Kara
The seriousness of the situation dawned on me as Cayden left me standing with the young soldier. He practically never left me alone in unknown male company, much less in a situation where I would have to get undressed in front of set male. The young soldier appeared to be my age. His blonde hair was fairly long and hung in front of his eyes which were looking awkwardly at me. His lips formed into a straight line and the corners of his mouth bent slightly upwards. There was a drop of sweat making its way down across his cheek sunkissed cheek, perhaps from running through the long halls in the apparent heat. He looked nice, but you could never be too careful.
"Sir Hans, would you mind waiting outside?" I asked him.
"I would, my lady but the commander said -"
In an attempt to silence him, I placed a hand in front of his face. It worked and he looked at me, stunned. The lad was clearly not used to being silenced by a woman. His face became slightly rosy as a blush as a blush crept up his neck.
"I am certain that my brother would not want his unmarried maiden of a sister to be stared at by one of his men whilst she is changing."
A slight grunt came from within his mouth as he withdrew himself from the room. Perhaps he was a bit of a pervert after all. Either that or a man very devoted to the duties given to him by his commander. I sighed, shook my head, and started removing the armor from the mannequin. Undressing myself turned out to be much more difficult than I had originally imagined. It had been less than a couple of hours since I got the dress on and I already had to fight trying to get it off again. Unbelievable, I thought to myself. I must get better immediately.
Having gotten the uniform on, I felt prouder than ever to be part of something bigger. Something that would help me protect myself and everyone else. It was a big burden to carry on ones shoulders but I had gotten this far and I would proceed until I was no longer able to.. Until my dying breath. Dying in battle would bring honor upon my name and my families.
Memories of my mother and her discouraging words came rushing through my mind. She was worried as always and likely had no idea that I had ridden off to go collect something that would enable me to go to war. She loathed the idea of me fighting amongst men and I understood. She never understood why I wanted to go in my father's and my brother's footsteps but most of all I think she feared my fate would be similar to that of papa.
Before my brother, our father had been the lead commander of the royal guard. He was considered one of the greatest to have ever graced the battlefield and had returned from every single battle he had participated in and won. Because of this, everyone, including myself and my brother was surprised and heartbroken to hear that he had fallen in combat against a magician from the Kingdom of the Moon in an attempt to restore the wall that separated our two countries. You see, the relic that keeps up the wall between the two nations is kept in a vault and is sealed away in a hidden location only few, chosen people know of. Cracks had been spotted in the wall by no other than Arian Shaw himself, the king and ruler of the Kingdom of the Moon and he had sent out a group of each nation's leaders to assist him in travelling so that he could repair the weak spots in the wall. When they arrived, they found out that in order to access and thus repair the relic, two people - one from the Empire of the Sun and one from the Kingdom of the Moon - must be chosen and combat one another until either of the two dies. The sacrifice grants access to the relic and unfortunately my father was chosen alongside the second in command from the Kingdom of the Moon. They had battled and my father surrendered, being the kindhearted man that he is. His death saved the countries what could have been much trouble and he was remembered by some as a hero. By others, specifically those within my own country, he was considered weak for surrendering, but I saw him as a man of his nation. He was brave to give up his own life for the sake of our country, regardless of whether or not he had given it up willingly and for that I wanted to honor his memory.
I twirled around in the armor like a little girl and imagined the look on papa's face if I had told him the news of my acceptance into the guard. He would have either been proud or terrified like my mother. The lonely appearance of me standing all by myself in the mirror made the metal plates on my already aching body suddenly feel even heavier. I straightened my back as Cayden had instructed me to do and opened the door.
Hans and I made our way through the corridors in silence. His initial stare as I stepped outside the armory had been filled with surprise as it was not likely that he had seen a woman in armor before. In his defense my body did not look like one that would be able carry the weight of fully plated armor and a sword in my scabbard. After that he had not looked at me, even when I made my best attempt to extrude as much confidence in my stride as I possibly could. I felt as though it failed, but he just kept his eyes looking forward until we arrived at the entry another big hall at the top of a large rounded staircase. Inside was a big octagon shaped table with chairs placed all the way around it. The lion crest of the Empire of the Sun was hanging on the wall straight across the door we entered from, but the walls were otherwise lined with large windows that let all the natural inside the tower. It was a magnificent room and had it not been for the people standing within it, I would have explored the entirety of it.
In front of me stood none other than Leandra Aelius, our country's ruler. She was radiating with regal energy, like that of a lioness, looking proud and pristine in her golden cape and matching wine-red dress. Next to her was my brother and at first, I hadtrouble making out the third individual in their group with hair black like the coal from our mines and a dark cape with a fur rim that hung around the tall figure loosely. As he turned around, the color of his cape shifted to a dark blue and met myhazel eyes with a pair of light grey ones. His pale skin looked bright andclear in contrast to the color of his apparel and aside from the few age linesaround his eyes and his beard, you would think he was around my brothers age. Magicians of the Kingdom of the Moon often used magic to minimize their aging and this man, Arian Shaw, was no different. I was standing face to face with two of the most powerful rulers to ever exist in our respective countries and I was left speechless. It was only when the grey eyes rapidly approached me that I snapped out of my trance.
"Kara Lowe!" I heard his deep voice happily ring through the halls.
Being surprised and a bit confused, I took a step back. An expression similar to that on my face could be seen on that of the remainder of the royal guard, who were all standing to my left. They were on time, unlike me and it would be an understatement to say that I was not expecting a warm welcome at all. The large man walked closer to me and pulled me into a big hug that made it difficult to catch a breath and lifted me off the ground. When I did not respond with a hug in return, he placed me back down on the floor. Such uncontrolled, big emotions were not characteristic of the people of the moon. They usually focused on keeping their mind and feelings retained as to not overload their magic. Too much of one feeling could overpower them and bring either immense destruction or salvation to their people and their enemies. It was for this reason that I became suspicious of Arian initially and distanced myself from him by stepping further back. Though he had been by my fathers' side on his deathbed, I did not know him at all. He was a stranger and from an entirely different nation at that. They did not live by the same rules we did and though our mutual respect for one another would be respected, I did not feel as though we would ever be close with one another.
"I am sorry girl. You must be confused as to why a moonfolk like myself would act so recklessly and so affectionate. My name is Arian Shaw."
"I know who you are," I muttered, my voice not indicating much emotion as I looked at him blankly.
The eyes of my brother eventually caught mine and his cautionary look made me realize that I was acting very rudely towards a royal, perhaps due to the shock of the sudden embrace. I winded up stumbling to a kneeling position in sheer embarrassment and dared not to look into the eyes of the king.
"I apologize for my insolent behavior, your highness! I was merely in awe of you and our queen's presence."
As if amused by my words, he started snickering. I was unable to see his facial expression but imagined it to have a grin placed upon it. Was it a menacing or kind smile?
Did I say something wrong? Did I answer him incorrectly?
Nervousness started washing over me like a hot bath, making little sweat droplets fall from my forehead like they had during training.
Why am I burning up all of a sudden?
Perhaps I would be punished or entirely denied entry into the royal guard for my behavior and how would I then be able to honor papa? I would be ruined, forced to be married off to some lord with no interest in me but that of procreation.
"Raise your head soldier. We have things of importance to discuss," he said as it voice drifted off. I assumed he was walking away from me.
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