The Princess of Alexandria

Seventeen years later

Alexandria

"Now, everyone grabs a sword and then make pairs!"

The students got up from the bench and walked over to the baskets that held the wooden swords they used in most training lessons. Each of them examined carefully the weapons hoping that he or she would find an exemplar with only a few splinters and cracks on it, but unfortunately, most of them had seen too many mock battles. Thus sixteen year old Raza was extremely pleased with herself, when she had found a suitable sword in one of the smaller baskets. She took it and held it up into the air for one final inspection, when a large hand snatched it away from her. She turned around to watch into Telon's smiling face. He was a big, brawny boy that was one year her elder.

"I think, I'll take this one," he said.

"Give it back, Telon," Raza replied, trying to keep her voice low.

He shook his head. "You'll have to defeat me first, your highness, but that won't happen."

"I'll beat you any time!"

Raza clenched her fists. To think that last year she had had a crush on this jerk was distressing to say the least. And the prospect of him becoming her guard one day was even less entertaining. Maybe she should take this opportunity and beat some sense into him, while there was still hope for him. And so Raza grabbed into the basket and took another sword without so much as to look at it and followed him to the middle of the drill ground. She would teach him a lesson, so that he'd never underestimate her again just because she was the Princess of Alexandria. She had trained just as vigorously as any of the other students, perhaps even more. She took her stance opposite to Telon and turned her head towards General Steiner, who approached them with the trademark rustling of his armour.

"And remember: You will only try to break your opponent's defence using Armour Break. When you succeed, you'll stop immediately. Is that clear?" Adelbert Steiner asked.

"Yes, Sir!" the students replied unison.

"Start!"

And thus eight pairs began to put what they had just learned to a test. Raza did not notice when the others started, for she was immediately engaged in her own fight. She concentrated her focus on her power flow, while dodging and parrying Telon's blows. She vaguely registered that she was moving backwards, since the force of his attacks was too great to start a counter attack. If she had paid more attention to her surroundings though, she might have prevented crushing into another student. Raza and the other student landed on the sand, which gave both their opponents the ideal opportunity to use Armour Break. A blue light shot into her direction and she had no chance to escape it. A weird feeling washed over her body and she suddenly felt less solid.

"I am so sorry, your highness. I do hope your royal body hasn't taken any scratches. I am not keen on injuring my future boss," Telon said before he began laughing out loud.

The weird feeling inside her was replaced by a very familiar emotion; rage boiled and her magical core was agitated. And before she could do anything against it, she had cast Fire against Telon. Her opponent began to howl and a second later, General Steiner had pulled the boy to the ground, rolling him there in the sand until the fire was out.

"Fetch a healer, Wilhelm," the General roared.

Wilhelm nodded and ran towards the hospital that was only few blocks away.

"Everyone else is dismissed."

Raza got up from the ground and left the drill ground with her head between her shoulders, throwing one last glance over her shoulder. General Steiner aided Telon to get up.

"I am sorry," she whispered.

They said that she was the mirror image of her parents. Yet, when Raza regarded her reflection in the mirror, she couldn't disagree more.

She had inherited her mother's raven hair, but their build was entirely different from each other. Whereas her mother had feminine curves and a matching frame, Raza had a more boyish figure. She was slender, some even said too skinny to birth children, and had no feminine attributes worth mentioning. She was not curvy, she was square. She assumed that therein lay the reason that she wasn't overly popular with the boys despite being the future queen of Alexandria. It seemed that power did not always attract affection from the other sex.

She had the same eye colour as her father, but they had entirely different hues. Her father's eyes were light blue and radiated warmth that always comforted her and calmed her nerves. Her own eyes were of a darker blue mixed with grey, like a storm on the ocean. People rarely found comfort in her eyes.

And of course, there was her skin colour, too. Her dad had tanned skin, which was no surprise, since he took every chance to be outside the castle walls. In fact, there was a saying: 'If you want to find the queen's husband, don't bother looking in Alexandria Castle.' Her mother had a fair skin that was setting trends in the circles of the female nobles. Raza's skin however, was neither fair nor tanned. It seemed to lack colour altogether. She loved to be outside and she was as much as she could, but her skin wouldn't get any darker. And it hurt to hear the whispers in the corridors, announcing the arrival of the 'Ghost of Alexandria'.

Regarding the events of the day, however, the contrast between her parents' character and her own was the greatest. She had never heard of her parents losing the composure. Well, there was not much that could actually surprise a thief that had travelled around the world for a living. As for her mother, she had incorporated what was expected of a queen. Whenever Raza felt overwhelmed by the tasks and responsibilities she held, her father tried to soothe her by telling that her mother had had the same fears and doubts as she had now. Raza couldn't quite believe him that she would learn to be as good as her mother one day, for her mother was the ideal queen: Resourceful, empathetic, beautiful, patient. Everything that she was not. Her mother would never have attacked a subject, no matter what he had said to her. Even though her father had a criminal history, he was no maverick ghost that couldn't control himself.

"Brooding again?"

Raza turned around. She hadn't seen nor heard her father coming. She was greeted with a knowing smile. He stood a few feet away from her, his tail dancing animatedly in the air. He always tried to make her laugh by doing this, but today, it had no effect on her.

