“Princess?”
A soft voice peeked from her room’s door, a title she despised, it reminded her of her stressful life - her duty. Regardless, she answered wordlessly as she turned around to a tall woman dressed in white and gold; a common appearance amongst her family’s servants. She was greeted to white eyes, her darkened horns on each side of her head hooked some of her brown hair as her head tilted to look at the small girl through the slightly opened door.
“Princess, your selection is today and your father has assigned a Knight for you to see in the throne room.”
Right… Today was the day she would be bound by another, and her freedom thrown away, like she had any to begin with.
With a silent nod, the servant left, leaving the door slightly ajar for the princess to exit. The princess guessed she was waiting outside for her, and with a sigh, she hopped off her bed and accompanied the servant outside waiting for her.
Light spilled across the pearled floor of the throne room as the guards and servants adjusted the curtains and windows for presentation. Her father, the king, sat proudly upon the throne. Dark skin, glaring crimson eyes, dark maroon hair tinted with lighter and darker shades of brown that leaked upon the ends of his long hair. The king wore his classical dark robe of shadows that constantly curled around his collarbone, his long ears tucked downwards and his tail wrapped majestically around the throne he was seated on.
The pride of the Kitsune King…
As the guards aligned themselves in a straight line down the hall, what she assumed to be her appointed Knight strolled slowly towards them, their footsteps quietly echoing against the crimson carpet they walked upon.
They had ocean blue eyes, the classical trait of a Knight, and pastel violet hair that shined as the sunlight bathed it. They wore a long white coat, and though they looked polite, the one thing that drew the princess away from the Knight was how old they looked.
The princess was young, while the Knight looked like they were double her age.
The Knight bowed when they arrived at the base of the king’s throne, showing their respect as the king stood up from his seating. “I’m very glad you could attend, you may raise your head.” The king said, the Knight obeyed his command and lifted their head.
“I am king Dyunir Althedhal Rhaya, and what is your name?”
“Lunistria Lunarian.” The Knight simply stated. The princess, who silently stood to the far side of the throne, could sometimes see the small glances the Knight directed towards her. Her thin tail curled closer towards her body as she backed away into the shadows of the room.
A Lunarian, a surname granted among the people of the Cat Zodiac of Light and Lightning.
Ither, the princess’ older brother entered the room, and the first thing he did was stand beside his younger sister protectively; eyeing the mysterious newcomer that arrived not too long ago in front of them. The Knight, Lunistria, shared the stare back at Ither - the king saw this. “I see Knights can recognise each other, or am I wrong about this?”
“No, father, you’re right.” Ither swiftly confirmed, “so you’re the one who will be assigned to my baby sister? Tsh, you couldn’t find one with more meat on her, father?” Though the insult was meant to be rude, it seemed like the other Knight took no offense towards it.
The king chuckled in a somewhat warning tone at his son’s hostility, “unfortunately, no. This one was the only one I could find.” Even when talking about them, they looked… blank, no emotion dwelled within them whatsoever.
The princess was a Seer… Seers can see other living things' aura, and this Knight had no emotions. When a being lies, their aura would become spiky, even the judgment on how grave their heart would race or how much they silently panic couldn’t define the aura’s movements. When a being is sad, their aura would become low, small, and quite hard to see. When the being’s aura is based around the entire being in a straight and undisturbed void around the being’s figure… it meant they felt nothing and no emotion present in their mind.
Lunistria stood up from their bow, completely voided with any emotion.
“If you expect me to apologise for my appearance, I won't; I just transitioned into a female, you see, and I'm still not properly trained in this form yet.”
With that, the king’s face turned sour.
“You what? So you were a male before and ‘recently’ became female?” The Knight simply nodded in response from the king’s disturbed composure. He turned away from Lunistria, returning back to his throne to sit on it again, pinching the base of his nose in deep thought. As much as the princess’ father was somewhat voided with any clear and coherent thought, Ither erupted in laughter, a mocking laughter.
“Oh! So he’s like mother!” Ither cackled, “you called over a dud–!”
“Enough, Ither.” The king ordered, his voice was quieter than before, but it silenced Ither almost immediately. The princess remained silent as well, she knew that if anyone was to ever talk about their mother, their father would get mad. Because she was a Seer, she could see that his anger was rooted from depression, as their mother died in the war to seal a great terror called The Shadowing.
The Shadowing… that nearly destroyed their entire world.
The king huffed loudly, “my wife talked about you in her letters she sent back home, you are the Eldian Knight she talked about, are you not?”
Lunistria hesitantly nodded, silently.
“You still have your… guy parts, then?” Lunistria nodded again. The relevance of whether or not Lunistria kept their… ‘parts’ confused the princess, but Ither gathered the hints swiftly enough to object against whatever their father had to plan.
His aura reeked of anger and disgust.
“Father!” Ither’s voice sounded desperate, “you can’t be serious! We’re against time here and you want—”
“I said enough, I have already decided. It’s not like we have a choice anyway.” The king sighed, “my wife referred to you as a he, Lunistria, I apologise for assuming you stayed as male. Either way, you are to both train and protect my daughter,” he motioned towards the small girl hiding behind the shadows of the room.
“And when she is of age, I expect an heir to her power.”
Her heart skipped, she wanted to talk and say something to her father, but her voice escaped her. Ither looked at her, and then to Lunistria with a glare. Malice seeped out from his aura, he’s more than pissed, but both of them knew they couldn’t go against their father’s words. For the first time, she saw something spark within Lunistria. Though, her face and posture outside looked perfectly normal, within her slicked a second of something she couldn’t quite pinpoint.
“I understand.” She simply stated, nothing more, nothing less. The small girl looked at Ither in worry, but his attention was pointed to Lunistria from the shadows; growling at the Knight ahead of them, the princess couldn’t understand why Ither was angry at her of all people. However, as she turned to look at Lunistria…
A dark smirk was splayed across her lips.