I make up my mind then and there to turn them in. The little maid's words cemented my resolve; they scared me beyond belief. Of course, I'm so tired now... My mind wants to wait for morning, when there will be light to chase away the darkness and fear I feel. I have never been more scared in my life- in all the fifteen years I've experienced.

My heart is beating like a cornered rabbit's. I turn towards the food that I have no appetite for. As much as I want to believe otherwise, I'm terrified that it was poisoned or something of the like. Traitors are all around me- would anybody have cared? I am the next generation of monarchy- do they see me as a threat?

Of course they do, Nivh.

I don't touch the food. I put it out the window- or part of it at least, to make it seem like I've eaten something. Then I change into my nightdress and get into the bed.

The room is so huge and so empty, even for all the luxurious furniture it holds. Something doesn't feel right in this castle- it's a feeling akin to when you're about to do something you know you shouldn't. A strange echo of danger pervades every tapestry, but somehow I fall asleep.

I wake up to the gray light of predawn shining through a crack in the drapery eastward, then I open them further. It's lighter than I thought it would be, with pink and orange clouds bright over the rippling grey lake. Already smoke rises from chimneys in the city, already boats sit buoyant on the wide lake.

A knock comes at my door. I jump, my reverie interrupted.

A middle- aged woman comes in. She curtsies. "Your highness," she begins. "Your presence is expected for breakfast in a half- hour." Pushing a blonde curl behind her ear, she closes the door behind her, going to my trunks. She pulls out a red gown and leaves with a small, seemingly genuine smile on her face. Am I seeing such evil everywhere? I can't imagine everybody I meet is a traitor, but all the evidence I have suggests it's so...

I dress myself, missing the maids I had at home, back in the hills. I have my two ladies, yes, but they aren't really servants- they never truly were- but companions, friends. Have they no servants here to help me? It's certainly lucky that our dresses are one piece and relatively easy to lace up the front. Except, of course, that today's dress laces up the back.

Somehow I manage to tie it up. The back of the gown will be covered by a cloak most of the day anyways. It's almost as if we weren't expected...

I don't see my hairbrush, but my hair is still braided, pinned up even. I comb the front back with my fingers and put on my headscarf. Only the front few inches of my hair will show anyways. I'll have to make do without pinning it on. What I'd do for a maid!

Another knock. The door opens to the woman again, peeking in. "Are you ready, Your Highness?"

"I believe so," I reply. The door opens wider and the servant gestures towards the right.

"This way, please." Her pale blue eyes take in my long and flowing dress, so different from the layered creations that are worn in the lakes. Has she never seen a headscarf before?

She blinks and takes her eyes away, leading me to a flight of stairs. Jennis and Lisbet stand at the top of it.

"How long have you been waiting on me?" I ask, worried that I've held things up for a long time.

"We've both only just gotten here, don't worry," says Jennis

"We're not even expected for another five minutes," adds Lisbet.

Jennis' dark blue eyes go wide. "Well, let's hurry up then! It's a fairly long walk to the eating hall from here." She lifts the hem of her yellow skirt and starts down the stairway. Lisbet and I follow her.

"How do you know how long of a walk it is, Jennis?" I inquire after her.

"I spent five years here," she said, dropping her skirt and walking briskly to the left. "I lived here from the time I was seven until I turned twelve. I know this place like the back of my hand." She turns, a nostalgic smile on her face.

"Why did you live here, if you are from Larch Island?" asks Lisbet, her grey eyes questioning Jennis.

"I'm supposed to marry the future lord of the castle. Or I was."

It hadn't occurred to me that there were people besides the lord, lady, and servants in the castle; but of course there must be! And if Jennis was to marry the eldest son, then it makes perfect sense that she lived here. Girls are often sent to live with their betrothed's family until they are old enough to marry- if they're from the same nation, that is.

Wait- she was intended to marry him?

"You were his intended, but you're not anymore? What happened?" I'm genuinely curious.

Jennis sighs a bit sadly as she walks down the corridor, not looking back at Lisbet and I.

"Is he...?" Lisbet lets her sentence hang in the air between the three of us.

