Silver Beaches

One

The soft surf lapped at her toes. The silver sand moved slightly with the breeze and the pull of the distant moon. The beach shined like a polished coin in the dimming sunlight of dusk. The sky was changing from the fairest blue, to a mixture of reds, oranges, pinks and purples. She was lost in thought.
The palace, so grand with its soft white stone and elaborate architecture. The walls rose twenty feet and were kept clean enough to sparkle in the faintest light. Windows occasionally broke the clean, white expanse. A large stained glass window stretched along the front off the castle from the grand hall inside. A courtyard sat in front of the palace's entrance. Ten foot high stone walls rose from the uncovered ground. In the stone images were carved depicting Mother Sun, Father Earth, Brother Moon, and Sister Star. They benevolently watched several smaller figures dance at their feet. The figures appeared to be kings and queens from long ago. Their eyes were inlaid with gems: emeralds, sapphires, onyx, diamonds, topaz, and quartz. The light made the stones shimmer and dance, like the people in the carvings were supposed to be. All other beautiful things paled in comparison.
One might think that with a palace this grand, the rest of the island must be just as nice, but nothing could be further from the truth. The princess sat on the beach and remembered her first visit to the rest of the island. She had never left the walls of the courtyard in her life. The experience was still quite unpleasant to think about.

-_-

"Come along, my little Evangeline," the king called, lifting her into his strong arms. His face was young and vibrant. His bright blond hair was in need of a good trimming and the ends were beginning to curl. His clear blue eyes were shining happily. The princess beamed, filled with as much happiness as her seven year old body could hold. "We're going on a trip!"
"A trip!" She cooed, barely containing her excitement. Her father nodded and swung the little girl onto her horse. The young foal was a shockingly pure white with shining, golden hooves polished to perfection. A long, blue mane sprouted from the horse's neck and an equally long and blue tail decorated her backside. She had named the horse Cloud.
The king and queen mounted their horses as well, though they did not need lifting. The king's horse was a descendant of the native horses like Cloud, but he was a strong, black stallion named Erebus. The queen's horse was a plain blue with the characteristic golden hooves named Eos. The guard members accompanying them rode normal, brown horses. Half of them positioned themselves in front of the royal family and the other half were behind. When everyone was ready, the gates of the courtyard were opened by two servants, and they rode out into the day.
The princess' eyes widened. Her world had been so small before, and now it was too big for her to process. The flat land of Nebesa sprawled out in front of her in a never ending scope. The grass to the side of the path brushed her horse's knees. In the distance she could see trees and the small brown shapes of houses. When she squinted and looked to one side, she could just make out the ocean touching the shore. The procession continued in silence down the dirt path. In a matter of minutes they passed over a river. Her father called it the Nebesa River. They passed it without a second look and continued down the path.
The first village they came to was Plodina. Chief Cott welcomed the royal procession with wide, open arms. He was a strong man with thick, pale skin. His eyes were set deep in his face and his hair was perpetually messy. His laugh seemed hollow, as if there was nothing inside to support it. His voice was weak and gravely. His wife, Soy, was a kind woman. Her eyes were soft with care and her smile glowed. Both of them fawned over the young princess. They called her cute, but neither of them could bring themselves to look at her. They avoided her head in particular, though Evangeline did not know why. Her head just had her hair.
The excitement of meeting the chief wore off quickly as the princess insisted on seeing the town. Her eyes fell as she looked at the small village. Old, neglected buildings stood in clusters. Half the homes had holes in the walls or no rooves. The people were even worse. The overworked farmers struggled to bring in the few crops left in the fields. Malnourished children clung weakly to the tree branches and threw fruit down into baskets. The king gave the princess a taste of one of the apples. The juices from the ripe fruit dripped on her face, but it didn't taste good as she watched the hungry faces staring at her from above. She gave the rest of the fruit to a child too small to climb. He devoured it greedily and smiled at her.
The animals weren't any better. Most of the livestock, the pigs, cows, sheep, and chickens, were bone thin and on the verge of collapse. The only animal that looked healthy was a peafowl and her chicks. One of the older chicks kept staring at the princess. His head bobbed as he walked to follow her around his pen, and he cooed as she walked away. The work horses stood huddled together in the corner of their enclosure. Massive sores protruded from their once muscular legs, and they absentmindedly picked at their mangy coats. The princess sighed. This was not right.
They did not stay long. The king could sense the princess was not enjoying what she saw. He exchanged a view private words with the chief, and when he returned he called the royal party together to leave. The princess was lifted onto her sore-free, perfectly groomed horse. Soy waved at her with a smile, it looked forced. Chief Cott came up to her, his hands clasped around something.
"I have been reminded," he said diplomatically, "that it is customary to give the royal child a gift upon their first visit to my village." He unwrapped his hands to reveal the peafowl chick that had followed the girl earlier. "I saw him eyeing you earlier. His name is Royal. Treat him well." He set the chick on Cloud's saddle horn, where he promptly sat and started preening. The princess looked at the chief. He was wearing another fake smile. She made one to match. The peacock was beautiful and all, but she knew her father had forced the gift out of the chief. She knew that he could not afford to give the chick away, but did for fear of her father. She only accepted for the same reason. Her father was not an easily changeable man. The young girl swallowed her pride and turned away from the village. She heard her father call it an eye-sore, but that wasn't what it was. It was a cry for help, for change.
