The sun was hanging low in the sky as three teenage kids slipped through the shadows of Leck City. Each of the kids was wearing dark colored trousers and dark colored tops that were sort of ratty and worn. They were also wearing black hooded cloaks, which allowed them to keep their faces hidden. That was the last thing that they need was for anybody to see their faces. As they slipped through the darkness, they seemed to be searching for something. The kids wandered the darkness for several hours before one of them stopped in an alley way. The other two took notice and returned to where their companion stood, waiting for her to speak.
"I've found it." The shortest of the group mouthed.
The other two nodded and stepped back to let the short one take the lead. They followed until they reached a small inn on the out skirts of the market district, where there wasn't a whole lot of people or royal guards. Pausing in front of the door, the short one knocked and stood to the side as door was opened by the inn keeper. The innkeeper was a tall, broad shouldered man with brown hair and deep green eyes.
"Who goes?" he asked as the short one nodded.
"We have come for the goods that you claim to have?" the short one said as the two others nodded.
"Identify yourselves!" the innkeeper said as the short one stepped forward and pulled back the hood.
It was quite obvious that the shortest of the three was, indeed, a young woman. With blonde hair and striking eyes, she was quite a sight but it didn't really matter because when the innkeeper saw her eyes, he did nothing to stop them from entering. The inn's main room was fairly empty, save for the two merchants who sat to the left of the fireplace.
"Forgive me Lady Princess but we weren't expecting you for another day or so." Said the innkeeper as he shook his head and starred.
"Yes well the weather has been good to us and we made good time. I can also assure you that your daughter will be safest with us. She will be raised well and taught well, you can expect the best for her." The girl said as she stood up.
"Will we ever get to see her?" asked a soft voice.
"Who can say? If her grace proves useful, she will be trained and cared for by me. Even the most mundane graces can have use if properly trained." The princess replied as she starred at the innkeeper's wife.
There was silence throughout the inn as the keeper and his wife starred at each other but eventually, the wife stood and hurried up the stairs to retrieve the little girl. She returned moments later, teary eyed, with the infant child in her arms. The princess frowned when she realized that the child probably wasn't even passed the breast feeding stage. Either way, there was no way they could back out now, so she extended her arms to receive the child. Then, without another word, the trio disappeared into the darkness from which they had come, taking the sleeping daughter with them.
It wasn't a very long trip back to the palace, where the princess called home. As soon as they arrived, there were servants waiting for them. The princesses' companions were able to remove their hoods but soon they hurried off to their own rooms for the night.
"Princess Amara? Is this the child whom you went to retrieve?" asked a tall blonde woman with large brown eyes.
The princess nodded as several woman servants gathered around to see the sleeping child. All of them ooh'd and awed until the infant let out a soft whimper and opened its eyes, which caused several women to gasp. The child's eyes were startling; with one eye being a pale grey and the other was a soft lilac. Princess Amara smiled as she cuddled the baby. Being only sixteen years old, it was unlikely that anybody would accept the fact that she had adopted the graceling baby but as she was the only princess, nobody but her parents and her handmaid could say anything.
"Are you planning to announce her as yours at the feast, milady?" asked one of the servants who had black hair.
"I don't know yet. She does have at least one of my eyes, doesn't she?" Amara replied as the baby starred up at her.
"Who would you claim the father to be?" asked another servant but Amara had turned and was walking away.
"I would suggest that all of you keep your mouths shut and continue on with whatever it is that you should be doing." Amara said as she disappeared off down the hallway.
Immediately, all of the servants scattered and Amara was left alone. She moved quickly and quietly towards her chambers. She knew that Rose would be waiting up for her, which was a comforting thought. Being a princess didn't mean she had a loving family; in fact, her own mother and father took care to avoid her. It was at times like that that being graced sucked; people looked down on her and they took extra care to avoid her.
