The Magic of Aurelian

Kiran

After sharing the dropped cake with Eleonor, our friendship seemed to go back to normal. I was glad Aria had laughed so loudly as it intrigued me enough to go investigate. Even after I had told Aria I was busy, she stopped by my room and tried to convince me to go on a walk with her. I politely declined, but she huffed away in anger. It doesn’t surprise me that she’d throw a tantrum by ruining Eleonor’s cake for me, and I’m still wondering how she knew where to find me as I had never given her my room number.

It was nearly two weeks since the last ball, and my mother was still convinced that the shoe thing would work to find Lady Ella, but I still found the idea ridiculous. My mother was in Aurelian for another meeting, so she had arranged to have dinner with me tonight. I was certain she would bombard me with the developments with the shoe.

“Kiran, you look well.” She greeted me as I arrived. “How is school? Are you ready for exams next week?”

“It’s going well, and yes, I feel prepared.”

We paused our conversation to order our food, and I kept wondering when she would bring up the shoe.

“I did have a few things I wanted to discuss with you while I’m here. So, as you know, I sent out the message about the shoe, and I believe most of the young women who attended the ball have visited the castle to try on the shoe. So far, we have 8 young women who fit the shoe.”

“I suppose you want me to meet with these 8 ladies?”

“You’re always one step ahead of me, aren’t you?”

I chuckled, “I just know my mother and how she thinks…when will you expect me to meet them? Perhaps, a dinner next week?”

“Actually, I had a better idea.” She smiled, and I knew I wasn’t going to like the next words to come out of her mouth.

“There was at least one young lady from each of the other fairy kingdoms, so I thought that it would be a perfect opportunity for you to embark on a tour of each kingdom. The timing is perfect as you will be completing your course next week, so you can leave right after. You’d spend a day or two in each capital city and meet with the ladies.”

I sighed, knowing my mother would have me tour the other kingdoms eventually, so there was no getting out of this.

“Is Glimmerlore included in this tour of yours?”

“No, why do you ask?”

“Lady Ella told me she was from Glimmerlore.”

“But none of the ladies we’ve found so far are from there, none of them are even a Light Fairy.”

“Then none of them are the woman I’m looking for.” I sighed again and started in on my food that had just arrived.

“I’m sorry, Kiran. I’ll contact Glimmerlore and ask about her. In the meantime, we’ll get started on the preparations for your trip.

“Who will accompany me on this tour?”

“A few of the guards, and then I was going to suggest you take along an advisor.”

“I can take anyone of my choosing?”

“I suppose that would be fine, just let me know beforehand who you’ve selected.”

“I have the perfect person in mind.”

“Eleonor!” I spotted Eleonor walking to class the next morning and felt it was the perfect opportunity to ask her to join me on the tour.

“Kiran, what’s gotten into you, shouting across the walkway?” She laughed, and my heart clenched for a moment as I gazed at her smiling eyes, but I quickly brushed the feeling away.

“I wanted to talk to you about something, but I didn’t want to do it with our classmates nearby.”

“Sure, what is it?”

“My mother has arranged a tour of the other fairy kingdoms in two weeks. She told me I could select an advisor to bring along, and I’d like you to be my advisor.”

“Me? But why me?” Her voice was higher than usual, and she looked utterly confused by my request.

“A lot of reasons, you’re at the top of our class and are the best mediator I’ve come across. I also know that your family is friends with fire and earth fairies so you have information about them that others don’t—”

“Wait, but…I suppose those are good reasons, but what is the trip for?”

I brushed my hand through my hair, giving her a sheepish look. “Well, do you remember I told you about the shoe and the ball and Lady Ella? As it turns out there are 8 ladies who fit the shoe, and my mother wants me to travel to the other kingdoms to meet the ladies.

So you would be the perfect advisor for this…and also, I thought it might be nice to have a friend there with me. I don’t get as anxious when you’re around.”

She bit her bottom lip, seemingly mulling over her decision. “Let me think about it.”

“Okay, let me know by the end of the week.” I smiled at her and we continued on our way into class.

Eleonor

I could no longer sit in my room thinking over Kiran’s request. I hated being here anyway, as Aria and Sylvie were always in the living room, so there was no way I could sit out there with them.

