Part One

"Now, here is a riddle for you Lady Sae. Are you ready for this one?"

For the past four days Sae had been training her mind to think in careful steps. Roderick has taught her to observe and measure every decision she made, and to be thoughtful of her reasoning before she did anything. It had been slow going for her at first. His little tests were cryptic enough for her that she was always hesitant to give any answer lest she be wrong, and in the beginning she very often was. She was learning that everything was not black and white, and that her decision always carried a consequence. Therefore, she had to pass judgement that would result in the best, or in some cases the less terrible, consequence. Every evening when she was not with Roderick preparing she would be in her apartments, where her lady's maids would pull from their memories any riddles or parables they remembered from their childhood, and discuss them together for her benefit. Now, as she sat across from the Royal Advisor's desk, with one day more to prepare before the second task, she nodded her head in consent so that he could proceed in his latest little brain teaser. Lately she had been showing promising improvement.

"There is a rare human defect," he began, "in which twins born are joined together by a sharing limb. In the case I am speaking of, two men shared an arm together; one man's right arm, the other's left arm, conjoined from the their elbows down. It is usual in such cases as these that one twin is superior in strength to the other. The strong one happened to be a renegade of his kingdom. He was a thief and a known killer. His weaker twin was sickly but had a pure heart and mind. At every turn he tried to stop his brother, did everything in his power to prevent him from breaking any law, though he could hardly manage it being the weaker one. In most cases his brother would resort to knocking him out cold, so the innocent twin would be dragged along unconscious, or conscious but against his own will."

"What a horrible circumstance for that poor man!"

"Indeed it was. Now, Lady Sae, you are the Queen of their country, and they have been captured and brought before you. What are you to do? You have two choices; you may bring the guilty twin to justice by locking them away, and he will take his punishment. This will also prevent him from continuing his thievery. Your alternative is to let them go, and by doing so the innocent twin will receive his justice as a free man. So, whom will you be serving justice to, the good twin or the bad twin?"

For a moment Sae felt that familiar panic creep up inside her as she realized she was stumped. Either way she'd be giving justice to one and doing an injustice to the other, so how could this be resolved? She remembered her thoughts about consequences, and took that into consideration. Even that did not help her much however. On one hand if she were to let them go free her country might be in further danger of being terrorized by the thief. That was not a pleasing consequence. On the other hand, if she were to lock them away would that not set a bad mark against her for locking away a free man, and would not her other innocent subjects be in fear that the same may happen to them? It was not a good way to settle matters in the kingdom.

"Is there not a third alternative?" She asked some minutes later.

Roderick who had left her to her own thoughts and was looking over some paperwork did not stop writing or break his focus as he murmured, "There is only the one way or the other."

"Then," she said, as if determined to argue it out aloud, "It all depends really on what in the end matters more. I realize that either way the consequence won't be pleasing. Therefore I must draw upon what principle should be upheld; to punish the guilty, or to protect the innocent."

Here Roderick did put down his quill and regard her curiously. Taking this as sufficient encouragement that she was on the right track, she continued saying to herself. "I suppose there would be those who would disagree and be upset with my decision, but true justice does not depend on the persuasion of others, but rather a ruler must be unbiased and endeavour to use clear thinking as much as she can."

"And in using such tactics, have you come to any sort of conclusion?" Roderick pressed with unexpected optimism in his words.

He made her now nervous of disappointing him, but she told him what in her heart she felt was most just. "As a ruler I would have to release them. I would rather see a guilty man walk free than an innocent one suffer. I believe in the principle of protecting our subjects' rights before punishing the wrong doers. Of course, a consequence out of this is that they may not be as safe because I am letting the guilty one go and he may in turn harm them. Still, I cannot hold with putting chains on a good man."

"That Lady Sae, is what our criminal system of justice was founded on. Our first and foremost priority is to protect the rights of every subject. Taking away a free man's rights would set a bad precedent for the country, and who knows how that could be abused, should future rulers of Fu Naru become corrupt. Rights are what keep the authorities, the rulers in place so we don't abuse our power, and therefore I think you are wise in your choice. The short-term consequence is that the man may do more wrong, but the long-term consequence is that you have saved your loyal subjects from having their rights infringed upon, and that is what is most important."

