Snow White Queen [NaNoWriMo 2018]

Chapter Twelve

Neva and Dorian had found a secluded spot in the castle garden. The sun had just set, so Neva didn't have to worry about covering up. They were casually talking, still catching up from the years they'd missed.

As they talked, Neva couldn't help but notice that her spirits had been lifted significantly. More than she remembered from their interactions in the past.

She dismissed it as her memories diluting her feelings.

Though she was noticing things about Dorian that she hadn't before.

Like, how when he laughed, the corners of his eyes scrunched up. Or how when he told a joke that he knew was dumb but Neva found funny anyway, one side of his mouth rose higher than the other.

Or how, when he thought she wasn't looking, he'd look at her with a sappy grin on his face.

Or maybe it was just nothing.

~~~

"Neva?"

Neva looked up. Lilia was in the doorway, and seemed nervous about what she was about to say.

"I've been thinking - where do I start... I remember when I was a kid, people would always complain that the royals weren't involved enough with their people - they didn't know what problems we were having, so they didn't know what they had to fix. I was thinking, maybe, one of us goes out to a few of the poorer districts and talk to the people and maybe get some ideas. I have to be here to run things so maybe you- I know with the vampire thing that might not be the greatest idea, but... If not I can always go. I don't think they see me as a real royal, though, so it might not do anything."

Neva thought for a moment. "I'll let you know."

Lilia nodded and left.

On the one hand, Lilia was right. In the past, royals - the noble class in general - have been very distance from the lower classes. She'd overheard her parents complaining multiple times about complaints pouring in from the poorer districts, and she recalled that they never seemed to do anything about it.

Maybe it would do their people and their image some good if she were to go out and do some dirty work to help them. Her mother always said to help whoever and whenever she could.

On the other hand, she was a vampire. There was a huge bias against vampires, and she could understand why, especially now that both monarchs had been killed by vampires - that vampire was Neva, but they could never know that. Her family had worked very hard to keep the fact that Neva was a vampire a secret; if the people knew that a vampire was the heir to the throne, they would riot. Neva would be dead within a week. On top of that, there was the fact that if she was ever in direct sunlight for more than a few seconds, she would die.

It was for those reasons that Neva had never been outside the castle grounds. Her family had decided that that would be too big of a risk.

Even this would be a huge risk. But, the more Neva thought about it, the more she wanted to do it. If it eventually got out that she was a vampire, it would go much better for her if the people already trusted her.

She walked into Lilia's bedroom a few hours later to tell her her decision. "I'll do it."

~~~

The province they chose for the start of Neva's journey was on the border. It was mostly populated by small towns spaced very far apart, with only one major city towards the inner borders. It was very arid and the soil was very bad for producing crops, and there weren't many viable mines in the area, so the province didn't have much that they could really produce.

For several weeks, Neva went from town to town, distributing supplies and talking to the people personally to hear what they were lacking in most. The people seemed very happy to have her and they very eagerly talked to her, not just about the bad things but also the good things.

During this trip, Neva found that she was happier than she'd been in a while. It wasn't the temporary lifts she was used to; rather, she was content, just all the time. It was a nice feeling.

She'd have to do this more often.

~~~

She was near the end of her trip within this province. After this she'd move to the coast.

She was still feeling pretty good about this, but she also had a feeling that something was about to go wrong. She figured she was just being paranoid, but she also knew that her instincts for this kind of thing were above average. She compromised by being on her guard all the time.

As it turned out, her instincts were correct.

Something rustled in the bushes beside her. She jumped. She listened for a moment, but the sound didn't repeat. She shrugged and moved on.

An arrow landed just between her feet. She jumped and turned towards the source.

There! An archer was hiding in the underbrush.

She leapt into action, sprinting across the field. Rather than going right for the archer, she aimed for the bushes around him. Once there, she crouched down to blend in and crept closer. Once she reached the archer, she silently and quickly ended him, and threw his body out into the open. She tuned out the screaming that caused as she moved on to her next target.

The second died as quietly as the first. The third put up more of a fight. He broke free and ran down towards the village, covered in blood. Neva sprinted after him and finished the job out in the open.

She dropped the corpse and turned to see the astonished faces of the villagers she'd been helping.

It's Thanksgiving Break, so free time. 
So, um, full disclosure (not quite, but anyway). For those of you who don't know, I'm a flutist in my school's band (and in general) and I'm pretty invested in it. There's a pretty big audition coming up next week that I'm kind of freaking out about so my writing schedule will probably be impacted by that. Not like it wasn't sporadic enough as it was, but anyway.
Vote, comment, whatever comes to you. I'll see you next time.
~Patchesmimi

Day fifteen
Words written: 168
Total: 15384

Day sixteen
Words written: 239
Total: 15623

Day seventeen
Words written: 575
Total: 16198