The arrival of Taishi

Twinkle Star looked at her mother. She had stopped talking for a while, probably to think of what she was going to tell next. Twinkle Star noticed the others were just as curious of the story as she was. What would have happened with Reine? It was hard to believe one day the world looked so different for her aunts and her mother. So careless and free…

“Like I said, Medina had a twin sister, Medava.” Regina suddenly continued. “Medava was born a few minutes after Medina, but her powers have always been a little bit less than her sister’s, so in the end they chose Medina to become the future queen, which Medava was fine with, actually. She was really close with her sister and she was really wise, but she was never someone who was in the front of everything. She preferred to live in the background, and as her sister’s advisor and helper, her wish came true. She married a really nice pony, from low royalty, but she loved him dearly. Their first child was, to everyone’s surprise, a boy. Boys aren’t common with ponies of high royalty. The stronger your powers are, the less chance you have on giving birth to a boy. Queens hardly ever did, in our country, but it happens often in countries as Kin.

Anyway, their first child was a boy, and he was born about two years before Reine. His name was Matoe. A month after Reine had turned one, their second child was born, Anrui. But with her birth some things went wrong. The little girl was born a little too early and she wasn’t in the right position. It was a very painful and frightening experience, and even though Medava survived, though barely, she was never able to give birth again, so she never had more than those two children, which was little in those days. But she loved her little girl dearly. Anrui grew up to be extremely beautiful. She was white, and her mane and tail were a combination of gold and silver hairs. Her older brother was light blue with light yellow mane. They always got along very well and Matoe was very protective of his little sister. He hardly let her go anywhere without him, but she didn’t mind, she loved his company.

Of course they grew up in a very different part of the castle than me and my sisters. Not only in the building, but they were raised very different as well. After all, the chances of them ever coming close to the throne were slim, so why raise them with that burden? They grew up carefree, and both were bright, smart ponies. Anrui… She was special. Her powers were a bit above the average for someone in her position. But she was smart, and she knew how to handle things. She was really sweet and spend most of her days looking after others. Now that I think of it, she didn’t really have such a thing as a good friend. She had a lot of people around her but I don’t think anyone ever knew her really well. I know she was a mystery even to Matoe and her mother.

Matoe… Of course, he was a boy, so his powers were really small. But he knew how to keep his position in the castle as one of the few boys. Like I said, he protected his sister. He felt she needed that. He felt she was so sensitive, she had to be protected from the evil things of this world, and he was sure he was the one to do it. He had more friends than Anrui though. He loved to hang out with the few other guys from the castle, and do some, you know, boyish stuff, which he didn’t get the chance to do with his all-female family.

The day my story begins, Anrui had just turned nineteen years old, which means Reine was twenty and Matoe twenty-two. I was fourteen years old at that time. I still remember it well, everything that happened that day. Maybe, I would have forgotten it if nothing happened afterwards, but it did, and I remember it clearly. It was a highly anticipated day, and we all had worked hard for that day. The visitors would come. The visitors from Madash, the country by the seam of which I am sure you all have heard of.”

Twinkle Star nodded slightly. She knew Madash, it was supposed to be a beautiful country by the ocean. She remembered she was talking with Stelline about it, shortly before she met Testi and Vesti. She really wanted to visit it some day, and she was sure she would one day, when the time was right. She knew it was a kingdom, and she was about to learn what it’s relationships were to her country.

“The visitors of this country included the queen with her two oldest children, and a bunch of helpers and distant relatives that travelled with them. Her two oldest children were called Daryia, their oldest daughter and heir to the throne, and Taishi, her second born, who was a boy. I think Daryia was a little older than Matoe, and Taishi was of the same age as Reine and Anrui. They were supposed to stay at our castle for about two weeks, and the official reason was of course, royal relationships. But we all knew this was not the main reason. They wanted Daryia to meet Matoe. Both families thought it would be ideal for them to marry. Their queen would love it for her heir to marry a descendant of our family, and our family thought it was a good idea to get the guy out of the house.

Yes, this sounds cruel, but as I said, boys were a sign of weak royal powers, and, well, if you’re the royal family of the strongest country, signs of weakness are to be avoided. Matoe knew this, of course, and he wasn’t exactly opposed to the idea of marrying Daryia, as long as he liked her, and as long as his sister could come with him, but why would this be a problem?

So that day, everything was prepared for their arrival. The castle was even cleaner than usual, the garden looked prettier than ever, Me and my sisters had to be completely washed and our hair had to be beautiful. I still remember their arrival well, in fact. We were in the great hall, waiting; Campestre, me, Damina, Regala, and our father and Medava. It was a custom that the queen never was the first to greet guests, and so was her heir.

I still remember the large golden doors opening, I remember them walking into the hall. It was quite a sight and really impressive. Of course, we were used to other royal families visiting, but usually we were kept aside, because we were too young, but our mother had decided we were allowed to be with this one. I still remember greeting them, bowing, and, the little girl I was, looking curiously at Daryia and Taishi. I know I liked Daryia. She looked like a really sweet person and I was sure she was going to be a fine queen of that far away country one day. But Taishi… I remember I immediately had a little teenager-crush on him. He was so gorgeous. Of course I was way too shy to do anything with that, and it’s quite irrelevant. And he was nice, too. He didn’t treat us a secondary persons at that meeting, he was just as nice to me and my little sisters as to my older sister and the adults.

