Just a child, my mother brought me to that elegant balcony, the great one
that overlooked the vast and lush kingdom that it ruled over. From a
distance, that which held that balcony was great. A palace that stretched
over land that could hold a million humble homes. It, right in the center
of the thriving land that was Jupiter.
"That which you see before you, My Child," my mother told me, resting an elegantly gloved hand on my shoulder, "that will be yours, all of it. When I become weakened by age, and, therefore, are unable to rule it any longer, the time about when you have just come into the prime of your life, it shall be yours."
I looked over that balcony at the seemingly endless sea of the great land that I was told would be mine and smiled. In the blissful ignorance of childhood, I smiled. Smiled because I could see the power that I had always felt better than ever surging through my body. Truly a princess, at that moment, more than any moment that would come.
With fairytaleish dreams of ruling over the vast land, dressed in beautiful, flowing dresses, having elegant balls, and meeting prince charming riding in on a white horse to steal me away to wedding. Of a family making me a Queen with even more power; endless, it seemed., and of sitting on a throne, ordering my every whim on servants. All this flashed through my head at that moment. Truly wrong at that moment more than any other moment that would come.
Growing up in my teen years, I began to realize that everything was quite different than what I had dreamed of as a child. Poverty, suffering, death, and unhappiness like I had never nearly know before.
Now, when I looked off that balcony, I saw a small boy, dressed in only tattered pants, courting his sick mother, dressed in a thin, ripped, remnant of a dress, in the cold, trying to hold her up, as she could barely walk. Then, the boy, himself, was overtaken by a violent fit of coughing, his feeble mother trying to comfort him. Taking his hand, she slowly, painfully lead him off, most likely to their home. Their home was probably nothing more than one room, with four walls, if they were lucky, invested with vermin and disease that would continue to eat away at them. Barely enough food to sustain a single person, let alone two, I saw them splitting a small piece between the two of them. And there was nothing they could do about it, any of it. There was nothing that little boy could do but watch as his only companion in the world withered away, him not very far behind her.
All this was going on while I was living with much more than I needed. An enormous castle with all the luxuries one's mind could ever think to want. My room, twice as large at least as their entire house, adorned with tapestries with the bold colors of the family crest, and other thinks of that nature, paintings of the landscapes of Jupiter, and a large, soft bed with a plentiful amount of elegant, hand embroidered pillows and blankets, crafted from the most skilled fabric workers, draped upon it. Beautiful dresses, furs, hats, shoes, gloves, enough to dress an army just in that closet that was just slightly bigger than that humble shack. Lavish dinners with all kinds of meats, fruits, vegetables, breads, and gourmet desserts, decorated with care by experienced royal bakers; all sorts of delicacies.
I had all of this, and that woman and her little son didn't even have enough room to sleep comfortably, or a bed to do so in, nor enough cloth to cover their bodies from the bitter cold. Not enough bread to satisfy but one hungry stomach.
I watched all these people, many more, much too many, all the same as the boy and mother. Things were very different from what I perceived as a child. These images haunted me; it was all I could think about. I couldn't eat, couldn't sleep, I wouldn't wear my pretty dresses or talk very much.
I sat, one day, on my bed, pad and coal in my lap, sketching pictures of everything I saw from that balcony, with a trouble look on my face. My mother, concerned about my behavior as of late, while walking by my room, stopped, peering in a crack in the door, saw me in my underskirts etching these pictures on the expensive paper. I had been doing these things for a few weeks, always the pained look on my face.
As she spoke, I jumped a bit, startled by her having crept up so silently. She stood in the doorway dressed in an elegant white dress, that fit her bosom well, flowing out at the bottom, her shining, jeweled crown slightly tilted on her chestnut colored hair. One of her white gloved hands was rested on the doorknob.
"Lita, My Lita, what has gotten into you these past weeks? You do not eat very much, I hear you restlessly pace your quarters at night, and you refuse to wear those beautiful dresses of yours. What is the matter, My Jewel?"
