by C.L. Mozena
Chapter 52
A few days later, Orion trotted through the palace after his studies, his spirits high. Alex stayed with him, but a few steps back. He was worried that Orion would start talking non-stop about Tanya again, the way he did when he first seen her. The news of his engagement had traveled fast. Orion had told his parents, Joshua, and Alex the next morning, but Rick had already gone for his private studies. Orion’s friends found out later that day, during their training session. By the end of the day, Orion and Tanya’s engagement had spread throughout the palace. The entire telblec kingdom knew by the end of the next day, and everyone on Lunspae knew by the third day. Tired of receiving ‘congratulations’ from everyone he met, Orion was looking forward to spending the evening with Tanya. He had a surprise in store for her. Angry shouts could be heard coming from Tanya’s room as he approached. Orion eased the door open without knocking.
“How could you go off and do that, Tanya?” Lee cried.
“It’s my choice, Lee,” Tanya replied angrily, “It’s what I want! Why can’t you be happy for me like everyone else?”
“You promised, Tanya, you promised you’d be mine!”
“I promised nothing, Lee, my parents did!”
“You belong to me!” Lee sounded menacing, “You’re my bride, not his!”
“I don’t belong to anyone, Lee!” Tanya began crying, “And if you had taken some time to spend with me instead of prim and prissy what’s-her-name, maybe things would be different!”
“I did spent time with you!” Lee was taken aback, “What about all those years on the ship?”
“You ignored me ever since we came to Olhoe a year and a half ago! You never did anything with me! All you ever wanted to do was flirt with the other girls here! What about all those times you said you were ill and wanted to be alone, then went strolling through the halls with three girls hanging all over you?” Tanya turned her back on Lee and crossed her arms, “You don’t care about me at all anymore.”
“Yes I do, Tanya,” Lee pleaded, “You’re the most beautiful girl in the universe! How could I not love you?”
“That’s what I’d like to know,” Orion, having heard enough, stepped inside and interrupted them. Alex followed, crossing his arms and frowning. Lee gaped at them, startled by their sudden appearance.
“Orion!” Tanya ran to his arms and cried into his shoulder, “I’m so glad you’re here.”
“Yea,” Lee said, his anger rising, “And do you remember the times when you couldn’t stand to be in the same room as that halfling?” It was Orion’s turn to be indignant.
“What do you mean, ‘that halfling,’ Lee?” Orion said, trying to control his temper. “I am your prince and I’ll soon be your king, whether you like it or not.”
“You’re still the despicable halfling that stole my future bride from me!” Lee yelled as he lunged at Orion. Orion, prepared for an attack, stepped in front of Tanya and braced himself. Remembering the outcome of their previous scuffle over the life of the largreto, Lee stopped in mid-dash. He straightened up, scowling.
“You’re lucky I’m not in the mood for a fight, halfling,” Lee said, pulling out a small tin and a pack of matches from his pocket, “or I’d clean your clock.” Lee pulled out a roll of majaka leaves from the tin and stuck an end in his mouth. He proceeded to light the other end.
“Yea, right, Lee,” Orion glared at Lee, “you just don’t want to end up in the hospital wing like you did last time.”
“Let’s go, Orion,” Tanya pulled him out the doors before Lee had a chance to reply, “I don’t wanna have to smell that awful smoke.” Alex followed silently.
“So what’s up between you and Lee?” Orion asked a few minutes later as they were walking down the hall, “I’ve never heard you two shouting at each other like that before.”
“Oh, it’s nothing,” Tanya said, looking dejected, “It’s just that he doesn’t like the idea that I’m going to marry you instead of him now.” Orion grinned.
“Oh, hey!” Orion stopped, “I almost forgot!”
“Forgot what, Orion?” Tanya faced him, worried that they would have to go back to see Lee again.
“I have a surprise for you, Tanya,” Orion looked into her eyes.
“For me?” she asked with an innocent, girlish demeanor.
“Yea, back at my rooms. Come on,” Orion walked more quickly. Tanya followed.
“Uh, Alex? Could you wait out here?” Orion turned to his bodyguard once they were in Orion’s main room.
“Fine,” Alex replied, plopping down on Orion’s couch, “but no leaving without me, got it?” Star came running over to Orion. He picked her up and handed her to Alex.
“Sure thing,” Orion took Tanya’s hand as he led her into his den and stopped in front of the door that led to his green room.
“What is it, Orion?” Tanya asked, unable to contain her excitement. She stared at the ivory door, which glowed blue due to Orion’s sheild.
“I’ve never shown this to anyone before, Tanya,” Orion admitted as he adjusted the shield so that Tanya could pass through. “It’s my private room where I keep all of my secrets. Not even my parents or my brothers have been inside this room, so you have to promise me that what you’re about to see will remain a secret.”
