A Song In The Wind

After the day ended, I told the others about what had happened. The king shared his food with me and taught me how to wipe the tables and broom. 

The others were a bit disappointed but still wanted to listen to the recording. 

Mansi took out a small chip from the microphone. She then inserted it into a disk shaped device she pulled from her bag. 

When she pressed play, I heard shuffling. She then fast forward and I could hear my voice. I was amazed. Then I heard another. The king. 

"Just a little harder…Yeah. Just like that" He said "…You're getting better at this."

Mansi stopped the recording. "I think it works. We don't need to hear more." 

Karmon stared at me with wide eyes, "Damn Tori. We said to find a weakness in him. Not seduce him." 

Maven was blushing. 

I was confused about what was going on. I then told them about the sword training tomorrow. 

"Nice! Whatever you're doing, keep doing it. Get as close to him as possible." Mansi said 

"But not too well! We don't want him falling in love with you!" Karmon said

"Too late," Maven muttered.

That night, as I slept, I felt hands all over me, my neck, chest, everywhere. I felt sick to my stomach.

They were pulling me down, and I was crawling to get away from them. Just as I was about to be pulled all the way under, I felt something caressing my cheek. I moved down to my throat, but I didn't feel threatened. It felt like a loving touch. I moved closer to it, and I woke to a silver gaze staring into my eyes. 

The king. He placed his finger up to his mouth and nodded to the door. 

I quietly slipped out of bed and lowered myself onto the floor. As I walked towards the king, he saw my sword. He stared at it with a cold look in his eyes before looking back at me. His eyes warmed before indicating towards the door. As the king and I quietly left the room, I looked back at the sword, which looked a bit brighter than when I first found it. I turned back to the king, and he led me into one of the training rooms. 

He brought me one of the swords from the training rack. 

"This sword is for beginners so that you won't cut yourself too badly." 

He handed me a lightweight sword with dull edges. The hilt has seen better days without thread hanging from it. 

I thought about the sword I found, which was still beside my bed. I wanted to one day be able to use that sword, so I was very excited about this training. 

He showed me how to hold the sword the first day and how to stand. It wasn't for a few days that I was able to use a real sword. 

Holding a sword felt so natural to me. It's as if I've held it many times before. I caught on very quickly. Quickly enough for sparring matches. 

I held the sword before me and watched my opponent across from me. 

The king swung his sword around until he got used to its weight. 

He then got into position and held his sword my way. 

"Are you ready?" He asked 

I nodded. 

"Then…Start!" He yelled 

I ran towards him, sword in hand, ready to win this match. 

…

I woke up in a pitch black room. My eyes adjusted quickly and I saw a candle and match on a table. I lit it up and looked around, wondering where I was. And who I was. The small flame did almost nothing compared to the darkness but I could see paintings of people and small trinkets. 

There was a small dim light next to a metal music box. I picked it up and raised it up to get a better look at the room around me.

Surrounding me were things of the past: paintings of my family, a portrait of my mother, father, sister, and me, and an individual portrait of just my mother and father as the royal king and queen. Then there was me, the lonely king in my royal getup and all. Next to the painting was a note stuck onto the rim of the frame.

"Dear Merkikh, my lovely brother, 

You haven't come back yet, although there's a small ball of light where your ashes lay, so hopefully, that means you're coming back soon. There is too much to talk about. My coronation is set to be in less than a month. After you revive, all I ask of you is to stay hidden. Stay dead. Let me take care of the kingdom.

From your dear sister, Naeva." 

I placed the latter on the table and kept looking around. Next to the lamp was a small metal music box I had just glanced over. I opened the box and turned the small knob on the back. It played a lovely tune. Inside was a folded-up note. I pulled it out and unraveled it. 

"Dear Merkikh, my lovely brother, 

Remember when Mother would sing to us and play this in the background of every one of her songs? The rhythm would always get stuck in my head, so I would randomly hmm in the halls. Ha! I think I spooked most of the maids at the time!

I could never forget the rhythm of the song, but you always sing it. I forgot the lyrics. Do you still remember? I think one was about a woman on a boat sailing across the clouds. I could be wrong, but that's what I remember..." 

I huffed a laugh. I do remember. Mother would sing crazy songs, but the one Daphne mentioned was a mix of two different songs. One was about a woman who sailed her boat across an island instead of taking it on the ocean around the island. The other was about a whale who would swim through the clouds. 

"…Anyways, I would love to hear you sing once more. Your voice was beautiful and always brought tears to everyone. Just hearing your voice would make me happy. If you find this, please don't worry. I'll take really good care of the kingdom.

From your dear sister Naeva." 

The note ended just like the other one. I'm guessing that Daphne wrote this note before the other one. I looked around the room and wondered just how many notes she left behind. 

I looked back at the painting. 

*Here's to hoping this was made recently.* I thought to myself. 

I wandered around the room and found more notes.

They were mostly about the past—about my mother and some of my father. She spoke about the times when I would follow her and the times when I would stay in my room for days on end. 

When I find a book I really like, I don't want to waste time waiting to read it. I don't like cliffhangers. 

The following note was on a small napkin close to where she hid the last note. 

"Dear Merkikh, my lovely brother, 

Do you remember your coronation? You looked so pretty. You were so young, but already, you looked like you had aged many years ahead of me. 

I celebrated with my friends, but when we invited you, you glared at us and walked away. 

Was it because you hated me? For what reason would you look at me with such hate? I wonder if that look was even one of hate. If it wasn't, what was it? 

Anyway, make sure you read all the notes. 

From your dear sister, Naeva." 

I do remember my coronation. And I do remember hating my sister at that moment. I mean, anyone would be angry if someone celebrated the death of their parents. 

At least, that's how I saw it at the time. I know now that they had time to move on. I only had about a month to mourn my parent's death, while everyone else had more than three years. 

I didn't want to harbor any hateful feelings toward my sister or the kingdom I was born to protect. So, I hid my feelings and pushed past them. It wasn't the best way to do it, but it worked for me. I didn't hate my kingdom, especially my sister. 

I guess it didn't work out as well as I thought it would. My anger exploded at the worst time, and I forced her to do this. 

In all her notes, she never mentioned anything about the other kingdoms nor did she ever mention anything political. Whether she kept it a secret on purpose or just didn't see the point of mentioning anything to a dead king, I was a bit disappointed and felt left out. 

Deciding to finally leave this dark room, I gathered what little courage I had and cracked the door open. I looked back and saw a note where I was reincarnated. 

"Dear Eterno, my lovely brother, 

I write this as I watch over your ashes just like before. I know that with your dying breath, you vowed never to forgive me. But I am your last remaining blood relative. You can't not forgive your big sister for doing this. I would never have done what I did had I not known about the powers of the phoenix. Understand that I had to save both you and this kingdom from war. This was my best chance. When you read this letter, I will most likely already be queen. If you find this, please don't worry. I'll take really good care of the kingdom."

I laughed and crumbled the note. Then, using my fire magic, I set it on fire and scattered the ashes on the floor. 

"Right…like you could do that."