[Sept 1st] [Original Short Story] Her Last Home

[principessar.livejournal.com]

Title: Her Last Home
Day/Theme: September 1/Here we are
Series: Original
Character/Pairing: I will post all the names here so that you can refer to this if you get confused and have to know who everyone mentioned is: The main character is Edanin Princi Ilenin. His mother, Queen Laurinna, is with him. He recieves letters from his younger brother, Nianen Princi, who references their sister, Lilani, and her fiance, Fassi Kichenya, in his letter, and from his former guard, Sanen Eylan, who references the same people, as well as some others.
Rating: PG?
Spoilers/Warnings: None

Her Last Home

 

Laurinna, fatigued from the journey, went to sleep on the bed upstairs even as Edanin and the movers carried trunks inside. Not that there was much to be brought in; Laurinna had instructed that none of her things from the palace be brought, and Edanin had only packed a few clothes, planning to return in the winter with Lilani to close things up there and take the rest of his belongings. Nobody was really all that interested in such tangible memories of the past, after all.

 

The house was old and creaky, elegant if not all that well kept up. It seemed to Edanin like one of the gloomy old houses requisite for any kind of fairytale or horror story, and though he was sure it would brighten up considerably once the rain stopped, he couldn't help feeling that the atmosphere was only fitting considering their reason for being there. But his mother had asked for seclusion and this was the most secluded place they could find on short notice. Even this had taken them a month. Then again, it had been a busy month and finding a place for Laurinna to live was nobody's top priority.

 

Sighing, the fifteen-year-old prince finished folding clothes into his armoire, then, lowering himself onto a chair, pulled two letters from his pocket. They'd been given to him before he left, but he hadn't read then until now, in case they contained something his mother shouldn't see. Opening them, he could see immediately that his caution was merited.

 

The first one, from his younger brother, read: "Edanin--I don't know what you think you're atoning for but I want you to know, of all the people in the world you are the least needing to pay penance. If you really want to stay with Mother go ahead, but I don't think it'll accomplish anything. If you ever come to your senses, I invite you to come to the winter palace and spend the season with Fassi Kichenya, Lilani and me. 

 

"We are having a lot of fun here and I am really getting to know Kichenya. It's funny--he's even more insomniac than I am, so what seems like most of the time we two are the only ones awake, and thus my time with my sister seems so much shorter than my time with her... revolutionary co-commander? But I jest. In any event, he is very intelligent and well-educated. He knows about not only things a revolutionary (I should stop using that word, someone's delusions might get shattered!) should know, but also things of the high arts and classics. Last night we talked about the mythology of the Greeks and how the stories still affect our lives today. (Can you imagine?) Then he was talking about Chinese philosophy! He knows a great deal about the Yasit culture also. In fact, he had to research very hard to learn that, because the first Yasit Leader destroyed almost all the records of his land's pre-conquest culture. It's very odd, how such a man would have destroyed his own culture. But I suppose he felt better destroy it himself than let his enemies defile it. Fassi of course thinks that this destruction was a tragedy, on parallel with actual human deaths, and that he must do all he can to resurrect the Yasit culture. He wants to set up a team of researchers. I might join, if I have nothing better to do!

 

"And so many things are planned for the near future. Ranih Kichena, one of Fassi's old comrades, is to be married to Ayani lina Nianina in a month's time! I hope you'll return for the wedding?

 

"In any event, I miss you and do hope you'll reconsider staying there with Mother because, for all the fun I'm having here, my fun would only be tenfold if you were here to join us.

 

"Your loving brother,

Nianen Ilenin."

 

Edanin smiled wearily and read through the letter once more before opening the second one, the one sent from his old gaurd. This one took a very different tone:

 

"Edanin:

 

"Forgive me for writing to you in this manner. I do not wish to offend you, merely to knock sense into you. That being said, I must tell you, you have no reason to be there with Laurinna. She has never been a mother to you, never cared for you in the way that a parent ought. There's a flip side to the golden rule, you know. If someone has no use for you, why persist in caring for them? Send her to her family in France and return to your family, your real family. You are not at fault for Ilin's death; Nianen may be callous but he is correct in saying that there was no way Ilin could have survived that situation. It was everyone's mistake, but you neither wished him dead nor carried it out. You simply told us to fire on the enemy troops so we did. If you had not given the order I would have only a second later. And Laurinna will not care about your misplaced guilt, as she is too simple to understand a situation of such complexity.

