“Come on, Selena. It’s time to make our royal appearance,” Simone said sarcastically, beckoning me to catch up with him as we walked down the long hall. He was right behind Mother and Father. We were all on our way to the balcony to make an official presence during the Spring Equinox festivities as the royal household.
Servants lined the halls in their livery; soldiers guarded the doors to the balcony. They opened it with ease and we stepped out to greet the cheering crowds who’d come to Trescone for this festive occasion.
I smiled and walked almost to the edge of the balcony. Mother and Father were in front of me and Simone. Father held his arm out for Mother, and they waved, a regal, calculated thing. I found myself joining in, waving to the Elves down below.
The Elves were crowded in the square outside the palace, cheering and waving back at us, shouting in glee and whispering peace and blessings upon us, the royal family.
I sighed and gritted my teeth, forcing my lips to turn upwards into a practiced smile. I’d been a princess my whole life and I was used to this sort of treatment from the commoners. But oh, how I wished things were different. That I wasn’t a princess who had to stay inside the palace walls most of the time in order to stay safe. I wished I could be one of the young fanwassens on the street, pretending their hardest to be ellassens, lifting their long skirts up so as not to get the hem dusty, and carrying their shawls just right on their shoulders. A few of the younger fanwassens were playing tag with the fanwases in the street, and I felt a pang of regret that I couldn’t be down there playing with them. But I was a year away from becoming an ellassen and too old to be playing tag.
I looked over at my brother, who was grinning like a fool and waving at the crowds the same as I. “Tonight?” I leaned in and murmured to him.
He gave the slightest nod and grinned even broader. I felt my heart warm in my chest. Tonight we would escape the confines of the palace and go join the young Elves on the streets. It was the Spring Equinox, after all. We deserved to have a little fun.
* * *
“You ready?” Simone whispered in my ear. It was an hour after our royal appearance, and Father and Mother were busy talking to all the older lords and their wives in the large, formal drawing room. The place was busy with polite chatter and the tinkling of hours d’ourve plates, smattered with occasional laughter and political intrigue. Now was our chance, we would never be missed in all this nobility hullabaloo.
I nodded and flashed him a grin. “Let’s do it,” I said, and we scampered off down the palace halls, holding in our laughter at the anticipation of walking the streets of our capital city, free at last.
It was noisy outside too. The crowds hadn’t dispersed, they were busier than ever. Children scampered about in the streets playing with hoops and balls, shrieking and laughing. Ellassens talked amongst themselves, glad to be out of the house for the day. Ellases drank whiskey from a keg near the public fountain. Master Guildeen, the city’s most acclaimed brewer stood by the six foot tall cask, broad arms crossed, smiling as he watched the ellases enjoying the fruits of his labor, a wooden cup of the stuff held proudly in his right hand. Younger ellases and ellassens chatted in small groups, the ellassens sneaking glances at the handsome ellases, laughing at their jokes. A few had already paired off and hung about near the quieter alleyways, discussing more serious matters together.
I looked away. As a princess it would be nearly impossible for me to marry for love. No doubt Father would pair me off with a rich lord’s son, heir to an enormous fortune and good prospects. That’s what Elves of the nobility did most of the time, marry for comfort rather than love. As a young fanwassen I had dreamed of the day when my prince charming would come along, sweep me off my feet, and take me to his little kingdom where we would live happily ever after. But as I’d grown older and learned more of the way the nobility in Karaphyllon lived and went about their business, the more I realized that marrying for love was a fairy tale, something I would never experience.
I sighed and looked over where I’d last seen Simone, just to realize he’d abandoned me. I was standing by myself in the busy street now, my brother nowhere to be seen. I sighed even louder, and walked over to a nearby stand selling hotcakes with cream. If I couldn’t find love, at least I could fill my belly on good old vendor food.
“Two please,” I said, reaching into my coinpurse. “With double cream.”
“As you wish, Lass,” the white-haired ellassen said with a knowing wink. Some things were just better with more.
I handed her the coin, and walked off with my treat, taking ladylike nibbles as I watched some street jugglers tossing pins high into the air and catching them over and over again, passing them between their hands in fluid motions, their movement never stopping. Their dexterity was amazing. My mouth hung open in awe. Then my gaze shifted to a pair of Elves walking by on stilts, their long legs covered by bright pants, the colors of the rainbow. One of them tipped his top hat at me and I waved my hotcake at him, as I had no free hands. He laughed, and continued walking.
Rows and rows of vendor tents spanned the sides of the street. The tents were a myriad of colors; greens, reds, yellows. I felt as if I were walking amongst a rainbow filled with bountiful goodness. Merchants shouted over each other, selling their wares to passersby.
My friend Shasta, Lord Conrad’s son, was supposed to meet me and Simone out here. With no sign of Simone, he would just be meeting me now. I smiled. It would be nice to spend some time alone with Shasta. He was one of my best friends. Hopefully he could escape his father’s side at the palace and come join me soon.
The street was so crowded that I moved at a snail’s pace, eying the different vendors as I passed them. A silk merchant selling scarves to my left, someone selling paper to my right, a bookseller straight ahead. I marched over to the bookseller, my eyes roving over the beautiful tomes, reading their titles on the bindings: A History of Karaphyllon, Kings and Their Ways, The Many Manors of the Lords, The Shadow: What Do We Make of Him?
My eyes froze as I read the title of the last book. Someone had already written about the Shadow? I could barely believe my eyes. I snatched up the book and thumbed through its pages.
“Find something you like, Miss?” the bookseller asked. He smiled at me, his broad shoulders taking up most of the space behind his booth. He wore a simple white woolen shirt and a pair of brown trousers with black suspenders. The dress of an Elf from the Annwythel Tribe. I loved how the capital was a melting pot of all eleven tribes.
I myself was one of the Tribeless, the highest tribe in the land. The tribe that all the kings and their offspring came from. I was related to King Stephan, who had defeated the dark dragons. And Queen Allea who had raised the largest army of Elves in history to defeat the Black Wizard of the North. I lifted my head, proud of my heritage, and smiled at the bookseller.
If only he knew who I was, that it was mostly my family’s heritage that was written in the history books. But I was a princess in disguise here on the streets of Trescone tonight, enjoying the Spring Equinox the way every common Elf did.
“Yes, I believe I have.” I traced my finger over the lifted edges of the book’s title, printed in gold filigree. “How much?”
“Fifty guineas, Miss,” his smile never faltered as he spoke the outrageous price. Most books were around twenty.
My eyes widened in shock, but I found myself reaching for my coinpurse and counting out the coins anyway. I needed to know what this book said about the Shadow.
“Thank you.” I smiled at the bookseller, and happily turned away from his stand, book in hand.