"Queen Alison. The vote is in."
The newly crowned queen overlooked the ocean from her chamber's window. Melancholy stained her crystal blue eyes as she realized the glamor and superficiality of holding the crown pales in comparison to its sad reality. There was nothing glamorous about having to decide whether to murder an entire race of mermaids or allow the citizens of her realm to starve. As harrowing of a decision it may be, Alison would have just 30 days to choose her kingdom's fate.
"Thank you. That'll be all." Alison responded, still too deep in thought to look away. After a few more pensive moments, the Queen blinked away the sun spots from her eyes and walked over to her mirror. Perhaps it was her royal upbringing and overbearing mother, but Alison insisted on having a perfect appearance regardless of whatever was troubling her. She eyed the slim fitting pale blue dress and glistening diamonds that draped around her fair skinned neck. It was relatively plain next to most of her royal wardrobe, but Alison didn't want to waste anymore time. It was now or never.
Alison made her way down a mountain's worth of winding stairs and through a maze of hallways to the Royal Hall. She knew the council would be waiting, so she briefly readied herself. Eyes closed, Ali inhaled deeply, held it for a moment... then let it go.
"You can do this." She whispered to herself. The Queen pushed the doors open grinning ear to ear.
"Good morning, Council." Ali sang with a bounce in her voice. The council stood from their seats that surrounded the long rectangular table. It was thick beige porcelain with ornate red and gold patterns that were reminiscent of a cathedral's window.
"Good morning, Your Majesty." They answered in unison. She then took her place at the head of the table and the council followed suit.
"Order of business?" Her Majesty asked.
"First is the matter the Campbell farms. The Council voted unanimously to triple their subsidies due to the fishing crisis. The throne will also be ordered to send 50 new farm hands to handle the increased work load." The squire announced, standing to her right.
"So be it."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
"What's next?"
The squire glanced down the table with his mouth slightly opened. The council members exchanged some uneasy looks.
"Next is the matter of the fishing crisis. The council has voted unanimously to rid our waters of the mermaids."
The Queen peered around the table and fixed herself in her seat. Many of the council members looked down to avoid eye contact. They were well aware of her trepidation. Silence fell over the massive hall. Princess Spencer sat second to the Queen. If Alison was ever unable to fulfill her duties, her sister Spencer would be queen. It seems they've had a power struggle since birth and it wasn't about to end.
"As you know, sister, the mermaids have not only caused over a million dollars worth of damage to our ships and blockades, but they've single-handedly depleted the fish population by over 80%. If we don't act quickly, there will quite literally be no more fish in the sea." Princess Spencer asserted.
"I'm aware of that. Thank you, Spencer."
"Are you? Fishery was nearly a quarter of our GDP before mother fell ill. Now, it's barely under 4%. This has gone on far too long. The kingdom is starving."
"Maybe you didn't hear me the first time. I know that. We're not fighting over a dress, Spencer, this is genocide," Alison accentuated the last word in hopes it would cut into the council members' hearts. She was disappointed in how easily they'd vote to exterminate an already endangered species. She had never met a mermaid, but she knew they were mostly human. Besides their tails, not much else separated man and mermaid.
"We're going to table this issue. We'll reconvene in 30 days for a final decision."
Princess Spencer smirked and shook her head at her sister. She leaned in toward Alison so none of the other exiting council members could hear.
"This is on you."
Alison squinted at her power hungry sister. She seized every opportunity she had to make herself seem like the more fitting heir. Seldom was there a council meeting where the Queen was unchallenged by her twin sister. It was iconic, though. Alison stood medium height, curvy with blonde hair and ocean blue eyes. Her younger sister by just 1 minute stood tall, slender with brown locks and almond brown eyes. It's easy to wonder how tumultuous their relationship would be had they not shared a womb.
The council members cleared the room but the Queen remained in her seat. The weight of the kingdom was on her shoulders and hers alone. It made for a lot of quiet, lonesome thinking.
