Seven Queens

Ivory

The coldness clung to the air as the pale girl padded through the halls. White was clearly the Queen's favorite, and a close second was cream. The two colors swirled together in beautiful marble walls, with even prettier pillars lined them, decorated by pale stones. The lavish, but thin, cloths flowed around her. She wore no shoes, but that was fine by her, shoes only came in the way of the chill. The frost called to her, coaxing her to use it.
      I'm here.
      It called, like a whisper in her ear.
      I'm here.
     This time it was louder, like a forlorn puppy whining for attention.
     Use me.
     Louder. No longer a whine, a command.
     It's been long enough.
     How true, how true. But soon, my friend, you shall be free.
     The pale girl came to a pair of huge frosted glass doors. They were beautifully engraved with swirling marks, and they all came together to form a beautiful woman standing heroically with a sword held high. She had a crown of loose glowing white stones, held by a chain of sterling. The beautiful thing about the engraftment was that the stones that were depicted in the picture were actually real, and so was the chain. The stones glowed peacefully against the opaque of the doors. She stood there contemplating the apparent lack of handles the doors, then walked forward, pressing her palm against the cool of the glass. When she pulled her hand away there was a glowing pale blue handprint. The stones flared and the giant doors swung open, eerily quiet, as if magic, because they were.
     The pale girl walked farther into the room, observing the contents. The floor was a white stone, as were the walls, and the pillars. The Queen definitely had a favorite color. Then a ways into the room, embossed into the white floor was a ring. The circle went around the very large room perfectly, and glowed a faint pale blue, the same as the stones in the door. Slabs of giant glass sat in the circle haphazardly. They were thin, but rise up into the air as monoliths. The random placement allowed for and odd sort of beauty; they reflected light all around the room hitting colored panes of glass lining the very outside of the circle. All different colors were shown and was the only source of color within the whole room, except the figure sitting cross-legged in the center. The only sort of order to the glass monoliths were that there were none in the very center for about a twenty foot radius. The boy sat silently, eyes closed, his dark clothing direct contrast with the girl's. Then smiled at him, even though he did not see her.
     She stalked around the perimeter of the circle, like a cat watching prey, the crossed the seemingly sacred line. The ring brightened dramatically, it's pale blue becoming neon for a single moment, then subsiding again, but still brighter than before. The colored light also seemed to brighten, adding more color to the room. The boy called out to her.
     "For the record, I smelled you when you came in." His eyes remained closed. The girl laughed.
     "Do I really smell that bad?" She asked.
     "Yes, but that's not really the point."
     "Ahh, I see. So what is the point, Great Master of Smelling?" She asked sarcastically.
     She continued on, running her hands over glass when she came into contact with the monoliths. Finally she came to her desired spit and sat across from the boy in the same manner as he sat.
     They looked about the same age, but he was noticeably older by a little bit, and that is where the similarities came to an end. Her white-blond hair to his black, her light blue eyes that softly whispered welcome were contrasted to his steely grey ones, practically telling everybody to stay away. She had deep red lips, the only disturbance to her cool exterior, and his pale ones that were constantly locked into a stretched tight grimace. The washed out complexion were quite common though around their area at the moment, as their kingdom was frozen within a harsh winter. She had always considered him quite nice to look at, his sharp angled face, and incredible muscles were enough testimony for that, but it was his never ending sass, sarcasm, and brutal training style that she enjoyed most about him. He helped her forget the world.
     "The pint is that you should not be in here at the moment, but you should be in your room, with the tutor." He said, slightly accusingly.
     "He was boring me." She replied simply, closing her eyes and drawing in several deep breaths.
     "When do they ever interest you?"
     "Very true, very true, but you interest me when you are teaching me. I finally mastered the stance you were teaching yesterday."
     "When did you find time to practice?" He asked inquisitively.
     "I learn better when I'm in movement, or at least that's what I tell my other tutors. They buy it at least." When she said it the boy let a growl of impatience. "What? You try to learn about stuffy neighboring kingdoms. That was always Emerald's gig." She opened her eyes to find a disproving glare starring at her. "I know what we should do!" The girl shouted with excitement. She stood up and walked a couple of steps behind her, and then began to stretch.
     "You are clearly in the wrong clothes for it at the moment." He said, tilting his head like a curious animal.
     She then began to remove the confining garments.
     "Umm, my Queen? Ivory?" The boy said with confusion.
     The flowing clothing gave way to tight fitting shorts and shirt. She also had the foresight to tie her hair up.
     "Okay, okay, you win." He said, but he did not sound to dejected about. He also backed up a ways and cracked his neck and fingers.
     She cocked her head to the side, and he couldn't help but think about how incredibly cute she was. He admired the very nice looking muscles she had put insane amounts of hours into, and it had paid off.
     "Ready?" She asked.
     "Ready."
     The young Queen Ivory launched herself at the boy closing the gap in a few bounds. She waved her hands in a quick motion in front of her, then rose up with a flying kick aimed at his face. The boy attempted to evade, but found that she had trapped his feet, frozen them to the ground. He remembered the quick hand motion. He had just the time to think, 'This is gonna hurt.' 
     And it did. The force was enough to break the ice holding his ankles and grow him backwards, but he was ready for the follow-up punch that came next. Catching it he grabbed her and pulled her into a hold to cut off her circulation. She easily completed the maneuver that they had practiced and reaped herself, while in the process delivering a sharp uppercut. He stumbled back, bracing his hand on a nearby monolith.
     "You ready for the really fight to begin sweetheart?" He asked.
     "Always." She replied, setting her face in a look of rebellion.
     The change took place in about a three to five second timespan. Jagged claws morphed from his fingernails, white fur grew rapidly all over his body, giant teeth and muzzle took up most of his face. The boy became a large polar bear. Then he promptly roared at the girl and charged.
     "If you say so Highflynn." The girl practically whispered to herself. Then she charged the bear herself.