Chapter 1: Princess

Memo: Freaking dfklsagksdf I cannot believe I'm to this point… Wow… It's taken a lot of planning but I'm here, and you are now, too! Let's run in together! Wheeeeee!

"What do you want to change?"

Slowly, Jalela opened her deep brown eyes, still drowsy with sleep.

"Princess, it's time to get up," a soft voice said, causing Jalela to sit upright. "You don't want to be late on your special day."

"Good morning, Nita," Jalela greeted her maidservant with a stifled yawn. "I won't be late. Please don't worry so much about me."

"You make it too easy," Nita said with a small smile as Jalela slowly got out of her bed. "Come, Princess, you have to get ready for the ceremony."

"I know." Pushing her long hair out of her face, Jalela stood and obediently followed Nita out of her room.

It was the day of Jalela's official coronation as the rightful ruler of her village. Though Jalela's people were small in number, they were big-hearted and proud. Jalela respected every single one of them, and they felt the same about her. However, her people had come to greet troubling times in India. With the entrance of foreigners into the country, India's people were quite weakened in both power and spirit.

Still, Jalela knew her duties. She would do her utmost best to do what would be right for her people in the end. She was aware of her role in her country, and she had come to accept it. Now that she was eighteen, there was no avoiding her duties.

"Your steps are slower than usual, Jalela," Nita said with a crooked smile. Snapping to attention, Jalela looked at Nita, then grinned as well. Since childhood, Nita had been Jalela's maidservant, but she was more like a trusted friend to the princess. Nita was good-natured and patient, and she truly wanted what was right for Jalela.

"I think it's that your steps are faster than usual," Jalela countered, picking up her pace to keep up with Nita. "You're more excited than me about this, I think."

"How can I help myself? You will be a great ruler; I've known it since the day you were born. This is the role you were meant to play."

Is it really? Jalela wondered, her smile faltering despite Nita's enthusiasm.

Obviously, Jalela had been born into a royal family who had ruled the same area for generations. She was an only child; her mother had died after childbirth, meaning only she could continue the royal lineage. These were facts that needed no explanation.

However, lately Jalela had been experiencing vivid visions and dreams that told her otherwise. She would have cast the blame on nerves, but these visions had occurred before, even as a child. Only now, they had worsened. For the first time in her life, Jalela truly questioned who she was and what she was supposed to accomplish.

"Jalela?"

Nita's voice dragged Jalela out of her swirling thoughts.

"Yes, I'm fine," Jalela said quickly, shaking her head.

"I feel as though I always catch you day-dreaming," Nita laughed.

"That doesn't mean I'm always day-dreaming."

"Sometimes I wonder."

Jalela pouted as Nita laughed at her once again.

"Come along. At this rate, your ceremony will be delayed by a full day."

Nita gestured for Jalela to follow her, and the teen sighed quietly through her nose. The two continued down the corridors of the small palace until they reached the back area. A large tub for bathing had been prepared; Jalela could see the steam rising from the water.

Returning the greetings from the palace servants, Jalela removed her shoes and rings. Aided by the others, she undressed and stepped into the large tub. The water was boiling hot, but Jalela didn't dare complain. These people had worked their hardest to please her; she knew better than to even hint at being ungrateful.

Soon Jalela was submerged in water up to her shoulders. The heat felt good on her skin after a while. Taking a small breath in, Jalela ducked down beneath the surface of the water, covering her entire body.

It's not going to work…

At the sound of a girl's voice, Jalela popped back up out of the water, startled. Hastily, she relaxed her expression so as to not worry her servants. She knew that voice; that was the girl who had been appearing in her dreams.

"Are you almost done?" Nita asked Jalela, and the princess nodded quickly. "Don't fall back asleep in there."

"I won't, I won't," Jalela whined as Nita snickered behind her hand.

The dreams had all been the same-a faceless girl and boy, sitting on a boat. They were always fishing, and that was all. Most of the time they were silent, and the only noticeable change throughout her dream was the color of the sky.

That was the first time I've heard her say that, Jalela realized as her servants covered her in robes upon leaving the bath. I wonder what she was talking about.

To Jalela, all dreams had at least one meaning. Dreams were powerful. At one time, they were even more powerful than money. Before people started turning to money for counseling and guidance, they had turned to their dreams and visions. Jalela still did, but she knew it was a dying art. The world was changing.

Jalela silently followed Nita into the dressing room, where more servants were waiting. As Jalela dried herself off, the women went to work on dressing her in ceremonial gown, and Nita was left to comb the princess' thick, long black hair.

The one thing Jalela could ascertain from her dreams was that these two people were in India. The setting was the same; the air smelled the same. The sky seemed just as similar, too. Was it because India was all Jalela had ever known? Jalela had learned only a bit of English; her native Sanskrit dialect was what she mostly used, and it was what she heard in her dream.

"What are you thinking about?" Nita asked Jalela.

"Too much," Jalela answered, looking at Nita from the reflection in the glass mirror in front of her. "…I'm still quite a child, aren't I?"

"You are what you make yourself out to be," Nita responded, smiling at the teen. Jalela smiled back, beaming.

Just then, a knock on the door startled the women, who were putting the finishing touches on Jalela's loose gown.

"I bring news of the guests," a male servant announced in a loud voice. A female servant opened the door in response, and the young man stepped in, holding a paper.

"Is something the matter?" Jalela asked, but the male servant just smiled.

"On the contrary…a royal family from the East has come to pay their respects to you, Princess," he replied, closing his dark eyes and nodding.

"From the East?" Jalela repeated. "What a journey that must have been…"

Jalela had only once been to the eastern part of her country before, but she remembered nothing of it, since she was only a small child; it would be the first time for her to meet people from so far away. However, with the rise of foreign influence, she knew it was important to establish relationships with the other ruling families, no matter how far away. It was, though, admittedly unusual for a ruling family to travel this far for such an occasion. Jalela's village was not one of great size or power, and so she couldn't help but think of what the root of their motivation might be.

"If you wish it, Princess, I will read you the list of guests," the male servant offered.

"Please," she said, nodding and sitting back down.

As the man read the names, and as Nita braided her hair tightly, Jalela watched herself in the mirror. Her father had once said she much resembled her now-deceased mother, but Jalela could not imagine it. She could imagine herself as she was at that moment, unchanging and steady. Looking too far ahead was useless to her, yet it remained a distraction and temptation in the back of her mind at all times.