Prelude

"Diana!"
I turned as I heard my name called. My mother, Lady Areida of the Sapphire Lake, stood at the door giving me an annoyed look. She shook her head as she walked towards me, her black curls, the same shade as mine, swinging behind her.
"Your father and I have been looking for you." She said.
"What do you want me for?" I asked, somewhat annoyed that she had interrupted my intense study of the courtyard below and its occupants.
"We want to send you to Kyrria for the summer." She said, sitting down on my bed and motioning for me to sit beside her. "Queen Ella would be pleased to have you at court this summer."
I sighed. Mother always thought that Ella's daughter, Cynthia, and I would be best friends like my mother and Ella were. We never got along. She was a perfect lady while I was rebellious to etiquette, preferring britches to skirts. She liked adventure but to only a certain extent. I always ended up in trouble. I loved riding and archery while she liked to sit in a garden and sip tea. We were opposites.
"Why can't I just stay here this summer?" I asked.
"You need to learn what it is like at court." She said. "I want you to be happy, but you need to know etiquette so that you don't make a fool out of yourself at a dinner."
"That's all I'm good at, mother." I said, sarcastically. "If you send me, you're going to have to send Bran, because I'm not going into that lion's den alone." Bran was my twin brother and my best friend.
"He's going too." She informed me. "Both of you are fifteen now, and are ready to be courted and maybe married in the next few years."
"I'm not getting married." I said stubbornly. Never in my life would I get married. To me marriage seemed like a way to become rich. I had seen it happen too many times before. One of my good friends was the product of such a marriage. There was no love in her life. Besides, getting married meant having kids, and I can't stand kids.
"Then you need to have this experience if you want to become a merchant or diplomat." She retorted.
"Fine, I'll go, but only if I don't have to attend that boring Princess Cynthia." I said, giving in.
"You're not going to be an attendant this summer, but a guest at court."
"Good." I said, standing up to look out of my window and into the courtyard again.
"Be ready to leave in the morning." She said as she swept out of my room.