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THE GLASS HORSE
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I wrenched my handkerchief in my hands. It had been pressed smooth by one of the palace maids, but now the square of pink linen was being wrinkled over and over again into a tiny ball.

I, Princess Omiya of Tortall, daughter of Prince Roald and Princess Shinkokami, was coming of age. Most girls of my year were hosting 'coming out parties, being introduced to polite society, or getting married to handsome young knights. I was attending my coronation.

The throne had laid in trust for me for nearly a year, since the death of my beloved grandfather, King Jonathan IV. My uncle, Prince Liam, was acting as my regent, and on this birthday he would stand in a ceremony that would place the crown on my head, making me not only the first woman to solely rule Tortall, but also the youngest monarch in over four hundred years.

Though I had been training for this moment from birth, I still felt far from ready. In all the time I spent studying and preparing, as well as becoming a knight, I had lost touch with the Omiya that I once was.

My name is Yamani, like my mother. Omiya means 'gift.' Mother said that my father chose my name, because I was the greatest gift he had ever received. I wish he had known that I was followed by a son.

Not that I think he would have prized my little brother over me. Some of my earliest memories are of my Da's affection for me. One May Day he decorated a May Pole and raised it in the hallway outside my chamber door, strewing fresh-picked flowers across the floor. On each day of my fourth Midwinter, Da took me outside iceskating on the frozen river. When I was three he taught me to read a book of fairy stories. These are just a few examples of the things we did together. My early childhood was very happy.

We were all overjoyed when I was six, and Mother became pregnant again. I remember how happy Da was, always cuddling my mother as she began to grow bigger. He brought her tea to help with the nausea, and rubbed her ankles when they were swollen.

We should have known things were too peaceful. The kind of happiness we had can't last forever. Something had to come along to change it eventually.

That 'something' was a snake. From the trail it left, we assumed that it was big. Very big. It spooked my father's mount, Bravefoot.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. Da was out riding alone that day. He loved his early-morning rides. I guess it was for the quiet time before I awoke and started chattering. Like father, like daughter. Now, I too enjoy pre-dawn rides with my mount, Tender-Heart. But I don't go out very often. Mother doesn't like it.

Da's rides usually lasted about an hour. When he didn't return by midday, mother asked some of his friends to go out and find him. It was Lady Knight Keladry of Mindelan, or Aunt Kel, as I had come to call her, who found my father.

Bravefoot had bucked at the sight of the snake, and my father, presumably unprepared for this petrified reaction of his usually calm mount, had flown from the horse's back. His head was bludgeoned on a rock on the side of the trail. Bravefoot had run off.

Aunt Kel had called for help, and her husband, Sergeant Domitan of the King's Own, had helped her rush Da to the infirmary. By the time another one of my adoptive relatives, healer Nealan of Queenscove, got to my father, it was too late.

I remember when my mother was notified. I was sitting on the floor, quietly playing with my dolls, unaware of the situation. Aunt Kel came in and talked to my mother in a quiet voice. Mother rushed from the room, and I followed, gathering my favorite doll, a porcelain-faced girl I called Kally. Father had presented the doll to me on my fifth birthday, a gift sent from his sister in Carthak.

Mother went down to the section of the palace that I liked least. I had been there before, with gentle childhood diseases. I detested the funny smell that the clean rooms gave off, with their cabinets full of herbs and teas. In the main examination room, my grandmother, Lady Thayet, sat in the window seat, hands over her face. My grandfather was at her side, despair written across his face. Prince Liam and two of my real aunts, Lianne and Vania, were in the corner. The ladies, like their father, were in shock, while Uncle Liam tried in vain to soothe them.

I remember letting out a gasp when I looked into the room. My father lay on the examination table, stiff and lifeless. A bandage was wrapped around his head to catch the blood, but not to stop it. It was too late for that.

My most vivid memory from this day is my mother. Her loose pink gown, sleeves cut in the fashion of Yamani kimonos, accentuated her growing belly. Her hair was pinned back meticulously, each and every strand perfectly in place. Her face, though gravely pale, was smooth and emotionless.

