Blair
Blair took one last look around her room to ensure there wasn’t anything she was missing. In truth she just wanted one last moment alone. That room had been hers since birth. Her last place of refuge, and where she could always get away from others. The only place in all the galaxy that she could truly be herself, and now she was going to leave it all behind, and she wondered if she would ever see it again.
Blair wondered if that was all she would see again. Her homeworld of Goldenfields wasn’t that far from the Dragon’s Head Nebula, and the Commonwealth filled up the southern half of it, and most if it’s largest worlds, including the capital of Daxholm, and the unofficial capital of Bastion were in the south of the Commonwealth. A starship could travel the Fabian Gateway across the Dralan Trade Route from Goldenfields to the first major system of Kingsgate in the Commonwealth in six days. Bastion was only eleven days from Goldenfields, and Daxholm only 19 days.
Blair let out a sigh. It wasn’t that far she told herself. The Fabian Gateways were a marvel, and she could, no she would see her homeworld again, she told herself. Even as she told herself she would, she knew it would be years before her return. The Commonwealth was just as large as the Kingdom of the Salians, and had as many if not more major systems under its control. She knew how long her own brother could be gone when he conducted business with his own lords, and he was merely a Sector-lord under the King. Likely the most powerful lord to King Robert Cerwyn, but a Sector-lord nonetheless.
Blair ran her hand over the wooden dresser that had been in there for as long as she could remember, and could remember memories of her mother, and father, and friends. She smiled before she left the room before she teared up from the memories which began to fill her. Even outside her room in the long halls of the estate, she could see her mother, her brothers, and sisters as Blair played, and tried to keep up to the older children. She wandered through the familiar halls, and savored the memories that came up as she walked.
It was finally quiet, and peaceful throughout the estate. Family, and guests had come from all over to wish her well before she departed Goldenfields for the Commonwealth of Drala. Now all she could see were Bots, and the odd staff member going about their mundane duties while what guests remained to see her, and her brother off-world were already at the landing pad with her own handmaidens, and personal staff.
Blair loved her brother for that simple gesture. She had no doubt that Duncan had cleared the estate so that she would have it to herself one last time. Their ancestors had called that place, and Goldenfields home for more than a hundred and eighty years, and she could see the history of her family as she made her way to the main entrance.
It had been a busy, and draining week as kin from not just Goldenfields, and the Furmann Sector, but throughout the Kingdom of the Salians arrived to pay their respects to her, and her brother Duncan before they left for the Commonwealth of Drala. Blair greeted, and met nephews, nieces, and cousins who had been born since the last time she saw her family.
Even her brother Hunter Tusk had come from the Campania System in the Campania Sector on the eastern borders of the Kingdom with the Holy Fabian Protectorate where she lived with his wife, the System-lord of Campania.
Her father, Duncan the fearless, had created marriage alliances for many of his fifteen children. Duncan might have been the most powerful of the lot, but Gwyneth had been made High Bishop of Goldenfields, and System-lord of Lushfield. William had likewise been made a System-lord, before the death of their sibling Kacie, before Blair had been born. Ormond had been married off to a System-lord like Hunter, while Meridith had been granted the System-lordship of Weyburn by her brother shortly after the death of their father. Rodger had followed Meridith, and gained several minor lordships.
Morgan had been married to the Lord of Oritz Sector before their father’s death. Maegan became a Bishop, while Tanya had been promised, and wed a local lord in the Furmann Sector, and Piper had followed her as her handmaiden. Even Velda, and Lambert had married local lords, and Blair, the youngest of them all, was the last unwed, or unbound of the lot, and she could not remember the last time she had seen them all, and their many children. It must have been after their father’s death, and their brother’s confirmation as Sector-lord of the Furmann Sector.
Blair smiled at the thought of her large brood of siblings. She was the only one who could remember all their offspring's name, it was a skill that she knew would serve her well. Her father had always told her she would be a queen one day, he had just thought she would be queen of the Kingdom of the Salians, where her family had so much power and influence. She doubted he would have ever believed that she was about to become queen of the Commonwealth of Drala if he had still been alive.
Blair moved through the estate’s large main entranceway, and outside where large rows of hedges, and flowers filled her view on either side of the pale white stone that came up to the front stairs. The blue bright sky was dotted with small white clouds, and the three moons of Goldenfields were visible to the naked eye.
The stone paved path led through the large garden to the landing pad filled with landing craft, aircraft, and shuttles. Blair could already see the gathered crowd as the last of the shuttles readied to launch into space. She closed her eyes, and took a deep breath in through her nose, and tried to remember the sweet smell of the many flowers in bloom. She tried to file that thought in her mind where she might remember it again as the sun warmed her face.
Blair stepped forward, and walked through the garden. She took her time, leaned down, and picked several flowers as she went, and held them in her hand as she greeted those of the crowd she came upon first. Several cousins, aunts and uncles stood among her own waiting handmaiden, and other staff waiting to board the last shuttle on the landing pad.
Blair said her good-byes, and embraced several members as she made her way through the crowd. She handed out a couple flowers to some of the young, but made sure to keep several for herself. She fought to hold back tears that welled up in her eyes, but finally made it to the front where the ramp of the shuttle lay.
“Thank you, Thank you,” Blair said non stop as she were wished safe travels, and well wishes from the crowd.
“Mistress we must go,” Ansel said quickly with a great big bow, and grabbed her hand. His great cloak fluttered in the wind. “Your brother is already on the ‘Longsword’, and waiting for you to board. We were meant to depart over an hour about.”
Blair smiled at her handmaiden, and oldest friend. She would make her brother, and anyone else wait who would deprive her of her last farewells before she set course for the strange worlds of the Commonwealth of Drala. Her brother might be a System-lord, and Sector-lord. He might even be one of the most powerful people in the Kingdom of the Salians, but she was to be a queen, and strange as the Commonwealth might seem to her, she knew that it was also one of the most powerful, and best managed realms in Fabian Space. Still she knew she should not say such a thing out loud.
“Very well Ansel,” Blair said with a short bow. “Let us get to the Starship so we may start our journey.” She made her way up the ramp, and stopped at the top, and turned to look at her gathered family, and friends who would not be joining her on the journey, and gave them one last wave, before she turned back to the shuttle, and entered it before a tear fell down her cheek.
