#cantella karell-incano

[tiesa-reale]

Children of Another Cause

Filibuster to End All

Ch 17

August 28th, 196

Bellva

Luna took a seat facing the window. She adjourned the meeting simply with a “So here’s the deal.” The circle of Directorate members collectively inched forwards. This wasn’t likely to be good news. “Lissa, come out.”

Lissa Merra, Perdita’s granddaughter, stepped out from the shadows. The usually bubbly little girl was quiet today; no flounce in her step shook her floral dress. A crown of half-wilted purple Asters was woven through her brown hair. She took a seat in the chair on Luna’s right.

“Would you like to tell them, or should I?” Luna asked her gently.

“We must welcome the Empire’s isles.”

Cantella was the first to speak. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Lissa, however, was in Lissaland. Lissaland was the imaginary place where the future became the past, and reality was muddied. In other words, Lissaland was the depths of her thoughts. Luna answered for her. “We don’t know. That’s why we’re here.”

“Where is this coming from?” Arel asked.

Luna closed her eyes and dropped her voice. “They were Allya Ratava’s last words.”

Bellva’s mind reeled, the memories coursing through her veins. Suddenly the room was dark, lit only by starlight. She was poised above the bay once again, back at her position at the top of the hill. The water glittered below her as it hit the shore and brushed the marble statues that populated the riverbank. She notched an arrow and pulled the string tight. Shaking, she let it fly, hitting her target. And there was blood. Far too much of it. How could so much come from one wound? And there was Lissa. She was running, screaming, Bellva hurrying after… Then the flashback was gone, like mist.

Pen reached out to steady her. “Are you alright?” he asked, just loud enough for her to hear. His all-knowing gray eyes bore into hers, seeking out the truth of her confliction.

She nodded. “Yeah. I’m alright. Everything’s alright.” He smiled, grasping her hand firmly. He really was beautiful when he smiled.

“Well,” Ara was saying, “We know that Allya was an advocate for the marginalized at our country’s rim.”

“Yeah, but aren’t they already welcome?” her brother asked. “They need serious government reform, sure, but so does everyone else.”

Cetti spoke up next. “What else do we know about Allya Ratava?”

“Well,” Pen replied, “she was a sailor. She ran the Naia fleet. We don’t much of her past, though.”

“Wasn’t she on the Empirica for a while?” It was Perdita. This was news to Bellva. It seemed as if the same was true for the rest of the Directorate. Perdita seemed to absorb the collective surprize. “My daughter Kimora is part of the crew, remember? I recall seeing Allya a couple of times when I went to see them when they landed.” She paused. “Also, I overheard Allya and Elliana talking about it.”

“How long ago? You should have said something,” Luna outburst.

“I am now, aren’t I?”

“You should have said something sooner,” Luna corrected herself.

“In any case,” Perdita continued, “the Empire could be in reference to the Empirica. Maybe the Empire is wherever it is that they go.”

“You make a very good point,” Arel said. “Regardless, the Empirica could prove very valuable indeed.”

“What are you saying, Arel?” Cetti asked.

“I’m saying that someone needs to go and find out what’s there. Any information is as good as gold at this point.”

“Here’s a proposition,” Luna said. “What if we split. Half of us deal with internal relations here, with Elliana and rebuilding. The other half goes on the Empirica to welcome whatever there is to welcome. That way, everything is covered. Theoretically.”

Arel clapped his hands together, exclaiming, “That’s brilliant!”

“Calm down,” Cetti said. Maybe it’s best if we don’t all leave for some new land. Maybe we should all stay and work this out first.”

“But the Empirica only comes around every two years,” Ara said. “It might be too late by then.”

“You do make a good point.”

“Now the question is who goes and who stays?” Ara said.

“A debate for another day. Meeting adjourned.” Luna stood, helping Lissa from her seat. They spoke in hushed tone for a few minutes, coming to a resolution no one else could accknowledge.

Bellva didn’t want to go. She didn’t want anyone to go. It was too much, after everything… Tiesa... Allya… And they still had Elliana to deal with…

[tiesa-reale]

Children of Another Cause

Filibuster to End All

Ch 15

August 25th, 196

Bellva

Bellva Viren knew that she probably shouldn’t be hiding in a corner. Luna was expecting her at a meeting in five minutes.

But did that stop her from hiding in a corner? No.

“Bellva, child, what are you doing there?” Bellva turned. It was Perdita Merra, her tutor. She was headed to the same meeting.

“Nothing, ma’am,” she said as convincingly as she could.

Perdita sighed. She was often exasperated by Bellva. “Come along then. We’ll be late.”

