S1 Chapter 9, All could see that the answer had been found

HolyWood, Ao'o Castle, Day.

“Dearest Cousin Star,” Richi's letter said. “SUCESS ! I have found the missing Prince and he has agreed to help the Dragoon council repair the damaged Throne and Courts. You MUST travel right away and meet him! This Currier is leaving now so I cannot explain more. Be swift! -Richi.”

She grinned and was used to his frantic words. Still now she was able to leave the kingdom and not only had Dawn returned, but Rosie as well. Mother had retrieved daughter, and grandmother had been relieved of her trial. The courts had sent a letter right before Richi's telling her that the jury had found innocence in her favor and she was free to come and go from Holy Wood as she wished.

“TILDA!” She shouted excitedly as she shuffled through letters.

A middle aged, attractive woman came into the room, her head of household. This woman handled the castle only after Richi himself, and she arranged for the Queen's planned comings and goings. Her long brown hair was tied in a braid that reached down her back. She came swiftly.

“Yes my Queen?” She had also once worked for the pirate Queen, Anne.

“I am to make the journey to the Dragoon Mountains. Rosie and Dawn will stay here, and you will serve over my daughter in matters of estate.” She lit a joint and breathed in, then offered it to Tilda who shook her head politely.

“When is your departure?”

“Day after tomorrow. Enough to spend with Rosie again before I leave, enough to tell Dawn how things will run whilst both Richi and myself are gone.”

“When do I expect your return?”

Star thought for a moment, “Two, maybe three weeks to get there with my small procession and band of guards, a week there, two weeks back. Mark me to return on the seventh week after I leave. If I am gone longer than six weeks, then you should send someone to come looking.”

Tilda nodded. “As you wish my queen.” She departed, needing all she had to know to prepare.

Star rather liked the stern woman. Stern she may appear, the Queen knew she harbored a soft spot for Rosie, Tilda had been the midwife for Dawn with both children, she had missed Rosie and was more than relieved to have her back home. . . .

Shaking the creeping sadness form her brain, the Queen went to the balcony and looked down to see her offspring entering the castle with their small envoy of traveling guards. The Jones man, sent from the old King, sat on his white horse with the flag of his King. Star waved politely and he smiled in response, dipping his head in a curt bow. He kicked his horse and went to the stable to rest his horse before leaving quickly after.

She turned inside and began rummaging through her things. There was a list in her head to check off before she left and she wanted to hurry like her cousin urged her to. With Dawn in better spirits, and the princess in waiting home, the Queen was free from worry or thought of distraction. Eventually, she knew that either she would wander off to find her family, or they would come to her. No matter how, she had to tell them that she was leaving just as they were returning.

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Dragoon Mountains. AC/DC 2020

Her travels were met with great response from the common folk, and hardly any response from the alleged highwaymen. Then again, upon Tilda's insistence, Star took more than her planned two guards. She took six instead and was sure it would suffice. Still, despite her lack of opposition on the road, she could feel their eyes from the woods. Whether it was Spyders or thieves, she had recently heard of a new gang in the area, the Motley Ones....annoying young men who robbed women of their lust and men of their money.

As she was led to the tavern where the local celebrations were to be held she watched the many emerging and reconnecting nobles come out of the dark, rocky surroundings. In a manner of speaking of course. She sat at the bar and ordered a drink, her eyes scanning the dignitaries. After so long in civil disputes over succession, the newest Court system was proving strong and durable. Whoever the new king was he must have mind for politics.

Richi was not in the crowd, nor would he be for some time. Light in the Black was on stage and he was their leader, they would lead the festive atmosphere that night. She would be content to watch and wait to meet the new King. She looked about curiously, whoever he was she was sure she would have met with him by now. Of course she only just arrived some hours before, shown to her rooms while Richi and the King, simply called His Highness.....As if to further the angst of not knowing his name or being formerly introduced......while he and her cousin hid from her.

She raised an eyebrow and took a sip of alcohol, called Deamon Whiskey in this part of the land. This was all her rotten cousin's doing, she was still mad at him, while he sounded to be having a grand time. She was nearing contempt when the lights were darkened in the back of the room and attention was drawn to the stage. When the curtains came up, they were heralded by a familiar voice and a familiar sound of guitar.

It was Sir Padvia! And Richi. . She put the vague pieces together and realized that when the man said he was leaving, he was actually going with her cousin that night. But where was the King of the Dragoons?! He should be here, this was in HIS honor! It made little sense.. . . .or did it?

The whole night she listened and waited. Waiting was an attribute forced upon her during the BOC rebellion, she would wait and sip her whiskey. When they finally came from the stage she began making her way to the Knight who had saved her, but he seemed to have eyes elsewhere and dove to another crowd opposite her. He embraced a young woman who seemed enamored with him to a near fault. Young love, Star knew it when she saw it.

It was Richi who shook her out of the moment. He came to her side and she turned to him. He was smiling, his smiles always made her belly warm, Blackmoore happiness was infectious.

“Cousin!” She said excitedly. “Oh that was spectacular! The Olde Gods of Sound bless you!”

He grinned haughtily, “They bless the Dragoons! Their presence is heavy here.”

She grinned. “Light in the Black sounds successful.” She added with a squeeze,” Dear Cousin.”

Their bands were not just musical acts, they were politicians. Their power to influence and relate to the many common people at once was through the music they sang. This was how movements were inspired, how warriors were gathered. This was how they strengthened weakened lands and peoples, how they acted as ambassadors and brought influence and prosperity. Music.

“We have been! The King has been found and order has been restored. This has been more successful than I first expected.” His eyes lit with a fire she rarely saw and he threw back a shot.

