Separated

Part I: Rosaline

Three rhythmic knocks at the gold-trimmed door to my bedroom startled me from my peaceful slumber.

"Princess?" the soft voice of a servant said from outside the bedroom.  "Your mother requests your presence in the throne room." By the wavering tone of her voice, I knew my mother was particularly impatient with me this morning.

I stared at the extravagant ceiling from my bed, not moving.

"...Princess?" the servant asked worriedly.

I groaned into my pillow. I suppose I had to confront my mother sometime about what I had done last week. But if it weren't for those no-fun, tattletale guards...

I managed to leave my bed and shove myself into a dandelion ruffled dress laced with violet ribbon at the hems. I took as much time as I could on the way to the throne room. I meandered my way down the halls, the tall windows casting a dim light. I observed the servants tidying the already immaculate walls. I was about to take another detour or two when I realized with dread that the doors to the throne room faced me.

I opened one of the (obnoxiously creaking) doors a crack and peered through. My mother (the Queen) sat in the bigger of two seats at the focal point of the room, her posture one of a tyrant, especially with her malicious glare thrown upon me when I came about to entering the room. Even though the room was so expansive clouds may as well have formed in here, one look at her face made the room instantly cold with her demeanor.

Not changing her gaze, she stood up. She then took a deep breath. "What were you thinking?" the Queen said to me. "You know better than to go near the Border! You should be ashamed of yourself, being so immature, especially since you are going to be Queen soon! I can't trust you with this kingdom if you can't..."

Oh, yes, the Border. I couldn't see it from this room, but it was a humongous cobblestone wall that stood at the edge of our kingdom. I had always wondered what was on the other side.

"Monsters," the Queen had always told me. "Coldhearted monsters that don't know how to act civilized."

I glanced around the room, watching servants polish the thrones and sweep the marble floors. I looked at the Queen, who kept rambling on about "responsibilities". I then looked at her dress.

Perhaps the only thing I remotely liked about her was her sense of style. She had an extravagant silver gown, and it looked as if there were flowers on it, at least by the way the fabric was decorated in a lattice on her skirt. An ornate collar piece reached above her head, and a magnificent train trailed behind her until about three feet from her. Her thick sleeves gathered at her wrists in white laced cuffs. And her hair...

"...so you need to grow up, young lady, or else you will have this kingdom fall." She threw her fist into her other palm, creating an echo that traveled across the room and snapping me out of my thoughts.

"But what if I don't want to be Queen?" I asked for the millionth time, crossing my arms.

"You have no choice. It is your responsibility and obligation as princess," she said for about the millionth time.

"Then why are you only putting more pressure on me?" I snapped. A silence fell across the room. All the servants looked in our direction.

"Go to your room. Now," the Queen said, pointing to where I came from, her eyes shooting daggers.

I looked at her one last time with resent and started to walk back to my room.

As I was walking miserably down the main corridor, I heard a faint squeak, one in which I had never heard in my life. It was of a much higher pitch than any person I had heard before. I looked around, curious as to where it came from. As I followed the mysterious sounds, I spotted something small and gray scurrying to a nearby hole in the wall. It turned back and I saw its eyes.

They were red like rubies; they looked murderous.

My first instinct was to scream, and it alerted every servant within vicinity. They rushed over, trying to find out why I was pointing towards a little hole in the wall and breathing heavily.

"Princess! What's wrong?"

"Was it that pesky rabbit again?"

"I've got a rolling pin!"

The servants frantically looked around the corridors for any sign of the creature I saw. 

"Rosaline! Why aren't you in your room?!"

All of us turned towards the Queen marching through the halls, her eyes--as menacing as the creature's--fixed on me. The words were caught in my throat, and I desperately thought of something to say.

"Go to your room and do not come out until breakfast!"

"But I saw..."

"No 'buts', Rosaline. A princess does not cause havoc within the castle walls."

"Your Highness," a servant said. "She's right." She pointed at the grey creature scurrying across the edge of the carpet.

I looked back at my mother, who stiffened up at the sight of it.

"I'll have the guards dispose of it. Meanwhile," She grabbed my forearm. "I'll handle the princess."

She dragged me to my bedroom and shut the doors. She sat me on my bed and started pacing the room.

"Rosaline, do you have any idea what you're doing? With behavior like this, you'll never be a good queen."

"I've told you, Mother, I don't want to be Queen!" I said, standing up.

"Like I've said countless times, Rosaline," the Queen said. "You have no choice. You're my daughter, my only daughter. You're the only one that can inherit the throne."

"Call someone else!" I said. "One of the townspeople. One of our servants! I want more than to just sit in a fancy chair all day, signing papers and ordering people around!

"Please!" I pleaded. "I want to explore this world, to see something for myself rather than through these boring books I've had to read a million times through your useless classes!" I took a book from a bookcase and threw it on the ground. The Queen gasped.

"How dare you deem my efforts to teach you mundane! Do you even realize the time I've sacrificed to give you an education?" She picked up the book and put it back neatly on the bookcase.

"Then why don't you teach me something useful?" I demanded. "Something beneficial? Like what's on the other side of the Border?"

"That subject is to remain untouched!" She stepped forward until her face was inches from mine. "Don't ever go near that Border, and especially don't ask me to tell you why those...those animals are kept away from us. It's better if you didn't know."

On that comment, she left my bedroom, shutting the double doors behind her.

I trudged back to my bed and plopped down on it. Why were we separated from these creatures? What was so bad about them that we literally had to have a solid wall stretching for miles across just to stay away from them? I wanted answers, but I had to subdue them with the fact that I had my day ahead of me.
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