Walking into the room at the announcement of their arrival. Morgianna was amazed at how many people were in attendance. Though she did not show her amazement.
Over the past couple of years if she learned anything from her lessons it was how to hold a poker face.
Everyone in attendance was amazed by her elegance at such a young age. Some would even say she carried herself better than some of the grown women. Without looking around she made her way to the stage where her mother and father were standing waiting for her.
"Thank you all for attending my daughter Morgianna Bloodmoon, public debut. Drink, eat, and dance your fill and at midnight we will use the crystal to check her magical aptitude." With those words her father spoke it seemed the spell of seeing such beauty had finally been broken everyone's frozen state.
One by one nobles from many countries came forward to introduce themselves. Each time commenting on how beautiful Morgianna was and how impressed they were with how she acted. After all how many 6-year-olds could hold conversations with adults on the same level of maturity and knowledge?
After a couple of hours of talking and greeting guests Morgianna was feeling claustrophobic. *thinking* "how are there still so many guests to greet!"
Though her thoughts were in turmoil her face never lost its pleasant smile. Unknown to her that is why people wanted to keep coming up to her.
When there was finally a lull in the people approaching she batted her eyes at her father and in her most pleasant voice began to speak quietly. "Father may I take a few moments to freshen up and stretch my legs? I promise to return shortly so that I may continue to talk to the guests." She added one of her cutest smiles at the end to sweeten the deal.
Her father weak to her cuteness immediately agreed telling her to be back within the hour as it was getting close to midnight.
Morgianna slowly ascended the platform they were on and made her way to the door. She wanted to draw the least amount of attention to herself, lest some other guest tries to talk to her before she can escape.
She had been waiting all night worried the capture targets to walk up to her and she would have to greet them. However with each person that came up, that wasn't them the ball of worry did not lessen but instead got worse.
Were they waiting for last to make an impact? Why could they just not get it over with, like ripping a band-aid off? With those thoughts she needed some air. An escape from the crowded room in which it seemed every eye was on her.
Making her way to the back wall where she knew the hidden passageway was she looked around to make sure she was alone. Not seeing anyone she slipped out of the courtyard and into the surrounding forest. Unaware that there were eyes watching her hidden in the shadows.
Walking a short distance from the wall Morgianna pulled her dress around her legs so that she could comfortably sit on a fallen log. Breathing out a sigh of relief of being away from the crowds.
A sound behind her made her jump up and spin to look in that direction. Behind her stood a black wolf with familiar blue eyes.
"You came back!" Her fear quickly vanished replaced with a huge smile. "I did not get to finish checking on you last time I saw you, but I am glad to see you are alright."
The wolf stared at her before slowly walking closer, watching her reaction as if she might jump up and run away at any moment.
"If you are waiting for me to run, I am not. If you were going to hurt me you wouldn't have purposely made a sound so that I would turn towards you."
The wolf's eyes widen at her statement. It's true, he could have snuck up behind her with her none the wiser. He had purposely stepped on twigs to catch her attention so that he would not scare her worse.
She giggled at his reaction. She could tell he was still an adolescent, not yet fully grown, but still quite large. She couldn't help but think of where he might live, or where his parents were.
She leaned forward as if she was about to tell a friend a secret and whispered. "What is a young boy like you doing in these woods all alone?"
She had meant her question quite seriously but could not help but giggle once more as she saw the wolf step back with wide eyes.
She sighed and looked away from him to stare up at the moon. She had been away quite some time and should probably return before someone came looking for her.
"I should probably get back, let's meet again.." the words died on her lips and she once again found herself all alone.
Shrugging her shoulders thinking that he must have just needed to go home she made her way back to the wall so that once again she could play the role of a gracious host.
Slipping through the opening she gently closed it behind her. Turning she came face to face with fiery red hair and emerald green eyes. The smirk on the boy's face did not match the cute gentle look she had seen in his picture.
"What were you doing out there?" Thadeous spoke in a condescending tone that made Morgianna want to punch him.
However she pushed those emotions down putting on her best host voice and look. "Prince Thadeous of Everglade thank you for attending my public debut. I hope you have plenty to eat and have enjoyed yourself during your visit. If you will excuse me I shall meet you back in the ballroom."
Watching her walk swiftly yet still elegantly away Thadeous could not get the way she held herself. He was hoping to get a rise out of her yet she did not bite the bait and only spoke courteously.
"Couldn't wait to meet her huh?"
Without turning around Thadeous spoke in the same condescending tone he had just used on Morgianna. "Says the Mutt who followed her through the wall and even shifted to get closer to her."
Kieran watched the complex emotion that he saw in his friend's eye. He wasn't bothered by the names his friend called him as he knew it was just his personality. They were both princes of different territories but he had met Thadeous on one of his many excursions outside of his own.
"Shall we head inside then?" Thadeous began walking without waiting for Kieran to answer. His mind still thinking of the reaction Morgianna had towards him.
Inside the ballroom Morgianna had once again taken her father's side upon the platform. It was getting closer to the time she would need to touch the crystal. If she was not terrified of being outed she would crack a joke that this must be how new wizards felt in Harry Potter when they went up to the sporting hat.
Her father noticed her nervousness couldn't help but smile. "You are the smartest girl I know and do not worry about the magic. Your mother and I will love you no matter what you get, this is just a formality."
Turning back to the guests Ryland began to speak. "It is my honor to announce that the time has come to test my daughter's magic. Bring the crystal forth!"
At the end of his sentence the double doors to the ballroom were pushed open and 4 men walked in carrying a clear crystal. It was on a medieval type of litter. The crystal itself was massive, at least 3 meters in height and 2 meters in width. Morgianna did not know how the 4 men were able to carry it. Hell she did not know how they even managed to get it in through the door.
