Kingdom of Ghosts

The soldier was confused by the knocking on the door. Usually a messenger would use one of the various side doors that seemed to line the narrow hallway of the information office of the kingdom of Tara. This knock however came from the very elegant front doors which, in all his 10 years as a soldier, he had never seen opened. Not even when the extremely thorough cleaners came from the castle; they just polished around it, making the silver leaves and vines which twined together on the door frame shine, and oiled the hinges but never opened the doors to see if they actually squeaked. He hesitated but after another, more impatient knock on the door he went to the doors and tried to open them. They didn't open, didn't even budge, they held fast in place as if the doors themselves had an objection to being opened. After another few minutes of pulling there was another knock "Just go to another door!" He shouted but he knew it was no use, the doors were made of at least a foot of thick, solid oak and the walls were made of stone. After a few more minutes of hauling effortlessly on the door he gave up and went to another door around a corner.
when he rounded the corner he realized why the person hadn't known about the door. It was a girl, approximately seven years old, wearing a ragged, sun bleached mint green dress and a beat up silver locket, her raven hair was long and tied back in a thick pony tail, her amber eyes looked him up and down suspiciously as he approached. "Can I help you young miss?" he asked calmly. Plenty of kids came here to deliver messages or their father's lunch and plenty were suspicious or afraid. She lifted up her left hand which contained a letter, sealed with a crest he had never seen before. He bowed "apologies, that door hasn't been used in years, its near impossible to open." her eyes widened "I'm sorry I didn't know." he dipped his head " It's perfectly alright, if you'll follow me over here there's another door." she nodded and followed him obediently through the door, then, down the hallway to an office.
The office was large and the door leading to it was permanently stuck open. The soldier had thought it odd at first but so many people came and went from the office that it eventually made more sense for the door to stay open rather than to stay shut. The girl stopped once she saw who was in the office and immediately dropped to her knees with a loud thunk as she hit the ground. The Queen, who sat comfortably but elegantly behind the desk raised her head abruptly when she heard the noise. "What is it soldier?" she asked, her voice sweet and soothing. "A child, your majesty with a message." "from whom?" "I cannot tell, your majesty, I've never seen this crest before." she nodded understandingly "well bring it here child, and we will see who it is from." the child looked shocked and wouldn't move. "what's wrong?" the Queen asked as if she didn't know that seeing a queen outside of special occasions was rare.
"Our Queen is a special one though". He thought. after the king died and she hadn't remarried for a few months the kingdom began to feel the pressure of his work not getting done, people begged her to remarry but she was too heartbroken and refused. Instead she began doing the work herself until the kingdom found that it didn't need a king anymore. She was like a caring mother to everyone and the kingdom prospered under her reign.
"What is wrong child? bring it here." the soldier shook his head, he didn't want to wait for yet another awestruck child to finally work up her nerve and approach the Queen, in one swift movement he picked up the shocked child and dropped her on her feet next to the Queen. The girl gave a squeak of protest before immediately silencing in front of the Queen. The Queen smiled and out stretched her hand " I don't bite child." the Queen said simply her smile so genuine that the girl relaxed enough to give the Queen the letter. "There now not so ba-" the Queen's sentence cut off as she saw the crest. the parchment was dented from where the girl gripped it too hard and the paper was slightly yellow from age, the Queen gently stroked the crest with her thumb running her thin forefinger over the protruding signature on the back of the paper. "What did you say your name was?" she asked almost to quietly for the soldier to hear. Despite never having said her name before the girl responded "Zora, Zora Estelle." the Queen nodded absent-mindedly, The soldier leaned in curiously, as if it wouldn't be the exact same crest, it''s red boldly surrounded by the yellowing, slightly crumpled parchment. She moved to break the seal but gave them a quick, exasperated look to show her annoyance at their curiosity. The soldier lurched back and pulled the girl back with him so that the Queen could read in peace.
She broke the seal and began reading, her eyes scanning the page quickly, hungrily eating each word. She read it once, twice, three times than without a second thought lit it on fire with a nearby candle and let it burn. Than she turned to the soldier "take her to the academy, soldier, she's to train with us from now on." her sweet voice was more cold and strained than normal. The girl gasped "wait there must be a mistake, I'm not an orphan I have a home!" her voice rose as she talked, as if stating it made her even more scared. The queen smiled at her sympathetically "there is no mistake." The soldier confused, hesitated, the academy was for orphan's who had no where to go, they were either trained as knights, scribes, or pharmacists. The Queen sighed "There is no mistake." the soldier hesitated for one second than bowed and picked up the squirming, protesting girl and left the office.