After we had proper introductions, it was time for them to meet my mother, my sister and my grandmother. Of course, this was only for the queen and her children. To my surprise and shock, my father asked me and my older sister to bring the helpers and other ponies that came with them to the rooms that were prepared for them. I knew were those were of course, but I was a bit shocked that he thought we were responsible enough for that.

So he took my two younger sisters, and me and Campestre were supposed to bring the others to their rooms. However, Taishi asked if he could come along with us. He knew he didn’t have to be at the official introduction anyway, in fact, they would probably see him as a burden and he knew this well. He was a boy, and it was about his older sister there anyway. He could meet the queen later and he wanted to help the others with the luggage. Everybody agreed, so he came with us, and only the queen and Daryia went to my mother with Medava.

I was quite proud to walk in front with Taishi next to me. He was such a nice guy. ‘How old are you?’ He asked.
‘Fourteen.’ I answered proudly, as if it was a huge thing I had just achieved. He laughed, while we were walking through the castle and I pointed the way. 
'You know the way around pretty well in this castle,’ He said, ‘And it’s really big as well. Our castle isn’t even half as big. Have you ever been to another castle?’  
I had to answer no, and of course I felt like it was a bad thing, but he just laughed.
‘I guess this is normal to you, then.’
‘What do you mean?’ I asked.
‘You will find out one day little one. For now, just try to get your way around here.’

By the, we left the castle through a back door. We had to walk a short way through the garden to the guest house. It was a little castle itself, though of course it had no towers, but it was beautiful, especially inside. I think those rooms were more luxurious than my own was. We walked along the broad stone path to the guest house, when we suddenly heard a beautiful sound. I recognised it at once, of course, but the others were enchanted. We looked to our right, where the flower field was. Anrui was there of course, as I already knew because the beautiful sound was hearing her sing. She was picking some flowers, and she was walking around with a large rose stuck in her hair. Her hair was dancing on the melody of the wind, the melody of her song, the slow paced melody of who she was. She was something natural over there between those flowers, it seemed. Like she belonged there, like her roots were also deep into the earth, like she was not like us who lived on the earth. No, she was a part of it, and that same thing also was her beauty.

Oh, Anrui loved flowers. I know she once told me she thought they were way more peaceful than ponies and animals, yet she knew each of them was different and each had a different character. Anyway, all of our company were amazed by Anrui, by her beauty and her pure voice. I even remember the song she was singing… What was it again…” Regina shortly looked around her as if anyone would remember this song, and then she softly began to sing.

“A little cloud came along

Was like a flower to me,

 A breeze nice and strong

Getting hold of the sea.

I’ll be like the wind,

and something I find

very far away

Will lead me to you,

Even though I’m astray

I know I will find

Your heart, pure and kind”

Twinkle Star enjoyed the song immensely. It indeed was really nice and soft, and she could imagine that if someone with a pure voice sang it, it would indeed be enchanting. She also noticed she enjoyed the way her mother talked, and she knew that the more her mother told, the more she remembered which she also wanted to tell. Her mother had an awesome memory, and Twinkle Star was glad with this.

“Okay, so maybe it didn’t really sound so great, but the way Anrui sang it was wonderful. She simply was something nobody could ignore. But to Taishi, it was more. He was even more enchanted by her than we were. He couldn’t get her eyes of her.
 ‘Who is she?’ I remember him asking, softly.
 ‘Anrui, Medava’s daughter.’ I answered softly, and after that he slowly walked towards her, but Anrui didn’t notice him, she was too far away in her little song and in her dreamworld full with flowers. I was thinking that he was a complete fool, going up towards her. Anrui had never been interested in boys in that way, and why would she now? But I was wrong with that. Taishi knew somehow how to approach her. He picked a nice flower, and walked slowly towards her. When she noticed him, she immediately stopped singing. She simply looked at him as he approached. When he reached her, he bowed slowly, laid the flower in front of her hooves, gave her a really sweet smile which actually set butterflies on the loose in my own stomach, and then walked towards the guest house, without saying a word. I quickly followed him with the other ponies, but I of course had a look at Anrui’s reaction. She was amazed, she was totally amazed and I think a little scared. Something like this had never happened to her, and she didn’t really knew what to do. But I noticed a little smile on her face, and I noticed she was blushing a bit. She liked the attention. I know I was thrilled. Another royal wedding, perhaps? Wouldn’t it be neat, I thought, Matoe marrying Daryia and Anrui marrying Taishi? I thought it was a really great idea!

But anyway, I lead the others to the guest house, and once we were there I was too busy showing everybody their rooms to talk with Taishi again, which I really wanted to do because I wanted to know what he really thought of Anrui. Was he really in love with her?”