Hymn, The Princess in the Stained Glass Dress

Chapter 1-Hymn

When I woke, my dream of sand and home became an instant nightmare. The sun had just barely seeped into the doorway at the far end of the room. It stretched across the floor, teasing me as it brushed my eyes. I opened them, and felt the burn of the morning sun. I focused on the timekeeper that stretched across the square from my tower. Barely six, it tormented. Just three hours until they came again, and just six until I sing. It was a gross schedule I was forced to be a part of, over and over. Though, it was surprising I had slept this long. Three hours is a full night on most occasions.

I stretched out of my bed, and the chain clinked behind me. I would had liked to scream, but I cannot. I am not allowed to speak, I needed to reserve my voice. The chain clattered to the floor and chipped a brick. I brushed my big toe across the powder left behind. For a moment, a fantasy of crushing all the bricks in this Oblideus Temple creeped into my mind. Tiptoeing, I found the center of the room. The metal peg that holds the chain on my ankle had rusted into the floor. From the center, a spiral of grey bricks stretched to the wall.

Just a circular room with a bed, a bucket, and the dress. The stained glass dress twinkled in the dim morning light. How I loathed that dress. The bodice had no pattern, just a rainbow of glass formed into an immobile dress. When I breathed, it left tiny cuts on my skin, at least it did. Now I can lessen the damage. After seven years, I ought to be able too. The skirt stretched out in a cone shape. Immovable as well, however, it was so large my legs never touch it. As long as I kept my arms up, the skin that hangs from them does not get cut anymore. I had learned to work around the glass, and keep myself unharmed, for the most part.

I fight with myself often, about my feelings for the dress. The sun, then even higher in the sky, cast a rainbow across the room. My distain for the dress was, honestly, in some ways, unjustified. The dress and I were very similar. We both were, or were a part of, a beautiful thing that was broken and distorted into a vision almost completely devoid of what it used to be. It used to be a window, tall and beautiful. It cast light down a high spiral staircase. The staircase was in the back of an Oblideus Temple, the Capital's Oblideus Temple. It was the grandest, and the most beautiful temple to ever be built. And at its peak, a window that could light the entire temple is glorious color.

Now, there was the floor beneath the peak, trapping the light. The window, now shattered, no longer dyes the temple.

I, once a princess of a peaceful people, now dressed in a white slip, stained by my own body. It is the only dress I am allowed to own.

Where had the time gone? It was almost nine.

With the chain dancing behind me, I walked to the vast open doorway where the window once stood. A Balcony, barely the length of half a man, jutted out of the tower. Only just stepping onto the balcony, I waited and watched for my captors to become visible. Then they appeared, six of them today. Usually there were four, but there are times when there are ten.

I watched them enter the temple. The first to emerge from the floor is Gettidie. She was an old Weeping Woman from the Oblideus practice, a religious figure.

"Morning" I hummed to her, as peacefully as my resentment can allow.

"Aye! Don't speak, don't speak! Wait until I tell Ellio! You keep your trap shut!" Finally, she wiggled her way through the trap door, and into the room. She casted a long, wrinkly shadow, which is odd, because she was so very short. Never had I been taller than the men that enter the tower, but Gettidie barely reached my breast. She did, however, have long talon like fingers, with nails that could cut my glass dress in half. She wore the traditional Weeping Woman headdress, a long hook like hood that hung down her back, along with the cloak. It was long and dark grey. Never had I seen what she looks like under her garb. Though, if I saw her hair, I'm sure it would be the color of dismal.

Next, were the men that carried the bathing tub. It was a tall, thin metal tub, filled only halfway with cold water. The men, I had never seen before. Every day, there are two new men. I heard them at the base of the temple, talking about 'who will they let see the londer today'. Countless men had come into the tower, I had begun to stop looking at their features. Though, they never stop looking at mine.

They carried the dented tub closer to the center of the room. Two more Weeping Women entered with their hands in their sleeves. These girls were almost identical in the traditional outfits. I recognized the one girl, she was taller, and had high, pink cheekbones. I remembered how she flinched when Gettidie would strike me, so I memorized her face. She was pretty, for a Torian.

Finally, my voice teacher, Ellio, entered with a large wave of his hand. "Good morning to you my melody! So I've been thinking of a classic today. You've sang this countless times but I was thinking of changing the ending to a higher octave perhaps a bit of-"

"Ellio! Honestly! You know the routine, wash, practice, then dress, then sing. Then we can leave. Alright brat, strip!"

Pulling on a single string tied behind my neck, my shapeless white slip fell to the ground. Shame is not a thing I worried about anymore. I did not feel shame, because my entire existence is shame. The men gaped at my body as I climbed into the tub. The Weeping Women rushed over with sponges to scrub me in front of them. The one with the high cheek bones blushed as she gentle scrubbed over my arms and shoulders. I nodded at her, which seemed to scare her, for she jumped back a bit.

I am sure, somewhere in that book the Oblideus's warship, there was something about the desiring of a naked woman. The men smiled and gawked and jeered at me. I am sure there was something against them, if it was not for the King's love of humiliating me.

"I always thought that a Londer's skin is lighter in the hidden bits, turns out they're even darker!" The men snorted.

"Aye! Shut it!" Gettidie slapped the man behind the head, and moved to the bucket in the corner of the room. "Pick this up, and dump't in the back,". There was a righteous feeling that arisen in my chest watching all the men enter and harass me, and leave with my waste in their hands.

Finally, I was pronounced clean and I put on the other slip. Ellio made his way over with an exaggerated smile. His teeth were straight and white. He was balding and his eyes were large and glassy. He wore a navy blue coat with silver trimming, and silver trousers that touched his knees. Today, he wore white tights and silver shoes. If I had to describe Ellio in a word, it would be shiny.

"Now! I had this song, the Dove Epiphany, you remember it, right?" I nodded and he hurried on. "This time, in the end, to mix things up, I say we make it higher and add that octave jump. You know how the people enjoy when we mix things up! They love your voice but I'm afraid it's too boring for the native capital citizens. The visitors love you, they always do, but we have got to keep things interesting." The more he spoke, the louder he became. His excitement had done nothing but annoyed me.

I had sung Dove Epiphany more than a thousand times, changing it just barely each time. It had become almost unrecognizable. The song tells of how a Weeping Man was questioning his faith, but he saw a dove fly head first through a storm and come out the other side with no leg. The bird kept flying, limbless. Eventually, it was the only bird at the berry tree and feasted until it was fat.

The song upsets me. How would a bird that powers through a storm restore such a powerful thing like faith? It must be a metaphor I do not understand. No matter how much I had sung that song, I did not understand.

By the time he was done talking, we only had time to sing the song once. It was absolutely boring but I did as he said, and he seemed to be very excited about a song he probably has had memorized since childhood.

"Alright, lovely! Just glorious! Okay, get in the dress." Gettidie screeched from the corner with the dress. I raised my arms and allowed them to wrap the dress around me. The back of the dress unlatches and hooks back together.

They brushed my hair, and waited until the timekeeper hit the twelve. With a deep breath, I stepped from the shadows into the light of the balcony.