For the first time since coming to Azlantean, Aurora woke up with a smile on her face. For the first time in six months (since the Queen woke up from her coma) Aurora hadn't loathed the idea of getting up and going to the academy.
Aurora ran her fingers across the embroidered patterns in her silky duvet and noticed how pretty they were for the first time. A pale green satin with pink blossoms all across it. As her maids bustled into the room to get her ready for the morning, she wasn't overwhelmed by a feeling of melancholy at all. In fact, she found herself admitting that she felt quite excited to go to the academy today.
"Oh Goodness!" Aurora's Nanny Beth gasped.
Aurora was immediately alarmed and sat up straight in her bed.
"What is it? What's wrong Beth?" She asked, her little face alert with concern.
"Can it be...." Beth paused dramatically. "That our Lady is smiling so early in the morning!" Beth giggled, pleased at her own joke. Aurora pouted and sunk back into bed.
"What can it be that has made our Lady smile so? hmm, I wonder...?" Beth continued on with the joke, which made the other maids giggle in turn.
They all knew that Aurora's mood had improved because of the surprising return of the 'lost prince' the day before.
"Oh Beth, don't tease me so," Aurora whined meekly as she blushed a bright shade of pink.
Aurora watched as the other maids brought out her dress for today. It was one of her fanciest dresses, not the type of dress she wore on an ordinary day. This dress was made with very rare silver silks that were only made in the East. It was adorned with countless lace cutouts, frills and pretty pearl buttons.
It was one of the few fancy dresses that looked good on Aurora.
She had always loathed the fact that she had inherited most of her looks from her father, who was by no means an ugly man, but it was rather that he was very ordinary-looking. His eyes were a dull shade of greyish-brown and so was his hair. Unfortunately for Aurora, who had always wanted a prettier more lively shade of hair, she had inherited everything from her father, including his pale washed-out skin. She had been disappointed many times over the years, when she had tried on a bright pink dress only to find that the colour completely washed her out and made her look like a ghost.
"We've got some good news Milady." Said Ethel, one of Aurora's maids. "Today you are going to view the prince's magical aptitude tests." Ethel smiled brightly as she clapped at her own announcement.
"But what about school?" Aurora asked surprised that her father would allow her to miss a day at the academy.
"It was a special invitation addressed directly from the King, so Lord Favian could not refuse." Beth cleared up the situation after seeing Aurora's confused little face.
Aurora's mind drifted off to the prince, her betrothed, the special person she and her family travelled all the way from the Eastern mines to be close to.
She remembered that traumatic day six months ago when her Father had abruptly told her that she was engaged to the prince of Azlantean and that they were moving to Azlantean to be close to the Royal family as if he was informing her about the weather. As if moving away from her home and friends forever wasn't a big deal.
Aurora's father was an emotionally detached person, so he didn't pay any mind to the feelings of his little ten-year-old Aurora, who had immediately burst into tears after hearing her father's declaration.
Her father had been at a loss for words at her reaction. He had eventually managed to cheer her up by telling her about the fancy new school she would be attending in Azlantean, he even managed to make her smile by telling her that she would make so many new friends there. Aurora believed him and had even gotten excited about moving to Azlantean.
However, shortly after her moved she began to realize that she didn't fit in with the other noble kids. She was used to living on the Eastern mines and experiencing life as a free unrestricted child, she was not used to the strict rules and etiquette that she had to follow in Azlantean. She didn't like that she was suddenly supposed to talk in a certain way and behave a certain way. She felt like a caged bird.
She immediately found the other children distancing themselves from her because they thought she was weird and wild and ultimately unworthy of the 'lost' prince, even though nobody had met the prince since he had been missing for six and half years, they all decided that she wasn't worthy and immediately passed judgement she on her.
She wasn't the best musician, or the most skilled painter, or the most studious student, or the most gifted mage. She was just an ordinary girl. That was something that the nobles she went to school with didn't appreciate. They wanted the girl betrothed to the 'lost prince' to be special and beautiful, they would all prefer if someone more like Sienna Sonnenheim was the prince's betrothed, and Aurora knew that. She saw it every day in their disapproving faces whenever she made a mistake in class. They didn't want it to be her. Everyone except a few kind classmates treated her that way.
"Come Milady, there's no time for daydreaming!" Beth cooed as she hung Aurora's dress over the sofa.
Aurora flung open the sheets and quickly jumped out and into Beth's arms eager to get ready so she could go and watch the prince's magical aptitude tests.
