Spring is swiftly approaching
Krespania; I can feel it in the breeze.
It whispers a promise of
warmer weather and the delightful fresh fragrance that the flowers
produce annually.
These little hints set my heart on fire
with a deep yearning for the newness that the spring brings; perhaps
because of all the lifelessness I have experienced the past months,
both with the winter and other occasions. In those months life around
me appeared to have died, to have sunk into a deep state of oblivion,
where there no longer is any warmth left by the pulsing of the
heart. The trees had become cool to the touch, frozen in their
leafless condition and the green of the grass had faded, just as the
warmth of the sun had, leaving me with a sense of coldness and
unhappiness.
But now, here in this moment, my heart
has found something to hold onto and to hope in again; something that
livens my heart up and stirs my soul to joyfulness.
But with that I discovered something so
unspeakably shocking that I must retell it as I experienced it.
It took place the day before last:
The warm rays of the sun beat upon my
back as I stood out in the palace garden, relishing the comfort it
produced in my soul. The feeling in itself made me give thanks and
rejoice that I was alive this bright, nearly spring morning. The sun
was the only thing occupying the crystal blue sky, it's light
washing over the dead plants and bushes in the garden and it seemed
just the heat of it warmed them from their frozen state and awakened
them as it had done to me. For they appeared to have taken on a fresh
look as if at once their heart had been stirred into a pulse again
and life had began to flow through them.
I took in a deep breath, filling my
lungs with the wonderful clean air. It was a perfect day, not to
cold, and only required a thin cloak upon myself instead of my thick
winter one.
“Milady, look!” Meredith, my
lady-in-waiting said, by the rose garden. She was examining a bush in
particular and ushered me over to it.
“What is it?” I quizzed, looking
for something that might give me a clue to what she was becoming
excited about.
She held a branch of the rose bush
gingerly between her thumb and index finger, bringing it to my
attention.
“It is budding!” Her words were
filled with enthusiasm that impacted me and made me feel excited
likewise.
I examined it and found her words to be
the truth. A tiny bud was growing and with it my hopes of the arrival
of spring.
With a joyfulness running through my
veins I pressed on along the row of rose bushes, inspecting each one
and finding the same rose buds preparing to bloom on each one.
I came to one in specific and paused
slowly in study of it. It took me a moment to search the bush before
I found one tiny bud. I smiled slowly at it in a bittersweet reverie
and whispered, “Bloom well, my bush. Strive for my sake, will you
not?”
This one held a special place in my
heart, for it was my brother Lennox's favorite. Of all the various
and diverse collection of roses I had in my garden, Lennox did not
care for a single one except for the Igualian Blue Rose. It was a
tropical flower I had imported from the islands of Igualian that
displayed a beautiful sky blue shade when bloomed, and Lennox had
instantly fell in love with the vibrant color.
I rose, and for the first time, I did not
feel remorse, but a tranquil peace inside and a genuine happiness.
“Queen Emerald!” A tall man was
coming forward from the palace and with long swift steps covered the
far distance between the building and me.
“Hello, Lord Alessandro. How may this
day find you?” I greeted him.
He was dressed in an olive green
doublet with matching breeches and wore tall black boots. Tucked
beneath his arm was the customary cavalier's hat that he always wore.
His slick black hair gleamed in the sun,
and his eyes twinkled from his exerting walk to this place,
altogether making him a dashing portrait to be sure.
Alessandro bowed and kissed my hand,
looking up as he said, “Very well. And your highness? How may I
find you?”
My heartbeat quickened and I
relinquished my hand from his grasp, all the while practicing such
composure as to assure that not anyone else could discern my feelings
inside.
“I am doing fine. Nothing like a
beautiful sunny day to brighten your spirits, no?”
His dark features shifted to a handsome
smile and he squinted up into the sky as if this was his first
acknowledgment of the weather. “Yes, indeed. A very beautiful
scene, and one that your highness especially belongs in.”
I pretended not to hear his subtle
complement but turned to inspect a plant with marked coyness. “What
brings you here today, Lord Alessandro? Any express purpose other than
to see how my garden has survived the winter?”
“Oh! Yes!” The reason had seemed to
have slipped his mind until that point. “I have a surprise for
you.”
A surprise? What could it possibly be?
A thousand ideas bloomed in my head, but I decided to wait and see
rather than follow them through.
His eyes gleamed even brighter with
excitement and unmistakable mystery shined in their hazel depths.
“You will find it quite a shock, so
you might need to sit down.”
