Plight of an Empire

Chapter Eight- part 1: Audriel

Mynoa, Rundil

A sound of knocking woke Audriel from her slumber.  She cracked her eyes opened and gazed into the darkness of her room looking for the source of the noise.  Failing to see anything, she closed her eyes again.  Then another knock came.  “Princess”, Tella’s muffled voice called.  Her eyes shot open.  “May I enter?”

Audriel throw the covers off her and jumped out of bed.  She pushed the curtains open, the light blinding her in the process.  “Yes, Tella”, she called in an attempt to make her voice sound not as groggy as she felt.  “You may enter.”  She pulled on her robe as Tella entered the room.

“I apologize for waking you, Highness”, she said with a curtsy.

Audriel arched her back in a deep stretch.  “I’ve been up for hours.”  A glance in the mirror was all she needed to see that she had been caught.  Her normally calm hair was in a frenzy of frizz and tangles.  She glanced over at Tella, who was watching her with a look of amusement.  “Okay, so I just woke up.  Excuse me.”

Tella chuckled sofly as she made the princess’s bed.  “Are you prepared for today?” she asked.  “Well, mentally prepared”, she added when she remembered Audriel’s disheveled appearance.

The princess smiled and shook her head.  “I don’t think it matters whether I’m ready or not.  The empire is ready and it is my duty to take up my role as High Queen.”  She stared at the people wandering about in the courtyard of her home.  They seemed more prepared for Audriel’s coronation than she was.

“That is very admirable of you, Princess.”  Tella finished making the sheets and approached Audriel at the window.  “I mean, Queen”, she said with a smile.  She began to brush the tangles out Audriel’s long hair.

“I am not queen yet”, Audriel murmured.  She glanced at the deep violet silk-spun dress my mother had commissioned for her coronation.  The silk almost seemed to glow from the light of the window.  The sleeves of the dress were long and form fitting, to emulate her thin arms and shoulders.  Just under the bosom, a fabric belt embellished with diamonds wrapped around the waist.  Attached to the collar, a long black cape dangled longer than the dress itself.  A long necklace with a large golden pendant was laid on the vanity.  On the pendant was the crest of her house.  Around the soaring eagle, the pendant was studded with small diamonds.  This was to be her identifying amulet, following a tradition of the kings of old.

Tella’s brush yanked through a tangle in Audriel’s hair.  She let out an unintentional yelp of pain.  “My apologies, Highness”, she said as she continued to rake through her hair.  Audriel grasped the windowsill with a grimace.

Another knock at the door stopped Tella and allowed Audriel a brief and glorious moment of respite.  “It is I”, she heard Muiri call from the other side of the door.

“You may enter”, Audriel said with haste in hopes that would stop the torture done at the hands of her handmaiden.

Muiri entered the room and curtsied to her mistress.  “I have come to inform you that your bath is ready.  I have chosen a special scent for you today.”  She beamed with confidence.

“Thank you”, Audriel said to her.  She couldn’t help but notice Muiri’s giddiness.  “Is there something on your mind, Muiri?”  The bath-runner shook her head as she bit her lip.  “Are you sure?”  She pulled something out from behind her back.  In the palm of her hand, a single orchid bloom laid.  Audriel’s eyes widened.  “Is that?”

Muiri nodded.  “It required every resource I could muster and then some, but I found it.”

The princess approached her servant with caution, eyeing the bloom in her hand with awe.  Orchids are among the rarest and sought after flowers in the empire.  Only the most wealthy and persistent are able to afford them.  The orchid was also the favorite flower of Audriel.  She delicately picked the white and purple bloom out of Muiri’s palm and held it in her own.  She took a deep inhale of the flower’s sweet scent.  To find an orchid is a sign of goodwill by the gods, her father had always told her.  The purple of the bloom matched perfectly with her coronation dress.  She felt that this bloom was meant for her.  She gently placed on the top of her vanity, next to her golden pendant.