Raine awoke in a sweat. She breathed heavily, her eyes adjusting to see that she was back in her room. She remembered being in a great chamber; it was in flames. She was running towards something, no, it was someone. She knew that she had to make it to this person. She was running as fast as she could. This person would keep her safe; she knew it. She ran, and ran, but never seemed to get any closer. Tears flew off of her face as she kept running onwards. She screamed their name, but now she couldn't remember what the name was.
She didn't know what to make of it. She had felt an emotion that she was not familiar with, and she also felt a lot of pain. It was a very vivid dream and she wanted to forget it.
"Another nightmare," she whispered to herself. Wiping sweat from her brow she sat up.
She sat there, blinking for a while. Thinking the dream over. She was being taught to decipher dreams by her sensei. She gave up. Perhaps she would ask Sensei tomorrow.
Raine threw back the covers and walked over to her closet, choosing an outfit, she quickly brushed her hair out. Putting the dream out of her head she put on a simple red summer halter dress. The young girl slipped on a pair of simple black shoes and walked down to breakfast.
She could smell the delicious food emanating from the dinning room as she walked down the long dark halls of the Martian palace. She admired the paintings of her planets past rulers. Her ancestors. She hoped she would be the queen of her planet some day. To Raine this seemed to be very likely, since her two sisters were already married, and were far to old, she was the obvious choice once her parents passed on. She had a brother once, but he died as a babe, so Raine was the only child her parents had left. She was their only hope for a successor to the thrown. "Their pride and joy. The most wonderful daughter in the world," that's what they would say to her.
She loved her parents very much, and spent a lot of time with them. She got in as much time as she could with her father. He was often away doing business with the other kings, Radiance, the Queen of Venus, and of course Queen Serenity of the Moon. Radiance and Serenity were the only women that went to the secret councils. Raine always liked that they often had more power than the men, although they made the men think they were in control. Both Radiance and Serenity were like role models for Raine. Intelligent, beautiful, powerful, and both had plenty of grace and charisma. Just some of the things Raine wished she had more of.
She reached the door to the dining hall and entered the room with a smile.
"Good morning father, mother," Raine said
Her parents were at their usual places, but seemed almost depressed, which was not like them at all. They looked up and weakly returned the smile.
She sat down next to her mother at the enormous dining table. Her parents were unusually quite and it was beginning to make her feel uneasy. That along with the dream she had had earlier was making her loose her appetite; despite how wonderful the food looked.
Her father was the first to speak, " How did you sleep Raine?"
"Alright I guess. Why are you two so quiet this morning?" Raine asked puzzled.
She and her father were very close, but he rarely asked her bizarre questions such as that.
"Raine dear, your father and I have something to tell you," Raine's mother finally said after a few moments of silence.
" What is it?"
Ever since peace had returned to their kingdom, the days were filled with laughter and chatter between her and her parents. Raine couldn't even imagine what had made her parents so moody today. She shifted uneasily in her seat. Looking at her mother, then at her father, with her questioning grey blue eyes.
" Well what is it. Please tell me what is making both of you act this way."
" Do you remember when we used to travel to the other planets when you were younger?" her father asked her quietly.
" Yes, I do. Would you please get to the point, you both are making quite nervous. What is this all about?" she replied nervously.
" One princess from every inner planet, along with the moon princess is being recruit for training. Queen Serenity believes that another war may soon be upon us. You have been chosen as the princess from Mars, since both of your sisters are too old," the king paused and looked at the unreadable face of his beloved daughter. "So we have to send you to the Moon Kingdom, and we might not get to see you again." He father finished, and looked down at his plate.
She had never seen her father's head fall. He was a proud man, and always strong.
Thoughts raced through the young princess's mind. She had never been away from the Mars palace without her parents, and she could not even think about never seeing the two of them again. She had only just turned 14 and wasn't ready to leave her home. She would have to say goodbye to all of her friends. She would be going to a new place to become a solider for Queen Serenity. It wasn't fair; she didn't want to leave her home.
"Be calm. Keep a level head, that's what sensei always says. That is what makes a wise ruler."
" How long until I leave," Raine asked through teary eyes and a shaky voice. She tried to hold the tears back but she couldn't help but let a single tear fall, as she looked up at her parents' sad faces.
" Oh honey," her mother and father came over and hugged her.
