The Other Girl
"Yahoo!"
Way up north, where it was winter all year round, a girl was shouting at the top of her lungs. She was at the bottom of the ocean, making her way up. She burst through the surface of the water and flew high in the air, flipped over backwards, and splashed back into the water. "I'm going back!" she shouted, scaring off the fish.
Princess Carrigana smiled as she approched her home- Mermidon. She waved at her friends, her people, as she swam by. Swimming inside the underwater shell palace, she hurried back to her room to see Dory. "Dory! Can you believe it? I'm going back!" she cried, swimming over to the young mermaid. Five-year-old Dory stared at her, her amber eyes sad.
"Dory? What's wrong?" the princess called out to the little girl. "Aren't you happy for me?"
Dory nodded, her silver hair bobbing. "I am happy for you, but you're gonna be leaving me again." The narwhale mermaid suddenly swam over to her and wrapped her silver arms around Carrigana tightly. "I'm going to miss you. Gimli's gonna miss you, too."
Carrigana smiled down at her adopted sister, who had been orphaned when her parents were killed by jellysquid. "I'll miss you, too, but we'll see each other again, especially during summer vacation and midwinter. I'll see you then, and I'll write to you all the time. Just keep theat enchanted book with you, and you'll be fine."
Dory sniffed. "If you say so. Can I come with you and see you off at the palace? I've never seen a human human before." The older girl nodded. "And if Mother and Father let you, you might even stay and see the City for a while. That means shopping for all kinds of human trinkets." That excited them both. They loved finding human things and asking what they were for. All of their things came from shipwrecks, since they had never been in human territory before. They had a room full of odds and ends.
"Really? When can we go?" Now Dory was eagar and grinning, still hanging on to her crab companion Gimli. "Child, stop wriggling. I am getting dizzy," he complained. Both girls rolled their eyes, and the whale princess and younger sister swam to their parents in the throne room. "Mother! Father!" they cried out in unison, catching the chatting couple's attention.
"Yes, my children?" the Orcan Queen asked.
"Can Dory accompany us when we leave?" Carrigana asked.
"Of course. She is family, you know," said her father, King Riiya. The man was as fit as the majority of Orcans, the only race of whale merpeople alive. From his head to his fin, he was emerald green, and his hair was so green it could pass for black. His eyes were sapphire. Queen Lilliana was, unlike her the biological daughter, light pink in body and had magenta hair. Her eyes were green. Carrigana was llight blue, and her hair dark blue. Her eyes were like her mother's. Both females had curly hair, while Dory and the girl's father both had straight hair.
"When do we leave?" Dory asked.
"In two days time, so I suggest you go and get ready." The two girls rushed off.
A week later, the family were on their way to Tortall. The best thing about the merpeople of Mermidon was that once they were dried off, they took the shape of a human. That was how the Royal family was now- in their humaniod forms. Dory, who had never walked on two legs before, was struggling so much that she had to be carried up into the palace. They had arrived at the same time as the other pages and squires, but they were meeting up with the king and Lord Wyldon first.
Carrigana stood in front of Lord Wyldon and King Jonathan. "Well, page Carrigana," said Lord Wyldon. "It appears as if you really wish to become a knight. This may be your second year here, you must be careful not to harm any of the other students, understood?"
Carrigana nodded. "Yes, my lord." Her now pale face were solemn, and her green-grey eyes direct. There was knock at the door, and King Jonathan said, "You may enter."
In entered Keladry of Mindelan, the girl Carrigana had heard about while in solitary training. She had envied the girl because she could fight against tough boys, while all she did was beat up stuffed maniquiens. They all turned to her as she bowed. "Your Majesty, Your Grace," she said. "Am I in trouble?"
"No, you are not, Page Keladry. I would like you to meet page Carrigana. She is a second-year page like yourself, but this is her first year in the palace. I would like you to sponsor her." Lord Wyldon stared at her. Kel nodded.
"You may both go now, and prepare for breakfast." Both girls bowed and backed out of the room and shut the door. As the two fully-sressed pages walked down the corridor, Kel asked, "How can you be a second-year page if you weren't here last year?"
"I was in solitary training up north, away from people. I'm a very powerful wildmage, and I could have hurt someone without meaning to," Carrigana explained. Kel nodded. "Call me Carri, by the way Keladry."
"Only if you promise to call me Kel." They both agreed and walked into the mess hall, much to the anger of the majority of the boys in the room. Most were angered over the fact that there were now two girls trying for knighthood instead of one. Still, the girls ignored them, got their food, and walked to the table where Kel's friends sat. They plunked their trays down and sat, still talking to each other and ignoring the others.
Neal waved a hand in between them. "Kel? Who's this?" he demanded, nodding at Carri.
"Oh, where are my manner? I'm Carri, and you are?" She had purposely left out the 'Princess of merpeople' part, knowing they would probably freak out. She held out a pale hand, which Neal shook. "Neal."
The others were also introduced to Carri. There was Prince Roald, a fourth year page; Cleon, also a fourth year; Faleron, a third year; Merric and Seaver, both second years; and Owen and Prosper, who were both first year pages. They all asked questions about her, all which she answered without giving away anything. Breakfast was better that morning now that she wasn't alone. It was actually fun.
After breakfast, the pages went outside to begin their morning classes. Carrigana stood across from Faleron, arms in position, feeling little pain from wearing a weighted harness. She punched hard, and he managed to bloack it, but not without a wince. "Sorry," she murmured, blocking his next punch. They went on like that until they switched partners and began using staffs.
Seargent Ezeko frowned when Kel's shoulder got hit; luckily nothing was broken. Pairs were switched and rotated throughout the lesson. Next was archery, Carri's specialty. They stood away from their targets, took their positions, and released their arrows. Most of the arrows hit the targets; only a few hit the bullseye.
Carri had a blank look on her face as she approached her target. She closed her eyes and felt for the target, loaded her weapon and fired. It collided with the target with a thunk. Opening her eyes, she realized it hit dead center. She sighed and took her place at the back of the line.
Afterwards, the pages went to the stables to groom and saddle their horses. Carrigana remembered how ashe had been afraid of theose giant horses, but then, she had been afraid of lots of land creatures. Now, she bravely walked into the pages' stable and up to Wildfire, humming a song she knew. She stepped into the stall and began to brush her chestnut mare and quickly saddled her. Suddenly a fight broke out behind her. Whirling around, she saw that the boys were fighting. Stupid idiots, she thought, walking over to them with Wildfire in tow. Wildfire stepped through the pile as Carri and Kel began to grab their friends and drag them out of ther way. Will you guys help before someone get hurt badly? she asked the horses. The other horses left their stalls and began separating and picking pages out of the brawl.
In the end, water was thrown on the pages (Carri barely managed to get out of the way), were told to clean up the stables and the horses, and were severly punished. No trips until midwinter, bread-and-water suppers for a week, and many other things as well. This was not starting out to be a good year for Carrigana.