Chapter 1: A Star…
"Come on, Rahana!" the girl cried, running across the frozen stream. "Hurry, or I'm going to beat you again!"
"I wouldn't be so sure, Silvana," a voice replied, and with a giant leap, a full-grown lioness crossed the stream, landing on a young girl around fifteen years old.
The pair rolled on the ground, laughing and playing happily. Though physically much stronger than the girl, Rahana was holding herself in check, not wanting to hurt her friend. She was also concentrating on her surroundings, for these were dark times, and even in the sheltered clearings on the fringe of the Silverglade it was unwise to be too trusting.
"How nice it is to be allowed to run around, after all that time spent locked indoors!" Silvana exclaimed, throwing herself down on the ground.
"I must say it is a change for your mother to insist on having you out of the cottage," the lioness replied with a laugh, sitting down beside her companion.
"True," Silvana answered. "Usually she keeps telling me to come back inside, or to stay in the clearing, or some such nonsense. I suppose she decided I needed a break from all the preparations for my Melanalia. I've been getting ready for it since last month, and I still can't believe I'll soon be fifteen, and a Melana!"
"Actually," Rahana interjected lazily, "I think she's taking care of the last-minute details. The ceremony is this afternoon, after all."
"It is?"
Rahana raised her head quickly and stared at her companion in disbelief.
"Do you mean to tell me you had forgotten when your birthday is?"
"Why would it be so unusual?" Silvana demanded. "The days are so much alike, it is hard to keep count."
"Then count the passages of the moon! Surely you can notice the difference between a full moon and a dark one."
"Of course I can. I'm not that stupid, I hope."
After a short pause, Rahana resumed:
"Have you seen the gown you'll be wearing?"
"Not yet. I hope it will be as pretty as the one Milena wore for hers. But then, I'm not sure how Mother could afford even one that nice. I do know I will treasure it as long as I live. "
"And well you should, especially now that the ceremony has been forbidden. Who do you know is coming?"
"Just the village weaver and old Saralinel, besides Aunt Violet and Uncle Rihan and the cousins. I so wanted to invite Milena and Serena, because I know they would have come anyways, but Mother put her foot down, and said only them. I suppose she is ashamed to have the village folk see how shabby our cottage is, even though we do our best."
"That is the most logical explanation," Rahana answered quietly.
"But, please, no more about the ceremony, because I am afraid I will be a nervous wreck before it even starts," Silvana begged.
"Very well, then, shall we continue our race?"
Silvana was about to agree when a loud voice was heard calling her name.
"So much for that," she muttered to her companion. "I'm coming, Mother!" the girl then called.
She ran lightly, her feet leaping over the frosty ground, her long, honey colored hair flying behind her.
Silvana stopped before a small cottage just long enough to open the door, then leaped inside, waking up the rafters with her laughter.
"Here I am, Mother!"
The woman so addressed turned and smiled fondly at the young girl standing in front of her. How pretty she looked! She was tall and graceful, with a beautiful, fair complexion, highlighted by a few freckles on her cheeks. Her clear, blue-green eyes were always laughing and kind, and she carried herself with an air of quiet nobility, notwithstanding her lowly rank. Strange how things she was never taught have a way of coming out naturally. The woman thought. How I wish I could keep this ray of sunlight with me always!
Silvana had been watching her intently during this short pause, and had seen the shadow that gradually fell on the dear face.
"What troubles you, Mother?" she asked anxiously. "You look so sad."
The woman forced a smile, and said:
"Do not trouble yourself for me, dear child. I am just a little tired from all the work we've been doing. Which reminds me: you need to go change, because the guests will be arriving soon. I put the gown in your room already, so you don't have to go look for it."
Silvana kissed her mother on the cheek by way of thanks, then ran to the back of the cottage, climbing up the stairs to her attic room with Rahana at her heels.
She came running back down moments later, and threw her arms around her mother, almost speechless with surprise.
"Oh, Mother, thank you, thank you!" she cried. "I can't believe you got me a silk dress! It must have cost a fortune! Oh Mother, how did you afford such an expense?"
The woman patted her daughter fondly on the back, and said:
"Never you mind the expense. Go get changed, and don't you come down until I call you, remember!"
"I will."
And with that Silvana went back up to her room, to change into her gown, and await with great nervousness the official beginning of her adult life.
