Rebel

Chapter 16 - Queen Briella

Once, in the four kingdoms, a daughter took the king's throne. Many stories were told of that day. People said that Queen Briella fought a brave and daring battle against her coward kidnappers. People said that Calvin's fear was so great, that his own people also turned on him. They said Brock, a brave fire clan turned earth clan, killed his father in support of Queen Briella's reign. They said that when Queen Briella returned home, flowers rained from the windows, thrown by celebrating people happy to have their beloved queen home. And Queen Briella's mother caught the flowers, making them into a crown for her.

Not all stories were true. I remembered confusion and dissent, the earth warriors wanting to appoint a new king, not crown a girl. My father, and the one before that, and the one before that had been the oldest prince available when the leader died. I wanted to change that. I didn't want to be an invader of my own city, so I held a vote. I sent messages to all the people in the Earth clan, saying that anybody could vote for a ruler. There were about five very close people, one of them being Brock himself, though he told his supporters I would be a better queen. But in the end, nobody was surprised when I won.

If people had known the truth, they wouldn't have told it. Flowers falling from windows like rain made a better story. People liked stories to be simple. I was the hero. Calvin and Geoff and Blaye were the villains. Brock had seen the error of his ways and turned good. That's all there was to it.

I remembered making a speech on my first day as leader. I was standing on a stage, all the people in the Earth clan gathered before me, hope in their eyes.

"The truth is, I may have won this battle and come home but there will always be war, another enemy to defeat." The crowd went silent.

"But we will never stop fighting for peace. We will never forfeit our joy." Somebody whooped. I sought them out. It was Brock, his fist pumping into the air.

"When we surrender our happiness, we lose sight of what we are fighting for. Too many lives have been lost. We are fighting for the people who gave their lives for moments like these to happen. We are fighting for a better world. We are fighting for the people whose lives are not yet lost. So let's honour their memory by living each day, each hour as freely and as joyfully as they would have wanted us to."

I remembered finally collapsing into an unfamiliar bed. I remembered Brock coming and lying down next to me.

"I didn't want to be alone." was Brock's explanation.

We fell asleep back to back.

THE END!

Thank you so much for reading! I am thinking of writing another story, or maybe a sequel to this one! A book is never finished, the writer just chooses a point to give up. Vote and comment!