Crown

Muña-Mother

As promised Diana turned and cut the restraints holding Ri-is and Yukimi. The entire courtroom went silent and all eyes were on the young woman. Illya looked Diana up and down. Indeed, the resemblance was uncanny.

"What's wrong mum? Don't you want to greet your daughter?" Diana mused.

Illya raised an eyebrow. Diana looked to be no older than 17 or 18. She spoke with strong conviction and was more than certain that she was indeed Illya's daughter. While there was more than enough of a resemblance, there was still one problem. Illya would have remembered giving birth to her if what she claimed was true, but she didn't. She looked Diana up and down once more, trying to figure out who the father may have been if her memory had been compromised somehow. A lot had happened within the past 20 years so she wouldn't be surprised if it had been. 

"What's your name?" Asked Illya.

"Diana."

Illya shook her head. It definitely didn't ring any bells. "Sorry. I don't know you."

For a brief moment, Diana seemed to frown but it didn't last long. She regained her confidence and laughed. "Not surprising. It is our first time meeting and all."

Illya dismissed the knights, leaving only her guards and Diana in the throne room with her, all the while trying to restrain herself from walking up to the girl and grabbing her face so she could hold it. With all things considered, Illya still felt a very strong urge to hold her, like she was, in fact, her child, which was the only reason Illya even entertained the idea. "Okay. Explain yourself. I don't remember giving birth to you, but I can tell we are related in some way."

Diana complied without hesitation.
"You may not have physically given birth to me, but you are my mother. My father is King Gilgamesh and I am a homunculus born from the two of you."

Illya's eyes widened when the word homunculus drifted into her ears. "Homunculus...homunculus..." Illya whispered to herself.

The Empress had a soft spot for the beings known as "homunculi." That being because many years ago, the man that saved her from her snowy grave on her sixteenth birthday was himself, a homunculus. A tentative sigh escaped her lips and her narrowed gaze urged Diana to continue.

"I was created years ago by a man named Shiki. I was told that many years ago you had miscarried a child conceived from you and your current husband due to your pregnancy being sabotaged by a jealous relative. To my knowledge, this was when you were not yet married and you believed your husband to be dead. Apparently, Henaer had gone to him for help finding you but since he was still trapped in the statue there was little he could do. So along with Henaer's help, he had corrupted various individuals and let them do the dirty work for him. A maid in the palace was under Shiki's control and mainly used to keep tabs on you. It was the same maid that had cleaned up the miscarriage.

Because you were months along in the pregnancy, the tissue that was expelled of course was my very prominent embryo. The maid had also procured a strand of father's hair and one of your scales which was used as catalysts to bring life to my deceased embryo. I was brought to the statue where Shiki was sealed and he used his magic to simulate a womb and birth for me. At first, I was considered a tool to be used at a later time, but after you defeated Henaer, I was told to infiltrate Solaria and instill chaos within your walls. Mainly, I was supposed to make it seem like you had an affair from which I was born and hopefully your family would fall apart and he would use the opportunity to use the moles he's already placed around Solaria to cease control of the country.

I was supposed to tell you this story in the hopes that because you'd remember how heartbroken you were, you'd find it extremely difficult to dispose of me, especially since I was that you were very prone to miscarriages and it had caused a lot of emotional trauma."

Wild stood protectively in front of Illya's throne, and everyone else in the room fell into a state of deathly silence, almost as if everyone were collectively holding their breaths. Noticing Wild's tense demeanour, Diana decided to wrap up her explanation.
"But, I don't want to hurt you, mom. I wanted something else."

Illya had immediately recognized the name Shiki to be that of Henaer's lover. As expected, the uneasiness, prophesized by both her and Raehar, was correct. Shiki really was out for revenge. Hearing Diana's explanation made her feel things she hadn't felt in years. The hatred for the people who took Diana from her, the immense pain of losing yet another child, the feeling of being lost, it all came back to her. She leaned forward, trying to maintain composure.
"And what is it that you want?"

Diana smiled. "Bring dad here and I'll tell you."

Illya was silent for a moment. Wild turned around and seemed to give her a look that urged her to just expel Diana from the kingdom immediately. Illya however, didn't seem like she was going to do that. In her mind, Diana had given her no reason to believe she would cause any harm. If she wanted to do it, she could have done so a long time ago. Diana could have spread rumours and caused a lot of damage without ever having come into contact with her, but she didn't and Naera was actually right. As Illya gazed into Diana's eyes, she could tell that she had no reason to doubt the girl's resolve.

"Send for him." from her shadow emerged the familiar form, Seibel. He bowed as he came into view.

"As you wish."

"I will speak with the two of them alone. Everyone else may leave."

Ea opened his mouth to say something but was stopped by Ri-is. Ri-is shook his head. "Mom knows what she's doing."

"Bu—"

Before he could protest any further, Rohna turned and put a hand on his shoulder.
"Listen to your brother. When she's gotten a good understanding of the situation, she'll explain everything to the rest of you. Don't be impatient. I'm sure she's shocked as well."

Tah Min gently grasped Ea's arm and turned him around. "Come. Let's wait elsewhere."
Rohna escorted them out and the knights that were in the room followed. Wild stayed with Illya and Diana.

•~•~•~•~•~•~•

Cheng wandered past the gardens and found himself walking along the shore near the geyser plains. Just as he came to a stop, he noticed Astrid sitting on some rocks that protruded from the shore. Her legs hung in the water and in the distance, he could see the beautiful shimmer of her scales scattered on her legs beneath the water. She seemed to be deep in thought and for a moment, he considered not disturbing her, but he knew he would have to talk to her and he preferred to do so sooner rather than later. So he approached.

As he took his first step towards her, her eyes immediately shot to the side and settled on his approaching figure. For a brief second, he froze. It was almost as if she knew he was there from the minute he set foot on the beach and was just waiting to see what he would do. He began to walk again, this time, approaching with caution.