Chapter Four

Fact or Fairy Tale

VALLOKEN

So she hasn't really changed much at all, Val mused to himself as he ascended the steps leading up to the palace entrance where his sister stood waiting for him. She still looks like a sly fox with secrets hidden underneath that false smile. But he had to admit, Talya did look different - certainly the part of a queen for that matter. She had evidently grown out her strawberry blonde hair, which was now done up nicely in a braided bun. He'd never seen her keep long hair before, but then again, he had never really been around long enough to notice, what with their parents sending him away and all.

She was roughly the same height as he was - something he vehemently detested - and her freckles matched his own, marking them both distinctly as siblings. There was no denying it, anyone could tell the two of them were related, and Val hated it. She was still as slim and pretty as the day he'd left, and he guessed that she had been keeping fit to look good in all the public appearances that she now had to show up at.

As he approached her, he studied her blue eyes. The coldness and distance he had expected from times past were not there, to his genuine surprise, and instead there was an unmistakable uncertainty in them. Her lips were pressed into a smile, but when he he paid close attention, he saw that they were quivering ever so slightly. She's nervous. Val scoffed silently to himself as he retained his mask of stolidity, a practiced smile on his features.

"Your Majesty." He said, bowing with the instinct of royal etiquette still ingrained deep in his bones.

"It's good to see you, Val." To Talya's credit, her voice didn't waver.

Val gave a rigid nod, acutely aware that the masses were watching. Camera flashes blinded the peripheral of his eye, and he suppressed his mild annoyance. Now that he was back home, he was going to have to get used to the publicity all over again. It was something he certainly could do without.

"Likewise." Val said, though he was lying through his teeth. It was all a show for the media, and the both of them knew it.

It was Talya's turn to give him a nod, and she gestured for him to follow her into the palace. Val cast a glance over his shoulder to see if the limousine door was by any chance still open. It wasn't, for it had driven off, leaving him trapped in this approximation of a mausoleum. He resisted giving a soft grunt, and clasped his hands behind his back as he followed his sister through the large doors of the palace, his own small entourage of guards and secretary in tow. The doors clanged shut behind him, drowning out the incessant click of the camera shutters and the shouts of the people outside.

Now they were alone, and yet, not truly. The palace staff were still around, hustling about to carry out their duties, and the Valquerson Rifles still stood guard in their ceremonial uniforms, rigid and stoic. His own staff stood behind him, and his sister's did likewise. Talya stopped and turned round to face him. Here in the brilliantly lit foyer of the palace, he now noticed that his sister had been sweating, though he suspected that it had nothing to do with the summer heat.

"Welcome home, Val." Talya said, her voice slightly less tensed now that they were finally out of the public eye.

He said nothing, regarding her again with a small nod.

"Please, join me in the gallery if you aren't too tired from your journey." Talya continued. "I'd like to show you around again. A lot has changed since you've left."

Val bit back a nasty comment about that being partially her fault. Instead, he kept his expression neutral.

"And then maybe we can have a private dinner in the dining hall. The official celebration isn't until tomorrow, but I thought we could use the time to catch up."

Now she'd put him in a tight spot. Unwittingly or not, he couldn't say. But with everyone around, he certainly couldn't turn down his own sister's offer. The Queen's offer.

"I'd like that." He forced a smile, adjusting the fit of his spectacles.

"Great!" Talya said a little too expressively, and clasped her hands together in joy.

Val noted that she was still wearing the same gloves she'd been wearing every time he visited, but by now he'd given up wanting to question why. He honestly didn't care anymore.

"Orm here will show you to your room." Talya gestured to her secretary, who bowed at the mention of his name.

"That's alright. It's been a couple of years but I still know where my room is." Val said, careful to keep any emotion out of his voice.

Talya looked a little thrown off, but went on quickly. "Right. You'll be happy to know we didn't change a thing." She motioned at his luggages that were being carried by his own servants. "We'll help you get your things up to your room."

