Concerns at the court

When Twinkle Star woke up, the first thing she heard was the sound of rain touching the windows. It took her a while to realise she was in fact in Madash, the beach country, and not in some rainy place up north. Did it rain here a lot? Twinkle Star didn’t know. She had always imagined Madash to be a sunny country, but that didn’t appear to be true. Sure, it was a lot warmer here south, and it probably wouldn’t freeze in winter, but it wasn’t exactly what she would call tropical, either. Yet, here she was, in a small room in an old fortress on the southern border of Madash. By the sound of the soft, regular breathing, Crystal was still asleep. Light shone through the thin blue curtains, so Twinkle Star was sure morning was already there. Slowly she got up and out of her bed.

As she peeked out of the window to check on the weather, she remembered the night before. She had talked with Lenna and both her parents. They hadn’t talked about anything important, but it was interesting to learn the royal ways of another family. Twinkle Star had been surprised to learn children here were almost completely raised by other ponies, instead of the queen. Of course it had been like this in the Old Friendship Lands, too, but in Madash Lenna saw her mother only two times a year. Twinkle Star shook her head. The poor child… She turned around and softly walked towards the door. She walked into the hallway, where she could see the rain fall in the open space. The fountain was still flowing, but it seemed so useless. She turned right, to a room she was shown yesterday, which was the dinner room, and she was told breakfast and lunch were served there, too.

When she entered the small room, she saw Lenna sitting at one of the tables, eating some bread. She waved when she noticed Twinkle Star. “Hey there Twinkle Star! Here, come join me!” she said happily. Twinkle Sat down on the other side of the table after she had grabbed a plate from the pile, and she took some bread out of the basket that was on the table.
“Good morning, Lenna.” She smiled back.
“Did you sleep well?” Lenna asked, while she put butter on her bread. Twinkle Star nodded.
“Yeah, just fine. Crystal is still sleeping as well, so I don’t think there will be a problem.”
“Oh, that’s good.” Lenna took a bite of her bread, and a small silence fell, which Twinkle Star didn’t mind. She liked to enjoy good food, as she had been eating cheap stuff for so long on her journey. She had had nice food for a few days now, and yet she still enjoyed it.

“Are your parents up yet?” She asked Lenna after she had finished her first slice of bread. Lenna nodded slowly in response.
“Yes, they are. They have left already, about an hour ago, in fact.”
“This early?” Twinkle Star asked surprised.
“Yes. Mother said she had a lot of things to do… I suppose it is so. And I shouldn’t be sad… I’ve seen them more than I would have thought yesterday morning, right?” Lenna said with a faint smile. Twinkle Star wasn’t sure if she agreed with this, but she was sure Lenna obviously did. And, in the end, it’s always a little sad to say goodbye, even if you see your parents more than you had expected.

“So… I suppose you and your sister want to check the old books today, right?” Lenna said, obviously trying to change the subject.
“Yes… yes, we are, if that’s okay with you.” Twinkle Star replied as she began to eat another slice of bread with marmalade.
“Sure. We’ll just wait until Crystal is awake, and I’ll show you the library… It’s in the basement.”
“Bwasemewnt?” Twinkle Star asked with her mouth full.
“Yes. Further down the hall there’s a door with stairs behind them. It’s locked with a spell, but as the heir, I can open it for the both of you. It’s rather large, the basement… it has lots of old books. I’ll show you around first, if you like.”
“Sure, that’ll be great.” Twinkle Star answered with a smile.

It didn’t take long for Crystal to enter the room as well. She had slept for a long time, and it did her well. She was way more enthusiastic than she had been the day before. She, too, enjoyed the nice breakfast, an it didn’t take too long before they were ready to enter the library. The door was locked with a spell which was familiar to Twinkle Star. A person of the royal family simply had to put their pendant in the hole and release some magical powers. Of course, only ponies of the Madash family could open this lock, but it wasn’t that hard to break, in the end. Once more, Twinkle Star doubted the security of this place. The stars to the basement were simply stone stairs, and they had to take a torch with them to light the path. Once they were down, Lenna used the torch to light others along the wall, and slowly an amazing amount of really old books in nice wooden closets was revealed to them. While Twinkle Star had seen libraries larger than this one, and even libraries with much older books than this one, it was a long time ago, and it was still an impressive sight. She felt herself attracted to old books like this, containing information about times so long ago.

In the centre of the large room was a large dark wooden table, with books scattered across it. When Lenna noticed Twinkle Star was looking at it, she apologised.
“I’m sorry for that. I’m afraid my uncle hasn’t cleaned his mess when he left the last time. I can’t believe nobody else did it either, when they brought in the books from the capital library.” She nodded at one of the closets, which appeared to be much younger than the others.
“Your uncle?” Twinkle Star asked. Did she mean Taishi?
“Yes. When he is here in the castle, he is usually down here, reading old books, studying. But he’s away a lot… He likes to travel, to see things with his own eyes. He usually stays away for a while, too, even though I have to say I’m beginning to worry about him by now. It’s been over three months. He usually isn’t gone that long.”
“Can’t you send someone to look for him?” Crystal asked.
Lenna sighed and shook her head. “I’m afraid I have no idea where he is at this moment. He hardly ever tells anyone where he goes. He likes to be alone, where no one can disturb him, and nobody knows where he is. According to my mother, he’s been like this since… well, the incident in your birth country. I’ve never known him to behave differently. Anyway… Let me show you the more general books on the war with the sea monster first.”