The men brought it forward until they could put the litter down on the designated area.
Morgianna felt like her heart was going to explode. If she touched that then everyone in this room would know.
"We are not meant to interfere directly, but you have been gifted several abilities that you could use to tweak the results. Know that if you use the time it shortens your lifespan. 1 hour frozen is 15 minutes of your life." The words gave her slight hope, but she was still angry that they are the ones who put her in this position, to begin with.
Looking to her father's sign to move forward she was greeted with the biggest smile she had ever seen him wear. Nodding once she began her walk towards the crystal, only stopping when she was within arm's length.
Looking out on the crowd she found herself searching for someone to touch the crystal in her stead. She wasn't sure what everyone else's abilities are but she knew that if it was a vampire they were very likely to have Darkness.
She did not know how she came to know the words to stop time, but under her breath she whispered, "tunc subsisto".
Looking around she saw that everything and everyone was unmoving. Strolling forward she walked to the noble vampires that lined the right side of the room. Looking down the line she started to worry about how she would even get one of them to the stage. She was decently strong as she worked out, but she was still in a 6-year-olds body.
That was when she saw him. He was partially behind the others with a hood pulled up over his head. His hair was as white as untouched snow. He looked to only be a couple of years older than her, yet she had never seen him before. He was looking down at his shoes as if this was the last place he wished to be.
Using what strength she possessed Morgianna pulled the boy from behind the men and made her way to the stage making sure to place his hand upon the crystal. If she even just barely touched it, it would record her powers as well.
From here she needed to move quickly so she placed the boy in as close as the position he was in before. Then rushed back upon the stage whispering, "tunc regelo" to unfreeze time.
She pulled her hand back pretending that it was her that touched it as the crystal began to show multiple colors. She couldn't stop herself and looked in the direction the boy had been only to find him gone from his spot.
"It seems my daughter is quite gifted!" Morgianna's head snapped in her father's direction at those words. "She possesses darkness, fire, wind, and air! Only our own crown Prince was blessed enough to have 4 and she has the exact same!"
Those words made her mind spin. She had never seen the Prince and was under the impression that he never left his castle. What she knew was that he was 9 years old and extremely powerful. He was the 2nd born prince but when he showed attributes for 4 different powers his father the King had made him the Crown Prince. He had 3 brothers and no sisters, which was why the neighboring princes were trying to marry and Duke's daughter instead of a princess.
"Crap, I grabbed the wrong person." Morgianna muttered under her breath.
"Did you say something dear?" Her father asked worriedly seeing her frown upon her face.
Quickly smiling to reassure him she simply shook her head no. She knew the party would end shortly since the main event was through. She only had to survive until then.
On the other side of the room a boy with white hair sat beside a boy with long silver hair and a crescent moon upon his forehead.
"I'm assuming you saw what happened?" The boy with white hair peeked out from beneath his hood trying to be inconspicuous. He did not wish for all these people to know he, Crown Prince Alaric Le Croc was here.
"She whisked the great and powerful Alaric around as if you were her own toy." The boy snickered back barely holding his laughter in.
"Alistar, if I did not know any better I would think that makes you happy." Alaric grumbled clearly unhappy with these turn of events.
"I am happy. When my father told me that I may have to marry this girl I was quite honestly disgusted at first. However to find that she is not only powerful, but knowledgeable enough to want to hide her abilities is quite a pleasant surprise. However that was some rotten luck pulling you up there instead of some other unlucky bloke." Alistar once again chuckled looking at his friend's reaction.
"I mean look at how cute she is, she looks all innocent but if you had seen the look she had given poor Thadeous earlier in the garden.. let's just say I'm glad I was not him."
"Have you been following her in the shadows this whole time? Sneaking around like the little demon you are." Alistar finally cracked a smile imagining smug Thadeous getting a dirty look from her was quite pleasing.
"Excuse me." The voice to their left made both boys turn to look at their uninvited guest. There stood Prince Caspian his hair wet as if he had just returned from a swim.
"And what do owe the pleasure of speaking to the Merpeople's own Prince Caspian. I do not see gills, how surprising." Alastair sneered towards the other boy clearly unhappy at his arrival.
"I am sorry for interrupting you, I only wish to know the results of her aptitude then I shall return to my territory." Caspian spoke as if uninterested in the answer and unhappy to be anywhere near them.
Alaric deciding that if he had wanted to know he should have arrived earlier, "She is a dunce. Has about as much magic as a regular coral snake." With those words he turned away from the blue-haired prince pretending he was not still standing there.
After Caspian finally retreated. Alistar sighed before asking, "why did you lie about her results?"
"Well my dear friend, you said you may or may not be interested so I was only weeding the competition for you. That and I can't stand the fish bastards that believe they are better than everyone else." His sentence was ended with a wink that made Alistar burst into laughter attracting several people's attention.
Back on stage Morgianna was drowning in people's well wishes and praise. The exact opposite of what her goal was. A loud laugh interrupted the guests flow up towards the stage and at that moment she saw the boy with white hair once more, seated beside one of the capture targets deep in conversation.
Her face paled. Of course, they would know each other, how much worse could her luck be. She was starting to regret not paying more attention when her friend gushed about the game.
Turning to her father she pouted and motioned for him to bend down so she could whisper in his ear.
"Father, I am feeling unwell, may I retire for the night?" Ryland was once again wrapped around her fingers when she batted her large eyes at him.
"Of course." Turning to the crowd he stood to his full height and cleared his throat to get everyone's attention. "My daughter wishes to retire for the night, you are welcome to continue eating and conversing amongst yourselves."
Morgianna did not want to seem rude so she went into a deep curtsey before thanking everyone for attending. As she left she looked up to see the white-haired boy and Alistar staring at her making her shiver. A shiver that lasted until she had been safely locked inside her room for several minutes.