by S R Ahuja
“Goodnight, King Father,” Jade said, taking Menelwen’s outstretched hand.
She thought she heard the King chuckle behind her as he said, “Goodnight, Princess Daughter.”
Menelwen led her upstairs. She talked as she walked, but Jade was so overcome by her sudden exhaustion, she didn’t hear most of what Menelwen said.
After what seemed like ages, they finally arrived at an enormous bedroom – at least three times as big as Jade’s room back home – but all Jade could focus on was the big, king-sized bed that sat, invitingly, in the middle of the room.
She wanted to just fall down and sleep, but Menelwen made her dress in a nightgown first and then tucked her in under the blanket. She brushed Jade’s hair gently as she tucked her in, and Jade fell asleep immediately.
When Jade woke again, the sunlight was pouring in through her open window, spreading across her bedspread. She sat up and looked around at her new room. It was much bigger than she was used to, as was the bed. You could have fit ten of her in there and all would have slept comfortably. Off to the left was the door and an odd little desk with a large mirror. To the right, there was a dresser and another door, although Jade did not know where it led to. She was about to get out of bed and check when the door to the hall opened. The woman with the shimmering skin was back.
“Well, you look much more alert today,” the woman said as she walked toward the bed. “I’m Menelwen. I expect you don’t remember me from last night. I’m going to be your governess.”
“What’s a governess?” Jade asked, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.
“It means that my only job is to take care of you and to make sure you are safe and happy.” Menelwen smiled. “Sound good?”
Jade nodded.
“All right, well, we need to get you up and dressed. I’ve spoken with the King, and he wants you to meet your subjects this morning, so we’ll need to get ready in a hurry.”
Menelwen led Jade into what turned out to be a closet on the other side of her bed. She let Jade pick a very pretty purple dress with sparkly embroidery to wear, and then she sat her down in front of the mirror to do her hair.
When Jade was ready and presentable, Menelwen led her downstairs to a room with a long table piled high with breakfast food. Jade ate alone, and when she had eaten her fill, Menelwen led her to the front doors.
“This is where I leave you, Princess. Your father is waiting for you just outside.”
“Aren’t you coming?” Jade asked, holding onto Menelwen’s hand.
“No, Princess, I’m not. I am not allowed outside the walls of this castle.”
“Why not?” Jade asked.
Menelwen patted her hand softly. “It is a long story and you should not keep your father waiting. I promise I will tell you all about it another time.”
Jade frowned, but she had a feeling that arguing with this woman would be a pointless task. Although Menelwen was calm and quiet, she had a sense about her that she wouldn’t put up with mischief. She reminded Jade of Aunt Anna. A sudden pain went through her belly when she thought of Aunt Anna. She would be worried about Jade. She should probably go home.
The King and Sir Jack as well as several other knights were waiting for her outside. All of the knights bowed to her the moment she appeared and then mounted their horses. There was no horse for Jade.
“Good morning, Amalthea,” the King said as he bowed too. “You’ll be riding with me this morning.”
“Don’t I get my own horse?” Jade asked as she skipped down the steps to stand beside the King.
“Do you ride?” he asked, surprised.
“Yes, I went to camp once where I learned to ride on a horse named Linda. She was so sweet, but she didn’t go very fast. And Aunt Anna has been taking me to a ranch in the summer times ever since. We go on trails there, but I’m never allowed to go faster than a trot.”
“Well, I will make sure a horse is ready for you next time we go on an outing,” the King promised. “But, for today, I think it is best you ride with me.” He reached to help her up onto the horse, who was big even for a horse, but Jade stepped back, stopping him.
“When do I get to go home? I think my aunt will be very worried about me.”
The King became very serious, the corners of his lips turning down and his eyebrows coming together. “Amalthea, this is your home. Avalon was always meant to be your home; Northmanni, where you lived with your aunt, was just temporary, and I’m afraid you can’t live in both worlds.”
“You mean, I have to pick between living with Aunt Anna and living here?” Jade asked, her mind already reeling at the possibility of having to choose. How could she possibly pick?
“I’m afraid, that you may have already made that choice. You see, I thought you understood how the portal worked, or else I certainly would have had someone explain it to you last night. None but the One Rightful King of Avalon may pass through the portal on any day except yesterday. You, and everyone else here, must stay in Avalon until next Autumnal Equinox.”
The King’s words brought back a memory to her of last night, something the King had mentioned, “No one can pass through the portal into the Northmanni World except the One Rightful King of Avalon,” but he had not really explained it, and it had been late and a long day for Jade, and maybe she had just thought he meant coming into Avalon, not leaving.
She had been angry with Aunt Anna, sure, but she never thought that staying here would mean she could never see her again.
The King must have seen the tears welling in her eyes because he spoke quickly, “I am truly sorry, Amalthea, and I swear to you that if you wish to go home, I will do everything in my power to find a way back to your aunt, but I’m afraid that changing such ancient magic as the portal will take much longer than just waiting the year until next autumn.”
