Fiery Lands and Stormy Seas (Pokemon Watty Award Winner 2014)

Chapter 10

LUNA

 

            This day was full of new surprises, and troubling tides.  Luna Love sat in the sandstone throne in place of her son, King Chris, and held court with Gardevoir standing patiently at in front of the chair itself.  She heard many of the same things as always, mostly grievances from one fisherman against another, or competing shops complaining about stolen recipes. One owner insisted that the recipe was his, and the other should be punished.  The accused restaurateur, meanwhile, accused the other of defamation by claiming such atrocities.  At least these are peaceful problems to have, Luna supposed. 

            She had received word that her twin brother had joined the fight against the Brightflames in Rustboro, and then that there was no battle.  Carlos Brightflame’s Chief General, Starfall, had laid a trap.  Indeed, there were five thousand campfires as the Brightfires traditionally lit so signal battle, but it was all for naught.  Luna could not bear to listen to the common folk’s problems today.  The trap laid by Starfall could only mean one thing: Mt. Chimney meant to attack a different target.

            Please let it not be Mauville, she prayed as the voices of the angry restaurant owners softened to no more than a buzz in her ear.  I could not bear to lose another one of my family.  I can’t bear to lose a second King.  Each day that her son grew she saw a little more of her departed husband in her face.  It made her happy to see his likeness again, but it made her miss him more. 

            Today was an important day for Princess Lily Marsh, however.  She sat to the right of the throne.  Today was the first day that Lily attended court and learned how to make decisions and see how a Queen or noble Lady might make them.  Sadly, Luna wasn’t surprised to see her young daughter’s attention devoted intimately to her Egg instead of on the matters at hand.

 Justice and Court wasn’t the only reason for Lily to make her debut today, however.  Chief Granite and his grandson, John, were supposed to make landfall at Slateport today.  Lily had been betrothed to John on the night before Chris had departed for Mauville to explore his own proposed marriage to Sarah Spark.  

It was necessary, my love, she thought to herself as she stole a glance at her little girl.  Sometimes a Chief, a Lady, or a King must sacrifice their own wants for the good of their tribes and kingdoms.  Poor Lily had no idea. 

Luna was thankful that Hera Love, her niece, was going to be with Lily while she was to meet and begin to play with John.  Afterword, Luna would have to say good-bye as her daughter, niece, and future son-in-law would depart back to Dewford so that Lily might learn their own customs.  If the two young children grew up in each other’s company, then they would more likely be comfortable with their arranged marriage.

In a way, it was better that Hera would be attending Lily during her first visit to Dewford.  Luna’s niece was still young enough to be looked up to as a kind of older sister that Lily never head.  She has a special relationship with Chris, but there’s nothing like a sister, Luna thought.  She had always wished that she had had a sister.  Luna’s whole childhood was filled with having to chase after Apollo on his wild adventures and excursions.  Hopefully, she’ll never need to learn to fight as I did, though.  May the Mudkip that hatches from that Egg protect her as fiercely as if her father were still alive.

She had finally come to a decision on the squabbling restaurant owners.  If the man wanted his fish stew recipe to be more secretive, then he should not have written it down, or created a better fish stew to where it didn’t matter.  As far as Luna was concerned, the more restaurants that served excellent fish stew, the better.   Bitterly but understandingly, the owners bowed to her and departed.