The Elemental Magic Fae 2

Chapter 4 Selaria

The carriage ride to the farms was silent and uncomfortable. At the beginning of the trip my mother tried to talk to me, but I didn’t want to talk to her. I’m not sure why I can’t talk to her, but every time she starts telling me what to do I just get so angry. All I wanted to do was go back to my room and start again.

“We are almost there.” I hear Irinduma say through the link. “Just try and get along with your mum.” Irinduma continues.

“Your mum isn’t used to people defying her either, so show the people that you are united, like she showed you with the Rebellion.” Vrietel says through the link.

“We are almost there, can you at least smile.” My mother says sounding a little frustrated.

I turn to her and try and give her a genuine smile, but judging by the look she gave me, it wasn’t a smile.

“No, it was more of a smirk.” Irinduma says through the link.

“Look, just try and relax, and do whatever your mum does, or at least try and do what she does.” Vrietel says through the link.

The carriage comes to a stop and I can hear people gathering outside, so I close my eyes and centre myself.

The door to the carriage opens and I decide to look at my mother, hoping to get an idea of what I should do and realise that maybe I should have asked during the trip.

She sighs and shakes her head and then says. “Get out and then when I get out do a small curtsy.”

As I step out Michael grabs my hand and I hear. “Her Royal Highness, Princess Selaria.” And then I see everyone bow or curtsy. But when my mother steps out I hear. “Your Majesty Queen Monica.” And everyone bows and curtsies lower and then I remember that I have to as well.

I do a small curtsy, but I don’t know how long I have to hold it.

My mother walks over to me and puts her hand only shoulder and gives me a quick nod and then addresses the people in front of us.

“Good morning my people, please stand.” She says smiling at them. “I would like to introduce my daughter Princess Selaria to you.” She continues when they all stand up.

I do my best to smile at them and that’s when I see a little girl holding some flowers in her small shaking hands, but I know that they are weeds and not actual flowers. I look around and see others with actual flowers.

The parents of the little girl give her a small nudge toward myself and my mother, and just before she starts walking towards us, I hear some giggling and I notice tears on the small girl’s face.

I couldn’t stand it anymore and I walk towards the little girl, my mother tries to stop me, but I ignore her. Everyone seems to be on high alert and surprised by my actions and the little girl looks scared.

“Who are these for?” I ask as gently as I can, bending down to her level, which has everyone gasping.

“You Princess.” The little girl squeaks, holding the flowers out to me.

I take them and breathe in their fragrance. “They smell beautifully.” I say smiling at her.

“But they are weeds.” I hear another child say and then I hear a slap.

“Forgive my daughter your Highness, but we don’t have flowers and she wanted to give you those instead of buying some.” The little girl’s father says.

“There is no need for forgiveness, they are flowers and they are beautiful.” I say standing up.

The little girl runs back to her parents with a massive grin on her face and I walk back to my mother, who looks both surprised and happy.

When I get back to my mother and our guards, the other children walk over to us and hand us their flowers while either bowing or curtsying, but I noticed one little boy hanging back with his parents.

“Your Majesty, your Highness, we would like to apologise for our son’s rudeness and beg for forgiveness.” Says the father of the boy while bowing.

My mother puts her hand on the man’s shoulder and says. “If he apologises to the Princess and the young girl I will forgive him without punishment this time.”

I look at the boy and saw fear in his eyes, and he walks up to me shaking and crying.

“I’m really sorry I called out.” He says sobbing while bowing.

My mother looks at me and nods towards the boy, but I’m not sure what she is meaning for me to do.

“Forgive the boy.” Irinduma says through the link.

I look down at the boy and say. “I knew that they were wild flowers, not weeds, but she went out of her way to pick the best, I don’t judge a flower by how much it costs, but by how much love was put into it, now please apologise to the young girl.”

As the boy walks toward the girl I look up at everyone and notice that they are shocked by what I just said and when I glance at my mother I can see that she is as well.

After the boy apologised to the little girl, my mother walks toward a large man and when she gets to him she says something softly and they start walking away.

“Follow them.” Vretiel says sounding bored.

“You are doing really well.” Irinduma says sounding really happy.