The terrain of Nebesa was quite plain. There were a few small hills, and a dotting of forests or brush. The rest of the island was flat plains covered in knee-high grass. The area around Plodina was cultivated into farm land, but the rest of the island was untouched. Paths were worn into the grass at areas of high traffic for trade. The entire Southwestern part of the island was barely even charted. No one wanted to explore it because of the gold forest. Legends had weaved through it's many branches and flowed across the island. Spirits, monsters, death to trespassers, all were thought to await those brave enough to enter, or even come near, the forest. The procession rode for awhile longer. The sun had just peaked in the sky, and heat seemed to radiate off the flat, worn ground.
They reached the village of Ryba around that time. The town sat in a small valley, and the princess saw it first as they began to descend one of the island's larger hills. The village was flanked by a large lake and a small cove. The center of the village was marked by a small communal fire pit. A multitude of crumbling, sandstone houses spread out around the fire pit. Small docks jutted out into the lake and cove. Fishermen, wielding worn out nets, tried to catch fish; they were unsuccessful. Others sat in circles and wove new nets, or cooked small amounts of fish. The people were small and too skinny. The children were nearly all bone. The entire place smelled of rot and seaweed.
Chief Reef greeted Evangeline and her family with a wide smile. His seemed less forced compared to Chief Cott's, but there was still no genuine happiness supporting it. His wife, Adria, however, was much happier to see them; she was the queen's sister. The two siblings did much catching up while they visited. The queen had not been back to her home village since the princess had been born, and everyone wanted to talk with her. None of the adults would look at the princess. The chief had two small daughters, slightly younger than the princess, who tried to befriend her. She entertained them with stories of the palace. They stared wide-eyed as she described the vastness of the never ending white walls, and the free rein of her activities. Their lives were not so blessed. In the deepest pits of her soul she pitied them, along with their entire village. She had not know what true suffering was until now. How could her parents see this and not even bat an eye; their behavior was utterly disgusting.
Again her father pulled the chief aside. The princess tried not to notice, but in a village so small, it was hard not to notice everything. She decided to distract herself by letting the local children fawn over Royal, and giving some of the most malnourished children her food. She could go a little while longer without eating, even though her stomach grumbled in protest as the children ate the food almost savagely. "Tell them about the palace!" The smaller daughter, named Coral, cooed, as the other children stroked Royal. He seemed to enjoy the attention.
"Oh yes! They would just love to hear about the palace, just as you've told us," the older daughter, only a few months younger than the princess and named Pacifica, agreed. The children turned towards the princess, faces eager for her stories. The princess, quite flustered at her large audience, tried to find a place to start, but the king called the girl over and she had to leave her crowd hanging.
"As I'm sure you know Princess, it is customary for the chiefs to bestow a gift when the royal child first visits their village," Chief Reef said in a monotone voice. He did not seem to accept the words he spoke, and he kept shooting the king looks from the corner of his eye. The princess nodded, knowing that if she did anything else her father would intervene and make her feel even worse about the whole trip. "So, as chief of Ryba, I give you this gift to remember our village by."
He presented the princess with a beautifully crafted necklace. A heavy, yet soft, leather string was adorned with pearls, each colored a darkening shade a blue as they moved down the string. Half of the pearls were on each side of a crescent moon and star carved into a small piece of fish bone. The crescent moon and star were the symbol of Nebesa, chosen long ago by the first king. Evangeline accepted the gift as graciously as she could muster. These people should not be giving her gifts. She should be giving the people gifts; she had more than a few things she could spare. The injustice pained her as she mounted Cloud and set Royal back on the saddle horn. The necklace sat just at the hollow of her neck, like a badge that marked her place in the world.
They rode on, Cloud's gaint was as smooth as silk. Royal sat peacefully on the saddle horn and preened his feathers to perfection. The princess quietly thought and tried to fight her drowsiness. The guard sat stiffly on their horses, peering into the distance. The king and queen chattered.
"The place has changed so much since I was a child," the queen's soothing voice purred. Her horse neighed at the sound of her mistress' voice, and the queen patted her neck in response.
"Honestly, Pearl, I don't understand how you can stand going back to that place. Everything is so decrepit. Wouldn't you much rather stay at the palace?" The king fidgeted in his saddle. He just wanted to return to his palace; all this traveling was making him weary.
"How can you say that! That's my home! I grew up on those shores," she said, the purr in her voice was gone. She became stiff on her horse.
"You must admit it's gone downhill since you left to marry me. It does not have your beauty to liven it up anymore." He tried to ease her anger. At his words the queen loosened slightly and a smile pierced her stiff lips.
