SWNOVELS Chapter 8
“Wake up, darling,” Elowyn pronounced loudly as the woman swept around the room, opening the curtains to reveal bright morning sun. Aurelia furiously blinked from the sudden sunlight, her eyes slowly focusing upon the outline of her grandmother, dressed in another luxurious gown, this one an emerald green. Aurelia once again did a double take at her grandmother’s new appearance, her magnificent white hair the only familiarity from everything before.
The despair of the attack that had hampered the kingdom the evening before was nowhere to be found, instead replaced with excitement for the gala that her grandmother had prepared despite Aurelia’s blatant disinterest. She had never been one to prefer the spotlight, and Aurelia found herself lacking such anticipation, her stomach instead filled with dread of the entire affair.
Reluctantly, she peeled out of bed, the books from the evening before spread out around her. The women immediately flocked to her side, holding various measurement tapes around her body. She flinched at their touch, uncomfortable with the focus being her curved shape. Though Aurelia would do whatever her grandmother asked, she desperately wished it had nothing to do with fancy gowns and the way she fit in them. She would much rather curl up with a book than entertain the entire kingdom.
She self-consciously crossed her arms across her chest, too aware of how her body had changed as she had gotten older. Though she had never been taught to treat herself with anything other than kindness, she was no longer a girl. As such, her body had begun to curve and grow in ways her modest style relievingly covered, something Aurelia had not yet grown confidence in.
Aurelia’s eyebrows raised in the smallest bit as she watched the servants comment short things to each other, formulating a plan for her dress. She looked up to meet her grandmother’s hopeful gaze.
Elowyn grinned. “Oh, darling. What a beauty you are. Your first Calathian ball this evening. I feel I could burst from excitement.” She stepped forward to plant a small kiss on Aurelia’s forehead, nodding approvingly towards the women.
Aurelia tilted her head away, disinterested. “Are you sure it's appropriate with the attacks? What if—“ Her words made the servants around her stiffen.
Elowyn interrupted, “Darling, I don’t know why you keep harping on about it.” She gave Aurelia a look as clear as ice – let it go. “Our kingdom is extremely safe and protected. You musn’t worry of such things.”
Elowyn ignored Aurelia’s look of dismay and nodded dismissively. “I’ll leave you to it.”
To Aurelia’s relief, the servants finished her measurements shortly after her grandmother left in which they hurriedly retrieved her a tray for breakfast. Like the evening before, the plates were filled with fresh fruits and pastries, and Aurelia happily finished her plates, the Calathian food exquisite to anything she had ever tasted.
Once she finished, she got dressed for Clodovea, rummaging around in her closet until she found something, anything, that could let her move without pounds of skirts weighing her down.
She finally settled upon a frilly white top with the only paints she could find – tied, black leather. She tied a corset around her midsection and chest to make sure everything would hold in place no matter the activity. A quick glance in the mirror incited a small chuckle. She could hardly recognize the woman staring across from her – a princess of a foreign land.
Who would’ve known?
Braiding her long auburn hair, she hurried out of her bedroom tower, making her way to the main part of the castle. Ilaria, naturally, was nowhere to be found, so Aurelia braved the maze of the corridors on her own, luckily finding her own way before Clodovea chewed her head off for being late.
“Aurelia!” Clodovea called as Aurelia stumbled into the training corridors, beckoning her over into a different room than yesterday. Instead of the plain room filled with weaponry and various weight training, the room next to it opened up into the edge of an enormous indoor pond with small, jagged rocks forming a path across the center. The water was deep enough that Aurelia could not see the bottom, only a descending labyrinth of water. Aurelia shuddered despite herself. If a creature from her nightmares could attack her from the sky, they could certainly do the same from below.
“Balance,” Clodovea announced to Aurelia. “Today, we work on balance.” She pointed towards the rocks in the center. “You will be standing there.”
Aurelia refused to let Clodovea sense her nerves, and as such, she fearlessly stepped onto the rock pathway towards the center of the pool, maintaining all the sense of dignity she could despite her many falls into the water.
Their lesson consisted of Aurelia working her way towards the center and balancing on the middle rock, using every muscle in her body to remain still until she inevitably fell into the water. They continued this for an hour, Aurelia slowly improving despite her sopping wet clothes, and eventually even advanced to balancing on one leg. Her muscles howled in exertion as she repeated the balance over and over, every part of her body tense in order to maintain her stillness.
