"Emerald Ch 1" by Supernova

1. Prologue

2.

3. A whistle sounds in the Queen's garden.

4.

5. "Shreee!! Shreeeeee! Shree shree shree!"

6.

7. In answer, a woman walks to the balcony. Her long evening robe follows her across the carpeted floor. Long, dark hair is lifted from her shoulders by the cool evening breeze. She looks to the sky, where three shining moons circle her world and few stars glimmer in the bright light. The city shines nearby.

8. The trees and grass below her bend and sway like an ocean.

9. The queen waits. There is elegance in the movement of her hand when she brings it to touch her forehead.

10. Again the whistle sounds. Its eerie melody blends with the wind.

11. She begins a song with the same melody, combined with words of her own.

12. “Come, swiftly, Come softly

13. The night is sad

14. I wait for nothing

15. The moon is glad

16. The sun must wait

17. And so must I

18. Come swiftly, come softly

19. For light is nigh.”

20. Sadness is in her gentle voice. She peers down at the scene beneath her.

21. A figure appears in the gardens, creeping across the landscape. It scales the wall in a matter of seconds.

22. The man climbs up onto the balcony; a confident but calm expression on his face. He bows deeply; then cups his hands and touches his chin. It is a gesture of love and respect.

23. The queen greets him with a half-smile. She must not show her sadness.

24. She retrieves a small object from her belt. The small, nearly-spherical item reflects the moonlight in every direction. The man shields his eyes.

25. "The Emerald?" he asks.

26. She nods.

27. The man takes a deep breath, then moves his left hand side to side- the symbol for “No”.

28. The queen's face is frozen in disapproval. The smile is gone.

29. “I don't understand, Shonri.”

30. “Neither do I, Fenna.”

31. Shonri slips out a small bundle of paper from inside his cloak and hands it to her. Fenna sighs and accepts the parchment, obviously annoyed. After untying the binding, the Queen studies the paper. She reads the first column bottom to top, and the second top to bottom- the Aotian writing style.

32. The stranger waits patiently. His body is a statue.

33. By the time the Queen is finished, her hands are shaking. She clutches the paper to her chest in a sudden movement, startling Shonri.

34. “That doesn't change anything,” she says.

35. The queen places the Emerald in his hands. He gives it back, slowly shaking his hand back and forth, avoiding her gaze.

36. “Fenna, don't do this.”

37. The queen holds the emerald out in one hand, her frightened eyes fixed on the man's face.

38. “It's not safe here anymore. The threat is growing, and we are still weak.”

39. She pauses, letting it sink in. “That man will stop at nothing to gain control. If we don't stop him soon, all of Aot, our entire planet, could be taken over by... those Reans. ”

40. She nods at the emerald in her hands and her voice rises.

41. “Shonri, what if he decides to go after us? Our daughters, our leaders, the Emerald-"

42. “Fenna, he can't steal it from here.” Shonri interrupts. His face is deceivingly pleasant, but his voice is harsh. Clearing his throat, he continues, “Why would the Emerald be safer with me? Or anywhere else, for that matter?”

43. “He's becoming more powerful, and we are not. You know this, and you have the skills to stop it. I must stay here and alert the country when the time comes. Only fourteen Shotocon people know about this. That will be changed soon.”

44. Fenna places her hands in Shonri's. “If the Emerald is safe from the Reans, everyone will be fine. Our country will be safe, and the war will never start. Just take the Emerald far away, out of the Reans' grasp. After they give up and the danger is gone, we can continue normally, like nothing ever happened. You can come home.”

45. Shonri sighs. "You sure care a lot about the Emerald."

46. Fenna doesn't respond. Instead, she embraces him, laying her head on his chest. She understands his pain.

47. "Fenna," Shonri whispers, "I'll take the emerald."

48. Instantly the Queen's emotion changes. “Thank you." Fenna answers, tilting her head so she can look at her husband. Her grin sparkles in the moonlight. "You're amazing, you know that?”

49. Tears began to trickle down her moonlit face.

50. "I missed you so much,” she adds.

51. Shonri nods, reaching out to wipe away a tear. “I missed you, too.” Fenna retreats to the doorway of her room. Shonri gathers the emerald into the folds of his cloak.

52. “Record all of the letter and save it. It will be useful,” he reminds her.

53. "Of course,” the queen replies, still shaken.

54. Shonri gives a halfhearted smile. He places a hand on his knee and bows slightly.

55. “Wait,” Fenna says, remembering something. She dashes into her bedroom and back out. She holds a tiny, rectangular card with notches carved into it. Its color is not visible in the moonlight.

