When the little group reached the castle they were escorted to the
dinning hall. "You will have to meet my family, Princess Jewls. May I ask
why you were named that?' The king asked.
"Oh, yes, I would love to meet your family. My name is from my eyes, they
are always changing colors, but the colors are always the colors of jewels
and gems. When I look into people's eyes I can read their minds, like right
now you think that I am lying. And you think that my parents and brother are
worried sick about me, which they're not. My parents are dead and my brother
has probably planned a party because now I can't take over the throne."
Jewls huffed, for she only had taken one breath. She knew not to mention
that she had already meet Prince Roald, she thought that they snuck out and
she didn't want to get them in trouble.
King Jonathan was very surprised, which rarely ever happened. He had
never heard of Princess Jewls and maybe there was a reason. He led them to
their seats and pulled out Jewls' for her. My family will be here in a few
minutes. "Sire, may I go and freshen up?" Jewls asked politely.
"Yes, you may." She grabbed her bag, before a servant could and followed one
out to a room. When she came back there were five who introduced themselves
as Prince Jason of Conte, Princess Kalasin of Conte, Prince Liam of Conte,
Princess Lianne of Conte, and Prince Roald of Conte.
Jewls was wearing a most becoming dress in an emerald green that
matched her Emerald eyes, along with the eardrops, necklace and slippers.
She showed very good manners toward the princes and princesses, not giving
them enough attention to make it seem as if the were the king and queen but
enough to make them feel important. Then the queen walked in looking
beautiful.
"Oh, Your Royal Highness, I do not deserve such company. Please, let me help
you in any way I can." Jewls said with the deepest sincerity.
"Oh, do get up, I only put on fancy clothes for company, I don't want you to
be uncomfortable." Thayet told the girl.
"Thank you, Your Highness," Jewls then got up and walked over to the queen
and kissed her hand.
"Call us by our first names and none of that 'Your Highness' stuff, please."
Well, this sure is a weird country; well at least it isn't formal, like
Carthak.
Jewls looked into the king's eyes and found out that he wanted to get lunch
over so he could talk to Alanna about raiders in the west.
"Um, Jonathan (she still felt uncomfortable calling a grown man who was also
the king by his first name), you could go and talk to Alanna about the
raiders, now if it is very important," Jewls told the king in a quiet voice.
"How did you know what I was thinking? That was supposed to be a private
matter."
Jewls told the family that she could read minds because of her eyes and
they asked what was so special about her eyes. She told them about the color
changing and the whole family was fascinated. Jewls asked if she could be
introduced to Alanna and Jonathan said it was ok. The king told his son that
he might be interested in this conversation and he was aloud to come.
"Oh, yes father, please that would be great. I also would miss mathematics
and I do so hate that class." Roald thanked his dad.
Thayet took the offered arm of her husband and Roald offered his arm to
Jewls. When they reached the study Jewls was very excited and she looked
into Alanna's eyes and she was thinking:
Oh, I hope that this raid in the west isn't too serious, and what did the
servant say, that this girl has magic of some sort.
"Hello, my name is Jewls and I love how you became a warrior and I want to
become one myself, a warrior, I mean. I am very good at Shang, well that's
what most say, but I want to learn weapon fighting, too. I can also read
people's minds when I look into their eyes. I wanted to become a Shang but
since I have magic I can't. I have just found this out, so I am a little
upset. Don't worry the raiders probably will leave once they here that you
are on the job." Jewls said in two breaths.
"Well, you are an energetic one. And so that's how you knew about me
worrying."
"Can I please show you some of the moves that I learned as a Shang trainee.
Please, Please?" Jewls pleaded.
"Okay, but how about you change first? You wouldn't want to muss up you
pretty clothes." Alanna told Jewls.
She ran back top her room and put on her black breaches and her light
orange top. Her eyes were the color of a heliodor, and orangish color.
Jewls then went down and a servant showed her the way to the practice ring.
She was wondering who she would compete against when a Shang of about 25
years came up to her and said
"I am the Shang wolf and I am the one that will compete against you," the man
said.
They got into fighting stance and he instantly lunged at her. Jewls
flipped him over her leg. He got up and ran forward Jewls ducked and he
flipped over her back. She whirled around and pinned him down. The wolf
twisted and she fell while the man was getting up she went from behind and
grabbed his head; he was now in a head lock. He fought, and flipped Jewls
over, which was easy considering her weight, was very little. He pinned her
down, and then helped her up.
"You win," Jewls told the man.
"You fought very well. Who was your teacher, he or she would be proud." The
wolf told her.
"Well, the Lion, Unicorn, Dragon, Dragoness, Wolverine, Eagle, Bear, and the
Horse are just a few. I learned a lot of different tricks from my teachers
so I am more advanced in some areas." Jewls replied.
The crowd that had gathered just stared, to have a girl of 10 or 11 years
lose without injury to a 25 year old man was a great feat. Jewls looked into
Alanna's eyes and found out that the woman warrior was very impressed. "So
you want to become a page, well, how about you room next to Min. You two can
learn from each other. She wants to become a Shang but she is too old, so
she sort of doing both. Right now though she is practicing. You will have
Kel and Min to talk to. I am so happy that girls want to become pages and
even though Min wants to be a Shang it's still a girl warrior. Is that okay
with you Jon?" Alanna questioned.
