Cera was about to drift off to sleep when she noticed someone blocking the torchlight that was streaming in from the hall. Her door had been slightly adjar; when someone lingered there, she noticed. She snapped her attention to the figure and narrowed her eyes to peer through the gloom. It was Cedric the Sorcerer- his long, pointy nose was distinguishable in his silhouette. He was, in turn, squinting in at her.

When their eyes met and he realized that she saw him, he tried to turn to leave, but she wouldn't have it.

After the initial introduction of Cedric, his father, and the Royal Steward Baileywick, everyone other than the royal family had taken their leave. It left the new princess to get to know the people she would be spending her days with. She learned that Miranda had been a common village woman with a sixteen year old teenage daughter- Sofia- who was the same age as the twins Amber and James.

Miranda and her daughter had humble beginnings, working at the shoe shop in the nearby village of Midnight. She had met the king when he had called for a new pair of royal slippers. They had then married only four months before- at the beginning of April.

Although Cera was very happy to hear all about the school she would be attending the next day with her siblings, Royal Prep, and hearing of the flying derby team that Sofia and James were on- not to mention all the different kingdoms that were homes to all their different friends- Cera was sad when she found out Cedric would be leaving the room. She was so glad to be seeing him now, before she went to bed.

"Hey!" She yelped out. The purple robed sorcerer paused for only a beat, before he continued on his way without so much as a backward glance.

Cera was determined.

She tried again. "Get back here before I start screaming that you're a pervert weirdy." She demonstrated in a high-pitched, overly emphasized voice. "'Peeping at me while he thought I was asleep! Oh!'"

He was back in the blink of an eye.

"What!" He exclaimed. His face was red. His voice was shrill but hushed as he marched toward her four poster bed. "I am NOT a p-pervert WEIRDY."

Cera sat up eagerly to greet him.

She shrugged. "Hey, you could be. I wouldn't know. I was only born today."

The sorcerer gawked at her. He looked somewhat furious, but mostly just baffled. What a strange, strange creature this new princess was turning out to be.

She patted a spot near the edge of the bed. "Take a seat, Cedric. Let's have a visit. You know, I just spend the evening visiting with my new family. I got to know a lot about my new brother and sisters." Cera lowered her voice and leaned forawrd, right up into Cedric's face. He leaned backward to compensate, and wanted to huff and point his nose skyward, but he couldn't tear his gaze away from those purple purple eyes.

"Don't tell anyone I said this, but I'm beginning to like Sofia the best." She giggled, covering her mouth as if she had just said something bad, rebellious. "I don't know why, but I just feel so comfortable being around her. I think... she's going to be of my best friends. Just like you, Cedric. Now, take a seat."

"I'd rather not sit down, I have much more important things to do than entertain a little girl." Cedric scoffed, finally managing to tear his eyes away from her amulet eyes. He just couldn't believe the Amulet of Avalor was gone. In its place were these strange eyes, of this strange princess.

"I'm not a little girl!" Cera exclaimed. "I have boobs."

"C-Cera! You are the most inappropriate princess I have met!" Cedric exclaimed.

Cera tilted her head to the side. "Oh, sorry. I was born just today, remember?"

Cedric frowned deeply, rolling his eyes and crossing his arms. "What is it that you called me in here for, Princess Cera? I must be going back to my tower..."

"I just wanted to spend some time with you..." Cera said, but she was beginning to look a bit cross. Her eyebrows scrunched together like caterpillars and her little mouth was bent into a small sharp upside down v shape. "You called me here, after all! I thought you'd be wanting to spend at least a little bit of time with me..."

"What do you mean, I called you here? You called ME here, to this room!" Cedric was shouting in a whisper. Her threw his arms out to emphasize. "Now, if you are QUITE done wasting my time-"

Cera threw a soft, fluffy, pilly made of the finest silks and downs right into Cedric's face. It smacked him and then fell backward onto the bed.

"Shut up for a minute, will you Cedric!" Cera hissed.

"Th-that's MISTER Cedric to you!" Cedric tried to sound stern and official, but her was thrown off by the pillow to the face. And by the sharp tone of Cera's voice. Red blooms of aggravgation had blossomed in little circles on her round, light mocha brown cheeks. Her eyes looked so wild. She was angry with him.

"You woke me up!" Cera finally blurted out. She was no longer whispering.

"I only came to check that you were... Alright." Cedric fidgeted uneasily, knowing that the king had chosen not to tell Cera very much yet, afraid that it would overwhelm her. He opened his mouth to say more, to tell her that he couldn't believe that the ritual had been successful.

In reality, he was shocked that the spell had worked. King Roland had been so desperate for a solution for the amulet problem, Cedric's father, the old royal sorcerer, Goodwin the Great had suggested a spell that transmuted inanimate objects into a human. It was a tricky little charm that relied on a magic that was deemed obsolete, an old wives' tale brand of magic. Something Ancient, and shockingly simple.

Cedric had been peeved that King Roland hadn't asked him to help initially with the amulet problem. After all, then it would have been so simple in order to steal it! To take over the kingdom... As Cedric stood in front of Cera's bed now, staring down at her, a twist of fury was heavy in his gut. Disappointment. Loss. He had lost the chance to prove that he was something great and powerful, now that the amulet was gone and this girl was in its place.

