Disclaimer: I do not know Gail Carson Levine nor am I Gail Carson Levine. Many of the settings and some of the characters used in this story are hers.

A/N: Wow, I just realized how many people here have the pen name "daydreamer" so I guess I'll just call myself "daydream" for now (I know, how creative) until I can find something else that describes myself. But I guess I have to warn you guys that I'll prolly have to end up calling myself "Dork" or something. Lol, ok, anyway, sorry if I just made you fall asleep. ANYWAY, the point I'm writing this is to thank all of you who read my story and also to all of you who reviewed!! It made me happy :). I really appreciate you guys reading my story and reviewing, it means a lot! Thanks a bunch!

Aria's Melody

Chapter One: Remembering

4 years later…

"Aria! Aria, come back here right now! You know we're not supposed to be going anywhere right now. We'll get in trouble!" Emily watched with a sinking heart as her friend kept running across the grass, plainly ignoring Emily's shouts for her to come back. With a sigh, she reluctantly picked up the skirts of her dress and proceeded to run after Aria.

"I can never understand," Emily panted as soon as she'd caught up with Aria and they'd slowed to a walk, "why I always have to chase after you to try to convince you to go back with me. But then I can never understand why I always end up staying with you and then later we end up getting in trouble together."

Aria smiled as she knelt down to pluck lonely wildflowers from the ground. "You know you do it because you think it's fun. Anyway, what's the point of me going off when I don't have my best friend around?" She twirled the stems of the flowers around one another for a moment before fixing them into her hair.

Emily nodded a little absently. "You know, I don't know what I'm going to do without you if I get married and don't live by you anymore. I won't have anyone to convince me to do rebellious things anymore." She sighed. "I'll be a boring old maid."

"Get married!" Aria came to a halt near a willow tree beside the brook they'd arrived at and gave Emily a surprised look. "Get married?" she repeated.

"Father's been hinting about traveling to Kyrria to visit a friend of his, whose son is supposedly quite the—"

Emily was interrupted by Aria's loud groan as she slumped down onto the grass under the shadows of the tree. "You can't get married yet! What am I going to do? Do you even want to get married yet?"

Emily sighed and settled down uncomfortably beside Aria, making sure the grass wasn't overly muddy. "We're both sixteen Aria. It's not like you're going to be stuck here for long by yourself. Your father's going to be thinking about marriage for you soon too, you know."

"He's too busy and concerned with himself to worry about me," Aria said confidently, waving her hand in the air dismissively.

Emily opened her mouth to speak but stopped instead and nudged Aria silently with her elbow.

"What?"

"Sh!" Emily put a finger to her lips and gestured to their left.

Aria's eyes followed her gesture and watched with curiosity as the prince of Ayortha, head bowed and fists clenched, walked in their direction, following the path of the brook. Aria could hear his angry mutterings and was sure that he hadn't noticed Emily and her under the tree yet.

Emily gave a questioning look at Aria and Aria shrugged, not knowing why Prince Frederick was obviously so angry. She slowly got up from her position under the willow tree and turned to leave, gesturing to Emily for her to follow.

The last thing Aria wanted was for them to get caught in someone's warpath and be discovered for skipping the—

"What are you two doing here?"

Startled, Aria turned, the forgotten wildflowers sliding out of her hair. Prince Frederick stood near them, his fists still clenched, but his angry gaze was now directed towards Emily and Aria.

"Uh.." Aria thought quickly as Emily and herself both automatically curtsied without thought.

Years of rebelling had given Aria much practice in coming up with ways to get out of trouble, and if she couldn't get out of trouble, she could usually help lighten the punishment that was in store for her. However, it was usually her governess or a teacher that she had to deal with, and this situation was oddly new.

A stormy look took over Prince Frederick's usually handsome features as he narrowed his eyes suspiciously, as though Aria and Emily had purposely been hiding under the tree to hear him rant. "Aren't you two supposed to be at the assembly to review the new laws my father put into place last week?"

A mixture of sadness and anger washed over Aria at the thought of the new laws, but she quickly pushed them away, focusing on the matter in front of her. "Aren't you supposed to be there too?" She ignored the look Emily gave her for not addressing the prince properly.

Frederick scowled and looked away. "It isn't as though I agree with the laws anyway," he muttered.

Emily and Aria both looked at the prince in surprise. "You don't agree with the new laws? But didn't the king say—"

"I know my father said that helped him with the creation of the laws," Frederick interrupted Aria, "and I did sit there while he came up with them. But it doesn't mean I agree with them. I hate them, actually."

Aria couldn't agree more. She would've said so too, except stopped because of the knowing glance Emily directed towards her for Aria to hold her tongue. So instead, Aria frowned. "If you didn't agree with them, then why did you let your father put them into effect and say that you helped him come up with them?"

Frederick scowled again before grumbling quietly, "He's the king." His face seemed to darken, and he turned his head in the direction of the brook, the abrupt movement making his usually tame brown hair slightly disheveled.

