Five Kingdoms

Chapter 3

The future rulers walk onto the stage, eventually taking a seat on one of the mini-thrones lined in a row. I take my seat looking out at the crowd of royal family members standing looking at us, a sign of respect ..... or a sign of the lack of chairs given to our audience.

"Princes and princesses of the five kingdoms, you are gathered here today because of your birthright to the throne, and now you must show what makes you a good leader." Says the king of Yarrow, walking in front of the stage, "Royals, in a moment, I will allow broadcasted radio to your kingdoms so your people may vote upon their next ruler, what will not be seen by the people is the mental and physical test on your potential rulers for those are strengths only the royal families may vote on."

A rule made by the Amaryllis Kingdom so that the rulers could not only have a say in the vote but an advantage against the people. Of course, people don't know we have a test of our mental and physical strength, making sure we have attributes hidden from our people. 

"I, the king of the Yarrow kingdom, am honored to have you all here. Let's get started."

One by one, each prince and princess stands and introduces themselves, starting with the Amaryllis's kingdom.

"Ivory Fox, princess of the Amaryllis kingdom." Says the girl who was staring me down earlier.

"Ryn Sabar, prince of the Yarrow kingdom." Says a boy with short white hair looking eerily similar to his father.

"Vance Saber, prince of the Yarrow kingdom."

If a kingdom has two of age princes or princesses they both can compete though most of the time kingdoms try to avoid that as it typically makes other royals mad.

"Cara Avila, princess of the Freesia Kingdom."

I stand up, making eye contact with as many people as I can

"Evelyn Gatlin, princess of the Heather kingdom." Just then, the broad room doors swing open as a dark-haired boy my age enters the room with shadowed glasses over his eyes. A Begonia, he trying to hide his eyes, his weakness. The royals are in disarray that he is late and others are ashamed they didn't realize someone was missing, probably since Yarrow has two potential rulers this year.

The boy makes his way to the stage, taking the seat beside mine as it is the only one left.

"It's your turn," I whisper to him as silence finally calms the room.

He stands looking around as if trying to find someone.

"Ryder Winstone, prince of...." He rubs his eyes behind his blacked-out glasses, clearly bored. " well, the only kingdom left to be a part of, obviously, Begonia," he says, taking a seat.

It's not uncommon to find princes or princesses who don't care that much to be a potential ruler, and it seems Ryder Winstone may be one of them.

"Question 1" The Yarrow king states, "What is one quality you possess that makes you fit to rule?"

"There is no question I can defend my people well; I have battle strategies no one else can even dream about." Ivory boasts, flipping her red hair over her shoulder.

"My people stand for bravery and courage, and I believe myself to live by those attributes. I can make the tough calls people shy away from." Ryn states as heads bob in the crowd.

Vance takes his time to think and eventually answers with, "Me and my brother are similar in our approach to things, our only difference is I have humanity, and he doesn't." The room falls absolutely silent, people are surprised he would throw his brother under the bus but one look at Ryn and you can see he isn't surprised "He believes he will make the right call but his decision will be based on greed."

"I..." Cara struggles to know if she should speak now as she looks around the room, her eyes eventually landing on mine as I shake my head for her to talk. "I would want to base my rule on mutual trust with my people, to guide them through political and societal issues one day at a time."

My mind is searching for what I will say now that it is my turn. Eventually, I look to my audience and speak, "My people are known for our endurance, but I wasn't born with it, just like none of us princes and princesses were born with the quality of our people, we developed them. The quality I possess is well-roundedness, as I have not only worked to have endurance, but I have worked to have caution to strangers like the Begonia, and yet I can still understand the need for a foundation of trust and friendship like the Freesia. I have worked to have bravery in political conversations as well as strength if the need for war ever comes, like the Yarrow and Amaryllis. I will continue to work on myself, but if the day ever comes where I only have one quality to offer, have I even earned to wear the Crown?"

The royals start to mumble little by little until Ryder speaks.

"What is one quality that makes me fit to rule?" He asks looking around the room while taking off his glasses, He must have decided he didn't trust anyone in this room, making it safe to take them off. "My problem with this question is one, no matter my answer, I will be biased, two, is anyone ever fit to rule, and three, what I might find to be a good quality might be something someone else despises, this question is highly subjective to one's point of view. I suppose my response makes my one quality that with me there will be no BS."He pauses for a brief moment, "But I suppose I'm not the only one with that quality, let alone the only one who would answer this way." I look over at him, his magenta-pink eyes shockingly piercing into me. "After all, some people value having more than one quality."

I look away from him, confused as to why he needed to say that, as I glance around the room, I see how people's expressions have changed from earlier when he first walked in, and it is then that his plan clicks. He wants to look as if he doesn't care, so much so he came late and is willing to make it seem like he would rather endorse me than himself. People want to root for those who don't look like they want power. What they don't know is, he is playing them to get it.