Summary: When the Great One asked, Lady Celi von Spitzberg gave up her dreams for Shin Makoku. She couldn't stop the war, but her last choices as Maoh will determine the success of the new Maoh's rule and the happiness of her youngest son.

AN: My thanks to everyone who is reading, and to those who made The Maoh's Last Command one of your favorite stories and posted reviews – THANKS! NOTE: To everyone who began reading before this posting, you haven't missed a chapter. I was originally calling this one A Last Command, but it just didn't look right next to the main title so I changed it to A Torch Passed.

We have now at the point in time where the manga and anime begins. Yuuri is coming to take Celi's place as Maoh, taking away the protection her position gave Wolfram and leaving him at the mercy of von Hanreid – but not if Celi has anything to say about it.

I do not own Kyo Kara Maoh or its characters. This is written for fun, not for profit. Enjoy and please review. Thanks!

The Maoh's Last Command

Chapter 5: A Torch Passed

"There we go," Doria grunted as she and Sangria pulled the last of the trunks out of the back of the closet. "What do you want us to pack, Lady Celi?"

"Warm weather clothing only; put the cold weather things in storage. Oh, and I'll also want several ball gowns. Lay them out for me to choose from when I get back."

"Yes, my Lady." Lasagna curtseyed. "Alright, girls, let's get to work."

Celi caught up Shinou's ruby pin from her jewelry box and hurried on her way, confident that the maids had things here well in hand. Word had reached her of what her older sons planned and she needed to stop them at all costs. She waved to catch the attention of a hall sentry.

"Good morning, young man. Have you seen my Gwennie anywhere?"

The man nodded sharply. "Yes, Lady Celi. He and Lord Conrart have gone to visit their brother."

"Ah, then I'll meet them at Wolfram's room. Thank you!"

She hurried without rushing, a handy skill most nobility developed to maintain their dignity or, in her case, to maintain a confident air for her anxious people during wartime. When she reached her destination, Celi gently pushed open the door in case Wolfram was still asleep. She saw Gwendal, Conrart, and unexpectedly Gisela, around Wolfram's bed. Gisela bent over her youngest son, who lay curled in the middle of nest of blankets and pillows his restless slumber had created, the green glow of healing energy escaping in bars through the gaps between her fingers and his brow.

The young healer smiled when she straightened up and saw her in the doorway, immediately easing the surge of worry that hit Celi before she had a chance to ask. Gisela's words confirmed her smile.

"Wolfram's fine," she replied in a low voice. "He just needed more rest so I've deepened his sleep. Another eight hours and he'll wake as good as new. Now, everybody out. I won't have my patient disturbed by the conversation I know is coming."

Celi felt her heart warm as her eldest son delayed to smooth the blankets over Wolfram's sleeping body before tenderly brushing the sunny bangs away from his eyes. He rarely showed how much he cared for his youngest brother now, especially not in public, for fear of weakening him somehow. One day, Gwendal would realize that love was the greatest strength they had and what Wolfram needed most from him. For now she hoped it reached her baby in his dreams.

Celi turned to Gisela as she closed the door behind them. "Would you mind taking word to Wolfram's lieutenant that he must take over his duties for the day? Gwendal, Conrart, and I have business at The Great One's temple. Don't we, boys?"

The two men glanced at each other before nodding.

"Of course, Lady Celi." The younger woman chuckled self-consciously. "That felt awkward. You've been our king my whole life. It's going to take a while to get used to calling someone else Heika. What do you plan to do now, if I may ask?"

"I haven't decided exactly yet," Celi told them all as they walked toward the outer courtyard where a carriage ought to be waiting for her. "But it's definitely going to be something fun!"

-o0O0o-

The short trip to the temple was a tad boring. Her sons rode their horses in escort rather than share the carriage with her. No doubt they had things to discuss before they all met with Ulrike. Just as well. Celi wanted to have her arguments ready when they placed their petition before the priestess.

She still did not think it wise to let Gwendal or Conrart know anything about von Hanreid. Not yet, if ever. Once Wolfram's engagement had been officially accepted by Ulrike he'd be safe for three years. She had that long to let Yuuri find his equilibrium, judge how their relationship developed, and decide her next move. If they came to love each other, she'd let things be. If not, she'd explain the situation to Yuuri and ask him to block the marriage contract as she had and give Wolfram the freedom to follow his own heart's wishes.