They reached the throne room just in time. It was no longer decorated by pink and blue hydrangeas as it had been just three days earlier, but the blue drapes remained.

Then she saw Arel.

He was seated nearest to the edge of the room, next to his sister, Ara. His dark eyes scanned the room, eventually meeting hers. He smiled. She smiled back. She tried no to, but it wasn’t like she could help it. She took a seat at the other end of the room, next to Pencari. “Hey,” she said.

“Hi.”

“Does anyone know what they’re doing here?” She gestured to her mother, Teva, and Arlan Arcana.

“Nope. Luna didn’t invite them, but they showed up and Luna doesn’t feel like arguing today.” Teva saw her daughter and threw her a weak smile. Bellva didn’t return it. Arlan turned towards her and scowled. His bald head glinted in the morning sunlight. She wanted to scowl back, but doubted that it would fix anything.

“Good morning,” Luna said. She was exhausted, Bellva could tell. “You already know that I invited you - well, most of you - to discuss the formation of a new Directorate. Though I think I speak for all of us when I ask what you’re doing here.” The question was aimed at Arlan.

“I’ve been on this Directorate for thirty-eight years,” he began with the air of someone about to start a ‘Back In My Day’ story. “I see no reason why I shouldn’t continue.”

Luna sighed heavily. “I do. You’re much of the reason I need a new Directorate in the first place.”

“It didn’t used to be like this,” he grumbled. “People used to choose advisors they disagreed with.”

“Like you were chosen. How was that again? That’s right! Your family was rich and you were friends with the royals.” Perdita smiled sweetly. She must have told Luna the story; she’d been at the palace even longer than Arlan. “And second of all, I do choose a diverse council. I often disagree with Perdita and Bellva, and quite frankly, I don’t like Arel very much.” Arel looked mildly offended. The rest of them were all used to it by now; Luna could be brutally honest sometimes. “However, I know that they’re more experienced than I am and probably know what’s best. Do you have anything else to say, or could you please leave?”

He grumbled once again at seeing his last vain endeavour come to a screeching halt. He stood and left.

“Teva, I assume you came to present similar grievances?”

“Not at all, my queen.” Her voice was bittersweet, and Luna winced. “I came only to say that I wish to have no further sway in the government of Aluntura.”

Bellva held back a gasp. Vidia Verit, her mother’s lifelong friend, said, “Surely you don’t intend on leaving us?”

“Of course not,” Teva replied, more to Luna than Vidia. “I intend to stay in Citale with my daughter, but I refuse any position on the Directorate.”

“Thank you, Teva. Your decision is noted. If that is all, you are dismissed,” Luna said, a little perplexed. Was she under the impression that she was going to get a position? Bellva thought. If she did, she was dead wrong.

“My queen,” she said again bowing. Luna’s gaze hardened into something nearly murderous. Bellva made a mental note to never call Luna ‘My Queen.’ Teva left peacefully, her pale gown brushing the floor.

“Well then,” Luna said, readjusting the black jacket at her shoulders. “Anyone else? Great. You’re all here because I want you on my new Directorate.”

“Luna,” Pen interrupted, “Bellva and I aren’t yet eighteen. We can’t.”

“I know, not officially, anyway. Would you accept an unofficial position until then?” They both nodded and let her continue. “What about the rest of you?”

“I accept,” Vidia said.

“As do I,” chimed her husband, Cetti.

“Of course, darling,” Perdita added.

Ara looked to her wife, Cantella, taking her hand. “We’re in.”

“As if I have a choice, then,” Arel said.

After the meeting, Bellva went back to her corner. Not the same corner, exactly. This time she favored one closer to her room. She needed to get away from everything and everyone else. She needed to deal with what she had done.

She heard footsteps. She willed herself to disappear into the pillar. She wasn’t an idiot; she knew that it wouldn’t work. That couldn’t stop her from trying.

It was Arel. Oh no.

“Hey,” he said. It was as if he didn’t think anything of it, of her sitting in a corner, all on her own. He helped her to her feet. “What are you doing here?”

“Just… thinking.” She wasn’t lying. She had been thinking.

“I see. What about?”

“Everything that’s happened since Tiesa got back. It seems like only yesterday… It’s all happened so fast…”

“Are you alright?” he asked gently.

“Of course I am,” she snapped back. She didn’t mean to snap, really.

“You don’t look it.” He took one of her gloved hands. “I’ll get you a glass of water and some biscuits.”

“Really, Arel. I’m fine.”

“After everything you’ve been through, I don’t know how anyone could be.”