Chapter Three

I gasp when I walk inside; I simply cannot believe what I am seeing. Gold lined the inside of the tent, and there are purple chairs filled with dried beans that are very comfortable and orange carpet. It seems so luxurious with all the expensive fabrics and furniture. I almost forgot I am staying in a giant tent. All of my possessions were already unpacked and set up, ready for quick use. The people in charge of this festival sure know what they are doing.

Five other girls stood there talking and laughing as I was looking around. One of them approached me. She had light blonde hair that fell just below her shoulders, baby pink lips, and a fair complexion that strikingly resembled a wood nymph.

“Hi! My name is Ayita.” Her voice tinkled like a bell, and her silvery blue eyes danced with energy.

Now I know why her parents named her that. This realization gives me more reason to believe she really is a nymph, and it’s exciting to know they exist in more than just books.

“Hi! My name is Elysia.”

She gives me a huge hug and exclaims, “It’s so nice to meet you!”

I kind of stiffen, as this type of greeting is new to me. I have never been treated as an equal without regard to my station.

As Ayita leaves me, I am just about to get settled in when I feel that presence again. I turn around to see the same man from the stables walk by the tent. The sneer on his face is even more haunting the second time. We make eye contact, but this time it’s like he can read my very soul. His sneer gets even bigger when I try to avert my gaze, and I can’t help but shudder. Ayita looks at me with one of those what-in-the-world-was-that expressions, but I am pretty sure a look from me would not explain something even I don’t understand. We don’t have time to talk further, as it is time to dress for dinner.

We all wear our second best dresses for the dinner, as our best dresses will be for tomorrow after the trials. I am excited and nervous for the feast. I wear my aqua blue silk dress with silver trim and a heart shaped amulet around my neck, and my hair is braided on both sides of my head. As I look in the mirror at my small, rose-colored lips; fair, slightly pale complexion; and deep, dark green eyes, I wonder, will I ever be the same? Will my looks change with the rest of me? Will I become more elegant, or will I get hard like my older brothers? I wonder if I can be sweet and proper, yet rough and tumble, all together. I’m not sure of the answers to those questions or if I even want to know. Ayita is ready to go, so we walk to the dinner hall together.

Ayita is wearing a maroon dress with silver linings, and she has her hair down in curls with gems pinned through the top. She looks stunning, and I’m not the only one who notices her beauty; her personality glows as well. Whoever gets to be in her Triune is extremely lucky.

The dining hall isn’t difficult to find, as it’s one of the only actual buildings amongst all the giant tents. When we walk inside, we are introduced as two lady mages. We find our nametags and sit down. There are about ten tables with fifty seats at each one. The dinner hall is loud, as there are many conversations going on at once.

It doesn’t take long before I feel another strange presence. It hits me like a strong gust of wind, as it enters the room. I can’t put my finger on it, but the man who walks in doesn’t look quite human. He is wearing a fitted brown leather top and dark green leather pants. His hair is black and somewhat disheveled; his skin is closer to a golden bronze than anything else; and he has a snake-like smile, similar to the other man.

His eyes tell me a different story, one full of hope and mystery. It’s like they are begging me to give them a reason to live. If you believe that you can see the soul of a person in someone’s eyes then it is like his soul is at odds within itself. I could see hurt, despair, and rejection swirling with hope, love, and curiosity looking for someone or something to help him out of the dark void in his soul. They are dark brown with forest green outlining them. Suddenly, he looks at me, and I can’t hide the fact that I have been staring. His eyes dance, and he gives me one of the best crooked smiles I have ever seen. I blush and quickly start a conversation with Ayita. But, I can’t focus on her, because I have trouble getting those haunting eyes out of my head. His presence isn’t as foreboding as the man I saw before, but it’s more mysterious, and there is a longing. Before I can think about it more, our food is delivered.

The feast is luxurious; they serve every kind of cooked and raw meat you could want, and there is an abundance of fruits and vegetables. I am able to admire the dining hall while we eat, and it is really quite splendid. It has brilliant white marble walls, silver stone floors, and very high vaulted ceilings with golden chandeliers that host magnificent gems and diamonds hanging down from each one.

We eat, talk, and laugh late into the night. When we finally decide to head back to our tent, Ayita and I walk together; the other girls decide to stay behind a while longer. We dress in our pajamas and climb into bed. I am about ready to fall asleep when Ayita starts a conversation.

“Hey, Elysia?”

“Yes, Ayita?”

“You are the princess, aren’t you?”

“Well, I am a princess, but I don’t know about ‘the’ princess.” I am a little concerned about where she is going with these questions.

“Elysia, haven’t you heard the prophecy? The one about how the lightning-struck princess rebels against the dark overlord trying to reign over the entire world.”

“Uhm, yes, I have heard it, but there hasn’t been a dark overlord since my great grandfather brought him down over a century ago; not to mention, I can’t do lightning magic. It has taken me several years and many excruciating long hours of work to get to the level I am at now.”

“Mmmm, yeah, I guess you are right. I just had it in my head that you were THE princess and thought it would be so cool to say I met her.” She giggles a little bit, but so do I at the thought of me being the prophesied princess.

We slowly drift off to sleep, and I dream that the creepy guy I saw earlier murders the festival officials and sends an assassin to kill me for the same falsehood that Ayita believed. I wake up to the remnants of his evil laugh playing in my head, and I shudder for the millionth time that day. I wonder if I should take it as a warning, but I just shake it off. There has been peace for over a century, and the officials wouldn’t die that easily anyway. I try to forget his evil sneer and roll over to get some sleep before my big day tomorrow.