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2077 Words
She waited for everyone to pay attention and started her prepared speech. The speech of her life.
-My father is the king of Zicon. he never sees me, he is never pleased with anything I do. And I did try to please him. But I could never do that, yo see, because I am not a man, like my brother here. And as a female, he has no use for me but to marry me by force with anyone they find fit in order to make an alliance. They think I am no good for anything just because am a female. And being a female means I am not capable of doing anything and this is wrong! I can do so many things if only I could learn!
-What stopped you in the process of learning?
-They did!! Senere pointed towards her brother.
-What? That is not true! You always get what you want from father, you are so selfish you never see what we do for you!
-What have you done for me, brother?
-I came for you right here, in this world where we don't know how to get back home, Senere!!
-I did not ask you to come after me!! You always try to make me do what you and father want, now I want to do things as I want!
-You don't know what you want!
-Out!
The king spoke softly yer so firmly that the guards grabbed the prince Kaion and escorted him out while he was protesting.
-I said, who is persecuting you? The king asked her again.
-They can not let me do anything. I cannot go outside of the castle, because I will get attacked. They keep me under the key if I do not obey. I can not go riding because the horses are going to throw me off and hurt me. I can not participate in any tournament, not that I would know how to fight, but I have no will, on the grounds that I am a woman.
I can not even go hunting with them, I can not even go to the woods alone and I can not take any guars because my father, the king, needs them to protect him. I can only stay out in my garden. They bring me all kinds of gifts everywhere they go. I want to go there, I don't want them to bring me things, I want to see with my own eyes, all the world!
Ever since my mother died, my father hasn't even looked at me, only Kaion matters to him. He does not speak to me, he never tells me nice, sweet, kind words that a child wants to hear. He never tells me I am beautiful, or that I am smart, nothing!
Kaion only talks to me but he is not much at home, because father sends him away on diplomatic missions all over the place. He never takes me with I'm because it is dangerous for me.
Only because I am a female! Because I'm female, I'm nothing! I could do so much if I could only learn! But I am not allowed to learn anything! Because women are not capable of doing anything in my world! I can not go back there!
Senere advanced towards the king as the guards put their hands on the handles of the swords, ready to pull them out in case they made any wrong move. She advanced slowly in order not to provoke any of them and made them understand she was not a threat. She tried to remember exactly what Silver Tiger had taught her, and knelt before the king, touched the edge of his shirt, and tried to touch her hand to bring it over her head.
This was a ritual of diplomats, who performed this gesture when they needed protection. They needed to reach at hand at the most powerful man present, like usually a king or the highest rank present, grab their hand and place it over their head, and speak the plea for protection. If the person would accept, they would owe them life and they would be in debt until they would repay that life.
The king withdrew her hand and lifted it up, giving her no chance and looking at the girl at her feet.
-And how do you think you'll live here if you don't know what it's like to live?
-I want to learn. Please! I don't want to go home! Please!
-How will you make a living I asked you? Can you hunt?
-By myself? ummm...no?
-Can you fish?
-Ummm...no...
-Can you plant your own crops?
-Can I? I don't know how to take care of flowers...
-Can you bake your own bread then?
-No.
The more questions the king asked her, all those no answers gave her a real measure of how her life will be on her own.
-I can bake... one of the maids said.
-And I can sew clothes, the other too joined the first one, trying to back Senere up, flanking her.
-And while you will bake, and while you will sew, what will she do to earn her living? The king pointed towards each and asking them both, making them think if they would really take this responsibility into their hands.
-She can imagine the clothes at the court, Your Highness, one of them answered.
The king looked at her in a way that she backed away slowly, with her eyes in the ground, ashamed of something she did not even know.
Then she looked back at princess Senere, thinking.
-If there would be something you would like to learn, in order to make a living, what would that be?
If she would have a chance... she would take it with both hands, she thought. But what would be the right answer? she did not know. She was not allowed to do many things at home so she was not sure what she could like or want to do for herself.
-I am not sure, she said, but I will try many things until I could find something I can be good at! If only I would be given a chance! Please don't send me back home. I'd rather die than go back! Please!