Raine gave in completely, and tears streamed down her face, as she buried herself into her parents comforting embrace.
After the tears had been dried up, Raine's father told Raine that she would be leaving in one week. They had found out only the day before when a messenger brought the news from Serenity, letting them know that they were being asked for one of their daughters.
Raine decided that it was her duty, and that she would have to deal with it. If fate had decreed this for her, then she would follow through as best she could.
Raine walked slowly out of the dining room about 2 hours after she had first entered the room and learned that she was to become one of the second generation Soldiers. She couldn't believe it. On one hand she was honored, while on the other she was very sad. She really did not want to leave her home, but she couldn't let Serenity down.
She had met the Moon queen only once, and from what she gathered, she was a wise ruler, and she knew what she was doing. So Raine decided that she could trust in this woman.
She had been at the moon princess's twelfth birthday. All of the princesses had been invited. She didn't socialize with the other children. She stayed with her escort, an advisor of her father's, and listened to her gossip with the women from other courts.
She remembered seeing the other children playing, and thinking how she would like to join them, but they might not let her play with them. So the entire time she stayed close with her escort, watching the other princesses play. There was one other princess who did not join in. Raine figured it was the princess from Jupiter. The princess had on a green dress and had reddish brown hair that was chopped off to about her ears. She looked more like a boy Raine thought. But an attractive boy. The young princess had an angry face on, and she had a look in her eyes that she had seen much more than a child that age should.
Even at that age, Raine was very good at reading people. This girl looked as though she was very sad, and she was trying to hide it by scaring the other princesses off. In fact if one of them looked at her, she would glare at them and then look away.
The others thought nothing of it, but Raine could see that she wanted to join in their games just as much as she did.
This confused Raine at the time, because she had good reason to not playing with the others. She was a shy girl, and not very social. She liked to keep mostly to herself, especially around new people. But this girl looked fearless. She was a pretty girl, and was plenty able to play. Perhaps there was some kind of vulnerability in this girl that Raine didn't know about. Nonetheless, Raine did not look to the young Jupiterian again, for fear of being glared at.
The young Martian princess walked slowly back through the halls and up the stair to her room where she plopped down on her bed, and lay back against the dark red silk pillows. She ran her hair through her soot black hair and looked up at the large ceiling. Her ceiling was different from any other in the palace, and looking at it always calmed her down. Right there in her room was a history in paint. There were scenes of the different planets, and their people, and customs. There were the moon people: wise, graceful, and dressed in flowing white. The Mecurians dressed in the blue hues of the sky. They were the inventors and the dreamers. Often quiet, but inside their head, a million ideas were racing around. Jupiterians were the strongest, and thy always had courage. Their green garments connecting them with the great tree god that keeps their planet alive. The Venusians: Elegant and erotic. In their gold, and quite revealing clothes, are sure to catch the eye of anyone. Finally the Martians: Seers of the fire, into the past, present, and future. They are a passionate people, sometimes with a short temper, but always willing to help out. Naturally the colors of Mars are red. Raine loved to look at her ceiling, but could never understand why the outer planets were rarely talked about, and were not on her ceiling. She knew that they were generally secret people, so she did not press the matter with her parents. All she had found out about the outer planets were that, instead of king Pluto was ruled by a queen, who was also the Keeper of Time. Raine figured that there was an advisor in charge of the kingdom whenever the queen was away, which was very often as Raine understood. Kings ruled Uranus and Neptune, but had daughters who were already Soldiers for Queen Serenity. The last planet, Saturn was the most secretive and mysterious of all the planets. She really knew nothing about Saturn. This puzzled Raine, but deep down, she had a feeling that everything would reveal itself in time.
Raine decided that she could deal with the matter of packing and goodbyes tomorrow, and the next day for that matter. She had a week, and she was going to use everyday to her advantage. She would see old friends, and visit places she hadn't been to in years. Just to take in her planet, in case she couldn't come back. Staring at the ceiling, dreaming of what the other princesses might be like, and whether or not she would become friends with them, her thoughts traveled back to the Moon princess's birthday, and the young Jupiterian. Raine wondered if she would become friends with that girl, she was sure that she could use some. She couldn't help but remember those deep green eyes, and how lonely they looked. Raine finally fell asleep, thinking of what her new life would be like, and if she would like it.