Kismet’s Tale

      It was the palace of the Imperial Family.

The garden in which the Imperial Family gathers during a certain time of the day was quiet. A young woman sat on a stool, staring at the stars and the flowers that bloomed during the night. The wind was getting cold as days passed. Her father had told her that she had to keep out of the arts and literature soon. How hateful it was for her. How was she going to distract herself from her thoughts?

“Milady,” a voice said, “the night is getting dark.”

“I can see that Lily.”

The Court Lady named Lily nodded. She held the lamp with both hands and watched her mistress ponder on her canvas.

It was then that the two of them heard the sound of boots trampling the grasses. When they turned their eyes to the source of the noise, they saw the Crown Prince and the Second Prince of the Empire heading to the garden.

“Brothers,” the Princess allowed her companion to greet the Princes of the Empire. Lily placed the lamp on the ground. She lifted the hem of her skirt and bowed her head. After greeting them, she took the earplugs provided to her.

“Sorry, you know the rules.”

Lily wore the earplugs and stood in the corner of the garden like a statue. The Princess, Cecilia, turned her brothers with a rather mellow look on her face.

“Poor Lily has to cover her ears all the time,” Cecilia said.

Her brothers sat on the round glass table and leaned back. The fierceness in their eyes was imposing as they watched each other. Crown Prince Arno sagged his shoulders first. Prince Kaleb followed, and gestured with his hand. Seeing this hand, Lily rang her hand bell. A Maid trotted to the Princes and waited for them to speak.

“Bring us the usual.”

The Maid nodded. Prince Kaleb crossed his fingers and stared at the skies. “It seems that you are quite busy lately, my dearest brother.”

“I am. How is your work?”

“Lovely. However, there were problems that I have to deal with. Thankfully, I was able to solve it.”

“That’s good. I heard that you were found near Professor Rene’s lab.”

“I merely was asking a friend to introduce someone. This friend was acquainted with this someone, so I have opted to bring him along for it.”

 “I see. Nevertheless, I must warn my brother that our brilliant Professors are always busy. They must be disturb by trivialities.”

“Of course, that is why I had to give my friend an immediate ride. Worry not, lord brother. I dare not enter their laboratory without prior reason.”

“That is a given. You must not distract our Professors that will put their minds out of their task. That reminds me, have you taken a look at the cats who are curious about the Holmians?”

“I have, my brother,” Prince Kaleb took out a file and pushed it towards him. “It seems that the cats are rather curious about the technology. One of them was even elated that Memepan was chosen as the land to manufacture the technology we are getting from the Holmians.”

“And what about the other cats who are interested about this?”

“They have become dogs, always barking about how they are being treated unfairly by yours truly.”

“So what about the Grand Dukes?” he said straightly. Prince Kaleb watched the Maid enter the garden, placing the tray with wine, dried food, and thin sliced meat to go along with their wine. The Maid placed the wine glasses on each side. Then she uncorked the wine with finesse. After placing the glasses, the plates, and taking care of the utensils. The Maid left the garden without a word from the Princes.

Prince Kaleb pushed his chair back. He took the wine from the bottom and poured two glasses. He turned to Cecilia who was staring. “Do you want some, little sister?”

She showed her palm. Prince Kaleb nodded and set aside one of the glasses. Prince Kaleb placed one of the glasses on the edge of the table. Prince Arno took the glass and stirred it. His golden eyes reflected on the pristine wine glasses.

“The Grand Duke of Anastasia and Shina have been aloof. Truthfully, they are eager to know your choice, dearest brother. I do not intend to rush you or dare to imply, but you should choose sooner or later.”

Prince Arno took a sip of his wine. Prince Kaleb shook his wine glass for a second and took a sip. He reached out to his pockets and brought out his smoking pipe.

“No,” Cecilia immediately warned with a raised finger.

Prince Kaleb hesitated for a while before placing the pipe back to his pouch. “Sister, it shouldn’t be a problem at least once, right?”

“No.”