56. “Remember this? This is the copy of key that you have. I made it so both of us could have one, a long time ago. It opens the small wooden box down by the waterfall, the one we used to exchange letters. You still have that key, don't you?"

57. Shonri nods in confusion and accepts the key.

58. “I... want you to give it to Alexandria." She pauses again, as if unsure about the decision she had just made. "You need to... You need to write to her, Shonri, through that little box at the waterfall. You can send letters back and forth through it, even if she can't meet you."

59. "Alexandria loves you, as the idea of having a father that loves her. She loves you even though she's never met you, never heard a story about you. And now she will barely be able to meet you, even after her fifteenth birthday." Her voice fills with emotion and she clears her throat. "She is an amazing girl, Shonri. She will be an incredible queen, perhaps the best of all of them.”

60. Fenna looks up into Shonri's eyes, wondering how he will respond. Shonri simply gives an Aotian nod, inclining his head diagonally to the right. He gathers up the key into a hidden pocket, his face giving no hints to what he is thinking.

61. “She'll have to be,” he says.

62. Then he gives her an amused smile, breaking the serious tone. “I just hope Dia is amazing enough to read my handwriting. I haven't written anything by hand since our letters."

63. "Even I'm not that amazing anymore," Fenna answers, returning the smile.

64. Shonri turns and swings himself over the balcony, into the mist at the foot of the tall building. Fenna watches him as he diminishes into a figure weaving through the tall ornamental grass. Then she returns to her bedroom, each footstep puncturing the quiet of the early morning.

65. “Locked,” the door reports, as she closes the door. No one hears its call.

66. Chapter One

67.

68. Alexandria watched patiently as her mother walked into doorway of their "Palace" home, while she stood on the sidewalk lining the road. She glanced around at the peaceful trees in their lawn and sighed, inclining her head in thoughtfulness. It was almost winter, and the calm scene would soon be replaced by the effects of winter's dreariness, including hail, sleet, ice, and snow. Plenty of snow. Winter hit Shotocon hard, except in some parts of the northern plains, where farms could grow year-round, blessed by a mild and pleasant climate. Maybe she could have a winter house there some time, like her mother did before she was born. Queens could afford that. Trying to distract herself from the coming weather, Alexandria turned and gazed at the mansion that she and her mother stayed in. Well, after hundreds of years, it was a shadow of what it used to be. Although the architects had tried hard to make the Queen's house beautiful and efficient, each winter took its toll on the less modern four-story building. But the Queen's house was supposed to reflect modesty; pride was shown elsewhere.

69. Fenna quietly typed the security code into the tiny screen and gave the computer her fingerprint. Then she finally twisted the tiny knob on the screen three times, left, right, left. Nothing happened. Sighing again, her daughter padded up the six steps that led to their home, leaving the walkway that lined the streets.

70. “What's taking so long?” she asked, trying to sound authoritative.

71. “I don't know. How am I supposed to know?" Her mother muttered, shooting an amused glance at her daughter. But it was clear she was exasperated with the small silver screen. While her mother fidgeted impatiently with the machine, Alexandria admired her mother's shining brown hair that hung to her shoulders, and her chocolate brown eyes. She herself looked quite a bit like her mother except for paler skin, and her eyes changed colors. Alexandria had always imagined her father with her color of pale, almond skin.

72. “Maybe it's broken,” her mother fumed, interrupting her daughter's thoughts. Then she heard an encouraging click, and her expression changed. “Just a second Dia, I think I've got it.” She fiddled with the lock until it clicked a second time and the door swung open. “There!” her mother rejoiced, smiling triumphantly. Her face shone despite the obvious circles under her eyes.

73. “The lock” was only one of those cheap, two part electronic things an Aotian could get at a grocery store. It needed the wire hookup that extended from the screen and keyboard to the inner-workings of the door and was rather difficult to open, even with the carefully laid out instructions, which dated back to 9650. The lock had been there for decades, and so had everything in the Queen's house. Things didn't change there, except for the people. Everything in the house was so old that it deserved a title. Queen Fenna, as well as many queens before her, called the lamp fixture "Ancient light", the living room sofa "Aid of comfort", and so on. Whenever Queens adjusted furniture, the older things often went to a museum.

74. Mother and daughter quietly entered the living room, blinking to adjust to the absence of light. A young woman sat on a sofa, wearing matching tunic, cloak, and topts, all with a complicated, shiny pattern. She was talking animatedly into a comrec.