"Sir Tobias! Do you have a moment?" Spencer caught up to the Knight of the Realm down the hall from the Royal Hall.
"Of course, Princess Spencer."
The Princess glanced around to check if anyone could hear them.
"Okay, can the formalities. We need to talk." She spat.
"Alright, what is it?"
"You know what it is, Toby." Annoyed, Spencer tilted her head. "My thoughtless sister. That bleeding heart of hers is going to ruin this entire kingdom. I'll be damned if I let her destroy all my family's work."
"I don't like delaying the inevitable any less than you do, okay? But she's the Queen. There's nothing we can do."
Spencer rolled her eyes. She hated the mere mention of Alison's status as queen.
"She may be the Queen but there's plenty we can do. We just need to force her hand a little."
"But how, Spencer?"
"I don't know. But it has to be something drastic. I just need to know if you're with me. All the way."
Needless to say, Toby was conflicted. He had a duty to the crown, first and foremost, but he also had to protect the kingdom. Not to mention the fact that he was hopeless against Spencer. She had puppy eyes that made both his knees and convictions weak.
"I'm in."
"Good. Because I'm gonna need you. Will you be at the ball tonight?"
"I'm not sure. I was actually thinking of-"
"Great! See you then." Spencer interjected. She brushed passed Tobias without thought.
…
Uppity orchestra music had already began playing. Royalty, dignitaries and nobles from all across the land were in attendance. Seldom would they miss a chance to get in close with a monarch, especially a new impressionable one, and show off their titles and influence. Alison didn't care for the mindless drivel of pretentious, self important aristocrats, but maintaining order while she decided on the fate of the mermaids required some diplomacy. Plus, she admittedly liked being the center of attention.
"Ladies and Gentleman, may I have your attention, please?"
The court fixed their gaze toward the squire. He stood beside a porcelain, red carpeted staircase.
"Introducing Her Royal Highness, Her Majesty, Her Grace and the First of her Name: Queen Alison DiLaurentis."
Fingers to palms, the court erupted to into haughty hand clapping. Her Grace, escorted by the Knight of the Realm, hooked her arm in his and made their way down the Royal Stairs. She wore a long silver gown that had a diamond encrusted corset. Her blonde locks were perfectly beach curled and freely draped over her bust. Tobias may have stolen a look or two. Spencer receded into the crowd revolted at both the Knight and her revered sister.
"You look amazing." Lady Aria whispered to the Queen as she got to the bottom of the steps.
"Thank you!" Alison whispered back.
A swarm of eager royals and dignitaries surrounded the queen, desperately introducing themselves.
"Hello… Hello. Charmed... Yes, hello... Pleased to meet you…" The Queen greeted each and every one of them. After a few minutes of repetitive "hello's" and "charmed's," Alison had already grown tired and annoyed. But just as she was about to make a rude spectacle of herself, she noticed a girl near the hors d'oeuvres table. She was a tall, striking young lady with silky black hair and deeply tanned skin. She wore a light purple gown with an exotic looking gold necklace around her neck. Alison had never seen a girl quite like her, especially not one who shamelessly stuffed their face in public.
"Excuse me for a moment." Her Highness squeezed her way through the crowd of desperate dignitaries and approached the young woman from across the ballroom.
"Hello there."
"Oh. Uhh... Hi."
Alison smiled at the unfamiliar girl fumbling with a lemon bar.
"I'm sorry. Were these supposed to be eaten?" The strange girl asked.
"They are, actually. But everyone is so dignified they think eating in public is a sign of bad manners. Most of the food goes to waste anyways, so help yourself." Alison answered with the simplest of tones.
"You just... throw it out? I'm sure there's plenty of hungry mouths in the kingdom. Why not give it to them?"
"It's part of the Royal Charter. It's ill-fitting for commoners to know what life inside the Ice Castle is like. You know how these things go." Alison assumed the girl was also a royal.
