Tiger Wings

Chapter 2

"What's this?"

Winoa asked, her brown eyes growing wide. At twenty-one she had had the means to grow intelligent, but somehow the lessons had never stuck to her. Instead of try, she "burdened" her way through them, taking every chance away that she could. Finding Mother and all the girls together in the "learning room" was not encouraging.

"We have some things to learn," the queen said simply. She hadn't yet explained to any of them what those things were.

"Things to learn," Leandra repeated. She didn't like the sound of it. At seventeen, and being the third youngest, she preferred the carefree days of summer than learning days of winter. Mixing the two wasn't a good idea in her mind. "What things?"

Their mother set a pile of books on the desk as an emphasis to her next words. "We have some guests coming, and we want to meet them with poise and intelligence." She couldn't quite stop from looking toward Winoa, who noticed, and meekly sat in the empty chair.

"I thought you had been training us in poise and intelligence all our lives," Eloanna said slowly, staring at the books in something akin to horror.

The queen frowned at the youngest. "Your studies are thorough, but now it's time to go even further. Through time, history has shown, princes receive better education than princesses. We have changed that here, but still there can never be too much. Specifically geography. After all, what do you know about Tain?"

"What does anyone need to know," Ginaeve muttered under her breath, voicing the popular belief that any country besides their own was insignificant and ill-mannered.

"They are rich in minerals and gems, there are ten princes, and the ruler's names are King Hue and Queen Livenna," Veri answered. Unlike the others, she welcomed the extra chance to learn, having always been one to throw herself into her studies.

"A simple assessment to be discovered on any Tain book cover," their mother stated. She was always hard to impress and never easy on any of them. "My wish is that each of you may have a store of knowledge as deep as any of their mines."

It appeared, to the unwilling, that the mines of Tain were never ending in depth. All their lives they had learned of Pastopia, taking every incident since its creation into account. Now it seemed they were to do the same thing with Tain though in only a week. Dead rulers, the living rulers, their families, battles and wars, names of cities and towns all began to blur past their eyes. If Winoa could remember Rufael was the name of King Rall's hunting dog that saved his life, and it wasn't King Rufael's dog Rall, then perhaps the princes would be surprised and flattered with their progress.

The only two who had no trouble were Veri and Claretta. They were thought of as the two smartest, and Veri's wish to learn made it easier for her. Claretta had already learned most of the things they were just beginning to memorize as part of the training her father had provided for the future queen. Both were happy to help their sisters, and in the next week they could always be seen in pairs with a book between them, reciting or reading some piece of Tain life.

So the week passed quickly. The end of it brought not only more breezes from the ocean but the princes of the north. South Cenna was in a flurry and so was the city. One to prepare for the princes stay and one to prepare for their entry. After all, they would have to ride through the city to reach the palace, so the first look had to be impressive and the next even more. South Cenna was preparing for ten princes' stay. Not that there wasn't enough room, the room just had to be pleasant.

There was a loose schedule to be followed as well. They would take a week's rest in South Cenna for their week-long journey to arrive before they would travel south to the mountains. There was a quaint town there where people could go to escape the hotter months. It was guessed it would take a month before the place was accustomed to, then they would move west through some of the farming country.