I raised my eyebrow at him, dubious of
his curious manner. “Alessandro, I think I am quite capable of
withstanding any shock.”
“As you wish.” He said with a
shrug. “But you will permit me to catch you in my arms if you fall,
will you not?”
This heightened my sense of curiosity
tremendously, and I searched my brain for a reason to all this
mystery. What was it about?
Alessandro turned and waved at the
palace and a servant, obviously stationed there for that purpose,
disappeared inside.
He offered his hand, waiting for me to lay mine on top, which I did in a slow state of wonder, and then
he positioned himself at my side.
We stood there watching the house and
the seconds that went by felt like minutes because of the suspense I
was held in.
And then a man emerged from the house
and half walked-half trotted down the wide stairs of the patio and
onto the vast lawn of the garden.
Once again, as I had done so many times
on other occasions, my mind instantly thought, Lennox! And at once my
heart leaped with joy.
Then logic took over and told me
otherwise, reminding me my brother was no longer here and that it
could not be him. After that realization my heart settled again, and
I resumed my watch of the unknown stranger's approach.
It was hard to truly distinguish his
features at the distance, but as I followed his descent from the
stairs and his speedy walk to us, my mind continued to find something
familiar about him; about the way he walked, his seemingly impatience
to get to this location because of it. All these things felt as if
they were familiar to me, and I could not shake them from my thoughts,
try as I might.
Then as he came closer, my mind could
distinguish his face, and what I saw shocked me behind words or
belief.
My insides were a jumble of mixed
communications; my eyes were telling me what I saw, and yet my brain
was contradicting it with reason. Therefore I stood frozen, unsure of
which to believe because it was all too confusing.
How was this possible? It could not be.
I felt again as if I was a victim to my cruel imagination. It was
playing it's usual games at my expense, and I could not stop it even
if I tried.
But as he continued to approach me my
sight overpowered my intellect despite the sea of reasons that washed
around in my brain like a body of water in a storm. Could it really
be my imagination? It seemed so real.
Perhaps my emotions had been too
damaged that it had effected my mind also, and I was worse off than I
thought.
All these conjectures raced through my
mind at such a rapid pace that only a few seconds had passed in which
I formed them.
But suddenly, most likely because I
wanted to believe, I surrendered all reasons and yielded to the
evidence before my eyes.
It was Lennox! My heart jumped with
joy, daring to believe this was not a dream, as the distance between
him, and I closed to about twenty feet.
He was dressed well, clean shaven as
always and appeared healthy. A smile stretched across his handsome
face, and I knew I could not have dreamed this up.
He was there! Actually, physically
there!
At once the world started to whirl and
I was conscious of Alessandro's arms around me as a safeguard for
that purpose but I straightened up and remained upright with
determined willpower.
“Hello sister.” Lennox said.
I bit
my lip, the tears surfacing for joyous reasons, before gathering
my long skirts and running to him.
In a mix of laughing and crying at the same time, we met in the middle in an embrace, and
I buried my head into his shoulder, whispering, “Lennox! My dear,
little brother!”
His arms hugging me had never been
tighter nor my hold on him ever stronger. The embrace was full of
heartfelt sorrows now carefully placated, of regrets soothingly
mended and of unspeakable happiness.
My thanksgiving to God was continual in
those moments we were in each others arms, my gratitude beyond
measure, being able to once again see my brother face-to-face.
He drew back at arms length and looked
at me. “How are doing, Em?” His tone was more serious than I had
ever heard, and he looked as if he had aged in those months when he
was away.
I wiped a stray tear away and mustering
a wry smile, I said, “Better now that you are here. You caused me a
large amount of pain.”
“I can imagine and I am sorry for
having left you thinking I was dead. If there had been a way to
contact you, I would have, but for a time there I thought I was going
to die too.”
I noticed Alessandro and Meredith had
discreetly moved out of earshot and was busy admiring plants, leaving
us in privacy.
“I am only at present recovering from
the horrible reality of your decease. It would be unnecessary to
describe how shocked I was or how lonely I have been since then. I
was the last of the de Gavrillacs and I felt it pointedly. It was
almost beyond bearable but I found strength in God, and that only kept
my hope alive.”
From there we walked to the orchard
where he proceeded to tell me what had occurred and how he had
survived the stormy seas.
But I am afraid that you will have to wait for the rest of the explanation because I have wrote on into the darkness with only candles as my light source, and my eyes are strained with tiredness.
Therefore I shall, as soon as possible, relate the whole of it to you in my next letter.
-Emerald de Gavrillac
Queen of Krespania
