It little profits that an idle king,
By this still hearth, among these barren crags,
Match'd with an aged wife, I mete and dole
Unequal laws unto a savage race,
That hoard, and sleep, and feed, and know not me.
I cannot rest from travel: I will drink
Life to the lees: All times I have enjoy'd
Greatly, have suffer'd greatly, both with those
That loved me, and alone, on shore, and when
Thro' scudding drifts the rainy Hyades
Vext the dim sea: I am become a name;
For always roaming with a hungry heart
Much have I seen and known; cities of men
And manners, climates, councils, governments,
Myself not least, but honour'd of them all;
And drunk delight of battle with my peers,
Far on the ringing plains of windy Troy.
I am a part of all that I have met;
Yet all experience is an arch wherethro'
Gleams that untravell'd world whose margin fades
For ever and forever when I move.
How dull it is to pause, to make an end,
To rust unburnish'd, not to shine in use!
As tho' to breathe were life! Life piled on life
Were all too little, and of one to me
Little remains: but every hour is saved
From that eternal silence, something more,
A bringer of new things; and vile it were
For some three suns to store and hoard myself,
And this gray spirit yearning in desire
To follow knowledge like a sinking star,
Beyond the utmost bound of human thought.
-Alfred Lord Tennyson
Ulysses
Emerelda kept adjusting her long skirt holding onto a pot containing a strong smell of baked potatoes. She stood outside t the side of the dining room hesitating to go in. All she had to do was walk in, head down, pay close attention and place a pot down on the table.
She took a deep breath and right when she was about to enter, Emmett walks out. He looked troubled, but carried an empty tray. He was wearing exactly what Mr. Smith wore. Emerelda tried to catch his eye but he ignored her and thought, "Stop standing around, and go in."
She rolled her eyes and walked in. First, she scanned all those on the table. Faces she knew and didn't. Mr. Thomas leaning on his chair bored a cigar between his teeth. Mr. Chester looking pale and frighten, his eye kept glancing up at the man who sat at the head of the table. He was younger then all of them, with dark hair and dark eyes. He was a tall figure, eyes serious. He held himself with authority and pride. The table was filled with nine members attending the meeting, almost three apostles of the King, and…a woman.
It wasn't any other woman; it was the one who taught her to fight.
Emerelda followed her brother once out of curiosity. It was late at night leave fallen from distance trees, and he was always heading out secretly. The walk was long, but she was thankful he didn't take a carriage. She clenched onto her knitted sweater through the autumn air. Finally he arrived at a clothing shop. He stood a distance from the door, near the lamp post and watched him waiting outside the door until a lady appeared.
She had dark red hair tied back in a bun, small strands escaping at the front of her face, and wore thin glasses. She crossed her arms staring up at her brother. She looked about twenty, or much younger, it was hard to tell from the distance Emerelda was.
At first Emerelda thought this might be Floyd's lover until Floyd asked, "Are you still teaching the ladies?"
She tilts her head, "The ladies have been taught. They fight quite well."
Emerelda almost gasps. She was teaching young ladies combat fighting. It was against the law to do such things.
"I assume you'd continue, I also hope you would. I came here to make sure of it."
She smiles, "Of course, Floyd, being such the perfect person you are."
It was the way she casually communicated with her brother as if they were old friends. It made Emerelda wondered who she was to Floyd.
Floyd sighs, "Bethany, I just want this all to go smoothly."
Bethany raised a hand and patted his shoulder, "Of course. Of course that is true." She didn't leave her hand from his shoulder. They were close to one another, staring into one another eye with a strange look.
Emerelda walks away, and found herself back to the palace. The maids, her lady in waiting, and servant were confused when she stumbles through into the lower floor escape door that Floyd used. It was only used for emergencies or work load. No one asked her a question, but helped her to her room a he was lost in thoughts.
A year later, Emerelda returns back to the shop around the same time. She walks in wet from the storm outside. Bethany sat on a stool staring with empty eyes down at the silky blue fabric on her lap. This side of Garlin had the most expensive shops as it was near the palace. The door jingles at Emerelda's entry and Bethany didn't look up but murmurs, "Closed."
Thunder broke.
"Bethany?" Emerelda ask, removing her hood.
Bethany looks up, and her eyes behind her glasses were red. They were the color of red just like her hair. Deep blood red, red like the color of her Mother's rubies, burgundy red like the gowns worn at balls to impress the gentleman. She looked foreign, most likely Asian with the slight bent of her eyes. She was breathtakingly beautiful.
Lighting flashed from the small circle window that was fitted on the left wall.
