Religious Reign

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Hialeah wakes up as the sunlight filters her room. She rises from her bed and gets ready for the day. Dressed in her robes she goes to the chapel and sets it up for the daily services. “Good morning Father,” She bows politely greeting the priest as he walks in. She is just setting up the candles.

“Good morning Lady Hialeah, I hope Sagia blessed your sleep.” The priest responds placing the book on the altar.

“I slept well, thank you Father, may Sagia bless you.” Hialeah replies as the finishes up. She bows in front of the altar and to the priest before leaving the chapel. Her next destination is the chapel gardens. What started off as a simple plot to keep Hialeah busy as a child, has grown to a full scale garden. The priests encouraged Hialeah’s green thumb and because of her the fruits and vegetables produced by the chapel are known throughout the city.

Hialeah sings as she tends her gardens. Her beautiful mezzo-soprano voice drifts through the gardens. The priests do not push for her to be in the church choir though. It is like they do not want her to perform in front of anyone. It is a beautiful sunny morning as the works on pulling the weeds and watering the gardens.

Lord Aldain and Eran look at each other pointedly, but say little to nothing as the ladies with them well. Things will be okay, he is sure of it. He had thought that Hialeah had already come to terms with the fact that she was related to the girls, but...it would seem she didn't believe theme. Or simply placed it at the back of her mind. Perhaps it will be something that the girls can talk about on their own while the two are gone.

"Well, you three should probably...talk," Lord Aldain says, "You needn't worry about Eran. He won't be fighting. He's just pointing me in the right direction. Let us go, Eran."

"Yes, oh, great Lord," Eran says with humor, his injured body bowing deeply before the Vampire as the vampire walks away and towards the door, completely ignoring his patronizing joke.

With a wink at each of the girls, Eran says his farewell before making his leave, "Thanks, ladies. I'll return shortly with the good Lord intact. No worries--I'll keep him safe with my...my manliness. And stuff."

Nisa giggles but he leaves and she is still worried. About them both. She wants to say more, but she realizes that she hasn't gone back to explain to Kent why she asked him to wait. That'll be tough to explain. She doesn't want to give him too much information and spoil her sisters' privacy.

"Um, I'm gonna go tell Kent to give us some space and uh....I don't know, give him some excuses and get him to leave for a bit." Nisa says uncertainly, "We don't need him to overhear too much."

Hialeah looks over at Nisa. "If you want, I can explain that we have pressing matters to attend to and will not be able to entertain him properly. It is the truth, Kisten will be away and I have my own investigation as well." It is the truth. She is going to get to the bottom of her lineage. She is sick of lies and deception. "I will get to bottom of this."

Maria looked at Nisa. "That maybe for the best. There is much to talk about that I'm sure Hialeah has questions too and there is only so much we can answer." She said. She rubs her temple. "Your husband seems to know for sure we are blood related. I wonder if he knows more then we do?"

"Good idea," Nisa says, "I'll uh...I'll go and do that. I'll be back."

She says this all awkwardly, kind of scared of the discussion to come. She exits the room, leaving the girls alone and almost walking into a wall. She begins to search for Kent...she searches for almost an hour, unable to find him, not even with Caroline's help. Where in the world has he gone?

When she finally returns, she sighs and shrugs, "He's not here. I don't know where he went."

"Don't worry Nisa, I am sure he will be back." She sits down and offers her a seat. She studies the two ladies in front of her. "My whole life I had hoped that someone would step forth and tell me that I belonged to a family. I am truly blessed. I hope you guys can answer some questions for me. Do we have any other siblings? How long have you known about me? Are our parents still alive?" She can feel her eyes water up. Her hands go to her stomach.

Maria looked at Nisa and shrugged. "Maybe he knew something was wrong and left to give us space. I'm sure he will be back." She said.

She turns now to face Hialeah to answer her questions. "We are the only three siblings. Our parents had no other children at least that is my understanding. You see we just found out who our parents are as well. Our mother passed away when we were just babies and our father... well you would be proud of him. As new as this is to you it is to us.

We have known we had a sister for quite a few years now and we have searched for you. It was not easy and at first we questioned it but our Father told us it was true." Maria said.

