Chapter 6 – Letter From A Rebel

A week had past since Naomi had come.

Eva went into the sword practice room. Canaan was there smiling. He liked seeing Eva on her many visits there. She took out her sword and was practicing by herself when he took it off her.

'Not today. I want to tell you about Nurasia,' he gave her the sword back.

Eva grinned and quickly put the sword back in its holster. Nothing was going to make her miss this.

'You waited until I respected you, didn't you?' she smiled.

'I guess I did. I was too worried you would fall asleep,' Canaan chuckled.

He took out two chairs. Eva sat on one and Canaan sat on the other. He took a deep breath.

'Well, you see a field of flowers? Well in Nurasia, our version of that field is golden grass, with sapphire and ruby coloured flowers everywhere. The trees are all old and have twisting branches. It is beautiful,' Canaan said.

Eva pictured it in her mind. It sounded like a fairy tale land.

'Well, there is a glistening city there with huge temples. At the very edge, surrounded by a golden wall, is the palace of Nurasia. This city is Daul. I live there,' Canaan then said.

'Yeah! It's because you are the swords master for the Prince, am I right? It's been so long that I think I may have mixed up,' Eva sighed.

'No, you are right. I am the swords master for the Prince. I came here to learn a bit about the way schools work. The Prince doesn't seem to care about his tutors, so I got told to find out how they handle rebels,' Canaan smiled at her.

'The Prince is a rebel? You can't be serious!' Eva grinned at him.

'He is. He is actually quite a lot like you. He also does things like runs off to do mud fights with the common people, refuses to clean up for nobles and many other things as well,' Canaan chuckled.

Eva thought about it. She hadn't ever thought the Prince of Nurasia could be a rebel too like her. She thought it was funny.

'So he gets in trouble a lot?' she smiled.

'Oh he does. They all go what is he doing now? He is a Prince; he needs to start acting like it! But he is only about two years older than you. He is only a child, soon to be teenager,' Canaan sighed.

Eva rolled her eyes.

'God, who knew being royal could be so crap? It sounds like Prince…erm, well the Prince has got a lot of problems,' she sighed.

'His name is Aikka. They all do complain about how he is so unlike all the other nobles. His parents wonder where they have gone wrong. He sounds like the perfect person for you though,' Canaan grinned.

'He does! Compared to all the bastards and snobs, he is the greatest guy I've ever heard of! Could I contact him?' she asked.

'Well I suppose you could. I think he sort of needs someone like him in his life to be honest. He gets the impression all the girls are like the noble girls he has met, posh and unkind to him,' Canaan looked at Eva sadly.

'It is sort of the same with guys and me. Could you send a letter straight away asking him if he wants to contact me?' Eva asked.

Canaan got out to sheets of paper and two pens out. He passed a sheet of paper to Eva and a pen.

'You are going to have to prove to him you're not like the others. You don't have to write in Nurasian, English writing is one of the few things he can do. He learnt when he was young,' Canaan sighed.

'Oh shit. What the hell am I supposed to write to a Prince?' Eva asked.

Canaan shrugged.

'I am just writing a plain letter. Then Aikka will get your letter,' he told her.

Canaan started writing. Eva stared at the paper. After a few minutes of writing then, realising Eva had not started, he looked at her.

'Here is a hint. Be yourself. Pretend you are writing to an ordinary Nurasian rebel called Aikka,' he said.

Eva nodded. It felt so much easier now that Canaan had said that. After a minute or two she started writing. She just let the words flow out onto the page. She just hoped Aikka would like her letter.

'Hello Aikka, I'm Eva. I'm only ten years old but people say I have the attitude of a teenager. Of course, I heard from Canaan that you are like that too. He's giving me sword lessons as a punishment. My teachers have a sick meaning of punishment. I suppose this letter is part of it too…' Eva wrote.

She showed Canaan what she had written. He smiled and gestured for her to keep on going. She nodded and went back to work.

'When Canaan told me about you, I thought you were different. All the guys at my school are snobs, bastards or hate me. You might too. I just thought it sounded like all those noble girls you've met. I guess you hate them too,' she then wrote.

She chewed the end of her pen, thinking about what to write next. Canaan was busy so she didn't bother showing him. Then she had a little idea of what to put next. She was going to be herself.

'What I'm trying to say is, I like you for who you are. You sound nice. I know you will think I am crazy, but I love mud fights, I yell abuse at people and I'm just not like many people around me,' Eva sighed.

She showed Canaan again.

'That is something that will get his attention. I should know. Now finish it off for me and I can get it sent away to Nurasia,' Canaan smiled.

'So Aikka, yeah you may not believe it, but I'm a rebel. It's true and if you can't trust me, then I don't expect anything back from you. If you do, then send me a letter back, because the truth is I want to know the real you. Eva,' she finished.

Canaan went through the letter. He was smiling when he had finished reading it all to himself.

He got the letters together and went to the door.

'I'm sending it now so it arrives by the day after tomorrow. I will tell you when I next get Nurasian letters,' Canaan smiled.

He left. Eva picked up her stuff and left too. She felt stupid. It had felt so good when she had been writing the letter but now it seemed crap. She wanted to rip it up into tiny pieces.

Naomi came up to her.

'Canaan told me. He just left. God, you are lucky. You're contacting a Prince! A rebel Prince! You should be happy!' Naomi said.

'I don't think he will like me,' Eva sighed.

Naomi shook Eva by the shoulders. Eva wriggled out of her grasp.

'What the hell was that for?' she asked.

'Eva! Look at yourself! You are a rebel boy's dream come true! Any rebel would be mad to hate you! That Prince is going to like you, and you are going to believe that, do you hear me?' Naomi pointed a finger at Eva.

'Ok. God, I am not a rebel boy's dream come true. I am just sending a letter to a rebel Prince,' Eva sighed.

Naomi lightly shook her head.

'Ah well. Its witch class next! Time for her to light the cauldron! We are about to all suffer her spells of boredom!' Naomi grinned.

Eva laughed. Naomi cheered her up. The bell went and they headed for English. Little did she know, there was going to be a little something in a few days time…