Sometimes I start stories spur of the moment, and can't finish them, but I'm highly determined to see this one through. Anyone with me?
The queen had ordered Sophia to pack for me, but I was filling my own trunk as a last way to displease her. I also intended on taking every last dress she hated so she would sit and think about how awful and disrespectful I looked and how this reflected on her, the woman who was sending me away.
I smiled at the low-cut yellow dress that had been sent to me as a present from my somewhat mind-addled aunt. My mother practically burned it when it arrived. Top of the pile for that one.
With just my luck, she entered my room at that precise moment, without knocking, which was a normal occurrence ever since I'd tried to stow an injured bird in here weeks ago. She was flanked by her guard, who lingered rigidly near the doorway, glancing at me apprehensively. Ever since my brother had run away, my mother could explode at any moment, and I was most often her spark.
"Adonia, please, you look like a servant," the queen said, rolling her eyes as she swept across the floor and neared my bed. I saw her eye the yellow fabric in alarm.
I smiled sweetly and proudly presented a green dress from my closet which she thought "looked positively awful with my figure" and tucked it safely away before snapping the trunk lid shut.
"I gave Sophia the day off," I told her airily.
"Why would you do a thing like that?" she asked, pressing a hand dramatically to her chest.
"Her daughter is sick, and she needed to tend to her," I explained. "And I found these things at the ends of my arms today—I think they're called hands. Anyway, they've become quite useful in things such as folding clothes, shutting lids, it's fairly miraculous…"
"If you don't have a better attitude in Narnia, I'm afraid nobody will marry you," she said, pressing her lips in a thin, tight line that so accurately represented our current conversations.
"Would that be the worst thing? I mean, look at you and the King—"
"—Stop calling him the King, and me the Queen. We're your parents, whether you appreciate what we're trying to do for you or not."
"Collin's already left, and now you're sending me away. Excuse me if it doesn't quite make sense to me," I said harshly, crossing my arms. Unfortunately, this wasn't the first time I'd said this, and since I was leaving tomorrow, it didn't seem to be sinking in.
"Archenland is not a big place, Adonia. You carry expectations as the King's daughter, and Narnia is a stepping stone for you to be married. With your brother gone, you are next in line to the throne. It's time to start acting like an adult," she said sternly, her eyes gleaming as hard and polished as the crown on her head.
"Well at least we don't have to be around each other," I muttered, going back to my closet and slamming the wooden doors rather forcefully.
"Excuse me?" she asked icily behind me.
I turned and gave her a wide smile.
"Nothing, mother," I said with a courtesy. "Since it's my last day, I will be walking around the castle grounds."
I moved past her and the guards hastily stepped out of my way. I saw Darrin, burly and stern, flicker into attention as I entered the doorframe. He'd been following me around enough to know when I was making a dramatic exit, I liked to move quickly.
"Don't expect me for dinner, Queen! And do tell the King I said hello!" I called at last moment, waving at my panic-stricken mother before I dashed down the hall, hoping she wouldn't call after me.
I had reached success after a couple of quick strides brought me to the stairwell.
"You're going to kill the Queen one day," Darrin said, matching my pace effortlessly as we reached the landing. I noticed the trace of a smile on his face, as he had gotten quite used to, and although he never admitted it, amused by my antics.
"Don't say such things Darrin," I chided with a small grin, going down the first step. "I think a small heart attack with suffice."
The truth was, despite all the grief I'd put everyone through, I wasn't entirely sad to be going. I would miss my room, and the familiar paths and most of all my animals, but I hadn't felt at home since Collin left. He apparently didn't think of it as home either, because he chose running away over being King. It had felt empty since his departure—a cold place where I suddenly didn't have someone on my side in arguments, someone to laugh with, and where my own brother didn't think about me before he left.
I looked at the Anvard, where I'd called home for the past seventeen years and sighed heavily. Collin and I always used to call it Big Rust because of the reddish hue of the stones and the way it seemed to be plopped in the middle of nowhere, like a forgotten tool outside. But now I was leaving and it suddenly never looked nicer. The grass was exceptionally green, the flags were particularly vibrant, and there was something increasingly regal about it.
I'd been to Narnia once before, but I couldn't muster up a picture in my mind. Whenever I tried, I fell short, and imagined horrible images of the Kings and Queens scorning my presence and wondering when it became their responsibility to host a silly princess.
Not to mention the monumentally massive hints that my mother made for me to "access my charming side" and "convince High King Peter I was worth considering." I'd never been particularly good at meeting people, much less listening to my mother's advice, so something told me Peter wouldn't take kindly to me.
"Are you alright Princess Adonia?" Darrin asked, peering in the same direction as I was in question.
I snapped from my daze, shaking my head a bit.
"Yes, Darrin," I said. "And please, just Adonia. How long has it been?"
"A long time I assure you," he said, bowing his head with the slightest bit of mocking in his tone.
I was glad I had broken him, because for a long time, it seemed he had a rather large sword stuck up his bum. I smiled and nodded, not being able to keep it up as my thoughts ventured to the place they seemed to go ever since I'd been told of my departure.
"Do you think they're really doing this for my own good?" I asked, turning to Darrin's steady dark gaze. "Or do you think they just want to be rid of me?"
"You can't let yourself think that way," he said, shaking his head. "I am not one to judge your parents' actions, but I do know they want what is best for you, especially since you'll be carrying on the line."
I frowned, knowing that was as much as I would get out of him, or anyone else. No one wanted to speak badly of their King and Queen, no matter how desperately I wanted to know their opinion.
"Do you think they'll like me in Narnia?" I asked, making my tone lighter in attempts to lift the heavy frown on his face.
"I think they'll be quite curious about you, princess," he said, unable to call me by just my first name yet again. I ignored it this time, and chuckled.
"And how lucky that you get to come with me!" I joked. "You must be doing something right," I said, finally moving away from the castle and for the path that led toward the stables. "That, or they're punishing you."
"I don't know," he said, shaking his head and trotting along beside me. "I think Narnia will be an interesting adventure. Don't you my lady?"
I shrugged my shoulders, feeling the wind pick up and move my hair around my shoulders.
"We'll see soon, I suppose."
Quick note:
I haven't read the Narnia books in...quite a while. So this is sort of going to be in my own made up time period, with perhaps more modern language than existed. Don't throw tomatoes at me if things are inaccurate. Just roll with it. ;)