Her shop was filled with Asian cultural as well, origins she was taught back at the palace from Japan. Dragons painted on the wall, blooms tress painted on another. Words in Japanese written at the wall in front of her, she wondered what it meant. The shop was big and the whole atmosphere felt something like of arriving home, a warm welcome in the air. Although Bethany didn't look welcoming, she was glaring at Emerelda.
"I'm Princess Emerelda, and I came to ask you to teach me."
Another loud clapping of thunder.
Bethany raised her eyebrows, "I know who you are. And teach you what?"
Emerelda crossed her arms, "You teach young ladies to fight and defend themselves. I want you to teach me."
Bethany stood up. She had lean figure under her brown dress. One wouldn't have thought of her to be the fighting kind. The silk fell on the ground; however she ignored that and stepped in front of her. She was the same height as Emerelda, though somehow she looked taller.
"Oh, really? How do you know?" she questions, her voice challenging.
"I followed my brother last spring. He asked if you still did what you do, and you answered yes."
Thunder broke again.
Bethany's eyes grew large and she stumbles back. She ran a hair through her hair. Her eyes looked heartbroken somehow, as if Emerelda broke her. "Floyd…" she whispers, "Is he really…?" she asks quietly looking above her glasses.
Emerelda looks away, tears starting to form, "Yes."
"I see."
Silence.
A flashed of lighting.
Then, Emerelda was flipped and her head hits the hard wood. She gasps and her vision blurs. She almost thought she saw stars. He opens her eyes in pain and Bethany looks down at her, "Attention. You need to work on that."
Emerelda couldn't respond.
"And my name isn't Bethany, it's Niko."
Emerelda frowns, "Then-"
"Your brother used it as a joke," she smiles faintly, lost in a memory, "It was the name I gave him when he first asked."
Emerelda knew right there and then Floyd and Niko were close.
Niko steps away from Emerelda, "I'll help you. We meet at eleven, and I'll train you down stairs."
Emerelda got to her feet, "No, you teach me now."
Niko raised her eyebrows, "Fine. I'll have you know I don't have patient, and I won't hesitate to stop teaching you if I see you are helpless."
Emerelda nods, "Fair enough."
At that moment, lighting and thunder both struck together.
She walked slowly and placed the pot on the table. She couldn't help but stare at Niko as she sat with crossed arms, looking out at the window, her face emotionless. She still had her glasses, her hair in the same tight bun with lose strands. She wore a blue dress to the meeting. It was plain and simple as if she was tending the shop her Mother left behind.
"I hate it here." She thought.
"They need to know, they need to know." Mr. Chester kept on thinking.
"Why in the world is Emerelda taking her sweet time?" Mr. Thomas scowls.
"Ridiculous." Thought the one with dark black hair.
Emerelda bowed, and then backs away slowly. No one on the table said a word until Mr. Chester clears his throat, "I got an incident not too long ago."
Apostle Michael nods, "Yes, Mr. Chester, what is it that you wanted to say?"
Emerelda left as Mr. Chester was over exaggerating his experience with her and Emmett. She took the stairs that lead to the stairs. The dining room was a large extravagant room. Heavy carpet, wood table, wood pillars, large windows that showed the beautiful huge garden that looked tended well for. A bonus for Emerelda and Emmett, there was a hallway the faced down at the dining room. Emerelda looked around and no one was around.
She climbed the stairs and looked right and left no one in sight. There was a wall before the railing starts, where she would be exposed in plain sight unless someone looks up. She leaned on the wall and listens, Emmett on the other side of the hallway listening as well. Unfortunately Emerelda can't hear the minds of everyone down bellow.
"I know it's not your man sent!" Mr. Chester was saying, "However they know so much of this whole thing!"
"What are you suggesting Mr. Chester?" Someone asks.
"An inside job!"
Everyone scoffs and Emerelda and Emmett both shared a smirk.
"There is no one who would know of us and decide to betray us, need to remind you Mr. Chester? those in this are being watched." Apostle Michael said.
"Of course you Michael would think of it ridiculous."
"What's ridiculous is that two children had supposedly attacked you, and taken away our most precious weapon."
"I'm telling you, they were gifted. A male and female, they seemed so much like the midnight assassin. However, one of them looked like the Princess."
Silent.
"That's impossible. The King sent her away." someone else said.
"I figured that as soon as I saw the papers, Mr. Harry. But they have Vivian, and that is a lost on our side."
"Disappointment indeed," Michael murmured.
Emerelda sat on the floor and edges closer.