“You are quiet good at restoring the rightful rulers to their thrones. Where is this King you speak so fondly of? Was he here?”

“He is!” He pointed to the man she knew across the room. “I made him singer of Light in the Black and when he came with me from Holy Wood, the courts recognized him as the SON of that heir that ran away.”

“You mean you didn't find THE heir?”

“No, better. He had a son while young and that son, the NEW heir, has returned to us as Padvia.”

She turned to stare at him. “He was on stage the entire time.” Saying it it more to herself.

When Star won the rebellion, she shared immortality with the lands, some wanted it, some did not. In most of her time as Queen of Holy Wood, she had had little contact with the North most kingdom. They were a race of shorter men and women, but with voices of power that moved mountains. She was familiar with the story of the lost heir, of the aged King having three sons. He was old when they were born, and continued to rule and live long after, watching one son die and one have another son.

Putting the fractured stories together she saw the image of the lone Dragoon Prince who had come to her aid during the Rebellion. After that she lost contact with them, they shut her out in grief at the death of the King's first son. She could picture a young boy running away from a grief stricken family who then placed all future responsibility on him without his consent while his remaining uncle and his father fought over the right of succession. She sighed inwardly, succession was such a nasty business but one that held countries together with the choice of rulers and leaders, a battle she fought endlessly.

She recalled the Prince talking about his nephew once or twice, how he himself had no sons and his youngest brother did. No doubt that was the boy who ran away, some sixteen years old. Star wondered if he ran away with a young girl who carried his bastard, or eventually found one. Maybe so, maybe so....She realized she was deep in inner thought and her vision came back into focus, centering on Richi. He was talking to her, and didn't seem to notice that she had gone silent.

She nodded, seemingly appropriately and mumbled a response. He was satisfied and drank heavily. Her cousin had found the heir apparent and made him King. She had met him, by some fate, the night before he left. She felt a strange brew twist in her gut, as if she would rely on this budding friendship in some future conflict. As if hearing her thoughts, the Knight himself turned and began coming towards her cousin. His eyes lit when he saw her standing next to Richi and when he came to stand before her they both mirrored the others smile in reunion.

“Your highness,” he bowed in respect.

“Oh no need for that King Padvia.” She smiled.

“King, is still a new title,” he said. “One I still am not used to.”

Star noticed that he and the woman by his side held hands tightly.

“Do not be so modest Padvia!” Richi said encouragingly. “He is doing splendidly, as if born to.”

Padvia laughed and kissed his woman who he then introduced. Star barely heard her name, a rude act, but she was honed on the sound of Dio's voice. It would all she ever had of him. Somehow, it reminded her of the man she had tasted, wanted, and craved, but could never have. His, not Padvia's, voice all she possessed of him. While it drew on her sadness, she hid it away and smiled and laughed. She welcomed her new ally, and established a new pact with a new king of a rebuilt Kingdom.

This pact was established as the festivities grew during the night. Star and Richi drank with Padvia and his newly engaged, queen to be. Richi was going to leave two members of Light in the Black with the Dragoons for a year, to help the new King establish himself on the throne. They were to help him learn his place as King, to assist the new court members in all matters of adjustment. Rebuilding a kingdom was a tedious project, one that both Star and her cousin were familiar with. Star drank away any doubt, any hint of sorrow, she rejoiced with the Dragoon peoples at a new era of leadership. With both the other sons of legend dead, it all lay with Padvia to right the wrong his father committed and take up his blood rite.

With a woman to love by his side, Star had little doubt he would fail.

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Hotel in Holy Wood. Sunrise.

Star came out onto the balcony in Holy Wood, the girl she left behind laid out happily on the bed behind her. In the hotel over looking the city. After a week long stay in the Dragoons, they returned to the Wood together, leaving Padvia to become a king. After which, Star threw another wild celebration in honor of the success of Richi. She had swooped up with a group of revelers and awoke in the hotel room with a girl in bed next to her.

She overlooked her kingdom and drew on a joint between her lips. She breathed in deeply, feeling the burn of the joint in her lungs and welcomed it. Her mind whirled with thoughts and a hang over as she took in the glorious view of her kingdom laid out before her. The smoke drifted before her face and the ind took it away, the selfish wind. For some divine reason, she recalled the feelings evoked from seeing Padvia with another woman. Not a feeling of betrayal, but a reminder that as Queen, as Star Dust, mother of the Lizard Children, Wife to the dead Lizard King, Ruler of the central kingdom, warrior queen, the lead instigator in the counter movement to the BOC rebellion, giver of immortality.

And she alone could not have the one man she truly wanted.

BANG!

The door was broken down and swung off its hinges as it crashed against the wall and to the floor. A horde of policemen entered, she knew who sent them. She smiled, shook her head, and raised her hands to the air as the girl screamed from the bed and was taken into protective custody. When Star turned around she saw the one who led the pigs.

“Well, well well Mr  Tam.” She contained her laughter while mocking him. “Good to see you again!”

He didn't return her smile as he rudely turned her to face away as he put cuffs on her. “You are under arrest your highness,” he added her title sarcastically.

She let her laugh go and it only irritated him.

“Care to read me your charges Officer Tam?”

“That's Officer Sativ- I mean Bay,  to you!”

She didn't fight him as he led her away, reading the charges of sexual conduct with an underage girl...again. Star couldn't help but wonder if all these charges were perpetrated by the BOC just to spite her and she expected to be alerted of a second trial. But there was no trial, no hint at one, she was meant with another bail, high according to her social status.