His words both encouraged and frightened her. She was glad she had picked the right answer, but distraught because he had added so much to it that she hadn't thought of herself. Her mind had simply made the connection that there were two principles and she must decide which was more important. He had considered the actual framework of justice, and the long versus short-term effects such decisions would have. She felt no more prepared for tomorrow, and yet Roderick still said;

"I think you will be ready. I could give you another situation or two to think on, but you will in all likelihood pass tomorrow's task."

She couldn't help but be flattered that he had more faith in her ability then she did, especially seeing as this was the cold, serious Roderick who seemed to have so little faith in anyone. There was no denying he was warming up to her, but she supposed after being around him long enough it was inevitable they would get used to each other. Suffice it to say, she no longer was suspicious of him purposely setting her up for a fall, as the others had suspected he had done with the Princess Drelinda. So, either he had never done such a thing in the first place or…or he didn't dislike Sae, despite that awkward argument they had had days ago. Condor might have been right when he told her that the Royal Advisor took more care then she was allowing him in forming a loathing towards anyone. She'd have to remember to thank the stable boy for his advice, she reminded herself, as she left Roderick's study that evening.

The following morning Sae was not surprised to find herself feeling slightly ill and very anxious. The test would take place at noon like the first one, and she had the morning to compose herself for it. Under Mayah's guidance none of the ladies-in-waiting were to bombard Sae with any more riddles, for if she was ready she would do fine and if she were not it wouldn't help for them to further make her nervous. Their job for that morning was to try and take her mind away from the looming task and help her relax. Mayah herself had come to visit Sae in her room when she heard the dear girl was not fairing so well.

"I have brought you some nourishment," she said with a kind smile, placing a tray of varied modest breakfast foods before Sae. "I was informed that you haven't eaten yet, and I understand dear you may think you cannot, but I urge you to do anyway. A mind is sharper on a full stomach. I have only brought light foods as it is, so you should be able to stomach them. I find tea and toast is the best in these instances."

Sae repositioned herself on the chaise longue and agreed to a bit of tea and if she could tolerate it, some toast.

As Mayah went about and mothered her, her lady's maids took turns assuring her she'd be fine, and getting her ready for the day.

"Should I leave your riding clothes out Sae?" Alesia asked, going through her armoire.

"No, I don't have nerves for riding today I'm afraid." Sae admitted, adding to herself, I don't think I have the nerves for even getting out of my private quarters.

"You must relax yourself Sae, you were not this worked up during the first task."

Sae fought back a snort of indignation. "That is because back then I was not aware of how nightmarish these tasks are to go through."

"You did get through it last time though." Phèlie pointed out positively.

"It came very close though." Sae frowned at the thought.

"Do not talk yourself into defeat Sae or it is of little matter if you go or not, you will lose regardless with that attitude." Beda said.

It was Beda's words alone that gave Sae comfort. "You are right. If I am thinking I will fail, then I will fail even if I try. I must go in thinking I will do my best, and that is all anyone can ask of me." Including my father, she thought to herself.

"Now with that way of looking at it I am sure you will claim another victory," Mayah said, "now eat up."

This time, as Sae walked into the throne room at the appropriate time, she was not surprised to see it filled to the brim with spectators. She wondered vaguely how the six other ladies before her put up with this, but she supposed it was part of the price she had to pay for being allowed the chance to win the position of Queen of Fu Naru, not to mention winning Prince Sevastian as her husband. How many girls would give anything for the chance to marry a Prince? The majority of the girls in the kingdom, she was willing to bet. Her sister wouldn't for just any prince, but she had a feeling that for a prince as handsome and agreeable as Sevastian, Mealina as well as every single girl in the kingdom would take this chance, this one chance that she now carried in her hands. And if every girl in the kingdom wanted this kind of a chance, who was she to not want it? Her father was counting on her, and though Lady Kiva, like Mealina, had urged her not to marry without affection, she didn't doubt her stepmother was sensible to how much of an excellent match this would be for her stepdaughter. It would be lunacy for her not to try her best.