Goodwin the Great had told King Roland the spell would most likely not work, but King Roland was determined.

"If anyone can do it, it's you, Goodwin," Roland had told the elder sorcerer with confidence. And so, to entertain the king's wishes, Goodwin had set up the ritual and allowed Cedric to assist. No one could believe when Cera actually appeared, though the king was jubilent, congratulating Goodwin over and over and over again. He hadn't given Cedric so much as a sidelong glance.

Now, Cedric glanced worriedly over his shoulder, not wanting anyone to see him in the princesses' chambers. It was just not decent, not at this time of night. The piece of sky that he could see from the high, narrow windows lining the very top of the chambers walls were a dark, dark indigo-black and scattered with silver stars that twinkled.

"I was... I wasn't... Alive! And then... I was..." Cera mumbled, pulling Cedric out of his thoughts. "Because I heard your... your stupid voice calling out my name. It was like... the name Cera, but it wasn't the name Cera. But my name is Cera and the name you were calling out wasn't the name Cera... But it was still my name... Ugh!"

Cera rubbed the palm of her hand hard against her forehead, biting her lower lip with her upper front teeth. They were very straight and white, a gap between the two front teeth. "I don't know if I'm making sense."

Cedric paused, not quite knowing what to say. The things she was saying was very unusual, but it was intriguing. What in the world DID she mean? That she had heard him...? "W-well, I'd like to know what you're talking about." Cedric admitted. He looked down at her, sitting there so small and very alone there on that enormous four poster bed. She was now sitting, hugging her knees to her chest and staring at her little toes with misty purple eyes. He sighed and finally gave in, sitting down on the edge of the bed next to her. Cera looked up. He folded his hands in his lap. "What are you trying to explain?"

"Well..." Cera sighed. She unfolded herself and scooted to the edge of the bed to sit right next to Cedric. Her legs dangled next to his. The intricately embroidered skirt of her nightgown stopped about where her knees were, and Cedric could see the curve of her thick calf. The roundness of her heel.

"I don't really know what's going on, but there are some things I just... I KNOW. Like, I know how to walk and talk. But I don't know PRECISELY what's appropriate to say. Or if I can ride a Pegasus. My father doesn't want to tell me much about how I got here because he thinks I can't handle it but..." She pressed her hand to her chest. "I can feel my soul." Her fingertips pressed hard right into the center of her chest, between her round breasts. "I can feel it all the way through, from the skin right here-" she poked again that place between "-all the way to the place at the center of my back... Right there deep inside... I feel my soul. And I remember what it was like... to be a soul. I was out there, with everything. Only a soul. I was part of the universe I... but I wasn't part of, there's not part of, there only is."

Cedric stared at her. If he thought hard about what she was saying, he didn't know how he'd feel. He chose to simply be confused and irritated. "You're not making any more sense..." He tried to soften his voice, but he came out sounding bitchier than he had intended anyway.

Cera shook her head, opening her mouth to speak "But do you get the jist of what I'm saying? Ugh, it's so hard to get my words out right! maybe I could paint you a picture?" Her eyes zoned in on something across the room, near the door. Cedric followed her line of sight and was dismayed to find that she was looking right at the rope that he knew would summon a servant.

"You seem quite tired out tonight, though, Princess Cera. We can continue this conversation later." He had no intention of coming back to see her. She was a strange, strange girl. And why wouldn't she be? She was made from strange circumstances, from a strange, strange, strange magic.

"Yes..." Cera agreed. Her eyelids were already drooping, had been drooping during the entire conversation. She was tired. Yawning, Cera brought her legs back up onto her bed and crawled toward her little mound of pillows she had formed into a makeshift nest. "I am tired. When will I see you again, Cedric?"

"That's MISTER Cedric. Or, Cedric! The Great and Powerful Royal Sorcerer!" Cedric scolded her as he got up to go. She laughed, though he didn't see what possibly could be funny.

"You're the sorcery professor at Royal Prep, aren't you?" Cera asked. She was spreading her arms, as if asking for a hug, and Cedric merely twitched an eyelid at her with irrtance.

"Ugh, DON'T remind me..." He muttered, rolling his eyes. Wait... Why was she asking? Cedric hadn't thought he'd be seeing her any time soon. What, with how overprotective the king could tend to get, Cedric had figured that the new princess would be home-schooled for her first year at least. That meant he could stay as far away from this odd one as possible. "Why do you ask?" He said quickly.

"I'm going to school tomorrow with Sofia!" Cera exclaimed happily. She clapped her little chubby hands. "I'll be able to see you then! I'm only TRYING OUT the school. The king- my father- says I can leave at any time if I get too overwhelmed or anything. Honestly, I'm excited. I want to see as much as life, of this world, as possible. Anyway. Um, yeah! So... I can just doodle all day in class so that when I see you again, I can explain better."

Cera grinned and Cedric frowned in horror. "Sound like a plan?"

But her smile was ever so sweet, with one dimple only on her left cheek. She was what was left of his amulet. A strange girl who talked too much to him.

Cedric sighed. "Alirght. That sounds like a fine plan. Now goodnight!" Cera held out her hands again. Cedric moaned. He thought she had forgotten about wanting a hug. "No! FAREWELL."

Cera laughed loudly. "Seeya, MEESTER Cedric."

"What?! It-it's MISter Cedric."