75. “Who is it now, Shadi?" Alexandria asked, sitting down next to her friend. Shadi quickly shut off her comrec and grinned at Alexandria as Fenna walked into the kitchen, muttering something the rising price of vegetables.

76. “No one, Dia.” Shadi answered hurriedly but politely. Then she looked to where Fenna had gone into the kitchen and scowled. Alexandria glanced at Shadi's purple, glittery comrec, now humming quietly. It was decorated with all sorts of pictures, some digitally created on the comrecs surface, others glued on. No one had a comrec like Shadi's.

77. Alexandria hid a mischievous grin, knowing who Shadi's caller most likely was. Shadi had been recently seeing a boy from a nearby city.

78. “Fenna, don't you dare cook anything! You have been working all day. You're a Queen for goodness sake!”

79. Fenna backed out of the kitchen, grinning at the two teenagers. “Royalty doesn't mean you don't work like everyone else, Shadi. And you can hardly call today's version of cooking 'work'.”

80. “Are you kidding? Cooking is a chore! All those rows of buttons on the screen...” Shadi answered, waving her hands in the air.

81. Fenna laughed. "Anyway, I haven't been hanging out with you girls enough. Let's eat the michos tonight, those are fun."

82. Alexandria ran to give her mother a hug. Fenna didn't give herself enough credit. She never did. Even though the Queen was frequently praised because of the way she ran Shotocon. Fenna worked every day with the council to make other people's life safe. Of course, according to Alexandria, “leading the country” and "making it safe" meant paperwork, paperwork, and the occasional speech.

83. But she knew that wasn't completely true. Her mom also gave out charity, organized service communities, and was the most important member of the Council, military, and GA (General Aid.) The government itself only handled the most basic and important parts of the country, making sure the people followed Shotocon Guidelines. Alexandria couldn't count the number of organizations her mother was included in.

84. Fenna began communicating with the large comrec in the dining room, where the small family waited for Shadi to bring out dinner. The screen was about as long as the two-foot-long table and it was one of the largest comrecs in the entire capitol, but such a large model was best for watching movies on. After the old machine came to life and gave a cheery "good evening," a list came up and Fenna scrolled down to the bottom. Then she turned to her daughter.

85. Clearing her throat, Fenna said, “I thought we might go over 'The List' again.” Her voice was cheery, but her eyes were sharp.

86. Alexandria looked up from the professional looking menu that Shadi had posted on the screen in the center of the table. She met her mother's eyes briefly and suppressed a groan. “The List” included all of the skills Alexandria needed to acquire and before her fifteenth birthday, when she would become a queen. Her mother had served with her grandmother until she had died, and would do the same with Alexandria, who would do the same with her daughter, and so on. There were often gaps of time where a queen ruled alone, as her mother was currently doing. If there were more than one daughter, Shotocon voted on one of them as they would for council members.

87. The reason Alexandria disliked the list was because it made her worry about all the responsibilities of being a queen, even though she wouldn't rule by herself for a while. Turning fifteen was a huge reminder of her lineage. According to her, it was impossible to be as good a queen as her mother was.

88. As if she read her mind, Fenna smiled sympathetically. “I remember how I felt when I was your age. I was pretty scared of the idea of being a queen.”

89. Alexandria picked at the yellow table cloth, frowning.

90. “You know, two days before my birthday, I tried to run away, I was so upset.” Fenna said her voice more serious.

91. Alexandria looked up, surprised. Her mother didn't talk about her childhood often. Fenna's father had been killed then.

92. Fenna nodded and continued. “It was the year 10,532, eighteen years ago. My mother was a whole twenty years older than me, so I would be ruling alone sooner. Her health was fading fast.”

93. Alexandria tilted her head in a nod, noticing out the corner of her eye that Shadi was watching Fenna, having already placed the platters of food in front of the queen and her daughter. Dia watched her deposit cooking dishes into the small machine above the sink.

94. “Well, my mom hadn't told me that much about being a queen, probably less than I’ve told you, and her words felt harsh that day. I was slightly overwhelmed. So I went out past the gardens.”

95. Alexandria's eyes widened. The palace gardens stretched on for about eight miles. Had her mother really ran the entire length?

96. Noticing the girls' bewilderment, Fenna added, “The gardens were only partially built at the time. I ran half a mile, at most. I stopped when I saw someone. It was your father, Dia.”

97. Alexandria watched her mother intently. No one, not even her mother had told her anything about her father before.

98. “We were near Brook's waterfall. You know where that is.” Fenna gave her daughter a meaningful look.