 No doubt, that while the girl was found in her hotel room, there was very very little evidence that they had actually conducted sexual acts together. With that uncertainty, certainly they had no standing charges.  Tam took her to the court house to be detained......of course to his anger and fury, there was a bail posted per her own laws.....to which her daughter came to pay and release her.

Tam watched as the woman left and he vowed justice.......

“Fuck Mother,” she said angrily as they descended the steps to the court house. “Again? You only just got off the last case. If it weren't for the bail you'd be rotting away by now.”

“You know its funny, I actually do not remember last night.”

“Again?”

“Yes. I remember the girl's sweet mouth but I don't remember our supposed tryst in the night.”

“You really need to stop with  all the drugs.”

“You wouldn't.”

“Because I'm not Queen.”

“And nor shall you be.”

“Based on the advice of a gods forsaken witch.”

They entered into the horse drawn carriage and her daughter sat there in a pout.

“Once again we find ourselves in an all too familiar predicament Mother.” She sat there with a frown on her face and a joint between her fingers. “Can you at least stop having sex with teenagers in hotels and the manor.”

“Take them to the castle?”

“I don't care, just stop getting caught. Or better yet....STOP FUCKING TEEN AGED GIRLS!”

Star chuckled. “It's a hard habit to break when they won't stop knocking on my hotel doors.”

“Can't you get laid by adults? Can't you resist breaking your own laws?”

“I do, to both. That girl in the hotel was actually legally an adult.”

“And how do you know that if you don't remember shit from last night?”

“As I was detained I overheard an officer tell our friend Tam that this time, the girl was actually eighteen, just turned last week. Again though, in the midst of celebration-”

“You what? Couldn't tell she was so young? I don't think that will hold up in court again.”

“It's what got me free this time and prevents another trial. Obviously they're watching.”

“They always watch.”

“It is peculiar how frequently these accusations have appeared lately.”

“How do you mean?” Dawn looked out the window and blew smoke through her nose.

“It has been nearly fifty years since the Rebellion. Fifty years and in the last few alone, I have been accused of making love to teenagers more than ever before. Someone is watching closely and pulling strings in the most ironic sense.”

Dawn nodded. “True. Now that you bring it up, it is odd and it makes sense. What will you do about it? About them?”

Star shrugged and lit another joint. “I haven't a clue. Oh! That's right!” She rapped her knuckles on the wall of the carriage. “Driver!” She shouted. “Take me to 25^th Arcadia Avenue!”

“The art studio?”

“I promised an artist friend- you remember Baron?- that I would pose for his class today. I nearly forgot.”

“Pose?”

“Nude of course. Art is an important factor in culture, I will not deny my subjects an appearance of a life time from their immortal Queen in an attempt to capture her agelessness. That's what he told his class.”

“Oh Gods mother,” Dawn rubbed her temples in the act of a head ache.

For a moment they were quiet. The only sound was the bustle of the city, the people on the streets, the horse hooves clacking, the cars calmly passing through the village. The issue of making Dawn Queen was one they had fought over for years. Star had her reasons, which she vaguely told her child.

“You know why I refuse you.” The Queen said.

“A stupid fortune told by a witch.”

“She said-”

“That the throne would be disrupted by forces already in motion. You would put a bastard king on the throne and your children would rule red sands of the father unknown-whatever that fucking means. Should a Queen follow after you, so shall death. It's all bullshit Mother.”

The blonde sighed and tried to move on the conversation.. “You would like your bastard brother, I just know you would.” 

“He is not my brother, he is a demon you summoned.”

“If that's the case, then I think now is the best time to bring up Rosie.”

Dawn eyed her insane parent. “What do you mean?”

“She is of marrying age you know.”

“Oh no, don't you dare.”

“If you refuse to have Angus be your brother, then I will marry him to Rosie, make him an official member of the our royal family.” she smiled at the thought.

“First he's my brother, then he's my daughter's fiance. Rosie will NOT marry a demon who you try to portray as my brother, you crazy bat.”

Star laughed. “You will like him.”

“If he comes with that fool who torments you no I will not.”

That shut her mother right up. In fact Star abruptly tapped on the roof of the carriage and promptly exited. Dawn did not care, like her uncle she nearly despised the man who her mother loved in all passion. This man alone made Star cry in broken heartedness when he would enter and leave her life for carnal trysts, as if he didn't care about her feelings. Coming and going of his own will, and her mother allowed it, which brought on waves of tormented abuse and sadness. It made Dawn and Richi furious that Star let him do it, exposing to the world the one weakness she had no control over. The man Dawn so hated was the one factor uncontrolled in their rule.

The Princess hoped that making Star hurt over him would also prompt her to hate him and drive her away from the man. For the last forty years this sonofabitch had come and gone under cover of darkness, visiting and loving her in the night only to leave with the sunrise. Dawn hadn't even seen him in person. Richi had, and had alerted the guards, against the Queen's wishes, that should the man been seen he was to be killed or captured on sight. The Princess would deal with the bout of depression his death would bring on her mother when the time came, she was prepared for it.

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Holy Wood seaside, twilight.

Star had a secluded cottage that was hers alone. Her husband had it constructed for her on their wedding day. Her own hide away. A gift to ease the tension of their arranged marriage. It was placed in a wooded bluff, above the sea below. It was a peninsula of Holy Wood land that touched the sea, for two miles in either direction, this was Holy Wood land many did not see.

The Queen went there now, under veil of night. She rode a black horse, and went alone, she knew he was there. She had seen his face in the crowds of people in the village. She hadn't seen him since her curse in the Black Castle, and she knew that if she went to the seaside he would follow. As he did now, she being the only one keen enough to hear him. She smiled when she thought that he Let her know he was there.

