A'lurejah: The Fae Princess

Chapter Eight

    The trip to Idhrenniel’s home was pleasant, slow paced and beautiful. The weather outside was perfect for traveling, though I was a bit chilled, the warm sun filtering down through the trees felt nice. I leaned back in the buggy and closed my eyes, remembering the last day I had spent in the forest before my family perished. The memory now was bitter-sweet, I hated my innocence, I hated that I was once so carefree and childish, but I also wished that I could be that again. I wanted nothing more than to be carefree and childish once more, but, alas! This was not possible anymore. My mind was restless, thoughts were even more relentless right now. 

    After everything I have been through, it is no longer possible for me to be innocent. It is my fault, no matter how indirectly, that my family perished in that fire. It is because of my powers and my special abilities that someone sought to kill, and therefore, it is my fault my family died. I know, it is sick and twisted, and, maybe, not even fully true, but I need to blame someone, and I am all I have at the moment. Besides, I have this great, big destiny, or whatever, ahead of me now, no matter how much I didn’t want it, and if I was going to be ready for it, I have to begin my journey right here, right now. 

    I rolled over on my back

and closed my eyes, the sun on my face was super soothing, and soon I had drifted off to sleep.

    “Ary, we are here.” Idhrenniel said, gently nudging me awake. I sat up and looked around me.

     At first, I mistook her house for a huge tree, but at closer look, it was definitely a house, it had windows in it, and a door. It was beautiful, the front garden had white, pink, yellow and purple flowers, and the greenest grass anyone had ever seen. Thick green ivy, and lush wisteria with purple, white and pink blooms, were growing up the walls of the house, nearly covering the wood underneath it.  The wood that was showing was knobly and knotted and seemed to be twisting and curving, reminding me of a tree trunk. The house appeared to be three stories tall, and rather large around as well. I gasped at it’s beauty, it felt so harmonious and peaceful. 

    Idhrenniel smiled, “Like it, lass?” She asked.

    “I do! It’s beautiful! How can you stand to be away from it?” I asked.

    “It can be difficult, and I do get homesick for it, and my family, but there are things that are more important than being safe at home.” she smiled at me, “Come, meet my family!”

    Jhona came and helped me down from the buggy and supported my weight as I walked up to the front door. Halfway up the walk, however, I froze. 

    I am about to meet Idhrenniel’s family! What if they hate me? I did, afterall, steal their mother from them! Oh my gosh! What if they donna like me because I am a princess? What if they think that I am stuck up and rude? What if they think that I think that I am better than they are!?

    Hush, Ary, be calm.  Jhona’s voice came crashing in around me, silencing my anxious thoughts, No one here hates you, or has any judgement on you, it is no yer fault that yer family died, it is no yer fault that yah need help and have need of Idhrenniel’s special skills. You are loved here, you are most welcomed here. Come, let’s not keep them waiting, they are most anxious to meet you. 

    I gathered up my courage once again, took a deep shaky breath, and nodded my head, ready to continue toward the door. Idhrenniel opened the door and stepped inside, holding the door open for Jhona and myself. 

    “Kids! We are home!” Idhrenniel called as we got into the kitchen. A sudden thundering of feet could be heard rushing down the stairs, excitement shimmered in the air. Three heads came bobbing toward me, two taller, one shorter, two girls, one boy.

    “OH MY GOSH! OH MY GOSH! OH MY GODS! SHE’S HERE! SHE’S REALLY HERE! A REAL LIVE PRINCESS IN OUR HOUSE! OH MY GOSH!” A high, shirll, over-excited voice boomed through the house as, what appeared at first to be a blur, the youngest child zoomed through the house. 

    Idhrenniel laughed loudly and reached out and caught the girl. “Ary, this is my youngest daughter, Addylin.  Addylin, this is A’lurejah, she is going to be staying with us to heal and get better. She needs rest and quiet, remember what we talked about?” Idhrenniel scolded her youngest child gently and then turned her attention to the other two kids waiting patiently to be introduced.

    “These are my oldest two children, N’yssa and Ranulf, they are twins, and each of them share an extraordinary talent and gift of healing that no one has ever seen before.” She smiled, proud of her children. 

    “Welcome to the family, milady.” They said together and curtsied.

    “Well, if I am one of the family, first thing’s first, no curtsying and no ‘milady’, my name is A’lurejah, people who are close to me call me Ary. I get that enough at the castle, I donna want to hear it here, nor do I wish you to bow or curtsy to me whilst I am here.” I said to them. “It is very nice to meet you both.”

    “I will show you to yer room, the king’s men already brought all of yer things and put them in yer room for yah. “ The twins said together again, as they turned to lead me out of the buzzing kitchen and to the stairs. My room was at the very top of the stairs four stories up, not three. It was a solitary room with lots of space and a large bed. There was a large desk sitting underneath a window that took up the entire wall. There was a large fur rug on the floor and a large fireplace in the wall opposite of the bed. I smiled, I loved it, it felt so homey and comfortable. All of my trunks and possessions from the palace were here, all I needed to do was arrange them as I wanted them, and unpack my clothes and put them in… where do my clothes go? 

    As if they could read my mind, the twins came in the room from behind me, and showed me around, there were hidden doors around the room, a large wardrobe built into a wall of the house, hidden so that the room still felt large and spacious. 

    “Mum and Da’ compelled this room while you were in the sick ward.” N’yssa said. “The house is made of the tree, the tree is our house, and so it’s easy to add or remove a room as needed.” N’yssa explained.

