.

There were guards in every nook and cranny of the place, trying to catch the assassin; Merle, followed shortly by Allen, rushed to their sides behind the podium. Two more arrows thumped into the wood of the stand shortly after.

?Hitomi what are you doing here?? Merle was the first to ask. Hitomi gained a modicum of control over her breathing and replied

?Saving his life, (pant) what?s it look like??

?It looked like you were taking him down on the forty yard line,? Allen muttered. Hitomi smiled weakly, her head lolling back onto Van?s shoulder.

?How did you get here Hitomi?? Van asked shifting her position so that she was resting against his shoulder.

?It?s a long story. I?m hungry and exhausted. If it?s not too much trouble I would like a bath, food and a bed; preferably in that order. I?ve been traveling for an awfully long way, it?s been exhausting and I?ve barely slept and I?m exhausted and tired and hungry-?

?And babbling,? Merle added.

Oh, of course,? Van said, shaking himself into his senses. Where were his manners? One of the guards rushed up and gave the Fanelian equivalent to a salute to Van and reported

?We have the assassin my lord, however before we could corner him, he killed himself. We?re casing the area for any accomplices he might have had.? Van nodded to the guard and helped Hitomi to her feet to lead her off to her requested bath food and bed. She leaned heavily on his arm because her legs felt like jelly beneath her.

When she reached the inside of the castle she was greeted with the daunting and terrible sight of three flights of wide curving polished stone stairs. What god had she offended to deserve this? She had just bicycled a route that would put the Tour-de-France to shame, then run the rough equivalent of three hundred meter dashes back to back; feats that would surely get her in the Olympics if she had been back home, and on top of that nearly gotten scored by an assassins arrow. And now she had to climb up a mountain of steps to reach her promised bath and bed? Torn between laughter at the irony of it all and tears of sheer frustration, Hitomi just sank to her knees.

?No,? she moaned piteously. She couldn?t do it; there was just no way!

?You should see the look on your face,? Merle said helpfully. ?It?s only a couple of stairs Hitomi, it?s nothing to start crying about. Just get up and start climbing.?

?I don?t wanna,? she moaned. ?I can?t do it. It?s too much.?

Van, King of Fanelia, knelt beside her and said

?Here, let me help you. It looks like this was just the last straw that broke the delki?s back. I?ll just carry you the rest of the way.?

?But Van I-? she immediately (and quite predictably) protested. Van knew well that the one thing Hitomi didn?t like more than anything else was the feeling of burdening others.

?Don?t worry, you?re not a burden,? he assured her scooping her up into his arms and carrying her toward the steps.

?Okay, well maybe you are in the literal sense,? Van teased, hefting her up a trifle. ?But you?re not heavy at all. I barely notice I?m carrying you.?

?Somehow I doubt that,? she said, returning his smile with one of her own. Her voice was a little flat and subdued from extreme fatigue but her sense of humor was intact.

An anonymous maid popped up out of nowhere and informed him that the Suite had been prepared. Hitomi just rested her head trustingly on Van?s shoulder and let him carry her around like so much baggage.

*

After what had felt like eternities on the dusty road with her only ?shower? coming from that huge storm that had frozen her to the bone and made her extremities feel brittle and delicate with cold that night; Hitomi truly felt that there could be no feeling more luxurious than a gloriously hot bath. She soaked in the scented waters (some kind of Gaean flower she couldn?t place) of an enormous white marble basin that was easily large enough for her to lie down in, then scrubbed and rinsed, and scrubbed and rinsed again. Ah! Heaven! She almost felt human again! The grand four or five flights of stairs that had awaited her (when her legs already felt like they were made of water) to reach them had been a bit of unnecessary torture at the end of an already long journey, but the bath and the promise of a lot of food and a soft bed (and of course, Van carrying her up all of those stairs in his arms) had made it worth it. The bathroom she currently bathed in had been the third room in the suite she?d been carried to; accessed only through the bedroom, thus ensuring her privacy. The bathtub was long enough for her to lay out full-body in, wide enough for two or possibly three of her, and deep enough so that when she sat up the water came up past her breasts. The bathroom was colored in pale brown stone, with terracotta and pine green as accent colors. The fixings were all antiqued brass. The natural colors found inside the bathroom and the rest of the suite were very soothing to her.