"They probably knew Vivian and figured you had him. You weren't the best of keeping him silent, Chester. You also haven't kept the agreement on your side, which would result in having to prove yourself again. Your only here Chester for an explanation."
"You, Kent, cannot make such declaration! Only Mr. Leonard could have the final say."
"Mr. Leonard?" Harry asked.
"Please continue," Mr. Leonard answers. He had a low voice, almost husky and quite.
"Mr. Chester, thank you for sharing your thoughts. Now back to real matters," Apostle Michael said, "As we know, the king is aware that a group of people are against him. How much, that is still not decided. Despite the fact we are a large group, we must still keep low and proceed silently."
Everyone on the table murmured in agreement.
"Vivian Thorn was supposed to be a benefit for us. He is a powerful young one, someone to make everything easier for us. He was supposed to be sent back to England. His parents were going to take care of him, and allow us to fully use his gift for our needs."
Yes that was right, that was exactly what Emerelda read in the letter that night. She thought that it was cruel forcing to use a gift for their needs.
"Now that his gone, the questions is where in Garlin is he? He couldn't have had time to go back to England."
Just then, Emerelda heard a voice. It was a thought. She recognized the voice, and that speed up her heartbeat. She soon heard a soft laughter and she looks back. A shadow turned the corner of the hallway. It wasn't a maid, that was for sure, nor a butler. It sounded almost like…
That was impossible though. Wasn't it?
She looks at Emmet for confirmation, although he was gone. She frowns and sighs. Perhaps he went downstairs to get closer.
"Mr. Thomas?" Harry asked.
"I have no idea." Answers Mr. Thomas quite curtly.
"Hmm, you haven't heard from him then?"
"No. He knows well then to seek for protection from me."
"Why is Mr. Thomas even part of this meeting?" Mr. Chester frowns.
"His useful unlike you." Michael snaps.
"Back to real matters. Ms. Allen, has the Princes ever learnt of your program, or asked to be taught from you?"
"I haven't met her in person." She said not giving a glance at him.
And she lied.
"The Princess never came to me. My program is still running, and I'm still assisting women all over Garlin just as I promised my Mother. My Father also asked me to be here as he was away in a trip."
"Understood Ms. Allen, thank you. Your skills are special and would benefit in the fields like the Midnight Assassin."
Still not glancing at him she said, "I have no interest."
"And what is our next goal Harry?" Kent hurriedly asked as if he would like to change the subject.
"We've been targeting those who are supporting the king or know our group. It's simple and quick to get them out of our way. All we need is the King to step down; the world of Garlin is going to be wasted if no one steps up and goes against his delusional dreams of following his past fathers. After the Prince passed away, a tragic incident, I suggest we move to our target."
Tragic incident? That was ridiculous. They were the ones who killed her brother.
She looks bellow and saw Emmett serving. He looked calm and uninterested to their conversation.
"Our target would be Mr. Harris. He figured us quiet well and would be in the way to move onto our next plan." Kent said.
Emmett starts poring champagne into the glass. He moved around the table slowly, his head down. If anyone were to pay attention, they would figure him right away however, he had to do what he had to do.
"All we want is the King to step down and someone to lead Garlin into a better future. The midnight assassin both children should be here attending the meeting."
"Leave the children out of this," Mr. Thomas scowls, "They are only told what they should do and nothing more. If they learn more, things would be complicated."
"Good point, Mr. Thomas." Harry agrees.
Michael took a sip of his drink, "Have you also heard the whispering from the officers?"
Kent nods, "Apparently there are about two young adults out there disturbing the officers during curfew. They haven't caused any harm, however who are they and why are they out before dark? They've been spotted twice now, and both claims that one looks exactly like the Princess and Cyril."
"Cyril?" Mr. Thomas faked an expression.
Kent took a long sip, "Odd indeed. Cyril already had made himself clear he hasn't been out, and the Princess was sent out of Garlin. It must be two individuals who are messing around with their gifts."
Emmett arrives to Mr. Leonard and starts to slowly pour his drink for him.
"That is because it is the Princess." Mr. Leonard spoke. Everyone's eyes went to him and Emmett finishes walking causally away. "The Princess is working with someone who knows us all very well. Someone who's seen it all before he started to plot with her."
Everyone on the table gasps.
Kent asked, "So that means the sighting of the Princess are correct?"
"Indeed. There would be no target today gentleman's, and the meeting is concluded."
Emmett was close to exit the door.
"So soon?" Mr. Thomas asks, almost too casual.
"We need to capture the imposters here," Emmett finally arrived to the door, "Because they are here listening."