“You’ve got to trust yourself,” Clodovea told Aurelia as she toweled off for the tenth time. “It all comes together – balance, flexibility, and strength – in a fight. Each is essential to being a great warrior.”
Aurelia nodded grudgingly, trying and failing to not let her frustration and impatience get the better of her. She hesitantly stepped on the first rock once more, balancing her way to the center. The dark water seemed to be taunting her, the droplets of water dripping off of her clothes a stark reminder of her falls into the bottomless pool. Clodovea nodded her approval and Aurelia continued to the next rock, finally arriving on the middle rock, the smallest to balance on and where she had fallen the most.
“This time, close your eyes,” Clodovea ordered from the side of the pool.
Aurelia looked up to give Clodovea a look of disbelief. She could barely balance as it was.
“I’m serious. You must trust each of your senses equally. You are in a world of magic. Any moment your eyes could lie to you. Close them.”
Aurelia’s eyes nervously fluttered closed and her ears perked up to focus on all of the sounds. Right away Aurelia faltered, losing her balance just enough that she barely caught herself in the air, breathing hard from the near miss. Without her eyes, darkness enveloped her and she only had her sense of touch to keep herself balanced and upright. She focused on channeling what she had practiced for what felt like hours now – stillness, peace, and– what was that sound?
Aurelia fell into the cold water, her loss of focus making her lose her balance. She swam up to the surface, gasping for air, looking over to Clodovea’s smug face.
“Again!” She called.
***
Clodovea finally released her after what felt like hours, when Aurelia, balanced and with her eyes closed, stood upon the middle rock for an entire ten minutes. Aurelia could feel her feet dragging as she made her way back to her room, her body aching from the physical exertion.
Despite it, she welcomed the feeling, the thought of gaining strength something she looked forward to. She never wanted to be caught defenseless again, most especially with what happened upon her arrival. Her hand subconsciously returned to her arm in which the creature’s talon had dug into her. She had been told the Calathian food and drink had healing properties, and as such, the gaping cut had faded to a small red mark, in which was certain to be gone in the upcoming days. Nevertheless, Aurelia flinched at the memory and the fear that had racked her body.
Shaking her head, she quickly sunk into the grand bathtub to pull her mind away from the thought and changed into one of the looser dresses in the closet, hurrying off to meet with Rehema before the extravagant affair in the evening. A twinge of annoyance crossed her mind each time she remembered what her grandmother had organized for the evening, but she forced it away.
She had no choice.
When Aurelia arrived on the outdoor patio, Rehema insisted upon a short lesson, deeming her preparation for her ball far more important than the small magic they would practice today. Her hair was as perfect as always, in delicate curls, and Aurelia suppressed the eyeroll her comment garnered.
The day before, they had worked on summoning light, the most basic and essential piece in solar magic. Today, Rehema had insisted upon increasing the difficulty of enchantments Aurelia practiced.
Firstly, Rehema introduced the next step: manipulating the light to alter one’s appearance at will. Though much more advanced, it was similar to the light they had practiced the day before. Upon Aurelia’s mentioning of protecting herself, Rehema introduced a version of using solar magic to protect and as a weapon: namely, fire. They practicied it for an hour before Rehema stopped her, claiming she couldn’t work too much or she’d be too tired to dance. Though Aurelia had easily been able to work with fire, summoning it to her hands almost instantly, the best she could do with altering her appearance was changing her eye color to a bright blue. “We’ll work on it,” Rehema had promised. “Great work today.”
With Nesrin, Aurelia continued to learn more about the history of the Continent by poring over a few more books Nesrin had pulled from the shelves. For as long as she could she rested upon one of the couches in the library, her nose deep into one of the books. Each morsel of information felt like armor against the unknown, and as such, Aurelia was dying to know more about the unfamiliar world.
Her eyebrows furrowed as she continued to read, trying in vain to memorize everything she could learn.
Before the sun goddess – namely, Aurelia’s ancestor – had built Calathis, the Continent had been ruled by the Fae. Women were forbidden to practice any magic and were persecuted at the first sign of magical ability, as not being Fae and having magical ability was unnatural and therefore punishable by death.
Ardwen, the home of the elves, was hidden from the Continent for centuries until the sun goddess herself begged for their help in overturning the Fae empire. Together, the Dwarves, sorcerers, and enchantresses defeated the Fae and created the equal kingdom of today, which had remained peaceful up until the recent attacks from Damaris.
