38. The Keeper

Brooke never thought she would hear such a thing from her mother, the reason for her running away.

            Brooke heard a soft sonata drift through the draft that had come upon her. The melody sounded familiar and beautiful. It comforted her like the arms of a lullaby as she lay on the futon bed. Her fingers moved against the plush sheets and she turned, awaking in the dark room. She didn’t see any instrument, but Brooke understood that it was a piano, hands deftly rolling across black and white keys. Her arm was bandaged and sore. She glanced out the window and saw the deep blue night sky and a grassy cliff that hung over a bountiful sea in which Rain tossed away the bodies of the hunters. She listened to the song and her heart began to hurt, nostalgic, and longing.

She rolled out of bed, and she clutched the wound as it began to throb. Her feet touched the cold floorboards and she walked to the window, staring out of it. Meredith and Ross’s voices overwhelmed the song. “I apologize for my rude behavior back in the tunnels; it is not my place to judge you.” She and Ross sat on the grass. Meredith hugged her knees to her chin as Ross stretched out. “It’s not normal of me.”

Ross smiled to her. “It’s okay.” He sighed. “I’m an honest man; I got to make a living.”

“I see.” Meredith cringed, but she returned his smile.

“If we can have an honest night?” Ross asked.

Meredith nodded. “We may.”

“I thought you were beautiful the first time I saw you.”

Meredith yelped and blushed, her face reddening. She mashed her lips together, letting her hair cover her face. “At the hotel?”

Ross shook his head. “In the mountain plains of Eros.”

Meredith’s brow wrinkled as she tried to grasp what he was saying. Then, she remembered, that figure she struck when she was healing. She frowned, pointing her shaking finger at him. “That was you?” Ross nodded, and Meredith slapped him, leaving behind a print on his face. She stood, looking embarrassed. “I need to go check on Brooke.”

Ross grasped her arm before she stormed off. “Wait, I’m not a pervert; it wasn’t my intention to spy on you.”

“Oh right, your eyes just happened to fall on my naked body!” she yelled.

Ross blushed. “I was traveling and I saw bright light reach into the sky; I was curious; it was enchanting.” Meredith snatched her arm free and listened. “I saw you and I saw the most beautiful creature releasing such power.”

“I bet,” she scoffed. She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. He was just like other men, only after her because of her power, status, or looks.

“But when I saw you in the rave, my admiration of you increased because of everything. You were beautiful in every light. You danced, bold, and unafraid, a princess shuffling; who has heard of such a thing? Yet, you did not stop. You were having fun, and the chemistry, don’t pretend you didn’t feel it.” Meredith remembered and it was a fond memory. Meredith looked at her hand, a ring wrapped around her finger to symbolize her marriage to take place the following year. She wanted to strip it off, and cast it into the sea, but this was the duty of her kingdom. She owed them this because she was their princess, soon to be queen one day. She didn’t have time to think about a rave master, drug dealing, crossbreed. Was it wrong she thought about it anyways? “Can we share a dance now as the seas watch us if that’s not too much to ask?”

Meredith stared at his open hand, unsure. She was usually confident about a situation. She demonstrated leadership qualities she would have to display once she was queen. She was a rebellious princess, why should she not continue to rebel this way? It wasn’t as if she planned to marry Ross, besides, he asked her for an honest night and she would give him one. She laid her hand in his hand and they shared a slow dance beneath the starlit sky.

Brooke’s heart ached as she realized how much she missed Shawn. That night, she danced with him the way Meredith and Ross danced now made her nostalgic and extremely homesick. She wanted to go home and wanted to see Shawn. Never had she bore a desire so thick. “She really cares about you, ya know?” In her circle of thoughts, Brooke had not realized the sonata ended and she had watched in silence. Rain stood behind Brooke, wearing a black kimono decorated with pink cherry blossoms. Her voice was deeper than before, mature, but so familiar it hurt. “Meredith, she cares for you as an older sister would.” Rain chuckled. “She checked on you just ten minutes ago.”

Brooke rolled her eyes and grunted. “Whatever.”

Rain hummed and placed her hands on Brooke’s shoulder. Brooke smelled the woman and she had the scent of jasmine tea. She loved tea. Brooke remembered when her mother and she practiced tea ceremonies. “Do not shelter yourself from the people that love you, Brooklyn.”

Brooke cringed up, and she shook her shoulders. “You would know, huh?” she said between her teeth, bitter and hateful. Rain sighed and turned to leave. “Now you gonna run away again?”