She got off her horse and released the saddle, letting it crash to the ground. She didn't care. Up the cobblestone pathway, in the moonlight, the sound of the waves beyond the cottage were loud. She could hear her heartbeat over the waves as she went up the path, and heard the rustle of bushes behind her. She stopped and smiled in the dark.

He couldn't stay away any longer. He couldn't deny what he wanted any longer. HE couldn't deny her what she wanted. At least for that night....

He knew her family hated him for what he had done to her over and over again. They thought him a heartless man after nothing but carnal pleasures from her. A man who took advantage of the mightiest queen in the lands and made her cry. He was not heartless, if they only knew the price he had once been paid to end her life. If they only knew that he had given up a wife, a life, and a comfortable payment by letting her live that night.

He wanted to visit her before he left to retrieve the Power Band form the Southern island. Where her bastard demon boy was gaining talent. Soon, Bon was to join the Boy and be the singer of their “Power Band”, replacing his associate who lead them now.

He forgot about everything the moment she got down from her horse. He watched her under the moonlight as she shoved her velvet trousers down her legs and stepped away from them. The belt around her waist held her billowy white shirt in order and she let that fall. It was only the white shirt glowing in the night. She was bare under that lone chemise and he moved forward to wrap her in his strong arms and take her down into the grass.

The soft seaside grass was their bed and while her horse grazed the nearby field, she screamed in pleasure at the lightest of touch. He was no better off in control, she made him wither and moan with the barest of kisses against his skin. He was the one begging her for more, and she gave all she could. It still wasn't enough. Years of pent up, unsatisfying, emotional longing was released between the two of them in those moments on the grass. They were caught up in the most innocent of emotions; love.

They moved in doors and proceeded to make love again as the waves crashed and sea mist sprayed on the rocks outside the large window that faced the open sea. The ocean was black, and the night deep by the time Bon fell asleep on the floor next to her. Hardly a word had been spoken between them other than demands for passion. Star however, could not sleep, no matter how spent or how tired she was.

She sat next to him, stroking his shoulder length hair, watching him sleep with complete peace on his face. They both knew no peace. She doubted they ever would, her only hope that both would live through the next year, and the year after that. Immortal to time they were, not so to swords and poison. If he were to die, she didn't know if she could live on. If she couldn't have him by her side, she would have him alive and well in the world they lived in.

“I want to keep you Bon, but recently I was forced to know that I can never have you. I wish Angus was our son, at least then I would have a piece of you and a piece of me in the physical form. If I cant have all you, why not just a piece?”

Bon sighed in sleep.

She went on. “On my wedding day the witch came to me. She said that The throne would be disrupted by forces already in motion, under my rule fate will be undecided for all. I would put a bastard king on the throne for the first time, and my other children would rule red sands of the father unknown. My daughters will not take what was meant for them, if a queen should follow my stead, so shall death. I've kept my girl away from that tale, to protect her. I created Angus to force the prophecy.”

She kissed his head, “I had hoped to instill him on the throne. I made him with you in mind, and I wish he was ours more than anything. Instead, Angus is to by the corner stone that brings you and I together in the eyes of the public at last. He will be the foundation of the Tour to Peace, a tour that I have seen visions of. It will change our world, and I don't fear change. But I do not see the end of the Tour and what lies beyond, I can only see the formation and you and I standing side by side as we embark.” Her voice dropped lower, “Something, or someone, does not want me to see the future, no matter that it comes soon. . . “

He breathed deep and it made her tilt her mouth in a sad grin. She leaned down and kissed him. For moments more the queen tried to sleep, staring at her lover, willing him to stay. Though when they awoke, she knew that one of them would leave and one would stay. He was due to leave, and she was due to be at the castle. What she didn't know, besides the future, is that Bon was listening. He was adept at spying, and pretending to be asleep. His kind were called Dirty Deeds Men, it was their nature to be deceptive.

During the night he grabbed her and when he heard her begin to snore, he took his turn to watch her. He had heard all she said, it had woken him up. He wanted nothing more than to stay with her, for longer than a night at a time. He had to leave though, he must, it was for the betterment of her life, of his, of the world's. If he didn't lead the Power Band from the Great Southern Island, he doubted they would make it to Holy Wood. His fellow Dirty Deeds Man who watched the Boy while Bon was not South was a good fighter, but a poor leader.

No, Bon could not allow anyone other than himself or Prince Malcome to befriend and harbor Angus, the boy meant too much to her and himself. He was Star's only son, in some sense of the word. Her lover felt protective, near fatherly, when the red devil was involved, his one connection to her. The one person she had created that he could openly be known to associate with. Without someone knowing the connection and trying to kill one or both of them. Not to mention, the Power Band members were mere children, all of them having been born in the last twenty years alone, while He was much older than that.

When the Rebellion ended and situations became clear, both Bon and Star knew the complications of their relationship. How it could not be in the public sense, in legal senses it was too complicated. He hated how it was more complicated than it had to be. But then again, so was immortality and ruling a kingdom of mortals and immortals alike. He may appear evil by seducing her time and time again, but her giving in hurt him as it did her.

If she only knew what he thought about. . . .He wanted to tell her, but it would only further ruin the beauty they had just shared. No, they would not break the spell, they would let the sunrise do that.

S1 Chapter 8, Remember any Price part 2

Castle Ao'o, day.

“I know what she did now,” Star said as she walked alongside a priest dressed in dark blue robes. Her red robe flattered him. He was tall, tall and had a narrow face. His long hair was once gold but now faded and grayed, stuck in time. “She used voodoo to ignite the eclipse, magic to open the portal. Easy for her caliber. A fucking hassle for myself.”