Aurelia pondered the new information before an idea popped into her head. “Nesrin,” She said slowly, turning to look at her companion. Nesrin was sprawled out on the couch across from her, enthralled by her own book she was reading, her eyes rapidly scanning the page before her.
“Yes?” She looked up from her book, her eyebrows raised.
Aurelia asked, “Was Dorian’s attack on the Fae perhaps an attempt at retribution for years of living underneath their rule?” She motioned towards the book she was reading. “It seems evident that the Fae treated everyone terribly for centuries. Why wouldn’t one want retribution?”
Nesrin thought for a moment. “No, for that was centuries ago now. The Continent has lived in peace for a long, long time, and the Fae that ruled back then had long died when Dorian decided to attack them a few years ago. The king and queen today, though quiet, are nice enough. He had no reason to do it. None at all, except to kill.”
“Hmm,” Aurelia leaned back into the couch, once more pondering the complexities of the universe with Nesrin by her side.
“Princess Aurelia,” A voice said sharply, making both Nesrin and Aurelia jump.
They both turned towards the library doorway in which Ilaria stood, her arms crossed on her chest. Annoyance passed through Aurelia at the sight of her, as she had been absent all day, leaving Aurelia to wander the castle until she found a kind soul to lead her in the right direction.
“What?” Aurelia asked disinterestedly, looking up impatiently from her book.
“I’ve come to fetch you,” Ilaria responded stiffly. “You must prepare for tonight’s festivities.”
Nesrin looked down at the dainty watch that adorned her wrist and jumped up. “Oh, Aurelia, I’m so sorry to have kept you. We must get ready, indeed.” Shortly after that, Ilaria retrieved Aurelia to prepare for the ball. Aurelia arrived into her room to find the women from earlier bustling about preparing for the ball.
Aurelia groaned, the night she had been dreading arriving much sooner than she desired. Standing up from the library couch, she piled all of the books into her arms, following Ilaria back towards her bedroom in which the servants from earlier had returned, a look of excitement crossing their features.
“My lady,” A servant bowed. “We have finished your dress.” The woman led her to a mannequin at the far end of the room gowned in a sleeveless, golden, floor-length gown that shone beneath the sunlight streaming in from the windows. It was simple, yet magnificent. Made for a princess and descendant of solar magic.
Aurelia’s eyes widened despite herself, taking in the breathtaking gown they had made in only a matter of hours. “Wow,” Aurelia breathed. She turned to the woman, giving her a big smile. “Your handiwork is impeccable. You did a lovely job.”
The woman’s cheeks turned pink. “You’re too kind, my lady. Thank you.” She turned to gesture towards the bath. “We have prepared a bath with lavender and rosemary. We must begin on your hair shortly.” She bowed and led Aurelia to the bath, where decadent flowers and bubbles had been placed. Aurelia repeated her gratefulness once more before stepping into the bath, her tense muscles relaxing beneath the scalding water.
She quickly washed her hair and body, the warm water easing her aching muscles, but doing little for her fraying nerves. Her dread only increased as she stepped out of the bath and as the woman led her to a chair in which a group of women were waiting to do her hair. They used solar magic to summon heat within their hands to dry her wet hair in seconds, intertwined fresh castle flowers into small braids throughout her hair, and finished by weaving the flowered braids up into a small bun at the nape of her neck.
They then brought her to the center of the room to put on her dress, pulling the extravagant, silky material up her body, zipping it so it was skin tight. As they spun her around and fixed little imperfections, Aurelia caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror. She could hardly recognize herself – the dress hugged her curves beautifully, so unlike anything she would ever wear back home – and her auburn hair, with whatever they did to it, shone beautifully beneath the setting sun.
The servants nodded appreciatively. “Our work is done here,” One of them told her. Aurelia took their hands in her own and thanked them each profusely.
Ilaria arrived shortly after, dressed in a gown that accented her purple eyes, her raven hair pulled back into a tight bun. “I was sent to fetch you and bring you to the ballroom.” She said stiffly.
Aurelia nodded, her hands falling to her stomach in which a wave of nervous overtook her. She took a sharp breath to relieve some of the nausea, stepping towards Ilaria.
“Very well.” Her dress swished through the corridors as she followed the woman back to the Great Hall, its beauty taking her breath away once more. Instead of heading towards the throne room, however, they kept walking to the doors on the end of the hallway in which sounds of laughter and a lively orchestra emitted.
At the sight of the pair of them, the two guards flanking each side bowed and opened the doors to reveal the ballroom.