Chapter 12: Impossible?

“Well, what? Where is she? Is she okay?” Kalon asked while grabbing her arm, worried by the look that Luna had given him while trying to avoid the topic of his mother. He knew that she didn’t particularly like his mother but he also knew that she wouldn’t try to hide something from him if there wasn’t something wrong.

“Woah, Calm down Kal, She’s fine. It’s just that the ministers in the court have decided that she is also guilty of the plot to overthrow the throne. They have locked her in the deepest floor of the palace dungeons.” Luna explained with a gaze cast down to the floor.

She couldn’t bear to look her brother in the eyes as she told him something she knew would crush him. He lived for his mother's sake and now that she was laying in a cell in the dungeons he wouldn’t be able to see her. It wasn’t something a child his age should have to deal with.

But as she told him she saw something unexpected. She expected him to be upset and angry for not being able to do anything but Kalon simply sighed as she told him.

‘Thank god she’s okay.’ He thought as he pictured the sight of his mother being kicked repeatedly by the leopard man. He was glad to know that she was alive even though she was in jail.

“Well, that settles it. We can just go and ask father to release her.” Kalon smiled before struggling to sit up.

“That’s not going to be… Well… That’s impossible.” Luna stuttered before she spoke and then outright told him that his plan wouldn’t work.

“Impossible? Why is it impossible? I have never asked father for anything in my life. I’m sure he can do just this one thing for me can’t he?” Kalon asked.

His memory of his father was fuzzy since it had been so long since he had last seen him in person but he didn’t think that they had a bad relationship with each other and he even once remembered riding on his shoulders while he walked around the palace.

He was sure that if he could just see him and plead his mother's innocence that he would be willing to release her but he waited for Luna’s response before deciding to set his plan into motion. He wanted to know why it was impossible in her eyes.

“When they first found out about the plot and your mother was brought into the palace the ministers agreed that she would be hanged for treason. Although father is the emperor he can’t outright overrule the people around him so he asked them if they could put her in the dungeons instead.

He told me that he didn’t want to hurt you any more by having your mother killed. Even if they didn’t love each other she is still your mother and he is your father. He couldn’t bring himself to cause you any harm.” Luna explained.

The more she spoke the more it seemed like her relationship had improved with him significantly over the past couple of days. Before when Luna spoke of their father she seemed like she hated him but now it seemed like she was starting to think of him as her father again.

It was like something good had come out of all of the bad and it was keeping her happy despite seeing her younger brother lying in a hospital bed.

“Really?… Does he really still care about me? I thought that I was just a burden to him. Why else would he banish me and my mom to live in that run-down shack?” Kalon asked. He was confused by the whole situation.

“Of course. I sat down and spoke to him for hours and he told me all about what really happened back then. He didn’t kick you out of the palace because he hated you or anything. It was because he was afraid for your safety.

I’m not sure if you remember this or not, but when you were younger Octavian practically tortured you. He was jealous that you still had your mother and he tried to kill you many times.

The maids once left you both in the bath to get some towels to come back to find him trying to drown you by holding your head underwater. He even attacked your mother a few times out of spite.

Father was worried that he might kill one of you since he was getting older and stronger. And as the successor to his throne, he couldn’t do anything to punish Octavian since it might make him hate the empire and refuse to take over as the king. So he sent both you and your mother away to keep you both safe.” Luna smiled as she spoke. It seemed like she trusted her father once again now that everything had been cleared up.

Suddenly memories flooded Kalon’s head of him and Octavian as children. Since there was only a couple of years between them in age they were constantly together as children and he remembered all of the times when he had tried to injure him.

“Is… Is that the truth? I don’t remember much from back then but I know Octavian has always had a grudge against me…” Kalon asked.

All the years he had spent living in the woods he was under the impression that his father had given up on him because he was a human but now he was starting to question if he had jumped to conclusions too fast by not knowing the truth.

“Yes, That is the truth. He told me that when you wake up he wants me to bring you to him to talk. He said he wanted to apologise to you. When he first found out that you were injured he rushed over to make sure that you got the best medical attention possible.

He was worried that you were going to die without him having the chance to apologise for making you suffer all this time.” Luna said with a smile once again.

Her dream of living together with all of her siblings as a happy family didn’t seem that distant any more. She always wanted Kalon to come home and hated how he was cast out of the family before he could grow up. But he was forbidden from even setting foot in the palace until now.

She thought that since he didn’t have anyone else that their father was going to allow him to live with them once again. He was still a child after all and couldn’t live on his own so she assumed that is what their father wanted to talk to him about.

Luna was excited to take Kalon back to the palace for the first time in years. She wanted to show him around and give him a tour. A lot of things had changed within the palace since Kalon had last been there so now was the perfect opportunity for her to do so.

“He came to make sure I was okay? And he wants to talk to me?…” Kalon asked and then stopped suddenly as his mind went blank.

“What is it?” Luna saw that something had made him worry and wanted to know more about how he was feeling. He didn’t seem too excited about being allowed back into the palace and he almost seemed like he was scared of returning there.

“It’s just… What am I supposed to do? It’s been so long since I have seen him that I have forgotten how I should greet him. What if he gets angry because I do something wrong?” Kalon asked. He didn’t know what to do in this kind of situation and it frightened him.

He could deal with fighting and other conflict but a conflict of the heart wasn’t something that Kalon was ready for. He had still kept his father in his heart even if he did hate him for a while. But he still looked up to him if only a little bit.

He didn’t want to disappoint him again and began to panic slightly as he thought about all the things that he could do to mess up.

“Hey, It’s okay. Kal, I'll be there with you. Just act how you do normally. He is your father, not some foreign ambassador. You will be fine I promise.” Luna did her best to reassure Kalon but it didn’t seem to work; he still had some worries about what he was going to say.

So instead of continuing to reassure him, she grabbed his arm before pulling him up onto his feet at the side of the bed.

“Fine, If you don’t want to come then I will drag you there myself.” Luna smiled before beginning to walk while holding Kalon’s hand.

“What?! Wait! I’m not ready yet. I need time to prepare.” Kalon shouted in protest but it meant nothing to Luna. Her strength far surpassed Kalon’s and there was nothing he could do to resist if he tried to resist then he would just fall over and she would continue to drag him behind her so he gave up and walked behind her toward the palace.