Fairy Tale

Elyria looked down into the pool of water she was just standing up from (she had just gotten a drink), and actually paid attention to what she saw there. Her reflection wasn’t much to behold; she had thick jet-black hair that went down to her waist, and flashing green eyes that looked out from an innocent-looking face. Her frame was tall and lanky, yet it looked like it would move with only average grace. All in all, Elyria saw herself as a plain person, and she didn’t really understand how her parents (with all there ‘royal’ beauty) could’ve given birth to her.

“Princess,” said a chirping voice from behind Elyria’s shoulder—so close in fact, that she almost jumped from shock of not hearing the person appear.

She quickly turned around, and came face to face with the exact opposite image of herself. While she had sleek jet-black hair, her sister had short curly blonde hair. While she was tall, her sister was just plain miniscule.

“I told you not to call me that, Kiara,” Elyria responded back; just a tad to bitter.

“Honestly sister, I don’t understand what you have against being royal. I mean—“ Kiara started up, but was quickly cut off.

“Kiara, please, you know my reasons. I just don’t see myself ruling over a kingdom and becoming one of those uber spoiled, conceded brats.”

“Then why recommend the job for me?” the other girl asked, while twisting a lock of blonde hair around her finger.

“I don’t know…” Elyria started again. “You just seem better at the job than me; you’re always smiling for one thing, you don’t get so fed up with everyone calling you your “title”, and you just seem like you would enjoy being the next queen.”
Kiara looked like she was going to respond, but at that moment, their conversation was interrupted.

“Girls, come along now…” Elyria heard from a distance.
They both glanced at each other, than started walking towards the gathering spot. As they walked, Elyria would occasionally glance off the path they were walking, and look around at the scenery. They (the royal party) had stopped in the ‘west woods’ of Autilon, to take a short break. Elyria had always heard legends of how these woods were full of giant trees with heaping amounts of fruit, and apparently, these legends did not lie.
Every where she looked, she would see a giant tree either bearing apples, oranges, and even some bearing fruits she had never seen before. It prided her that her family owned all this land, but the thought of her owning it all made her shiver.

“Kiara, do you even know where we’re going?” Elyria felt suddenly inclined to ask. She quickly looked over to see her sister shrinking away; an expression of guilt seemingly etched upon her face.

“Um, no…” she stuttered out nervously. “I don’t know… Why are you asking me?” Elyria just stared at her for a moment; giving her the intense look that any bad liar would crack under, and to her avail…

“Ugh, we’re going to your wedding,” Kiara finally spat out in a fit of frustration, then instantly looked like she regretted it. “Oh dear…” she barely uttered, “What will mother think of me?”

At the moment though, Elyria didn’t give a rat’s tail what ‘mother dearest’ thought of Kiara; the only thing she cared about, was all the trickery involved in this. Her ‘royal majesty’s’ had told her that where they were going was a surprise, and indeed, it was one to her. She had no idea that they had moved the wedding to such an early date; it was only early spring, and the wedding was not to be held until the winter solstice. She would’ve kept on angrily tossing around these thoughts in her mind, but at that moment, her and her traitor sister stepped into a clearing, and the royal party awaited them—her parents smiling from the front row.

The rest of the trip seemed to pass in a blur; flying bird back and seeing the kingdom fly by beneath her. Or rather, she would’ve seen it, if she hadn’t been so busy not paying attention. The whole time, she wasn’t sure what she would do. She was of course, a princess, and skipping out on this wedding would shame her family, but Elyria felt her honor was more important, and if not that, then her pride. It took her exactly the entire time of the trip to resolve her problem—exactly when her mind was made up, Wren (giant eagle) touched down in front of the designated wedding spot.

Elyria pretended to be pleasantly surprised, and utterly thrilled by the whole ordeal, but secretly, she was containing her rage. Truth be told, Elyria hated being lied to; she hated it with a passion, and this was no exception.

The time it took for the last minute wedding preparations to occur seemed to pass just as quickly as the traveling to get there had, and again, Elyria took no notice of the whole thing. While everyone was hustling and bustling about, she sat far off; contentedly weaving grass into a basket. Before she knew it, she was walking down the aisle on the arm of her father, with Prince James waiting at the end.

“Do you, Prince James take Princess Elyria to be your lawfully wedded queen, for ever and for always? For the best of times, and for the worst of times? Threw sickness and threw health?” Elyria waited anxiously, and her whole being wished that James would say he didn’t, but luck would have it, he said

“I do.”
The priest than turned to Elyria and asked the exact same questions (except for the names being reversed), and Elyria couldn’t help hesitate before giving her answer. Her resolve was strong though, and she finally managed to say:

“I don’t…”

It seemed like there was a second of quiet, then pandemonium ensued.

“How dare you!” said Queen Azura to Elyria; fire seeming to blaze in her eyes.

It didn’t take long though, for both familys to start squabbling at each other, and Elyria took this opurtunity to step away. She walked over to Wren, and mounted her mutely.

“Where to, Princess?” the bird asked quietly.

“Some where… normal,” Elyria said back. “And Wren? Don’t call me that.”