Rebirth: Star Witch Lilian

Chapter 47: those left behind

Things have been pretty bad since the incident. The princess... Lily has been missing for a while now. The king has been trying to lock himself into his work to not think about things.

As for the Queen she's been barely holding it together. Every night I hear her crying to herself blaming herself for what happened. But it isn't her fault. It isn't anyones fault.

Uren has been... well Uren doesn't seem to act all that differently from before but nowadays he constantly wears a helmet not even wanting to show his face anymore.

Miss Charlene was a big question mark. In truth I'd barely seen her at all even before the incident occurred. Though from what I've heard with the overly chatty maids she's been keeping an eye Lux in case they try anything but I don't think they'd be dumb enough to attack Gehna when Lucian, one of the strongest warriors on the continent, was staying there. Even I'd heard the legends of the stormbringer when I lived out East.

Sophie and Mirette seem to be trying to stay in high spirits but I can tell Sophie is hurting deeply as well. But lately she seems to be looking for something. She's been determined to find what happened to Princess Lilian.

So that leaves me, Natalie. I haven't been here as long as the others and I'll admit I'd barely spoken to Lilian outside of the Tea party meetings... which those haven't been held either since the incident.

But that doesn't mean I don't want to help. I've taken to assisting Sophie with Chores whenever I can and checking up on Queen Lisia Frequently. I'm not happy about it but I needed to play the guilt card at one point for her to keep going. Afterall she has another on the way so there will be time to mourn later. I don't know if Lilian is still alive but... well I'm sure she wants us to look after her younger sibling in her absence.

"Hey Natalie! Cmon we gotta do some cleaning" I heard Sophie yell from across the courtyard. I closed my Journal and headed over to her. There would be time to recount events later. Recently Sophie and I decided we'd check the place where she went missing again. The princess' room was locked off to most people but I was allowed access so long as I was with one of the retainers.

Entering the room was... well it felt haunting in a way. Seeing a scene that was untouched ever since an accident occurred, a moment in time captured like a portrait displaying the aftermath.

"Cmon Nat. We need to look for clues." I heard Sophie say. I just gave a nod and got to work checking the closet and underneath the bed. Thankfully an advantage of knowing dark magic was the ability to see through it without issue so I scanned the contents underneath the bed. A few comics that probably belonged to Sophie, a wooden ball (probably a toy when she was young. I remember hearing she had to be isolated when she was young because she couldn't control her magic), and... notes of some sort.

"Hey Sophie I think I found something." I called out

No response.

"Sophie?" I asked again only to hear what sounded like Muffled sobbing.

I pulled myself out from underneath the bed and looked over to see Sophie on he knees in front of the open chest of drawers.

I walked over to her to see her clutching a ribbon. "I'm a terrible sister... I'm sorry Lily" she choked out between tears.

I said nothing and simply offered a shoulder to cry on.

The moment eventually ended as we heard footsteps down the hall.

To my surprise they belonged to... well actually I didn't recognize him at all.

"*sniff* what are you doing here Klaus. This place is off limits." Sophie said now working on drying her tears.

"Just found something that might prove useful I'd give it directly to the king but he's kept himself locked off." He handed a little box of some sort to Sophie before leaving.

"Hey Sophie... didn't Lilian have a box like that before?"

"Yeah... but if I remember correctly it did something when you did... this" she said tapped on sides of the box in a specific order.

The box opened up to display a bunch of lights forming an ethereal screen. Then a bunch of words in some language I didn't recognize displayed but for some reason I felt like I'd seen them before... wait a second!

I looked at the chart I pulled out from under the bed and sure enough the letters were the same.

"It's... English" I heard Sophie exclaim as if she had some revelation.

"Wait Sophie you can read that?" I had never heard of English before but she seemed to recognize this script without much issue.

"A little bit... C'mon Nat we need to see the king right now." She said scooping up the box in one arm and grabbing me with the other.

I held onto the chart tightly as she took off running towards the Kings office with me in tow.

************
Huh guess they found something already. In truth I could probably just tell them the princess was still alive but I had no desire trying to explain how I knew about the technology. The kids here were pretty smart and if they could snap the king and Queen out of their depression they'd figure it out quickly enough.

Gehna is a nice country. I'd hate to destroy it.

**************
*some time shortly after Talia returned from her talk with Northeas*

I was sitting by the fire. Staying warm despite the cold temperature outside and having a good drink. Talia was out at the moment but she'd hopefully return soon. The scene felt... nostalgic.

5 years ago my world was changed when she just showed up in our village one day unsure how she got there. She quickly went from being an outsider I had to keep watch over, to a trusted doctor respected in our village, then eventually she became my wife.

She was energetic and headstrong but I'd be lying if I said that wasn't a part of her I fell in love with.

Such a peaceful moment...

"BALDOR PACK YOUR BAGS WE'RE MOVING TO GEHNA!" The peaceful scene was broken as my wife slammed the door open full of energy once again.

"And what exactly are we moving to Gehna?" I asked her getting up from my chair.

"Because I spoke with Northeas and long story short it'd be much better for us if we were there." She gave a vague answer as usual.

"But what about wanting to live a quiet life and not stand out." I said remembering a conversation shorty after we married 3 years ago.

"I did say that but then I had a realization. You're a 7'6" red haired Viking and as far as we know I'm the only black person on the continent. We're gonna stand out no matter what unless we choose to live in some isolated cabin." She said making her point.

"Fair enough" I relented and began packing. Honestly traveling to southern lands sounded more fulfilling anyways.

I began collecting things we need. Clothes, food, some books for reading. Then I was interrupted with one of the largest surprises of my life

"Oh and think of some baby names while you're at it dear. We're gonna be parents in a few months!"

Aaaaaaand that's the chapter hope you enjoyed. I ended up getting pneumonia and losing heat at my place for a week (during the point most of America went below freezing) not my idea of fun.

On a different note I keep having these different ideas for stories I want to write but I need to finish up the two I currently have.