Since I was little, people have focused on my older sister, usually forgetting about me, not that I mind. I'm practically the exact opposite of her; she's charming, I'm awkward; she's sociable, I'm shy. But that's all right. Being the second female heir to the throne, she has to upstage our mother somehow, and she always managed to.
"Liaaaaaaa!" I heard my sister shout as she stormed into my room. Giggling, I asked, "What happened this time Kerttu?"
"Ugh, everything is all wrong! How am I supposed to compete tomorrow if Mom is insisting that I finish my stupid proposal for Parliament? Who does she think she is?" Kerttu ranted.
"The queen," I reminded her.
"Thankfully not for long, soon I will rule the world!" She declared dramatically, bunching her long red hair into a mustache. "Mwahahaha!"
"What is the proposal for?"
"Who even knows? All I care about is prepping for my competition tomorrow! I can't let the Angeles Angels down now! I've-"
"-I know, I know, you've been a fierce mathlete with your team for seven years, blah blah blah." I finished for her.
"Exactly! You know me so well, Lia."
"Go, you have to whine to Mom about postponing that proposal until after your competition."
"You're absolutely right Lia, what a great idea I came up with! Away I go!" And she left just as quickly as she came.
Sighing, I took my sketchbook and went out to my balcony. Oh Kerttu, my wild sister. Thank goodness she was the heir and not me. At 19, Kerttu was planning on ascending soon, but not before she took a year to travel. Mom and Dad seemed to realize that if Kerttu were forced into a marriage, things would end poorly for everyone. I didn't doubt that she would eventually settle down, but maybe a little later on.
Looking down at my sketch, I sighed seeing the subject. It was him again. I couldn't seem to draw anything but him. After the incident which involved my falling into the pool and almost drowning (did I mention I'm a complete klutz?), I'd been infatuated with the guard that saved me, Jake Underwood. I couldn't help it, Jake was everything I wasn't, which made me so drawn to him. He was just as wild as Kerttu, maybe more, but without her bubbly disposition, and his fierceness was something to admire.
"Hilja?" A voice startled me out of my daydream. I instinctively cover my sketchbook as the figure approaches, and smiled as I saw his face.
"Hi Dad,"
"Hello tytär," He smiled at me. "Mitä puuhailet?"
"I'm just drawing, what have you been doing?"
"Looking for you,"
"Why?"
"Your mother and I need to talk to you, Hilja."
Confused, I closed my sketchbook and follow Dad down the hall and almost froze when I saw the guard outside of Mom's suite. Who else could it be but Jake. Why did fate have to be so cruel?
Dad sensed my hesitation and turned around. "Hilja, what's wrong?"
"Nothing Dad." His eyes narrowed but he said nothing more as we went into the room.
"Eadlyn?" He called, trying to find Mom.
"I'm coming!" She rushed into the sitting area from who knows where, clutching several papers. "Sorry, I was talking to Neena about some things. Hi sweetheart!"
"Hi Mom," I greeted. Time has barely changed my mother, both appearance and personality-wise. Despite all of the difficulties with her reign, especially transforming the monarchy completely, she still was as beautiful and strong-willed as ever.
"Eikko, have you told her anything?"
"Not yet," He replied.
"All right. Lia, you know that your sister is taking a year to travel, so we thought it might be beneficial for you to-"
"-I don't want to leave too, please don't send me away!" I panicked
"No tytär, we're not sending you away, we would never do that." Dad said.
"But, since Kerttu is leaving, your father and I thought that it would be good for you to take over some of her duties." Mom finished.
"What?" I asked, confused. "Why?"
"Well sweetie, you are always so secluded, and we want you to be involved more with our role in the government," Mom said.
"No! I can't, I don't want to be stuck in an office all day writing proposals and making budgets! It's hard enough just trying to get through my studies with my stupid dyslexia, are you trying to make me feel worse?" I said.
Seeing my distress, Dad's face faltered, and he opened his mouth to speak, but Mom cut him off.
"Hilja Annika Schreave de Koskinen, don't underestimate yourself. You can work through it, I know you can, and you will be fine." Mom said.
"No I won't! You don't understand, you never do! I can't do this, Mom!" I insisted.
"Hilja, you're going to have to start thinking about things other than drawing soon, and we're only trying to give you options."
My despair only grew upon hearing her words. She really didn't get it, my frustration with my dyslexia. I drew my thoughts because I couldn't write them down. It wasn't just a hobby or pastime, it was my way to communicate.
"Fine." I said, and walked out of the room with tears in my eyes. I heard my parents calling after me, but I ignored them and ran to Kerttu's study.
When I closed the door to her study, I let my tears fall, and Kerttu looked up from her desk, seeing me.
"Lia?" My sister began. "What's wrong?"
"Kerttu they want me to be you and I can't," I gasped. "They want me to write long detailed plans and laws and proposals and I just can't, and they don't get it."
Kerttu hugged me tightly before speaking. "So they want you to take over some of my chores while I'm gone, huh?"
I nodded.
"Aww Lia, it's going to be fine. You know how I know that?" She asked. "Because you are the most hardworking person I know. Yeah it's going to be a struggle at first, but nothing you can't handle. Plus Mom and Dad and everyone else will be there to help you along the way. You aren't the actual heir, so you don't have to do this forever, and you don't have to do everything either. Mom and Dad are only asking you to do some stuff, just to get a feel of what I do. It's only temporary, and if you really need to you can pick up the phone and call me. Got it? Plus, not everything I do is boring. I plan parties and fun things too, you know. You're going to be okay, Lia." Kerttu comforted.
"Thanks, Kerttu."
"Anything for my sister."
"You know, I'm going to miss this when you leave. Us hanging out." I said.
