Author: Shadowdawn199
Challenger: HazardtheAssassin

Her Hand

"Let me tell you a story about a kingdom in the sky, were dragons fly and people are blessed with strange but beautiful powers.

This kingdom is ruled by a benevolent king and queen. They ruled the lands with a fair and just hand, and brought the kingdom into a new found era of peace and prosperity.

In this time of peace, the only great strife to be found was the deciding of who should be heir to the throne.

Firstly there was the eldest daughter, the Lady Seraph. She was fully grown into womanhood, and had hand fasted in love to a great lord. She was the best leader, and had already proven to be as fair and just as her parents, and was skillful at solving the many disputes in the kingdom.

But she had many siblings, and while only three were of age to take the throne, they also had good claims.

Second was her brother, the Lord Xandy. He was said to be so extremely exotic and beautiful that all wept at his feet to see him. Not only was he handsome, he was courtly and diplomatic, so much so that he possessed not a single ill-wisher in the whole of the kingdom, or even beyond.

Third in line to seize the throne was the Lady Prowess. Her piercing eyes were said to look into your very soul, and she was fierce, proud and strong. She showed exception fighting skills, and had led many armies to battle to fight for her parent's peace.

Final amongst the siblings vying for the crown was the Lady Owl. She was quick witted and clever, and possessed such a sense of humor that when she was younger she had travelled the land, trying to make every person in the kingdom laugh. And she had succeeded, making even the most sour tempered throw back their heads in mirth.

They each presented their claims to their parents, yet the king and queen could not decide between them. Each sibling then began to showcase their talents more and more, hoping to impress their parents and become heir. They fought, growing bitter, and their other many siblings began to leave them alone, afraid to show favour to one as another might accuse them of doing.

Finally, war erupted to the north of the kingdom. The four siblings went to the warfront, each determine to use the fighting as a way to win the kingdom. And while they were away, their parents passed away as a mysterious disease swept through court. This disease also claimed the one person closest to each of the siblings, a husband, general, courtier and jester dear to the four.

The war ended, the siblings came home, and were greeted by the sorrowful faces of their family. Immediately the fighting for the crown stopped as grief reigned, and they split the kingdom into four, each part ruled by a different sibling. They took their brothers and sisters as wards, and now the land in the sky is ruled peacefully once more."

Shadow finished her tale, and shut the book with a snap. Her younger sister moaned. "Aw, Shadow, couldn't you tell me another story?" Airy begged, rolling over in the grass and looking dolefully at her sister with large, liquid eyes.

Shadow smiled and clued in to her sister's plan, shaking her head. Airy knew that if she stayed with Shadow she wouldn't have to go out to do her training, and she wouldn't have to read the gigantic, old dusty volume on the Air element she despised so much. Once, she even made paper gliders out of its pages, though Seraph had fixed them when she'd found out.

"No, Airy, you've got to do training. I thought you loved your element, why don't you want to train with it?" Shadow asked, suddenly puzzled. Airy loved Air, so much so that when it came to choose her adult name on her fifteenth birthday she had immediately chosen the name Air Spirt. Why wouldn't she want to go and spend an hour with it?

Airy frowned. "It's hard. My element refuses to do anything I tell it to do, I can't even get it to dry my hair," she sighed.

"Airy, how about I help you with your technique? Magic is just as strong willed and stubborn as Air, I'm sure I could help you," a voice said from behind them. Shadow and Airy spun around, and the green spun with them.

"Hootie!" Airy cried, heaving herself up and running full pelt at their elder sister. Hootie laughed, and staggered as Airy collided with her. Shadow got up slower and headed over to her sister to embrace her also.

Hootie smiled her easy smile at both of them, and rubbed Airy's hair. "You know we have to summon our elements, right, not control them?" Hootie asked. Airy stared at her, surprised, and slowly shook her head. Hootie grinned at her, and then winked at Shadow.

Shadow nodded gratefully, and clicked her fingers. She reappeared in the corner of the servant's corridor leading up to the Great Hall, and smirked. Hazard wasn't the only one in their family with the ability to teleport, though she was really only shadow traveling.

She had to get everything ready. As Seraph's only ward, she had taken it upon herself to become the steward, organizing everything in the big old castle where they lived. She quite liked it, actually, though it got a little stressful sometimes.

She hurried through the corridor and into the Great Hall. And gasped. Her sisters Jane, Star and brother Xandy were already in there, and the place was already looking amazing. Jane had her servant mechs trooping in and out, bringing in decorations while Xandy artfully arranged them, along with growing flowers here and there. And Star was currently painting the walls in spiraling frost patterns. Shadow rolled her eyes. She'd so been looking forward to this job, in fact it was the only job she wanted to do.

Then she realised that if Xandy was already here, that meant that Prow would be here soon too. Shadow turned on her heels and shadow traveled away, stress levels rising as she remembered everything that needed to be done, and done quickly.

"The Lady Prowess, and her wards, the Lords Hazard and Techno," the page trumpeted, and Shadow smiled politely along with the rest of her family as Prow and company trooped in. They were later than expected, but Shadow had not minded. It meant she had had more than enough ample time to get everything ready.

Now they all could go into the Great Hall, and she'd finally be able to see what exactly had been done to it by her siblings. They'd shooed her out when she'd tried to go back in, saying she was to be surprised along with everyone else. She'd scowled jokingly at them and left them to it.

She hoped Jane hadn't taken a leaf out of Tech's book and built a train in there, like she'd been threatening since she'd last stayed over. Or sky forbid, a robot. Hopefully Xandy had kept his ward under control. She knew Hootie had been playing with hers all afternoon, they'd made paper gliders again but at least they hadn't torn them out of the Air element book.

She wondered about her family sometimes.

The dinner passed smoothly, and without a hitch. Shadow breathed a sigh of relief at that. As they all prepared to leave and retreat to their private study so they could really talk without the prying ears of their noble entourages, Shadow found someone approaching her. The hooded stranger bowed gracefully, and Shadow cut off her talk with Xandy to look at them. She heard the rest of her family quiet down to listen in to their conversation.

She smiled politely. "How may I help you?" Shadow asked. The stranger stood, and Shadow barely kept from gasping. The stranger was a beautiful woman, dressed elegantly in lavender with a black and purple cloak trimmed with gold. A show war fan hung on the woman's belt, but it was the stranger lady's eyes that caught Shadow's attention. They glittered a sharp, metallic silvery blue. The lady smiled.

"I, Star Strike, present this rose to the Lady Shadow Dawn, though it compares none to her grace and beauty," Star Strike flourished a white rose, and placed it at Shadow's feet. Shocked, she watched as the lady swirled her cloak and walked away from the high table.

"Well, it looks like Shadow's got her first suitor," Seraph remarked, lips curved into a wry smile.