I remember when I was young, and I wondered why all the noble's children ran away from me. My maid's daughter, Jolene, however, hung around me a lot. We eventually became friends, which was very rare for me. When I asked her why no one wanted to be my friend, Jolene looked very contemplative.

"I used to be afraid of you, too." Jolene's voice was chipper and had a slight western accent. "I was afraid of you 'cuz people told me that you were just as scary as your ma."

I had no idea what she was talking about. I was too young to know about my mother's conquests, and I had never heard about this before. 

"What do you mean, as scary as Mother? Mother isn't scary!" To me, mother was really nice and fun to be with, so I had never seen her intimidating side.

Jo looked a bit surprised at this. "Of course your ma is scary! People run when her name is a'spoken!" Jo pulled out a lollipop and stuck it in her mouth. "Sometimes I pass 'her by, I feel shrunken, like a cute, little mouse!"

From then on, I knew a bit more about mother. I had never seen my mother as "scary" and now I knew why people ran when they saw me. 

My sister and I looked nothing like her, though. My mother had fire-red hair, and hazel eyes. In Altacia, people usually have green eyes, so her eyes were unusual. But my sister had gold eyes, seemingly from the gods, and I had purple eyes, most likely from my father's side. Not only that, but my hair was so dark it looked purpled, and my sister's was strawberry blond that had undertones of brown. So overall, we looked nothing like the woman who birthed us. 

The only way you would know that we were related is from our figures. We all have an  hourglass/pear-shaped body, but our sizes vary. My sister is tall like my mother, while I am small and elfish.

That day, my sister visited me. Often, she comes to my room and we spend a lot of time together. Today was more or less the same, but she seemed off.

"Valencia, what do you need?" I asked my older sister.

"Opal, I am worried. You know how it is almost Bailiat Day? Mother always gets tense during this time." She replied.

 Bailiat Day is the day that the people come and ask the queen for favors and boons from the gods. As the queen, my mother has to choose whether it is worth her time to give a person a favor, or contact the gods. Sometimes people of individual families come, and sometimes town leaders will come with a list that the people put together. Bailiat Day often lasts more than four days at a time, since our land is so big. Before my mother was queen, our land only stretched five hundred miles at the most, and back then Bailiat Day only took three days. But now, our land is triple the size it was, since now we rule Beosk (the country that surrounds us), too.

When Bailiat Day comes around, usually our mother asks for our help. This year, our mother hadn't approached us at all. We knew that without any help, the work would take weeks for our mother to finish. But, if Mother didn't need our help, we had no choice but to let her do it on her own. Mother is hard headed and loves being queen, so no one can ever stop her from doing what she loves, her own way.

The thing about our family is that not only do we rule two large countries, but we have special... abilities. It is said that before our mother was queen, she made a deal with the three "soulless gods", the Goddess of Thieves and Liars (Laverna), the Goddess of Death (Libitina), and the God of War (Mars). 

The deal was that the gods would help Mother to be queen, in exchange for her future children to also be children of the gods, since none of the gods had kids at the time. But, by the time Valencia and I were born,  Laverna and Libitina had already had children. So, instead of giving us their powers, they paid off debts with other gods by letting them give us their own abilities. 

Valencia (who is older than me by one year) was given Venus and Fortuna's powers, and so she became the "Princess of Good Fortune and Beauty". 

 I, however was not so lucky. Instead of being given nice and flowery abilities, Diana, Veritas, and Nemesis gave me their powers, making me the "Princess of Revenge, Truth, and Hunting". So, I am good for finding people and giving justice, while Valencia has all the fun with her admirers. 

But, no matter how much I complain, people still respect us both and fear our family. Because, my sister and I may have harmless enough abilities, but, my mother is someone to fear. When she made the deal with the gods, in order for them to help her be queen, they gathered some of the worst and most feared gods in existence. 

They combined their powers together in a cauldron created by Jupiter and submerged my mother. When she came out, she was changed and had enough power to become a deity herself. The only downside was that not only did she gain new powers, but her body was changed. My mother had sharp ears, tall, long legs and an aura around her that reminded others of a species that lives among the Gods, the Fae. 

The Fae were created by the the gods to be servants until the end of time, but they were more powerful than expected. Each Fae lived under a god's House, where their powers originated from. The Fae were meant to have enough power to represent their original House, but not enough to think for themselves. But, they were able to think for themselves, and most broke free of the god's reign and created Courts, which are led by the most powerful Fae in each god's House.

Overall, the Fae had no reason to leave the god's land, or Insmil, so most stayed. But, others left and started families with the mortals. 

So, my mother was turned into a Fae, and had extraordinary gifts. But, when the cauldron was mixing, my mother favored two goddesses more than the rest. Apate and Minerva. With this, she became the "Queen of Strategy and Deceit".

So, yes, we are pretty scary.

                                .       .      .

We were walking towards the garden when a servant came and bowed, telling us the queen requested our presence in the throne room immediately. We thought that we would be given the task of overseeing Bailiat Day, but when we arrived, we saw something unusual. Our mother was speaking to the Travel General, Oliver. Oliver oversees the trips our armies and scouts take. 

When Mother first started speaking, we had no idea what was going to come out of her mouth. 

"My dear Valencia and Opal, you know I love you. That is why I am sending you off to Ustrah. You will not return from the island until the fall is done and the first snow arrives. Leave me and begin packing for your long trip." And with that, Queen Katarah of Atacia and Beosk turned away from her daughters and left the throne room, leaving them awestruck in her wake.