Celestial Love: Mathion and Celitia's Grand Journey

"Celitia," Mathion whispered softly, his words barely audible over the soft hum of the ship's engines.

"Yes?" answered Celitia, her eyes closed and head resting on Mathion's chest.

"What will we do if someone finds us?"

Celitia opened her eyes and turned her head to look up at her husband. She shook her head slowly and said "We mustn't think like that." Celitia sat up and pushed herself against the wall of the ship. She wore a simple light blue dress. Her dark hair was loose and flowing down her back. The lights in the cabin were low, giving everything a faint blue tint. Her skin was pale white, almost translucent in the low light.

Mathion sat up too, leaning forward to rest his forearms on his knees. He spoke after a brief pause "We've been lucky so far, but I don't think we can hide forever."

"I know," Celia replied quietly, "But we can try."

Mathion hung his head slightly and closed his eyes for a moment before answering "Yes... yes we can try."

The two sat in silence for a long time, listening to the soft whirring of the engine behind them. Mathion started as he felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up at Celitia who was now sitting next to him on the edge of their bed. Her hand rested lightly on his shoulder and she said softly "It'll be ok, you know that right? We're doing this because it's right."

"I know, love," Mathion smiled at her sadly "but what if we're wrong? What if they won't listen to us?"

Celitia squeezed his shoulder lightly before replying "Then we'll do what we came out here to do." She turned away from him and stood up taking two steps towards the door before turning back to face him again. "You'll have to make sure you get my mother first though." She winked at him before continuing out into the corridor beyond.

The ship had been their home for three months, traveling through space between planets looking for any sign of life or intelligent species that would be willing to offer them refuge from King Caeles' tyranny. They had seen nothing since leaving Earth though... not even a single planet with life or signs of technology. All they'd found were giant swirling masses of gas clouds with vast asteroid clusters orbiting them, each one as large as Earth's moon but many times further away from their suns than Venus usually is in our own solar system. They didn't even have enough fuel to continue much longer than another week or two before they would have no choice but to return home with nothing more than they left with save the knowledge that they had defied Caeles' orders and escaped Earth on their own terms rather than being put into space prison as he had ordered them to be. They'd been lucky so far... But luck only lasts so long when you're trying as hard as you can to hide from an entire empire that wants your heads on pikes more than anything else in existence... especially when you're both royalty yourself and married to each other whose unions are forbidden by ancient law written by those same royals whose power you've just tried to usurp from their grasp; whether or not that power is legitimate or not is beside the point. Their situation couldn't go on indefinitely... Eventually someone would catch them, sooner or later someone would find them hiding underwater in deep space between giant asteroids doing their best not to use any fuel whatsoever for fear of detection by whatever mechanical sentries may lurk about nearby within Caeles' realms looking for anyone foolish enough to defy him in such a way...

And then there would be hell to pay for all involved no matter who got there first: His soldiers or whichever family member decided they wanted either Celia's or Mathion's head mounted atop a pole outside their palace walls instead of something more traditional like burning them alive or beheading them while they watched helplessly chained up somewhere high above ground surrounded by thousands of spectators waiting eagerly for either crown prince or princess to die so they could claim their throne for themselves and inherit the kingdom afterward. It was just something everyone in the galaxy hated doing except for those who actually wanted it done themselves because otherwise, people kept getting upset about it happening all around them every couple decades or so; something about 'ethics' always getting in the way whenever an heir has suddenly become available whether they want it or not.

King Caeles threw down his goblet angrily onto his desk, which splintered into several pieces, sending its golden liquid spilling across its surface and onto the floor beneath, where it soaked into his carpeting, immediately turning brownish-red before running off in various directions along its worn patterned lines.