Grey Tinted Lenses

Chapter One

(Audra)

***

You would think I'd be tired of seeing the rooftops of houses.

But they were the closest I would ever be to getting out of the palace. I loosened my grip on the balcony's rail. The hard, metal rail pressed against my waist as I leaned out until I was on the tip of my toes. Maybe I hoped that would somehow bring me closer to the villages and towns that were literally right under my nose.

Sure they were thousands of feet below me. But they were right there.

"I should have known you would be here." sighed a familiar voice from behind me. I didn't turn around but I could feel a smile make its way onto my face.

"Let me guess, my mother has the whole palace frantically looking for me?" I finally turned around to stare into the eyes of a familiar face, Galen. He was my family's healer, and the closest thing I had to a friend.

I was grateful to stare into bright blue eyes rather than the hazy grey ones that plagued the royal family like a stubborn illness. It was a trademark trait of the direct blood line of the Silverweaver family, my family. Grey eyes followed my blood line from my who knows how many greats grandfather all the way down to my self. My father, my uncles and aunts, my cousins. All bore those same ashy eyes. I was suffocated in grey.

"Would she still be your mother if she wasn't tearing the castle apart for your sake?" Galen chimed. His footsteps were soundless as he made his way over to my side. One of his many skills was his ability to a maintain absolute silence in his movements and it was something I still couldn't will myself to adjust to. It simply felt too odd to see someone move and to hear no sound follow behind, it made me feel like my hearing was impaired or something.

Galen had more skills besides that though. I grew up to stories of the battles he had fought, the troops he had led, the lands he had conquered. And all done in his youth. He must've been fourteen maybe fifteen at the time. He was the Kingdom of Waterfall's pride and joy. My father looked at him as the son he never had and even the nation grew fond of the light footed warrior.

So it only made their devastation greater when an ambush from the Hidden Mist Kingdom left him crippled in what the other side swore was a simple misunderstanding. Galen was left without justice and unable to fight. Not in the way he once could. So he turned to the life of a healer, after hurting so many for the sake of war.

At least, that's what he tells me.

I looked over at tall blond for a short second, but the rainbow pallet of rooftops below seemed much more interesting despite the number of times I've stared over them almost forgetting he had just asked me a question.

What was it again?

Something about my mother tearing down the palace in search of me I think. I hunched over the railing to more comfortable enjoy the view, I didn't want to speak about my mother any longer today, "No, I suppose you're right. Still though, I can't say I wouldn't mind a little space. She's been inseparable as of late and I'm not very keen on it."

"With all the tension at the border, I understand your mother, Audra." Galen's soft voice blended in with the twittering of far away song birds. I could almost pretend he wasn't speaking and it was just me and the birds on this balcony.

Galen didn't have to specify which border for me to know he meant the one we shared with the Hidden Mist. But those problems were nothing new, we've had border issues for as long as I could remember. Even as a child, crawling onto my father's lap during meetings I probably shouldn't have been allowed in, I heard of the latest brawls and 'misunderstandings' with the Hidden Mist Kingdom.