When Next We Meet

For just a moment, Lute hesitated beside the door to the nursery. He had planned to walk past it, to say goodbye to his baby sister from the safety of the hallway. If he went in, if he stopped to see little Flute, Lute knew he wouldn't be able to leave her trusting, loving embrace for the horrors that awaited him. However, even through the thick wooden door, he could hear his little sister's distressed wails, and the frantic pleading of her nursemaid, Cello, as she tried to calm the temperamental child. Without really thinking, Lute pushed the door open and stepped inside the nursery.

Cello stood against the back wall beneath a huge ornate tapestry, desperately trying to comfort the little girl. Flute, however, refused to be comforted by her nursemaid's gentle embrace and softly spoken, soothing words. She kept her tiny fists balled tightly and struggled anxiously against Cello, as if she wanted the nursemaid far away from her. Nothing that the poor, frazzled girl did could calm Flute's frantic, piercing cries.

"May I?" Lute asked as he made his was across the nursery. Lute's quiet entrance had been covered up by his younger sister's wails, and so Cello looked up in surprise to find another person in the room.

"Prince Lute," She murmured, trying her best to curtsy while still holding tightly onto her precious charge.

"Don't, it's all right," Lute told Cello as he smiled in a friendly manner and blushed slightly. The young woman straightened herself and, with relief shining in her tired hazel eyes, let Lute take his baby sister from her.

"I'm sorry, Prince Lute. Princess Flute just won't stop crying. I've changed her diaper, and she's not hungry. . ."

Lute eyed the strewn bottles and the milk that stained the plush, purple carpet, as well as the normally chipper nursemaid's exhausted appearance. Apparently his normally sweet baby sister had been a true terror.

"I understand" Lute told the nursemaid warmly. Then he turned and looked at Flute. The young princess's face was a red and streaked with tears. Her blue eyes had swollen from so much fierce crying. Flute, however, did not look like she had any intention of ceasing her wails any time soon.

Cello excused herself and left the room quickly to spend a few well-earned moments away from the temperamental princess, and to let Lute have time alone with his baby sister before he left to fight. After Cello had left the room, Lute smiled down at Flute and wiped the little girl's tears away with his finger.

"Are you being a holy terror?" He asked as he sat down with Flute in his mother's cushioned rocking chair. Because of the sudden change in position, Flute quieted for a moment and looked about, but once she got orientated in her new position, she began to scream and squirm once again.

"Shhhh, everything's fine" Lute lied softly as he cradled Flute in his arms. "You can tell how nervous everyone around you is, can't you? And that's why you're so upset, isn't it?" Lute asked as he used his cloak to dry Flute's eyes and wipe her nose. "I promise, in a few days everyone will be happy once again. There will be celebrations everywhere. But, won't you be happy right now, for me?" he begged her. It seemed that for a moment Flute considered her older brother's request, even if she never stopped fussing. Flute turned her head so that she could see Lute. Then she focused her cute blue eyes on her older brother's loving face, and Lute, knowing that she recognized him smiled happily just for her.

"Watch this" he told her now that he had her attention. With a wave of his hand, he produced a soft red light. Slowly the light built in intensity, then exploded in a multitude of directions, filling the room with iridescent red bubbles that popped musically one by one. Flute's baby eyes widened in amazement and she stopped crying so that she could hear the different sound that each bubble made as it burst open. When the last red bubble had popped and the last sound had died away, Flute looked expectantly up at her older brother.

"Did you like that? Want to see something else?"

Flute gurgled in response to her brother's cheerfully voiced questions. Lute took that as a yes to both accounts. He held his hand out with his palm facing upward and began to murmur an incantation. A soft light engulfed his hand. After a few seconds, the colored light began to flow upward, sparkling like thousands of stars. The glittering light flowed together and moved, until it formed a swirling globe with the shimmering lights caught in the center of the globe. Reds and blues swirled together in intricate patterns to create different hues of purples and violets. Then those colors would break apart, becoming all manners of blues and reds once again. Inside the globe, the little lights danced merrily about like jubilant fairies beneath a magical sky.

