"Zeda, those are the wrong foot coverings! Lady Cheetara should wear her crystal shoes to the charity today, not the spats," Lady Chiana said, correcting the lizard handmaiden. Cheetara, a girl of four, hated wearing shoes. Her mother always forced Cheetara and her younger sister to wear shoes when they mingled with the common people who lived on their lands.

"Noooooo!" Little Cheetara screamed as she watched the lizard rushing toward her from across the east courtyard of their estate. She wanted to run away from Zeda to avoid putting on the shoes, but Cheetara knew that running was not allowed. Still, she could certainly register a strong protest. The shoes were carved from blocks of crystal her father imported from the City of Dogs. They were heavy, and Cheetara imagined the shoes might serve as a potent weapon against the lizard. If Cheetara could time it properly, she might flip the shoe off and hit Zeda squarely in the...

"Uh! Uh! Huh!" Young Cheetara halted her plotting to watch her father spar with his cousin, a young lion who was nearly her father's age. Her father, Lord Lior, liked nothing better than swordplay on hot summer afternoons. When her mother wasn't looking, he let Cheetara hold the sword and he helped her to swing it. Cheetara knew the movements and could mimic them, even in the heavy crystal shoes Zeda finally coaxed her into wearing. Cheetara jumped forward imitating her father's advance, and swooped her arm sideways to deflect the blade of her imaginary opponent. She leapt into the air as her father vaulted in a somersault over the head of his cousin.

"Here Father! Ungh!" Cheetara flung herself at the legs of her father's cousin to knock the competitor off balance, hoping to help her father achieve victory. She flopped onto the grass of their courtyard, which had been muddied by the men's play.

"Looks like I've got some help!" Lord Lior grinned at her.

"We can beat him, Father, I'm with you!" Cheetara squeaked.

"That's my pretty little warrior," he said laughing. Lior picked up the muddy little cheetah and kissed her on both cheeks. Cheetara squeezed her father around the neck, and squealed with glee.

Lady Chiana howled with frustration. "Cheetara! We are going to be late because of you! Zeda! Change Lady Cheetara into the pink silks. She has just ruined the sapphires!"

"You've made your mother angry, Leah," Lord Lior said, teasing Cheetara.

"My name is Cheetarwa!" She hated when her father addressed her formally by the name she would take when she became queen.

Zeda scooped Cheetara up into her enormous green arms, and carried her up the polished marble staircase to the east wing of the estate above the courtyard. The lizard plopped the little cheetah into foamy, perfumed bathwater. Cheetara tried to peek out of the window above her bath, and as Zeda re-bathed and dressed her, she could hear her parents' sharp exchanges.

"I've got to package the rest of meals myself now that Zeda has to bathe Leah again!"

"Why don't you have Priti package the meals? It can't be so difficult."

"Humph! Zeda does it best. Priti doesn't know wheat from rye! She'd fill all the sacks with cakes if I let her. We either do this properly, or we shouldn't bother at all."

Lady Chiana's voice became deep and insistent. "You should not indulge Leah, so," she said.

"I was just teasing her! Harmless!" Lior protested.

"A child of four has no business playing with swords." Chiana said. "You will regret filling her head with folly."

"How is that different from letting her play with that staff of yours," Lior shot back. "I thought I told you to put that staff away. You no longer need it."

"The staff is different." Chiana rasped. "A sword leads to mindless violence. A staff focuses the mind. And Leah will need to know how to use one when she is Queen."

"The Queen has no business carrying around a stick." Lior said. "And I don't believe that cleric nonsense about Leah needing to protect the King. Believe me, Chiana. We will not be raising some Eldaran warrior princess - we shall raise a proper queen."

"And I agree," Lady Chiana conceded. "But these are difficult times, and it would be wise to prepare for difficult circumstances that perhaps we cannot foresee."

The Lady pressed her lips to the Lord's ear. "War is coming. You know it, even if Claudus will not listen. And we all need to be prepared, including Leah. I will prepare her if no one else will. Now, if you'll pardon me, dear, I am late for the charity."

