Joreston & Jaqueson

Lightning, thunder and rain pours down upon London. A beautiful asian woman in a long red Hanfu tunic with a red belt, places her sword on Ansel's throat as he knelt on the muddied ground. Emily is a few meters away and standing next to an armored man on a horse. They are all drenched by the heavy rainfall. Emily is wailing in despair.

"One who denies destiny, will deny fate. Fate will find you. Who will take the fall for your family?" The lady in red said as she tauntingly slid the dull side of her sword on Ansel's shoulder as her sword flirts with the base of his throat.

"I will do anything for her. I love her and am willing to sacrifice myself for her." Ansel yelled through the storm, bearly faded by the sword that may soon take his life.

"Is that so? So love is the reason why you are willing to give up your life? So be it." Said the lady in red.

"Emily! I LOVE YOU! We both know that you will not be able to survive living in London alone. Please go with Sir Jaqueson. I've left him strict instructions for your care." Ansel yelled out to Emily. "Please go!"

The raging storm roared loudly that Emily's voice was barely heard as she replied. "Ansel, please, don't! Don't do this to us! Please, NO, please! Ansel, I need you!" Emily cried out.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING? JAQUESON TAKE HER AND GO! NOW!!!" Ansel yelled out as a last plea for his guard to take the love of his life and flee.

Jaqueson grabbed hold of Emily, lifted her onto his lap and rode off. Emily screams out Ansel's name watching him and the lady in red as they shrank smaller and smaller into the distance.

"Andrew, let me down!" Emily screamed at Sir Jaqueson, Lord Ansel's best guardsmen, but he didn't budge. Instead, his eye remained glued ahead as he rode off, leaving his Lordship behind. The horse is racing off very quickly away from Ansel and the lady in red.

**Bur~thump, bur~thump, bur~thump, bur~thump**

The sound of the horse's shoes was all she could hear amongst the storm and her own screaming voice. "Ansel! Aaaaaaansel!" Emily reaches her hand out backwards towards Ansel knowing she will never touch him again and then sees it. The lady in red raises her sword away from Ansel then swiftly swings it down onto him right as lightning strikes the both of them. The bright electrical light ricocheted up into the clouds and they both disappeared into the darkness of the storm.

Clash*

The sound of the thunder wakes me from this dream.

"Mother…" I heard myself say as I sat up from waking. Warm salty tears drip on my face and into the corners of my mouth. I have not dreamed of her in so long. Why now? But the biggest question was who is Ansel and that lady wearing red, like me in most of my recent dreams?

I sat there and contemplated the dream.

Jaqueson, that name is so familiar to me, yet, I can't seem to remember who they are. I suddenly feel a sharp pain in my stomach. The ship is constantly tilting left to right from the storm and now my stomach just won't settle. I sit up and gently press my belly.

"Sereen, my dearest, are you alright?" Lei asked, but before I could say anything, my body convulses and I let out a loud gag. I run towards the chamber pot, barely making it in time before I spit out all the remaining content of last night's supper.

"My goodness! You've only been off the sea for a few months. How could the sea become an enemy to you soon?" Lei asked as he quickly found a towel to hand off to me.

"Ugh, maybe it was the fish." I said, the words forcefully squeezing out of me. Lei calls for a maid and demands for them to refresh me.

Lei grabs his pocket watch and glares at it for a moment. "It's nearly four in the morning, you should get some rest. I will be in my studies if you need me." Lei said, as he began to dress.

I nodded silently.

After Lei left my chambers, I became overwhelmed by the familiar feelings of immense loneliness. This same dread that I lived with for the four years I spent at Newland Mansion. I remembered the mundane life I led with Lei, while by his side, and it reminded me that I once escaped that life. Stricken by sorrow, I cried as I peered out the tiny circular window and wondered about Giken and how he was doing.

"I miss you, Giken." I whispered, hoping the wind would carry my voice to him. I let my mind wander, imagining what life was like, back at the Ma'iingan campgrounds. I was suddenly hit by anger and it started to set in as I found myself asking myself, 'how could Jerell just abandon me, again?' A furious rage starts to boil from within me.

"HOW COULD HE?!?" I yelled, and just as I yelled a cold wind blew through my chambers and killed all the candle light. All except one.

On top of my vanity, a small candle fought to stay lit and next to it was the teddy bear that my nana had left me along with my mother's picture.

"Sereen…" my mother's voice came like a shallow whisper. "Sereen…"

"Mother?" My heart dropped into the pit of my stomach, "where are you?" I walked closer to the vanity and her voice became more prominent.

"Here…" her voice whispered to me, "closer… Sereen…" but it didn't really sound like her. The voice was so familiar to me. "Is that you, mother?" I asked.

I reached the vanity and peered into the photo. Yes, this was the photo of my mother. I had this in my posession when mother's spirit led me to Iceland. I picked up my teddy in one hand and studied the photo in the other.

'Emily C.S. J', was written on the back of the photo. The lettering after the letter 'J' was ripped off with the other half of the photo.

"Look at me…" the voice said from the teddy bear.

I set the photo down and focused my attention on the worn out stuffed animal. It was falling apart with mismatching threads sticking out of it. I pulled on one of the loose strings and the back of the teddy became undone.

"Yes…" the voice said, "look…"

I stuck my hands into its wooly innards in search of whatever it is the voice wanted me to find. I shifted the wools and feathers around until I felt something hard wrapped. I pulled it out whatever it was and examined this new found thing in my hand as I involunteeringly, set the teddy down onto the vanity table.

It was a purple velvet pouch with more wooly content to cushion something hard inside. I undo the tie around the lip of the pouch and as it opened, I heard a CLUNK as, whatever this thing was, went tumbling onto the ground.

I quickly searched for the fallen item, in case Lei was to come back to my chambers because of the loud noise. I got on my knees searching below the vanity, bed, end tables and more, but it was nowhere to be found.

It wasn't until it was already starting to brighten up outside, when my determination became more abrupt, that I started to really look everywhere. The sun rose slightly above the horizon and a beam of light snuck its way through my little window. Suddenly, the room lit up with a bright navy blue hue. The sunlight was beaming directly at a blue pendant that was paired up with the ugliest black string of necklace.

I approached it with caution, because I've seen this jewelry before. My nana used to wear it everywhere, all the time before her dementia became more aggressive. She never made any sense, so people just disregarded her.

I reached my hand down to pick it up, but when my fingertips touched it, it dawned on me that Jaqueson was the family name my mother took. The memories started to pour in little by little of my mother and this man. His name was Andrew Jaqueson… he had left mother and I to die after she had caught the black plague.

As soon as I remembered him, it was like the floodgates opened and memories began to drown my thoughts.

I was a little girl and in a small room with my mother. Sir Jaqueson would bring us food and supplies every other day.

"Thank you so much, Sir Jaqueson. I wouldn't know what to do without your help. I am so grateful to have you." my mother would say at the door.

Andrew Jaqueson was her guardsman. She took his name to hide the shame that she had brought to her family. Her shame, being me.

"Listen to what it has to say, Sereen… Look and see what it has to show." the voice called out.

"Mother?" I called out again. This time the voice was definitely hers. A giggle pursued and I closed my eyes to try to feel her presence. Through the silence in the room, my mother's laughter lingered. I can smell her calming aroma of lavender and like magic I am given a vision.

*

"Good bye, Lei." Emily blows a kiss behind Lei as he runs off the yard.

"Is he gone?" a male voice asked from a dark corner of the room.

"Yes. He has gone." She replied.

"Good. Now we have one less person to worry about."

Emily turns to Ansel, "Tell me more about this Zaa Clan and its descendants."