The suite she had been shown to looked like it hadn?t been used before; not surprising, she would be willing to bet that there were a lot of places in the newly re-built palace that had never been used before. She liked the colors they had used in both her suite and its attached bathroom; all colors that agreed with her. The suite was obviously set up to receive visiting royalty or dignitaries; it opened immediately into a large rectangular sitting room divided visually into three separate areas, on the left hand wall was a large granite fire place that took up most of the wall leaving room for a corner desk in the far corner and a display piece on a stand in the near corner. Near the corner desk in the wall was a paneled wooden door, the only other door in the room besides the one which entered into the hall. The large fireplace had two fluffy overstuffed leather chairs of deep red inlaid with sturdy dark wood tilted in towards the fireplace. In the middle of the room was a long low wooden table that Hitomi would have called a coffee table, surrounded on three sides by another overstuffed chair, a long plush couch and a roman-couch/chaise-lounger. The right hand part of the rectangle was a small round wooden table with three sturdy wooden chairs pushed into it, and a corner-piece kitchenette. The doorside wall had two long wooden bookshelves on them. The bedroom, when she had peeked in quickly on her way to her bath, was dominated completely by an enormous bed with a plump feather mattress and thick dark red curtains in the medieval style hung from rods suspended by four great carved wooden posts and a set of sliding doors along the far wall that led out into a stone porch-like balcony. There were thick heavy wood wardrobes, the kind that had two doors that pulled out on top and a chest of drawers beneath as well as a full hanging wardrobe built as a corner piece.

She noted that the suite she had here in Fanelia was quite different in style than the one she?s had in Asturia, of course it might just be that the people who lived in Fanelia were just that different from the ones who lived in Asturia. In Asturia everything had been decorated to a faretheewell with frilly lace and satin and paint and filigree; not a plain line was left where a decorated one could be put in it?s place, not an empty wall was left where a beautiful mural could be displayed. It had been a very opulent French-looking quite feminine style. In contrast, the suite she was in right now was almost masculine, except that it had that hotel room blandness to it; that very impersonality that meant it was made to house anyone. The sturdy wood furniture, the leather chairs, the table; everything in the room was designed in clean natural lines. Unlike the Asturians, apparently the Fanelians liked their objects to be more useful than decorative and their architecture was very form-follows-function, they tended to use an objects inner beauty to make it beautiful; the grains of the wood, the inclusions and natural color variations in wood and stone, the multitudes of texture in fabric rather than overly busy patterns. Hitomi, who hailed from a country that was well-known for its minimalist style, felt right at home.

Her internal observation of her surroundings was interrupted by her stomach growling again. Her legs still felt like jelly and they were going to really let her know exactly how cruelly she?d treated them and make her suffer for it in the days to come, still, the soak had done wonders for her and she was really really hungry. She reluctantly rose from the hot water, toweled off, and wrapped herself in a fluffy dressing robe to go out into the main chamber of the suite. There she found Merle waiting for her seated at the little round wooden table with a large tray with a covered dome lid.

?I chased Van and Allen out of the room,? Merle said helpfully. ?I figured you wouldn?t want any boys around you when all you were wearing was that robe.?

?You figured right,? Hitomi said with a smile. ?Thank-you Merle.? And without further ado Hitomi sat at the small table raised the dome from its platter unleashing a large curl of steam and the most mouthwatering (and oddly exotic) aromas she had smelled in a long time and applied herself to the food with relish. There was enough there to easily feed two people and Hitomi made inroads on it quickly. Merle?s eyes widened as she watched Hitomi consume the entirety of a plate piled high with food and show no signs of stopping or even slowing down. The young cat-girl opened her mouth to say something.

