One Dark Destiny

Queen Calliope

Calliope is the Elemental Queen; she has one foster sister.
Iridessa (6)

Her foster mother
Evangeline

Rolanth

Queen Calliope stands in front of the pond in the Manor's garden. Lilith stands beside her.
"Remember that water is ice, that all you need to do is change its temperature," she says smoothly.
Calliope almost rolls her eyes. She has heard it hundreds of times, she doesn't need to be taught. Regardless of how Lilith phrases it, Calliope's real gift is freezing, and she needs no encouragement to use it. The pond is big, but water has always been easier to freeze than anything else. She takes a deep breath and places her hand on the surface of the pond. From where her fingertips touch the water, ice spreads quickly, to cover the whole area, frosting the grass at the edges of the pond. Calliope lifts her hand, and Lilith claps. Her face shows genuine happiness. Calliope smiles a little. She studies her teacher. Lilith has taken off her formal guard's uniform, as she usually does for training. Her dark hair is still tightly braided, Calliope has never seen her without it.
"Evangeline will be happy," Lilith says.
"Evangeline is never happy," Calliope replies dryly, examining her hands. She smooths out her dress and sighs.
"Will you now be getting ready for the party tonight?" Lilith asks.
"The party... I suppose I shall. But not yet." she looks down.
"Are you not excited?"
"As you would expect, I simply cannot wait for the celebrations, in which I become a legitimate age to be murdered by my sisters, to begin," Calliope says, even her words seeming to chill the air. Lilith looks sympathetic.
"They cannot touch you until the ascension. And you will win, you know it," she says.
"What match are a poisoner and an Oracle for you?"
Calliope's face is dark.
"I don't know. They may be no match, but we cannot say. They are not weak, my sisters, from what I have heard, and it is not wise to make assumptions," she says. Her gaze falls on a tree that borders the pond. The grass at its feet is frozen, from Calliope's earlier practice. She inhales, exhales, and the tree's trunk starts to freeze, ice spreading from the roots, up the trunk, reaching the leaves at the end of every branch. Having encased the tree in frost, Calliope moves on to infect the neighbouring plants, trees, bushes, grass. She imagines how much of a hassle it must be to fix what she does to the gardens.
"Calliope!"
Evangeline's sharp voice slices through the queen's mind. Calliope spins.
"You must be ready for your birthday. The whole of Rolanth will be celebrating this evening. I see your training is going well, but I must see to it that you are presentable," Evangeline calls.
"You are dismissed," she says, waving to Lilith. Calliope's heart sinks significantly. She is not sure she can deal with Evangeline alone.

Calliope follows Evangeline down the hallway of Westwood house, having to walk considerably further behind so as not to step on Evangeline's dress.  When they reach Calliope's room, Iridessa is there, waiting.
"Mama," she starts.
"Iridessa? What are you doing here. Have I not told you that you are not allowed in this wing of the house?"
She shakes her head in exasperation and opens the door.
"Return to your room Iridessa."
Calliope looks at her in sympathy.
"But mama-"
Evangeline shuts the door behind them, locking Iridessa outside.
Calliope seethes.
Inside, Nova curtsies to the queen, and addresses Evangeline.
"Should I ready her for the celebrations?" Her voice wavers a little.
"Yes. Make her beautiful - do something about her hair please, Nova. I want the whole city to see how powerful our elemental queen is," Evangeline orders.
Nova curtsies and Evangeline leaves the room. Calliope grits her teeth, taking a deep breath to keep from thinking about Evangeline.
Nova has laid out an outfit on her bed - a silk black dress with laced sleeves and a jewelled bodice. Calliope undresses and slips on the dress, the fabric hanging around her shins. Nova fastens the pendant necklace around her neck and smiles.
"You look lovely," she says. Calliope looks down. The dress is tight around her chest, constricting her breathing by a significant amount.
She sits at her dressing table, and Nova begins to pull the pins out of her hair.
"How would you like me to do your hair, my queen?" she asks.
Calliope waves away her courtesies.
"I suppose Evangeline would like something... Long and complicated. Something that falls into my eyes when I am performing, and ruins my focus. Something... Tight enough to hurt, but loose enough to get in the way of virtually everything I do," Calliope says sharply. She sighs. Nova does not deserve to take the force of her frustration. It is not her fault that she serves Evangeline.
"As far as possible, I would prefer if my hair was tied up, to keep it out of the way," Calliope says.
Nova nods and pulls out the last pin, and Calliope's hair falls loose, black waves falling over her shoulders. She looks in the mirror. She has never liked her hair loose, it is too uncontrollable, always getting in her way and falling in her eyes, she finds it much easier to tie it up. Nova starts to brush her hair. She is gentle, making sure not to hurt the queen. Calliope almost wishes she would pull harder. It would at least speed up the process.
Evangeline says that she should keep her hair out. That it makes her look more like a Queen. That Calliope does not look regal enough. She scowls. Evangeline knows nothing, really.