The Seven Keys of Areid **COMPLETE**

Epilogue - Birth of A Princess

Lol. Guess what? I lied, this isn't QUITE over. It can be over after I write a short little epilogue. I feel it's necessary, and hey, the sequel's already begun and posted! So go check that out if you want more! But without further ado...THE EPILOGUE.

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty!" a voice called hysterically, echoing throughout the cold stone castle. From her darkened chambers, the recently instated High Queen of Areid groaned. Pulling herself out of the seductive caress of slumber, she opened her eyes, preparing what could be known as the world's stoniest death glare. The door to her chamber cracked open, sending a beam of candlelight into her eyes. Squinting, the queen responded,

"What could be so very important as to wake me in the middle of the night?" she demanded of the cowering servant girl. The young girl, no more than fifteen or sixteen at the most, wilted visibly under her strong gaze.

"You instructed us to notify you when any of the staff were going to have a baby," the servant girl said, twisting the fabric of her apron nervously.

"And?"

The queen's resonant voice seemed to terrify the girl even more. She squeaked out,

"The elf maid you brought in is about to give birth, the midwife's already with her, and I was sent to alert you."

The queen could feel her heart skip a beat, and a smile spread across her face.

"So it's finally happening," she murmured to herself, pulling the thick downy covers away from her. All of those agonizingly long months spent waiting around while the elf woman just grew in size and temperamentality were finally going to pay off. And then, that elf was going to pay for the nine months of hell the Queen had been forced to endure while waiting.

"You, girl," the queen finally spoke, addressing the timid servant in the doorway. "What is your name?"

The girl swallowed visibly.

"Ella, Your Majesty," she replied. A faint bell seemed to ring in the queen's mind. This was the girl with the ailing father, who had come into the queen's service to earn some extra money to put towards his recovery. The queen had known when accepting Ella into her services that he wouldn't recover in time, with the wages she paid her servants. But a new pair of hands always proved useful, if only for a little while.

The queen beckoned for her to come in, speaking as the servant girl walked haltingly towards her.

"Help me dress, Ella. I thank you for bringing me this news," she said, imbuing her voice with true gratitude. Indeed, if she had been forgotten amidst this panic, at least a quarter of her staff would have ended up with their heads speared on pikes outside of the castle walls.

The servant girl Ella rushed to the queen's extravagantly large wardrobe, carefully removing the nearest article of clothing she could find. The queen smiled slighty as she observed the girl's rigidity, how carefully she handled herself in the queen's presence, and the beautiful, beautiful fear that positively radiated off of her like a mouse that had been caught by an eagle.

The queen approved of the fear wholeheartedly; for she herself was an absolutely terrifying, ethereal being that deserved the proper awe and respect. Fear, she had very quickly discovered, was a very easy way to draw out the people's obedience.

"Ella," the queen said, coating her voice with unusual kindness as she stepped into the dress and Ella laced it up, "I am aware of the terror that you feel regarding me, and I also am aware that most of my employees feel the same way about me. In thanks for your courage in coming and waking me - I know you must have pulled the short straw -, I will heal your father of his malady."

The servant girl, who had been in the middle of tying an extra knot in a loose ribbon, gasped. The queen smirked to herself. It was always wise to reward servants on occasion.

Even if their hatred for the queen was as strong as Atlas, if she rewarded generously on occasion, they would continue sticking around in the hopes that they too would be rewarded in such plenty.

"Now that I am dressed appropriately, take me to the elf," the queen commanded, starting for the door.

"Your Majesty, she's in the middle of childbirth," Ella replied, a tremor of panic in her voice. As the queen's emotions darkened, so did her voice.

"Do not protest against me. I can revoke my gifts just as I can bestow them."

~O~

By the time the queen had burst through the door of the cramped servant's quarters, she was sufficiently flustered. With her enhanced hearing, the queen had heard, with increasing volume, the nails-on-glass shrieks of the elf mother to be.

As she had woven through the twisting corridors, she became consistently more nervous that she would not reach the servant's quarters in time; that the child would be born and claimed by the mother without her there.

This would not do.

Fortunately, the queen had made it just in time, for the elf woman had just released one final cry of what the queen supposed was agony, and the midwife had issued her last order of "Push, you unsightly cow, push!". A small crowd of servants had eagerly gathered a few paces away from the bedside, the elf, and the midwife.

"Step aside, step aside," the queen barked, shoving the staff out of the way, her steely gaze locked on the elf, whose face glistened with sweat. A keening wail cut through the air, and all whispers ceased automatically.

The cry of a newborn baby.

All eyes turned to the midwife, who now clutched a bloody, blotchy child who howled in positive anger.

"It's a girl," the midwife said, swaddling the child in a sheet with dubious sterility. The queen held out her hands.

"Give her to me," she said. The midwife looked rather startled, but handed her the ferociously screeching child, whose face was screwed up like a dried tomato.

The queen peered down at the newborn babe inquisitively. The last time she had truly seen a newborn child was oh so long ago, and the experience was fascinating, just as this was. The screaming seemed not to faze her. Pushing the cloth back and baring the infant's chest to the cold air only aggravated it further, but the queen persisted.

"Child, if you are who I think you are, reveal yourself to me," the queen murmured.

The child instantaneously quieted. This was good enough for the queen. Standing up, clutching the child a bit closer to her chest, the queen announced,

"This child is now mine. She will be raised as royalty, and you will all treat her as so."

At the first sign of protest, the queen's eyes began to glow slightly, a terrifying sapphire color. All of the inhabitants of the room save the elf mother suddenly acquired the same glow in their eyes.

"This child is now mine. She will be raised as royalty, and you will all treat her as so," the queen repeated. The servants responded in unison, their voices monotonous,

"This child is now yours. She will be raised as royalty, and we will all treat her as so."

The glow faded from the queen's eyes, and then slowly after, it did the same for the servants, who shook their heads as if dizzy.

"My daughter will go by the name of Aela," the queen declared briskly. "This elf will be her wet nurse."

The servants all nodded compliantly, and set off to their respective business. Setting the child back into the midwife's arms, the queen stated, "I am done here. Do not rouse me in the morning."

"Yes, Your Majesty," the servants chorused in response. The queen then disappeared in the blink of an eye, without any smoke or mist or sound to signal her departure. The servants did not seem fazed.

In the midwife's arms, the child opened her eyes. They shone a clear lavender. Pawing with her fist at her neck in discomfort, the child made disgruntled noises before she slipped into exhausted slumber.

On the child's neck was the simple outline of a key, branded into her skin.