I won't be seeing Kell much anyway. But knowing that one of my staff is a traitor is terrifying. He may be only seventeen, but he could still be dangerous. What if he just snaps one day and decides to use his position as leverage for another attack? What if he's not the only traitor in my midst? Is it a problem?

When I first was taken and showed the real world, the real city, with all of its people, and all of their problems, it was so vividly real, so terrifyingly close to me. Now it seems as far away as yesterday's sunrise; just a dream, and this castle, with all its luxuries, is all that there is in the whole wide world. All that there ever has been. All that there ever will be. There is nobody but the rich, and nothing but my newly granted position in court, my castle, and my servants. It's all that I focus on.

I've been told to come to the court today. All that I know is that this meeting isn't about war, or I would not be invited, seeing as I'm just the little princess. It's got to be something about relations, or trade, or perhaps the welfare of the kingdom.

Lisbet hands me my dress for court. Traditional robes are required for the occasion, and her bony fingers almost shake holding up the heavy layers upon layers of velvets and silks. She is eight months older than I, having turned fifteen two months ago, but looks perhaps ten years old, with her wide grey eyes and thin, wispy brown curls. But I do enjoy her company! She's a serious girl, but is quick to laugh, unlike myself. 

The heavy folds of the robes settle over me, draping down and pooling a bit at my feet. For the hundredth time I curse my height as I lift up the hem an inch to walk. Even so, as I begin to walk to my door, I stumble.

My ladies accompany me to the meeting, although they themselves cannot go in. I walk quietly, as I have always done, and Lisbet too, but Jennis and Faelan whisper one to another. I hear their conversation, but I don't partake in it. It is always chatter about something ridiculous- what Lord So- and- So said to Miss Whatever, and did you hear the prince, have you seen his latest girlfriend, yes, the blonde? Castle gossip does not entertain me in the least, but I don't mind them doing it.

When the meeting starts, I see that Maridi is there- a bit pale, and her heavy, emerald green robes hanging off her figure. They were not made for her.

Finen brings the meeting to order a few minutes later, after a couple more lords and ladies have come in. I listen as the usual business of finances, exports, imports, and recent events is listed by the chief advisor. It's all very boring, but I try to listen anyways. The Royal Treasury is running a bit low, but when the time comes to shear sheep, we'll have more money from the wool exports; trade is at a mediocre level, but will increase with the summer; the Sea- People have been frighteningly close to the western coast cities and more soldiers should be dispatched immediately; the Duke of Welser has died, and his eldest son will be coming to court to seek a wife, so he can inherit the vast estate. Then, all of a sudden, my head snaps up-

"And now, the matter of the alliance with the Lakes."

This is what I'll fulfill in two and a bit years. I can't miss a word of it.

"King Arkhil has requested to have the Princess Nivh visit the lakes, to become a bit accustomed to the people, land, and court before her wedding to the his son." The old man looks at me. "Do you accept his invitation, your highness?"

Following the general procedure of a council meeting, I stand, bow my head, and say, "I do accept the invitation, sir, and ask that you will send the king my reply." Then I sit, and the meeting moves on. 

I am to travel! Never have I left the hills, nor have I ever seen the sea, and now I am to leave, and see the people I will one day rule, and meet this prince that I'm betrothed to. I'm elated at the thought- I'm to see the world!

I share the news with my three ladies after the meeting. "I'm not sure when I'm to leave," I tell them, a smile on my face, "but it will be soon, and I know that we'll be gone for a month or two at the least."

"We?" asks Lisbet. 

I nod. "Yes, Lisbet, I am taking all three of you, as well as a few other servants."

She smiles widely. "Oh, I hope we leave soon! Jennis, what are the lakes like?"

Jennis smiles and tucks a strand of dark hair away from her olive skin, back into the braids that loop around her head under the lace scarf. "It's all so bright," she says, " and the sun is almost always shining. The lakes, they seem to go on forever from the islands that we live on, and there's hardly ever any rain." Her dark blue eyes twinkle in remembrance of her homeland as she enchants Faelan and Lisbet with tales of the lakes.

I try to think about when I go. Am I too excited for this trip, am I getting myself too worked up over it? It's just a diplomatic mission, when you think about it, and I still have a while before I go permanently.

I think of the prince. Will he be a Prince Charming, like in the tales Mortweni read to me as a child, or will he be a dozen years older than I, with a sixth finger and an eye patch? Will he be somewhere in between?

The thoughts follow me for the rest of my day, and I fall asleep with a hundred different images of him in my mind. That's the trouble with arranged marriages, I guess. 

*****

I receive word that I'll be leaving in three weeks, so I can celebrate the arrival of the new Duke of Welser. There's to be a grand ball the night of his arrival, with all of the nobility in the city attending. For giving the castle only one week's notice to prepare, everything is as gorgeous and meticulous as befits his title.  Rhodri and Taii have made four dresses- one each for my ladies and I- in the space of one week. Faelan has been more stressed about his arrival than I thought was humanly possible, and the day of the ball, she spends the whole day styling her blonde hair, cinching her waist, and fixing her blue velvet gown. By the time we leave, she looks at least eighteen.

"I hope that I can get one dance," she sighs as she pins her scarf atop her head. 

"He is supposed to dance with quite a few ladies tonight," says Rhodri, helping button up the back of Jennis' pink gown. "I'm certain you'll get a dance." 

Faelan blew air sharply from her nose, examining her reflection from every angle. "I hope so."

My cousin Faelan is a completely different story than serene Lisbet and cheerful Jennis. The daughter of my uncle Jans, she was raised as the only daughter, expected to marry into a good name and produce an heir or two, and she takes it in her stride. I was raised in the same principles, but do you see me openly flirting with all of the counts and earls at court? A mere week older than me, and still only just old enough to marry, and yet marriage is all that she will talk about. The only reason that I haven't stripped her of her position is because she seems to be the only one of my staff- myself included- who manages to handle outside affairs very smoothly. Faelan's got a voice of honey and a rosy- cheeked, brown- eyed twinkle that you can't help but do what she says. And now she's got her eye on the new Duke of Welser, and I'm not sure how far she'll go to get him. 

Time will have to tell, I guess.

When the clock strikes five, we all go downstairs to the ballroom- with me in the front, all in a muted yellow; then Jennis in her deep pink, Lisbet in lavender, and Faelan in sapphire blue. The music can be heard from a hundred yards away, even though the duke hasn't even arrived yet.

The room is a swirling mass of colorful skirts and vests, with chatter and laughter filling in spaces that the pipes have left. The space is so bright, and yet most of the young women are standing nervously around the edges of the ball, waiting for their chance at winning the hand of the duke, and all of the money that comes with him.

I watch for a moment as my ladies dissolve into the crowd, picking up dancing partners and gaily joining in the festivities. I stand on the sidelines, watching, waiting for somebody to ask me to dance. I don't mind the waiting, not at all, because I won't have to worry about making conversation. 

But the partners come, and in the short half- hour before the guest of honor is to come, I've been swirled and promenaded around the ballroom more times than I can count. It's a part of being royal- you never can stay away from the center for long. 

"May I have the next dance, my lady?" The voice comes from behind, and I turn to see a man who looks so familiar that it makes me angry. I can't place where I've seen him!

"Of course." Smiling, I take his outstretched hand and he leads me to the floor.

"You're not hoping to catch the eye of the duke, are you, your highness?"

"Even if I wanted to, I really couldn't, sir...?"

He pauses before giving his name. "Nolan," he says. "Sir Nolan."

I know that he's lying, but why would he? 

Picture at top are the court robes that Nivh wore.