It is with extreme pleasure that I announce the graduation of these girls from our very own finishing school. They are now fit to be princesses!
At this, everyone at the tea ceremony chuckled. It was well known that an "alumni" had married a prince. Although, Ella had met His Highness before she had been sent here, and he had not married her for her fresh-from-finishing-school-abilities. However, I must have been the only one to remember this as everyone exclaimed how witty Madame Edith was.
Graduation day had come, along with a score of parents and siblings, here to celebrate with the graduates their success. The whole morning I had been looking for my mother, but the search proved fruitless. In her last letter she had said that she would pick me up with her manservant, Abdul.
As the end of the ceremony approached I began to fret. What if she didn't come? I had no friends here; no one would be able to account for me. Madame Edith stood, the cue for the alumnae to stand.
"Every one of you has earned the right to a fixed future and household. May each and everyone prosper. You are now officially relieved of your duty here." She said, with a few well-placed tears in her eyes.
I smiled despite myself. It was an incredible relief to be rid of the school. There was nothing for me here, no companions, just a frivolous education. The girls had either ignored me, or taunted me for my heritage. It seemed that I would never assimilate to any community whatsoever.
And as for the instruction that I received here, it was laughable. I longed to go to a traditional Ellorei school, where the female heirs studied history, literature, mathematics, and sciences. How enamored I would have been with my studies! How pleasurable it would have been, to learn weaponry and battle tactics like so many of the Ellorian women before me! I did not care if I learned to curtsey or sew, as head of the household; I would have more important tasks before me.
However, these dreams where all for naught. Aakarshan was adamant on not permitting me to be mother's heiress; therefore I would have no need to go to a school that was specifically for one. I also knew that even if I would inherit mother's fortune, I would never be able to marry and carry on the Nasira line. No man in Ndéla would ever be attracted to senni, or white, looks.
I was brought out of my reverie by the sound of people leaving. It seemed that I had been daydreaming ever since we had been permitted to sit down. I saw a Lady Julia walk by, however instead of walking past she stopped right in front of me.
I, confused by her actions, stood up to leave. "Is it true that you're from a tribe of cannibals?"
My face flushed. The cold sweat that took over my body when I was uncomfortable overpowered me. But something else stirred in me, anger. I lowered my head, and demurely said, "No."
"I'm sure." Her words were dripping with sarcasm, and I had to restrain my limbs from swinging at her. My usual reserved personality cowered, as my rage intensified. That wench! I was not a savage, and neither were my people!
"What's wrong with your face? That expression just makes it even uglier than it was before!" Tears started to roll down my cheeks, as I desperately tried to say something.
"I think it best, wench, if you leave Sza Zuleika alone." A voice said behind me. All of my anguish dissipated as I turned around and embraced Abdul, my mother's most trusted servant. "Greshni Abdul." I said quietly in Ellorei, thanking him.
"Hai 'leika, who was that little chit?"
"One of the girls from finishing school, but it doesn't matter now, Hai? What's the matter Abdul?" It was then that I noticed his weary looking face, and his somber expression.
Tentatively I asked, "Where is mother?"
He said with restraint, "In Ellora, 'leika"
My heart dropped. Something was amiss; I could feel it in my bones. "Why is she there, Abdul?" I asked cautiously.
"Where else could she meet her maker?"
My head started to spin as blood roared through my ears. I pushed Abdul away as water slowly started to spill from my eyes. "How? How is this possible?" My legs gave out as I sat, suddenly exhausted, on one of the chairs from the previous ceremony.
Abdul took my hand and said soothingly, "Your mother was arguing about your father, about you. About your true parentage."
"My true parentage?"
"Aakarshan claimed that your mother had an affair with a szneca. A senni to be exact."
"Oh no." I swallowed the bile threatening to come up. In Ellora, to balance the women's power, there was passed a terrible law. If the husband had reason and evidence to believe that the wife was cheating, he could by law slaughter her.
I shivered as I imagined my strong, beautiful mother lying cold and motionless. Dead. It was my fault. Everything always led back to me. My skin, eye and hair color. I glanced at my white-blonde hair cascading down my shoulders and felt the violent urge to pull it, to tear it off my scalp. If I didn't have it, among my other features, my mother would be alive.
Abdul knew what I was thinking, as he reached out to stop my hands from touching my hair. "'Leika, it isn't your fault. Don't believe that. Not for one minute, Hai?" I nodded, although we both knew that I would never forgive myself.
