'How was the ride here?' she asked us.

My sister and I were both too shy to speak, so our servant, a woman by the name of Bronwyn, answered for us. 'Pleasant enough,' she replied. 'No bandits, no storms.'

My aunt looked at me and Kate. 'Don´t worry you two. I´m not going to eat you, whatever anyone may say about me.'

This did not reassure me much. The thought of bad rumors about my aunt made me wonder what kind of person I had come to live with.

There was a moment´s pause before my aunt said to us, 'Come! Let me show you to your rooms. Then you two and your servant can come join me for dinner.'

With that, our aunt-queen turned and led us into the castle. Kate and I were both awed by the castle, though it was much like any castle, with grand entryway, sprial staircases, towers, and the lot. But, we weren´t to discover most of that yet. Our aunt led us to our room on the top floor of a wing of the building mostly used for housing nobles that came to visit. The top floor was right under the roof, and there were only three rooms. Our aunt pushed open the door to the middle room and led us inside.

'This room used to belong to my mother and I when we were little,' she said.

My sister and I were both impressed. We had no idea that we were coming to such luxury. There were all of the toys we loved to play with, and plenty of space. My sister Kate immediately ran to one of the windows.

'I can see everything from up here!' she exclaimed.

Emboldened by my sister´s actions, I too ran to look out the windows.

'I´ll leave you here to unpack,' My aunt said. 'Dinner is in one hour.'

Dinner was a rather nervous affair. Aunt Achren had her most important advisors and others sitting on her right, my sister, Bronwyn, and I on her left. Aunt Achren introduced us to all of them, but I did not really remember their names until much later. Aunt Achren tried to make conversation with us a few times. Kate, as usual, was much more gregarious than I, asking questions about everything, though Aunt Achren answered only some of them.

'Narcissa, my head maid, will show you everything tomorrow,' Aunt Achren said. 'Tonight, I have a feeling that you will all want to sleep.'

Bronwyn accompanied us to our room, tucking us in, as always, and then left for her room.

'Isn´t this great Lucia?' Kate asked. 'All this space just for us!'

I nodded. 'I can´t wait to explore tomorrow,' I said.

'I wonder if this place has secret passages,' Kate said, yawning and leaning back on her pillow.

I snuggled deeper under the covers, wondering what living with this strange aunt would be like.

The next morning, we were woken by Bronwyn.

'We must be ready soon,' Bronwyn said. 'Narcissa will be here soon to show you the castle and grounds – at least as much of it as you need to know.'

'What do you mean 'you'? Aren´t you coming?' I asked.

'Your father needs me back in Basel,' Bronwyn said. 'But don´t worry. I met Narcissa a short while ago, and she is very nice. She will help you. Now up you get.'

Bronwyn helped us dress as quickly as possible, and brushed our hair. Soon, there was a knock at the door.

'Enter,' Bronwyn called.

A woman in maid´s garb stepped into the room.

'Good morning girls,' she said, smiling. 'I am Narcissa. I will be showing you everything today.'

And show us everything she did, or so it first seemed. She showed us all the gardens, the ones for food, the ones for flowers, and the more park like gardens simply meant for taking a walk outside in the fresh air among the trees. Narcissa took us through the stables; not only the one for the horses, but the barn where sheep and cows were kept. After lunch, which we ate with Narcissa in the kitchen, she showed us the castle.

The Great Hall was quite impressive, with high ceiling and even a stained glass window. This was where our aunt held all important functions, such as formal parties or dinners. The Great Hall was right in the center of the castle, with everything else built around it. The entryway in front of the Great Hall had two passages leading off of it, one to the right, and one to the left. The passage to the right led around one side of the great hall to the residential wing of the palace, and passage to the led around the other side to the kitchens, the dining room for less formal occasions, and the library. And a couple of rooms that my aunt used for smaller, less formal meetings with wealthy people who wished their business to be private.

Narcissa then led us up to one of the towers. She positioned a small bench under one of the windows.

'There now you two,' she said. 'Climb up and have a look.'

We did as we were bade, and looked out across the landscape. The castle was up on a large hill, not quite a mountain, overlooking the kingdom. Our aunt was the queen of a small kingdom, and from the particular window we stood at, one could see all the way into our home country, the view was that good. From the other side of the tower, we could not see nearly as far off. A wall of mountains rose up in the distance.

'What´s on the other side of those mountains?' I asked.

'Those mountains are the border with the country of Girona,' Narcissa replied. 'Those mountains go right around the edge of Cadiffor, except for that way.' Narcissa pointed back towards our home. 'Which is Tel, the country your father rules.'

'Look!' Kate exclaimed. 'We can see all the people from up here!'

I ran to the window she stood at. This window looked down on the capital city of Lerida, right at the base of the hill that the castle sat on. We could indeed see people going about their business on the streets below us. We stayed up there watching until Narcissa pulled us away for dinner.

The next day, however, was far less enjoyable.

Our aunt insisted that we go to see her as soon as we had finished with breakfast. She led us into a relatively little used room next to the informal dining room.

'Today,' she began. 'You begin school.'

We both stared at her.

'I will not have my nieces growing up uneducated,' she said. 'Now, can either of you two read?'

We shook our heads. 'But we know the alphabet,' I said.

'Well, better than nothing,' my aunt said. 'Some days I will teach you myself, sometimes Narcissa, and sometimes whoever has the time.'

From that day on, our noses were put to the grindstone, as much as a five year old can be put to the grindstone. We spent three hours each morning learning to read and write, and how to do sums. Our aunt was strict, but did not push us to extremes. The afternoons, we more or less had free, watched of course, by Narcissa, or whatever other servant could be spared to watch us.