CAITLYN

            "You promise you'll return my brother to me if I sign this paper?" Caitlyn asked, through sobs.

            They had arrived and took over the treetop fortress with little effort. When she and Absol had woken up the next morning, light blue flags were being flown on top of every building, even high above the green tree of the Forrest family. There had been no fight, just quick surrender.

            Now, the beautiful woman stood in front of her in the hall of her father. Her own family's servants and court stood behind Caitlyn, while behind the woman stood soldiers and commanders holding swords and bearing the blue flags of Sootopolis. The golden trident she bore seemed to be the only source of light. Outside, it had not stopped raining. Caitlyn was used to it after weeks of no sun.

            "You are Caitlyn of the House Forrest, are you not?" she asked. "I thought the Forrest family kept the Sceptile line as their Spirit Pokemon."

            "We do," Caitlyn answered nervously. The woman wore a smile on her face, and her voice was kind. But something about her made Absol's white fur bristle beneath her fingers. "Well, most of us. I bonded with the Pokemon of my mother's family."

            "That's fine, dear," she said with a smile. "Just fine. You're just a little girl, and I know that you had no part in your brother's treachery."

            "Treachery?" Caitlyn asked wonderingly. She had never thought of her brother in that way.

            "Oh you poor innocent soul," the Empress Glamour said. "Your brother Solomon has waged a war of aggression against and killed my friend Miguel Starfall, the lord of Mt. Chimney. I didn't want to tell you this, but he even tried to kill me."

            The words hit Caitlyn in the chest like a falling tree. She knew that Solomon had gone off to war... but she had never known the details before. She tried to picture her older brother in her head. Always understanding, caring about others, with his calm collected Sceptile.

            Caitlyn looked down on the words on the paper. It was a very long letter. She had spent most of her childhood running away from her schooling and letter lessons. "Tell me again why I have to sign this letter."

            "Of course," the Empress used her trident like a walking stick as she approached Caitlyn. With every step, the air seemed to become colder. It must be a draft coming in through the open windows. "Since you are still but a young girl," she began, "by signing this, you are giving Chief Specter Lordship over all what once was the Foretree Kingdom."

            Something in her words didn't feel right. "What once was?" she asked.

            "Yes my dear," she said. "If truth be told, I have united the entire region under my rule. I am kind to my friends, though, and that's why I'm going to let you hold on to your family's post as Chiefs of Foretree."

            "But my father and his father and my whole family has been Kings for as far as the history goes back. We're not just Chiefs." She looked up at the beautiful blonde woman. She seemed unfazed, the kind smile stuck to her face.

            "Yes, awfully it's unfortunate," she answered. "I didn't want to punish your entire family, but your brother's actions have left me no choice. Couple that with the fact that you are... how old again?"

            "Thirteen," Caitlyn said quietly. Why was she letting this woman intimidate her? She was no nice. But the words she said made her angry. But then again, Solomon tried to kill her... She didn't know what to believe anymore.

            "Thirteen," answered the Empress. "I'm sure in time, you will make a wonderful Chieftess, beloved by all under your rule. But now is not the time for me to let a significant portion of my new people fall under the jurisdiction of someone so young.

            "Chief Specter is wise and experienced," she continued. "And if I'm not mistaken, the husband of your older sister? The two of them should be able to handle the responsibilities just fine."

            But Susan isn't feeling well, Caitlyn tried to think of it as just another sickness, but it wasn't. According to the letters, Susan was deteriorating by the day. It was an empty promise. What would happen if Susan would to die? Her family would be cut out from ruling as they had for centuries.

            "I'm sorry," Caitlyn said. "I don't know what I should do."

            She felt an icy hand on her shoulder. It was kind, but cold and firm. She looked back up at the Empress. "I didn't want to say this, and I was hoping that they hadn't corrupted you yet," she said. "Chief Specter came to my side when he uncovered the plot to hold his son hostage, to ensure his loyalty to your brother. He didn't know what to do, and so he came to me. Without him, your brother's murderous battle would have lasted a lot longer, and many more of my brave soldiers would have died."

            What about my brother's soldiers? She asked silently to herself.

            "In truth, this treaty is only temporary. If you act in good faith, I will restore superiority to you over Chief Specter. But I only ask for some things in return."

            It was all too much. She had known Solomon. He didn't seem like a murderer. And it was Susan who had requested her to take baby Alex to see his grandfather. She had failed in that too. Everything she had ever done, she had failed her family. From the day she was born, to the die her father died, Caitlyn felt like she had brought nothing but pain to House Forrest.

            "How... What must I do?" Caitlyn asked.

            "It's only a minor issue," the Empress said. "You will bring me Alexander Specter, the Chief of Mt. Pyre's son, and sign the treaty. In return, I will let you learn how to rule here until you come of age, and I will let your brother stay here, and not keep him in one of my prisons."

            The terms sounded fair. The Empress didn't sound angry. She didn't sound like the tyrant queen that she had heard rumors of. And now that her sister might not make it... It seemed like her whole family was crumbling around her. She had to do what it took to see Solomon again.

            Caitlyn Forrest dipped a feather in a pot of red berry juice, and signed the bottom of the treaty.

            "Very good," the Empress sounded satisfied. "You've done the right thing."

            "Bring her Alex," Caitlyn ordered quietly to a nearby nursemaid. Within a few seconds, she had returned with the baby. The Empress took the child in her arms. "Such a sweet child," she murmured. "I hope he will grow up free from worry of war. With an aunt like you, I know he'll make the new Empire proud."

            Caitlyn would normally have smiled at that, but she was still apprehensive. When the Empress turned away with Alex in one arm and the trident in the other, a squawking sound came from a nearby window. The Wingull had come back again. And it was making a hideous racket now.

            Alex woke up and began to cry. Caitlyn's heart broke. She wanted to run back to him, to rock him to sleep as she had seen her sister do, but it was too late. Hopefully, he'll make it back in time to see Susan, she said as a tear fell down her face.

            The Empress turned to walk out of the hall with all her host when Caitlyn realized the woman had forgotten something.

            "You said you'd let me have my brother. You said you'd let Solomon come back," Absol made a noise in agreement, but his fur was still bristling.

            "Oh how could I have been so negligent?" the Empress' voice sounded fake now. "Commander, give the girl her brother back."

            Without a sound, the man the Empress had addressed spilled out a bag on the floor. A pile of white rocks came out. He kicked a round one over towards her.

            Caitlyn sank to her knees in grief. This can't be happening again. She picked up the skull. It was scorched as if it had been burned; blackened with soot in parts and broken in others.

            "No," she whispered as the tears began to fall as hard as the rain outside. She tried to remember Solomon's kind eyes peering back at her, to tell her it would be all right. But as she held the burnt skull in her hands, she knew it wouldn't be.

            As the wooden doors closed behind the Empress's party, and the falling skies outside drowned out the rest of Alex's crying, she knew that her life as she knew it was over. She was going to be alone, with no family left to comfort her.

            She looked out at the window where the Wingull had perched moments earlier. The rain fell down as softly as the Empress's words, but the cold that blew in bit as hard as the sadness she had brought with her.

            The burnt skull fell from her hands, and Absol padded towards her and tried to embrace its Spirit Human. She would never be happy again. She knew that she, her Kingdom, and all of Hoenn had entered into a new era of sadness and despair.

            And so began what became known as the Reign of Rain.