Nisa nods her head in agreement with everything that her sister said, adding onto it only just barely, but with a tone of nervousness as her hands play with each other in her lap.

"Yes, we lived with uncles--but it turns out that they aren't our uncles, after all. They were just taking care of us for our dad. And we didn't know our dad was alive until recently...so, yeah. You have a dad! And he's really, really nice." Nisa ends this with a happy note.

"Ok why if we had a father did you not live with him? Why did he give me up? Sorry it seems the more you tell me, the more questions I have." Hialeah wrings her hands. "Tell me more about how you grew up. How did you find out that you had a sister besides each other?"

Maria sucked in her breath. She was afraid of this question. "He did it to protect us. We are still his daughters though. You see our father is the king of the gypsies." She then began to tell her what their father had told Nisa and her about the fighting that had happened all those years ago.

Hialeah's face pales. "What, he is the king? But how, why did he leave me there? Why didn't he fight to get me back?" She stands up. "I think I need to lie down. All of this is a bit much for me."

She doesn't give them a chance to reply as she quickly escapes the room. Now she really needs to talk to Cardinal Geoffrey. Hopefully he will get her letter and arrange a meeting.

Nisa groans after Hialeah storms out. "I think we should have waited to mention his position, Maria. What will we do if she mentions that there is, in fact, a Gypsy King to one of her church dudes? We're gonna start a war all over again if we aren't careful..."

Maria looked at Nisa. "What was I supposed to say? There was no easier way to say it! Maybe you should have told her. You are better with such things. Now I've scared the woman half out of her mind.." she said. She sighed and threw her arms up in the air as if unsure of what to do next.

"Maybe you should try talking to her. She only seems to get more upset the more I talk to her about it."

Hialeah goes to the place where she feels most at peace, outside in the garden. She kneels down by the bench with silent tears running down her face. She says a prayer to Sagia begging for understanding. She does not know what to think, and she wants answers. She wants to know what really happened and who she really is.

She picks herself up and sits in the bench looking around at the garden. How will her sisters react to her being pregnant? Will her baby be the next in line for gypsy royalty? Does Kisten know about her lineage at all? The stream babbles gently and the flowers look and smell beautiful. She begins to talk deep breaths allowing the calmness to work on her. Everything will work out, she just needs to have faith.

Nisa sighs, "It's not your fault, sis. We just gotta...I don't know. I probably would have upset her, too. Do you think we should go talk to her more or just leave her alone?"

Maria shrugged her shoulders. "Maybe we should apologize to her for saying so much, but it's all the truth. I didn't know how else to say it. Come on, there's only one place she would have gone and that is out to the gardens. Maybe there she will be calmer." She said. She stands up and offers Nisa her hand to help her stand up.

Nisa stands, taking her sister's hand and following her out to the garden. She's only been out there once before and although she likes it, she also tends to avoid it. It's always just seemed too...too.....pretty. Too nice. Somethin' for rich folks. Not really Nisa material for sure.

When they reach the exit out into the gardens, Nisa calls out to Hialeah sweetly, "Lady Aldain, would it be okay for us to come out? Or would you like us to leave you alone?"

Hialeah is pulling some weeds as the...her sister approach. She places the handful of weeds in the basket and looks up at them "I don't know what to think. All my life has been turned upside down. I don't know what to think. I need some time process everything. I know that I have to keep you guys safe. No one must know about us." She bites her bottom lip. "I don't know who to trust."

Maria looks at Nisa before looking at Hialeah. "We can understand your dilemma. We won't push you to believe what we tell you. We only hope that you can be patient with us. Is there anything we can do to help?" She asked.

Hialeah's expressed confusion and doubts is understandable and Nisa can truly empathize with her. The world sucks, sometimes, and things are changing for her so suddenly. Her her life has been a lie and to know all of this...? It must be such a burden.

Nisa walks towards Hialeah with a sigh, looking about them sadly. The garden is beautiful, but she looks up at the sky with a sadness she had forgotten about. Nisa is an optimistic person...it takes a lot for her to feel genuinely sad, anymore. It rarely happens, honestly. Then again, she's mostly had a good life, one far better than Hialeah's, perhaps.

