Nixiesocean: Wow. An extra-long chapter and I get, what, two reviews::tear: I see how you people are! Oh well, just cuz, I'm updating. I want at least five reviews (five, is that too hard to ask?) before I update again! Got it? Anyways, chapter eleven! You should congradulate me. Both my other 'Complete' stories stopped at 10. So, see, I'm reaching out and going out on a limb!

Chapter 11: A Memory, A Man and A Brother

I entered the dining hall with Brennin at my side. I could hear Kyne gasp, though he tried to hide it. I grinned to myself.

"Is there something that you find amusing?" Brennin asked Kyne, using his 'she's-my-sister-so-you-better-not-think-anything' voice. It made me grin to myself, again.

"No, Prince Brennin. I'm only looking at the delicate food. I thought something had moved." He was an excellent liar, I must admit. He forgot one thing: it was a salad.

He totally set himself up. "Oh good. For a second there I thought you were looking at my breasts. But I know a nice and kind prince like yourself would never think of something as immoral as that!" I said laughing internally when Kyne barely managed to hide a blush. As I went to my seat (Brennin sat to my right, Kyne to my left) I whispered in his ear. "It's a salad, my dear prince." I sat, gracefully eating the salad without getting anything on my dress or my chin. This would be an interesting dinner.

"So, Princess Fria and Prince Brennin, how was your first impression of our humble abode?" For this place, "humble" and "abode" didn't fit quite right. It was more like "lavish" and "palace". But, being the diplomatic princess that I was, I let it slide.

"It was wonderful. Prince Kyne was gracious enough to show us your wonderful contraptions, the bells, and give us a short tour of the palace. Your palace is truly a great one." Brennin choked on a piece of lettuce when I spoke of the bells, but quickly recovered. He looked innocent, but I knew better. He didn't think the bells were so great. He, I bet, thought they were a hassle.

Dinner continued.

The third and fourth courses came out before anything important came up. The fourth course was fish. I hated fish. Mom knew it and yet told them I loved it. I hate fish! I decided not to be a spoiled brat and eat the salmon, no matter how much I detested it. It was late now, about seven bells past noon. The queen assumed it would take me an hour or two to get ready to go to bed, but she was wrong. It would take me ten minutes to undress, then another two to get into a sleeping dress. I took my leave and requested Prince Kyne and Brennin to escort me to the Royal Library where I could get some books. Prince Kyne seemed hesitant about me wanting to read, but, hey, who cared? He was a guy. He came to pair of gold-gilded doors. I thought them garish, but it was his parent's palace, not mine. Stupid egotistical men… sheesh.

He opened the doors and with a very unneeded sweep of his arm, he showed me the huge library contained behind the ostentatious doors. Brennin, who loved books as much as a fish loved land, was unimpressed. I barely contained a gasp of surprise. It was huge! Three stories of wall-to-wall books! I wanted to go straight to the Romance section, but he led me to autobiographies (ugh! I hate those!).

"I know you might find these boring, but…" He was starting talking in 'blah, blah and blahs'. I took this chance to take a better look at the wondrous library. The three stories that I had earlier observed was the smaller area. It went up to four at the peak of the arches. The ladders that were used to access the higher areas of each level were neatly stored to the right of each section. Brennin yawned. Oh, he was done talking. "Where do you want to go?" There were labels above each area, clearly readable from the ground level. I saw my area, Romance. It was next to Monarchies, how boring…

"Monarchies." I said simply. He led me to the third floor, after hiking up two stairways and walking around half of the dome, we arrived at my requested area. He took his leave to head to the area to my right. Romance.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kyne sighed as he picked out books, his favorites. He set them to his left, near Princess Fria. She randomly picked out books from the shelves and handed them to her brother, the prince. He decided to speak up. "Princess Fria, I thought you might want to read some novels, if you'd like. I don't know many young ladies that like to read about monarchies." He handed his stack of books to her. She took the books from Prince Brennin and handed him the romance novels. She then proceeded to put the monarchy books away. He sighed; at least they had some common ground there. She treated him like dirt. Then again, she probably thought of him as dirt. She would be leaving in a week anyways. Then at least he would have peace and quiet to complete his studies, and his (forced) romances. A voice interrupted his grim thoughts.