I looked up from my sketchings at her, with my bright green eyes looking her up and down, eventually staring into her own green orbs. "Mother," I said questioningly, setting the pad and charcoal down next to me on the bed, "all the people in the streets, they are sick, they have no food, hardly any clothing, and a sorry excuse for a dwelling. Mother, I do not understand why this is happening right in front of our faces. We have so much, why should this happen?"
She looked down sadly, the look on her face one that knew this question would come someday. She came over to where I sat and set herself down next to me. She put her hand on my knee, and looked mournfully into my eyes
"Lita.....," she said shamefully, looking away from my eyes, "those people you see, Lita, those are peasants. You see....in every society there are the rich, and there are the poor. We are the rich, and they are the poor. We have everything, they nothing. That is the way of nature, My Darling: survival of the fittest."
I frowned at her. "But, Mother, why can the rich not help the poor? Why can we not give them a few garments, some food and water, build them a better place to live? We have the power and the money, why cant we help them?"
She kept her gaze low, and sighed, struggling for the right words. "Lita....well.......you see...there are so many of the poor....it is just impossible to help them all."
"But, Mother, we can help some!"
She sighed again. "My sweet...all royalty asks these questions when they are young. And, what they must be told is that is the way it is, My Darling, that is the way it has always been, and that is the way that it always shall be. There will always be the rich and the poor, the strong and the weak, and there is nothing we can do about it, and we must accept that."
"Mother! We can at least try! I just do not see any reason why we cannot!" I said this with a raised voice, enraged by the nonsense that was escaping my mother's mouth."
"Lita, you lower your voice and you listen to me! We cannot help them! There is nothing we can do, and you best keep away from that balcony and those people and start acting like the princess you are!"
I had always obeyed my mother, but this time I just couldn't listen to the bullshit that she was speaking; it just wasn't right. "No! You're wrong! We can help them! You are all just too full of yourselves to care! I will go near that balcony! I will help them whether you like it or not! I will not eat such foods, and dress in such clothing, and sleep in such an establishment when all of those people out there are suffering! They are freezing, and starving, and dying ! I will not stand for it! How can you ignore their suffering?! They are your people! They look to you for guidance, and for protection, for help, and all you can say is "that is the way it is"?!! I cannot believe you, Mother!!"
She was horrified. She looked like a warrior who's best, and most trusted, friend had just stabbed her in her abdomen. The tone of her voice was infuriated. "Lita Kino! Don't you EVER speak to me in that manner! Who do you think you are?! Get your clothes on immediately and wash up for dinner! The ball is upcoming and we need to start looking for a suitable man for you. You will never find a man if you are acting crazy like this. No man wants a woman who is dressed in her undergarments, deprived of food and sleep, and going on about something she cannot change! Get up and put away that foolish scratch, it is dirtying your hands. You must wash them, get dressed and start acting like a lady!"
I narrowed my eyes at her. Never in my life had I disagreed with somebody more than right then. "I will NOT get dressed! I will NOT wash up! I will NOT come to dinner! I do not care about men! They can think what they want about me! I will absolutely not take all of this when there are others that need it so much more than I do! I am leaving! I am going to help them if you will not!
I rushed to my closet, grabbing as many dresses as I could carry, and ran past my mother into the long corridor. I turned to the right and bolted. I could hear my mother screaming behind me. She had run out of my room into the middle of the hall, calling out for my knights.
My mother wouldn't ever chase after me in the dresses she wore. She told me running was "unladylike." She had those knights do everything pertaining to me. Absolutely anything.
I ran even faster. I had to get good distance so that my knights were not able to catch me. "Knight Caroline! Knight Ken! Knight Anthony! Knight Shay! Go catch my daughter, quickly! She has gone crazy, you must catch her!"
The knights, dressed in their garish armor, adorned with jewels and the family symbol shining in the sunlight that flowed into the hall, rushed from their stations after me. My breathing sped up, as I ran as fast as I could laden with the heavy fabric of the dresses, down the stairwells. I made it to the ground floor, my knights hot on my heels. I glanced back to see how much distance we had between us, and smacked straight into another knight of mine; Knight Lindsey.
She did not fall, but grabbed me as to steady the both of us, holding me tight as I struggled. The other knights, coming down the last flight of stairs saw this, and slowing down, they walked over to us.
