Tales of Cubonia

The Golden Hourglass 5 - The Princess

Princess Alexandra was born to Queen Annelise and her husband and consort, Sir Raulf Henry, Duke of the EvenVale during the Midsummer Festival in the Year of Wolpertings. She was the youngest of seven, and if truth be told, something of an afterthought. The Queen's first child, Prince Ambrose, was given merry reception by the people of Old Andora. The feast and festival lasted for a fortnight and only ended when the Queen demanded they stop celebrating and just get on with their lives, but she did rather appreciate the warm welcome for her new child. Each resulting child received a slightly less magnificent celebration until the people realized that the Queen and her husband appeared to be some sort of baby making factory and they couldn't really afford to keep throwing celebrations every couple of years. So it was that Princess Alexandra was born in a quiet chamber in the back of Castle Andora with only a pair of wet nurses to bear witness. The rest of her new family had been enjoying themselves at the festival and would get around to meeting the new family member when they had some free time on their hands.

A single visitor had come to pay their respects to the new princess. He was a wearing a deep green travelling cloak that was hasped together at the waist with a single wooden toggle of intricate carving. His hood was pulled up to obscure most of his features, but a pair of fire red eyes stared out at the Queen impassively. He gave no name, nor was anyone sure how he had arrived. One moment the Queen sat alone in her chamber with her new baby girl, the next moment he was standing in a dark corner. He produced an ornate box and offered it as a gift to the princess. Inside was a string of green pearls harvested from the Green Sea. Each glinted dully in the flickering light of the braziers around the bed. Hanging from the strand of pearls was a ruby the size of a walnut wreathed in perfectly cut diamonds. Queen Annelise was taken aback by the offer, and accepted gratefully even if the stranger was rather off putting. He receded into the night as quietly as he had arrived.

As Princess Alexandra grew, she remained an overlooked member of the royal family. She was a dutiful child, but something of a daydreamer. She could be found around the castle fighting imaginary creatures with a stick as if she was a valiant knight, which was rather uncouth for a young lady, but as she was often shrugged off, no one seemed to ever tell her so. When she was old enough, Alexandra was put into the normal royal training that all her siblings had received. She would learn how to be a princess and do the things that princesses do which were all very, very boring compared to slaying dragons and capturing faerylights. But she obeyed her mother and learned to sew, cook, curtsey, dance, and be polite.

It was utterly miserable.

It was during one such dance lesson as she approached her sixteenth name day that she received a bit of rather troubling news. She was in mid waltz with a rather pudgy lordling that smelled vaguely of cheese when one of her brother's entered the room.

"What wonderful dancing skills you have, sweet sister of mine," he said mockingly.

Prince Moma was the fourth child of Queen Annelise. He had curly brown hair and a face full of freckles. He was Alexandra's favorite sibling by far, as he was the only one that knew exactly what she truly desired to live her life as and didn't give her any grief over it.

"Shut up, Moma," Alexandra said, trying not to get off the beat of the song. "Can't you see I'm dancing with..."

"Prete," the pudgy lordling told her with a look that said it wasn't the first time.

"Prete, yes," she finished, adding, "I knew that."

Moma held up his hands in mock surrender. "Forgive me for intruding," he pleaded with a wicked grin on his face. "I just thought you might like to know the big secret."

Alexandra, always one for a good piece of gossip, finally lost the beat and stumbled over Prete's feet.

"Sorry..." she stammered.