"I believe we are ready to go, Prince Kyne." Princess Fria said, her soft voice carried by the light air of the Great Auldn Library. "Are you?" He had one book in my hand. Its title was obscured by age, but it was well worn, so he assumed it was a good book.

They walked out of the library, the princess's brother not saying a word about the weight of the books he was carrying. I was almost eight bells past noon when they reached the intersection between the prince's quarters and the guest quarters. He spoke in a soft voice. "I would appreciate your attendance at breakfast at seven bells before noon, Princess Fria and Prince Brennin." The princess agreed and turned down the hallway that led to her and her brother's quarters. The prince turned and headed to his quarters. He entered through the door and shut it quietly behind him. He breathed deeply and started to take off his overly hot clothes. A maid timidly knocked. He scrambled to get his shirt back on.

"The princess requests the color of the dress she is to wear tomorrow for breakfast." The maid said quietly. Kyne thought about it.

"Tell her that she may choose. I cannot constrict her to what I would like her to wear." The maid nodded and left. He continued to take off his clothes and head to bed. He crawled under the warm covers and quickly went to sleep.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I entered the stables, dressed as a simple hand. He had been there again. Like he had every day since the day he had taken my heart. I approached. He set down his pitchfork and turned to me, his dark brown-blue-green eyes taking me into their endless depths. His black hair was tied into a short ponytail. Still a few stray ends framed his solidly built face well. It was this day two months ago I had fallen for this common stable boy.

"Hello, Olathe. How was the day for the little rose today?" His voice was the sound of a bell, not the high musical sound, but a bass bell. He was everything a woman would want.

"Good, Favian. I had a wonderful day." I said, keeping my eyes downcast like I had seen my maids do when I scolded them. I could see his boot-shod feet coming closer. My heart skipped a beat. He was close. His arms wrapped me in a hug. I could hear his heart beating.

"Don't be submissive around me, Olathe." He whispered into my ear. He smelled of hay and alfalfa. I looked up into his eyes, those endless depths of his eyes. His face neared mine. As his lips brushed mine I freaked. I squirmed. What if he tried… what ifs ran through my head. I pulled away, stumbling backward and tripping over a fallen broom. My hair came out of the messy bun and tumbled around my head.

"I'm sorry…" He was stunned. I tried to make amends. "Please, I... I've never been kissed…"

Favian came up to me, eyes bewildered. "Princess Fria?"

I cursed inside myself. A tear, unchecked, slipped down my fake-dirty cheeks. "Yes. I'm sorry. Maybe we could still-"

"In this, I am sorry, Princess. I cannot. Our stations separate us."

I stood. He was a few feet from where I had been sitting. I kissed him lightly. "I love you Favian. Stable boy or not. I'd love you if you were a prince or a lowly goatherd." I walked out. When I kissed his cheek, I noticed a small trickle that might've been a tear had I not been overcome by grief. I reached my rooms and cried all night into that pillow. My sixteen-year-old self had thought Favian would accept me as the princess, that he wouldn't care. I hardened my heart to the stupidities of men. I promised myself the only people I would love were my family. The next day I went down to the stable to say farewell to the stable boy that had enchanted my heart. I saw the stable master, Gream, working where Favian had normally worked.

"Where's Favian, Master Gream?" I asked, I was dressed as the princess, no point in pretending any longer. The man I had loved no longer wanted me.

"He left, late last night, Princess. He said something to the effect of got to get away from this life," whatever that was meant." He scratched his chin, then looked at me again. "He told me that if you came looking for him that I should give you this message." He paused. I decided not to listen to it.