 

"The war is over, the revolution won. This is the future we've all been waiting for. Come embrace it with your brother, your sister, Fassi Kichenya, and I. Don't lock yourself away. We miss you. To be frank, staying by Laurinna's side will accomplish nothing. Come be where you are needed!

 

"In the vain hopes that this will actually change your mind, I await the arrival of your letter saying as such in Efin. Elsewise, I will be up to stick it out with you soon enough. I doubt it will be as soon as you hope, though, because I have met a delightful girl by the name of Emiyi here and hope to spend as much time with her as possible before joining you. If you indeed miss me that badly, I suggest you come here.

 

"Edanin, now I feel very guilty saying these things to you. I am not very good at speaking my mind and I am steeling myself to actually send this with you instead of burning it and forgetting I ever said any of it. But I think you need to see how I feel about all of this. I pray you not take offense at what I tell you and I promise you that when we meet in person I shall hardly be capable of saying such scathing things. I would love for you to come here, though. You would adore Emiyi.

 

"And for now I am truly busy in Efin. Being commander of the provisionary military council is... quite interesting, frankly because none of us have ever seen a working government in our lifetimes and are trying to create one by doing the opposite of all we have seen. So far we've created a system by which any soldier or revolutionary can suggest an idea for an organization, a system... whatnot. Fassi reinin Kichenya and Lilani reinina Ilenina examine those and the ones they feel have merit are discussed with everyone else. So far we've set up a lot of research societies and museum. Secret City will be a museum to Yasit Leader's tyranny and the oppression of the Yasit People. The old palace, (once you go through it this winter,) will be a memorial to the revolution's martyrs and a monument to unity of the Yasit and Ileni peoples. Fassi wants a research organization and if possible a system of schools for the learning of Yasit culture. I am not sure if enough exists to merit this, as the first Yasit Leader did a pretty thorough job of destroying all that there was. And we need to set up regular schools and universities in the like, I think a special university (or universities?) for the study of arcane antiquity is something that, well, frankly something only Kichenya would care about. I have a feeling Lilani reinina will set it up and dedicate it to him as a birthday gift or something. Does the term, 'Library State' exist? If not, I shall have just coined it.

 

"About the first Yasit Leader, I wonder about him sometimes. Was he a good man? What was he like as king before the conquest? Destroying his own culture and heritage seems like madness, but was he truly mad or was he driven to desperation by the deaths of his wife and children? Of course he wished to avenge them, and two hundred years ago the world was a far more brutal place. Sometimes I wish he'd written a memoir or something of the sort. Well, perhaps I could become interested in Kichenya's research committee?

 

"I miss our discussions. I miss the hot cider you served. I hope you get plenty of that up there.

 

"I await your reply.

Your Soldier and Your Friend

-Sanen Eylan"

 

Edanin shook his head. Nianen's voice in letters, while close, was not exactly like Nianen's voice in person, but Sanen's... it was as if Sanen had been in the room speaking to him. It was so like Sanen to speak his mind, (granted, not to that degree, but still,) and then take it all back, only you knew he still meant it. It was just like Sanen to go off and philosophize on history, sharing all of his thoughts, but to keep his mouth all but shut on things that concerned him in the present day.

 

I'd love to party with you, Nianen, at the winter palace, and I'd love to talk things over with you, Sanen, in Efin, and of course I'd love to meet your Emiyi, but despite how tempting your offers sound, I cannot take them. This is not exactly penance, you see, and I know full well that it's a thankless task, but I still must stay. I don't know when I'll be able to leave, though I want to.

 

The young prince stepped out of his bedroom and began to climb the stairway towards his mother's room. She was still asleep when he looked in on her, her dark hair in disarray on her pillow, the sheets pulled tight around her, as though she were a child seeking comfort from a doll or toy.

 

So, here we are, he thought. Here we are, in tomorrow. Here we are in this new, revolutionary era. Some run forward to accept it, to dance in the golden rain of peace and freedom, but for some of us, this new world is not a world we can live in. And I must put off my entry into it until my mother doesn't need me anymore. For she needs someone, and even if Father never loved her, and even if Ilin is dead, I'm her son and I love her. I have a long time to live, so my happiness can wait.

 

And for now, here we are, in her last home. And I will make it a home, not just a house to her. I will do all I can. And though the others can't see it, I know why I have to.

 

-END-