Queen Ryona sat still as a statue on her throne with her fan before her face. Her sons sat on either side of her and they looked expectantly at Sae as she made her way to the centre of the crowded room. A hushed silence fell upon the audience as the Queen stood from her throne and ushered for Sae to step forward.

"Come, my child. You are to sit on my throne for the next few minutes and play the part of Queen. Do your best."

The Queen moved aside and Sae could hardly believe it, but she was both allowed and guided to sit on the throne. Once seated, the Queen herself took the King's seat, the highest one, which had been empty for several months, and waved her hand in the air to indicate the task had begun. Seated in between the Queen and the younger prince Fabian, who surprisingly gave her an encouraging nod, Sae became a jumble of nerves. She looked past the Queen to see Sevastian was also looking at her with real optimism in his features, and she felt relieved to know that at least at the moment, he was hoping for her to pass on to the next task.

Sae looked forward and noticed that two guards came before them then. Behind the guards she made out what looked like a group of common village folk. The guards moved out of the way and she could now clearly take in the sight of what looked like a young couple standing close together as if frightened by their current surroundings and a third, much older man holding onto a red feathered chicken in his arms.

The first thought that came to Sae's mind was that the Queen had gone to quite some trouble in hiring actors to make this problem look so real. She had been expecting Roderick to come out any moment and tell her of a situation and then ask her to pass judgement, as they had practiced in his study. She had not expected people to act out an issue for her sake, but she supposed this way it would be all the more realistic, and that must have been what the Queen was going for.

Then she realized with a stomach-twisting feeling that the Queen was looking at her pointedly as if waiting for her to proceed. Sae was on the Queen's throne. Sae was expected to act in every way the Queen at the moment.

Clearing her throat, Sae hoped she had understood right in what she thought she had to do. "Please, step forward and explain to me your predicament."

The three people all stepped forward. The older man looked to the young couple as if he rather they get their story out first so that he could have the final say. The young couple took the hint.

"Your ladyship," the young man began, "I am but a humble farmer and this is my wife. We have been independent for less than a year and are very poor. There have been so many problems on the farm that we have hardly had time to tend to everything that has happened. Many of our cows died from contaminated water from their water hole, we cannot afford any horses and our sheep for some reason are not mating and producing more sheep. We have been making most of our earnings on our chickens' eggs, though last month after a terrible storm some of the fence, which kept them in, was broken and three chickens escaped."

Sae could not help but be affected by what she was hearing. She was beginning to realize that the sheltered, fortunate life she had had kept her ignorant of such troubles the commoners of Fu Naru faced with in their lives. As they stood there trembling and telling her of their poverty, she could not help but commend them on their acting skills. If she had not known they were actors, she would have been sure they were an actual young farming couple.

"We did not notice at the time because we were dealing with the mystery of our dying cows. However, t'was not but a few days ago that we finally stumbled upon this new problem. Three of our chickens, having left our farm, migrated over to our neighbour's property. We met with him and asked for our chickens back, but he is refusing to hand them over."

Sae turned her eyes from the young couple to the middle-aged man with the chicken under his arm. "They are now rightfully mine. I know Fu Naru's law. It is regulation that should one's livestock find its way onto another man's property, then said owners of the livestock have a month to reclaim their property. And should the month pass and they do not claim it, it immediately becomes the property of the owner of the land the livestock has migrated to. They did not come to me until well over forty days later, your ladyship, and as the law decrees, the birds are all mine."

"But under our circumstances we were too busy to deal with that problem until we settled the matter with our cows." The farmer's wife implored. "Please your ladyship, we only have nine chickens to begin with. If he should keep three of them we will be in complete ruin. We do not even own a rooster, we cannot produce more chickens from the ones we have now; they only make eggs for selling."