Jade brushed the tears from her eyes with the back of her hand. That’s right; there would be another Halloween next year, even though a year felt very far away to her right then. But, Jade thought to herself, would she really have chosen to go home to Aunt Anna? Her aunt had proven to her last night that she really didn’t believe in any of what Jade had seen with her own eyes in the past few hours. Aunt Anna’s words replayed themselves in her head, “You need to understand, Jade, that they’re just pretend.” Jade wouldn’t have chosen to live in a world where no one believed her, not when she could be with people who knew the truth. She couldn’t have chosen it.
Jade quickly brushed away the remaining tears and held her head up high to meet the gaze of the King. “No, King Father, you were right. Avalon is my home. I would have made the same choice anyway.”
He finally smiled again. “You have no idea how happy your words make me. Now come along, child. You have many people to meet.”
Their first stop was the Castle Hamlet, which was where most of the humans in Avalon lived. It was less than ten minutes on horses down the thin dirt road from the castle. The people were all very nice; the adults all bowed and curtsied when the King and Princess rode by.
The children were not as proper, waving eagerly and jumping in front of their horses to reach for the small copper coins that the King had given Jade to throw. The King explained to her that the Hamlet was the only village in Avalon where the people used money. Even though it was very common in the Northmanni World, in Avalon, the creatures merely traded to get what they needed.
After the Hamlet, their next stop was the Domus, home of the centaurs. The Domus was really just a big, circular clearing in the forest. The centaurs filled the clearing by the time the King and Jade got there. There were men and women, but no children. The men were naked to their human waists, which blended seamlessly into the furry shoulders of a horse.
The women were shirtless as well. They had no noticeable breasts, and in fact, the only visible differences between the men and the women were the softer muscles and slight hour glass shape of the women’s torsos before they blended into the horse body, although not all of the women
were soft; some looked just as strong as the men. All of them had a long strip of hair in varying shades of white and brown that started on top of their heads and ran down their human backs. Most of the men’s hair was cropped short while most of the women’s was longer, hanging to one side or the other.
When a knight lifted her off of her father’s horse, the centaurs all stood four or five feet taller than her. As she followed the King through the crowd, the centaurs bent their knees to the ground so they would not tower over her so much. They bowed and reached for her hands. They, none of them, ever spoke to her any more than murmuring “Your Majesty.” A few of the men spoke to the King, but never to her.
When they left the Domus, the next stop was the Elven Village. It was midday by then and the Elves had a great banquet waiting for them.
The Village was just inside the dark forest. Their small huts were scattered amongst the trees, but there was a long, slender clearing where they had prepared the food. The King sat on one side of the clearing to eat and Jade on the other. They sat on the ground like the Elves and ate with their hands. The food was all fruits and vegetables that they ate out of woven baskets.
As soon as Jade saw the Elves themselves, she knew exactly who they were. They were very similar to humans, although on average maybe a foot shorter. The differences were small but noticeable. Their skin was not sparkly, but it shimmered subtly where the sunlight shone through the leaves. They all had thin, dark eyes and short cropped black hair. Their ears stuck out of the sides of their heads, just like Menelwen.
Although Jade was surrounded by adults on both sides, children from the Village kept coming up to offer her various fruits, murmuring something unintelligible before running away to be with the other children. Jade took special notice of three of the girls. They always came up together. They had thin eyes and large, pointed ears. They looked like tiny versions of Menelwen. The three girls she was watching kept whispering to each other and giggling.
Before Jade was done eating, a knight from the castle arrived in the clearing and whispered something in the King’s ear.
Immediately, the King stood and began walking toward her. Sir Jack, who had been standing just behind her the entire day, stepped forward as the King approached.
“Your Majesty,” he said, bowing slightly.
“Sir.” The King nodded. “I have some urgent business with Hrothgar, and the rest of the guard will be attending me. I need you to see that Amalthea makes it safely back to the castle. Do not leave her side until you’ve seen her safely into Menelwen’s hands. Can you do that?”
“Of course, Sir.”
“King Father, are you leaving?” Jade studied his face intently.
He knelt down on one knee so that his face was on a level with hers. “I’m afraid so, Princess, but your knight will take good care of you. I promise. He will see you home immediately.”
Jade just looked into his eyes for a moment. “Do we have to go home now? Can we stay in the Village a while?”
The King studied her face carefully before speaking. “I think it would be best if you return sooner rather than later. Obey whatever your knight tells you. Treat him with the same respect you would me.” He kissed Jade’s forehead, which made the elves murmur happily amongst themselves, and then he left.
Jade breathed out heavily through her nose. “Sir Jack, does that mean we have to leave now?” She looked up at the tall man to see what he would say.
He smiled at her and patted her shoulder gently. “If it was up to me, we could go on whatever adventure you wanted, but I’m afraid I must obey the King’s orders.”
Jade got up and followed Sir Jack to his horse. She smiled at the three elven girls on the way, which made them all grin and wave energetically.
Chapter III
Caeci and Azatae and Sehali and Jade
____________________________________
After the first few days when Jade had to meet all of the tribes and elders, things at the castle started to settle down to what must have been normal. The King spent at least half of his time out of the castle. Jade never knew exactly where he was going all the time, but Menelwen told her that he was “meeting with citizens and fixing problems.”
