A Song In The Wind

I bathed but changed back into the clothes I had on. In the bath water, I noticed that my face hadn't returned to its original state, but it wasn't that far off from my actual face.

I wondered why no one noticed that I was the king. Perhaps they never got a good look at my face, or they were too scared to really look at it. Whatever it was, I was thankful that no one knew who I was. If anyone knew I could reincarnate, it would ruin my sister's position of queen.

No one except for my sister knew about the phoenix gift.

Almost no one knows the guardians have gifts other than the ability to control their element.

Very few have the guardians' power, making them extraordinary, and are kept close to royalty. We make sure they don't use their gifts to shift the earth's natural order. There have been very few people who have controlled fire, but I'm unsure of other elements.

I plopped myself onto the bed and rubbed the ends of my now lighter ends between my fingers. *They would soon lighten even more, and I wouldn't be able to hide the fact that I didn't dye it. I should buy hair dye tomorrow while my hair is still dark* I thought to myself. I know the best option to keep my hair hidden would be to cut it off, but it has a strong symbol to not only myself but to my dead mother. She was always so proud to have her child inherit the guardian. She was saddened by the fact that my older sister hadn't inherited the phoenix, so when I showed signs of the guardian, she was overjoyed. She took pride in me and took careful care of my appearance. Especially my hair. I rarely had it cut and only trimmed when I did. I'm sure one day I would need to cut it. But only when the day comes.

I put my problems aside and went to sleep.

Unfortunately, my sleep only lasted until sun up which was when the landlord went around waking everyone up and demanded the next day's payment. If you didn't, like me, she would throw you to the streets.

I found my tree and found a few people waiting for me. I sang for them just as they wanted, and they gave me money.

I suppose someone didn't have spare change to give me and handed me a newspaper instead, which I didn't mind since I didn't want to spend money on one.

I read the headline, "One Traitor And A Box of Guilt".

Hmm,…interesting headline.

"Just before the coronation of Queen Naeva, a box of specific body parts was delivered by the Falling Sky Kingdom. Just a few days after Commander Felix escaped the clutches of the wind soldiers, a box of his comrades arrived on the doorsteps of the Blazing Leaf Kingdom Castle."

No wonder Naeva looked stressed on the day of her coronation. She's going to have to learn how cruel ruling is one day.

The rest of the newspaper explained the relationships between the commander and his crew, yada yada, including his speech about being guilty or whatever.

Anyway, I kept singing, and people kept giving me coins.

After my third song, one of the younger girls approached me with a hat and handed it to me.

"This is for you. We saw that you keep getting burned from the sun so we made you a hat." She said and her group of friends behind her nodded.

I smiled and took the hat. "Thank you very much. The sun this season is very strong, isn't it?"

The crowd agreed with me.

It was made of straw but was dyed black and had tiny red beads embedded into it. *Interesting choice of colors*

I sang even louder, and people sat around listening to the songs, or they jumped around and danced.

We went like this for a few months. I sang for money, and I stayed in the motel.

At that time, news of Daphne's engagement with the fire prince spread like wildfire. And absolutely none of it was good. The prince flat-out refused to marry her. A month later, he reluctantly agreed. Although, he rebelled in the worst way possible. He would go out with several women and sometimes men. He would cause scandals to embarrass my sister.

To be honest, there would be times when I would have to stop myself from going over to his kingdom to slap the shit out of him.

My sister isn't perfect, but she doesn't deserve his bull crap.

However, a week ago, during a ceremonial ball in the Blazing Leaf Castle, the prince was out of control. He would drink like there was no tomorrow and cause fights with other guests. It wasn't until he started hitting on the waiting staff that Daphne cussed him out and even slapped him.

"It would be easier to marry a cat in heat than to marry you, you fuckface!" She yelled before dragging him out the doors of the castle and throwing his ass out.

That was a good laugh.

There has been no word from Daphne or the prince. Who knows if the marriage is still going to happen?

Not my problem. I had money to make and spend.

When I had enough money to splurge, I would walk around the kingdom and buy from the vendors or buy things to make my little spot look nicer.

I even bought small lights imported from the outer region to hang around the tree.

I then walked into a brown building that said "Books" outside.

I bought as many as I could with however much I had left over.

As I was paying the woman, I heard a voice from inside.

"C'mon! How are we supposed to live like this?! These people are trying to kill me!"

The woman sighed, placed the books into my hands, and smiled a farewell.

Before I left, I asked if everything was okay.

She looked down but said she would be alright.

I nodded and left.

As I made my way back to my tree, I saw some soldiers next to the tree.

I lowered my hat to hide as much of my face as I could. The townspeople might not have gotten a good look at me while I was king, but surely my soldiers would recognize me.

"Problem, sirs?" I asked

"We heard that you perform for money here. If you do, we'll need you to apply for business here and pay taxes." One of the soldiers said

"Taxes?" I asked, "What is that?"

"You give a small amount of what you make to the royal family to help with kingdom business." The same soldier explained

"But what if I don't have much to give? I hardly have enough for a motel room." I thought about the bookkeeper, who looked stressed.

The other soldier, who kept quiet, finally voiced his opinion, "This is stupid. We shouldn't have to pay anyone to keep us safe. We've been fine on our own since the last king. Why does this queen want us to give her money we don't have for protection we didn't ask for?"

I waved my hands. "I didn't mean anything by it! I was just asking! I'll gladly pay whatever I can to do my part for this kingdom."

They both looked at me closely.

"You look familiar." One said

"No, I don't think so," I said quickly.

"Now that I think about it, he looks a bit like-"

"Lily!" A woman cried

We all looked at her as she barreled through the soldiers. She lowered my hat as she crashed into me. Her blonde locks whipped across my face.

"You should have told me where you went! We've been looking for you all over, girly!" She cried and looked back at the soldiers. "Oh! How can we help you, young sirs!"

"I think we're good here. We've already talked with your friend. Have a good day, ma'am, " the soldier said, and they both left.

The woman sighed and looked back at me.

"Sorry for doing that. It just looked like they weren't going to leave you any time soon, and you looked uncomfortable." She said

I laughed and thanked her.

"I'm not a girl, by the way," I said

"I know! I just said that to get them off your back. They usually get shy around girls more than guys. I'm sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable." She explained

"They've been here before?" I asked

"Yeah. They mostly patrol around the area at night. They are friendly with the locals here. They're good people," she said

"Ah! I see…You look familiar." I squinted my eyes as if that would help my memory.

"We talked a bit during the coronation festival. You look a little different as well." She replied

I snapped my fingers, "Ah! I remember now! It's nice to meet you once again."

"You as well. My friends and I are going out to eat. Wanna go with us?" She continued

"I would love to, but I don't have money at the moment," I sadly said

*I don't regret my treasures, though!*

"It's okay! I wanted to offer you food for a song, actually!" She said

"Oh! Sure! What song?" I asked

"I'll tell you after dinner." She pulled me away.