Today felt like any other day. Or at least that's what Sarah thought. The birds were singing their usual melodies. The sparrows were especially loud and she couldn't help but wonder if there was another bird or birds nearby that they felt were threatening to them or maybe they were just trying to show off. Thinking about that now, it wouldn't be the first time. She remembers back when she was little how the larks would compete with the sparrows. She also remembers how their little 'fights' or disputes over the garden had reached an extreme and Sarah had had to nurse one of the younger meadowlarks back to health. That meadowlark had grown to be a special friend to her. The two were nigh inseparable and with this meadowlark was how she was found in the courtyard, strumming her lute.
Alone time wasn't something she had all that much of. She was a princess. Her parents were king and queen. She had a younger sister, too, that she'd do anything for. Sarah, or Princess Sarah, was royalty. Next in line to the throne. Sometimes thinking this made her feel nervous. Her heart would begin to palpitate when she did. Nervousness would also wash over her and her features and her stomach would fill with butterflies. Taking over an entire kingdom was an enormous responsibility and while she had been preparing all her life, she wondered if there were not another path in life for her. She loved her people. She did. She really did but sometimes… Sometimes she wanted to seek more than her current life had to offer.
The lute she held in her hands was magical. Mysterious. It had properties that alone she herself knew and well… so did the prophet who came to their kingdom to tell them of the prophecy of the heroes of light. She wasn't sure of the specifics, but she knew that one day her family's lute would be of great help. To her, to the heroes of light, and hopefully for generations to come. And if one day she chose to rule over the kingdom after her parents, after she had found in life the one she sought out the most, this lute would help her to realize those dreams. It'd help her to build a better kingdom for her and for her people. She was always thinking of her people.
Suddenly the bird song stops, her songbird friend sends out a loud warning call and flies away, and Sarah can hear footsteps approaching her. Her hands fall to her lap, and she wonders if the person in the gardens with her is not another suitor that her parents had sent to ask for her hand. Granted she knew that she was only getting older and the older she got, the harder it'd be to find a suitable match. But she was only seventeen. Seventeen seemed too young, so young to her. Why couldn't her parents just let her decide?
"Dearest Princess," the suitor begins, his deep voice breaking the soft birdsong.
She knew that voice. It was the voice of the strongest knight in all of her kingdom. Deep inside she prayed that he wasn't here to ask for her hand. She liked him. She really did. He was a great friend to her. A tightness in her gut washed over her which was ridiculous to her. He was most likely here to talk to her that was all. Maybe he was even here to talk to her about how silly it all was - the efforts her parents were going to to find her a husband.
"Garland, it's so good to see you! You're back from your latest endeavours, are you not?"
"Yes. It is a shame that the bridge leading to the other kingdoms is still out. I find travel by boat quite wearisome, but the elven prince sends his regards. He also wished to give you this."
In his hand was a scroll. It was old and torn up and the words were a little faded when Sarah opened it. The text was ancient and while there were a few words she could pick out most of it remained unknown to her. The few words that had popped out to her were about the prophecy she was so interested in - the prophecy of the heroes of light. Of course… she only knew this because she was familiar with the words, "darkness", "light", "chaos", and "harmony" being present. She'd seen them and heard them numerous times before in other texts or from traveling bards. One word that surprised her was the mention of a "lute" and her own mind quickly travels to her own that sits beside her now as she continues to peruse the ancient scroll.
The two were silent for a few more moments as Sarah continued to try and make out what she could from the scroll. Eventually she sighs and sets it down beside her.
"I can hardly make out what it all means but I am certain it has to do with the prophecy the wandering prophet told my father."
"The elven prince seems to believe so as well. He was very adamant that you should have it. Your minstrel skills are renowned far and wide to my understanding."
At this her cheeks flushed and she playfully shoves Garland's shoulder. He was covered head-to-toe in silver armor so she had to be careful.
"Are you making fun of me?"
"I would never think of such a thing. It is simply the truth. Perhaps one day your father will arrange concerts for you."
She laughs. "I sincerely doubt that. I know he loves me and means well, but he'd never do that when he's so busy trying to find me a suitor."
