Princess Kara Zor-El of Krypton

It is with a sad heart that I found myself sitting in the palace gardens, the ones with the graves of royalty, the graves of my family, and I remembered that awful day. The siege on the castle, the attack that ultimately killed both of my parents while I alone had managed to hide away.

Now, my Aunt Astra rules the kingdom of Krypton until I am old enough to take my place as the Queen, with her husband the General Zod. I am grateful to my Aunt to have taken such wonderful care of our land in her time as the temporary ruler. That temporary time being over ten years.

All though I grew up with my Aunt, she became rather busy with all the things I did not understand came with being a ruler at the time. Her husband, being the General of Krypton's army, was already busy having them train more rigorously than before due to the recent attacks and successful assassination of both the King and Queen. And so, that is why Eliza Danvers, my nanny, and her daughter Alexandra, became my chosen family. I spent all of my time with one of them.

Eliza was not only my nanny, but my personal tutor as well and Alexandra learned alongside me. She became my lead Lady in Waiting, and my closest friend and confident. When I did not feel worthy of being the Crown Princess of Krypton she sat with me and reminded me that I was indeed a good princess and she personally deemed me to be worthy of the title. Eliza, the wise woman that she is, knew she could not replace my mother and so she did not try to. She took care of me as one of her own, as she had always done which I was grateful for. She loved me all the same, and over the next few years I decided I wanted what I wanted to do. And so, one day, I timidly asked if I could call her my mother. Eliza was touched by the notion, and told me so. However, she also told me that people, noblemen and the like, might not take too kindly to it, and so she advised me to only call her that in private situations. Somehow, my young ten-year-old mind understood what she meant and it hurt to know that they would react in such a way, but I took her words to heart and was careful not to refer to her in such overly familiar, and familial, ways in front of such people.

Now here I sit, on the anniversary of my parent's death, their graves in front of me are covered in flowers and I find it doesn't hurt any less than it did on that fateful day so many years ago. I am seventeen now. The age where I become marriageable. The year before I become the queen.

Taking a deep breath, I dry my eyes. They wouldn't want me to cry for the loss of them but to instead celebrate the lives they led. Even so I cannot help how I feel, how much I miss them both.

"Kara." The familiar voice calls out to me and I turn to see the woman I consider my sister. "Alex." I greet her, and my voice shakes.

"Oh Kara." Sadness fills her beautiful features as she comes forward and sits next to me. "I'm sorry." She puts a comforting hand on my shoulder, looking at the engraved headstones in front of us.

"I miss them Alex." I admit to her softly, not able to keep my tears back I cry once more. Quickly she pulls me into her arms and I desperately hold onto her as I cry. "I know Kara." Her voice is a soft whisper as she comforts me, "I know. It's going to be all right."

Pulling back I sniff, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to cry all over you Alex." I apologize, pulling out my handkerchief and drying my face once more.

"It's okay to cry Kara." She shakes her head at me, "It's okay to be sad, and it's okay to miss them." Standing up she offers me her hands and she easily pulls me to my feet. "Are you okay?" She holds my hands tight in hers, and she searches my face, still concerned.

"I'm fine. Much better now, thank you Alex." For what might be the first time today I smile.

"Good." She nods, a small relieved smile forming on her lips, "Now, if we don't hurry we shall be late for lessons with mother." She changes the topic and gives me a look, tilting her head.

We study each other for a few seconds, eyeing each other up.

"Race you!" We blurt out at the same time and off we go, she runs while I fly. "Hey, that's cheating Kara! No powers!"

"What, think you can't beat me?" I pause in the air, stopping to tease her.

"Oh, you are so on!" She huffs indignantly and off we rush again, continuing our race.

I'm not even out of breath by the time I arrive at the study. Leaning against the door, I wait for Alex who scowls at me as she hurries up, her breathing much harder than mine.

"That's totally cheating Kara." She narrows her eyes at me, and I sheepishly smile back at her before we burst into giggles.

The door swings open and we come face to face with Eliza. "There you two are." She raises an eyebrow at us, "Racing through the hallways again?"

"You know us Eliza." I shrug, still smiling.

"Kara, did you use your powers?" She looks only to me now.

"Well, yeah."

"Kara, honey. You do know that if the county's enemies got word that you have powers that something bad might happen to you? I don't want one of those barbarian groups to come try to take you away from us." She shakes her head, worry in her eyes.

"We're just in the castle Mother." My eyebrows furrow together, "Who would see us?"

"Not everyone who serves the royal family has allegiance to it. There is always the threat of infiltrators and- "

I cut her off, "I know Eliza. I promise I'll be careful." I assure, taking her hands in mine. "I'm very careful to stay out of sight."

She shakes her head again with a sigh, "You had better be Kara Zor-El."