Flute smiled delightedly up at her brother, then reached out with her chubby, tiny little hand to grasp the globe. As soon as she touched it, the globe burst apart, bathing brother and sister in a delicate, violet radiance. The bright points of lights burst out to all corners of the room. They came together in one shimmering mass, to hover right above the heads of Flute and Lute. One by one the tiny stars broke from the group and darted around the two children, caressing them with delicate fairy kisses as they brushed against their skin. Flute squealed with delight and giggled merrily as she waved her chubby arms about, trying to catch one of the dancing lights. Infected be his sister's laughter, Lute 's happy smile broke into a grin, and then he, too, began to laugh and try and catch the magical lights with his free hand.

Worries and fears found that there was no longer any place to reside inside either of the siblings and they slowly melted from existence, forgotten entirely. Both Lute and Flute were so delighted in each other's laughter and joy that neither noticed nor cared when the spell faded away. They could keep each other happy by themselves. For a brief instant, nothing but the gay sound of his sister's laughter existed in Lute's world. Awe and wonder filled him as he realized how unconditionally and absolutely his baby sister loved him, and he found himself swelling with just a little bit of pride because he had made such a wonderful little girl so happy.

From the door, Cello watched the Prince and Princess. Both looked happier then she could remember seeing them. They always looked happiest together, and even more so with their mother. It broke her heart that she needed to tear them apart.

The soft click of the door had broken through Lute's jocularity, partially breaking the spell of Flute's laughter. He looked over at the door to see Cello standing there, tying her long brown hair back up, and watching him and Flute with a pained expression. Lute grimaced inwardly, then looked down at Flute's radiantly happy face.

"I need to go now," he told her, guessing the nursemaid's message. Then he smiled at Flute and kissed her cheek "Thank you for letting me play with you."

Flute cooed happily and grasped at one of the jewels on Lute's collar.

"And thank you," he added "for letting me use my magic the way it should be used." Flute reached out to touch her brother's face in the loving, curious manner of a baby, and Lute forced the sadness away from his thoughts. He would not let her see him sad, not now that she was happy again. Lute tightened his grip on flute, and, as he stood up, he swung her into the air, high over his head, then let her fall into his arms. Flute laughed musically and clung tightly to her brother. With one last fierce hug, Lute handed his precious baby sister back to Cello. Then he bent down so that his face with level with Flute's.

"You be good for Cello," he told her, watching delightedly as she grabbed tightly onto the finger he had pointed at her. "No more needless fussing, ok?"

Flute giggled and tried to grab her brother's hair. Lute moved just far enough back to avoid getting his hair yanked. In exchange for locks of his hair, he took a necklace off from around his neck and handed that to his sister. It appeared to be a simple gold chain and Flute delighted in the way the golden mesh caught the lights.

"This was mommy's when she was little," he informed his sister as she examined the necklace "And you can keep it safe for me."

Cello looked worriedly at the heirloom.

"It's not gold," Lute told the nursemaid "The metal is strong. She can't break it," Cello nodded, looking only partially reassured. Flute could be surprisingly destructive, but Cello was not going to argue with the young Prince or take his gift away from Flute.

"Prince Lute," Cello said sadly. "The men are waiting for you."

Lute sighed, and his shoulders slumped slightly "I know," he whispered. He stood up, but before he left he looked at his sister again. "Flute, when I come back, I'll show you more magic," he told her. "And when you're older, I'll teach them to you." Flute giggled happily and waved her arms at her brother. "We will have such fun learning and playing together, and I'll be able to spend much, much more time with you, and so will mommy promise,"

With that, Lute bent down and kissed his sister's rosy cheek. Then he turned to leave. Without looking back, he left the nursery, cherishing the sound of his sister's playful laughter.

The latch to the nursery clicked shut as Lute pulled the door closed behind him, cutting off the sound of Flute's childish joy. Now only the gloomy silence of an empty hallway surrounded Lute. The young Prince felt his stomach churn as he thought about the fight that lay ahead of him. He fought the temptation to rush back into the nursery and stay with his sister. But, he couldn't run away from what was happening outside. He had a responsibility to more than just his baby sister. Lute knew that many people would die, but the Mazoku would be defeated, for the sake of everyone, all the innocent children. They would win.

"And," Lute though as he headed toward the front lines "For the sake of a promise."