"It is all well, Master Gream." I turned, not letting him see the tears that stained my cheeks. I walked out before he could give me the message. I didn't want it. Not after how injured that damn man had left me. I walked to the library and pulled out my favorite book. When I started the first page, I found I couldn't read it. Another and another tear slipped down my porcelain-colored cheeks. Brennin found me hours later curled up in front of the fire, my book soaked from my salt tears. He reached out a hand and-

"Fria!" He said. "Wake up, Fria." His gentle voice awoke me from my memory-nightmare. "It's early morning." I opened my eyes. His worried face was the first thing I focused on. His eyes flicked to my cheeks. "Were you dreaming about Favian again?" Why did he have to ask? Weren't we close enough for him to know?

"Yes." I whispered. He leaned down, comforting me. I cried into his shoulder, soaking the light fabric through. I finally was lacking water to cry. "Thank you." I said when I was done crying.

"You need to get ready for breakfast," he said kindly. "The prince will be waiting." I visibly shivered. I entered the stables- "Fria! Stop thinking of him! You've gone five years. Prince Kyne shouldn't remind you of him-"

"I'll be fine. Call a maid then leave. I'll be all right." I assured him. It was hard not to think of F-him. I looked over at the stack of books that Brennin had brought it from the Great Auldn Library. The topmost book took me by surprise. The Lost Memory. I hadn't thought Kyne that gushy. I wiped a tear from my cheek and looked for the maid. Brennin had long left. A maid appeared. I had already picked out a midnight blue dress with a high neck for her to help me dress in. Down the front, small silver stars reflected the night sky. It was formal for breakfast, but it fit my mood quite nicely.

I met Brennin outside my room and we walked in silence. I saw he noticed my choice of dress, but he didn't comment. I went and ate breakfast with the prince in silence. He noticed my dress, but, like Brennin, chose not to comment. There was one question I asked the prince during breakfast. "May I go riding?" He had a simple answer. Yes. After breakfast he took me to the stables. There, like every memory I had, stood a man shoveling hay into the hayloft. "Favian!" I screamed at the man. He turned his saddened eyes to me. His short-cut black hair spun midair. His hazel eyes took me in.

He stopped shoveling the hay to come near me. Brennin wisely stopped Kyne from speaking. "Princess?" He reached out a hand to touch my cheek. I smacked it.

"You left me for dead!" I yelled, tears running down my cheeks. "I cried for weeks. You didn't care. You left that night to pursue your idiotic career! You despicable, worthless scum!"

I turned on my heel, like I had that morning I found out he had left, and marched out. I didn't want to ride today. In fact, all I wanted to do was vent my anger on the thing I could do as a lady, and a princess. I changed into breeches and a shirt and went outside. I ran. Tears streamed down my face, but I ran. My heart pounded heavily, but I ran. Around the palace lawns, into the practice fields, around the palace again until I stopped near the doors, exhausted. Brennin sat outside, calmly waiting for me. He handed a cup of cool spring water to me. I swallowed it. He extended a kind hand and helped me inside. I had a cold bath and washed up. I let me anger and my rage float down the drain along with my soaps and sweat.

By the time I had cooled off from that random encounter with my childhood sweetheart, it was noon and lunch was in order. Prince Kyne had told my brother to inform me of his lunch invite, but I declined. I didn't want to eat lunch around one that could harbor such a betrayer. I locked myself up and only allowed Brennin and the maid that brought my food to enter. Kyne knocked once, but I didn't allow him to enter.

"Brennin?" I asked. "When do we leave?" I wanted to be gone from here. It was a wretched place with too much furnishings and too many hateful feelings, mainly in the stables.

"Three days. If you still want to leave after these last three days, we will leave. If not, I will leave you here." He sounded sure of himself. I wished I could be so sure. I felt like a little sister. I wasn't a year older than him anymore; I was a year younger. My heart had just been re-broken by the man that had broken it. I had never fully recovered from that breaking five years back.