The Meeting

Some years ago, I was playing SoulCaliber and I created this character I called Moonblade, always wore a bandage over her eyes and battled with a halberd using the style of Seong Mina. I based her story from lesser known character from an old fairy tale.

The Meeting

The Princess Cindy walked slowly down the stairs of the palace steps, slowing her pace with each foot fall. 

It seemed a far cry from her previous life as an abused servant girl of her step family, dressed in nothing but old, ragged clothing and now, here she was dressed in the finest of silk and she was the most powerful woman in the land.

For some reason, she still hesitated at this meeting, her body tensing and her stomach cramping. It took a monumental effort to keep her from fleeing back up the stairs, but she maintained her composure as she continued her descent and headed to the patio where her guest awaited her arrival.

As she stepped out onto the patio, she looked her guest, who called herself, Moonblade. She had a lean, muscular body, with short brown hair and a bandage around her eyes. Her staff was leaning diagonally against the wall.  Two guards stood at either pillar and watched her warily.

Princess Cindy, approached cautiously. This was her other step sister, the same sister, who fled the house after a fight with her mother?

Moonblade stood up and bowed her head, her reddish brown bangs slightly covering the bandage over her eyes.

"Your highness?" , she intoned.

Princess Cindy cleared her throat slightly. "Greetings, Moonblade. You honor us with your presence. Please have a seat", she said with smile. "I may be a princess, but I don't always stand on ceremony."

"Your highness is very kind. I thank you."

As both of them sat back down, Cindy looked at the table and felt that something was missing.

"There's no tea here.  I can have some tea brought out to us. I don't mean to keep you waiting."

Moonblade tilted her head a little. "You needn't worry about that; however, I won't object to some tea."

A few moments later, a servant brought a tea set and placed two cups filled with steaming hot tea in front of them. Without a word, the servant bowed and left them both.

The Princess tentatively spoke to her blind folded companion. 

"You have saved many lives, including the lives my own children. I am in your debt,.of course. You could have asked for anything at all and it would have been granted, yet all you wanted was an audience with me?"

The other tilted her head again while sipping the tea. "If you know who I am, then you know that I am actually indebted to you."

The Princess lowered her head, unsure of what to say at this point, but she knew she had questions.

"Yes, I do remember you. It felt like a lifetime ago. “ She took another sip of her tea, her hands trembling slightly.

“I certainly don't want to dredge up old memories, or hold grudges. You have no obligation to me at all and any perceived debt is certainly more than paid."

“Your highness, does my presense disturb you? I understand if it does. If you would prefer that I leave….”

“No!”, the Princess exclaimed, eyes wide,. shocked that Moonblade had perceived her feelings so well. Gathering her courage, she continued.“Stepsister, may I ask some questions of you?"

The woman smiled and took another sip. "I have waited for such a long, long time just to be able to provide some answers. I....", she bit her lip for a moment.."I thought that you would not see me, and I wouldn't blame you. Nevertheless, I am glad you are here."

The Princess nodded and began..."after that argument with Mom, you ran off. Mom came to us and begged us for our help to find you. Even your sister, who married the baker joined in the search. This went on for a month and yet we could find no trace of you at all."

Moonblade put down the tea and took a soft inhale.

"In that final argument, I had told Mom how I felt. I felt that she had groomed us to be the princess of the land just to fulfill desires of her own and that it was not fair to us.

Part of me didn't blame her because I knew how badly Dad had treated her and us. In the end, I think the stress of it all just finally came to a head and I popped and told her that I never wanted to see her again. Looks like I got my wish."

Princess Cindy's features softened as she found herself letting her guard down a little. "I never knew your father. Mom told me of how he treated all of you. She said that this went on for years until your father was killed at sea.”

"Yes, that's right.", the other is said."your own father showed her a kindness that she had not known..that none of us had ever known.” She hung her head for a moment, her own voice nearly breaking, her mind filling with old memories and feelings that kept bubbling upwards.

“After he passed, Mom finally broke, blaming the God and the Universe for the cruelty she had been forced to suffer”

Moonblade shifted in her seat, trembling as she did. She shook her head, trying fling the tears away from her face and bandage. 

