A Light in the Dark

Chapter 4

"Septa!" Lyra cheered giddily, swinging the door open to her room, the same old woman from before smiled in mock suprise,
"Yes, my dear? You look thrilled, were the rumours of the Prince of Wales untrue?" She raised an eyebrow.
"Oh no, he looks absolutely retched. But then agaaaain, there was the most gorgeous boy i saw today...oh, his name was Archer!" Lyra spun delicately in a flouncy manner, her white and gold dress twirling around her as she placed her hands over her heart.
"Oh my, it seems it does happen suddenly." Septa said, she raised a thin, grey and silver eyebrow at Lyra and smiled, amused.
"What does, Septa?" Lyra looked at the tall, straight-back woman. Her silver and grey hair was peeking out around her face from under her teacher's hat, which covered her whole head to her shoulders, leaving only her face exposed. Her soft smile created little creases at the corners of her eyes, which sparkled mischeviously in the ocean blue.
"Love." She snickered to herself, sweeping the stone floor and humming.
"What? That's ridiculous, Septa. I've only met him the once." Lyra waved her hand off at Septa, who smiled wider with visible amusement as the door opened and in walked Addriana, smiling at Lyra with a stack of familiar-looking books in her hand.
"Lyra!" She said, a wide smile on her face. "I got these, i figured it's about time you learned of a very important piece of our kingdom's stability." She lightly touched the book with her fingertips as she stepped in the room, her long dark red gown scraped lightly across the stone floor as Septa bowed respectfully and excused herself from the room. Lyra smiled at her mother, she noticed the light creases in her cheeks and eyes, like Septa's face, only less saggy. Lyra smiled and admired her mother's pale green eyes, like spring-fresh lilypads on a clear pond. Lyra was thankful she had the same eyes as her mother, almost carbon copy, the only difference was the bit of silver in Lyra's eyes around her pupil versus her mother's gold flakes sprinkled about.
"What is it mother?" Lyra said excitedly as Addriana handed her a very familiar book, the hard leatherbound book with the filligree moon brand, she opened the book and flipped the pages to show Lyra the contents of the book.
"It's a description of our twin realm. Twilight." Addriana went on to explain. Lyra raised an eyebrow.
"It holds detailed records of past kings and thier deeds, the landscape, drawings of the major biomes that surround it's capital, Twilight Castle Town." She opened up a map tucked between some back pages and pointed it at a large ringed dot near the north-west corner of the map. Lyra studied the map.
"Halfiingar? Rune's Tomb? Dusklight? Wuuthrall? Who made up these names? This seems like a strange realm, mom." Lyra said, still scanning the map. "Dragon's Crossing? We have a town called Dragon's Crossing." Lyra looked at her mother who nodded and smiled, closing the map.
"This realm is....not exactly the same as ours, though it is very similar." Addriana said, opening another book.
"This here is the complete recorded history of Twilight. The legend goes that the Twilight Dweller's ancestors angered a great god, who took the entire capital and surrounding villages and banished them, casting them into a world of darkness and eternal twilight, and so they managed to survive and eventually, they adapted. Now they are all monsters under the guise of humans, they look monsterous in thier own realm but in the light of the sun, they look human. Addriana smiled and gave Lyra the books, kissing her head.
"Those are for you to read for yourself, you need to know how to interact with them. They will send someone sometimes to broker politics with us, the "King" of Twilight, Zander Twili is very big on old promises and oaths, he has begun sending men to us to broker an alliance, a true treaty of peace between our worlds. One day you may have to handle him yourself, after you are married to Prince Tanner you will be crowned Queen, and with that comes the responsibility of balancing our two worlds." She gently petted Lyra's hair and kissed her temple.
"I'm sorry your father is so adamant on joining Wales to Ender, i wish i could have picked a better, and more attractive, husband for you."
"It's alright, Mother. I understand why, but i just wish he didnt look so....sickly." Lyra wrinkled her nose and sighed, folding the map on her lap and tucking it safely into the book, setting them aside and giving her mother hug.
"Thank you for the books Mother, i will read them tomorrow for my lessons with Septa." Lyra smiled and went to stand, crossing the room to her desk, placing the heavy books on it with a loud thud,
"Actually, you do not have lessons with Septa tomorrow." Addriana said, standing.
"Then what will i be doing?" Lyra turned and raised an eyebrow at her mother,
"You will be sitting in court with your father and i as we meet with the messenger for the Twilight realm. His master has a few more words with us."