“Can it be reversed?” He asked.

She nodded as they walked through the halls of her palace home. He towered over her but his presence was not menacing. She rather enjoyed this man's company, his dark, dark wine red eyes were surprisingly kind.

“Dawn must return to Holy Wood and end it herself. She set the curse, the first person born in one thousand years with such an ability. Her predecessor was never this wild.”

“Who could proceed Dawn?” He asked, a laugh playing on his voice.

“Oh I don't know, someone related to her father, its in their Shaman blood. The King used to say- AH!”

Her speaking was interrupted by her screams as she collapsed to the ground like a stone and the man was taken by surprise. He stood aside, ready to assist but unsure how to proceed. The Queen lay still for a moment more, the pain was not in her body, but in her energy, the magic that resided in her was being attacked.

“Your highness,” he said with heavy concern.

“I'm alright,” she said suddenly. She eased back to sit on the floor and took a breath. She looked to the outside world visible through a window portal. “With her gone, I take on her power over the sun and its like a leech. Biting me at the worst of times. Moving that eclipse she cast is not an easy task.”

She took the hand he gave her and she stood up. One quick look in his eyes though showed her a spark of some emotion she felt was odd...was that happiness in view of her torment? With another deep breath she steadied herself and they resumed walking. All the same, the man stared at her intently. She looked up at the eclipsed sun, nothing had changed.

“Her Voodoo is powerful. I should have seen this coming the day I blessed her,” he grinned brightly, the spark she saw was gone.

Had it ever been there? Or was it a trick of the strange eclipse light? These thoughts were kept to herself.

Star laughed. “You yourself said she had a wild child's spirit. She's too smart, figuring out that voodoo is a bypass of my laws and those of the ancient ways.” She had to sit on a stone bench. “Oh Dee, she's just like her father.” She sighed.

Dee sat next to her, wanting to laugh but didn't. “The BOC is doing all they can to placate the people. Nothing to worry about yet, no major panic.”

“Yet,” she mumbled. Her voice came back stronger as she continued. “This eclipse is affecting the moon too, low tides cause low fishing. Without the sun it Will get cold and the crops will sicken. Trying to right her deed is sucking the life out of me as it is the lands.” Her sarcastic tone helped to alleviate the pressure of the situation.

“It's only for three and a half months, the people won't suffer that badly in that amount of time. Even Dawn knew that. ” He tried to reason with her.

“Still this is because of a contract She signed. Rosie is in no danger with the King and she has already been there for two weeks dammit.” She shook her head. “I need to find Dawn”

“But you said you cannot leave.”

“I must.” She stood, only to think better of it and sit again. “Or Not.”

“Your place is here your grace, doing what you can for the people. Yourself included, just look at you.” His accusations were not unkind. He was one of the few who spoke with a sort of liberty. “If I didn't know what ailed you I would say you were on verge of dying.You should be resting is what you Should be doing. Dawn will fix this, I promise that.”

“Such faith.”

“Always in the Lizard family. I blessed your husband, all three of your children, and then Rosie.” He hesitated and slowly added, “Even Deniel.”

“Don't speak his name, please.” She asked with some reserve.

“I've heard you don't enjoy speaking of him.”

“I never knew him. None of us got the chance. . . .”

“Dawn had to carry him, how do you think she feels?” He gently reminded her. “I can understand her anguish and temper, this must feel like that all over again.”

“I lost two daughters as well,” She paused. “But I didn't eclipse the sun and jump into a magic portal because of it. This is why you read contracts before you sign them.”

“What will you do when she returns? How do you punish the last true blooded heir?” He had to smile at her antics.

“Ha! I don't. As long as no long term harm is committed, a simple house arrest will do I suppose. Maybe a temporary exile, which she won't mind any how.” She was quickly occupied with that thought.

“I have never had children, the people are my children, but I live vicariously as a parent through you.” It made him laugh.

“If only you knew what a parent would do for their child.” She stared at him then in a way he found odd. As if she was speaking to him without using words.

“Is the boy, the subject of your trial, one such child of yours?”

She was silent, that lingering smirk silent but full of words.

“I came to see how you managed in this unusual time, I see I can do nothing else but let you do what you do best. Fix it.” He smiled, knowing she would say nothing more on the matter,  and took her hand to kiss the back of it.

A genuine smile graced her lips but she did not rise to see him off, she could hardly move she felt so tired.

“I enjoy your visits and our talks, though they always seem short and direct.”

“I know no other way,” he said. “Good day my Queen.”

He was leaving and she sighed, but before he left he turned to face her and stopped. The look in his face had gone from sweet to sour, a hint of sour. She could see a question linger in his face, questions about her trial, her life, her family. Questions she would not answer. But the one thing he Did say she did not expect.

“Many things come in the night Queen. Children, spirits, rumors.”

She listened.

“You are the Queen, I among the BOC respect that, your legal urges and encounters are no business of mine, but your safety is. Beware the hidden shadows in the night, shadows that look like men.”

The image of the three men in the alley popped into her head. A second image jumped into her mind's eye alongside them, a man who moved in the shadows better than most people moved in the day.

“Do you move in the night Dee?”

He shook his head and grinned. “No not I Queen. I work in the day, for you.”

She laughed. “No you work with the BOC.”

“Yet I enjoy your company more than they do. Good day your grace.” He bowed his head in respect and departed.

His words made her uneasy. Their alliance was decades old, since she found him in the throngs of spectators during the Seize of the BOC city. He was the leader of the Priests who claim they didn't take part in the Rebellion. The two became the equivalent of friends, and while she liked him, she could not fully trust any member of the BOC. He was one of power among them and she could not trust him no matter how pleasant she found him, he obviously knew more than she wanted him to, she should have known he had his own spies. How could he not? His words made her think that soomehow, he knew of her recent encounters, not only with the Spyders, but with Bon. . .