Sharing a room with them had been the worst, not only because they were always rude to me but because they were the biggest slobs. I assumed they were used to having a maid and had never learned to clean up after themselves, but that was no excuse to live the way they did. I picked up here and there so as not to let the suite become a mess, but I was growing tired of them. One more week left, I could make it one more week, right?

A knock sounded at my door, and I reluctantly opened it. “My shawl has a stain on it, I need you to get it out.” She shoved the shawl at my face.

“No,” I closed the door and locked it before she could say anything else. I could hear her yelling at me from the other side, so I grabbed a few of my things and decided I would fly home for the weekend.

I opened the door back up to a still-screaming Aria. “Don’t you dare close the door on me again. Here’s the shawl,” She threw it at me this time. “Clean it.”

The shawl fell to the floor, and I walked out without another word. Aria continued her tantrum as I walked out, but I had no reason to care about her screams. The flight home was quiet, peaceful even, but instead of going to my cottage once I arrived in Fairmist, I went in the opposite direction and headed to the bakery. Aunt Jacinta likely wouldn't be there as it was late, but I needed to be in my safe place.

However, the lights were still on when I arrived, and I was pleasantly surprised to see Aunt Jacinta busy working on a cake.

“Eleanor! What a lovely surprise. What are you doing here?”

I shrugged, “I just needed to get away from school for a bit. The bakery has always been my safe place, so I thought I’d see what I could make.”

“Well, you got here at the perfect time. I’m working on this cake, but it’s slow work for me. Maybe you can help the work go by faster?” I picked up an apron and got to work.

“Now, why are you really here?” She knew me too well and could always guess when something was wrong.

“Kiran has been looking for Lady Ella. I’m assuming Solara told you about the balls.”

“She did…you know your cousin can’t keep a secret, at least not from me.” We both laughed as we thought of Solara.

“Well, Kiran has been looking for Lady Ella, he will be going on a tour of the Fairy Kingdoms.”

“Do you want to tell him the truth?” She raised her eyebrows at me.

“No, what I want is for all this to go away…but that’s not the problem. The problem is that he’s asked me to join him on the trip as his advisor.”

Aunt Jacinta said nothing but nodded for me to continue.

“How can I go along on a trip for him to find his mystery girl, when that girl is me?” I looked down into my bowl and started forcefully beating the frosting I was making.

"Oh, Eleanor, you’re in love with him.” Her soft tone of voice threw me off.

“No…I…I admit I care for him, he is a good friend, and I like him…but it’s not love.”

“Whatever you say, dear.” She patted my hand and went back to her cake.

“Do you think I should travel with him?”

“Yes, I think you should go. It’s a good opportunity to show Queen Himari what you can do as an advisor, and it will allow you to spend time with Prince Kiran.” She looked up from the cake and gave me a cheeky smile.”

“You’re going to insist on this love thing, right?”

“I spent too many years without the person I loved, I don’t want you to make the same mistakes I made and lose the person you love over something inconsequential.”

“He’s a prince…I’m not saying I’m in love, but if I were…he’s a prince, and I’m just me.”

“You don’t have to be born royalty to be a Queen. True Queens are born from circumstance, not blood.”

Aunt Jacinta looked up with a gleam in her eye, and we shared a look. Somehow Aunt Jacinta always knew my truths. Sometimes, I feel she knows me better than I know myself. It made it difficult for me and Solara to get into trouble growing up as she was always a step ahead of us. I loved her for it though.

My entire family is wonderful, but there's just something about Aunt Jacinta that makes me feel as if anything is possible. She is magical in ways that even magic can't imitate or create, which sounds impossible because we are fairies, but Aunt Jacinta is special and she makes the world around her just as special.

We finished up the cake, and I helped Aunt Jacinta prepare some dough for the morning before we locked up for the night.

We stood at the back door ready to head off to our separate homes. “Good luck on your exams this week, you’ll do great.” She hugged me before we parted ways. “And have fun on your trip.”

She knew my mind had been made up just like when I decided to go back to school. Come Monday, I’d inform Kiran of my decision to be his advisor. Now I just have to keep my heart from breaking anymore on this trip than it already has.