By Hitomi looks at Allen, not knowing what to say. She notices Van a few feet away who smiles for a second then runs away. That night, Merle removes Van’s wet shirt and puts it near the fire to dry. Merle says he’d be wise to leave Hitomi alone. Allen brings Hitomi to her room and tells her to get to bed early so she won’t catch a cold and since the wedding is tomorrow. In Zaibach, Naria and Eriya duel with daggers. Naria overcomes Eriya in the fight. Eriya brags about having better fortune since she got to kiss Master Folken. Naria bends over her and asks her how it was. The two of them lie on the floor, and Eriya says she wants Folken’s love, but her dream was destroyed after they kissed since she felt no love from him. They think about years before when they were children, being driven to the edge of a cliff by a mob. They jumped off the edge, but Folken flew down and saved them. He brought them to a safe place nearby where they bit his hand, but realized he was going to be kind to them and stop. He told them they would have new names from this day and better luck. Back in the present, they think they don’t have good fortune since they haven’t beaten Escaflowne. Folken enters and says he can increase their luck. The next morning, Millerna looks for a necklace to wear but can’t find one. The Mole Man, who had been watching her from under a chair gives her one which fits her perfectly. In Zaibach, Eriya and Naria are being hooked up to a machine to get implanted with ‘fortune blood’, blood from good fortuned people used along with the Fate Alteration Engine to increase one’s fortunes. Folken activates the machine. In Palas, various knights including Allen prepare for the wedding as Hitomi watches over a balcony. She thinks of what happened the night before. Millerna steps out on the balcony and says she’s worried about the wedding. Millerna begs Hitomi to read her fortune, despite Hitomi’s hesitancies. Later, Hitomi lays out the tarot cards, seeing that Millerna’s worried about this marriage she is being forced into for political reasons. Hitomi sees that Millerna will grieve over someone else if she gets married. Millerna sees the lover card and sees Allen and Millerna together. This causes Hitomi to drop most of the cards on the floor. She then draws the tower Card, which signals that the marriage is wrong. Seeing the emperor card on the ground, which stands for good fortune, Hitomi thinks of whether she’ll be able to change destiny such that Millerna will be happy with Dryden and Allen will be available for her. She concentrates on her pendant and shows Millerna the emperor card, saying she will be happy with Dryden.
The wedding begins as Millerna and Dryden head down the river towards each other in separate boats. Merle and Van watch on a rooftop from afar. Aston, Meiden and Eries watch from the castle balcony. Dryden and Millerna walk down the aisle and reach the priest. Hitomi looks at the emperor tarot card, hoping for good fortune for Millerna and Dryden. The priest starts the ceremony. The Vione approaches Palas, activating its stealth cloak. Dornkirk tells Folken that with Hitomi and the dragon separate, this is the perfect opportunity to capture Hitomi. He tells him to dispose of the dragon if it gets in his way. Naria and Eriya, with their new fortune blood are confident in their ability to capture her. Hitomi has a vision of the capital destroyed. Dryden places the ring upon Millerna’s finger, and Hitomi has another vision of destruction and rushes towards them. A beam emits from Escaflowne and the Vione appears in the sky above them. Naria and Eriya head out in their Teirings, speaking of how well their luck is since Escaflowne immediately showed itself to them. Hitomi runs down the aisle, but trips as Dryden and Millerna kiss. Suddenly, the Floating Fortress goes over the sun, causing an eclipse. Naria appears in her Guymelef. People start running for safety. Crossbows aimed at the Guymelefs collapse, as does any Guymelef trying to attack it. Allen is unable to get in his Guymelef, cockpit, which won’t open. Lightning strikes the castle tower, causing rubble to fall everywhere. Van heads toward the center of the city in Escaflowne but Eriya is quick on his tail and tries to shoot him down. Van attempts to attack her with Escaflowne’s sword, but her good fortune causes him to miss and Escaflowne goes out of control, falling to the ground. Hitomi gets out from the rubble above her and sees Millerna and Dryden. Dryden is injured, so Millerna tears apart her dress to bandage him up. Escaflowne crashes nearby. Naria and Eriya appear over it. Folken announces to from the floating fortress that they have one demand, that Hitomi be handed over to them. Hitomi realizes that this all happened because she switched fate. Hitomi tells Millerna that the cards showed her the marriage was wrong and that she truly belongs with Allen. But because she desired Allen for herself, she changed fate, causing these horrible things to happen. Realizing everything is her fault, Hitomi runs up to Naria and Eriya’s Teirings and surrenders herself to them.
The first half of this episode continues the reduced level of action, similar to the previous episode, but has a very eventful second half. It was interesting to see Naria and Eriya’s past in the first half of the episode. Despite being a villain, Folken appears to show a lot of compassion for those down on their luck, shown earlier in the series with Zongi and here again with Naria and Eriya. The wedding was an eventful affair, with the luck intensified Naria and Eriya attacking. Despite being warned about her actions bringing along worst case scenarios just a few episodes ago, Hitomi tries to change things again to disastrous results. The episode ends on another big cliffhanger as she surrenders herself to Zaibach.
Original Review: April 1, 2006
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