FEEL THE SUN
I knew that something must be done.
To save the person I'd become.
That's why I had to run away...
-Feel the Sun, Melanie C.
Gracia was annoyed.
When her mama and papa had approached her with big smiles and asked her if she would like a little brother or sister to play with, she had answered with a resounding, "NO!"
They hadn't listened.
The young princess of Seyruun pouted in her chair outside the hospital wing of the palace, while her papa paced and mama yelled obscenities from the maternity room.
Gracia knew, with all the wisdom her eight years of life had granted her, that having a sibling was going to ruin everything.
Mama would become too distracted to keep up with their magic lessons, which means she would never be able to become the most powerful sorceress in the world. Papa would dote on the baby and forget all about her.
Jumping to her feet, Gracia Ul Naga Seyruun ran from the palace as fast as her legs would carry her. She heard her papa calling her name, but she just kept running. Out of the gates and past the gardens she ran, until a sharp stitch in her side forced her to stop.
Bent over with her hands on her knees, Gracia struggled to catch her breath. She knew she was not allowed outside the palace by herself, but she didn't care anymore. They were replacing her anyway, so she would learn to take care of herself.
"Are you sick, child?" Came a voice the princess did not recognize. Glancing up, she saw an old woman with a wrinkled face and twinkling eyes smiling down at her.
"Yes...No...Sort of." Gracia fumbled over her answer. She wasn't physically sick, but her heart hurt. She decided that should count.
"Come," the woman held out a hand, which Gracia took. She knew she wasn't supposed to go with strangers, but the woman seemed nice enough and the princess knew she could fire off a few spells if things got out of hand. They walked to very small house nestled nearby, and Gracia was plopped down on a large couch and handed a tray of a cookies and a big glass of milk.
"This will cure the kind of sickness that ails you," the woman said, never losing her smile.
Gracia's tummy growled, giving away the fact that she hadn't eaten since before her mother had gone into labor. As she wolfed down the cookies, the old woman sat back in a rocking chair and chuckled.
"So what is it?" She asked. "Grounded? Didn't get that pony you wanted for your birthday?"
Gracia shot the woman a baleful look and then responded, spitting cookie crumbs as she did so, "My mother is having a baby."
"Oh, heavens!" The woman exclaimed, and Gracia almost toppled the cookie tray in surprise. "The world will surely end, because having a sibling is the worst thing that could ever happen!"
Gracia's eyes widened in surprise. She had thought for sure that the woman was going to tease her.
"It is?" She said, warily.
"Of course," the old woman continued. "They steal your toys and talk too much. They take away the attention of your parents, and as the older sibling you will always get blamed for everything!"
"I KNEW IT!" Gracia yelled, excitedly, jumping up from the couch and finally toppling the cookie tray and the small bits still left on it.
"...But." The woman continued, closing her eyes and beginning to rock her chair very slowly. "There is something to be said for the unconditional love of a sibling. You would have the honor of helping to raise them, teach them, protect them, and watch them become their own wonderful person. Someday, even if the worst may happen, they would be right there with you. You would never have to be alone."
Gracia slowly sat back down on the couch, replaying the woman's words in her head.
"You really think so?" She finally asked.
"Oh, I know so." The woman ceased her rocking and opened her eyes, smiling brightly at the little girl. "You may be surprised by how much you will love your little sister."
"My little sis...MAMA!" Gracia's eyes widened and she bolted from the couch and out of the house, never looking back. Her royal upbringing should have never allowed her to be so rude as to not even thank the woman for her hospitality, but Gracia's mind was suddenly on other things.
And the old woman didn't mind at all.
Back at the palace, once again out of breath, Gracia arrived to find no one else in the hospital wing.
"Mama! Papa!" She called, her heart racing.
"In here, darling!" She heard her mother's voice and flew into the maternity room.
There, propped up in bed, was her mother. She looked very tired and sweaty, but otherwise incredibly happy. Her dark hair was matted to her forehead, but there was a glow about her that Gracia couldn't quite place. Her father sat next to the bed, a huge grin on his face, and a little bundle of pink blankets in his arms.
"Gracia, we will talk later about you leaving the palace without permission," her father quietly scolded her. "But for now, come say hello to your little sister."
Gracia approached her father, cautiously, trying to get a look at the bundle in his arms without actually getting too close.
Moving some of the blankets out of the way, he revealed a tiny head, round flushed cheeks, and huge deep blue eyes.
Gracia's mouth opened slightly in surprise. She and her sister had the same eyes.
"Meet Amelia." Her father said. "Would you like to hold her?"
"I...could?" Gracia said, nervously.
"Of course, darling," her mother said. "Just sit down in a chair and your father will hand her to you. Just be very careful."
Gracia did as she was told, and as soon as the baby was nestled safely in her arms, little Amelia began to gurgle happily.
With that, she had stolen Gracia's heart.
SIX YEARS LATER...
"GRACIE! GRACIE!" Amelia screamed for her big sister. Guards were whizzing past her, the sound of their heavy boots thundering through the palace halls.
They were running towards her mama and papa's room, but she couldn't find her sister. Gracia's room had been empty.
Fear and confusing gripped the little girl's heart as she followed the soldiers.
When she reached the doorway of her parents' room, all she saw was a pale hand hanging down from the side of the bed, and her sister in the middle of the room covered in something red.
Then she was swept off her feet by one of the maids, and had a hand clamped roughly over her eyes.
"Put me down!" Amelia protested, kicking a bit. She didn't want to hurt the maid, but she desperately needed to know what was wrong. She had no idea what she had just seen, but she knew something was terribly, terribly wrong.
"There is nothing in there for your eyes!" The maid said, running with Amelia to the opposite end of the palace.
Gracia sat in the middle of her parents' room, covered in the blood of the man who had just murdered her mother.
Her eyes were unfocused, but she could hear everything going on around her. Overall, the word was that the assassin had been after her, not her mother. But he had entered the room of the crown princess by mistake, and killed her while she slept. Had Gracia not been walking by just then and heard some odd commotion, she never would have known. She never would have caught the man in the act, and killed her.
Everything had gone red, and she'd actually taken someone's life with magic.
The only words spinning around in her head were 'I was too late' and 'what if it had been Amelia?'
It was then that Gracia decided that she would run away. The same way she had done the day Amelia was born. That way, of anyone ever decided to target her again, it would be far beyond the walls of Seyruun.
But, unlike the day Amelia had been born, this time she wouldn't be coming back.
Amelia, the last remaining Seyruun princess, clutched tightly to the shirt and mantle of her favorite person in the world.
The usually stoic chimera smiled down at her, and gently ruffled her hair. He could feel the girl's tears wetting the front of his shirt, but he was used to it. She always seemed to cry when he arrived back at the palace after being gone on a search for his cure, no matter how long he had been gone.
One night, when they were alone in Amelia's study, he had asked her why she cried.
"Because, Zelgadis-san," she said, a small smile lighting her face. "You may leave, but you're the only one who ever comes back."
That had been the end of the conversation, and he never brought it up again.
Some things were better left unsaid.