Serenity

The Princess

"W-what..."

"I shall give you everything you need to properly raise your other children, just give me Maia."

"But.. Maia is my little girl. She's my special girl..."

"Then, you would sacrifice the possibility of your eight kids to have a better life, just for your selfish attachment to this one? Suit yourself."

Makaya was torn between her love for Maia and her responsibility and love toward her eight other children. She knew Maia was special, though, and so perhaps Maia needed a more special environment to grow up in. Maybe this was a good chance..

"Fine."

"What was that?"

"Take her. But please, just take really good care of her. Please.."

"Fine enough. I shall have the construction for your new home begin in the morning."

"Thank you," Makaya muttered, but it came out as a grumble.

The queen held Maia in her arms tightly, and left the home, smiling as she looked at her new daughter. Sure enough, as you might be thinking, this queen was selfish and heartless, but it was no surprise, for if you scanned her brain, you could see that she had a brain similar to that of a Psychopath's. She musr get what she wants, and no matter the method, she would go to lengths to make it happen.

She arrived at the palace, and the guards let her in, surprise kept hidden within them as they saw the infant in the queen's arms. The queen quickly went up to her bedroom, laid the baby, went to sleep.

You can imagine the reaction of the king, for sure, when he awoke and saw a child in the bed.

"Dear, what is this child doing here?" he exclaimed.

"This is our daughter. Her nane is Maia, said the queen calmly. I got her from a villager last night."

"A villager?!" the king certainly did not approve of it. He was the kind of person who sees social ranking as a big deal.

"She said this baby is special, and I want to keep her."

The king was angry. He was very angry. Although he wanted a child, he didn't want a villager kid.

But he didn't do anything about it. Maia grew up in the palace, not knowing that the king and queen weren't her true parents, but behavior wise, she took after her father, who was a natural in combat.

Which means Maia wasn't a very graceful princess.

She was kind, and etiquette came to her without having been taught but she didn't like the music lessons, nor dancing lessons. She didn't like people doing things for her, she didn't like staying indoors. Her only favourite lesson would probably be swordplay, but it was rarely taught to her.

All these qualities clashed with what the king hoped for his princess to have. When Maia was 9, the queen died to an illness. Maia was definitely devastated, especially since she didn't have a very good relationship with the king.

After the funeral, the king glared at Maia, his hatred for her growing.

"What did I do?" Maia muttered as the palanquin that carried the king left her. Maia hated the king just as much as the king hated her, and she had no effort whatsoever to hide the fact. Maia settled herself next to the queen's grave, and put her hands on the mound of dirt and allowed a few pretty flowers to grow.

Roses, tulips, carnations, some dandelions, too, just because she liked them. She made a sort of flower-wall surrounding the grave with flowers. It was her specialty, besides, to make flowers grow. She can make them grow from plain dirt, without seeds or stems, or roots, no spores, no nothing. Just her and her hands. Maia indeed, as her mother said, was a special girl, but her mother was wrong in handing Maia to someone who didn't love her.

The queen did her part when she was alive, and raised Maia with tender care, but now that she was gone, and Maia still only 9 years of age, the latter didn't know what would become of her, especially when you consider her disturbingly bad relationship with the king, who was ready to throw Maia out of the palace anytime.

After she was satisfied with the amount of flowers growing around the grave, Maia got up and made her way back to the castle, which was-although she no longer wanted to live in it-the only place she knew to seek refuge. She spent all her life there, and never made a friend outside of the castle grounds.

The pathway that led to the castle was rather abandoned, since the royal graveyard hasn't had a visitor in almost years, and the vines and weeds have all grown wildly across the footpath and on the walls of the entrance. Maia could easily make them get out of the way, if not for her rather peculiar liking toward plants, especially ones that grow and grow without a care.

Once she was out of the graveyard, Maia thought it was a great chance for her to go into town and stroll around for a while.

And although it seems like a very innocent thing to do, something big was about to happen to her, just because she left the castle grounds unoccupied.