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My first morning in Azlantean was very different than what I was used to. Back in the village under Nehemiah's care the sun light would wake me up and I would slowly get ready as the sleepiness slowly wore away.
Azlantean was completely different.
Instead of the sunshine, the knocks of the servants on my bedroom door woke me up. The shuffled into the room like an army of ants and went about their tasks quietly.
I didn't have to do any thinking because everything was done for me. My duvet and blankets were gently folded back. Soft hands nudged me out of the warm food and onto my feet. Before I even had the a full mind to say 'good morning', Nanny Zelda had dressed me.
It was a silver and white suit-like, decorated with Royal blue trimmings and embroidery. I didn't have to be an expert in fabric to know that what I was wearing was high quality, the smoke rich feel of it on my skin was enough.
"You look so handsome, Your Highness." Nanny Zelda cooed as she straightened my jacket lapels and then stood back to admire her work.
All the other maids gushed from the other side of the room nodded their heads in agreement. Their bright smiling faces elicited a small blush from me.
I turned as I heard a knock against the door.
"Come in!" Nanny Zelda Called out.
The door opened and revealed a silver tray of scrumptious looking breakfast. The maid bringing in the food, placed the tray on my desk and then curtseyed to me, "Please enjoy, your Highness."
"Thank you for the food." I smiled at her and then skipped over to my desk to eat, not before I saw the shocked reaction on her face to my thanking her. Maybe giving thanks for food wasn't a princely thing to do, but it made her smile nevertheless.
The tray was chock full of delicious breakfast. Some eggs and meat, some type of sweet cake, plus some fruit and vegetables. I hadn't realized how hungry I was until I started eating the food and I was ravenously gobbling everything down.
"Your Highness looks quite hungry..." murmured Nanny Zelda, "Should I call for more food to be sent up?" She asked attentively.
"No, it's okay, I'll be bloated if I eat anything else," I replied as I put the glass of red juice to my lips after finishing everything on the tray.
She looked very pleased with my appetite. She then told Tabitha to take the tray away.
As soon as I was done with breakfast Nanny Zelda told me about the magical aptitude test I would have to take today. She explained that I simply had to do what Lord Leopold, my magic tutor told me. I simply had to follow his instructions and I would be fine. She also mentioned that my mother and father would be there, but that was all she told me.
"So they want to see how powerful I am?" I asked her.
"Yes, Your Highness. There's no need to be nervous, they just want to see the scope of your magical power so they best know how to move forward with your magical training." It all sounded very relaxed so I wasn't nervous.
Nanny pushed open another door and revealed a grand hall filled with people, who were now all staring at me.
My shoulders tensed as the rows of unfamiliar eyes blatantly stared at me. This wasn't a relaxed magical aptitude test at all, there had to be at least a hundred people here all watching me.
"Royal Prince Torryn Leonis Rosenheim enters!" A loud voice bellowed into the hall.
Like well trained soldiers the rows of spectators and the servants standing to the side stood up and bowed or curtseyed to me.
I gave Nanny Zelda the side-eye. She had promised that this event wasn't going to be anything serious, but at a glance of this setup, I knew that wasn't the case.
From the middle of the hall, I saw my magical tutor Lord Leopold beckoning me over. He wore long robes of black and purple, and his deep purple hair was plaited around the side of his face. Lord Leopold had sharp stern eyes with a permanent frown across his face. Seeing that my body was only six and a half years old, and my emotions were just as young, I found Lord Leopold intimidating.
I steadily walked over to the middle of the room where he was standing, with a table full of interesting looking artefacts: gems and metal instruments, some silks, of few of the objects I recognised as things my masters had in the village but everything else was new to me.
I tipped my head to Lord Leopold, as was the custom of greeting to someone with a lower rank than you.
Straight ahead of us, my parents were seated in their grand thrones. My uncle Cassian standing on the right side next to my dad. While a tall slender man, with the same frost coloured hair as my mother and I, stood on the left behind my mother.
I bowed low to my parents.
"Good morning your majesties." Then I bowed to my uncle. "Good morning, Your highness." All that was left was the frost haired man. Since he looked just like my mom, I guessed that he was an uncle and therefore also part of the Royal family.
"Good morning, Your Highness." I greeted him.
My mother and uncle Cassian smiled back at me proudly, while my dad and the frosty-haired lord maintained their cool countenance.