It's a long time since I started a new story in English, and even longer since I started a new MKR one. So I apologize in advance for my oh-so-rusty English (I've tried my best, considering I have a little baby who has fun playing with the keyboard and turning off the PC every now and then).

Concerning this story, it's about the time before Emeraude became the Pillar. And it won't be a fairy tale.

Prologue

The sand was wet under their shoes and the receding tide had left pools of water where crabs went into hidding. The wind coming from the sea smelled of iodine and seaweed and the woman's gown swelled like a galley's sails. "Emeraude, do not go too far, you know it's dangerous!"
The girl turned around laughing, her blond curls billowed like a golden halo. "I'm very, very careful!" she said, skipping in a puddle.
The woman rolled her eyes and glared at the man who walked beside him. "I suppose that it was you, Fiero, to encourage our daughter to behave in such a... unproper manner."
The man dandled the baby in his arms. "The capital is far away, my dear Azure: in Austina we don't need that boring court ceremonial."
Princess Azure sighed, after all her husband was right: Austina was just one of Cephiro's smaller counties, not rich enough to attract the court's attention and too far from the capital to suffer its influence. Nearly ten years had passed since she, one of the Royal Princesses and King Gallardo's younger sister, had been joined with Fiero Xepphirine of Austina, an aristocrat unable to live at court and who wasn't concerned neither with the intrigues of palace nor with favors. One could think that the king had given Azure's hand more for desperation than for the need of a new ally: at the time, the princess was getting too old to have suitors. Azure stared for a long time at her daughter, who was running in front of them, as if she wanted to catch the gulls: the early years she had spent in Austina were difficult, not only because she had to get accustomed to a more frugal lifestyle, but also because of that the feeling of betrayal and the missing of her loved one (and sometime she thought that Gallardo had sent her to Austina to avoid a scandal), but then Emeraude was born and she had learned to appreciate Prince Fiero's merits.
"The tide is rising," the man muttered, frowning as he watched the horizon. "Emi-hime, come here: it's time to get back home!"
With a pirouette, Emeraude turned toward her parents, ran to meet them with a joyous smile and reddened cheeks: she held lovingly the knees of her mother, who bent over her to fix the girl's dress and grabbed her hand, then all the four of them walked towards the mountain overlooking the bay with its castle. The wind began to get a little more violent and gray clouds began to gather in the sky: a storm was almost normal, since the Pillar couldn't fully control the weather while ensuring peace and prosperity Cephiro. It wasn't a secret that Her Excellency Ginko was seriously ill – she was already sick when she became the Pillar.
"There's someone coming from the capital," Fiero murmured, holding with a protective gesture his son.
It was a royal messenger, carring the flag at half mast and edged in purple did not bode well: once reach the couple, the man bowed low in front of Azure.
"Your Royal Highness, it is with great sadness that ..." With a gesture, the princess silenced him. Azure glanced at her husband, who nodded and took Emeraude's hand: the girl said nothing, she just looked curiously at her mother and the messenger.
"I do not like receiving bad news in the presence of my children," Emeraude heard, walking beside her father and when they passed through the gate, she turned back toward her mother and saw her bow her head.
Only the next morning she learned that her uncle, King Gallardo, was dead and that she would be leaving for the capital that same day.