The court's reaction wasn't much different from that of the nursemaid's and the oldest princess's. The King and Queen stared down from their thrones at the small confused girl, their eyes narrowed and untrusting. The whole night of the festival was spent sending for physicians and men of magic, speculating the situation and questioning Petrosinella over and over again. At last, right before dawn, after at least twenty times of repeating her story to many wise men, nothing certain was decided so the princess was sent to her room, where she would remain until the origin and meaning of this magic would be revealed.
Now the reader of this story might be a little confused as of why the people of a kingdom in the magic realm, where strange occurrences happen on a daily basis, would be so afraid of this particular incident? The answer is simply that Petrosinella is the middle child. It has always been and always will be an unwritten rule in the magic realm that nothing ever happens to the middle child. Be it a family with sons or daughters, the middle children never make the stories of adventure. Nissa's accidental aim was most unfortunate. If the dust had hit either of the other sisters, the kingdom would be rejoicing. The oldest sister, if blessed with magic, would make a greater and more powerful queen, one who would be sought out by suitors throughout the realm. The youngest princess would benefit from the magic, when a dragon or a witch try to kidnap her (for we all know that it's the youngest princesses they all go for). But the middle daughter, whose fate has been decided with the youngest sisters birth, who has a simple life of ahead of her, planned in the shadows of her siblings, what could she possibly do with the magic? The court was rightfully confused.
Months passed after the events of the festival of Light and Petrosinella was not allowed to leave her rooms. She was sad for not being able to play outside and not seeing her sisters, but the days were not dull. All manner of people, "specialists of magic" as the nursemaid called them in a mocking tone, came to see the unprecedented occurrence. It was fun watching them, with their exotic clothes, strange herbs and instruments. They asked her a lot of funny questions, made her drink strange teas and mixtures, and touched her hair. But nothing they did seemed to make her magic act out. They all came up with many different theories and argued about them among themselves, but one thing that they all agreed on was that the hair should not be cut.
After some time, a few magisters of Ankh (a pace well known for its knowledge of magic) decided to do an experiment. One morning they brought princess Petrosinella a cage with a sparrow in it. The bird had its wing in a strange angle and the magisters explained to the princess that her magic might help. All she needed to do is touch her hair to the wing. The princess was of course skeptical of her ability to use her magic, but the thought of helping this poor little creature convinced her to try. She opened the cage and gently took the sparrow in her hands. She moved it near her shoulder, where locks of the golden hair were pooling and felt the magic flowing. A strand of light seemed to stretch from her hair and latch itself onto the bird. It lasted only for a second and when she loosened her grip, the little sparrow darted out of her reach and through a window, as if it never had been injured.
When a series of similar experiments with animals, plants, objects and even people have been conducted with great success, the King, with support of the court, decided to utilize the princess's magic for the good of the kingdom.
As time passed princess Petrosinella had become known throughout the whole magical realm as the Golden Princess. People from all over pooled into the kingdom Severo with hopes that here their various troubles and problems can be resolved. Rumors told that all illnesses and wounds can be cured, soil made fertile again, various precious objects mended, and it was all true. But not everyone was given the privilege to see her. The princess was heavily guarded and those who wished for an audience had to go through a succession of security precautions, including an hour long questioning by one of the chiefs of guards and a very throughout search for any objects or spells that could harm the princess, conducted by the magisters of magic. Let's not forget the waiting period, which sometimes lasted a few years. These precautions were very efficient in seeding out most of the ones who wanted the magic for selfish uses. It was mostly the ones who were desperate for help that persevered until the very end.
On an evening in a particularly cold winter, the now twenty-one year old Golden Princess, was sitting on her throne in the Chamber of Light, where she had spent every single day from sun-up 'til sun-down for the last fifteen years. The light from the windows was turning weaker and redder by the second and she decided to leave the rest of the book in her lap for another day. The princess raised her tired eyes at the crowd of people shuffling restlessly as slowly one by one they were allowed to come closer to her. "Almost nightfall and still so many people" she thought as a quiet tired sigh escaped her lips. The amount of people in need of the magic had always been great, but ever since the neighboring kingdoms started attacking the outskirts of her father's land the flow of people seemed to be never-ending.
"Light the candles, Sir Lucan" she commanded the guard standing closest to her.
"You shall continue, Your Highness?" he asked.
"There are still many people waiting. Perhaps a few hours will make at least a small difference" she said.
The knight bowed to her and started lighting the chamber. The princess swept the crowd once again with a glance. The people seemed tired, cold and anxious. None of them were looking at her. They were simply murmuring quietly to each other, trying to get the attention of the guards to maybe get them through the line sooner. Some of them were praying silently to their own gods.
The princess slumped in her chair and rested her head on her hand. "How had things changed throughout the years" she mused silently. When she first sat on this throne she was frightened. Frightened of so many people looking at her, seeing her. She had wondered what she would tell them when they wanted to speak to her, what would she say when they thanked her. Or worse, how would she explain herself if the magic wouldn't work. As it turned out, she feared these things in vain. In the first few weeks only the nobility of the castle was allowed to see her and use the magic. It was always a lavish event. Trumpets would announce the noble's arrival; they would then bow to her and recite a long speech praising her and her kingdom. She in turn would utter a speech of welcome and beckon them to her. They would have a few hours to use the magic, most often to heal injuries and ailments or sometimes to fix precious broken artifacts. The intricate ceremony became simpler and simpler as days went by. More people needed the magic and a few hours could not be wasted on only a couple.
Soon commoners were also allowed into the Chamber of Light. And after a little while all of the princess's days were filled with masses of people, flowing into the room, each given only a few minutes for the magic. There was no more bowing, in fact, barely anyone even paid attention to her. Time was precious and most of them kept their eyes fixed to the glowing long braid placed on the table on the princesses left. There were no questions, no words or even looks of gratitude. "The Golden Princess became the Invisible Princess" she had once said to her maid Ella. Ella in turn only laughed and told her to use her new found attribute to her advantage. And so the princess did, spending her time at the throne immersed in book after book, until she was almost through with the whole library of the castle.