99. “Your father was about seventeen or so, with dark hair and light skin. He was sitting there, fiddling with a lock on an old wooden box. Both of us are bad with locks. I sat down next to the waterfall, watching him for a while until he got it open. I knew I shouldn't have been there. I alone with a boy I didn't know. But I wasn't very... emotionally stable at the moment. Anyway, he took out some paper, covered in writing.”

100. Surprised, Alexandria's eyebrow rose. Yes, her mother was much older than her, by eighteen years, but letters on paper? Paper had already been deemed scratchy, cumbersome, and practically useless by then. Aotian paper was a muddy green color before bleaching it. Processing it cost a large sum.

101. Smiling, Fenna continued, “Paper was still being used occasionally by the poor, Dia. It can also be destroyed easily, and your father and I always burnt each other’s letters after memorizing them. His letters were... very important."

102. Dia watched the look of pain on her mother's face. It was hard for her to keep her husband a secret. Fenna had promised the world that she would never reveal who her husband was. But she had secretly told Alexandria that she would get to meet him after she turned fifteen. Dia wondered all the time about her father.

103. Then her mother cleared her throat, ready to move one. "Your father pulled out the papers and began reading aloud, softly, to himself. It came as a shock to me that he could read handwriting so well. He had to teach me a bit, you know. Well, I couldn't hear his words, and I saw no point in concealing myself, so I walked over to him.” Fenna leaned back in her chair, her face solemn inside her memory.

104. “He glanced up and saw me, and tried to hide his surprise. I was surprised that he knew who I was. It did take a moment for people to recognize me, you know. Not everyone knew who I was right off. That isn't the case anymore, though.

105. He placed the letter back in the box slowly and bowed to me. It was a short, awkward bow and we both laughed. He was really a lot different than other guys I talked to. They were usually stiff and polite,” she smiled sympathetically at Alexandria. They both knew that the situation hadn't improved in Alexandria's fourteen years.

106. “He was quite the opposite." Fenna explained, "Instead, he did a rather strange thing.”

107. “What?” Alexandria and Shadi asked in unison, absorbed in the Queen's story.

108. “Well... he asked me if I wanted to read his letters. He probably thought I was lonely. I was. He said his family couldn't afford more than one comrec, so he used the box to contact his friends. He said that he would leave if I wanted him to. And he handed me the key to the box, telling me to make a copy and bring it back to him. ”

109. "What did you say?" Shadi breathed, watching Fenna intently.

110. A smile returned to the Queen's face. "Well... I took the key if that's what you mean. And I've been writing to him for eighteen years, even though we don't use the waterfall nook anymore. At the time we just talked about his personal life, his family, what he liked to do. He didn't pressure me to tell him anything, and he didn't just respect me as a leader, or a queen. He respected and loved me as a person. You father's personality is really amazing, Dia. We talked for a while that day, and we kept on seeing each other in secret."

111. “Is there a moral to your memory?” Shadi asked. It was traditional for a story teller to explain the lesson he or she learned.

112. Fenna glanced at her, as if she had just now realized that Shadi had heard her words.

113. “Yes, actually. Try not to fall in love with the first random guy you find in the forest.”

114. The three girls shared a laugh.

115. Alexandria didn't laugh for long, though. She was too curious. Fenna rarely told her a story, and she never spoke about her father. Maybe her mother just wanted to lighten her up a bit. Her birthday was just days away. Some of the story confused Alexandria, and she was tempted to ask more about her father, but she knew her mother would just tell her to wait.

116. "Dia?" Fenna asked. Alexandria jumped, jolted from her thoughts.

117. "Sorry mom," she said, blushing. "What did you say?"

118. "I was reviewing the second characteristic of the list." Nodding, Alexandria fought the urge to grumble. Hearing about economics, politics, and agriculture wasn't interesting and often left her anxious, confused, and dissatisfied. For the next hour in a half, Alexandria filled conversation and ate the delicious meal that Shadi had cooked. But her mind wandered to the little waterfall in the forest, and the secret conversation her mother had had long ago.

119. Minutes later, Alexandria hiked up the steps to get ready for bed. She stripped to her white under-dress, which also served as a nightgown. Then she walked slowly to her desk that stood in the corner of the room. Her few personal articles stood there, silent and in shadow. Nothing in the room looked different than when she had left it in the morning. The window was locked, the bedroom tidy. The room was quiet, completely unsuspecting. Everything was the same, except for one thing.

120. On her desk was something that Alexandria had never seen before. Covered by an especially dark shadow was a key-card. A key-card with a note saying, "I love you."

121.