"I once did that for a living, you know," her father said.

"Yeah, right. The people of Alexandria worship a thief," Raza replied. "Do you think that there is any chance that they might like a brute one day, too?"

"Brute? I don't see no brute. All I see is my little daughter, who has lost control over her powers. This is human, Raza. We all make mistakes."

"Yeah, but mine injured a subject," Raza stated flatly.

"In Fighting School," he added.

"It doesn't matter," she said. "Mother will take me from Fighting School as soon as she returns from Treno. And I..."

"And you?"

"I will remain weak."

"Weak? How is that? You are a more than decent swordswoman and your spells are quite effective. Telon surely would approve of that last sentiment," he said and laughed.

"Dad!"

"C'mon. He wasn't really injured. The burns have been treated immediately. He is as good as new and already left the hospital a few hours ago."

He approached her and drew her into an embrace.

"Now, listen carefully, Raza. You are not weak. You are the strongest sixteen year old girl I know. I also know why you are so keen on becoming physically strong. You and I are of the same stamp. This ruling and representing stuff is not ours. Therefore, it is even more honourable that you have found something that you could really do for Alexandria. You can become Alexandria's first protector! And maybe, one day, you'll find yourself a man who is more adept at doing these political and royal things than the good-for-nothing your mother married."

"But...," Raza began, but her father interrupted her.

"Listen, Raza. I have thought about something for quite a while now. Maybe, it would be a good idea, to do some spiritual journey, so that your soul can adapt to the quickly growing physical and magical powers," he said.

Raza stared at him. "Mother would never allow such thing."

"Don't worry about her. I will talk to her. You go to the library and ask the scholars, if they have any tip for you regarding a destination."

"Thanks, dad," Raza said and kissed him on the cheek and rushed out of the room.

"Yeah, thanks, dad. Your wife will bite your head off," he said when he was alone in her room. "Nice one, Zidane."

"... And now our dear Queen Garnet Til Alexandros XVII will inaugurate this newly founded school by cutting the red ribbon!"

Chancellor Iquist exclaimed happily and passed the golden scissors of Alexandria to the Queen who accepted them with a curt nod and gracefully cut the ribbon in two. The crowd cheered and everyone started to applaud frantically, everyone that is except Raza. The young princess did not manage something above a polite clap, for the memory of last night's discussion with her mother was still too fresh in her mind. Though, it could hardly be considered a full-fledged discussion, for she was arguing with all that she had, but her dear mother would not listen to her.

The answer had been a flat 'no'. Her mother hadn't even bothered to explain her why she was forbidden from going on the spiritual journey she so desperately needed. 'Remind your place' hardly made up for a countable argument in Raza's eyes. The young princess had argued, asked, begged, wept, but to no avail.

Raza sighed deeply, as she was watching her mother going through protocol. She doubted that people would love their queen the same, if they'd knew how she treated her own daughter. A brave hand and a kind heart was what once made the people fall in love with her mother in the first place, right when she was about her age. Yet, Raza could not see any of these traits in her mother right now. True, she was kind to the subjects, but Raza sometimes wondered whether this was out of a sense of duty rather than from something that was felt from the heart. Right now she was nothing but the embodiment of court protocol and a certain distant air always revolved around her mother.

"Raza," her mother called.

Raza nodded and her shoulder slumped slightly, when her mother introduced her to some founders of the new school. Each was more ancient than the last and they all seemed anxious to tell her stories when they had been little students themselves. Raza risked a side glance at her mother for some support or sympathy, but the Queen's gaze was stern and cool. Her heart sank to her knees and thus Raza endured a full morning of stories that took place a long time ago, duteous as her mother expected her to be.

"C'mon, honey, everyone needs to go on his own adventure," Zidane said.

"I said no," replied Garnet.

With a sigh Zidane jumped from his wife's desk and retreated to the nearby couch. He sat down and watched Garnet as she was reading papers, writing answers and filing sheets away. His first talk to her had led to nothing, but when his daughter had taken matters into her own hands, things got even worse. Zidane assumed that it might have been a mistake on his account to promise Raza a spiritual journey without including Garnet first. He should have known better, but he couldn't refuse his children anything. And he felt that Raza was right in her feelings. She was a warrior, not a politician. If only his wife could see it that way, too.

"I will not risk the future of Alexandria, because a certain someone puts stupid ideas into my daughter's head," said Garnet coolly.

Zidane laughed. "Right, adventures are not adequate for building the personality of the future queen of Alexandria? Did I get you right correctly, Dagger?"

His wife looked up from her paperwork and glared - well, daggers at him.

"Maybe you can talk to her again? She is really adamant on going and it wouldn't help anyone, if she just ran away. I wouldn't put it past her, considering her heritage and such..."he concluded with a smile.

"That... Was something completely different. Alexandria - no, the entire Mist Continent was in grave danger back then, I had to go," Garnet said. "But we have peace now. The 20th Festival of Peace is held in two weeks. The preparations are under way, as we speak. There is no need for her to engage in such a dangerous journey."

"Be that as it may... I still think you should talk to her once more," Zidane said and stood up. Just when he was about to leave the office, Garnet answered.

"After the festival. However, this will change nothing."

Zidane bowed to her in a far too formal way for her to take him seriously, and left.