Vayu cleaned out the soil around the seedling in the little pot. A few days untended, and tiny weeds sprouted around the fragile plant. Soon they would be transferred to the ground and have to fend for themselves. The fellow novices worked diligently and silently around her. She enjoyed the spring mornings like these, where the ground was covered in dew and the air was cool. It was so peaceful even her mind quieted for a moment.

It was impossible not to hear news of the rest of Noumin. The Barek Monastery was remote, in the furthest most part of the region of Hethyra, but it was not abandoned. Pilgrims visited them often, and carried with them news of the war. It was not a war that Noumin could win. All she could do was wait and pray along with the other novices, priestesses, and priests.

The monastery rested on the Barek cliffs, connected to the rest of civilization by a dirt path on one side and the open sea on the other. Vayu rose to her feet and looked over the path, hoping for more pilgrims. No news was not good news in precarious times.

The priestesses did all that they could to help the war effort, but they were too far to contribute anything significant. It was too much trouble to transport whatever they could collect or make to the soldiers. She felt vibrations on the soles of her bare feet. Hoofbeats. Someone was approaching the monastery, and fast.

Vayu looked around. They were still beyond the bend in the path, whoever they were. If Noumin had survived the war, the news would reach her weeks after. But even if the war was lost, the monastery would be the last thing on anyone’s mind. Their enemies would be far more occupied with the capital, establishing their power and removing existing rulers. The monastery had survived other wars. People were not interested in crumbling buildings and gardens with meager yields.

She flinched. She didn’t want to think about that. Her brother was only eleven years old, and mentally even younger. A row of carriages came around the bend, and she sighed in relief. The soldiers riding alongside the carriage wore the crimson Nouminian livery.

Vayu dropped the trowel in her hand and walked towards the soldiers. She wiped the dirt off her hands on her skirt. It didn’t matter that she was wearing a dress nearly a decade old or that she was sweaty from the physical labor. Everything could wait until she had news of what happened to her family. She did not care about the young queen, but her aunt and others on her mother’s side lived near the border. Her younger brother might have been the root cause of her exile, but he was innocent.

Lady Yeri led the soldiers. She stopped in front of the young woman. It was over ten years, and the young woman in front of her was not the adolescent she had left at the doors of the monastery. Vayu was still unmistakably still her father’s daughter. Yeri looked at the girl, her skin browned and freckled by the sun and her body lean from work. She did not look royal in any way.

“Greetings, your highness,” Lady Yeri said, bowing down in front of her.

Vayu bowed out of habit, and then stepped back. Lady Yeri had used the wrong address for her. She was just a novice in the monastery now, not a royal. Her history and her birth meant nothing the moment she was sent away. She was not owed respect from anyone, not more than any other peasant in the kingdom. The loss of her royal status had bothered her for the first few years, but now she was used to being just another Nouminian. If anything, the lack of responsibility and simplicity of her life was tranquil and idyllic.

“Your presence is requested at the capital,” Lady Yeri said.

Vayu frowned. She was not allowed to leave the monastery grounds. No novice was. One of the soldiers opened the door to the carriage closest to her. A young woman stepped out. Vayu kept an eye on her. The young woman was familiar, but it had been so many years since she had met with anyone from the capital. The other novices and priestesses told her that nobles used to visit the monastery before. They’d stopped once it became Vayu’s home. Normal people would’ve resented Vayu’s presence, but the people in the monastery were gracious. They learned to live without noble donations, and the faces that Vayu grew up amidst faded into memories.

The soldiers carried the chest into the monastery, and the young woman approached Vayu.

“Greetings, your highness.”

Vayu bowed. “I relinquished my titles when I left for the monastery. I’m just Novice Vayu now.”

“Your title has been reinstated. The queen regent has decided to reject your request to join the clergy.”

Vayu’s throat went dry. The queen regent was the reason she left home in the first place. Within a few months of her father falling ill, the entire castle turned hostile towards her. Her friends ignored her, and those who she thought to be allies fled to their own lands away from the capital. Her stepmother was critical of everything she did and Lord Dhravan was an ever-present, threatening presence near the throne. Even as a child, she saw how much Queen Raval loved her newfound power.

“After ten years, she’s rejected my request?” Vayu asked. Her voice was higher than she intended, but at least her anger sounded more like fear.

She was weak when she left the capital, friendless and young. It did not matter that she was the rightful heir to the throne, or that it was her father’s wish for her to rule. It did not matter that she had the peoples’ support and a few allies.

What mattered was that she had a stepmother who would kill to keep her power. She would’ve lost the war of succession, and most likely lost her life. Her well-wishers, her friends, and her supporters would have gone to the gallows with her. At that moment, the only escape she saw was to renounce her title and escape to the monastery. It was fleeing, many called her cowardly, but she would rather be a breathing coward than a buried braveheart. She still felt the same.

“What is my title, exactly?” Vayu asked. “Since she’s rejected my request.”

“You are Princess Vayu,” Lady Yeri said. “Sister of King Eshal.”

She had been crown princess, heir to the throne. The only reason Queen Raval would bring her back to the capital was because she needed her. But Vayu needed nothing from her old life. She would be a full-fledged priestess soon. To the outsiders, the monastery was a place of penance and scarcity, but they only saw the lack of luxuries and comforts. They did not see the wealth of knowledge behind the stone walls. Vayu was free as a novice to learn about anything she wished, as much as she wished. Her teachers encouraged her to learn and teach, and there was nothing she enjoyed more in the world. Whether she chose to become a priestess or not after her training, she would have the freedom to live her life after two more years in the monastery.

“I respectfully decline,” Vayu whispered. She cleared her throat. “Please tell the queen regent that I am perfectly content where I am. I have no desire to return to the capital or to court life.”

“Your highness,” Lady Yeri explained. “You do not have a choice.”