"We are prepared." Lord Lior grasped Chiana's arm. "Everything we need is in place, my love. At the end of this, our family will be on top as we've always been. Now. Do not worry. Enjoy the afternoon, and send my . . . regards . . . to our people. And please, this afternoon, show our little ones how to behave as queens. Not warrior-hounds!" Lior said. Chiana raised an eyebrow to Lior, but allowed him to stroke her cheek and kiss her. Lior then watched Chiana sail away across the courtyard, barking orders to her handmaidens as they loaded the meals Zeda had prepared for transport.

Cheetara looked into the teal eyes of the great lizard. "Is that twu?" She whimpered to Zeda. "There will be war? And I shall not be a warrior?"

"You had better ask your mother, dear." Zeda frowned, knowing better than to interfere with matters among cats. She kissed the little cheetah to soothe her, and clothed her in fresh silks.

Zeda carried Lady Cheetara down the stairs and fastened her into the royal blue carriage beside her mother and her baby sister. Cheetara reached out and grabbed a handful of her sister's red hair. She loved the little lion's soft, flame-colored mane that took Priti a morning's work to wrestle into place.

"Cheetara! Let Claudia alone!" Lady Chiana was at her wits end. "By the gods, Cheetara. You should be contemplating the suffering of our people, and preparing to provide them with sustenance! This will be your role as Queen!"

"Suffewing? But I thought we were going to the charwity?" Cheetara asked.

"Charity."

"Yes, charwity."

"Char -rit - tee! It's pronounced 'charity.'"

"Charwity."

Chiana shut her eyes and rested her head against the back wall of the carriage. "Forget it, Leah. At least you're pretty. You don't have to be smart like your sister."

Cheetara sat sullenly in the carriage and watched the landscape as they passed through the golden-brown countryside. A summer drought left a water shortage, and Lior decided it would be more efficient to irrigate the fields of the nobles who lived on their land, and to have the nobles sell the excess crops to the commoners. As a gesture of good will, Lior arranged for Lady Chiana to give away the excess crops from their own fields to the poorest of the poor, who could not afford to buy the crops from the nobles. Cats, dogs, and a few lizard families lined up along the Lord's Broadway to greet the Lady's carriage and receive the donations.

Lady Chiana ordered Zeda and Priti, two of her lizard handmaidens, to hand out navy colored sacks filled with grain and other staples that would carry the poor through the summer. Lady Cheetara handed out sweets to the children.

Little Cheetara glided in her crystal shoes and silk dress, giving each child she passed a small blue sack filled with tiny candyfruit desserts. The children held their hands out, eyes downcast, and Cheetara winced, seeing a sadness in their faces as she passed them.

A small common tomcat who was roughly Cheetara's age licked his tongue at her. He threw the sack of sweets back at her, hitting her feet.

Chiana swung around sharply and picked up the small sack. She stooped to the child's eye-level and addressed the little cat.

"How clumsy! You dropped your candies." Chiana handed the sack to him and pressed her claws into his palm as the boy's mother looked on. "Now what do you say?"

"Thank you, Lady Cheetara," the boy mumbled.

"You are welcome!" Lady Chiana said. Chiana grabbed Cheetara's shoulder and ushered her away to continue giving out the treats.

Cheetara could hear the comments of the people as she passed.

"The wife only does it for the publicity, anyway..."

"Then give your bag to me, I've got three kittens to feed..."

"I've got four puppies, and I'd rather have water for irrigation than trinkets!"

Cheetara watched her mother smile brightly as she directed the charity effort. Lady Chiana, the girls, and the lizard handmaidens were all exhausted by the time of the first moon rising when it was time to board the carriage and return to the central estate. The carriage rumbled along the stone path under the moonlight.

"Momma," Cheetara called out to Chiana.

"Yes, love." Chiana's fatigue was apparent, even to the little cheetah.

"I don't like charwity."

"Don't be silly, Cheetara. As Queen you'll have to go to charities and provide for the poor."

"Can't we give out the water instead of the twinkets?"

"I don't understand what you're saying." Chiana did not feel like being dragged into such a discussion with a child.

"I don't want to be queen!" Cheetara snapped at her mother and kicked the bench of the carriage with her crystal shoes. If she had to give out trinkets, and go to charities and could not play warrior games, she wanted nothing to do with queendom.

"You will not ever say that again." Lady Chiana's pupils widened and her blue eyes grew dark. "You will serve the King as his Queen, and that is the end of it."