“Give it up,” Prince Arno said. He placed his wine and leaned on the armrest of his chair. The cool wind softened the expression on Prince Arno’s face. Prince Kaleb could only accept, take the snack on the plates, and savor the taste.

“They wanted to know the answer, brother. I believe that the people would like to hear the answer eventually as well. I do not want to tell you whom you should choose. Though I understand your reluctance, knowing that they are both brilliant.”

“Don’t look at me like that,” Cecilia said. “If you want to solve the problems of hearts, then count me out of it. I will not take sides. Brother needs to come to his own conclusion. It would be worthless if we persuade you on who you want to give your heart. I like them both so I don’t mind who you choose.”

She closed one eye and pointed the tip of her brush at the stars. Prince Arno returned his eyes on the wine inside his wine glass. He took another sip of his wine and rested the back of his head on the backrest of the chair.

“It has been long since we gathered like this.”

“Brother, brooding suit you.”

“You’ve grown lovely, my sister.”

“Oh my, are you two done acting like Professionals?”

Prince Kaleb loosened up. “I am.”

“I would prefer if we discuss more, but,” Prince Arno folded his arms and smiled. “It has been long my siblings.”

There was stillness in the air. Cecilia placed her brush and joined her brothers on the table. She placed her hands on her lap and watched them.

“I was afraid that my brothers won’t be sitting at this table. Though we are severely lacking in attendance, it is nice to have three of us once again on this table. A shame that mother is always so busy teaching our younger siblings. I worry that she will have a perpetual headache with the rest of our siblings. Katia is always abroad on her research, and Duncan’s traveling to whatever places that he decides to go.”

Prince Kaleb had no reply to that. The rest of their siblings were fortunate that they had become ambassadors and diplomatic envoys to reach out to the world. If this were years back, their Lord Father would not have allowed his children to roam with only a company of soldiers. Cecilia would sometimes feel an intense sense of jealousy at the thought of her sibling. They were free while she was a caged bird who could not even flap her wings, only staring at the world.

“Their travels have helped the Empire come to an understanding. We are not the only Empire in the world, so we need Katia and Duncan to travel the places. Though, I do hope that they will come back once in a while.”

“Katia coming back home would be strange,” Prince Kaleb said. “She was still so young when she decided to follow Teacher Gera and pursue her careers. Duncan…he’ll probably come running if Lord Father demands it.”

Prince Brother Duncan had always been the adventurous sort. He was the third Prince in name and he would have quite the land if he had stayed, but he did not want it. He preferred the vast world to the bickering and scheming of this Empire. Her brothers held duty more than their own means. Maybe that is why they were born to rule both the light and the dark of the Empire.

“If the nobles could see you two act like this, it would have frightened them,” Cecilia said.

“True,” Prince Arno scoffed. “They were always a bunch of fools who overthink so much. Then again, we did convince them so well. Even the Grand Dukes almost believe that I intended to win the throne.”

It was a long game played by her brothers. She would have believed them if she was not the first one to have spoken about them.  There were miscalculations when the war happened. Cecilia predicted that the three alliances would try to enforce their beliefs to the Empire. She did not expect that the war would have many layers. Then again, Old Sable and Allred Silheid orchestrated the whole war in hopes to strengthen the alliances.

Her dearest father had always been one of the wisest men she had a pleasure of knowing. So seeing her dear father have a hard time of predicting the actions of his enemies bothered her. The war would have continued and the effect on the Empire would have been damaging if it went that way. She hated to admit it, but the death of Alfred Silheid changed the Empire’s war. Which allowed her brothers to capitalize on their mourning and drop in morale to push back the enemies of the Empire.

Old Sable was troublesome in a way that he had coordinated many attacks against the Empire. His goals were unknown, and yet from the discussion that his dearest father and lord brother, Crown Prince Arno, had said. It seems that he was testing out the Crown Prince. The Crown Prince did not even know the test that Old Sable had wanted to give him.

“Sister, do you have thoughts?”

“The war…I am glad that it did not consume the both of you.”