"No thanks." Val hitched a thumb over his shoulder at his own staff. "My people can handle that." He knew very well that "his people" were hers by birthright, but he hoped she didn't bring it up.

She didn't. Instead, she hesitated for a moment, glanced at Orm, and then cleared her throat. "Right. I'll see you in the gallery in half an hour? Will that be enough time for you to get settled."

"Plenty." He said. "Please excuse me." He sketched a tiny bow and moved past Talya and her people, his own staff in tow. Ascending the wide staircase leading up to the floors above, he ran a hand across the banister. This place was as he remembered: royal, magnificent…cold.

"Sir," Winston said as they arrived outside Val's old room and the servants opened the door for him. "Will you be needing anything?"

"No, Winston. I think I'll manage. Now that I'm here, my sister's staff can take over duties. You're officially on leave. Go back to your home in Vjor. I'll call you if I need anything." Val motioned to his staff to set down the luggages anywhere they pleased. "Same goes for the rest of you. Enjoy yourselves, get a couple of drinks. They're on me." He chuckled. "Or more accurately, they're on my sister."

Val waited for his secretary and servants to leave before he walked into his old room, and flipped on the switch. The room lit up spectacularly, reminding him of the times when he would spend a few short days living in here at a time, only to be sent off again. In truth, this place felt more like a grand hotel than his home. He felt entirely out of place here. And to think that this was going to be his permanent residence from now on. The thought of it felt so…foreign.

He glanced round. Talya was right. Nothing had been touched. His old toys from his infancy were still in a transparent storage box, his drawings pinned up on the walls. Stationery and half finished inventions still lay on the desk from where he'd left it four years ago. He walked over to his unfinished work and picked one up. It was a data decryption piece of hardware he'd brought home to work on, only to be abandoned out of frustration. Looking at it now, he knew exactly where the problems lay. A smile crossed his face. He'd come a long way since then. What would that witty fifteen year old boy think if I told him that he'd eventually graduate at the top of his college cohort? Val was sure that he would be innovating things far more advanced than this now that he was back home. In a strange way, he could see a silver lining to it all. Out of anger and indignation, he'd buried himself in his studies of engineering and cyber intelligence, and now he was seeing the fruits of his labour.

Nonetheless, it still felt weird being back home. The thought of him staying indefinitely made him uneasy, but he knew he was going to have to get used to it. And he would have to start by having dinner with his estranged sister. Val sighed and removed his grey suit jacket, draping it over a chair. He loosened his tie and rolled up his sleeves. He went over to the window and gazed out of it. Beyond the bridge stretched the rest of the kingdom. A bustling city filled with people, a world waiting to be transformed by his ideas and innovation. By now, he was sure that Talya had heard about his ambitions over the news. Val hoped she had. He wanted to make it clear to her that he wasn't looking for her permission or approval. She wasn't going to stop him from revolutionising the kingdom's intelligence and security, and she certainly wasn't going to keep him cooped up in the palace with royal duties. And if she hadn't gotten the message by now, Val was going to make sure she did by the end of tonight.

###

"Val!" Talya called out to him as he rounded the corner and turned into the royal gallery. "Thanks for coming."

Again, Val nodded stoically, glancing round. There were none of her Valquerson Rifles in sight, and neither were there any of the royal staff around. She'd probably requested for some privacy, and it was just as well. He didn't need people witnessing their tense and awkward reunion, and he supposed that she felt the same way.

Talya was dressed in something more casual: a dark green dinner dress, and she still had her white gloves on. She had also let her hair down from a bun into a loose ponytail and Val had to admit, she did look much better with long hair than she had with her short hair. She wore the same welcoming smile on her face, as though she was greeting a complete stranger. They might as well have been.

"No need to stand on ceremony here," she beckoned him. "No one's around to see that we're observing royal etiquette. We're family, anyway."

So now we're family. Cautiously, Val crossed the room to join her side.

