C&C is much appreciated.  This is my first Vision of Escaflowne fanfiction.  If there is a good response
I will write the rest of this story.

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Untitled:  The Vision of Escaflowne Fanfiction
By:  Marie-chan
Prologue/Teaser

AN:  This fanfic is set eleven years in the future, on Gaea.
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 Koren sat in her favorite tree, bored.  She idly plucked a leaf off a branch then
watched it flutter down to the ground below.  She was contemplating practicing her
flying, but her father had told her not to go without him.  Her father, King Van of Fanelia,
had begun teaching her to fly a few months ago, but, being a king, he had little time to
spare for flying lessons with his young daughter.  Having all of six years to her name,
she felt quite old enough to fly on her own.  However, her father had made her promise
not to.  Although he did worry that she might injure herself, he worried more that she
might be seen.  For some reason which Koren couldn’t comprehend, he wanted their
wings to be kept secret.  Only her mother and her Aunt Merle knew, and neither of them
had wings, so she couldn’t go flying with them.
 Which was why she often snuck out to this very tree when the king was too busy
to take her out.  It was a large oak tree with wide spreading branches and a gnarled
trunk that was easy for Koren to climb with her small hands and feet.  She would climb
up to one of the large branches, and crawl out to the end.  Then she would spread her
white feathered wings and jump out of the tree, flying a short distance to land on the
ground.  Sometimes though, she would just sit in her favorite spot-- a crux formed
where the branch split into three parts, forming a perfect chair for her-- and think.  She
could not jump out of this branch, as the tree was near the edge of a large gorge and
even a small jump off a branch on this side would easily send her off the cliff and down
to the rocks and river far below.  Although she thought she could probably make it
across the wide ravine, she didn’t want to risk it, especially alone.  She wasn’t a strong
flyer yet, and her wings were rather small.  She extended the wings in question to
inspect her plumage.  She was worried (and she knew her father was too, though he
never let on) that her wings would never grow large, as she was only one-quarter
Ryuujin.
 She wondered if anyone had notice that she was gone yet.  She hadn’t really
snuck away though, because her mother knew where she was.  The queen was not of
noble blood, and thus sympathized with Koren’s desires to get out of the palace, and so
she covered for her daughter.  She had been a bit of a tomboy herself when she was a
child, but then, she came from the mysterious Illusory Moon, and Koren knew from her
stories that life was very different there.  Queen Hitomi didn’t mind her daughter going
out alone, as long as she was careful.  It was not hard for Koren to get past the palace
guards either, as she knew every nook and cranny and secret passageway in her
home.  The soldiers weren’t trying to be cruel to her-- actually most of them adored the
bright little princess-- but they never allowed her out the castle gates without an escort.
She knew the queen wouldn’t be able to cover for her too much longer, and as soon as
they discovered her absence, they would send out search parties for her.  It was
becoming something of a game for Koren to avoid them.  But eventually, she was
always caught and brought home.
 Koren was startled out of her thoughts by a flash of movement in the corner of
her eye.  She turned to see a young boy stumbling along the cliff’s edge a bit upstream.
She leaned forward to get a better look.  He seemed to be delirious, otherwise he would
have known better than to walk so near the cliff.  Suddenly, the boy tripped and tumbled
over the edge.  Koren gasped and without a second thought launched herself out of the
tree after him.  After one short beat of her wings to send her in his direction, she folded
them close to her body to dive like a falcon.  However, she quickly realized that he was
falling faster than her, and she wouldn’t catch him in time.  So she spread her wings
once more and used them to pull her downward in quick strokes.  Now she was gaining
on him.  In a few more beats she reached out to grab his arm.  The sudden jolt startled
her and she strained to keep steady.  Shifting his weight, she clasped her hands under
his unconscious body.
 She looked up and saw that they had fallen a long way down from the top of the
ravine.  For a moment, fear clutched at her heart that she wouldn’t be able to fly up that
far.  But, setting a determined look on her face, she steadily began beating upward.  It
was soon apparent that she wouldn’t make it back up-- not without resting, anyway.  With
every wingbeat she was losing her strength.  A bit later she was not even rising
anymore, just holding level altitude, and then she was sinking slowly.  It never even
occurred to her to drop the strange boy and save herself; it was a bit of her personality
inherited from her father.  She scanned the cliff walls, but they were mostly sheer.
Then she spotted a ledge just a bit higher up.  If she could just...  She began thrashing
her wings frantically, using her dwindling strength.  Her mind was slow and her vision
grew hazy from her weakness.  Finally her wings gave out completely, and they were in
free fall once more.  The sudden resume of their falling stirred the unconscious boy in
her arms into wakefulness.  Koren thought she was dreaming, as she saw through her
half-shut eyes, the boy suddenly sprouted wings.  He quickly rolled so that he was on
top and wrapped his arms around her waist.  He looked down and saw, in his embrace,
an angel.  He gazed at Koren’s small white wings, her curly brown hair {AN: think
Shirley Temple.}  and though her eyes were half-closed, he could see they were bright
blue as she looked up at him dazedly.  He could tell that if her eyes were opened they
would be very large.  He spotted the ledge she had been aiming for and landed lightly.
He gently set her down on the ground, being careful of her wings, and saw that she had
fainted from her exhaustion.  He sat down next to her and decided to let them both rest
for a bit.  He took the opportunity to study her more in detail.  She looked maybe a year
or two younger than him, and was dressed in a tattered , low-backed sundress
appropriate for flying in, which also indicated that she was probably a peasant.  Her skin
was sun-browned and her body was lean, both pointing also to that conclusion.  He
noted, however, that she was quite clean, especially her hair, which was well-kept even
though it had been tousled by the events of the last few minutes.  The boy decided that
perhaps she was the daughter of a middle-class family.  If she had many older brothers,
her father might have allowed her to run wild until she got older and would then be put
to work.  She bore no telltale signs of hard labor.  He suddenly realized that after the
adrenaline wore off he was still quite lightheaded and tired.  He laid his head back and
closed his eyed to rest for a few minutes...
 

To be continued?