Chapter 2: Gifts

Year 1259 NE (New Era)

Maravilla Hanlon stood alone in her private garden behind the house she shared with her two sisters. Winter was almost over, and the last snows were beginning to disappear. A cool breeze came in from the north, reminding her that the weather was not getting too warm just yet. The 22-year-old beauty gave up on counting the flowers after awhile and stared into the endless blue of the sky. She tried to remember Spring Festival held in Nerim Falls the previous night, but she struggled to collect her thoughts clearly. Everything was a whirlwind to her, especially after the man arrived. She vaguely recalled him tugging at the edge of her thoughts. She thought she was being drugged at first, but she dismissed that out of her attraction to him. He caught her eye and they danced the night away.

Then her memories hit a wall. There was nothing concrete in her recollection of last night's events after the final dance. She had a feeling, a nagging suspicion. She suspected that he went too far. She realized that she made a mistake. A brightly colored bird flew by overhead with three little birds trailing behind it. The girl unconsciously touched her stomach. What have I done? Why is this happening to me?! There was no answer to her silent questions. She looked up into the sky once more, with tears forming at the edge of her eyes. She was afraid-afraid of the future. What the future would bring for her…and her child.

Year 1266 NE

Tarasinia Palace was bustling with activity. The entire capital city of the great nation of Tarasinia was in full celebration. There was now a mad scramble amongst the nobles to finish off the decorations and finalize plans for the parade through the streets. The King himself was being decked out in full regalia in the royal chambers while his wife, Queen Dyelin, looked on in admiration. It was the seven year anniversary of King Leonardo Garnerio's crusade against an uprising of demons in GhoulShadow Swamp, when he had risen to the forefront of Tarasinia's armies and saved the country from utter ruin. The countryside had been ravaged, forcing a mass migration of farmers and countryfolk to the west. The lands to the north and south were decimated, but Leo had driven the demons back to the Swamp, where most people thought they would never return from.

He was a hero not only in Tarasinia, but the neighboring country of Bermecia as well. Tarasinia's previous king had been assassinated by a renegade Bermecian nationalist, and Leo had strode easily into power, resolving the two nations' border dispute and eliminating the renegade threat. His daughter, the Princess, had just celebrated her seventh birthday, but carried a secret that not even the benevolent and honest King Leo, if he knew, would be willing to reveal.

Roseanda Garnerio sat patiently on a stool in her room while the Chief Maid fussed over her dress. She shifted her gaze around the room as if seeing it for the first time. A gigantic framed picture hung directly over the fireplace. Rose remembered when she demanded to have the largest sheet of paper in the palace after she received a set of paints for her last birthday. The final work was a hybrid of several colors in no real order, making it almost blinding to look at. But the little Princess loved it-it was her work after all.

After a few moments she turned her attention back to Sorasha, the maid who had been almost like a second mother to her, but Roseanda was growing up fast and was beginning to resent the constant fussing.

"The dress is smooth already! Touch it more and it will get all wrinkly!" she cried in a shrill voice.

"Come now darling, you need to look presentable in front of the entire city. Any wrinkles would make me look just as bad as you so sit still and let me finish. You never used to complain about looking pretty. Who told you to grow up so fast?"

"I did." The Princess fumed but calmly waited for Sorasha to straighten the dress and put ribbons in her hair. When her wardrobe was completed, Roseanda leaped off the stool, ready to fly out the door, when Sorasha let out a scream. Rose turned and saw a large rat peeking out of the fireplace. Sorasha, suddenly petrified, jumped up on Rose's bed waving a large scroll at the rodent. Roseanda, without hesitating, took a deep breath and raised her hand. The candle on her nightstand flew like an arrow and impaled the rat where it stood.

"What did you do!? How did you do that?" Sorasha screamed again.

"I threw the candle at it," was the little child's reply. Sorasha sensed that she was lying, but her nerves were too frayed to argue. She hurried Roseanda out of the room and slammed the door.