"Woah, woah, woah, Princess Lita, what is such a rush all about.?" Her blue- violet eyes stared into mine, her golden hair shining in the sunlight.
I answered her in staggered breaths. "I.....have to........and.......my mother! I have to go! You have to let go of me! Please I-"
"Don't let her go anywhere!" Cut in Knight Ken "The Queen has ordered us after her and we must-"
"Did you catch her?! Did you stop Lita?!!" Gasped in my mother, appearing at the top of the stairs.
"Yes, My Queen," answered Knight Ken, "Knight Lindsey has stopped her."
"Knight Lindsey," she said gratefully, "thank you so very much for catching my daughter before she left the royal grounds!"
"Of course, My Queen," she replied, "but, please, inform me to what is going on?"
"Well," my mother started, scowling., "Lita went crazy saying that she was going to help the peasants. She grabbed those dresses for, oh, I don't know!" Her voice sounded very dramatic. "To give them to some dirty peasants I suppose! Those beautiful dresses! She was going to go out into the streets with them!"
It seemed like every time she spoke, something worse came out. I couldn't believe her. I never knew she was this bad. I was about to shout at her when Knight Lindsey covered my mouth and shook her head "no" to me.
"Thank Zeus you caught her! Please......please escort my daughter back to her quarters." She said softly, stressed out, apparently, from the ordeal. "If she does not want to eat like a princess, she shall not eat at all!" The Knights nodded, starting to move towards me to do their part. "Oh, and, Knight Lindsey, you will stay with her and make sure she does not try anymore acts such as this." She bowed her head at the command. "Yes, My Queen."
Knight Ken came over to help Knight Lindsey drag me back to my room. Knight Shay removed the dressers I was holding from my grip, as to bring them back upstairs. Knight Lindsey took my left arm, Knight Ken, my right, and they pulled me, with a firm grip, struggling with rebellion in my eyes, back up to my prison.
I glanced back desperately. What I saw was something that I could not stop thinking about the rest of the night. This figure of a woman, in full knight drab, her dark hair going halfway to her shoulders, was standing at the end of the hall. She was far away enough so that that was all I could decipher. When she saw me looking at her, however, when I blinked, she must have ran away, because she was gone.
"That which you see before you, My Child," my mother told me, resting an elegantly gloved hand on my shoulder, "that will be yours, all of it. When I become weakened by age, and, therefore, are unable to rule it any longer, the time about when you have just come into the prime of your life, it shall be yours."
I looked over that balcony at the seemingly endless sea of the great land that I was told would be mine and smiled. In the blissful ignorance of childhood, I smiled. Smiled because I could see the power that I had always felt better than ever surging through my body. Truly a princess, at that moment, more than any moment that would come.
With fairytaleish dreams of ruling over the vast land, dressed in beautiful, flowing dresses, having elegant balls, and meeting prince charming riding in on a white horse to steal me away to wedding. Of a family making me a Queen with even more power; endless, it seemed., and of sitting on a throne, ordering my every whim on servants. All this flashed through my head at that moment. Truly wrong at that moment more than any other moment that would come.
Growing up in my teen years, I began to realize that everything was quite different than what I had dreamed of as a child. Poverty, suffering, death, and unhappiness like I had never nearly know before.
Now, when I looked off that balcony, I saw a small boy, dressed in only tattered pants, courting his sick mother, dressed in a thin, ripped, remnant of a dress, in the cold, trying to hold her up, as she could barely walk. Then, the boy, himself, was overtaken by a violent fit of coughing, his feeble mother trying to comfort him. Taking his hand, she slowly, painfully lead him off, most likely to their home. Their home was probably nothing more than one room, with four walls, if they were lucky, invested with vermin and disease that would continue to eat away at them. Barely enough food to sustain a single person, let alone two, I saw them splitting a small piece between the two of them. And there was nothing they could do about it, any of it. There was nothing that little boy could do but watch as his only companion in the world withered away, him not very far behind her.