Sae looked back and forth in complete wonder of the situation. It was not helping her that they all seemed too real in their plight for her justice. She had to remind herself that it wasn't real, that there would be no consequences for her decision; it was only a mock issue. That would help her focus on what was most important, passing this test. Here she began to regard the situation in her head and thought over the meaning of justice. The ironic thought passed through her mind that she could not simply split the chickens in two. She must uphold the law, she realized, and whether she liked it or not the law was in favour of the man who now rightfully owned the chickens. There were no loopholes made for people who did not have time or who were not aware that their livestock had escaped. To be just she must side with the man, and besides, this wasn't a real situation, so why should she feel so bad for the non-existent young couple?

"I must go in accordance with the law that was made in order to bring justice to this country." Sae said. "Therefore, as a Queen I would rule that this gentlemen is entitled to keep his three chickens. However, justice can be laced with mercy, and for the sake of a poor young couple I would donate to them three chickens, and a rooster, from the palace's livestock, so that they will not be ruined."

All three commoners looked up at her blankly, as if wondering if the latter part of what she said would be taken seriously seeing as she had no control over the palace livestock.

The Queen stood up from her seat and said, "Alright, the second task is now complete. I ask everyone to keep their voices down, as I will now contemplate as to whether Lady Sae's decision warrants her a pass onto the third task or not."

The Queen walked immediately to where the Royal Advisor was seated not far off, as if to ask from him his opinion on the matter. Sae looked away, determined not to let herself grow anxious, though second by second she was doing just that. To take her mind off of it she turned to the subjects before her and said, "You were all quite good actors. I very nearly got taken away by your story."

All three farmers looked at her questioningly, and the farmer's wife was the first to say, "we are not actors milady."

Then Sae felt very, very sick. "What? You mean…that was real?"

"Of course it was." The middle-aged farmer said as if he thought her very ridiculous at the moment.

"But, I thought…then, that means…"

"That means your ladyship, that you have answered our problem." The younger farmer cleared for her. "Though, I suppose since you are not really the Queen you can not authorize the giving of chickens to us, now can you?"

No, she couldn't. That meant the young couple would walk away with nothing. The thought alone was unbearable. She had done this to them, whether it was the just thing to do or not, it was not merciful at all.

"Please, will you tell me what region of the country you live in?" She asked, desperate to help them any way she could.

She got the answer to her hopes when they informed her they were all from the west region.

"But my father is Count Arland of the west region." And of course they knew of him, for there were only three counts of the west and Arland in particular lived close to their area.

"Then in that case, we are all sort of like neighbours, aren't we?" Sae exclaimed, cheering up at the thought and quite managing to forget she was still waiting for judgment for the second task. Finding out the situation was real now made it more important to her. "If that is the case, I will write to my father and ask him to help you out however he can. You may have three of our chickens and a rooster, and some of our cows too if it will help, we have many to spare. My father is so fond of good neighbours that once I tell him of you and your situation I am sure he'll even invite you to dine at my manor."

The young couple looked completely struck by her words as if she were speaking another language. It was not so common in Fu Naru for the nobility to associate with the common folk, but she knew her father to be a man who looked upon any respectable family as a good one, farmers or aristocrats. Providing she write to him she was sure he would not hesitate in helping them out.

"Your ladyship is very kind," said the farmer after he realized just what she was saying, "but we could never ask for charity from you."

"And who says I am offering you charity?" Sae answered, "you are a neighbour, and the very definition of a good neighbour is that they help the other out in times of need. You see I am being quite selfish in offering you assistance from my father. I will not be happy until I can earn the title of a good neighbour, so you must let me have it."

The farmer and his wife couldn't help but smile at her words. "If you insist milady."

"I do. I shall write to my father this very afternoon. Please just give me your names and he will be in contact with you. I should like to know each of you better as well, when I am…if I am back at home soon."

They bowed to her despite her not being royalty and turned to leave. The older farmer had left earlier as she had said nothing else to him and he did not see a reason for sticking around, having claimed his new prizes. As the young couple left she suddenly remembered she was still waiting for a verdict and scanned the room for the Queen. She did not need to scan long. The Queen, Roderick, even Prince Sevastian were all standing together and looking at her as if they had been watching her for some time.

Then she realized they had. "You were just listening then, weren't you?"

"Yes." The Queen and Roderick answered.

Prince Sevastian merely looked as if he was proud enough to burst.