"It won't be that bad, I'm only going to be gone for a year. 12 months, 365 days. You can handle that. It isn't going to be as hard as you think."
"It'll be quieter around here, that's for sure."
"You know, with me gone this could be your chance to branch out a bit more, make some new friends, see new places, that sort of thing."
"Are you saying I'm boring?" I joked.
"Only a little," Kerttu replied, shoving my shoulder.
"You're right, though. I do have a tendency to stay in my room all day."
"Exactly. Try throwing a party or go out into town incognito. Whatever you have to do to meet some new faces."
"Are you giving any of this advice from personal experience, Kerttu?" I smirked.
"I only went out once! Or twice. A month. For a year." She laughs. "All right! Stop harassing me and get! I have a competition to prepare for!" She gently shoved me out of her room and into the hall, where a familiar face was waiting.
"Dad?"
"Hilja, we didn't mean to upset you, we just-"
"I know Dad, I'm sorry, I overreacted."
"It's okay tytär, I understand."
"You do, Mom never does."
"Yes but she tries Hilja, and sometimes you are too different for her to figure out. But she still loves you, even when she can't understand you."
"I love her too, I just get frustrated sometimes."
"We all do, it's part of being human."
"But we've never misunderstood each other," I said.
"You and I are almost too alike, Hilja." He sighed.
"What do you m-" Glancing behind Dad's shoulder, I stopped in the middle of my sentence and felt my face start to blush. Why did Jake always appear at the worst times? How could something as simple as seeing Jake make me feel so...I didn't even know the word for it. All I knew is that when I saw Jake or heard his voice thoughts were no longer coherent and I was left with nothing in my brain.
"Hilja, what is it?" Dad asked, jolting me from my thoughts. He started to turn around and I panicked.
"Nothing!" I shouted. Surprised at my outburst, he turned back to face me, a puzzled expression on his face. "Um, I mean, I'm fine now. Why don't you go find Mom and uh, tell her I'm not mad anymore?" I offered, trying to divert his attention from Jake.
"Are you sure tytär?" He asked skeptically.
"Yes, shoo!" I waved him away and watched him go down the hall shaking his head and murmuring to himself. As soon as he was out of sight, I turned around and my eyes met Jake's steel gray ones.
To escape Jake's piercing gaze, I rushed into my room and grabbed my sketchbook, turning to a fresh page to begin my sketch.
A couple of hours later, I stared at my finished drawing, mesmerized by it. Me in Jake's arms, how I imagined I looked after he pulled me out from the pool. My dark brown hair tangled and soaked and my eyes, one blue and the other brown, half open. My pale skin covered goosebumps and my frame limp in his arms, like a rag doll. Jake's short, cropped hair glistening with water droplets and his eyes with wild desperation to them, betraying his fear.
I decided to tear out the drawing and put it on my wall by the balcony doors, against my better judgement. What if Mom or Dad walked in and saw it? Or worse, Kerttu? I knew that if they saw it, they'd ask questions, but I couldn't bring myself to take it down.
Looking at the clock, I realized that dinner would be served in fewer than ten minutes, so I sighed and get up. As I walked down the hallway, I tried to think of ways to talk to Jake when my shoe caught on something, probably the carpet, and I fell on my face right in front of who else but Jake.
Humiliated, my face burned as I start getting up, and then I startled at the sight of a hand being offered to me.
"Your Highness," Jake said. "Are you all right? Do you need me to escort you to the hospital wing?" I was so tempted to lie and say yes, but instead I stuck with the truth.
"No, but thank you. I'm such a klutz, I always trip on things and end up hurting myself, I mean, you would know, I almost drowned a couple of months ago because I was so clumsy." I gushed, then almost smacked myself. Why didn't I stop talking? Now he was going to think I'm even more awkward because of my rambling! I'm hopeless. "Thank you anyway, Officer Underwood." I knew my face was still red as I rushed down the hall, this time trying not to trip.
My dress was horribly wrinkled now, and I was positive my hair was a mess, but there was no way I was walking past Jake again to fix anything, so I'd have to show up to dinner the way I was. I got to the dining hall and sat down next to Kerttu, who was complaining so loudly I could hear her from a mile away.
"I'm soooo hungry! What's a girl got to do to get some food in this place? Gosh! I'm so hungry, I could eat…Lia! I will eat my baby sister if I do not get fed within the minute!" Kerttu declared.
"Well you're in luck, Kerttu," Mom laughed. "Because look what just showed up."
"Food! Finally!"
"Grandpa is right, Kerttu; your appetite rivals Grandma's." I teased.
I smiled as I put some food on my plate and started eating, content to just listen to the conversations. I almost choked when I heard Kerttu say,
"You know what I need to take with me on my trip? A cat. Cats make everything better. Mom?"
"No Kerttu, we've discussed this before, you are not getting a cat."
"Dad?" She tried.
"You heard your mother."
"No one understands my longing for an animal companion! I'm so lonely! This isn't fair, Lia has a cat!"
"Yes but Lia's not going around the world for a year," Mom smirked.
"Speaking of which, where is Sadie? I haven't seen her all day," I trailed off, looking at Kerttu accusingly.
"See! I need my own cat so that I don't have to commandeer Lia's!"
I chuckled and tuned her out as I thought about how quiet meals were going to be in a few short months, once Kerttu was gone and it was just the three of us. I shook away the thought and focused instead on our family in the present. Crazy as our family was, I felt happy and safe with my sister and parents, knowing that home was wherever they are.
"-but think of how cute it would be! I just want a fluffy cat who can cuddle with me!Hey! What if I put a camera on the cat's collar so I could spy on people? That's a great idea! Spy cat, coming your way. Maybe I should try that with Sadie…"