"And you're his son!" Aria stated the fact a little louder than she'd intended. "Do you know how horrible everyone thinks the new laws are? And they don't even make sense! Why would the king ban singing, the festivals in the—"

"It's not as if I can stop him!" The prince snapped angrily, cutting off Aria's question brusquely.

Aria sighed impatiently and threw her hands up in the air. "Yes you can! If you only stood up to your father instead of letting him control your whole life, and if you would only stop being such a—"

"Aria!" Emily interrupted, her eyes wide. She turned to Frederick, an apologetic smile on her face. "I'm sorry, Your Majesty, but Aria here is just upset because she hasn't a dress yet for the ball, and she just took out her anger at you…" With another quick smile and a curtsy, Emily grabbed Aria's arm and pulled her around the tree and through the grass, away from the brook and away from Prince Frederick.

"Why'd you pull me away?" Aria hissed, once they were a good enough distance away from the prince, who was still standing near the brook, silently brooding and staring after them. "I wanted to give him a piece of my mind about the new laws and tell him what a coward I think he is for not standing up to his own father." She enunciated the last statement loudly, hoping somehow the wind would carry the words to the prince.

"First of all, if you had said any of that to Prince Frederick, he would have probably have gotten us into more trouble than you can even fathom and secondly, the king's just heartbroken over the death of the queen—"

"But he shouldn't be so bitter as to make absurd laws that will make the whole kingdom sad and angry!"

"—and maybe once King Randall get over this period of bitterness, he'll take these laws away—"

"But who knows how long that will be—if he does take them away!" Aria suddenly frowned. "And what were you saying—a dress for the ball? We aren't even having a ball, are we? I don't think anyone can be in the mood for a ball at a time like this."

Emily stared. "You don't know about the ball?"

Aria stared back. "No…I don't know about the ball." She didn't understand why Emily was making such a big deal out of what would probably end up being a dull event. Especially, she thought to herself, now that we can't even sing.

"Aria!" Emily pulled her friend to a stop beside her in the field. "King Charmont and Queen Eleanor's oldest son is coming to spend a year here in Ayortha next week! It's going to be a welcoming ball."

Aria felt her heart begin to beat a little faster than before. King Charmont and Queen Eleanor's oldest son? Forgotten memories of the incident four years ago rushed through her mind. Her foolish run-away into the forest from finishing school, the ogres… Prince Terence.

Her mind obliviously drifted back to when she was twelve and the time she'd run away. After being half the night up talking with the prince, Aria had gone back to the tent and to bed, her decision made to not sneak off again. One of the knights had taken her back home to Ayortha and to the terrible finishing school the next day. Aria had left the forest with the knowledge of her and the prince of Kyrria as acquaintances, but not necessarily friends.

Once she'd been back to Ayortha, the commotion that came with her arrival had been her main concern, that and her newly discovered gift of being able to cause the unconsciousness of ogres. Aria had never mentioned to anyone that she'd met Prince Terence.

So now Aria remained silent, her mind tumbling thoughts around with a mix of guilt and embarrassment. Guilt that she hadn't told her best friend she'd met one of King Charmont and Queen Eleanor's sons, but embarrassment also that she had remembered such trivial information as her meeting Prince Terence and that she was suddenly putting so much thought into the silly matter.

"Are you alright?" Emily's concerned voice interrupted Aria's plethora of thoughts, startling Aria and causing her to blink, as though she'd suddenly woken up from a long nap.

"Y-yes, I'm fine." Aria hoped she sounded convincing enough and smiled. "I was just thinking how wonderful it'd be if we could switch princes with Kyrria—they can have Prince Frederick any day."

Emily laughed. "Well, I hear he is going next year to Kyrria, but not permanently. Anyway, we don't know if Kyrria's heir is any less cowardly than Prince Frederick is."

"Do you know the name of the prince of Kyrria who is coming?" Aria asked as casually as possible, focusing on Emily's blonde hair rather than her eyes.

Emily shrugged. "I'm not sure." She grinned. "But I hope he's handsome."

Aria nodded absently, trying to remember if Prince Terence had ever said anything about being the oldest son of the royal family in Kyrria. Her stomach did a strange flip when she suddenly remembered something the prince had said that night four years ago. You can call me Terence.

She shook her head a moment later, disgusted with herself. All this deep pondering about something that was probably in fact shallow and ridiculous was making Aria feel as though she were one of the somewhat frivolous girls at court. A prince of Kyrria was the least of her worries.

Aria took a deep breath and straightened her shoulders with determination, not noticing the curious glance Emily directed at her. Right now, she just had to make Prince Frederick realize he had to convince his father of the horrendous consequences that could result from the new laws. And if he wouldn't do it and refuse to stand up to King Randall, well, then she would. Whatever the consequences might be.

A/N: Can anyone guess what happens next? Haha I hope it isn't THAT obvious. We'll see… ;) Keep reviewing, suggesting, reading, commenting, throwing up, etc., etc.! lol

Luv,

"daydream" (for now)