    “Mum knew that you liked space, and that you have a certain fascination with hidden doors, and so she made this room for yer liking, if you donna like somethin’, you can just compel it to change, and it will do as you wish.” Ranulf said.  

    I didn’t tell them that I knew nothing of compelling trees to do anything, I didn’t want them to think me stupid. I smiled and thanked them.

    “We will leave you to unpack and get settled in, Mum will call yah for lunch.” N’yssa said kindly, leaving the room before I could say another word. It was nice that they did not hover, I had a mix of emotions happening within me at the moment, and not all of them I understood myself.

    To distract myself, I began the methodical task of slowly making the room mine. I unpacked all of the trinkets and things that I had been given for my birthday.  Before I could moved on to unpack my clothes and blankets, Idhrenniel was at the foot of the stairs calling everyone down for lunch. I made my way, stiffly, to my door, as I reached out to open the door, there was a soft knock. I opened my door and there stood Jhona, smiling. 

    I have come to assist you down the stairs. He said, his voice was less intense in my head this time. I smiled gratefully and accepted his help.

    Donna worry, you will be able to walk up and down these stairs by yerself in no time, Ary. He encouraged.

    “Yes, and until then, I have to be escorted down like a rebellious child on housewatch.” I said irritably.

    No, miss, you get to be escorted down like a princess. He smiled.

    “Yes, that does sound much nicer, doesn’t it?” I smiled to and concentrated on getting down the stairs without falling. When we made it to the bottom of the stairs, Jhona let go of my arm and I followed him into the back yard.

    Everyone else was sitting around a large wooden table that was extending out of a medium size oak tree, the table, like the house, was knobly and knotted and wavy like a tree trunk. I walked over and sat down by Idhrenniel on the opposite side of the table from Ranulf, N’yssa and Addylin. Jhona sat down on the left side of me, so that I was in between him and Idhrenniel.  For a long time we ate in silence, each unsure of what to say to the other. 

    I began to feel self-conscious and anxious, this was not the comfortable silence that typically fell between me and Idhrenniel, this was an awkward, uncomfortable silence, an type of silence that was begging to be broken. 

    “Yeh have a beautiful house, Idhrenniel.” I said finally.

    She smiled, “I would say, thank Jhona, but he’s not much of a compeler, I am the one responsible for the rooms and the way the house looks, so, thank yeh. Do you like yer room?” She asked.

    “I do like it, I am trying to get unpacked and settled in.” I said. “I appreciate the desk yeh put in there too.” I added.

    “I figured yeh’ll be gettin’ a lota letters and papers from Eramus that yeh’ll need to help him with, and yeh’d need lotsa room to write.” She smiled kindly, happy that I approved.

    “I expect they will start coming in any time now.” I agreed.

    “What sorta papers and letters? If yah donna mind me askin’?” Ranulf asked.

    “Well, when I last was there Uncle Albion had invited the world into Nah-Alba again. He is supposed to start negotiations for trade again.” I said.

    “Oh, okay…” Ranulf said, not wanting to be rude. I could tell that he didn’t really understand what that all meant and what that had to do with me getting letters.

    “Let me explain better.” I said, laughing internally. “When I was in the sick ward here, it was nearly more’n I could do to talk Eramus into going back with Uncle Albion. The way I talked him into it was by stepping in my stead in the negotiations, see, Uncle promised that he and I would be working together on them and coming to an agreement so that we could open up our borders again. So Eramus will be sending me twenty owls a day with a thousand letters and important state documents attached to them. He’ll want my advice, he’ll want to keep me up to date, and he will want to know what I think of the guidelines and rules and agreements they want to negotiate on.” I explained in more detail.

    “But, why do you need to be involved in these negotiations? Yer only twelve!” N’yssa exclaimed.

    “Because the people and the great noble families feel like I am supposed to be the one ruling, they are angry at Uncle Albion for running my mum off at her coronation. They feel as though I have been cheated out of my destiny, so they only agreed to open the negotiations if I had the final say on the agreements.” I explained.

    “So, the people donna want Albion to rule anymore?” Ranulf asked, intrigued.

    “It is more like they want to see me have an active role and a good amount of say in the way things are run in the kingdom, they will, inevitably, ask me to allow the return of majick to the kingdom.” I shuddered to think of that day. 

    “You’ll agree to it, won’t you?” Ranulf asked.

    “It’s a bit more complicated than that, Ranulf. It will depend on a lot of different situations and circumstances.” I replied.

    “Okay, I’ll bite, explain.” He replied, his eyes were rapt with attention, curiosity and a passion for learning where part of who he was.

    “Well, if I am still princess regient, and not queen, I cannot allow majick to return, I will have to take a stand and show my support and loyalty to my king.” I said simply.

    “But why?” Addylin chipped in.

    “Because, sweet one, if I betrayed my king, I would lose my head for it, and then there would be no one to restore majick to the kingdom when I do finally take the throne.” I replied sweetly.  Her eyes got big and round and she stopped asking questions.

    “So, if you aren’t the princess at the time, if you are the queen, how will that change your decision to allow majick back into the kingdom?” N’yssa asked.

    “Well, you see, more likely, when I become queen, it will be because Albion is dead. So there will be no one to chop off my head.” I said. 

    N’yssa nodded her head and the conversation ended.  After another long period of silence, I had finished eating, I excused myself from the table, eager to go back upstairs where the silence was comfortable and not so awkward.

    “Well, if yeh’ll excuse me, I’ll just head back upstairs to take a nap before I finish unpacking.” I smiled and stood to excuse myself. Jhona got up to help me back inside, but I smiled at him and said, “I want to do it alone, thanks though.”