Mom and Dad had recieved a call from Mother as I had come into the house, telling them that a live interview was about to be held, and she was certain they would ask about the bracelet. Mother wanted all of us to watch the interview so that our stories would line up, as none of us had really discussed it. Ashley sat on Tia's lap, Grey and Ria were in our rooms completing homework from our respective schools, while the rest of the family was in the living room watching '24/7 With Emiliy Roussou'; one of four interview channels that had facilities with enough security that they could interview the Empress herself.
"Good evening, viewers. Tonight we have Empress Matilda Du Caledon for our only guest, its been a month since the last time Empress Matilda has been on our show, and in that time, a lot has happend. Empress-heir Natillia has gotten married, for one. the conflict with most of the neighboring regions has calmed down quite a bit, and a new Starcarrier has been commissioned and left dry-dock."
the camera changed to one that showed the stage, Emily had been sitting at a desk to stage right, a pair of couches sat stage center, and slightly downstage from the desk, with a coffee table in between them, a pitcher of lemonaide sat in the center of the table, with clear glasses inverted on the tray around it. there was a green circle in front of a stage opening that sat on stage left, with the green circle looking to be as far downstage as it could be. the camera angle let the modern foot lights be seen, as the interviewer stood from her desk, and walked toward the couches, announcing the guest.
"So, since so much has been going on, lets welcome our guest, Empress Matilda." she said as Mother exited the stage left opening, and stood briefly on the green circle for a couple of seconds, then walked back upstage toward Emily, shaking her hand, before they sat on the couches facing each other.
"Thanks, once again, for the invite." Mother smiled as she said a line that was obviously overly rehersed.
"We are always happy when you are able to take time out of your busy schedule for us." Emily sounded forced as well, but a lot more relaxed and practiced. "So, the first thing I want to ask you about is the new Starcarrier. since the class of ships themselves are meant for defense only, is this style going to be a continued trend?" it seemed this wasn't the topic Emily really wanted to talk about, so she was getting it out of the way first. a screen lifted on a pedistal behind the two, fully upstage, and began showing videos of an all-white star ship, with three openings in the center of the ship traversing port to starboard.
"Well, this is the first carrier that we are attempting the perpendicular transfer bays. This ship has been named "Lilly of the Stars", and at least for her first year in service, there is no plans of her leaving a defensive role in the fleet. The ship designers of Allessia Shipyards did a really good job with the internal systems, to the point where, even the things I don't fully understand, were easily determinable when I looked at the interface screens."
"What do you mean?" Emily asked seeming disintrested in the ship-talk.
"Well, I know very little about space fairing engines. its not a specialty of mine. so when I tour most of the fleet, I have to rely on a specalist to travel with me, to inspect the ships, making sure that they are being maintained properly. but when I was in the Lilly of the Stars' engine room, even I understood the readouts, and was able to determine that the engines were running more efficiently than the engineers expected. more efficient, means less fuel costs, which means less tax money spent on just keeping the ship running, so that money can be used for other useful things, like our public education system, rather than focusing solely on the defense budget."
this comment seemed to peak the interviewer's intrest, as the Empress herself mentioned the savings on fuel being spent on education.
"so do you think that this engine system will replace the others in the fleet?"
"Its hard to tell right now, it all depends on how the system performs over the next decade or so. thats a desicion Natillia and Noel will have to make, once the system gets some age on it, and we can determine its actual long-term cost."
Emily seemed to want to pounce on the Empress mentioning my name, but held back, and moved the conversation away from the new ship.
"So do you think that the possible defensive threat this new ship represents is the reason why the majority of our agressive neighbors have become quiet over the last month?"
"I can almost guarantee that this is not the case. if anything, their lack of noise, and the lack of border skermishes that have been occouring, are rather quite worrisome to me. Since I am not able to get much information about what is going on within a few of their borders, I can only suspect a possible alliance between a few of them, and a major offensive is coming. but this is meerly an assumption based on the tactics that have been used in the past."
"so we may see another offensive similar to Bendu, or Free?"
"By all the dieties of the universe, I hope not. in order to have an offensive that severe, then our estimates about their technology, and what they are capable of would have to be so far off the mark that we are aiming at the wrong target. I won't say its an impossiblity, and something along those scales would be a devistating blow to morale, as well as our defensive capabilites; but I really hope that I never have to experiance a defeat such as either of those battles."
The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
"Okay, so I have to ask." Emily's excitement obviously rose as she spoke, as though she could finally ask the questions she was interested in. "Who is this handsome young man?" the screen behind her showed a picture of me.
"This is Natillia's husband, Noel Lavender." Mother answered plainly.
"So, there was no hint of Heir Natillia even seeing anyone, and then all of a sudden, we hear that she got married, to a young man that nobody has heard of. so who is he really?"