"Yeah, you're probably right. Wouldn't want poor, starving people to find out you hoard thousands of dollars worth of unnecessarily expensive foods only to throw them in the garbage for mice to nibble on. There would be upheaval." The strange girl was blatantly agitated by the Queen's pompous remarks.
"What?"
The girl placed the lemon bar back on the food tray.
"I heard rumors about how cruel the crown was. I always hoped they were wrong but looks like they weren't. Goodnight, Your Majesty." The strange girl turned to storm away.
In Alison's 18 years, she'd never been so harshly criticized. Maybe her mother and sister were critical but never anyone outside the Castle. But even Mother and Spencer were only critical of Alison's looks and demeanor, never her character. This fearlessly impolite behavior normally would have angered the young Queen.
"Wait!" Alison gathered her gown and trotted to catch up to the feisty stranger.
"Are you going to have my head?"
"Of course not. Whatever you may think of me I am not some barbarian."
The stranger crossed her arms and looked away completely disinterested in the Heir's excuses.
"I was going to ask you to dance."
The brunette's eyes widened. Then she glanced back and forth having no idea how to respond.
"What is it? C'mon it's not like you've never danced before."
"Well, I haven't."
Alison didn't quite believe her. The girl was in a league of her own. It simply wasn't possible for someone as beautiful as this stranger to have never danced.
"Let's change that." The Queen offered her hand. "I'll lead."
"N-no, I can't."
"Yes, you can."
"Believe me... I really can't."
"You had the courage to insult a queen in her own castle but are too afraid to dance? I'm sorry, but I won't believe that."
The nameless girl considered Alison's hand and nervously bit her bottom lip. She thought for a few moments to weigh whether or not she should possibly embarrass herself or lose out on such a rare opportunity. It's not everyday that a monarch asks you to dance. Finally, she slowly lifted her hand and placed it into the Queen's palm.
"Wise choice." Alison motioned to the orchestra as she lead the girl onto the ballroom floor. They began playing a much slower piece. Ball attendees cleared out the center of the room to make way for Her Majesty. It made a perfect circle for the freshly acquainted pair to dance totally uninterrupted but under the microscope of over two hundred different eyes. It made the stranger's stomach turn to knots.
"Everyone is staring at us."
"Ignore them. Just follow my lead." The Queen positioned her hand on the girl's back underneath her arm. She lifted her other hand so that it rested her own.
"Ready?"
"No."
Alison tried to begin their waltz, but the stranger was a bit clumsy to say the least. The Queen accidentally stepped on her uncooperative feet twice before getting anywhere.
"Sorry!" The girl frantically whispered as she stared at the Queen's feet to see where she was going next.
"It's okay, it's okay. Look at me."
The girl found Alison's eyes.
"Keep your eyes on me and just feel it. Alright?"
She anxiously nodded.
The third time was indeed the charm. Alison lead her dance partner backward and she followed. She was terribly robotic and awkward-looking but step by step, or stumble by stumble, the mysterious girl was catching on.
"See? You're getting it."
"If by getting it you mean embarrassing myself in front of an entire court then yes. I'm getting it."
Alison giggled at the girl's comment. Blushing, she laughed back and lowered her chin. The girl's eyes sparkled against the gleaming chandelier that hanged above their heads. Her Majesty's eyebrows turned down.
"W-what? Did I do something wrong?" The asked, still stabbing at the floor with her heels.
"No. It's just your eyes. They-" Alison paused.
"They what?"
"They've very... kind."
"Oh. Thank you. I guess."
Alison half smiled.
DING-DONG DING-DONG DING-DONG
The bell tower rang.
"Oh no." The stranger stopped dancing.
"What's wrong?"
"I have to go."
"No. Why? You're doing great."
"It's not that. I- I just really have to go." The girl took off her heels and held them in one hand while she used the other to gather her dress then ran toward the castle doors.
"Wait! I don't even know your name!"
Without looking back, the girl called out.
"Emily! It's Emily!"
"Emily." Alison whispered to herself, a half smile on her face. She wondered if she would ever see Emily's face again.