*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*

The other side of the portal....

Dawn and her Wizard lay in bed together. They were spending all sorts of time together in many ways, carnal and otherwise, Since she summoned him to her hidden island in a dead volcano just north of the Dragoon Mountains, they had become inseparable. She and her lover were content, the Eclipse didn't bother them there, but she knew the outside world would be in near panic. The thought of causing her mother stress made her happy in her current predicament. It all took the burden off of herself.

“You're thinking about her,” he said.

“How could I not? She's a loon in charge of the entire kingdom. She let them take my child away.”

“While in retaliation you hide the sun and disappear causing mass chaos throughout the lands,” he gleefully kissed her. “I agree.”

“I couldn't stand staying there with her after that. How dare she chose duty over me? You Can choose both, she just didn't try.”

“Don't you worry what your curse will entail?” He didn't worry, the magic wouldn't have a strong impact on him. But he was curious, Dawn made him curious.

“It won't ruin the land, just cause Mother discomfort. She's probably ill right now, sick from the magic leeching off of her without her consent. Like how it feels to be her daughter.”

“I can only imagine,” he said while planning a carnal surprise. He ripped away the down cover over them. “Enough of her, I'll make you know how it feels to be my lover.”

She smiled, “Yes, please do.”

They smiled and she enveloped him with her kiss and sultry smile.

^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*

Kingdom by the Sea, day.

Rosie had to admit, it wasn't as much of an imprisonment as she once believed it would be. She returned to the castle to the ladies who she had befriended before, and they were all very kind to her. She was given free roam of the castle, but preferred her rooms. She was given all the food she could crave, all the play things other noble children played with, she was given friends and company and even the castle dogs to befriend. She couldn't say she was down right miserable, she missed her nana and mother more than she was afraid or sad.

Her mother didn't look at her. . . .She understood now that it must have hurt to have them take her away. Which is why the eclipse was happening now. It worried the Sea People, low tides and strange ocean currents concerned them. Rosie also had to admit that she had befriended the Old King.

Once again, upon her return he had greeted her kindly and warmly. Taking her into their home and over the days he had made her less worried than she usually was, and with little effort he did this. As if reading her thoughts about him, he appeared at her open door and knocked, Rosie turned her attention from the flock of sea gulls outside her window to the King.

As her nana would say, he was pleasant to look at. Tall, once an exceptionally handsome youth, he was a kind faced old man now, true to his title. Long graying gold hair in tight curls that dipped passed his shoulders framed a kind face distracted by a mustache and goatee. His blue eyes were the life of him, as sea green as the clearest of waters, as endless as the sea itself. The warmth radiated from him like the spray of sea form off the shore rocks. The two had formed a a semi silent friendship.

“Not so bad as you first thought I imagine.” He came in with his hand clasped behind his back. He came to join her stance before the window looking out over the red hued land. “Would be nicer if our sea side village was in its proper element. Sadly with this eclipse, the sea is in torment.”

“I'm sure Mum didn't mean to hurt your ocean. She's mad at nana and that's what this is all about.”

“Do they often fight? From your tone it would seem so.”

She sighed. “Oh yes. They do. Mum wants to be queen, nana won't let her.”

“Oh now that's curious. Any idea why?”

“No, maybe something a gypsy once told her. Nana is weird like that.”

“Your grandmother is quiet the woman. Quiet the Queen.” He smiled at the girl.

She returned it halfheartedly.

“They do love you know. I am sorry it came to this, making your mother upset like that. It was not my intention.”

“I know, she signed a deal, that's how nana explained it.”

“But you do realize what it means don't you? Your mother did make the deal and if she had read what she signed, she had the opportunity to question it and have it reworded to her benefit. We did not take you from her to be cruel.”

“I know that now,” she admitted. “Mother does too, doesn't mean she liked it.”

He looked at her, such a solemn girl. He too knew of the curse that plagued her, she seemed oblivious to it. Still a young child despite the fact that by his count she was in her twenties, at least twenty five. But the girl before him was only fifteen. It made him sad, knowing what Star did about her, about the curse, how one day she would become part of the earth in the most physical sense. He could see it now, the cracks and patches on her skin, bark.

“You are a Leo born you know that? Leos always know other Leos,” he said smiling.

She looked at him with her mothers eyes. “Nana and mum are always talking about their moon signs, and mine. They call me the little leo.”

“Even quiet lions are still lions. Tell me, are you scared here?”

She shook her head. “At first yes, but not now.”

“Because you are smart. You see and hear very well. Which is why I feel foolish for asking you.”

“Asking me what?” She looked at him.

“If you could help us.”

“How?”

“I feel that often times you don't have a say in where you go. As the last child, as a young girl, as the Princess. You are strong and brave but I can see they keep you hidden, to keep you safe from harm. You do not travel much, and here, away from them for months I know you must feel . . .uncertain. But I want you to know that there is no harm here for you, I do not wish to hurt you or your family in any way. Your mother must pay her debt, and the currency is only time. That's all I ask of you, to spend the time your mother owes here. You do like it here don't you?”

She nodded slightly. “Well yes, it is nice to be by the sea. I do like the sea.”

“The sea is normally a lot more beautiful than it is now. Low tides expose all the beach pebbles, and dry up all the crabs the children dig for, I don't know how long this will last, it has been here for a week longer now and I'm asking for your help little Leo lady.”

“I don't know where she went, I don't know how to reverse the eclipse. I can't. . . .”