The morning went by quickly, my mother spoke to everyone and listened intently to what they were saying, and every now and then someone would walk up to me and offer me either a drink or something to eat, I was going to decline, but my mother motioned for me to accept.

We were about to leave and head to another section when I noticed an elderly lady sitting in a rocking chair. I walk over to her hoping to get some answers about Sparkonia’s history.

“Hello.” I say when I get there.

The woman starts trying to get out of her chair, but I walk up the stairs and stop her, I know I am being watched but I didn’t care.

“Please sit, you don’t need to get out of your chair.” I say helping her back into her chair.

“That is very kind of you.” She says smiling up at me.

“May I sit in this chair?” I ask pointing to the chair beside her.

“Of course.” She says, still smiling at me.

“This place looks amazing.” I say, trying to figure out how to ask her if she knows of any places where there might be books or scrolls.

“Yes I suppose it is.” She says looking around and then turns back to me. “But is that really why you came over?” She asks giving me a knowing look.

“Not really.” I say looking down at my hands feeling ashamed.

“What would you like to know?” She asks raising her eyebrows at me, but still smiling.

“I was wondering if you know of a place outside the castle and where the wise ones are that I might find books or scrolls about the history or Sparkonia?” I ask, hoping she might have some insight.

“Well not out here, but there was a rumour years ago, that centuries before the veil and shield were put in place, there was a place that only a select few were able to get to, because they had magical powers that the rest didn’t have.” She says, her eyes lighting up with excitement.

“Come on grandma, not those silly stories again.” A young man says, glancing at me shaking his head and laughing. “I’m sorry Princess, but her stories are just stories, they aren’t real.” He continues and then walks inside still shaking his head.

“They are real, I know they are.” She says with tears threatening to escape her old eyes.

“Do you know where this place might be?” I ask smiling at her.

She looks at me and smiles, happy that I believe her. Her grandson might not believe her, but I know people can have powers, everyone here has powers.

“It is rumoured to be somewhere near where the Rebellion is now.” She says, and then looks disappointed. “But no-one has found it and many have tried, because it is believed to have a lot of treasure in there.”

“Grandma, the Princess doesn’t want to hear about stories that were told to us as children, to believe in something that isn’t true.” Her grandson says coming back outside.

“Actually I do want to hear them.” I say to him, shaking my head at him. “Please go on.” I say to the elderly lady, smiling warmly at her.

“There isn’t much more to say, no-one has ever found it.” She says looking sad.

“Which is why it’s a false story parents tell their children before bed.” Her grandson says shaking his head.

“Well I’m going to find it.” I say standing up and feeling proud and determined.

The woman’s grandson just laughs, to the point he falls over and starts holding his ribs, but then quickly stops and gets on his knees and bows.

“What is so funny and why are you the only one laughing?” my mother asks, sounding annoyed.

“I apologise my Queen, I meant no disrespect.” He says sounding scared.

“Your Majesty, the Princess is going to find the cave of the crystal fae.” The elderly lady says sounding excited.

“Really?” My mother asks looking at me questioningly. “Well I hope she succeeds where others have failed.” She continues and gives me a small smile before walking away.

“What is the cave of the Crystal Fae?” I ask Irinduma through the link. “When I find it, I’ll take you to it.” I promise the elderly lady.

“Thank you, and you can call me Maynild.” She says with tears in her eyes.

“Why didn’t I think of that?” Vretiel asks, sounding upset with himself.

I walk past Maynild’s grandson, who is still kneeling and follow my mother who is heading back to the carriage.

Once I get in and the door closes my mother asks. “Are you insane?”

“No why?” I ask back, picking up Irinduma who looks like a cat with a bird tail.

“The Cave of the Crystal Fae doesn’t exist and you have just told everyone that you’re going to find it.” She says sounding angry. “You won’t find it and you’re going to look like an idiot.” She continues.

“Oh we will find it.” Irinduma says through the link, sounding very confident.

“I’m going to prove you and everyone else wrong.” I say with a determination in my voice.

My mother stared at me and shook her head, but instead of saying anything, she turned and looked out the window of the carriage.

I turn to Vretiel and ask through the link. “What did you mean when you said ‘Why didn’t I think of that’?”