Prince Arno and Kaleb quieted. Prince Kaleb gave a haunted look while Prince Arno’s eyes stilled. There was pain in the eyes of the two as they recollected their memories of the war. A war destroyed the continent, and took millions of lives. The three alliances suffered, but the Empire has the highest death toll among the nations that fought in the war.

“We managed. However, we had it better compared to our loyal citizens. Nonetheless, we still saw the wastelands that our artillery created. The lands that was green turned into those gray plains.”

“I’m sorry. I know that you two don’t like to talk about your experiences.”

“It’s nothing to worry about,” Prince Arno took another sip of his wine. “We understand that our dearest sister is morbidly curious. Besides, we have two years to heal the metal wounds that we have sustained in the field of battle.”

Prince Kaleb silently agreed. He played with his wine and gestured at Lily again. The Maid in-charge carried cubes of ice and placed them on the table. The Maid bid her goodbye again and left without a sound.

“Brother, I really like Ilea. I want her services. ”

“I’m afraid you have to speak with our mother about this. She is fond of her Maids and I am afraid that it would take you a long time to get Ilea to serve under you. You do realize that she had trained them to be the perfect servants of the Castle.”

Prince Kaleb shrugged. He placed his glass of wine on the table and turned languidly towards Cecilia. That Inquisitive look on his face was enough for Cecilia to tell that he wanted to talk about him. Prince Arno noticed his look and placed his wine glass on the table.

“That person is a meddler.”

“That he is.”

Cecilia nodded. She wiped her hands on the surface of the glass table. “Brother Kaleb had already encountered him, but I never asked Lord Brother what you think of him.”

“He’s a strange man. I never had the pleasure of encountering him before the war, and he seems to have been avoiding me.”

“Well, you would have dueled him. I worry about you.”

“Were you worried that I would cripple that man?”

“He’s a Lazonian, a son of the Strongarm Clan. I know that you have good physical abilities, Brother. However, I do not recommend facing that man in close combat. He’d break your face.”

The Prince did not like that. He probably witnessed that person’s physical prowess during Flost. Even she did not expect that he would have so much contribution to the war. Even her dear father would express his disappointment about the missed chance to bond the Imperial Family to the Strongarm blood.

“He meddles a lot. I heard that he’d been intruding on your business?”

“That person has always been meddling. It is nothing, and considering that Old Fred is involved in this. It would have been expected that he would get involve.”

Cecilia pretended not to listen. The Princes noticed and quieted for a moment.

“I do not like him.”

“I can say the same.”

“It is okay, dearest brothers. It was our choices back then. Eight years is a long time, and I understand where he was coming from. Who would want to break their own heart? To bond with someone who has little time left in this world. I don’t want to wish that on someone.”

“Don’t say that my dearest sister. Katia and Duncan, they might find a way.”

Cecilia raised a hand. “Don’t give me that hope, brother,” there was a shadow on her face. “That kind of hope bothers me. I have long accepted my fate and I do not wish to put hope in my heart. If it really comes to that, then what does it matter?”

Cecilia quieted. She looked at the skies. The view above consisted of spirals of galaxies intertwined together; creating a great river of stars that shone the evening.

“I see. Then let’s not talk about outsiders for now,” Prince Kaleb broke the silence. “It has been long my dearest siblings. Let us take this chance to relax.”

Prince Arno agreed. It was one of the only times he would ever agree with Kaleb. Cecilia watched her brothers and could not but smile. If there was anything that she was glad about. It is that there was a bond among her siblings unlike the Imperial Family of the past.

Still, the dreaming girl that was still lingering in her heart wished for that end. The girl in her heart had wished for an ending where he came alone instead of bringing an escort of royal guards to send her back home.

“Hmm, that reminds me,” Prince Kaleb suddenly said. “What’s that?”

Cecilia looked at where the Prince was pointing. “Oh, it’s nothing,” she covered the back of her hand. “It’s a mark that my friends love.”

“I see,” Prince Kaleb “Better hide that mark, father doesn’t appreciate tattoos.”

“I know.”

Cecilia nodded. She wore her gloves, gestured for Lily with a hand signal, and joined her brothers in discussion.