Sometime she wished that she had been born in Lienid because they treated their graced with respect and the royal family's youngest son, Prince Greening Grandemilon, was a graceling. It wasn't like that in all the other kingdoms. If a child was born and became graced, they were sent to that kingdoms nurseries and were raised there. If the child's grace proved useful to the king, then they were kept and trained. Sunder was the only kingdom that kept graceling with mundane graces, mostly on behalf of the Princess herself.
Princess Amara had her own section of the castle for her own little troupe of gracelings. She had over a hundred children in her section of the castle. There were dancers and singers and swordfighters and hunters and so many others but there were also a few of the kids who could hold their breaths for a really long time or who could climb up the tallest trees or who could speak fluent backwards talk. These were the ones who Amara took special care to raise and train because she found them to be useful although her father did not.
Eventually Amara reached her section of the castle, which was guarded by a single torch. The torch was unlit, which made Amara smile. With a swish of her fingers, the torch was lit. As the door swung open, Amara marveled at her abilities. She had been born a graceling, with different colored eyes at birth. This set her apart from other gracelings because most settled into their eyes over the course of a few weeks to a couple months and on a rare occasion, they settled after a couple of years.
Pushing the door open, she was greeted by another gaggle of servants who had been awaiting her arrival. All of them were women because Amara had handpicked all of them. The crowd followed Amara through the corridor until they reached her sitting room.
"Welcome home Lady Princess." Whispered one of the servants, named Jewel.
"Thank you Jewel." Amara replied as the girl smiled.
"Is this the little one that you went to find?" asked another maid.
"She looks just like you. She even has one eye that matches yours but the question remains; who would the father be?" Jewel asked as the other servants nodded.
"I suggest that all of you return to your chambers and whisper not a word to anyone until I tell you too." Amara said as she walked towards her room.
Nobody said anything as they watched Amara disappear into her bedroom. Amara could hear the servants hurrying to their quarters as she rested her back on the solid oak doors. This might end up being harder than she had first thought. She needed to find someone who would pass as the father of the child. Deep down she wished that everything could be simple again.
Moving across the floor, she walked over to the window and sat down by the window. The baby was still wide awake in her arms and it made her smile to know that she could give this poor child a decent life. There came a soft knock at the door but Amara made no response.
The door creaked open and Amara's handmaid, Noel, entered the room. Noel was an older woman who had soft grey hair and light blue eyes. She had never raised a graceling until Queen Zara had appointed her to be Amara's nurse when Amara was only a baby.
"M'lady, can I see the baby?" Noel asked as Amara smiled.
"I suppose so." Amara replied as she shifted in her seat.
"Oh Princess, she looks just like Rori." Noel said as she gently touched the child's forehead.
Amara froze. Noel had said the one word that made every nerve in her body shrivel up and die. It hurt so badly to hear that name, Rori. Amara took a sharp breath and clutched the baby to her chest. Noel noticed the reaction, so she reached out and took the infant from the ailing princess.
"I know that it's hard to get over, but I'm sure that Prince Skye wouldn't like to see you like this." Noel said as she rocked the baby back to sleep.
"It wasn't fair, to lose him like I did." Amara replied as heart breaking sobs racked her body.
"You could have done nothing to stop what happened to him." Noel said softly as the baby slept in her arms.
There was a heart breaking silence that echoed throughout the room as Amara cried and cried. Noel took the infant into the nursery, which hadn't been touched since Rori had died. When she came back into the main bedroom, Amara was still crying. Noel frowned and shook her head; the princess hadn't been able to deal with the death of her first child or of her sudden separation from Prince Skye of Lienid.
After a few moments, Amara stood and strode over to her bed. It was late and she hadn't slept in several days, which meant that she was close to passing out. Sitting on the edge of her bed, Amara pulled off her riding boots, then her stockings. Tossing them off to the side, she stood up and pulled off her riding dress, which was much shorter than her long "princess" dresses. Discarding the dress to the floor, Amara grabbed a light tunic and pulled it over her head. Finally, she slipped underneath the covers and slipped off to sleep.