"A lot has changed since you've left." Talya said as he joined her side. She hadn't made any mention of him missing the coronation. Yet.

"Oh?" Val said noncommittally.

"We remodelled the audience chambers, the great hall, the dining halls, the council chambers…" she paused. "Well, basically everything. But I'm most proud of the gallery." She gestured around them. "Do you like it?"

Val glanced around. The walls were plastered with portraits of their ancestors. Paintings and digital art in the style of the renaissance era, all in large, fine print. And then he recalled. Oh, right. Talya loves history.

"It's…an interesting choice of decoration." He answered neutrally.

"The gallery now features our ancestry." Talya went on proudly. "I had almost every painting, both original and digitalised, consolidated all in one place." She waved happily at the walls. "Come, let me show you. Here's our father, King Olaf the Sixth, and…"

It's not like I have a choice, do I? Val obliged her without showing his disinterest, her voice distant in his ears as she droned on and on about who the various paintings were about. Personally, he never really cared much for their family history. He'd always been more interested in looking to the future than to the past. There was nothing in their history that would help them move forward, and would only keep them anchored in stagnancy. He couldn't for the life of him understand why his sister was so intrigued by it.

"Ah, and this one. My personal favourite." Talya stopped in front of a grand portrait, far larger than any of the others in the gallery. It had an entire wall's height dedicated to it, stretching all the way from the top of the ceiling down to the floor.

Val looked at it. He recognised the portrait. Anyone who lived on this side of the continent knew who it was featured in that painting. There were variations of all sizes of the portrait across the countries which he'd travelled to, and no matter where he went, he could never seem to escape the sight of one in a tourism shop or as a statue in the middle of a park.

"Queen Anna." Talya declared proudly. "The first ruler in our kingdom's history to ever defend our home against invaders. Two armies, in fact. The Southern Isles' and the Exonian Empire's. She led the famous Coalition of the North against Exon during the War of the Exonian Empire."

"Yes, so I've heard." Everyone knew of how great a legend Queen Anna was. It did spark a bit of pride in Val to think that this great monarch was his ancestress, albeit six generations ago.

"She allied herself with her sister, the Snow Queen, and the powerful League of Sorcerers to bring down the Empire and end the war. They're "

Val snorted. "Now that part is just myth."

Talya stopped. "What?"

"Everyone knows that those are just fairytales meant for children." Val said. "League of Sorcerers? Snow Queen?"

"They're not fairytales. The historians blotted out the truth when they thought Queen Anna's recounts were too far fetched."

"Queen Anna's sister died in the forest when they were still young." Val went on. "The psychologists and historians agreed. Queen Anna was devastated after the death of her older sister that she covered up her grief with her own version of reality. And that followed her into old age, and by then she had been completely convinced of her own truth even though her sister had died decades ago."

"So you're saying Queen Anna was delirious?" Talya said, her voice rising a little indignant defensiveness.

He shrugged. "Even I, who don't care much for history, know that."

"Well, I believe that it's all true. The Snow Queen. The League of Sorcerers. All of it."

Val rolled his eyes. He'd always known his sister was a little strange, but this…believing in wizards and witches with their magical voodoo nonsense?

"And you mean to tell me you also believe that the Snow Queen is still alive today?" He said, unable to keep the sarcasm out of his voice.

Talya drew herself up. "I do."

"Talya, it's just a fairytale meant for kids."

"Val-"

"Never mind." Val chuckled to himself. Let her believe whatever she want. It makes no difference to me.

Talya looked like she wanted to argue further, but bit her lip. A few awkward moments passed between them, and Val could sense the unspoken tension in the vast gallery. They stood, eyes locked, until Talya broke the silence.

"Shall we have dinner?" Talya suggested. "I'm sure Chef Lorne has something special whipped up tonight."

"Of course." Val said coolly. "After you then." To think that she believes the Snow Queen is real and still alive. What nonsense. He glanced once more at the enormous portrait of Queen Anna as his sister led the way, and followed her out of the gallery.