“Um, okay,” Tanya said, anxiously.
“Promise me, Tanya,” Orion took her hands and gazed into her eyes.
“I promise Orion,” she said serenely, wondering what was such a big deal that he couldn’t let anyone know, “I’ll keep your secret.” That seemed to satisfy Orion as he took Tanya’s hand and opened the door. He felt the familiar tingling as he stepped through the shield.
At first, Tanya thought that the two of them had just stepped outside into the palace courtyard. She stood on a cobblestone walkway, the stones set into a bed of mulch, with large, fat trees all around, reaching towards a high, glass roof. Vines hung here and there, with brightly colored flowers showing off everywhere. Sunlight filtered in through the glass ceiling, casting bright patches on the tree trunks, flowers, and stones. She heard water trickling somewhere, but couldn’t see where it came from.
“Where are we?” she breathed, looking around.
“This is my green room,” Orion said sheepishly, “Do you like it?”
“It’s beautiful, Orion,” Tanya said, still trying to take it all in. “How did you get all this in here?”
“Actually, most of it’s an illusion,” he admitted, looking down. “The trees aren’t real, and neither is the grass, but the vines, bushes, and stones we’re standing on are. Here,” he said, crouching down and lifting up an oddly solid tuft of grass with a small bush on top, “I’ve disguised this pot to look like grass. There are a lot of them in here.” Tanya looked harder, but she still couldn’t discern the real plants between the fake ones. Orion set the pot back in it’s place.
“Why don’t you want anyone to know about this place?” she asked, looking all around her.
“It’s because of my father,” Orion looked down. Tanya turned to face him, confused. Orion continued, “Father never liked flowers. He seemed to hate every kind of plant that produced flowers of any color or size. I loved them, though.” He looked into Tanya’s pink eyes. “I started to go down into the garden and pick out my favorite flowering bushes, which the gardeners would then bring up to my rooms for me. This was just an extra room back then,” he sighed and let his gaze drop to the floor again. “One day, Father came into my rooms and saw all the flowers. He was so angry, he destroyed every single plant in my rooms.
“That’s awful!” Tanya exclaimed.
“That’s not the worst of it. Father was waiting for me in my rooms after my studies. He-, he punished me for having plants in my rooms,” Orion shivered at the memory. He remembered how his father had shouted and beat him, and forced Orion to clean up the mess by himself. It had taken hours just to pick up all of the broken pots. Orion had cut him
self several times on the sharp pieces, but his father didn’t care. He waited until Orion had done as much as he could before leaving and sending servants to clean up the rest of the mess. Orion had cried for weeks. He hadn’t understood why his father did what he did back then, but he knew now. It was because of Orion’s mother. The flowers reminded his father of his mother.
“One of the servants spoke to my father on my behalf, begging him to let me have some plants in my rooms. Father gave in and allowed me to have three plants and no more. I still wanted more, but was afraid to, so I began this secret room. The room already had a glass roof and a wooden floor. I began swiping bushes from the gardeners’ carts and bringing them up here,” he pointed to the pots that covered the floor. “I also snuck mulch and cobblestones up here, too, and made this path. I worked really hard on this room. I even put a lock on the door so that no one would be able to come in and see what I did, although I guess I did go a bit overboard,” he looked around, “Don’t you see, Tanya?” he leveled his eyes to hers, “I had to keep this room a secret or Father would get mad again.”
“Oh,” Tanya didn’t know what to say.
“This way, Tanya,” he took her hands, leading her around a bend, “this is what I really wanted to show you.” He stopped in front of a delicate plant stand with an intricate design carved into the mahogany sides that stood in full glory in the sunlight. On top of the stand was a small, magnificent bush with the most beautiful flowers Tanya had ever seen. She stared, transfixed at the petals, bright red that faded to deep purple at the center, with bright yellow tips that gathered and flowed down the middle of the petal, fading away before reaching the center of the flower, where the bright yellow carpel sprang out.
“Where in the world did you get such a gorgeous plant?” Tanya asked, not taking her eyes off the large blooms.
“This is the plant I tried to give you two years ago,” Orion looked down, “but you didn’t want it, remember?”
“Oh,” Tanya said as the memory of how she yelled and threw a small potted plant at Orion came back to her. She tore her eyes off the flowers and looked into Orion’s good eye. “I’m so sorry, Orion. How’s your arm?”
“All healed up that day,” he rolled his sleeve up and showed her several small, faint scars that he had gotten when the glass pot shattered against his wrist. “Anyway, I managed to save it. I wanted to give it to you again, if you want it.”
“I do want it, but,” she said, looking back at it basking in the waning sunlight, “it looks so nice there, I think I’ll leave it here. Is that alright?”
“Sure thing, Tanya,” Orion smiled. He kissed her lightly on the cheek and led her back to his den.
