The Dragon Queen

At Its Worst

Snow tumbled from the inky black sky in perfect white clumps, draping the entire kingdom of Saltari in a blanket of white cold, and Lucia quickly pulled her hood over her face with numb fingers. She hadn't the slightest idea where she was going, dressed in a brown cloak and grey peasant gown; she just continued to follow Thomas afore her, who was dressed in the same fashion with a hood to cover his easily recognisable ebony hair - both their garments were clothes that could easily be overlooked in a crowd, which was something Lucia found as quite foreign. Thomas had recovered quite well from his injuries and was well protected from any chance of being pushed into battle again by his mother's wrath. Lucia had been able to hear her furious screams at Alexander even from Saltari castle. "Var air togal yidin? (Where are we going?)" Lucia asked the young prince. He had offered, after all her nursing, to take her somewhere she had never been before. She hadn't expected it to be her own kingdom. Then again, she was embarrassingly uneducated in the ways of her own realm. Being a princess, she could hardly have been seen at the local market or talking with some regular people. But Lucia hadn't exactly expected to see her kingdom in such a way either. The further they walked away from her castle, the shabbier the houses began to look, the more with cracked windows boarded up with wood, the more with rubbish lingering outside the door, the more people she saw aimlessly wandering the streets and whenever she looked to them, they sank back into the shadows. If Thomas was trying to give her a lesson, he had certainly succeeded in that and Lucia had already mentally planned to end such poverty when she returned to the castle. "Somewhere that isn't ballrooms and knights" Thomas replied as they turned into a shadowy alleyway "There is a tavern up ahead. I wonder if Your Majesty will be able to handle it. Its not at all what your used to". He glanced to her over his shoulder and Lucia only just saw the blue of his eyes due to a nearby torch bracket that was close to embers and his playful smirk. "Sana noleg I mess. (You know I can)" she retorted playfully.

"I would advise we talk plainly here, Godara. (Highness)" Thomas warned her "If you don't want to be recognised, that is".

"Alright" Lucia agreed. She came to his side in the semi darkness, her grey skirts damp with snow. "You seem to know a lot about not acting as a royal supposedly should. How?" she asked curiously.

"You could say that, since I am not the oldest, less is expected of me. I have more freedom to do as I wish" Thomas explained.

"You mean you gave yourself the freedom" Lucia corrected knowingly.

"Either I take what I want or I spend my life as nothing more than a glorified soldier" Thomas growled bitterly, glancing to where his broken arm had long since healed.

"Bold words for a prince" Lucia observed. The pair then stepped out of the alleyway and into a slightly brighter square. Small fires were dotted here and there and people were gathered around the orange flames in clumps, hands held hopefully out towards the little light. Lucia's slightly jovial mood at tasting some other form of freedom immediately died at the sight. On the icy street, her subjects shivered, pulling thin fabrics around themselves for warmth. They were dirty and thin, tired looking, some were nothing more than infants and they, to Lucia's utter sorrow, stood alone. Without realising it, her hand grasped at Thomas', as if anchoring herself to the one thing she was familiar with. Though he returned her touch, he made no attempt to pull her away or shield her from such a sense of despair, as Lucia knew that every single man that had ever been presented to her would. She couldn't decide if she was grateful to him for that of not. "What is this?" she breathed, her voice nothing more than mist.

"I would call it your kingdom at its worst" Thomas replied, his voice even and calm despite how his eyes were locked on those around them in horror also. Lucia hardly noticed when he glanced to her. "I'm sorry" he apologised quietly "I give you my word, I did not intend for you to see this".