She was standing in the same position, near the king.
Her brother is so insensitive !! Before, they spent so much time together, it was just the two of them and they did so many things together. Now, they barely know each other. Do they barely meet for dinner, maybe once a month or something?
Before they were inseparable, and now it hurts the most. They played together and ran outside all the time; when Kai had to train, she was there for him to encourage him whenever the captain of the guards threw him to the ground. She was always by his side to soothe his wounds and offer him a word of consolation that would bring a smile back to his lips.
She knew he was a warrior and she knew she was preparing hard to take their father's place one day. He had to know how to hunt, he had to know how to fight with the sword and the bow, he had to learn to read, he had to learn history, he had to ... all the time he had to do things.
Who was next to him when he had to learn to shoot the bow even though he didn't like the bow? And when they brought him home on a shield, wounded and full of blood, when they were caught in an ambush at the border, who was there beside him day and night to watch over him? Who changed his bandages and cared for him because of the fever?
Senere wondered how Kai could now say she really wasn't good at anything? Was she the one who always encouraged him to do what his heart told him to do? And wasn't she the one who encouraged him all the time when he couldn't exercise anymore, or when he was pissing with their father, or when he was upset for various reasons, or even disappointed? Who was by his side all the time he needed her?
While he had no patience with her at all. For example, on that day when they went fishing! That day he did not even see that she had managed to throw the right spear, as she should, as he had told her. Yes, he slipped on the rocks and fell into the water, but if he had known how to swim, no one would have been so scared! All Kai had to do was get someone to teach her to swim and solve the problem, but not to forbid her to go to the lake without him alone and then he would never have time to walk there again!!
She knew better than anyone how busy he was, and he wouldn't have expected her to teach him right away, but from that day on she couldn't go to the lake just because they were afraid she wouldn't. it happens again just like then! She did not learn to swim the next day, nor after a week, nor after a month, nor after a year. They were content to forbid them, to keep it away from the water and they thought it was ready, they solved the problem.
Then it took her one day to learn to shoot the bow. It was so much fun! Of course, she didn't learn how to hit the target right away, from day one, and burst out laughing when she dropped those arrows that just didn't want to hit the target. And it didn't seem so funny to Kai and everyone took her in a hurry to hide behind the trees when she accidentally pointed the bow at them, what did they think she was going to shoot and kill?
She didn't even manage to reach the target even once !! And when he took her on another day ... and she fell off the horse, she wasn't even allowed to do that! The horse was scared of something, he doesn't know what, and suddenly jumped to the side, and she lost her balance and slipped off the horse, but she caught her foot in the ladder from the saddle, and the horse dragged her a few meters until the guards managed to stop it.
She didn't get hit too hard, there were mostly scratches, she doesn't even remember what happened, but since then she wasn't even allowed to ride because they got scared she would get hurt again. They said that if she tried alone, they would kill her horse. They didn't go out riding together either, and she sometimes went to the stables to take care of the horses and see them, and sometimes she prepared Kai's horse when she had to leave for a long time.
What exactly did they expect her to do when she was not allowed to do anything? All day long they only forbade her everything and if she didn't listen to them, the king ordered her to be locked in the room and she couldn't stand it anymore. Her room had become a beautiful cage she could no longer bear it. It was so sad!
They were both busy all the time and she did not complain about it, but she only needed to be left to live a little. Her father didn't even notice her most of the time, and nothing she would have done was right or even right for a princess. Kaion, her only friend, had simply disappeared once they grew up, as he was constantly sent on delegations or missions, and had almost completely disappeared from her life.
All she has left are memories of the past. Memories, Kale and Anterim. Without them, he doesn't know what would have happened. Snorting lightly, she thought to herself: she certainly wouldn't be alive now.
Because she ended up in this situation, in this place, here and now, because she couldn't stand it anymore and she had to do something about it. She didn't know how to do many things, but she could learn and even plan to try. This was her chance and she won't miss it. Because she will not go back there anymore, to that life. Never!.
- Writer
