The Island With No Parallel

Uncle Stretton's Visit

The princess was worried. She couldn't stop thinking about what would happen if the plan didn't work. But she knew she couldn't let herself think that way. It had to.

"Princess, do not fret," said Roraina mentally, perching herself on the window sill to sit in front of the princess. "The Ancient Ones have planned this carefully. Just do your part and leave the rest to her."

"You're right," she acknowledged. But she still feared what she already knew her uncle was planning. There was still so much that could go wrong.

The fox nuzzled against her comfortingly. "I must leave. Good luck."

"Thank you, Roraina."

With a nod, the fox disappeared into nothing, and the princess was left to await her uncle Stretton's visit.

"Your Highness?" said a meek voice.

With a jump, the princess spun around, only to see it was only her servant. Taking a breath to calm herself, she tried to hide the shaking in her hands. "Yes, what is it?"

"You told me to inform you when your uncle arrived."

"Ah, thank you."

Bowing politely, the servant backed out of the room and closed the door. The princess returned her gaze out the window and clenched her fists on her lap. Roraina was right. This would work.

And with the help of the unknowing servant that left moments ago, everything would fall into place the way it was meant to. Yes, as long as the princess could convince her to help her, everything would fall into place.

With that thought on her mind, she lifted herself from her seat and went to meet her uncle. And more importantly, to see if her informant had their information correct.

Did he have the necklace?

The conversation between her parents and her uncle was dreadfully dull as usual, which was a good thing for once. As they spoke in the parlor, the princess found that for the first time, she was glad to play the role as the polite and soft-spoken character that was completely opposite to her nature. No news was good news, in her case at the moment.

"You aren't even listening are you?" whispered a disapproving voice behind her seat on the chair.

She clucked her tongue softly so that her parents couldn't hear. "Why should I? The only thing uncle ever has to talk about are dreadfully boring subjects."

"You know, it's the very fact that you think of everything as 'boring' that embarrasses me just to be around you. Perhaps if you paid attention every once in a while, maybe you'd learn something for once."

"What does it matter? You are the crowned prince, as you constantly remind me," she added with bitterness. "I can stay as stupid as I please. It's you that has to learn all of this rubbish."

"Stupid indeed," Renen remarked snidely. She payed her brother no mind as he stepped from around her chair and joined his father and uncle in their conversation. She had too much on her mind to be bothered by his opinion of her. She worried for him for entirely different reasons.

"Well then," her father was saying, in a tone that signaled the end of their friendly chatting and interrupted her thoughts. "Shall we begin dining? I'm sure the long journey has left you hungry, Lord Stretton."

"Yes, it has. Thank you, my King. Let us dine," Lord Stretton replied, his perpetually stone face unchanging, even while giving gratitude. In her opinion, it was because he was envious of his sister for marrying royalty and becoming queen. She always felt that from him, though she was sure Renen would chide her for even the thought. And so his visits to the castle itself were very rare and few, which was the reason why the King and Queen were so surprised by his visit, though remained cordial nonetheless.