Suddenly, she takes Maria's hand in her right, dragging her over to Hialeah and taking her hand in her left. She smiles at them both widely. Why not be an optimist here? Things are sad, no doubt, but how can she focus on all of this sad with them? That will only make things worse.

Pushing the sadness down, she looks up at the sky with a big grin, starting to spin--pulling her sisters to the side with her, spinning their circle of hand-holding into a spinning circle with her laughter as the joy inside of her bursts through, her eyes closing from all of the movement and away from the wind in her eyes.

"I am not alone," Nisa says happily, "None of us are alone and we have each other!"

Hialeah is surprised when Nisa takes her hand and spins them around. It is like the games that children play. She begins to laugh as the sisters spin. Eventually they all land on their butts. Hialeah leans back, looking up at the sky, and laughs. "I think I needed the laugh most of all. I must tell you both a secret, one that cannot be shared until the time it right." A soft smile appears on her face as she looks at the sisters one at a time. She looks at the sky. "I am pregnant."

Maria takes hold of Nisa's hand and Hialeah's hand as they go around in circles like they used to do as children. She had to admit, it was a little joy that they all needed.

She lands on her bottom and then lies on her back as she looks up laugh. "That was so fun Nisa. Thank you." She said.

She sits up to listen to Hialeah. Her mouth drops unsure of what to say. A vampire can reproduce? She is happy for her sister however. "Your secret is safe with us. We promise not to tell anyone, right Nisa? Ohh congratulations! I am excited for you."

Nisa looks at her, surprised witha happy smile. She also congratulates her, but then, an eyebrow goes up and a very rude question pops out before she can think or even stop herself.

"Wha--? But...isn't he a vam--I mean...can they have babies?!" Nisa's hand moves over her lips just after is slips out as her face goes red in embarrassment. She cannot believe what she just said!

"I'm so sorry!" Nisa says shyly, "I shouldn't have asked that; how rude of me!"

"I honestly am just as surprised as you are. Yet he is the only one I have ever been intimate with, so yes they must be able to conceive. There is so much misconceptions we know about vampires, gypsies, or even Sangians. A lot of what we do know is based on rumors, or from a misguided point of view.

For example, I grew up thinking that gypsies are bloodthirsty heathens who want to kill all Sangians. I am sure you have the same false concept of Sangians as well.

All I know is that I am going to have a baby. I want to raise this child knowing both the Sangian and Gypsy ways." Hialeah's hands to go her stomach. "I have a lot of work ahead of me though. Will you guys help me?"

Nisa asked what Maria had been thinking. It seems odd that a vampire could conceive a child. Maybe this child could help the future. "We would be honored to help you to raise your child to see the gypsy ways. Just maybe this will be the beginning to something new where the world can be at peace." Maria said with a smile.

Nisa says farewell to her sisters, informing them of her intentions to look for her lover once more, but congratulating the Lady Aldain a second time before her exit. As the gypsy girl left the room, she had no idea that at that very moment, this was the last good news that she would be able to hear in a long time.

- - - - - - -

Eran sighs, sitting on the horse with his own silent misery as he tries his hardest not to groan from the aching pain all over his body. He hopes that they will get to Jaer, soon. He doesn't like to be alone with vamp man, here.

"Just like the old times," Lord Aldain says bitterly from his own horse.

"Except you aren't trying to eat me, this time," Eran says sarcastically, "Gee thanks for that. Great way to break the ice."

Kisten sighs, "You were a threat. It's nothing personal."

"Tch," Eran says, "Whatever. Listen. I didn't bring those girls back into your life so you can fuck 'em over. You know why their dad sent me here."

"Yes." Kisten replies calmly, "I am aware. The King is becoming weak. Giving you up was a mistake on his part, but I understand his sacrifice for his daughters."

"He'll keep the lands safe without me."

"You were one of his strongest footholds--"

Eran cuts in, "I said he's got it. The King is a good and wise man. He's strong. He's got it."

Kisten smirks as Eran gives him a nasty look. He asks him one question with that smirk before riding off ahead of him with a sift snap of the reins: "Are you trying to convince me? Or yourself?"