Rain paused before she reached for the brass handle of the door, her fingers lingering above it. “Please, do not speak of things you know nothing about.”

“I know that you left you abandoned Dad and me!” Brooke yelled in one breath. “Why did you make us suffer so much? Why did you forget about us?” She recalled what her father’s words and that night it had ringed true. She left and forgot about them.

“I didn’t forget about you, Brooklyn.” Rain faced Brooke with hurt rippling across her pool eyes. “I never forgot about you or Ben!”

Tears escaped from her sockets and raged escaped her throat. “I spent endless nights crying with Dad over you; I’ve had to…I’ve had to go to prison and suffer in your name, Mother!” The cell flashed through her mind and she felt the true depths of anger and hatred for her mother.

Rain’s eyes widened as she gasped. “D-did he really-?” Rain looked away. “I didn’t think Victor would be so extreme.”

“You know the king?” Rain nodded. “He has Dad in prison now.”

“Ben!” she screamed helplessly. She went silent. “I think it is time I told you some truths; you deserve them.” Rain urged Brooke to follow her. She obeyed and followed her mother down a hall into another room, a tight room with a table and pillows serving as chairs. A hot teakettle sat on the table with two teacups. Rain took one pillow, sitting on her knees and Brooke sat across her crossing her legs.

Rain poured them tea and she studied her daughter. She smiled. “How does this go, I say how astonished I am by your growth?”

“I don’t know.”

“Well, I am, tell me all about your adventure, dear daughter.”

Brooke explained to her everything that happened. She explained Dad’s new wife and her bimbo daughters. Rain chuckled at some parts. Brooke explained her guardianship training and her rejection. By the time Brooke finished telling about the time in prison; Rain’s shoulders shook as she bent her head down. Tears splattered on the cloth of her kimono. “I thought…I thought if I left, you and Ben would be safe.” Her speech broke apart as she sobbed. For once, Brooke knew a little bit of the reason. Rain banged her fists against the table. “I thought Victor wouldn’t be so cruel as to touch my family!”

“What is going on, Mom?” Brooke asked, surprisingly gentle.

“I- perhaps, Meredith should be in here to hear this.”

“Ellis!” Rain called. The anymalis rushed to the sound of her call.

“M’am?”

“Go get Meredith.”

Ellis nodded and retrieved Meredith. She gasped to see Brooke up. “Are you okay, Brooke?” She nodded and Meredith turned to the mysterious woman. “You called me?”

“Yes, have a seat please.” Meredith sat on the floor and listened intently.

“King Victor, your father, has not always resided in the kingdom of Alagracia.”

Meredith looked at her incredulously. “Huh? That can’t be true; he told us stories of his childhood in Alagracia.”

“He is a deceiving character. Anyways. He grew up in Astacia, originally. There he murdered his father in an attempt to claim dictatorship over Astacia and locate an ancient power. Victor formerly known as Hector had three siblings. One was a priest. I was in the same line of priesthood with his brother. His brother entrusted the power Hector sought to me and-”

“Wait a minute, wait a minute,” Meredith interrupted, a frown burrowing in her face. “I don’t even know who you are and you say this about my father?” The story didn’t correspond with what her father had always told her. That would mean her father was…a criminal, a murderer, claiming the throne of her kingdom? She shook her head and refused to believe this. “How can I know what you say is true?”

“The power entrusted to me is the Celestial Command.” Rain positioned her hands as if she were touching a globe before her chest. Winds appeared to seep through the walls as they came upon them. A glowing golden ball of light shined. Brooke felt a sense of rawness, a sense of absolute power resonating from that globe. Meredith felt it too as if the power overwhelmed her own. Could that be possible? “Your father seeks this power.”

Meredith tried to find some dabble of hope for her father’s identity. “Why would an elf entrust power to a mere human?” She didn’t mean to sound so condescending, but her position was awkward and her feelings followed in suit.

“Because, I can’t give it back.” Rain sipped some tea. “Humans cannot willingly give this away because they are human; it can only be passed through generations. Once I die, you, Brooklyn, will take my place as keeper of the Celestial Command.”

 

Author's Note

Dear Reader,

Yeah, I hope this wasn't an infodump haha. Also, I hope I didn't move too fast with Meredith and Ross. Well, it is supposed to go pretty fast because Meredith doesn't consider herself to be that serious with Ross. They are not committed to each other, but they do have feelings for one another like instant chemistry ya know. Tell me what you think.

Thanks for reading!

Sincerely JazzSoulKeke,

God bless