Violins, cellos and other string instruments blessed Jysmn’s ears as she sat in the cramped carriage. Across from her, sat her sister Lady Melody Graceline. Her sisters dark brown hair, almost matching hers, was pinned back on top her head. Two tight curls framing her face. Her skin was not blessed by the sun like Jysmn’s, and instead appeared that her sister preferred the shade or inside. No freckle insight, instead a delectable beauty mark sat on her upper lip, in the crevice of her smile line.

But Melody did not smile.

The two sisters, and Marvella, had been ordered to ride in a carriage together to the palace. Jysmn had protested to the maid that informed her that the Palace was in walking distance, but had been shut down. This was her party, she should arrive in style.

She hadn’t spoken or seen her parents since her arrival. She dread when she would have to.

Marvella’s hair was left out, in the same state as before. The only difference was the pink dress she wore. Jysmn recognised it from her old wardrobe. It was almost a matching shade to one of the colour’s of Jysmn’s current dress.

The smile on Marvella’s face made Jysmn not say a word.

In all honesty, the low born maid was the prettiest out of the three girls in the carriage. No one had said anything the whole ride.

Until Marvella took it upon herself to speak. “I believe we’re here, My Lady’s,” she said. Her soft voice similar to the magical sound of the music coming from inside the palace.

“I can see that, we’re not blind, or deaf,” Melody snapped, her ice cold brown eyes continuing to be trained on her younger sister. “Unless Jysmn is.”

“I am none of those things, although I think your shrill voice could possibly change one of them,” Jysmn snapped back, rubbing her ears in emphasis.

Melody’s dark eyes cut into her sharper, a sneer contorting her face.

“Funny, being in this room with you, I’ve lost my sense of smell. No matter how many baths you have, I doubt they’ll get the fish guts out of your musk,” Melody shot back quickly, the venom in her tone unlike any other.

Marvella simply sat by her sisters side, smiling warmly. As if the two Graceline sisters weren’t at each others throats in such close proximity.

“I missed you too,” Jysmn snorted, crossing her arms across her chest.

“Two years, you twit, you go rogue like some unprivileged little boy, desperate to find a place in the world. What did you expect when you came back? A heart warming hug? Your family falling at your feet, joyous that you returned?” Melody’s hard, mocking voice droned on.

Jysmn said nothing.

This wasn’t her home anymore. This wasn’t her family. They didn’t care if she went to sea again, which Jysmn knew she was going to do after this was all done.

Two years, she sure did go looking for a purpose. But she hadn’t found it. She knew she wouldn’t find it here either. She would wait for the King’s death, offer her mourning and support she came here to offer her family, before taking off again. Perhaps she could find work on another ship. Or buy her own ship and crew, and just sail, offering her transportation services. It was a lot more desirable then anymore fishing.

She doubted she’d eat fish for the rest of her life after that strict all fish diet.

But she left for other reason. Reasons she wasn’t ready for anyone to know. Especially not herself. And not her family.

“Don’t talk to me during this party, I don’t care if it’s for you. All I know, is that it’s for the fish, not that there’s a whole lot of difference between the two themes,” Melody snorted, gritting her teeth. “Marvella, you’d try to do the same.”

The sheer nerve to order Marvella made Jysmn’s jaw clench in anger. Marvella was not some common maid that was to wait on anyone hand and foot, and yet, Marvella nodded with a gentle smile. No remorse or defiance in her eyes.

She had been broken in too well.

“Good night, My Lady,” Marvella said, bowing her head to Jysmn, as she slid out the carriage, helping Melody out.

The door closed with a forceful shove by Melody.

Jysmn pressed her head against the cushioned wall of the carriage. Trying to convince herself to step out. She didn’t need to be here. At the City of Balance or the Palace, even this party.

Thinking about it all right now, she should have continued with her crew, on the Little Coral, and travel with them down the coast. They were dropping the rest of the load of fish to the other water settlement at the end of Yaland.

They’d have to catch a whole new boat load of fish, meaning there was more work to be done, but it was better than sitting in this carriage pending her assault.

A knock sounded on the carriage door. Jysmn reluctantly opened the door. Standing before her, was another maid.

Not Marvella, like Jysmn had hoped it would be. She needed more friendly faces. And this maid, in her late thirties, was not one of them.