“I’ve heard of the Cave of the Crystal Fae, it’s believed that you and the people here stemmed from them and there are different types of fae.” Vretiel says through the link.

“Are you serious?” I ask shocked and out loud by mistake.

“Excuse me?” My mother asks turning to me.

“Sorry, Vretiel just said something to me and I was meant to say that to him through our link.” I say turning back to Vretiel.

“What did he say?” She asks sounding intrigued.

“That he has heard of the Cave of the Crystal Fae.” I say but not telling her everything that he said.

My mother looks at Vretiel and just shakes her head. “We will be arriving at a village near the outskirts soon, when we get there just do what you did at the main farms, except don’t talk about the cave.” She says to me.

“Sure.” Is all I can say to her. “How am I going to get information without talking about it?” I ask Irinduma and Vretiel through the link.

“Don’t worry about it, we will find it.” Vretiel says sounding confident.

I sit back and try and enjoy the short ride to the next village, but I wonder if the vision I had is because of our ancestors.

“It might be.” Irinduma says, and I can feel that she is wondering the same thing.

The carriage stops more abruptly than when we had arrived at the main farms. I looked at my mother and noticed that she looked a little worried.

The door opens and my mother’s head guard Kane pokes his head in. “Sorry your Majesty, is everyone alright?” He asks looking only at my mother.

“Yes we are find, what happened?” She asks him.

“The horses didn’t want to stop.” He says looking confused.

“Well we are here now, shall we?” She asks looking at me.

“Yes.” I say smiling at her, which seems to surprise her.

Kane moves back and helps me exit the carriage and then my mother. The guard called out who was exiting the carriage and like before the people bowed and curtsied, and like the farms my mother introduced me.

I look around and notice a large difference between the two places. The farms had open fields and not many houses, but this village has a lot of buildings and very little open spaces.

The people here were also different and unlike the farms, the children didn’t give us flowers, instead they handed us drawings or things they had made.

I noticed that my mother has joined a small group, and head over to them.

“We are hoping to expand this building and my wife would like to make clothes in that part.” One of the men says.

“Give me the plans and I’ll see what can be done.” My mother says and I realise I have come at the end of the conversation.

“We have completed the gathering Hall and School.” Another man says.

“Excellent, I would love to see it.” My mother responds.

The man guides us to where a large building is. It has four stairs heading to the door which looks heavy. The building looks like it is at least two stories and the window at the front has white curtains behind them. There is a beautiful flower garden on both sides of the stairs.

“It started falling apart, and the Rebellion showed us how to repair it without pulling it down, which would have taken us a year at least.” A man with blond hair says with a warm smiles.

“I’m glad they were able to help.” My mother says smiling at me.

After looking through the Hall, they took us to the school, which looked old, but new. On the way there the people would take it in turns to talk to my mother and ask her all sorts of things and every time, my mother would smile and answer their questions and talk to them like she was really interested in what they were saying, but when I looked at her aura, it showed that she was exhausted, but also happy.

After looking at the school we headed back to the carriage. I didn’t know how my mother did what she did or even how I was meant to do it, but I knew I am going to have to take my lessons more seriously.

When we get into the carriage my mother waved and let out a breath, I didn’t realise she had been holding.

“We are going back to the castle, you did really well, so you can have the rest of the day off.” My mother says leaning her head back and closing her eyes.

Oh lovely, because I did great, I get the rest of the day off, which must mean if I hadn’t I’d have to do my lessons.

I don’t understand her, I thought this morning was great, we were both civil to each other, but clearly it wasn’t as great as I thought.

“She is tired Selaria.” Irinduma says through the link.

“She is trying, I know it’s hard to get over what she did, but she had no choice.” Vretiel adds through the link.

I knew they were right. My mother had explained that after her older brother died and Marcus didn’t want to take the throne, she was forced to, and she wasn’t able to bring us with her, as they believed that her parents and brother were murdered and we needed to stay alive in case something happened to her.

I look at my mother, her eyes closed and her head tilted back resting on the head rest and I wonder what I would have done in that situation, and to be honest I probably would have made the same choice.

“So why aren’t you more forgiving?” Asked Irinduma through the link.