"So," I said, while seeing mother's kind smiling face in my head, the vision just made me cry harder, "What will I do now?" I was now a bastard child, and was not welcome in my former home any longer. If I even so much as stepped foot in the village, my father had the legal right to kill me as well.
Abdul thought for a moment and said, "You will stay at an inn here in Jenn, and see if you can get a job there for with one of their traveling customers. 'Leika, do not go back to Ellora. They will find you. For you are still a threat to your father."
I started to protest. Even though I had been sorely mistreated and abused there, Ellora was still my home. I couldn't just abandon it. However, I knew inside that it was for the best. As much as I loathed it, I would never be able to see my land again.
Abdul and I took his carriage to the local inn, about 1 mile from the school. We walked in uncertainly, for western inns were not known for their hospitality towards people from the eastern kingdoms. We approached the innkeeper, and I slowly reverted back to my bashful nature. I was comfortable only around the servant since I had known him since I was a bairn.
As Abdul handed me gold coins that could last me up to a month, I looked at him sadly. "You will go back to Ndéla." It was said as a fact, for I knew that he would leave. "Yes, Aakarshan will be suspicious if I linger here. Send me post when you are secure in a new job. It goes without saying that you will not write your name on it. Sign it as Leez, so that I will know it's you."
My eyes teared up as I remembered that Leez was my mother's childhood nickname from Leisha. "Goodbye Abdul. May the creator bless your steps." I said, which was the traditional Ellorian farewell. "And may you walk with life again." He said, the statement used towards a person who has recently lost a loved one.
Although I did not want him to go with all of my heart, for he was my last tie to my old life, I knew that he was needed in the village. His wife and children suffered whenever he was ordered to run errands as our country was always at war with the other eastern realms.
I climbed upstairs to my room, and collapsed on the bed. It was only then that the real grief over what I had lost took over.
A/N: Yes, It has been awhile. 7 months to be exact. I had so much trouble starting this chapter, and I changed almost the whole plot, so it took awhile. I hope that this chapter was okay! However, now that Zuleika's character is (hopefully) more established, I can update about twice a month, at the least. School does start, for me, August 9, but I still have the weekend to write!
And here's a dictionary for this chapter, just in case (from Ellorei to Kyrrian)
Sza- miss (Sza Zuleika)
Szneca- outsider, outcast
Senni- white person
Hai- okay, hey
Greshni-thank you
Please review and tell me what you think! Thanks! -Clare
At this, everyone at the tea ceremony chuckled. It was well known that an "alumni" had married a prince. Although, Ella had met His Highness before she had been sent here, and he had not married her for her fresh-from-finishing-school-abilities. However, I must have been the only one to remember this as everyone exclaimed how witty Madame Edith was.
Graduation day had come, along with a score of parents and siblings, here to celebrate with the graduates their success. The whole morning I had been looking for my mother, but the search proved fruitless. In her last letter she had said that she would pick me up with her manservant, Abdul.
As the end of the ceremony approached I began to fret. What if she didn't come? I had no friends here; no one would be able to account for me. Madame Edith stood, the cue for the alumnae to stand.
"Every one of you has earned the right to a fixed future and household. May each and everyone prosper. You are now officially relieved of your duty here." She said, with a few well-placed tears in her eyes.
I smiled despite myself. It was an incredible relief to be rid of the school. There was nothing for me here, no companions, just a frivolous education. The girls had either ignored me, or taunted me for my heritage. It seemed that I would never assimilate to any community whatsoever.
And as for the instruction that I received here, it was laughable. I longed to go to a traditional Ellorei school, where the female heirs studied history, literature, mathematics, and sciences. How enamored I would have been with my studies! How pleasurable it would have been, to learn weaponry and battle tactics like so many of the Ellorian women before me! I did not care if I learned to curtsey or sew, as head of the household; I would have more important tasks before me.
However, these dreams where all for naught. Aakarshan was adamant on not permitting me to be mother's heiress; therefore I would have no need to go to a school that was specifically for one. I also knew that even if I would inherit mother's fortune, I would never be able to marry and carry on the Nasira line. No man in Ndéla would ever be attracted to senni, or white, looks.
I was brought out of my reverie by the sound of people leaving. It seemed that I had been daydreaming ever since we had been permitted to sit down. I saw a Lady Julia walk by, however instead of walking past she stopped right in front of me.
I, confused by her actions, stood up to leave. "Is it true that you're from a tribe of cannibals?"
My face flushed. The cold sweat that took over my body when I was uncomfortable overpowered me. But something else stirred in me, anger. I lowered my head, and demurely said, "No."