"You always know just what to say," she whispered, her purr returned, and they said no more.
A massive birch forest sprawled in front of the royal party. The trunks of the trees were bright white and their leaves were fluorescent green. They followed the path around the forest. The princess waited with baited breath as the town came into view. She let her breath out in a disappointed sigh, and her face slipped into a frown. Suroviny was just like the other villages. Old, flimsy, wooden houses stood, just barely, around a central fire. The flames sputtered in the approaching dusk as it tried to stay lit. The people were stronger than the others, but only because they had to be for their work. Heavy logs of wood stood in carts. Strong trees had fallen and been dragged from the forest to fill the wagons. They were nothing now, just wood waiting to be shipped to the palace. The villagers stared at them as they headed towards the chief's home, which was slightly larger than the others. A few children cried in the arms of their mothers, and no one would look at the king.
"King Xanthous! Queen Pearl! So nice to see you!" A loud voice boomed from the chief's house. A tall man with sparkling green eyes greeted them with a true smile. "You are just in time to meet the newest edition to my family!" The royal party dismounted their horses, and Chief Rowan led the king and his family inside, the guards remained outside.
A small boy stood next to a woven mat on the house's floor. A tall women was lying on the mat, a bundle of blankets in her arms. She was beaming. They both had straw colored hair. As they got closer the bundle of blankets began to wiggle and the chief took it from his wife.
Chief Rowan held the bundle of blankets towards the princess so she could see. A small, wrinkly, pale face looked out at her from it. The face had green eyes just like the chief. "Meet my daughter, Hazel," he said, his voice laced with contagious happiness. At the mention of her name, Hazel burst into loud tears, and the chief handed the bundle back to his wife, who started rocking it.
They left the house and returned to the sputtering fire. The chief had soft, tan skin and a fat, happy face. No troubles could bring him down. The people of the town began to lighten up and smile as well. They had feared the king's arrival after the birth meant horrible things, but the baby was safe. The whole town celebrated. Chief Rowan's laugh was as contagious as the cold, and soon Evangeline's spirits had lifted.
A feast was thrown to celebrate the birth. It was a small feast, the food was minimal and not very fresh. The people of the town, however, ate hungrily and were in amazing spirits. Their work was not an issue tonight, their hunger would not bother them for a while, their chief had a new child, all was well with the world.
The princess thought that was so beautiful. These people had nothing, yet in the smallest of everyday miracles, in just a single birth, they could be given so much happiness they could burst. It was hard not to be happy with them. They celebrated late into the night. Much conversation was had between them all.
The king's head guard pulled a boy, no more than a year older than princess, onto his shoulders. He had spiky brown hair and dark green eyes. He locked eyes with the princess and smiled. His smile was one she would never forget.
As darkness fell on the island the king gathered his men and family. The chief pulled the princess aside before she could mount Cloud. "I'm sure the other chiefs have given you gifts today," he stated. She nodded. "What did they give you?" Evangeline pointed to the peacock sleeping on Cloud's saddle and showed Chief Rowan her necklace. "Yes. Both very pretty things, but what I'm about to give you is a very important thing. Okay?" The princess nodded, and Chief Rowan placed a small seed into her hand. "This is the seed of the oldest and biggest birch tree in our forest. You must promise to protect it and keep it safe. We only plant birch trees for very special reasons. I planted one today, in fact, for Hazel. You have to plant this birch tree for a very special reason, I'm sure you'll find one." He winked, and the princess nodded. The king called her over, and she rushed to her horse, waving back at the town that had made her smile.
They rode back to the palace. In the morning the princess approached her father, Royal following her. The memories of the previous day had not left her, and despite the happy ending the day had, it was still sour in her mind. "Father, why do you let the people suffer? We have so much here, and they have so little there. Can't we just share?" she asked, innocently. The queen tensed in her seat next to the king.
"Because, my darling Evangeline," the king responded in his deep voice. His soft blond hair had been cut and sat flat on his head. His crown rest on the top of his head. "If we share with one of the villages so they could rebuild and repair, the others would want resources too. And since we shared with the first village, we will have to share with the other two as well. Then they'll just keep asking and asking for more and more so they can do more and more. Then where would we be?"
"In a much better place?" The princess responded, sincerely.
"NO!" The king boomed. The queen flinched and shifted in her chair. Her eyes shone with pain and fear. The princess looked exactly the same. "We would be broke and powerless. Money is power, and you need to understand that if you are ever going to rule this kingdom."
"But--" the princess began.
"Do not fight me on this Evangeline. I am right, and you are too young to understand that. I do hope with age you come to realize what I'm saying is true, or you'll be as useless and weak as your mother." His tone signaled the end of the conversation.
Evangeline scooped up her peacock and ran from the room. The king sat with a smirk on her face. The queen let a silent tear fall down her cheek.

-_-

On the silver beach, Evangeline sat. She pulled her legs into her chest and rested her forehead on her knees. Tears streamed down her face as hopelessness consumed her spirit. Royal strutted over to her and rested his head on her foot. The sun moved ever lower.