The Arrival of Spring and A New Beginning, Pt 1

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