"Oh, yes fine, it's fine. I was just thinking about what your powers could
do in a battle, I mean you could tell us what would happen. What is Roald
thinking now? I want to make sure that you can read everyone's mind." Jewls
looked into the Prince's eyes and blushed at the thoughts he was thinking.
When he realized that everyone was starring at him he blushed. "Well, he was
embarrassed that he was caught off guard and he was wondering how much longer
he would have to wait until he got out of this stuffy room. He wanted to
practice his archery before his next class." Jewls said bluntly.
"Wow, that is so amazing, that's what I was thinking." He silently thanked
her for not telling about the other part. He was rewarded with a beautiful
smile, for Princess Jewls had teeth that looked like pearls. "Well, Roald
you can go practice your archery, but be back here at nine. I want to talk
about something with you. Will someone show Jewls the way to her room,
please," The King asked.
"I'll show her dad. I have to get my bow anyway." The prince suggested
almost too quickly.
"That's sounds great."
Jewls lugged her bags to the stairs and then the prince offered to carry
them; she handed them to him gladly. After carrying them to the room where
she had freshened up she had decided to let others help her with her entire
wardrobe. "Thank you for not saying anything about what I was thinking,"
Roald mumbled.
"Oh, don't worry about it I knew that you didn't want everyone to know that
you were thinking that."
"Well, here is your room, I hope you like it. Tonight for dinner, if you
want, you can come and eat at my table."
"Oh, thank you, I would simply love that." Jewls said with much gratitude.
The prince told her that she could explore or follow him to practice.
Jewls told him that she would explore. He looked a little upset that she
wasn't going. He said goodbye and left. Jewls set everything up and put on
her silver breaches and light green top to match her peridot colored eyes.
She turned right down the hall, the opposite way she had come from. Jewls
walked past doors and doors. They were probably the page's rooms, she
thought. She walked down a staircase then turned left and there was the
stables and the practice arenas. She turned around, she was sure someone had
called her name, although it only sounded like a whisper. Behind her was the
boy she had kissed last night, what was his name, Quinden, yes that was it.
She almost called him, but then held her tongue, she would get him in trouble
if his teacher knew that they were out.
"I don't think that I've met you before, surely I would remember such a
beautiful face my name is Quinden," Quinden said with a wink. Jewls almost
burst out laughing; he was practically saying the same thing he said last
night.
"My name is Princess Jewls I am staying in the page's quarters, I want to
become a page. My room is right next to Min's room, who ever she is." Jewls
added tactfully.
Min came up and smiled, "My name is Min, it a pleasure to meet you,
Princess." Min said respectfully.
"I am going to be a page, so please treat me like one, no royalty crap,
please, thank you."
Kel came up and introduced herself. Slowly everyone that she meet last night
reintroduced himself or herself. There were some new faces, too. There was
one boy who kept looking at her. She didn't like the way he did either. It
was like he was checking her out, to put it bluntly. One of the instructors
told her to get a bow and show him what she already knew. He put a target
about fifty feet away and Jewls shot a bulls-eye, then he moved her to
another target one hundred feet away and she shot it in the ring that
surrounded the bulls-eye. The instructor told her very well and that she
could continue to look around, tomorrow the real fun began.
Jewls walked some more until she found the stables, she went and feed
Opal some carrots and hay. Jewls looked into Opal's eyes for the first
time, since she got the horse, she was startled to realize that she could
read the horse's mind, Opal was thinking about how she wanted to go out for a
run. "Oh, Opal, I wish you could understand what I think." I can.
"WHAT?!?" Jewls screamed. I said I can understand you. You have Wild
Magic, not a lot of it, but enough. Yours isn't strong enough so you must
look into the animal's eyes. Opal said matter-a-factly. "Wow, this is so
awesome. I can't believe I didn't know about this."
"A lot of people have Wild magic, why would ye be so special that you have
it?" A man asked her, she later found out his name was Stephan.
"Oh, you surprised me, sorry, I never knew that I had magic until a little
while ago, and I always wanted to talk with animals, it's like a dream come
true."
"Oh, well, at least you sound like someone who'll put yer magic to good use.
This is a beautiful horse ye got, how much was he? If ye don't mind me
asking."
"Oh, no not at all, I found Opal in the woods. I was very fortunate.
Someone told me that she is a pure bred Arabian horse."
"That she is." Stephan said.
Jewls looked around until it was time for dinner. Then she went to the
dinning hall. Min gestured for her to come over and sit with her at their
table. Most of the pages had books spread around them, "Why study at dinner
time?" She asked.
"Oh, we have our big tests coming up soon, we always start studying early in
the spring to get a head start." Quinden told her.
"Oh, what day is it
today, I have lost count." Jewls questioned. They told her, and a Jewls
just said "Oh" her birthday had been 3 weeks ago, when she had still been on
the ship. Since she had been asked to be left alone no one had reminded her
of it. The rest of dinner was filled with talking instead of studying, Jewls
felt as if they were old friends. Jewls was so happy that she finally had
friends. After they ate they went up to Kel's rooms to study and do their
homework. When Jewls asked when they had the time to do so much work they
told her in their free time. That made everyone laugh.
"We just do what we
can and take the consequences of not finishing some work." Sever told the
girl. Jewls also asked why the door had to be open and they told her that
since the girls were there that they couldn't have the door closed. At eight
fifty-five the prince left to talk with his father. Slowly everyone turned
in to bed. The next day would be very important to Jewls. She went to bed
and fell asleep right away.
