The Girl With A Dragon

She is still too injured to fly

Alina

The past few weeks have been a blur of activity. Planning a coronation is similar to planning a wedding. There are flowers, gowns, invites, a feast, and entertainment. Seeing prominent families within our realm and signing treaties with surrounding kingdoms.

 In what little spare time I have, I’ve been corresponding with Joseph on who he should be considering. He is bound to take his throne sometime next year. His father is pressuring him to at least be engaged by that point. Joseph’s parents were not like mine, they were not and are not in love. This is what Joseph would like to avoid, but falling in love or even finding someone that you can tolerate, as royals, is almost as difficult as ruling itself.

I have grown up with most of the royal daughters and they are not all bad. It’s just finding someone whose temperament would suit Joseph’s. 

“Your Highness, Lady Cia is here to see you,” says Ann as she comes in with tea.

I put down my pen and shake my head. Why didn’t I think of Cia before? She is shyer than most. Which is probably why she hasn’t been on Joseph’s radar.  She had similar marks to mine. So she’s intelligent enough for him. Maybe they would balance each other out. Her ability to pick out the underdog and...his ability to make friends with the entire room. 

“Thank you, Lady Ann. Please see her in.” 

“Alina! I wanted to come see you before you are queen and have no time for me”

I smile back at her and hug her.

“Even as queen, I will still make time for you. Most of my duties as queen, I’m already performing. I just don’t have the crown yet.”.

We catch up for a bit before I bring up the topic of Joseph.

“Cia, I’d like to ask you something. What do you think of Joseph?”

She puts her teacup down before starting, “ I don’t know much about him to tell you the truth. Besides that he is handsome and that he is very good at entertaining the room. As are you...if you two were a couple, I swear there wouldn’t be a person that didn’t feel welcome.”

“Oh… I didn’t mean for me… I meant for you. I think that you two would be quite good together.”

I watched as her face went from shock to confusion.

“Me? Why me? My kingdom is so small compared to some of the other available princesses and I’m so…”

“You are so beautiful, kind, compassionate, intelligent, and loyal,” I say quickly cutting off any other negative thing that she could say. 

“I… I guess I am those things, but he is in demand right now. Everyone wants to marry him….except for I guess you.”

I smile at her before saying, “The funny thing about Joseph is that he doesn’t want to marry just anyone. He wants someone that he could fall in love with.”

She thinks this over before saying, “ you know as well as I do that love rarely happens in court. Your parents were a rarity that they found love before marriage. Lust does, scandals do, disdain, but rarely love.”.

“Rare maybe, but not impossible” 

Cia laughs a bit before saying “When did you become such an optimist. You normally can’t stand anyone within two feet of our courts, but now you’re encouraging me to find love?”

“I might loathe the systems that are in place and I might loath the games that I see people play, but I don’t hate everyone there.”

“This is true. How would I go about making myself noticeable to Joseph? Since you’re so intent on seeing us together.”.

“I will mention something about it in my next letter and ask him to write you. Make sure to send him a letter back. Maybe you two will come as dates to my birthday party.”

As Cia is leaving, Ann comes in with another letter.

“Your highness, another letter from King Elric.”.

“Ahh, so does a certain King have anything to do with your recent optimism?” asks Cia as she hugs me.  

__

Alina

It is some time later and I am catching up on paperwork. With all of the paperwork that goes in and out of this place, I’m surprised that we have any trees left here. 

Ann brings in my dinner and starts to taste each dish. Before I realize what is even happening Ann falls and her body starts convulsing on the ground.

I reach into my drawer quickly to pull out antidote pills, but just then Ann’s young sister Catherine bursts into the room through a door hidden behind a painting.

I’m able to put a pill in Ann’s mouth and go to try to get her to swallow it with water. 

“My lady! There is an attack on the castle! We have to go now!”

“...but your sister she is..”

“My sister knew the risks of becoming your lead lady and your food tester. I need you to come with me now!”

She then grabs my hand and we start running through a maze of tunnels. 

“How do you know your way through these tunnels so well?” I ask as she shoves me right when I tried to go left.

“It is part of our training my lady.”

I see light at the end of this tunnel and we run out near where our dragons are kept. I see that my dragon and my father’s dragon are both saddled, but not my mother’s dragon.

“Mother… your dragon!” 

“There is no time. She is still too injured to fly.”

“We can’t just leave her behind!!”

“We have no choice,” says my father, as he gets on his dragon and reaches down to pull my mother up behind him. Before accepting, my mother goes and leans her forehead on her dragon’s forehead.

“Goodbye, my friend,” says my mother before she accepts my father’s hand and gets onto his dragon.

My mother’s dragon, seeming to understand, gets up and points herself towards the noise within our castle, ready to defend herself. 

My father points his dragon west and I follow. Sapphire realizes then that my mother’s dragon, her own mother, isn’t following us and tries to head back. I lean into her, guiding her back on the path. At this moment, she trusts me… even as we hear the first screeches of my mother’s dragon being attacked.