She soon heard the soft sounds of the Melana march, and glided into the front room accompanied by its ethereal strains.
Silvana gazed at the few, but familiar and beloved faces as in a daze, quite unaware of the picture she created. Her slim form was accentuated by her dress; a shiny, rich, leaf-patterned gown, whose spring-green color brought out the golden wildness of her hair. On her head was a simple wreath of purple star-flowers, matching the sash around her waist. Standing there in the traditional colors, she looked the very symbol of Springland, and a longing stirred in the hearts of those present to see their country free again.
The ceremony slipped by as a dream for Silvana, who hardly realized it was her voice reciting the age-old rite.
"A child I was, I am no longer
This toy I loved, I need no longer
Great Spirgha-Maquía, hear my cry
And help me let my childhood die"
As her clear voice faded, she smashed the puppet she held in her hands, symbolically signaling the end of her childhood.
Her parents came forward, holding a simple wooden box, in which rested the melanal. Silvana felt her pulse quicken in anticipation as her mother lifted the cover, and gasped when she saw the beautiful necklace revealed. It was made of pure silvergold, the rarest and most precious of Springlash metals, and resembled a twisted vine, with an embossed butterfly in the center.
Her face a strange mixture of pride and sadness, the older woman stepped forward, and as she pronounced the ageless rhyme:
"The toy is broke, the child is gone
This ring around your neck becomes
The proof that you're a woman now" she fastened the chain around Silvana's neck, and presented her to the witnesses as "Silvana, Melana."
Traditionally, the ceremony ended with a small feast after the melanal was fastened. The guests, and Silvana herself, were therefore surprised when her father stepped forward with a letter in his hand and asked Silvana to read it aloud.
The girl felt a strange thrill run through her as she saw that the letter was sealed with the Royal Seal of Springland.
Opening the letter, she read it aloud, her face registering shock as what she was reading sank in:
My dear daughter,
Forgive us for all these years of silence and deception, but they were necessary for your safety. Your 15th birthday is the occasion to let all hidden truths be told, so that you may step into adulthood knowing who you are.
Silvana, Princess of Springland, I, King Shylo, charge you to free your queendom from the usurper on the throne, and either free your mother and I or avenge our deaths.
To those who have heard these words, I charge you to guard this secret with your lives, until such a time as you can be rewarded for your faithfulness.
Written in the hope that Springland may soon be free,
King Shylo
A stunned silence fell across the room as Silvana finished reading. Though almost all who were present were shocked, everything suddenly seemed to make sense, and they knew that it was true: Silvana, the young girl they knew and loved so well, was in fact their princess and ruler, and their hope for the freedom they had been planning for so long.
Sensing her need for privacy, the guests soon left, swearing their loyalty and silence.
Silvana stood stock still long after they had gone, her shocked brain still trying to process the news. All she could think was that she had been betrayed by the very people she had counted on for stability. The whole foundation of her world had been torn from under her, and in its place was the swirling void.
The peasant woman she had so long considered as "Mother" tried to comfort her by putting an arm around the girl's shoulders, but she broke away with a strangled sob and ran out the door into the woods.
After a brief moment of hesitation, Rahana followed, wanting to give her friend privacy yet determined to see to her safety.
Silvana, blinded by the tears that by now were streaming down her face, ran straight to a small clearing and threw herself down on the ground, not caring that she was soaking her dress.
Rahana crouched down at the edge of the clearing, her predator's senses tuned to every movement of the forest. She soon heard a sound that sent chills up her spine, because she couldn't recognize it, nor could she place the strange, clear scent coming from the same direction. Rahana was about to attack the intruder when she was frozen by the sight in front of her: a milk-white unicorn, its crystal horn glinting in the waning sunlight, was slowly walking into the clearing.
The lioness instinctively knelt down, recognizing the authority of the legendary creature. Her respect turned to awe when she saw the many-hued wings flanking the unicorn's sides as she made her way to the still-sobbing princess.
"A winged unicorn!" Rahana wondered to herself. "I haven't heard of any coming to Springland since the days of the great Frost war, and I thought that was only a legend!"
While the lioness was puzzling over this, the unicorn had bowed her head and was gently prodding the girl with her horn.
"Now then, little Princess of Spring," a pure, kind voice spoke. "Why are you crying so?"
A/N: R&R! Comments of all types are welcome (except flames), especially constructive criticism.