The maid was beautiful, with gorgeous curls like the colour of sand, but her face betrayed the rest of her beauty. Pulled into a sneer, much like her sisters, she practically glared at Jysmn.

“You’re holding up the line, My Lady,” she said, not bowing or curtsying. Her tone wasn’t particularly friendly, either. “Your mother has sent me to show you in. She was afraid that perhaps you had lost your way.”

The way her eyes glazed over Jysmn was enough to make her feel more than unwelcomed. Grinding her teeth, Jysmn slid her way out the carriage. The maid didn’t offer her a hand like Marvella had. In fact, this maid look inclined to shove Jysmn back into the carriage like a stuffed olive.

Sharply turning on her heel, the maid stormed towards the Palace’s entrance.

All around them, carriage’s were riding up, and all the popular Nobility were climbing out their carriages in their best dresses. Hair pinned up with fancy jewellery on display around their necks.

Marvella had done Jysmn’s hair. Had combed it through, talking to her with surprise gentleness. Raking out nots, never complaining that she still smelled of fish. Instead, she had gone through a step by step of how she liked her friends hair, and what she had planned for it tonight.

Her sisters maid had decided to go through with pinning it at the nape of her neck. Letting it go down in a single, thick braid that stopped between her shoulder blades. Two strands of her straight her that stopped just below her jaw sit. All her hair slicked into place, promising to stay in place.

Jysmn was surprised at how much she liked the way her hair looked.

“Keep up,” the maid snapped, not even bothering to add a My Lady to her lash out. Jysmn grumbled about shoving her foot up somewhere as she tried to catch up in her heeled shoes. They were a lot more open than her leather-fishing boots she was used to.

Two guards in green uniforms stood on either side of the door dutifully. Jysmn glared at them, squinting her eyes to see if it was the guard whose magic had knocked her out. Sending her flying from the roof. But neither of them were him.

Lord Gabrielle’s son and her had a lot of things to talk about. Well, one thing, and it was really going to be Jysmn clocking him in the jaw with her fist.

Jysmn didn’t remember who Lord Gabrielle or his son was, but then again, she didn’t recognise a lot of these faces, and she had grown up here. It was like it had all been wiped from her memory. Between gutting fish and hefting things twice her weight, she hadn’t time to test herself on every person she had ever met in her life. Even if she hadn’t met the two, she thought she’d perhaps remember their name in the slightest.

Her angry maid stopped, Jysmn nearly slamming into her back. Unprepared for the sudden stop up the stone steps.

Snapping her fingers at the Lord’s daughter, she pointed through the doors between the guards. “Go through those doors, parties there.”

She didn’t need to be told twice. Jysmn made her way quickly inside. Anything to get away from the cranky old maid. Taking deep breaths, trying not to scrunch her face at the pain from her ribs, she stepped into the thresh hold of the palace.

The large room was lit with torches and candles galore, casting a warm glow throughout the ballroom. What was possibly a hundred people, danced and spun along the vast dance floor. Surrounded by three long, white tables.

At the head of the table, sat the King. He looked pale and fragile against the redness of his cushioned throne. The golden crown on his head made his head loll to the side, a weight he couldn’t bare any longer.

Jysmn had liked the King, a lot. He had always given her a piece of beautiful jewellery on her birthday, and had laughed when she was caught in the mud with Marvella. She was sad that the lively man now looked older than he was. Sad that he would pass soon.

She didn’t doubt that this party, to him, was thrown in her honour. He was a good King.

“Name and title,” the man in the funny feather hat, that Jysmn hadn’t seen, droned. He sounded bored already, his face set in an impassive look as he held a quill to a long piece of parchment.

“Lady Jysmn Graceline of Balance City,” she said, curtsying slightly. She would by lying if she said she didn’t nearly fall over.

The man stood to attention, almost spilling his pot of ink all over himself. Staring at her with bug wide eyes. His eyes similar to shallow water. “My Lady, it is an honour,” he bowed deeply. He seemed to be very much awake now. “His majesties guest of honour, Lady Jysmn Graceline of Balance City,” the man bellowed, his voice ringing out.

The playing of the music haltered for a second, before they were shooed into continuing. They stumbled over their rhythm, but found it quickly.

The Lords, Ladies, nobles, and their servants heads were snapped in her direction. Everyone watching and calculating the steps she took down into the ballroom. Her heart thundered with nerves, as her eyes skimmed over all the unfamiliar faces.