"I'm sure." Her words were dripping with sarcasm, and I had to restrain my limbs from swinging at her. My usual reserved personality cowered, as my rage intensified. That wench! I was not a savage, and neither were my people!
"What's wrong with your face? That expression just makes it even uglier than it was before!" Tears started to roll down my cheeks, as I desperately tried to say something.
"I think it best, wench, if you leave Sza Zuleika alone." A voice said behind me. All of my anguish dissipated as I turned around and embraced Abdul, my mother's most trusted servant. "Greshni Abdul." I said quietly in Ellorei, thanking him.
"Hai 'leika, who was that little chit?"
"One of the girls from finishing school, but it doesn't matter now, Hai? What's the matter Abdul?" It was then that I noticed his weary looking face, and his somber expression.
Tentatively I asked, "Where is mother?"
He said with restraint, "In Ellora, 'leika"
My heart dropped. Something was amiss; I could feel it in my bones. "Why is she there, Abdul?" I asked cautiously.
"Where else could she meet her maker?"
My head started to spin as blood roared through my ears. I pushed Abdul away as water slowly started to spill from my eyes. "How? How is this possible?" My legs gave out as I sat, suddenly exhausted, on one of the chairs from the previous ceremony.
Abdul took my hand and said soothingly, "Your mother was arguing about your father, about you. About your true parentage."
"My true parentage?"
"Aakarshan claimed that your mother had an affair with a szneca. A senni to be exact."
"Oh no." I swallowed the bile threatening to come up. In Ellora, to balance the women's power, there was passed a terrible law. If the husband had reason and evidence to believe that the wife was cheating, he could by law slaughter her.
I shivered as I imagined my strong, beautiful mother lying cold and motionless. Dead. It was my fault. Everything always led back to me. My skin, eye and hair color. I glanced at my white-blonde hair cascading down my shoulders and felt the violent urge to pull it, to tear it off my scalp. If I didn't have it, among my other features, my mother would be alive.
Abdul knew what I was thinking, as he reached out to stop my hands from touching my hair. "'Leika, it isn't your fault. Don't believe that. Not for one minute, Hai?" I nodded, although we both knew that I would never forgive myself.
"So," I said, while seeing mother's kind smiling face in my head, the vision just made me cry harder, "What will I do now?" I was now a bastard child, and was not welcome in my former home any longer. If I even so much as stepped foot in the village, my father had the legal right to kill me as well.
Abdul thought for a moment and said, "You will stay at an inn here in Jenn, and see if you can get a job there for with one of their traveling customers. 'Leika, do not go back to Ellora. They will find you. For you are still a threat to your father."
I started to protest. Even though I had been sorely mistreated and abused there, Ellora was still my home. I couldn't just abandon it. However, I knew inside that it was for the best. As much as I loathed it, I would never be able to see my land again.
Abdul and I took his carriage to the local inn, about 1 mile from the school. We walked in uncertainly, for western inns were not known for their hospitality towards people from the eastern kingdoms. We approached the innkeeper, and I slowly reverted back to my bashful nature. I was comfortable only around the servant since I had known him since I was a bairn.
As Abdul handed me gold coins that could last me up to a month, I looked at him sadly. "You will go back to Ndéla." It was said as a fact, for I knew that he would leave. "Yes, Aakarshan will be suspicious if I linger here. Send me post when you are secure in a new job. It goes without saying that you will not write your name on it. Sign it as Leez, so that I will know it's you."
My eyes teared up as I remembered that Leez was my mother's childhood nickname from Leisha. "Goodbye Abdul. May the creator bless your steps." I said, which was the traditional Ellorian farewell. "And may you walk with life again." He said, the statement used towards a person who has recently lost a loved one.
Although I did not want him to go with all of my heart, for he was my last tie to my old life, I knew that he was needed in the village. His wife and children suffered whenever he was ordered to run errands as our country was always at war with the other eastern realms.
I climbed upstairs to my room, and collapsed on the bed. It was only then that the real grief over what I had lost took over.
A/N: Yes, It has been awhile. 7 months to be exact. I had so much trouble starting this chapter, and I changed almost the whole plot, so it took awhile. I hope that this chapter was okay! However, now that Zuleika's character is (hopefully) more established, I can update about twice a month, at the least. School does start, for me, August 9, but I still have the weekend to write!
And here's a dictionary for this chapter, just in case (from Ellorei to Kyrrian)
Sza- miss (Sza Zuleika)
Szneca- outsider, outcast
Senni- white person
Hai- okay, hey
Greshni-thank you
Please review and tell me what you think! Thanks! -Clare