“You can communicate to the earth. Use your power, your namesake power and connect to the earth. All plants, all trees and mountains are connected. They will show you to her.”

“How?”

“Come, lets go to the shore,” he said.

They went and Rosie wondered. She had never tried to connect her powers and awaken them. To look into the earth's mind and see what It saw as a collective mind. She mother had obviously exercised her connection with the sun, her grandmother loved the night, Rosie was named for the earth. But she had never used her magic abilities, as slight as they were. Not like her relatives.

She was not prepared for what she found when the King told her all she had to do was place her palm to the sand on his beaches and close her eyes. Instantly she saw through new eyes, eyes underground, where the earth was not as she knew it. The plants of the land Were connected.

“Its all one,” she said. “It's all . . . .Alive!” She smiled brightly and in her mind asked them to take her to her mother's presence.

The Earth obliged her. It took her into the underground where she could SEE the animals who burrowed, she could SEE the roots communicate and she could FEEL the lack of sunshine depressing the flora. It was not painful, but it was noticeable. Rosie understood now more than ever before that she had to find her mother, not just for the humans but for the Earth itself. She flew through the tree roots of old and young, passed fields of flowers and trenches of swamps. The frogs in the marshes, to the birds in the trees, the worms in the grass and apples. Rosie saw it all in a way she never dreamed she could see.

The Mountains were singing! They grew and sang to her! The trees were loving parents, the fields of gold to the South were strong waves that crashed over the soil. The Sea was silent though and it made her uneasy, too much of that would eventually make the earth die of thirst it seemed. She ran, she flew hopped and bounded over leagues and leagues in any direction at any given moment. She saw more than a hawk saw from above, all from the dry shore line.

The flora took her far beyond the Dragoons, where her uncle dwelled. They took her deep underground to empty volcano tubes. Great stone chambers underground were hot magma once oozed from the pit of the earth itself. Cooled thousands of years ago, leaving behind a valley where the fire once came from. A lake formed, and on this lake a small, small island where only two beings were detected to be.

Rosie suddenly stood up and swayed on her feet, breaking the connection. It was too sudden. Like drowning in reverse.

“A lake in a volcano beyond the Dragoons,” she said.

The King knew it. “A long journey from here. But one we may make if you were so willing.”

She suddenly looked ill. “Oh no...I couldn't go that far. I've never been farther North than the Canyon Lands, and never farther South than the Golden Hills. To go beyond the Mountains. . . .”

“Rosie, your mother is the Keeper of the Dawn, only she can end this eclipse. Do you like this Eclipse? Did the Earth relay its joy with this eclipse?”

She shook her head. “Well no, no I don't like it.” She looked at the dry shore, the weak tides lapping against her side. She didn't want to spend three and half months like this.

“Then come with me, we'll go find your mother together and convince her to stop this.”

“But they said I couldn't see her.”

“I am the King, I can break my own rules if I want to.”

His attitude made her want to laugh, but she grinned instead.

The King sent word to the Star Queen and the two departed quickly. He took his best human warrior, leaving Jones and the Knight to guard the Kingdom, and they made way along the North Road. Not even the King could recall a time when Seaside flags were flown this far north. Even in this, their travels were pleasant. Not a single highwayman showed his face, all the better. Seaside warriors were known to be ruthless in battle, and gentle in bed. Men and women of balance and hidden death.

“You see, everything has a balance Rosie,” he explained one night while reciting Sea Kingdom tales to her. “ Our Warriors seek this balance their whole lives. Your mother and Grandmother work in balance, sun and stars, night and day. You too hold the balance of life and death, in ways we couldn't understand. You are connected to the earth, and in the earth Everything lives and dies.”

“You mean like when a tree falls? My teacher says it falls and rots and animals live in it and the rotting bark makes the soil rich and other plants grow,” she recited.

He nodded. “Exactly! That is the how the Knight is powerful, he has achieved the balance. He is the one who needs the laws to be followed,” he told her, “for the balance to remain he needs it to be. It is why your mother and I made a deal, and why we need this unnatural eclipse to end. I can give you two a day together, but I need you to return with me.”

She smiled, he was a nice man. Like her mother before her, she didn't know her father. Her grandfather had died after Dawn's birth, Rosie's father was from a far away land and was called to war when she was two years old. He hadn't returned yet, but Rosie secretly thought he some day would. This King was a pleasant would be father, his children were grown and off on adventures. He had an heir but he hardly saw them. She realized then that what he had forced upon her mother, his children had done to him.

Though she wanted to go home, she knew that this deal must be cleared. Only three months and then she would go home. Life by the sea wasn't as bad as she thought and when she made the ocean blue again, maybe it would be even better. Like before.

Another week and four days passed before Rosie finally made them stop. They had reached the volcano. The Eclipse now made the earth hot, instead of cold like forcasted, and Rosie was feeling it. It made them worried. How could Mother not know? Well Rosie didn't, maybe no one knew for sure, until now that was.

The King looked up, “Right. Now how do we climb this mountain?”

“No one needs to climb anything,” a voice came from the woods before them.

When they looked they saw Dawn, standing gloriously on a fallen, moss covered log on a hill above them. She smiled which turned turned into a laugh and then bounded down to meet them. In one hand she carried a spear, three dead rabbits on a string slung across her shoulder. She threw it all down when she went to embrace Rosie.

Rosie couldn't say they weren't happy about seeing their mother again. She Was happy, joyed, but the eclipse remained and she looked up at it over her mother's shoulder. No matter how right she felt now it had to be fixed, and only Rosie could fix it.

“How did you find me?” Dawn asked them two of them. She stood up and held Rosie's hand, facing the King.