Lenna walked to one of the closets, and after some browsing, she took one of the books out of the closets. She created some space on the table, and sat down on one of the large wooden chairs. Twinkle Star and Crystal also sat down. Lenna opened the old dusty book, and stopped at the introduction. “Here. I’ll read you two the small introduction. I’m sure this book will be of some help. I’ll help you look for some other books, but after that, you two are on your own. I’m afraid I have to help out upstairs.” She took a short break, and then began to read.

“ ‘Accounts of the war. Dear readers, this book deals with the war with the sea monster, now five years ago. In this book, I will try to give a general story of how the war started, how it passed, how it ended, and how we rebuild our country in the years afterwards. From the moment the sea monster first appeared in the mist, until the moment that Princess Kien defeated him with the pearl of light, you will find a complete and detailed description of the events in this book. I wrote this book not only to inform ponies of the future about this horrible time, but also to teach them how to prevent it from happening again. Please read this book with care, and do not forget to remain critical. Sincerely, Maie Kareshti, author of this book.’ ”  

“Pearl of light?” Twinkle Star asked curiously. Lenna smiled.
“Yeah… legend says Princess Kien, who became queen after the wars, defeated the sea monster with the pearl of light. It’s supposed to give the bearer the strength to wield the power of light, with which one can defeat any possible enemy. However… We never got an official account on this. None of the official reports from the war tell us anything about it, and we searched anywhere… There is no such thing. Either it vanished, or it has never existed at all. Most ponies now believe the latter. There’s simply no proof, which we have plenty of evidence of other accounts in the war. Just don’t take that part of the book too serious, and you’ll be just fine.” She explained. Quite some legends… How was Twinkle Star supposed to know what was real and what was not? Yet, it had to do. And she could always ask Lenna… surely she knew more about what was true and what wasn’t, right?

“Right. So, why don’t we look for one more general book on the war, and some that go deeper into the subject of the mind seal? I’m sure those won’t be too hard to find. After that, I’m afraid I’ll have to get back upstairs. Are you two sure you’ll be okay? You can always get upstairs and ask me, I won’t leave the castle.”
“We’re sure we will be fine, Lenna, thank you.” Crystal replied to the princess of the castle.
“Good. Now, why don’t you two check those two closets? Most books have their subject on the cover. But please be careful, most of these are rather old, so make sure you don’t damage them. I’m afraid they do get damaged pretty quick.” Lenna said to the two sisters.
“We’ll be careful, Lenna, please don’t worry.”
“I do that too much, don’t I?” Lenna said, while Twinkle Star could see a blush on her cheeks in the light of the torches. “It’s okay, really. Now, where are those books?”

Slowly she crawled nearer. Just a little bit closer… only to the next bush, and she might be able to make out their conversation. She had followed them for weeks now, always staying out of their sight. She had lost them for a few days a couple of times, even. Yet, she had always found them back. But she wanted to hear them this time. She wanted to know… why they were moving again, and why on earth they were going down south. There was nothing there that might interest them… was there? She had to find out. She owed it to Him. So she crawled even more closer, until she was finally behind the closest bush.

They had a camp fire going on, and the older was doing something… no, she turned back to the younger.
“The children are sleeping.” The older said to the younger, who only nodded in response. The older didn’t say more, but put some bread on a stick and held it above the fire, like the younger one was doing already.
“How much further?” The older one finally said.
“Two weeks. Maybe three.” The younger one replied.
“The children are getting weary of travelling. We should rest somewhere for a while.”
“We can’t. We’re too close now. And this part of the continent is too crowded. We can’t afford being seen.” The younger answered. This time, it was the older who didn’t reply. Was she doubting her sisters decision? Or maybe…

“Are you really sure about this?” the older one suddenly asked.
“I mean, about going there… Do you think….”
“I have no doubts. Don’t ask me.”
“But do you… do we really need it?”
The younger one sighed. “Do you want to avenge mother, or not? We need to go to that shrine. The pearl of light… To defeat them, and take our rightful place…” her heart almost skipped a beat. What were these two planning? Should she tell Him? Or should she keep following them? The pearl of light… it existed only in a legend. Did they believe in it? To avenge their mother… It couldn’t be, they…
“Trust me, sister.” The younger one continued. “We will master that power, and we will set right what has been done wrong in the past. The Friendship Lands… They will be ours.”

She shook her head, and tried to keep breathing softly. Did He knew about this? Was it his doing?
After all… Illuvia, what was she planning?