"Well, we have some ideas, and we are checking geneology records to be sure. but this was a desicion that Natillia made on her own, and even as Empress, not something I have a say in."
"The Royal family has always made it a point to publicly declare that the Empress-heir was to choose their own spouse, with no one in the family able to remark against it. this wouldn't be the first time that a noble married a commoner."
"No, but some recent developments show that he may not be a commoner, we just have to confirm the lineage to prove it. if what we suspect is true, then we are in for an interesting generation."
"I am guessing you are referring to this?" Emily asks, pointing to an image that shows only the Lavender bracelet as it hung off Tia's wrist.
"That is correct." Mother smiled. "This bracelet is an heirloom passed down to each generation's matriarch of the Lavender family. this was given to Natillia when she married Noel, marking her as the next matriarch of Lavender. however, we are researching our archives because the pendant actually stored the names of several women, some of whom were fairly notable for their times, as bearers of the bracelet."
"The symbol on the pendant seems to be quite unique." Emily said, as the image changes, and its a blown up view of the pendant, showing only the six pointed star with a circle slightly smaller than the points of the star over top of it. "in fact, our researchers have found that there is an old noble house from the Trendant Kingdom that this symbol matches perfectly with."
"Thats correct." Mother seems surprised, but only mildly. "our researchers belive the same thing, however I can't confirm it until the background is verified. If, and I am not confirming anything, if our suspicions are correct, then this is the the symbol for 'The Lost House'."
"So you are saying that this very well may be a relic of 'The House of Glass'?"
"I can't confirm, but we suspect it is." Mother takes a deep breath, one that only those who know her would be able to tell is practiced. "This bracelet is indeed a relic, and is a proof of heritage. And, with Noel being an engineering student, which is in lines with what the historic house was capable of, we are in for some interesting times."
"What do you mean?" Emily seems to be quite shocked at the statement, and its not practiced.
"Benny, can you put the page we found up on this screen?" Mother says. the image of the pendant disappears, and an image of a piece of paper with typed text appears. its the old gramatical form, but anyone who could read the current language would be able to read this. "this is the last formal declaration of the 'House of Glass', before they officially joined the rebellion against the empire's founding. I'll gloss over the details, but it is know that the house had a way to see specific future paths, its unknown how they did it, but every prediction made by the house at the time came true, without question, and without error." Mother stood up, quickly followed by Emily, and walked up to the screen, and pointed at a line. "We found this last night. it basically says that a union between the Flower and the Path will result in the end of a dynasty; one we wish no part of."
"I don't get it?" Emily said honestly.
"Noel's last name, and the current legal name of my daughter is Lavender. but the name Natillia was born with, is Rhodes. a flower, and a path."
"so you think this prediction is valid, even now?" Emily asked, a serious look on her face, her mind obviously going over the implications it represents.
"according to our records of the time, two weeks after this document was handed to the king of Trendant, the kingdom joined the Empire, with only the House of Glass being in oppisition. at the time, this prophecy of theirs was belived to be in reference to what was going on at the time. but, I know enough about history that I dare not disreguard a warning from 'The Lost House'."
"Could this just be a reference to a change in how the Empire is ran, rather than outright war, as some may think?"
"I have no idea. but this find was serious enough that I told Noel's family to watch this interview before I came on stage."
Emily seemd stunned for a moment, then regained her composure.
"So his family is finding out about this at the same time as the rest of us?"
"yes. until Natillia actually takes the throne, or I die, he is a regular citizen, and I can not divulge things like this to him seperately; niether am I allowed to tell Natillia about some of the things we are finding right now, in case it gets back to him."
"So, everything that we have, states that Noel, and Natillia were dating for about a year before they wed in secret a few weeks ago. why are you just now researching his past?"
"The bracelet." Mother answered matter of factly. "just like everyone else who is associated directly with my family, we research back twelve generations. until Natillia was handed the bracelet, we had no reason to dig any further. once she recived it, and confirmed it as a proof of heritage, we were required to dig further; and some things have been comming up in that research that is quite startling; the house that we thought lost has been pretty active throughout our history, and has been helping the empire from the shadows, and the lineage that was stored in the bracelet shows that some of history's most prominant inventors have been from this legendary house, and they, themselves had no idea, and thats assuming that we are able to prove this. but what has been proven, is that Noel is from a long line of inventors, and engineers."
"Thank you, Empress Matilda." Emily looks toward the camera, and it zooms in on her. "As is normal whenever we have the Empress as a guest, this concludes our program. we hope that we can be graced with her presence again soon, thanks for watching 24/7" the screen went to black, and comercials began playing.
Dad shut off the screen, and nobody moved. even Ashley was surprisingly still and quiet on Tia's lap. it felt like an hour before Mom actually started moving, and said she was going to get dinner ready.