All this was going on while I was living with much more than I needed. An enormous castle with all the luxuries one's mind could ever think to want. My room, twice as large at least as their entire house, adorned with tapestries with the bold colors of the family crest, and other thinks of that nature, paintings of the landscapes of Jupiter, and a large, soft bed with a plentiful amount of elegant, hand embroidered pillows and blankets, crafted from the most skilled fabric workers, draped upon it. Beautiful dresses, furs, hats, shoes, gloves, enough to dress an army just in that closet that was just slightly bigger than that humble shack. Lavish dinners with all kinds of meats, fruits, vegetables, breads, and gourmet desserts, decorated with care by experienced royal bakers; all sorts of delicacies.
I had all of this, and that woman and her little son didn't even have enough room to sleep comfortably, or a bed to do so in, nor enough cloth to cover their bodies from the bitter cold. Not enough bread to satisfy but one hungry stomach.
I watched all these people, many more, much too many, all the same as the boy and mother. Things were very different from what I perceived as a child. These images haunted me; it was all I could think about. I couldn't eat, couldn't sleep, I wouldn't wear my pretty dresses or talk very much.
I sat, one day, on my bed, pad and coal in my lap, sketching pictures of everything I saw from that balcony, with a trouble look on my face. My mother, concerned about my behavior as of late, while walking by my room, stopped, peering in a crack in the door, saw me in my underskirts etching these pictures on the expensive paper. I had been doing these things for a few weeks, always the pained look on my face.
As she spoke, I jumped a bit, startled by her having crept up so silently. She stood in the doorway dressed in an elegant white dress, that fit her bosom well, flowing out at the bottom, her shining, jeweled crown slightly tilted on her chestnut colored hair. One of her white gloved hands was rested on the doorknob.
"Lita, My Lita, what has gotten into you these past weeks? You do not eat very much, I hear you restlessly pace your quarters at night, and you refuse to wear those beautiful dresses of yours. What is the matter, My Jewel?"
I looked up from my sketchings at her, with my bright green eyes looking her up and down, eventually staring into her own green orbs. "Mother," I said questioningly, setting the pad and charcoal down next to me on the bed, "all the people in the streets, they are sick, they have no food, hardly any clothing, and a sorry excuse for a dwelling. Mother, I do not understand why this is happening right in front of our faces. We have so much, why should this happen?"
She looked down sadly, the look on her face one that knew this question would come someday. She came over to where I sat and set herself down next to me. She put her hand on my knee, and looked mournfully into my eyes
"Lita.....," she said shamefully, looking away from my eyes, "those people you see, Lita, those are peasants. You see....in every society there are the rich, and there are the poor. We are the rich, and they are the poor. We have everything, they nothing. That is the way of nature, My Darling: survival of the fittest."
I frowned at her. "But, Mother, why can the rich not help the poor? Why can we not give them a few garments, some food and water, build them a better place to live? We have the power and the money, why cant we help them?"
She kept her gaze low, and sighed, struggling for the right words. "Lita....well.......you see...there are so many of the poor....it is just impossible to help them all."
"But, Mother, we can help some!"
She sighed again. "My sweet...all royalty asks these questions when they are young. And, what they must be told is that is the way it is, My Darling, that is the way it has always been, and that is the way that it always shall be. There will always be the rich and the poor, the strong and the weak, and there is nothing we can do about it, and we must accept that."
"Mother! We can at least try! I just do not see any reason why we cannot!" I said this with a raised voice, enraged by the nonsense that was escaping my mother's mouth."
"Lita, you lower your voice and you listen to me! We cannot help them! There is nothing we can do, and you best keep away from that balcony and those people and start acting like the princess you are!"
I had always obeyed my mother, but this time I just couldn't listen to the bullshit that she was speaking; it just wasn't right. "No! You're wrong! We can help them! You are all just too full of yourselves to care! I will go near that balcony! I will help them whether you like it or not! I will not eat such foods, and dress in such clothing, and sleep in such an establishment when all of those people out there are suffering! They are freezing, and starving, and dying ! I will not stand for it! How can you ignore their suffering?! They are your people! They look to you for guidance, and for protection, for help, and all you can say is "that is the way it is"?!! I cannot believe you, Mother!!"