She seriously didn’t remember anyone that wasn’t her family or royalty.

Melody stood with two other Lady’s, their personal maids, including Marvella, stood behind them. Waiting on them. The three Lady’s eyes were like daggers on Jysmn, as she finally stepped off the last step.

The chatter and dancing resumed, like they hadn’t all fallen silent to stare at her.

Jysmn chose not to take it personally, and instead swiped a glass of champagne from one of the men carting them around, and took a steady sip from the cold glass.

She could do this.

“Jysmn,” a taunt voice spoke her name. Knowing this meant her mother wanted her attention, the girl turned to High Lady Graceline. The woman had a beak-like nose, not something her daughters inherited, thank the Gods. Her once solid brown hair was streaked with silver, her wrinkles on her face extenuated by her frown.

Jysmn couldn’t fight the smile on her face, even if it wasn’t returned. “Mother,” she said, curtsying poorly.

“Don’t bother doing it if you don’t know how to,” her mother said coolly. She stared at Jysmn over the glasses perched on her nose. Jysmn swallowed nervously.

She remembered her mother being kinder, despite once threatening to order Marvella’s head to be lopped off if Jysmn couldn’t be more lady-like. This woman didn’t smile or laugh, nor did she bother seeing Jysmn until now.

“You shouldn’t have worn this dress, it is hideous and makes you look huge. Especially those shoulders, they belong on a man, not my daughter,” High Lady Graceline said rudely. Jysmn blinked in shock. Her mother and Melody were very alike.

Jysmn was thankful she was more like her father, who she had yet to spot. Every part of Jysmn hoped her father would give her a warmer welcome.

“That’s what happens when you work to earn your money,” Jysmn said strongly. She had struck out with two of her three family members, she could afford to give them their own insults back. She still had her father to speak to.

If he was as sour, then she had the practically dead King.

Her mother pulled her top lip back to sneer her teeth at her daughter. “Such words should not be coming from a Lady’s mouth. I recommend you keep your mouth shut while you’re here. Don’t embarrass us, or make the other Lord’s and Lady’s regret coming here to celebrate you.”

“I thought this was to celebrate the large cargo of fish this season… Oh, wait, forgive me. The large cargo of fish I helped capture and bring with me to the City. I doubt the once hungry Lords and Lady’s would felt spiteful towards someone who brought them their meals.”

“And yet, you are,” her mother said lowly.

Jysmn stared at her mother for a second. Then two seconds. Then three. She wanted to throttle her mother, and her sister. She was seriously regretting her internal war she was in on whether or not to sail here and be with her family while their King died.

She should never have come.

“At least I don’t need to worry about you being tongue-tied when the Lord’s pick on you tonight, enjoy your time here, this will be the last time you are celebrated in a long time, I assume,” her mother droned on. Her dark blue, nearly black, dress swished along the ground around her as her mother walked off. Leaving Jysmn alone once again. Now she’d have to start reacquainting herself, before she worked up the guts to talk to her father.

Jysmn tried her best to swallow the lump that lodged her way in her throat. Fishes never pulled this awkwardness out of her. To be honest, fish don’t talk. Except for the story the first mate told anytime he drank too much after dinner.

The story of the fish that had a sword. Apparently it had popped its head out of the water when he was a little boy and said “blub”. It was a lot more entertaining after swallowing mouthfuls of sour ale.

Throwing the champagne down her throat, she swallowed, readily waiting for the warmth that would no doubt begin to take over. She needed a few more drinks perhaps. She held the flute out to a waiter, who readily filled it up.

“A little more,” she asked through gritted teeth. He didn’t hesitate as he filled it to the brim. “You’re a legend,” she cheered, clapping him on the shoulder. She didn’t miss when he darted away from her with wide eyes.

She could do this.

“Is that little Jysmn?” came an older voice. Jysmn stared at an older lady with an impressively large bosom. Terrifying memories of being suffocated against them in a hug during her youth surfaced. Her governess. “I hardly recognised you, little mouse. Do you know when I knew her, she was following that little boy Marvin around everywhere. Playing in the mud all day, I see some things never change. What ever happened to Marvin?”