When her carriage pulled into the temple courtyard, her sons had already dismounted and were facing off with two of the shrine maidens. The women kept a resolute stance before Gwendal's threatening irritation. Celi stepped down from the carriage and sauntered over.

"Am I interrupting something interesting?"

All four turned her way. Rachel, the captain of the guard, bowed.

"Welcome, Lady Celi. High Priestess Ulrike is expecting you."

The very slight emphasis on the "you" explained everything.

"I've been trying to explain to Lord von Voltaire that she cannot see him and his brother at this time. I have recommended that they make an appointment and return then."

Gwendal practically snarled at her, "And I have told you that the issue we wish to bring before her is urgent and cannot wait!"

Celi reached up to pat his cheek, "Now, Gwennie, is that any way to talk to a lady? Keep that up and you'll be the last of my boys to snag a fiancé." She smiled at the temple warrior while her elder son blushed and her younger son fought a smirk. "It's alright, Captain. I believe they wish to discuss the same thing I've come to see Ulrike about, so they can accompany me."

"As you wish, Lady Celi," Rachel bowed again and she and the other guard stepped aside to allow them to pass.

"Finally!" Gwendal strode forward with determination in his stride. "The sooner we put an end to this farce the better. We are ending the engagement today."

Not while she breathed. In a few hours, only that engagement would stand between her baby and a fate she sickened to think about.

"Mother?" Conrart's voice broke through the cloud of despair and brought her back to the here and now. "You just went white as a sheet. Are you well?"

Celi nodded and led the way in silence to the central gardens where she and Ulrike preferred to meet when weather permitted.

And sure enough, Ulrike waited there under their favorite pavilion with chilled wine and a platter of cut fruit. She stood, hands outstretched.

"Lady Celi. Lord Weller, Have you been well since your travels? I've wanted to thank you personally for the board games you brought back from the new Heika's world."

Conrart caught her small hand in his and gave her a courtier's bow. "I am happy that my gift has pleased you, Lady Ulrike. And I am quite well. Gwendal kept me busy, but now that Yuuri is here at last, I expect I'll spend much of my time helping him adjust."

"Well, don't get too busy to visit once in a while." Her bright face turned to Gwendal. "That goes for you too, Lord von Voltaire. I never see you these days. Have you told them, Celi?"

"Not yet."

Gwendal managed not to break the forms of courtesy, but Celi saw the cost of not demanding to know what was going on in his tense expression. Being in charge of Shin Makoku security all his adult life left him with no patience for secrets not his own.

Ulrike saw it too. "Everyone please take a seat. I was only expecting Celi today, so the wine will have to wait until the extra glasses I've sent for arrive. Meanwhile, what can I help you with, My Lords?"

Gwendal didn't sit so much as perch on the chair he chose and began. "Do you know of the engagement of our brother Wolfram to Yuuri Heika?"

"Oh, yes. Word reached us here not long after it happened." Ulrike picked up and offered the platter to her. Celi chose a peach half. "By now half the kingdom knows." She held out the dish to her sons. "Fruit?"

Gwendal declined. "Just what do you mean?"

Seeing the dismayed expressions on his and Conrart's faces, Ulrike quickly clarified, "There were several pilgrims and two supply wagons from the village pulling out when a priestess who witnessed the duel reported it and the results. They no doubt told everyone they met the happy news, and, well, you know how fire spreads from sparks. Why? What's wrong with that?"

"It was an accidental proposal," Gwendal told her, standing up to pace the stone path beside the small pavilion that sheltered them from the sun. "We'd hoped to have the engagement quietly rescinded."

Ulrike glanced her way. Celi returned it with a look that promised details later.

Conrart took up the story, "Yuuri didn't know that what he did was anything more than an angry reaction to an insult to his mother. One of Mother's perfumes aggravated Wolfram's state of mind at the time, so even he can't be held responsible. Since Yuuri defeated him in the duel, Wolfram cannot refuse the proposal."

"And neither can Yuuri Heika," the priestess nodded her understanding, "since by our laws the duel was fought to either cement or end the proposal, not to defend his mother's honor. The usual steps to end an engagement have no sway in this situation."

Celi leaned back in her chair, propped her elbows on the armrests, and laced her fingers under her chin. "I see no need to end the engagement."

"Mother!" from Conrart.

"What are you thinking?" from Gwendal, who stopped his pacing to stare at her.