“We…”, she started…..the stopped, trying to gather her strength, feeling foolish. She almost got up from her seat when, she felt the Princess lightly grasping her hand, caressing it softly.

“We took it all out on you! All that pain, we placed it all on you! You were hurting too and instead of helping…”, she trailed off as she felt the Princess’s warm embrace and felt the heavy sobs of an old trauma shared.

The two of them held each other for what seemed like an eternity that neither of them really wanted end but after a time, they sat back down.

“Thank you,”. Moonblade intoned shakily. “I didn't even know how much I really needed that.”

Princess Cindy looked at her replied through her own tearful smile. “Of course! Of course! “

"As for what happened after my argument with Mom, I ran away from the town. I didn't have a destination in mind and no plan at all. I just kept running, trying to get as far away as possible. Eventually, I found myself in our own region where we were raised as children.”

There was an audible gasp from Princess Cindy as her eyes widened. “You mean..”

“Yes. Maretempest, the lawless region by the sea plagued with neverending storms.”

“Oh my God”, Princess Cindy said softly. “And you had nothing except the clothes on your back!

Moonblade continued.

”I vaguely recall being attacked by a group of drunks when I got there. They left me for dead after they violated me and I awoke with my face in the sand the next morning. I counted myself lucky since most of the rape gangs leave no survivors and dump the bodies into the sea.”

“I remember sitting there, crying out to the gods about everything, begging for mercy or something. Then, as if an answer, the lightening flashed right in front of me and I was blinded and I heard a voice speak to me asking me if I had given mercy to anyone.”

"Then I remembered you, Princess and everything that I had done had come flooding back into my memory like the waves hitting the jagged rocks. 

"You earned this, ' I said to myself. 'now what?'

“I don't remember what happened after that, except that I collapsed back down on that beach.”

“Let's get one thing straight, Stepsister,” the Princess exclaimed, her voice rising,. filling the air.”No one deserves that!”

Moonblade nodded in assent to her Stepsister and then continued.

“The next thing I remember was being in some kind of bed in a cabin. I felt a lot of movement and that's when I knew I was on board a sea vessel.

I wasn't chained as far as I could tell, so I got up and fumbled around for a door or something. Miraculously, I found the door and opened it and I could actually see again"

"You could see again?", the Princess exclaimed. "After being blinded by lightning...."

"Yes, I was surprised as well. The fisherman who picked me up, said he had seen me on the ground and decided he would take me to a monastery on Circe Island. He thought they could heal me."

"I pointed out that I could see now, but he pointed to the wounds on my legs and my arms as well as slashes on my torso and I fainted dead away."

I awoke on a comfortable bed in the monastery and my wounds had been treated. They explained to me that the lightening had damaged my eyes but didn't leave me totally blind. I could see at night but the light of day would damage them."

"So that's why you wear the blindfold."

Moonblade nodded her head, before continuing her story.

"I spent a year or more in the monastery training my body and my other senses to adapt to this new reality of mine.

Oddly enough, some of the gruelling "princess training" came in handy for balance. I found that I was really good at that."

After my time, l left to return to Maretempest and found a little house to use as a base and devoted myself to helping those who needed it, especially those who would be attacked by thugs and rape gangs.

Maretempest is a lawless place as you know and the people need protection."

The Princess nodded her head slowly and inclined her head. "Is there anything I or we can do to help?"

Moonblade shook her head. "Maretempest is beyond your reach, so you can't influence the region. There are refugees from there so if you can help them that would be good."

As Moonblade stood up and turned to leave, the Princess rose from the table and called to her. "Wait, please."

Moonblade paused..."Yes, your highness."

The Princess came close to her and touched her lightly on the shoulder.

"Moonblade,.... Sister.", she began.. " I have enjoyed this time with you and I want for you to come again. You do not ever have to go it alone, okay? Promise me that you will come back to us.”

Moonblade stood before Princess Cindy and smiled, bowing respectfully and then walked away into the afternoon light. For some reason, in spite of all of the pain she had inside of her, she felt lighter.

Princess Cindy watched her go, feeling a strange and renewed sense of hope.