Jysmn didn’t bother correcting Marvin to Marvella. Lady’s never remember low borns names. Not to mention Melody didn’t seem to impressed with her personal maid being attached to her. “Lady Jenny,” Jysmn didn’t wipe the smile off her face. She tried to her best to avoid being pulled into a hug by the woman.

 The four Lady’s surrounding Lady Jenny were all decorated in expensive jewelleries that glistened with their silver white hair.

“Look at that dark hair, you could be mistaken for a Royal,” one of the ladies cooed. It set them all off in competing to give her the best compliment.

“Such a beauty, I can see that your future for tonight may be filled with many marriage proposals, just you wait.”

“Pink is a ladies colour, such a clever choice.”

“I heard Lord Bailey’s son was looking for a perfect match for his son. They own the largest ships in the City of Balance’s ports, I’ll have you know. Keep an ear out honey, I wager you could knock those other ladies on their backside for his favour.”

Lady Jenny simply shooed them away with a laugh. “Don’t listen to us old women, we just love terrorising you young ones. If you wouldn’t mind ladies, I need to talk to my oldest and by far most favoured pupil in privacy?”

“Don’t keep her too long,” one of the old ladies said, flaring a fan. They offered Jysmn forced smiles before flittering off to somewhere else in the Palace.

Jysmn turned to her governess, who made an effort to cling to her arm. “Gods above, it’s like taking a turn around the room with a gentleman,” Lady Jenny muttered, her hands squeezing Jysmn’s bicep through her poofy dress. “Lets take a turn around the garden, we have things to discuss.”

Biting her lips, feeling the coloured cream Marvella had painted across them flake into her mouth, Jysmn’s stomach growled. She didn’t know if it was from nerves or hunger. Quite possible both, considering the last time Jysmn had eaten was back on the ship that morning. Even that it had been stale, soggy bread and “soup”.

Instead, she threw back the champagne again, feeling it sizzle into her body too quickly than it should have at this party. She switched it for another full glass as Lady Jenny dragged her out the doors.

The cool night air made Lady Jenny shiver, but Jysmn had been on a ship in the middle of the ocean for years. Instead, she took a deep breath, letting her senses test the weather.

“It’s going to rain tomorrow,” she said, eyes on the dark night sky. As for now, not a cloud insight.

“I’m glad all those years away finally taught you something,” Lady Jenny said sharply. Jysmn felt almost inclined to reef her arm back and walk away, forever. She didn’t need another person of her past being horrible to her. Even if she had ran away and evaded every attempt to bring her back here, she didn’t think their treatment was right.

“Why did you want to talk to me?”

The older woman only laughed, taking her time on each step. “I know you. You want to prove yourself, little mouse. Something happened to you two years ago, didn’t it? Something that made you feel weak and helpless, and now you’re trying to protect yourself from running and getting stronger,” she squeezed Jysmn’s swollen arm in emphasis.

Jysmn’s heart must have stopped. It had been thudding so loudly, and now there was only silence. She was scared. Utterly and truly, right now.

“The Jysmn I knew wasn’t a runner,” Lady Jenny continued, like she hadn’t just accused Jysmn of something so serious. “I have a task for you, little mouse, something that I think may help you. There is talk of a man who has harnessed a strange kind of magic on the other side of Yaland. I think he means to kill the King himself, perhaps was even the one to curse him with this sickness.”

Nonsense. Lady Jenny, who had once been wise and full of wisdom. who never told stories because they were lies wrapped in sugar, was now talking utter nonsense.

Jysmn tossed the champagne down her throat, which was threatening to close in panic.

“But there is a powerful sword. It once belonged to the goddess of women, deception and miracles, Amari. She used it to defeat the Shadow God from this very continent, it has been lost for nearly four centuries. But I believe it is in the heart of Yaland, in the Bordered Mountains,” Lady Jenny continued. Speaking as if she wasn’t losing her mind in old age.

“I think the fresh air is getting to your head,” Jysmn said firmly, even though her voice shook. Lady Jenny ignored her, instead, reached out to graze a flower from the royal gardens.

“I am not an old fool, little mouse,” Lady Jenny told her. “My magic is the ability to see into the future. Although I do not control it and cannot see too much passed my nose, but I still see. There is a glowing waterfall, where the Goddess Amari waits for someone worthy to hold the sword, to defeat the imbalance. I have seen you with the sword in my visions.”

Having enough of Lady Jenny’s creepy, age induced story, Jysmn yanked her arm from the old woman’s grip. “I think you need to lie down, Lady Jenny.”