I watched tears grow in her eyes as she slowly crossed the room to come to my Da's side. Mother began to cry as she gently ran her fingers over father's handsome face. Slowly she sunk down to his side, sobbing quietly into his chest.

My uncle Liam caught my arm as I started to run to them. He picked me up, carefully catching my doll as he blocked my view with his shoulder.

The funeral was held three days later. I sat beside my mother, watching as a stuffy priest in a tacky gold uniform, talked about my father. My attention wavered and I found myself studying my father's body.

His face was somber, the opposite of its look in life. His hands had been placed gently at his side, and his deep green tunic had been smoothed over his broad chest. Despite his expression, he looked so handsome. I could barely believe that he was gone.

Six of my father's closest friends carried his casket from the chapel. I walked behind with Mother. She grasped my hand in her left, and kept her right firmly across her belly, where my baby brother grew.

Suddenly she doubled over and cried out in pain. I panicked, unaware that she was going into labor; afraid that I was going to lose her as well. My grandfather rushed to her side, and carried her to the infirmary, closely followed by my 'uncle' Neal. Grandmother Thayet picked me up and shushed me soothingly, explaining that the baby was coming.

After mother was situated, she asked my grandparents to continue with the burial. They reluctantly left her side, giving me an opening.

"Are you alright, Mama?" I asked, in my sweet six-year-old voice. I remember Mother's weary smile. She still uses it often. Her children bring her joy.

"I will be," she said, patting the bed beside her. I climbed up into her hug.

"Don't you ever forget how much I love you," she whispered in my ear. She breathed through her second pain. When it was over she gave me another hug. "Now be a good girl and wait outside, please."

I sat on the bench outside of mother's chamber, hands folded on my lap. Uncle Neal came and went, carrying little boxes of various herbs. Each time the door opened, I jumped to my feet, thinking that the baby had come. Mother's cries grew louder with the passing time.

I leaned my head back against the wall. My eyes felt heavy from all the crying I had been doing since my father passed. Just as I began to doze, I heard footsteps coming down the hallway. I looked up to see Lady Kel coming towards me. She sank slowly down onto the wooden bench.

"Hi," I said quietly. "The baby is coming."

"I know," Aunt Kel said. "But I didn't come to see your mother. I have something for you."

"Me?" I asked. Aunt Kel nodded, and took a small package out of her belt purse. I unwrapped the cloth to find a tiny blown-glass horse. He had flattened ears and bared teeth. I smiled.

"Your father gave me that little horse for my very first Midwinter in the palace. It looks like my mount, Peachblossom. I thought that you might like to keep it."

"Thank you, Aunt Kel," I said, hugging her as carefully as I could, so not to break the little horse.

"I wish life were fair, Omiya. I wish that your father could be here with you and your mother and the new baby. But since he can't, you have to be a very brave girl, and take good care of your mama. Can you do that?"

I nodded. I never told Aunt Kel that I had made a vow to take care of mother and the baby the moment that I first saw my father's body.

As my adoptive aunt used the cloth from the glass horse to wipe my eyes, the door to Mother's chamber opened once more. While we were talking, I had been oblivious to my mother's cries of pain. Now a new voice echoed out into the hallway.

"You may go in, Omiya," Uncle Neal said. I climbed carefully from the bench and walked slowly to mother's bed. Her hair was streaked with sweat, and her face was red with heat, but she was smiling brightly at a blue bundle she cradled in her arms.

I put the glass horse on the night table and climbed up onto the bed. Mother held the baby lower so I could see his little face. At first I thought that he was kind of ugly, he looked so pink and wrinkly. But then he yawned contentedly. I presented him my finger, and his little digits wrapped around mine.

My brother and I have been close ever since.

Now I put the handkerchief back in the pocket of my deep blue gown. In its place I pull out the little glass horse. I'm not sure why it brings me comfort, with its evil grin. As my name is announced, I come to the top of the grand staircase. Carefully I walk down the stairs. Uncle Liam is at the end of the red carpet runner, holding a pillow with a golden crown.

My crown.

I think Da would be proud.