Sometimes she wishes she were like her sister, Cordelia, young and carefree and never having to worry about what the future may hold. She could just… live life the way she wished to, wanted to, and not have to worry about getting married or the eventual darkness that would surely threaten their world and eat away at the land, the sea, and the air. But Sarah also knew that she'd never get to be like that again. Eventually she'd have to honor her parents' desires but she still didn't see why she had to right now.
Sarah continues. "I wish he, and my mother, would ask me for my opinion. They know I have my duties, my hobbies, and this prophecy, too. I wish they would take this threat to our world more seriously. It is almost like they do not believe such a thing could ever happen."
"Do you?" It was a silly question to ask considering the two of them already knew her answer, but it was still a question to be asked regardless.
"Of course. You know I do. The people of the kingdom know I do. Even people and royalty in other kingdoms and parts of the world seem to know it too! But my own parents… It's like they're blind to it. This prophecy tells of how a darkness will threaten our world and the sea and winds will still and the earth will rot and how only four heroes of the light will come to free us and save our world. And now," She touches her lute. "I know that this lute has some meaning to it all too." But what? She'd have to continue her search.
"Princess, there is something I wish to ask of you." Garland's tone turns quite serious and that tightness she had felt earlier returns.
"Yes?"
With an elaborate sweep of his long cape, Garland's gets down on one knee, a hand to his heart, and the birds that had been in the trees but ever silent since he arrived, flew away as Sarah's heart quickened its pace in her chest.
"Fairest Sarah, princess of Cornelia, and beloved by all who know her… will you take my hand in marriage?"
Oh no. Oh no, no, no, no. No. Please no. He hadn't just said what she thought he'd said. Had he? After their conversation too? After she'd expressed her feelings? Or was she not clear enough? Perhaps she wasn't. It was hard for her to tell as the blood rushed to her ears and the world seemed to be at an angle, a slant. The palpitations in her chest seemed to be incredibly loud and she wondered if he could hear it - her heart.
After a moment of silence (of Sarah panicking) she finally responds with a simple "What?" It's a loaded question and considering the way she had said it, shocked, betrayed, confused must have hurt him.
"I asked if you would marry me." He was wearing a helmet so she couldn't see if his face nor his eyes but she would've assumed his eyebrows were raised in his confusion and his eyes, the mirrors to a person's soul, were just as confused too. Maybe even horrified.
"Garland, you know how I feel about marriage. Did my parents set you up to do this?"
"What?!" He's shocked. "No, my princess. No, it wasn't-"
"Because I thought you knew me better than that. I thought you were my friend. You were my only friend besides my sister. I don't understand. The whole kingdom knows of my feelings towards marriage but my parents and you it seems. I cannot believe this."
Her eyes had wandered to her hands now. The stillness in the air and how quiet everything was without the birds frightened her. There was also a growing sense of unease in the pit of her stomach that was starting to consume her for whatever reason and then there was a shift in the air and for a moment everything seemed a bit darker than it had been moments before.
Was this part of the prophecy? She thought. She couldn't believe it.
Looking up from her hands, she sees Garland standing over her now and wonders for a moment if the darkness that had washed over her field of view had been him, towering over her, since he was enormously tall. There's even something different about him, too. As if something inside him could change. It was strange. She had felt the light within him earlier but now it was shadowed, dark. Had the darkness taken him?
Her emotions are extremely heightened and it feels like the world, no, everything is moving extremely fast. She can feel her heart in her chest beat faster and faster, the palpitations reverberating all the way up through her throat.
"Garland?" It's a question, and she chokes it out, and she's, all of a sudden, terrified.
What is going on?
If she didn't calm down she feared for what would happen to her. There was a very real possibility that she would either pass out for her emotions or she'd have a heart attack but that was the most unlikely. She didn't feel sweaty and the only part of her that hurt was her chest from how fast her heart was beating in what felt like the very center of her chest.
Seeing Garland in front of her, she can't tell what he is feeling like if he feels guilt over asking her such a question or how she's taking it. A loud warning call from her lute rings out again and it's one of the last things she hears aside from Garland shouting her name in what could only be worry.
The answer to her earlier question remains unanswered as the next moment her eyes are heavy and she cannot keep them open. Garland catches her in his arms before departing with the princess from the garden that had been her safe haven.