Heart of Netis

Chapter I: Netis

A bird whistled. A calm breeze through an opened window ruffled the curtains of Netis' four poster bed. A paradise bird glided through the window and stopped to rest on Netis' pillow. She tapped the princess' forehead gently.

Netis groaned and forced open her eyes.

"Aila... Do I have to get up?"

Aila clucked impatiently, as the door opened to Thyea, Netis' handmaid, entering with a new silk dress over her arm. Thyea nodded to Aila, who flew back out of the open window. Netis threw aside her duvet, and Thyea pulled her out of bed and began to undo the laces on her night-corset.

Thyea poured a jug of steaming water into the bathtub behind the screen in Netis' bedroom, and scattered scented lily petals on the surface. She set about tidying up the room as Netis bathed and dressed, thinking of all the jobs she had to do for her Princess' sixteenth birthday.

When Netis had pulled on the sea-green silk gown Thyea had brought her, she called to her maid to lace up her corset and fix her raven-black hair.

"How are you feeling this morning, Princess?" Thyea asked politely.

"Tired. I am excited for my birthday ball, though. Today I am turning sixteen years old, Thyea!"

"You are so. Her Majesty Queen Oslea has invited royals from other kingdoms, and all their young princes, in the hope that you can choose a suitor."

"Oh Thyea... I do not want to get married yet. I am still young!"

"But you are now of age. It is custom for princesses to choose their suitors at their sixteenth birthday ball. Though, they do not actually marry until they are eighteen. Come on now, Princess, your parents are waiting for you in the banquet hall."

Princess Netis rolled her eyes and swept from the room.

---

Princess Netis sat alone on her balcony, gazing out at the rolling green hills dotted with tall oak trees, and the distant, snow-capped mountains that were all Idia. It was after midday, and her parents were now busy arranging everything for her grand sixteenth birthday ball that evening. Though she didn't want to grow up and marry yet, the future to her was an adventure that had yet to be undertaken, and the thought of being able to leave home and explore the kingdom, be free from her parents' protective watch, however terrifying, filled her with excitement. She felt her heart give a great leap, and suddenly the air around her warmed and blinding lights danced around her head like a crown of fire. Netis shot to her feet and looked around for the source of maegia- she knew it was maegia, she had seen plenty of it from half-human creatures in the kingdom- but when she registered that nobody else was near her, it occurred to her that the maegia must have come from her.

But it couldn't have been me.

I'm completely human...