Jennis' dark, braid- covered head bobs once. "Yes. Arron, my intended, was killed at sea just after I turned twelve. Seeing as there were no more sons to inherit the castle- just a daughter- my father and Arron's decided that there wasn't any more point in me staying there- here." She turns right, towards a great oak door, and reaches her hand out towards the handle.

"Does it bother you, being here?" Lisbet softly inquires.

Jennis' hand pauses in midair. "No," she says after hesitating for a second. "It really doesn't bother me. Arron and I were indifferent to one another, and he was almost ten years my senior besides." She unfreezes her hand and pulls on the handle.

We walk into the room, in a straight line, with Jennis and Lisbet on either side of me. Lady Maren, an older man, and a teenage girl stand at the table.

"Princess Nivh," says the old man. I guess that he's in his fifties or sixties. "I apologize for the shortage of staff. They have all gone on..." He pauses, searching for the right word. "They've all gone on a rebellion of sorts. I hate to say it, especially as you surely do not want to see the bad in the kingdom." He smiles, making the corners of his dark amber eyes lift the littlest bit, though the smile itself does not reach them. "Your visit was on rather short notice, or else I would have had time to replace them."

"I am here to see all of what I'll be gaining," I reply. "Be it good or otherwise."

*****

After breakfast we are on our way. A flat, wide boat with low sides and no roof nor canvas covering waits at the docks, facing the east; facing the island craggy with edifices. A luxurious raft, thirty feet across and twenty deep, with one sail-laden mast.

My ladies and I sit on the back, atop benches nailed to the floor. The lake has waves, but gentle, rippling ones, not the great white, foaming crests of the ocean. These waters are a dark blue, the color of twilight: the same color as the flag atop the single mast. The gold and white crown on it snaps in the breeze.

The ripples go by so quickly! The flat raft glides over the deep water as though there is nothing, with the sparkling, reflective dimples on the surface whizzing by.

"It's lovely, isn't it?" sighs Lisbet, resting her elbows on the two- foot- high wall. She sets her chin on her hands and smiles, looking out over the horizon. "I'd hardly ever seen anything but hills, hills, and hills all my life, and now in less than a week I feel as though I've seen the whole wide world."

"It's truly amazing," I say, agreeing with her. 

There is a moment of perfect, but meaningful, silence where we both look at the trails of water the boat leaves behind, watching them gently lap against one another and fade into the calm surface of the huge lake.

"Nivh," asks Jennis quietly. "What will happen to us when you become queen of the lakes?"

"I want to keep both of you with me," I say quickly, and though I know I haven't thought of a proper response, I know I've said the right thing.  "If you want to, that is."

"What about Faelan?" wonders Lisbet.

"If she doesn't end up married to the Duke of Welser by the time we return, I will be genuinely surprised."

Jennis and Lisbet laugh at my comment. Both of them nod their heads.

"We're coming into port, my ladies," says a page boy. With a small lurch, the raft hits the shore of the island on a narrow stretch of beach.

The king's chief advisor is my escort. He offers me his hand to disembark the raft, and I lift my skirt with one hand and look around.

The castle towers above everything, but high stone walls cannot block every building that has a smoking chimney or peaked roof. Hundreds line the streets.

There is a small, hidden door behind a patch of trees. The adviser opens it to reveal a torch lit passage.

I raise my eyebrow.

"The streets are no place for the future queen," he says gracefully. "I am sorry, but royalty always enters the city here."

I look to Jennis for confirmation. She nods.

I enter the passage and am surprised at how clean and dry it is- obviously well used. It slants upward towards the center of the island; towards the castle. We walk down it for only a little while before coming to a pair of modest oak doors. My escort pulls them open. 

A large, grand room sits on the other side, with three large thrones- and all of them are occupied- the left one by a woman with auburn hair and a silver dress, the center by a tall, gray- haired man, and the right by a tall and dark- haired man of nineteen or twenty.

"Princess," says the man in the center, smiling broadly. " We are honored by your visit- but may I ask why it is you are here?"

Picture at the top is how I imagine the island to look. It's actually Mont St. Michel in France but you all get the point :-)