Moonflower- A Lunar Chronicles Fanfiction

Chapter 12

When Cynthia found her way to the family breakfast table WAY too early the next morning she found her family already there and well into their meals. Her mom and dad were scanning the net feeds, the emporer on his portscreen and the empress on her retina interface. The princess had always been jealous of her mother's internal computer. She was constantly connected and informed through her powerful processor while Cynthia had to scour through apps and piles of documents on her portscreen. Sometimes it was infuriating how efficient her mom could be.
    Rikan was too busy stuffing pancakes into his mouth to be bothered by the net feeds. Cynthia could always count on her brother to be scree less at the breakfast table. When she sat down a servant brought out a steaming plate of pancakes for her as well, and the delicious smell helped her wake up and get ready to face the day. That, and a cup of heavily creamed and sugared coffee.
    She waited patiently for one of her parents to tell her the news. She braced herself for the onslaught of embarrassing gossip stories like, "Princess Cynthia's Romantic Tryst" when she and another suitor happened to leave the room within five minutes of each other or "Childhood Friend Turned Lover" about her and Leo when after their two dances Cynthia hadn't spotted her friend the rest of the night. It was ridiculous, but normally made top news.
    Her parent's feed scanning began to feel abnormally long, and Cynthia was about to just beg them to tell her what the media had done when they both stopped. A shocked look crossed both their faces. Kai dropped his portscreen and Cinder lost the faraway look in her eye. They looked at each other, asking without words if the other had seen the same thing. When it was clear they had their expressions turned to horror.
    A second passed.
    Cynthia's eyes darted back and forth between her parents silently begging them to tell her what was wrong.
    Another second passed.
    Then the emperor leapt into action. "Cinder call the rest of the crew and have them here immediately with their families. I'm going to my office to work on security." He turned his eyes to Cynthia. "Thia please go find Torin and then come meet me in my office. We have a lot of work ahead of us." Then to Rikan, "Help your mother in any way possible please son. This is a threat I thought we'd never face again."
    With one last tight squeeze for his wife the emperor left the room. His worried look never leaving his face.
    "Mom..." Cynthia begged. "What's going on?"
    Cinder shook her head. "Go find Torin and meet your dad upstairs. It's too much to explain right now."
    With a worried sigh Cynthia left the room sending a comm to Torin asking him where he was. As she rounded a corner she ran straight into Iko.
    She was dressed unusually with her blue hair pulled back and covered by a dark hood. She also wore dark leggings, and several weapons circled her waist secured to a belt. Behind her was Kinney, a former Lunar guard. He was also dressed in dark clothes and well armed. They shared a solemn determination.
    "What are you doing?" Asked Cynthia. She had never seen the two of them dressed like this, as if they were going to go hunt something- or someone- down.
    Iko's regular happy smile did not return. She didn't jump up and down in bursts of excitement. Instead she remained solemn, her face determined but pained.
    Kinney answered for Iko, though rather gruffly, "Something from the Lunar war. We're going to go stop it."
    A Lunar threat? The members of the Earthen and Lunar Union had been peaceful for over twenty years, and Luna especially was still under constant surveillance by the other nations to avoid another incident with their unpredictable bio electricity. Cynthia's mother took several trips every year to Luna to meet with their Grand Minister about her former kingdom, and she had always come back happy with their progress. So what had happened?
    Before Cynthia could ask Kinney and Iko they brushed past her and down the hall, disappearing before she could even begin. She knew now the only place to get answers was the emperor's office and that's exactly where she went.
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    "All these years they've been hiding and regrouping right beneath our noses Torin! How could we have missed this? How are we going to stop them?" Cynthia's father paced the floor of his office, hands flying as he tried to show the urgency of the situation. Cynthia had never seen him this stressed before. All the meetings and plans she had always stressed over had always been nothing compared to what he had face during the Lunar War. For as long as she had known him, her dad had been content.
    Today he was pained and desperate. Something was very very wrong.
    Cynthia pushed the door to her father's office all the way open and took a seat at her chair in the room. Torin was standing next to his, too stressed to sit, and the chair on Cynthia's other side would soon be filled by the empress who came strutting in minutes later.
    Cinder clicked buttons on her metal hand with a determined expression on her face. She was wearing cargo pants and boots and a worn jacket, the opposite end of the spectrum from her ballgown last night, and while the empress had often dressed more informally in pants or even jeans if they had a day in, Cynthia had never seen her mother this informal.
    "Kai, Thorne and Cress will have the Rampion ready in less than an hour. Everyone else is still here from the party last night. I just sent Iko and Kinney out to scout. We can catch up to them tonight. Cress was wondering if she could borrow one of our portscreens because it will take less time to hack into..." Cinder noticed her daughter's clueless expression and then turned to emperor.
    "You didn't explain yet Kai?"
    Cynthia's father shook his head and then looked at Cynthia as if he had just noticed her himself. "I'm sorry sweetheart I didn't see you come in. I've been a little pre-occupied."
    He ran a hand through his already straggly hair. "Thia, an old threat from the Lunar war has come back to haunt. us. It seems we overlooked some Levanna sympathizers, and they've been regrouping for twenty years."
    Cinder cut in quickly, obviously annoyed at Kai's careful tone. "A team of Lunar Lupine soldiers destroyed a city in the mid-American Republic last night, and they've promised to strike again."