Wish Apon A Star

Annabelle - Ugh

"Let me get this straight," James said. "You want to track down this girl named Madeline, who is, apparently, the actual heir to the throne. If someone just started to send me letters, I think I'd be creeped out. Especially if they thought I was supposed to be Queen of Itari. Which I couldn't be, anyway. But still."

"But you'd jump at the chance," I said, then clarified, "to be King, I mean. Though, maybe you'd do better as Queen. Or really any position like that. I would." I'd given it up, of course, but it wasn't like anyone had offered me a spot as Queen, or anything important. If they had, maybe I would have had more incentive to stay.

"Maybe," James admitted. He ignored my comment about him making a good Queen.

I tapped on the table, drumming out what quickly evolved from a nonsensical beat to a pattern. "I say we write her. Worst case scenario, she reports it to some sort of authority–as long as we don't leave anything to identify us on the card, we should be good."

"We can have them send it to a post office a ways away from here," Nicole added. "People send their mail there, right? When they can't get it at their house?"

"Right," Leo said. "Okay. We'll draft and send a letter to Madeline, hopefully not coming off as total creeps. If she respond–when she responds–we can hopefully start making some sort of plan. Eventually, maybe we can even meet her and possibly even secure her a spot on the throne."

"We'd have to speak Atalese," James said. "Which I, for one, do not. No offense, but it sounded really boring to learn. My mom is always going on about Atala–the cities and shops and blah, blah, blah. Do they do anything over there that isn't for the aesthetic?"

"I speak some," I said, "but the school version. I'll sound really stuffy to natives. If Madeline is nobility, though, she might speak it the same way. She also might speak Itarise." Itarise, Atalese, and Aelone were the most common languages to learn, and anyone involved with the nobility usually took at least one, if not two. The nations were most commonly allied, and the ones who had the best relationships (usually) so diplomats from each country were expected to be able to communicate with each other.

"I speak a little Atalese," Nicole said. "Not much, though."

"You do?" James asked, surprised.

"Her name's Nicole Juliette, moron," I said. "What did you think? Anyway, she looks Atalese–that's obvious."

"Well, apparently she's from Aelone–which I also didn't know–how was I supposed to know she's from literally everywhere? And how would I know what people are named in Atala? It's not like I've ever been."

"If you paid attention to anything, you would," I said.

"Moving on," Leo said pointedly. "We need to actually write the letter before we do anything else. Does anyone have a pen? And some paper?"

Nicole produced both (which was why she was a scary person–who just had things like that?) and handed them to Leo, who immediately held them out to me. "My handwriting's average, and yours is probably the best here. Would you write?"

"Sure." I took the paper and pen, and tapped the pen against my lip. "Do I just start with Dear Madeline? But in Atalese?"

"Sure, that'd be good," Leo said. I wrote it down obediently.

James was right that Atala seemed purely for the aesthetic–the language was no exception. But I thought it was pretty, anyway, just like I thought the actual country was pretty. It was usually called the 'Country of Music', but was also well-known for dance, art, and food. I'd been several times, and loved it. The fashions were stunning there, too, and I was almost resentful I'd been born in Itari, where we never had any fun.