“We are exactly where we need to be,” she said, a knowing smirk on her face. Jysmn clenched her jaw. Of course, she got landed with the old nut job.

“Excuse me Lady’s, you can’t be back here, I have to ask you to go back inside,” a voice told them gruffly, his palace guard attitude shining through. Jysmn turned from the crazed older woman, to be met with the one person she swore she’d destroy if she saw again.

Lord Gabrielle’s son stood in his dark green uniform, a sword strapped to his him, and four knives across his chest. The gold buttons that kept the tunic taunt across his chest were shined so well, that Jysmn could see her reflection. And her face had been pulled back in the angriest, foulest glare she could muster.

The guard had the audacity to widen his eyes in surprise, and shock. Especially as Jysmn flung her fist towards his face.

He didn’t react in time as she slammed her bruised knuckles into his jaw. He lurched back, drawing his sword in blind rage. One hand pressing to the side of his mouth, which she hoped bruised. He glared at her with eyes like the soil beneath the grass at their feet, his hair giving away his low status amongst the lords.

“Lord Roman, it’s good to see you again,” Lady Jenny greeted, offering the guard a wave. He blinked, one hand to his jaw, the other around his sword slackening.

“You’re the one who knocked me off the roof,” Jysmn spat, pointing a finger at him angrily.

That ghost hand had been him. Had made her fall unconscious without so much as an exerted breath. He made her fall from the roof, and bruise all her ribs. Had been the guard to jump out from the front, and made her climb the barrels. Had gone so far as to chase her along the buildings.

“You had the mind magic,” she seethed. She had half a mind to knock his sword out his hands and point it at his throat.

“You just punched me in the face,” he snapped, pressing his hand to his face, hard, shock contorting his face even still. She had just punched him in the face, and it had been good.

“I guess we’re even, but don’t think I’m going to forget that,” she said. Even to her own ears, she sounded like a tantrum throwing brat. But after the altercation between her old best friend, sister, mother and now Lady Jenny’s scary story… Punching Lord Roman in the face was the only thing she knew she could still do. It had been on her to-do list since she woke up in what had once been her room.

Clenching his jaw, Roman slid his sword back into his sheath. Teeth bared, he offered her a low bow, “I hope your night is splendid Lady’s, including you, guest of honour,” his voice was clipped short, not far from being snappy.

“I’ll show you what’s splendid –“ Jysmn never got to clarify what she meant by what she was saying, when the harsh voice of her mother snapped from the palace steps.

“Jysmn,” she practically growled, like some angry animal. Jysmn couldn’t help but flinch, gritting her teeth, much like Roman had when talking to her. “I didn’t come to this party for you to play outside in the dirt like a child,” she didn’t care that she snapped at her in front of the guard, or Lady Jenny.

“I thought you came for the fish,” Jysmn said, her voice as bland as her mothers blank face. Only annoyance, by the scrunch of her bird nose and narrowed dark eyes.

“Shut your ungrateful little mouth and get back inside,” her mother seethe, practically sucking all the saliva from her mouth, down her throat. Jysmn chose to internally laugh about how disgusting it was, and not the words her mother said. Jysmn’s eyes roared with the strength of the seas, burning in pure defiance. She did not recognise the woman in front of her. “I said –“

“I heard what you said,” Jysmn said calmly. She could feel the swell of magic. Staring like a weight begging to be lifted off her chest, her breath catching, threatening to leave her. Already, the two slips of hair Marvella left out on her head, swayed on a ghost wind.

Her mother had the brain’s to look alarmed for a moment. “The King wants to speak with you, apparently he has a gift for you. Perhaps it would give you closure that somebody in this country actually missed you.”

The blows didn’t seem to stop coming. Jysmn didn’t let the shame burn to obvious on her warming cheeks.

Roman still stood their. He was privy to the insults and clear distaste Jysmn and her mother were having. She didn’t doubt that if she turned around, he would have a smug look on his face.

The girl who punched him in the face, who ran from him at the docks, was getting put in her place.

Jysmn said nothing more, didn’t even turn to look at him, as she brushed passed her mother. She would go to the King. A man who she had come here to see in his final days. Because he meant more to her than perhaps her own family did. And her mother was probably right, he would be the only person that missed her from Iarmheid.