Double Rainbow

Spritz-2

I pace the floor of my room in the iceberg. Snow Hare looks on in interest. "Is this what you lower-classes do for amusement?" She says with a wry smile. It's been almost a month since the massacre. Since then, we've been hiding here together. There have been close calls, of course- even though we haven't gone past the lower-class floors, there are still Polar Canira that wander the halls, some more malicious then others. Even if most of their tribe left the iceberg, some still are trying to finish us off. After all, apparently Gaeron was killed in the battle that ensued after the royals were killed. Plus, some stupid part of me wants to keep Snow Hare here with me.

I know I shouldn't even consider it, but there's just something special about her. She reminds me, in a way, of Marie, but suddenly I'm the street-smart one and she's the clueless one. I sit down and she scooches up next to me, smiling.

"I'm just trying to think of a plan." I say.

"A plan for what?"

"To keep you from getting killed."

"You're really brave, you know. Just like your sister."

Tears saltier than the ocean below fill my eyes as I think about my sister screaming "GO!", the rush of the crowd, and the realization that she was dead. Or was she? Even though it's completely insane, I feel the urge to run upstairs to the enormous Great Hall and find her body.

"I miss my mom and dad." says Snow Hare. "They were really... good... parents. Mom used to sing to me all the time and dad would let me swim next to the iceberg..."

My mom looks up at us, bored. "Frost Shard, you be quiet. I'm napping."

Snow Hare giggles. It had been all too easy to convince my mom and siblings that the princess was a lower-class named Frost Shard whose parents had died in the battle that apparently ensued after the assassination. Most lower-classes have never seen the Royals in person. I myself had never seen them until that fateful adventure with Marie.

"We should go upstairs. I wonder what happened up there." says Snow Hare suddenly. I shrug, and we walk up the stairs together.

Upstairs, on the lower-class hallway, Blizzard Canira and Ocean Canira patrol the halls. I see a guilty looking young Polar Canira try to sneak past them, but an Ocean Canira sees him and smacks him against the wall.

"I did nothing! I swear! I just wanna go home!" he says, held up against the wall by the Ocean Canira's strong tail.

"I saw you in the Battle of Poisonberry. Don't you dare lie to me."

The Polar Canira struggles, but to no avail. He gives up. "Yes, I was involved."

Snow Hare walks past me out to where the guards are. "You were involved in the death of my parents?!"

The Ocean Canira's jaw drops and he gestures to let Snow Hare past. "YOU WERE ONE OF THOSE STUPID, FISH-BREATHED-" She hits him with her tail in the jaw.

"Princess Snow Hare! You're alive!" says the Ocean Canira. "It's me, Ness! Y'know, that higher-ranked you had your eye on?"

I can't help but feel slightly jealous.

"Hehe... yeah, you... Ness. Tell everyone to gather at the Great Hall in a few hours. I've got to say good-bye to the lower-classes real quick. They did save my life." She grabs my paw and runs. We stop at a small place near the ice stairwell for going up and the ice slide for those who don't like going down stairs.

"You're taken, huh?" I say.

She snorts. "Hardly. That's just one out of the fifty suitors my father said I should marry."

"So what is he like?"

"Why do you care? Wait." She laughs. "You're into me, aren't you?!"

I blush. "Me... no! No way!"

"Well, that brings me to my next point. I have to marry someone, because apparently a female can't run the Tribe on her own. Now, you're not perfect, but the other fifty suck. So y'know what, I'm gonna give you a chance. Don't blow it."

I look at her in awe. "Are you saying..."

"Yeah, I know I'm like eleven, and you're..."

"Twelve."

"I have to. Okay?"

"Woah, I never said I didn't want to. Plus, technically fourteen is when you're fully grown and all that, so... it's not really all that big of a deal."

She nods. "You better not blow it, or what I did to that Polar Canira will be nothing in comparison to what I will do to you."

I mock-bow. "Of course, your highness."

We walk up to the stage of ice, hundreds of Canira watching us. They see me immediately, and most identify me as a lower-class. Their brains are hardwired to ignore me, so they do. Their eyes are fixed on the princess. "EHEM." she says.

My stomach churns at the sight of all those needy eyes. I shouldn't be up here, I'm just a lower class. says the rational part of me. Another part is rising to the surface, filling me up with confidence. These are my subjects now. I am their king. Or, I will be in five minutes.

"Ocean Canira, I, Princess Snow Hare, am ready to continue the work of my mother and father and lead the Iceberg Tribe. However, as you all know, I need a king to rule the Tribe beside me. I have chosen Spritz as my husband."

"Okay, where is he?" says one official near the front.

"Right here." She points to me.

Everyone gasps collectively.

"A lower-class?"

"I thought she was better than that."

"Just look at him! He's pathetic."

"SHUUUUUT UPPPPP!" yells Snow Hare over the clatter.

Everyone shuts up.

"Listen, when my mom and dad died, Gaeron came after me. Did any of you fancy higher-classes come and try to save me? Did any last one of you even consider anything besides saving your own sorry tail? No. Spritz and his sister Marie plunged into the fight to save me, and Marie died in the process. Spritz took me in and sheltered me until we were sure it was safe for me to leave. Did any of you offer that? Look at him. Even though he's scrawny, he holds himself like a higher-class. He's a natural-born leader."

Even though she just mentioned my name, it takes me a while to realize she's talking about me. No matter how I'm 'holding myself', on the inside I'm shuddering like a little pup being scolded by his mother. To my surprise, the Canira look pleased, almost satisfied.

I hold my head higher, flicking my tail once. "I will do everything I can to help all of you. You can count on me."

Every single one of them puts three claws on their left paw towards the top of the iceberg, a sign of respect. Some begin chanting, "SPRITZ! SNOW HARE! SPRITZ! SNOW HARE!"

I lift my head even higher, loving the applause. Something has clicked inside of me, and I'm thinking like a leader now. Each one of them is mine to care for, to love, to rule, to die for. It's such an amazing feeling, and I love every second of it. Best of all, I get to share it all with Snow Hare.