"In fact, it's a most elegant solution to a rather sticky problem that neither of you seem to have considered." Now was the time, please Shinou, let my words convince them. "Consider your own words, Conrart. Our new Maoh knows absolutely nothing about Shin Makoku society, history, or culture. It will take him years to learn everything he needs to know. Some innocent act in his eyes might insult an ally beyond diplomatic recovery. Worse yet, think of how all the noble houses will react. They will see young Yuuri as their path to power. One of them might do deliberately what Wolfram did unintentionally and trap our Maoh into a marriage for their own advancement without a care for the boy, their child, or our nation."

Both men went pale at the implications and Celi wanted to go limp with relief but kept the control learned over the hundred plus years of her rule.

"It will be the nightmare of Wolfram's coming out only twentyfold," whispered Gwendal as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

So many handsome men and lovely young ladies vied for his hand in marriage, but not all with honest intentions. They all remembered the elaborate, sometimes near treasonous, schemes conniving parents had come up with to trick her youngest son into wedlock. But her Wolfram knew what he wanted – and what he didn't want – and he was born and raised in the court system. None had caught him though to her memory, more than fifty prospective brides and grooms had been pressed upon him. The war put an end to that circus, the only good to come out of it.

Hanreid wasn't the only threat to her Wolfram's happiness, just the one her boys didn't know about.

"Worse," Conrart observed. "Yuuri has no idea how to avoid the traps. And though he looks of age, he is only sixteen. We cannot guard him every second of every day."

Ulrike nodded with a thoughtful expression. "Lady Celi is right. An engagement at this point is the best protection we can give young Yuuri. Lord Wolfram's loyalty to Shin Makoku is unquestionable. His rank leaves no grounds for the other nobles to dispute his suitability. With him at his side, Yuuri Heika has time to learn our ways, to prepare for the intrigues of the court, to grow into his new life."

Celi presented her next argument, "Our new Maoh is still a child. He knows nothing of politics. He's probably faced nothing worse than schoolyard bullies. He is dangerously innocent. I know how my brother and others took advantage of my naiveté and the price our people paid for it. I will not let them suffer so again. The engagement stands. If it makes it easier to stomach, think of it as my last command as your Maoh."

"What of Wolfram? Doesn't he get a say in this?" asked Conrart, hurting for his little brother.

Gwendal snorted, "I very much doubt he will passively accept engagement to a complete stranger who nearly killed him."

That they asked this question meant she had gotten them on her side. "I'm sure Wolfram will support Yuuri for the sake of Shin Makoku. Yuuri has a kind heart; you can see it in his eyes, his smile. I'm certain they will grow to be good friends. Of course, the engagement will be in name only, a shelter for young Yuuri until he is ready to stand on his own. In three years' time, the duel-enforced engagement will expire and Yuuri will be free to pursue his true soul mate."

And as the ex-fiancé of the Maoh, Wolfram's status will set one more barrier between him and Hanreid's reach.

"That is of course," she added half-teasing, "if he hasn't realized by then that he already has his soul mate."

Oh, the glare her eldest son shot her at that! Celi just smiled back.

Conrart buried his face in his hands with a soft moan and peered over the tips as he dragged them down at Gwendal. "I don't envy you, Big Brother."

"Eh?" Gwendal questioned him, still glaring at her over the teasing.

"You get to tell Wolfram."

"Oh. Damn."

Celi burst out laughing at the look on his face.

-o0O0o-

Her sons on their way back to Blood Pledge Castle, her last meeting with Ulrike as Maoh over, Celi now stood before the Great One's altar for their last official conversation.

"You really shouldn't have laughed at poor Gwendal."

"I apologized. And I told him I already talked with Wolfram and saved him from that task. I think it was just the relief after the stress of the last few months. I'm almost afraid to believe my baby's safe at last. Thank you, Shinou."

He fully materialized beside her. His head tilted to the side as he gazed upon her. "Such a sad countenance on what should be a happy day – not at all what I expected from you, my dear."

Celi didn't turn to her ghostly companion. "Oh, I'm happy about many things. I will not miss being Maoh in the least. There are just too many sad memories. I will miss our game nights."

"Very few Heikas survived to watch their successors take the throne, and even fewer were worth keeping company with afterwards. No law says you can't visit me once in a while. I'd look forward to it."