"I must say Sae that it was a display I was very happy to see." Queen Ryona said. "It is the job of a ruler to put forth justice every time, even when we are sympathetic to someone's plight, justice must always be one's first object. However, justice if it can be, should be served with mercy, especially for the deserving."

"I am relived to hear you say so your highness," Sae confessed, "I was worried I may appear either too yielding or too merciless."

"There have been many tormentors in history," Roderick said, "but do not let your mind confuse that with justice. The ability to be both kind and just, to employ real kindness in one's just decisions, is the marking of a great ruler."

Though Roderick was known to be around Prince Sevastian's age and he certainly looked young enough to be, Sae could not help but wonder at some of the things he said, as if he had lived for much longer and seen a lot more of the world then she knew was possible for someone so young. Then again, she supposed that was what made him the Royal Advisor. In comparison, his cousin the Prince had no wise words for Sae, but his eyes spoke enough of his congratulations and of his being impressed with her. His grin was infectious and he asked her if she would like to take a walk in the gardens later. Sae could not help but blush at his asking her in front of his mother and Roderick; times before he had usually just asked her when he caught her by herself, but she supposed there was nothing improper in having them see the Prince take an interest in her. Wasn't this what she was here for, after all?

Back in her quarters that afternoon, once she was able to escape the throne room, she wrote her letter to her father asking him to meet with the young couple and do what he could for them. Not out of pity, for they were not looking for pity, but to do what any good neighbour would do and if possible begin an acquaintance with them.

When she called for the servant who dealt with post matters she found that he had just received letters from home for her, and so she detoured giving him her letter and told him she would call back in a few hours once she wrote responses for the new letters as well. She had received two; one from Mealina and one from Lady Kiva.

Like everything about Mealina, her letter was also dear to Sae. Though her younger sister wrote always on a serious note, Sae always found herself laughing at the things she said, and though she felt guilty for laughing at her sister's words of advice, she still treasured the fact that though there were not many things in the world that could make her laugh, Mealina was one of them. Sae was dutiful in writing a very detailed description of the "handsome prince" and assured her concerned sister that he was everything charming and quite a good man. Maybe Sae at present felt no particular attraction to him other than that of friendship, but then Mealina must understand that she had a disposition in which she was incapable of romantic love.

Lady Kiva's letter contained advice Sae took more seriously. "Though you know how I've felt about this from the beginning," she stated somewhere in the middle of the letter, "if you are determined to have this Prince for your husband then you must be smart about it. Focus first on passing all these tasks, for that is your best chance of getting him. At the same time however, if you can somehow bring him to fall in love with you, then I think even if you lose he may fight to keep you. So Sae, try to win and make sure you encourage his highness on as you do, though remember to be the lady you were brought up to be, I scarily need tell you that though, still I feel I should say it as a mother anyway. The Queen will be watching you very carefully, you can be sure of that. Do your best and remember, no one back at home will think any different should you not succeed or should you resign yourself. There are plenty of handsome men in the gentry of this country for a pretty girl like yourself."

Then she went on to tell Sae of the happenings at home and of her father missing her as well as she did. Sae wrote back that she had come to the same scheme herself of trying to procure the Prince's heart, and that she was happy her stepmother was thinking on the same lines. She was glad to hear the twins were maturing and her father was in good health. She also dropped in a line about the young farm couple and asked her Lady Kiva to do what she could for them as well.

Later that evening as Sae walked with Prince Sevastian in the gardens he told her of his waiting for her at the stables that morning and his disappointment when she did not come for her morning ride.

"Condor had told me that you ride every morning you see, and sometimes my brother has seen you so he confirmed it." Sevastian said happily. "So I thought I could start riding with you, if you do not mind it."

"I would like nothing more your highness." Sae said earnestly. "The truth is I did not go this morning for I was feeling quite ill about the task. Now that I have five days of relaxation ahead of me I should love to meet you in the mornings for a ride."

And so it was decided upon that they would go for morning rides together and Sae smiled at her own luck that he should suggest such a thing. She had never tried it before and she certainly wasn't sure how to go about it, but now she would do all in her power to attempt to make him love her if she could.