"Why!" Cheetara demanded.

"We all have a destiny, Leah," her mother explained. "Destiny says that you will be the Queen and serve the King."

"I don't like him." Cheetara felt sure of this.

"Don't like who?"

"Des Denny."

"What are you talking about?"

"I don't like Des Denny. I want to be the king's clewic, Momma. I dweamed one time..."

"Don't be ridiculous," Lady Chiana laughed darkly. "Destiny is not a person. It is your fate in life. And believe me, you will be the most powerful woman in Thundera as the Queen. That is far better than being a cleric."

"No!"

"Yes. Besides, look at you!" Chiana growled. "You could never be a cleric or a warrior. There's no king on Third Earth who would look upon you and want you for anything other than his...his...Lady." Chiana stopped and looked at her daughter who was beginning to dissolve into tears.

"But, why?" Cheetara sniffed. Chiana looked at her daughter. Cheetara was still without spots, and her eyes were pale; she was so young that it was not even clear what color her eyes would be. She was too young to know the ways of Third Earth, and the realities of power.

"Why? Because you are so cute! And so little! And so fluffy!" Chiana tickled the little cat, lifting her mood a bit.

"You were a warrior, Momma, and you're fluffy."

"I still am a warrior, Leah." Chiana looked into Cheetara's eyes. "Women of our stature always are. You think I was cruel to the little tomcat, don't you?"

Cheetara nodded.

"We must be respected, Cheetara," Chiana said gravely. "We must enforce order. That order is the greatest source of our power. Sometimes that means we must be feared and believe me, we shall not always be loved for it. But be not hasty to raise a sword, m'love. We might win such a battle. But, when things get to the point of brawling, women of our position have already lost a great deal. When you rule, you must rule with dignity, child. Dignity. Strength. And resolve. If only you could have met our Queen, now that was a woman with grace and power."

Lady Chiana frowned at the tears in her daughter's eyes. "Listen, soft heart. You cannot cry every time someone speaks a harsh word to you," she said. "Do not worry. In you reign as Queen, I will be at your side to fix your determination, Leah."

"My name is Cheetarwa!"

"You will learn, Leah." Lady Chiana closed her eyes signaling the end of the conversation.

"Give me my water, now, Zeda. I'm thursty." Cheetara commanded the large lizard. Zeda complied and held a glass chalice to the child's lips. Cheetara gulped from the chalice and pondered her mother's words.

"Isn't there a diffewent king, now Momma?" Cheetara wondered aloud.

"Yes. There is a baby lion who is the new crown prince now, and he will be the next King," Chiana answered, correcting Cheetara. "But you should not worry. It has been decided that you shall still be betrothed to the king-to-be. Whoever he is. If Claudus wants to keep his precious Thunderans as tenants on our lands, that is." Chiana laughed to herself. "Your father has made sure of that, thanks to me. Now that our beloved Queen has been lost, I must stay on top of these things. I made the Queen a promise, and I intend to keep it."

Chiana lifted her younger daughter Claudia off of her lap and placed the small lion across Priti's slender thighs. Lady Chiana then hoisted Cheetara onto her lap and kissed the little cheetah's forehead.

"Little one," Chiana whispered, "If you remember nothing else, remember this. Power comes in many forms, and a warrior wears many faces. Sometimes it means we must use a small display of strength or give a token of charity to signal our Lord's power. A Lady must serve her Lord, but it is not just for her Lord's sake. We serve to protect the greater good. We serve to protect order."

Cheetara's eyes widened and then she frowned at her mother.

"No, not order like being put in quiet time, Leah. But similar." Chiana smiled. "We cannot allow our people to suffer, but, we cannot allow them to run amok. Without order, none of us are safe. Order protects us from the lizards' attacks. Order protects us from hunger and famine. And order allows us to protect the poor who cannot provide for themselves, like the little tomcat who was so ungrateful to us today. Your destiny is to protect this order, Leah. As Queen you will be called the King's servant, but your role will be to rule our people with pride."

"But I do not want to rule, Momma."

"Sometimes survival means doing something you don't want to, my love," Chiana kissed the crown of Cheetara's head. "You will learn, Leah. You will rule. And you will see."

-o-