Touched by the compliment, Celi brought her head around to the transparent man standing at her side. "Really? Won't you be busy guiding Yuuri as you did me? Though I think," she touched the ruby pin on the shoulder of her dress, "a different relic will better suit a young boy than this."

He shook his head. "I won't be communicating with Shibuya Yuuri as I did with you. It's one of many reasons why your sons are so vital to my plans. He will need their support and experience to help him through his first years as Maoh."

"But why can't you be there for him?"

He faced away from her to gaze into some unseen distance. "My energies will be focused elsewhere."

His smile this time seemed strained. Celi wished she had the ability to touch him. Shinou might be a god, but he had been fighting a war he dared not lose for more than 3000 years virtually alone. She gazed more closely at Shinou. It wasn't easy to see but there was a shadow just beneath his profile that in a living man she'd have interpreted as exhaustion. But as he didn't explain further, she didn't think it right to pursue it. He had a right to his privacy.

"Well then, I'll leave it here for the priestesses to return to the Treasury." She lifted her hand to unfasten the clasp and set it upon the altar. This final task and her last tie to the throne of Shin Makoku broke.

"Keep it."

Celi protested, "You can't mean that. This is an historical artifact of your reign. If Yuuri won't be using it, at the very least, it belongs in the temple treasury. I will not have priestesses pursuing me through the halls calling 'Thief!' at the top of their lungs."

Shinou's smile this time was just short of laughter. "I'll make sure Ulrike explains things to them. The gem no longer has the efficacy to allow me to communicate with anyone. All it is now is a pretty piece of jewelry, and much more suited to where it is right now than a dusty shelf where no one can admire it as it deserves."

"Then I shall accept your gift with my deepest thanks." Her fingers caressed the smooth surface of the stone as her eyes took in the altar room, fighting a smirk when she spotted the edge of her sweet bun in a shadowed corner, still fresh after all this time. When her eyes tracked to the stack of boxed games near the entryway, Celi remembered what else she'd come to say.

"It's going to be a long time before we play another game. I've decided to leave Shin Makoku for a time." The Great One said nothing so Celi explained, "For the first time in living memory, a former Maoh is living during the reign of a current Maoh. I don't want to be here where anyone unhappy with Yuuri can use me as a rally point for dissent or worse."

"You have truly grown in wisdom over the years. What will be your reason?"

"I'll tell everyone I'm on a quest for love. Thrice married, people already think me a wanton. No one will looked passed that opinion to consider any other possible reason."

"And what of your sons?"

Pride surged through her. "Oh, they will suspect the truth but support my choice and maintain the fiction."

Shinou turned back to her. "I'm curious. Though I agree with your decision, why won't you trust them with the true reason you want the engagement to stand?"

Now it was her turn to stare into space. "You've said that something bad is coming. I thought at first when war broke out that was what you meant. But twenty years of peace has not eased your heart. Something worse is coming, much worse, and that terrifies me. We will need every ally. Our people will need to make a united front – Demon and human side by side perhaps – to face whatever it is. If they know the truth, Gwendal will never be able to work comfortably with Stoffel or Lord von Hanreid. As for Wolfram, the marriage contract with von Hanreid is null and void now. Knowing will only stress him needlessly. He has more than enough to deal with as it is. It's the only thing I can do to help them now. It is my shame that I was able to do so little while I was Maoh."

The Great One's response surprised her. "You've made me laugh, let me be a part of your family. You're the only Maoh to give me a much needed taste of life. You have no idea how much good that has done me." He gave her a formal bow, one liege to another. "I thank you, Lady Celi von Spitzberg, and in time so will history."

They shared a solemn silence until Celi shook off the mood with a toss of her head.

"We are getting far too serious here. Time enough for that in the future. Come on. One more game. Your choice. I'm sure Ulrike won't mind being your surrogate again so I can trounce you."

Mischief washed his somber expression away and Shinou took up the gauntlet. "You're on!"

-o0O0o-

Celi had left to make arrangements for your ship to set sail with the morning tides. Ulrike swept the chessmen off the board and into the game's box, sending surreptitious glances his way. Shinou kept a straight face.

Until she asked, "Can I tell the cook she can stop leaving pastries in the altar room?"

-o0O0o-

AN: This chapter only ends this arc. The first four chapters of the sequel, What Belongs to Me, are already written and I plan to have the first typed and posted in a couple of have not seen the last of Gregor von Hanreid! Thank you for reading! Please review!