“She did,” he said. “She realized her power over the Earth.”

The Princess looked down at the younger princess. “You did? What was it like honey?” She asked excitedly, her baby was blossoming. 

“Everything is connected mum! All of it! Its like one living thing, everything that dies just gives life to more. Its like this everywhere, all the way down the shore. But it hurts, the eclipse is hurting it. I feel this hurt they do.”

“I had no idea,” she began to say, the surprise in her face told the truth.

The King nodded. “That is her strength. She made a connection with lands as far as here, and she feels what they do.”

“We need the sun, we need it to grow mum. The earth suffers without it. ” Rosie explained very properly.

Her words surprised Dawn. The mother nodded. Her child was slowly growing like the earthen sprite she was, her mind faster than her body thankfully.

“Then so it shall end. While I would pay any price for a damn knight, I will not pay for my revenge at the price of your pain.” She turned and took a deep breath in through her nose. On the exhale she began to weave symbols in the air with her fingers, they appeared as wisps and chanted a low mantra along the lines of “Bid me sky bend to my will. Turn dark back to light like a wheel. Only when I kneel, with knife at the wield, shall your spell yield.”

She got to one knee and sliced her palm open with a blade she drew from her belt. It was quick and the knife was true. With a handful of blood drops from her clenched fist falling to the ground, the eclipse began to fade, her false moon cover melted away quicker than the King expected. When the Princess stood again she was wrapping her hand in a cloth, Rosie was gathering herbs from the meadows that she knew would help heal her mother's cut faster and cleaner. The King smiled at their small family, he had a large family but always seemed alone. The most powerful family in all the lands was also the smallest, three women bound by blood and magic.

“I promised the child a day with you, Princess Dawn,” he said to her.

She looked at him and even smiled. “I will take that day Old King by the Sea. Thank you. But do remember,” she looked at Rosie. “Cover your ears Rosie.”

She did. Dawn's smile faded somewhat, her shoulders straightened.

“Law or no law, let this be a test of my power Old King,” this time the title was sarcastic.

The woman the King watched now was so vastly different from the one mere seconds before.

“Don't get me wrong my dear, you do not and cannot frighten me. When I was a younger man I would have challenged you to a sword duel. Alas, I cannot and it is your mother I fear above you. Besides, you know very well this whole ordeal would be over soon.” He gave her a witty smirk. “Someone told me that you and your mother argue quiet often. I gather that's what this is truly about.”

While she was fierce, she was not so blind with rage as to not see and hear reason. She respected him for his bravery, and his care for her child. While it was with frustration that she wondered why she could never best her mother in terms of loyalty, she took advantage of his kindness to break his own laws in letting them have a day together. She decided it wouldn't be so bad, Rosie would be cared for, and maybe. . . maybe she herself was ready for the child to be stronger, to grow a little. She began to want to see her child flourish and come into her own, and perhaps, having some sort of father like figure, even for a small while, would expose her to a caring touch.

Dawn knew she was rough, she tried to be gentle and patient with Rosie. The only other family Rosie saw often was Richi, but Dawn saw he was always so distant. She and her second cousin, her uncle for all intensive purposes, had a deep understanding that came from the use of few words. Not much needed to be said, they were related, they interacted, they usually shared the same annoying goals. They got along.

Star on the other hand adored her grandchild, going so far as to release the Dark One from her Island Prison, and beg him to help her save the curse girl. They did what they could, and Dawn did all she

could to give her a life. Maybe a temporary glimpse into a life where a father seemed possible was also what she could have.

^*^*^*^*^**^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^

Holy Wood, Castle Ao'o, day.

Star was reclining dramatically on a divan couch. Its gold velvet exterior was soft and contrasted with her scarlet robe gown. The moment the darkness of the eclipse lifted she knew Dawn had relented and she gasped. Rosie had done it, she and the King had found Dawn. Antony, the Old King, had sent one single letter curtly explaining that Rosie had realized her birth power, to connect with the earth, and had used it to locate Dawn. They were going to undertake the journey, two weeks when you traveled light, which would take them through a small pass between the Dragoon Mountains.

With the experienced King and his strongest man, she felt that Rosie would be safe....and she secretly wanted the child to make the journey. To experience the lands, to be brave, to travel farther than she had gone yet, as Star knew that one day Rosie would travel places Earthlings hadn't been in hundreds of years.. The unknown scared Rosie, she right to be, she could feel what was happening to her-the curse- but no one told her anything more about it, it was the unknown.

Star could breath again as the weight of her daughter's voodoo magick physically lifted. How she wished Richi was by her side, as he was in her times of need, her entire immediate family were all in the same part of the land and it exhausted her to imagine. She rolled off the divan and got on her hands and knees, looking out towards the open balcony doors, where the sun went from black to bright. She had to shield her honey eyes and sat back against the couch. Soon the small band of travelers would come back this way south and hopefully send word about what happened.

Admist her exhaustion she smiled, and even laughed. How proud she was of Rosie in the success of the child's first quest. First Real quest anyways, to release the land from darkness. She liked the sound of it, among those her age Rosie would be considered a hero once the tales got out. A fitting detail in the legacy of the Lizard family.

The queen's only agnst came in the form of waiting for Dawn to return, which she knew she wouldn't. Not until Rosie was returned did she expect her to be seen again. She grabbed the diamond stubbed cigarette case laying on the divan, and popped it open. A fat joint was plucked out from the bed of joints within and pressed t her lips, lit with a spark of fire between her fingers. Summoned with the surge of returning strength. She took a drag and then held it, and slowly released it. A month had lapsed, and she hoped peace remained for the one more month and a half.....hopefully.