?Not a word. Not one word,? Hitomi stated flatly around some kind of Fanelian meat-roll. ?I?ve been traveling for roughly three days on a bike over a rough trail with only granola bars and two bowls of soup to feed me, I think I?ve earned the right to stuff my face.?

?Three days!? Merle said in amazement. ?But what about that pillar of light??

?I didn?t travel by pillar of light this time. Four and a half days by horse back was as close as we could get,? Hitomi answered cryptically, still eating. ?I biked the rest of the way to get here in time, dawn to dusk riding isn?t easy at all.?

?What?s a bike?? Merle asked next.

?It?s like?? Hitomi paused, trying to think about how to describe it. ?It?s a machine that uses your muscles to move it along, so your own strength powers it. It?s good exercise and a lot of fun, but doing it too much is exhausting, especially when you have to go uphill. Riding one for three days really took it out of me? And I thought I was in good shape.?

?Oh,? Merle said, her face still a little perplexed.

Once Hitomi had cleared her plates of every scrap of food on them the traveler from the Mystic Moon stretched and pushed herself away from the table, mind intent on only one thing. headed

?Good night,? she said sleepily to the cat-girl as she eagerly towards the soft, downy, and oh-so-inviting bed.

?Sleep well Hitomi,? Merle replied.

?Oh I intend to, I promise you that!? She said fervently with a small laugh. She shut the door behind her and sank down into the cloud-like mattress with a sigh of pure contentment.

With a final contented sigh and a wriggle the exhausted traveler closed her heavy-lidded eyes. The bed felt so soft and the blankets so warm that blessed sleep wasn?t long in coming. She didn?t know what her next step was going to be, how she was going to support herself in this strange new world that was now her permanent home whether she liked it or not? but for now that didn?t matter. Van was alive and well, she was warm and safe, and all was right with the world. She?d worry about the details of carving out a new life for herself after she?d had a long and well deserved rest.

* * *

THE END

Disclaimer: I don?t own The Vision of Escaflowne or any of its incarnations. The show and its characters are sole creative property of its creators and creative consultants as well as Bandai, Emotion and Sunrise.

Authors Notes: Oy! It?s been a bit of a long road for me in the writng of this fic and I?m glad to say that this part is finished? Unfortunately for me (although I?m hoping one or two of you out there might be glad) I don?t think this story is quite over with yet. I mean, there is a lot left unresolved. What about Van?s uncle, that Allesin guy? He?s still out there lurking around and probably won?t be up to any good once he realizes that his attempt on his young nephew?s life has failed completely; somehow I doubt he?s going to let it go that easily. And those sorcerers? They seemed mighty fishy to me. What about Hitomi? She?s back on Gaea, but things are far from resolved with her, for one thing? she?s stuck. She doesn?t have any money of her own or her own place in that world, I?m sure she?s feeling pretty unsettled and a little insecure; and we all know what happens when Hitomi starts feeling insecure. The self doubt starts to creep in and then she starts second guessing everything around her, she gets confused and the communication problems between her and Van crop up? hey; isn?t that when Allen usually moves in for the kill? Remember he has yet to actually declare that he?s given up on her; for all we know he?s already building his birdcage! And then there?s Van, the overworked and underappreciated king of Fanelia, if there were ever a man in need of a good secretary... only now it looks like he?s more in need of a good bodyguard. And that council he has is enough to test the patience of a saint, could it be that they?re being deliberately troublesome? All this and more in the second instalment of this thing that started out with the story Point of No Return? okay, I don?t have a title for it yet. Look forward to it Please!

[Lara Winner]

You're going to give us more? Sweet!

Yes! Hitomi saved the day! Awesome story, love the edge of your seat drama and action. Now all that is left is some good romance between Van and Hitomi and we're good to go. I can't wait for the sequel!

[Kaili Charmer]

GEEZ!! It's about time! Great ending, left a lot for other installments... :razz:

And ya know, I'm one for hitomi/van romance. Eh...that reunion didn't have much. I suppose I'm a sappier person though, so perhaps you don't go for that, but I sure would appreciate it if ya did something nice... And then, yeah, answer about the people who sent the assassin. What's up with them?