She was horrified. She looked like a warrior who's best, and most trusted, friend had just stabbed her in her abdomen. The tone of her voice was infuriated. "Lita Kino! Don't you EVER speak to me in that manner! Who do you think you are?! Get your clothes on immediately and wash up for dinner! The ball is upcoming and we need to start looking for a suitable man for you. You will never find a man if you are acting crazy like this. No man wants a woman who is dressed in her undergarments, deprived of food and sleep, and going on about something she cannot change! Get up and put away that foolish scratch, it is dirtying your hands. You must wash them, get dressed and start acting like a lady!"
I narrowed my eyes at her. Never in my life had I disagreed with somebody more than right then. "I will NOT get dressed! I will NOT wash up! I will NOT come to dinner! I do not care about men! They can think what they want about me! I will absolutely not take all of this when there are others that need it so much more than I do! I am leaving! I am going to help them if you will not!
I rushed to my closet, grabbing as many dresses as I could carry, and ran past my mother into the long corridor. I turned to the right and bolted. I could hear my mother screaming behind me. She had run out of my room into the middle of the hall, calling out for my knights.
My mother wouldn't ever chase after me in the dresses she wore. She told me running was "unladylike." She had those knights do everything pertaining to me. Absolutely anything.
I ran even faster. I had to get good distance so that my knights were not able to catch me. "Knight Caroline! Knight Ken! Knight Anthony! Knight Shay! Go catch my daughter, quickly! She has gone crazy, you must catch her!"
The knights, dressed in their garish armor, adorned with jewels and the family symbol shining in the sunlight that flowed into the hall, rushed from their stations after me. My breathing sped up, as I ran as fast as I could laden with the heavy fabric of the dresses, down the stairwells. I made it to the ground floor, my knights hot on my heels. I glanced back to see how much distance we had between us, and smacked straight into another knight of mine; Knight Lindsey.
She did not fall, but grabbed me as to steady the both of us, holding me tight as I struggled. The other knights, coming down the last flight of stairs saw this, and slowing down, they walked over to us.
"Woah, woah, woah, Princess Lita, what is such a rush all about.?" Her blue- violet eyes stared into mine, her golden hair shining in the sunlight.
I answered her in staggered breaths. "I.....have to........and.......my mother! I have to go! You have to let go of me! Please I-"
"Don't let her go anywhere!" Cut in Knight Ken "The Queen has ordered us after her and we must-"
"Did you catch her?! Did you stop Lita?!!" Gasped in my mother, appearing at the top of the stairs.
"Yes, My Queen," answered Knight Ken, "Knight Lindsey has stopped her."
"Knight Lindsey," she said gratefully, "thank you so very much for catching my daughter before she left the royal grounds!"
"Of course, My Queen," she replied, "but, please, inform me to what is going on?"
"Well," my mother started, scowling., "Lita went crazy saying that she was going to help the peasants. She grabbed those dresses for, oh, I don't know!" Her voice sounded very dramatic. "To give them to some dirty peasants I suppose! Those beautiful dresses! She was going to go out into the streets with them!"
It seemed like every time she spoke, something worse came out. I couldn't believe her. I never knew she was this bad. I was about to shout at her when Knight Lindsey covered my mouth and shook her head "no" to me.
"Thank Zeus you caught her! Please......please escort my daughter back to her quarters." She said softly, stressed out, apparently, from the ordeal. "If she does not want to eat like a princess, she shall not eat at all!" The Knights nodded, starting to move towards me to do their part. "Oh, and, Knight Lindsey, you will stay with her and make sure she does not try anymore acts such as this." She bowed her head at the command. "Yes, My Queen."
Knight Ken came over to help Knight Lindsey drag me back to my room. Knight Shay removed the dressers I was holding from my grip, as to bring them back upstairs. Knight Lindsey took my left arm, Knight Ken, my right, and they pulled me, with a firm grip, struggling with rebellion in my eyes, back up to my prison.
I glanced back desperately. What I saw was something that I could not stop thinking about the rest of the night. This figure of a woman, in full knight drab, her dark hair going halfway to her shoulders, was standing at the end of the hall. She was far away enough so that that was all I could decipher. When she saw me looking at her, however, when I blinked, she must have ran away, because she was gone.