Getting back to normal meant that Jade had a lot of free time to herself. The other children in the Hamlet all either had school or chores to do for most of the day, so Jade was left on her own. She wouldn’t start school for another few months, according to Menelwen, because the King wanted to give her a chance to get used to her new home first.
Lali still came to visit her occasionally, but she spent most of her time in the forest with the other fairies. Menelwen would tell her stories if she asked, but she didn’t go outside, and she didn’t like Jade running around the halls of the castle.
Jade ended up spending most of her time exploring the giant castle. Not that that was all bad. There were a thousand rooms to explore and always something new to find.
She spent an entire day exploring the library. It was like something out of a movie. Two floors tall with an enormous pointed ceiling and stacks of books wall to wall, Jade couldn’t have read all the books if she’d had an entire lifetime. All day long, she read about mermaids, unicorns, and werewolves; she read about heroes riding off to face their deaths in battle; she read about evil twins and secret sorcery; she read about warrior kings, kind queens, and forced marriages. She read all day long, but come evening, she still found herself eating dinner in the enormous dining room all alone.
Spending so much time alone made her miss Aunt Anna. She hadn’t forgotten her aunt’s betrayal, but that didn’t mean she didn’t miss her. There was no one in the castle who took care of her the way Aunt Anna had. Menelwen told her stories and tucked her in at night, but it was not quite the same. She frequently thought about trying to find the Portal again to see if she could return, just to see her aunt, not to stay, but she was not allowed to go so far from the castle without a knight escort “To keep you safe,” the King said. Plus, Jade knew the laws of the Portal. Even if she could find it again, it wouldn’t open to her until Halloween, which was almost a whole year away.
One day, about a week after Jade had arrived, she decided she couldn’t stay indoors a moment longer, and she pushed her way through the giant front doors. Normally there would be two guards on the door, but the King had taken most of the guards away with him to visit a different world outside of Avalon, so there was no one to stop her. Jade technically wasn’t allowed to go outside without an adult, but she was only going to go around the castle grounds. It wasn’t like she was going to run off into the forest.
Jade peeked her head out the door first, just to check that the guards really had gone. Then she stepped out with first one foot and then the other. She jumped a little when the heavy door slammed behind her.
Almost laughing at how easy it had been to leave, she ran out into the grass that had been warmed by the sun. Winter was on its way now; a heavy chill hung in the air, but with the sun shining so steadily, you could almost forget the way the cold bit at your nose and fingers. Jade ran through the tall grass, letting her fingertips brush across the surface as she went. She ran around the side of the castle where the few knights who had stayed behind were training. She crouched down low in the grass so they wouldn’t see her, and crawled closer. She could see Sir Jack through the slits in his metal helmet. He was practicing with one of the other knights, trying to hit each other with dull swords.
Jade was distracted from watching the fight in front of her when she heard a high, girlish laugh coming from the front of the castle. Curious, Jade crept back the way she had come, and saw, to her surprise, three elvish girls standing near the castle doors.
“Hello!” Jade called eagerly, hoping up out of the grass. “What are your names?”
The girls stared at each other, unsure of what to do. Then the girl in the middle who looked just slightly older than the other two stepped forward and curtsied. Quickly, the other girls followed
suit.
“My name is Sehali, and these are my sisters Azatae and Caeci. And you are Princess Amalthea,” she said, bowing her head slightly again.
“You can just call me Jade.” Jade stuck her hand out to Sehali.
“Why would I call you Jade?” Sehali asked, examining Jade’s face carefully.
“That’s my name, or one of them I guess. You could call me Amalthea too if you wanted. I don’t really care.”
None of them said anything, so Jade continued, “Do you want to play?”
The other girls looked at each other cautiously. Azatae spoke up, “We were going to go on an adventure, but…” she trailed off, looking to Sehali for guidance.
“But what?” Jade asked.
“Well, we’re not really supposed to be out without an elder. We could get in trouble if anyone from the Village found out,” Sehali explained.
“Oh, don’t worry. I won’t tell anyone,” Jade promised. “What kind of adventure were you going to go on?”
The three girls exchanged looks again before Sehali asked “Do you know about the Waterfall?”
“No, what waterfall?” Jade asked, already intrigued.
“If you want, you could come with us. We can tell you the story on the way,” Sehali offered.
“Yes! Of course I’ll go!” Jade cried excitedly, glad she had someone her own age to play with.
Sehali and Azatae led the way, leaving Jade and Caeci to follow, but Sehali didn’t start telling the story yet. She said that she would tell it when they reached the waterfall. They were, all three of them, very quiet girls. They really only spoke when Jade asked them questions. Jade did learn that Sehali was indeed the oldest. She was ten, although her small size made her seem a few years younger, and she had just started school. At least, it sounded a lot like school to Jade. Sehali said that she went every day to study with some of the older girls from the Village. They learned how to listen to the sound of the world, and eventually they would learn how to become a part of it. She said that they had one day off a week, which was why the girls had decided to go on an adventure.