SARAH

            Sarah accompanied her family as they gathered in the Sparks’ great hall.  Joining them were the Chiefs who were loyal to Mauville: Chief Allen Flowers of Verdanturf, who was her mother’s cousin, and his Exploud, and Chief Stone of Rustboro, a fat man with a Probopass and matching moustaches. There had been a Swellow and a letter from Lavaridge.

            When Sarah had been told, she and Manectric looked at each other uneasily.  At first Sarah’s heart got caught in her throat.  Had they captured her betrothed, Chris Marsh? Or had they finally killed Swampert?  No, she thought as she calmed herself down.  Carlos Brightflame would want to use Swampert as a bargaining tool.

A letter from an enemy could only mean one of two things.  A note of surrender, or terms for peace, she remembered from her father’s strategy teachings.  Or another threat…

The hall was quiet as Sarah arrived with Manectric at her side.  She took her place at a long table to her father’s right. “You’re late,” King Marcus had said.  The jolliness had gone from him, and Sarah figured he wore the face of the strong king today. 

“I was across town, Father,” she said, brushing him off.  “Practicing my bow.”

“Perhaps if you weren’t so busy with your bow, King Chris might never have left,” her mother chided in.  “You failed to do your duty as a lady and failed to wisely council your husband to be cautious.”  The Princess of Mauville gripped the arms of her chair in quiet anger.

Normally, Sarah didn’t care what her mother said, but this was in front of the Chiefs that would one day be loyal to her. 

Lady Alice didn’t let up.  “You’ve failed your family, and you’ve failed your kingdom, yet you still show the nerve to be late for this meeting though you were told it was urgent.  Do you even care, Sarah?”

“Maybe you should have kept father here in Mauville so that the Brightflames couldn’t take us unawares, mother,” she sneered the last word.  “I guess we’re all failures here.”

“Enough,” grumbled Marcus Spark, his own Manectric hissing with electric energy.  “I will not have my family at each other’s throats.  What’s done is done.”  He caught Sarah’s eye.  “There’s enough mistakes to go around.”  Sarah was about to open her mouth to speak again when Marcus interrupted her again.  “By all of us.  Now, on to the matter at hand.”

The King of Mauville tossed a rolled up parchment onto the table.  Yet instead of the red flame of the Brightflames stamped into the wax, it was the indigo star of Meteor Falls.  Chief Flowers began to read:

“Marcus Spark, King of Mauville,

            Let it now be known and recognized that Miguel Starfall of Meteor Falls has assisted in your efforts to defeat Carlos Brightflame, and succeeded.  The citizens of Lavaridge had cried out to His Grace Starfall to rid them of Carlos’s mad visions and his obsession with his red jewel. Chief Miguel has now taken the title of ‘King of Mt. Chimney,’ and offers to exchange any and all prisoners captured for value relative to the position, rank, and social status of those prisoners.

            It has also been decreed by King Starfall that the Sparks of Mauville and their Chieftains give up any and all alliance to the Marshes of Slateport.  It seems that in an attempt to dishonorably secure the freedom of Swampert, Chris’s Spirit Pokemon, and great damage was done to the property of Lavaridge’s citizens.  The Slateport men were easily captured by His Grace’s loyal Chieftain, Randall Sand.  The rescue effort was thwarted by his grace, Miguel Starfall, and the Slateport fish-guards have been imprisoned and await the King’s Justice.

            His Grace also requests that King Marcus and his daughter, Sarah, meet to discuss further alliances so that the Mauville Kingdom and the new age of the Mt. Chimney Kingdom can move forward into an age of peace and understanding.”

            A silence followed the end of the letter.  Sarah felt the blood flush from her face.  They captured him…  She had never really had any alone time with the brave young man that she was supposed to marry, save for that day when he showed off how skilled he was with his spear. 

            “Chief Flowers, Chief Stone,” her father spoke slowly.  “Council me in what you think of this.”

            “It was the Brightflames we were in this war against,” began mustachioed Stone.  Probopass hovered and hummed metallically alongside.  “Now that King Carlos Brightflame has been overthrown, though not by our hands, there is a chance for peace between Mauville and Mt. Chimney.  It seems Hoenn is free of that man’s mad ambitions.”

            “I have nothing to add,” said Sarah’s mother’s cousin.  “Yet we cannot figure in the men we lost fighting against Starfall when making this decision of peace for the future.  Unfortunately, they’re sunk costs,” Chief Flowers added.

            “Additionally,” Stone interjected.  “It isn’t even clear that Starfall joined in the battle at Mauville anyway.  Sure he was seen the night when we chased the decoy bonfires, but surely somebody would have spotted him flying around during the battle.  My King,” Stone leaned forward in his chair.  “These terms are generous, Your Grace.  Meet with King Starfall.  Trade hostages with him.  He has indirectly won this war for you by overthrowing the Brightflame regime! The Marshes are finished, and their line broken. Chris has been captured on this mission and his sister is dead. As much as we all loved Sam Marsh, we have to let that go now. For peace.”

            King Marcus put his head in his hands.  He was considering it, Sarah knew.  Would he throw away his lifelong friendship with the Marshes? A King does what’s best for his people, she thought, regardless of how it makes him feel personally. What was best for the people of Mauville may not be what’s best for Slateport any longer.

            Sarah could take no more.  “He’s my husband!” she declared loudly.  “…Or he will be.  I am promised to him not by the word of my father, but from the word of my own mouth.  I professed my love for him.”

            Didn’t she? Didn’t she promise to marry him and to love him?  Initially, she had thought she had done it for the good of her people.  Yet now, the good of her people didn’t rest with bringing King Chris home.  It said it in the letter: Starfall has him. We could cut ties with the Marshes and my people would be better for it…  Yet there was something small, a nagging in her mind. If it was better for Mauville’s people to accept Starfall’s new terms of peace, why didn’t she care about that as much as she cared about the tanned young King with the bright smile?

            Her father was looking at her disapprovingly.  I’m losing this… No matter what I say, I’m going to lose.  How does one choose between duty and love?  Again the little voice nagged at her, as Manectric looked up at her also, giving her confidence.  The things I do for love…

            “Besides, how do we know we can trust Starfall?” she looked at him, pleadingly.  “We know he was there in Rustboro, drawing our armies away.  He may not have been physically at the battle here, but his effect was felt.  He says this paper means peace, but all it is,” she reached for the letter, “is a piece of paper.”  She ripped it.  Her eyes pleaded with her father like she had never plead before.  She wanted her King, her love, back so bad. “If Starfall turned on one friend, who’s to say he won’t do it again?”

            Her father’s eyes were understanding, yet sad. 

            “Sarah Spark control your outbursts young lady!” scolded her mother again.

            Fat Chief Stone coughed again.  “Nonsense.  These are words from a young girl, infatuated with the notion of love.  You can’t take her words to heart, surely?”

“A moment ago you were late to a matter of the Kingdom’s importance,” Chief Flowers said.  “Your credibility is thin to me in this matter, even if you are my cousin’s daughter.” 

“She’s your Princess and next in line to control of my Kingdom.  And my daughter don’t forget, Flowers.”  Sarah felt tears of joy in her eyes.  Her father had taken her side, and the word of a King was law.  She smiled as Marcus Spark slammed his fist on the table.  “I will not give up on the son of the man who didn’t give up on me.  A man who turns on his own friend needs more than words to earn another.”  Her father’s Manectric roared.  “We stand with Slateport.”

Thank you, father, she thought as King Marcus nodded.  For the first time in a long time, his jolly smile had come back, and so did Sarah’s.