A Tale Of Queens

Ugly Child

Alti was destined to do great things.

She would go on to arrange for the murder of a man.

She would go on to be partly responsible for her sister's death.

She would go on to become the Queen of Khelet.

Not necessarily in that order, but that was not the point. The point was that Alti was destined to do great things and she did not know it yet.

For now, she was just an ugly child.

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From the moment her sister was born, Alti, only four years old, began to hear a voice in her head. You have been replaced. Your parents love her more. Just wait and see. She vehemently refused to listen. After all, she had always been stubborn.

Besides, it was only normal that parents would spend more time tending to a newly born baby. And she refused to be bothered by this. She had faith in her parents. Nobody was getting replaced and she would love her baby sister.

Simple as that.

Alti was eight when she realised two things. One; she was not the pretty daughter. And two; the voice in her head had been right all along. Her parents obviously favored her sibling. She couldn't blame Ifika. At only four, it was obvious that the girl would grow into a beauty like their mother. The same nose. The same lips. The same soft brown eyes. She looked gentle. She looked loveable. She was the first one adults cooed over whenever they saw them together.

Alti had not quite understood why people seemed to ignore her existence whenever Ifika was around. It wasn't until one night, while at a party being thrown to celebrate their father's promotion to head guard, when she heard a group of drunk women, looking at her and whispering. Snippets of their conversation floated toward her, taunting her.

What an unlucky child...where did she get that face... such strange eyes... pity that they look better on her father...

To them, it was only drunken chatter. To the child, it was like knives embedding themselves firmly in her skin.

Completely crushed, Alti had run to her mother who was putting a dozing Ifika to bed. Spotting her, the woman smiled tightly, obviously exhausted.

"There you are. I have been looking for you all night."

They both knew that she hadn't.

Noticing her daughters tearful eyes, she asked her what was wrong.

"Am I the ugly? Are my eyes strange?"

Her mother was silent for a while. She had not quite expected such a question. She sighed before speaking again.

"Did someone say those things?"

Alti shook her head, refusing to answer.

Sighing again, she placed a slender hand on the girl's shoulder.

"Alti, most times beauty is not everything."

This was not what Alti wanted to hear. Her tears had dried but somehow she was left feeling even sadder.

Most times. What about the other times, Mother?

She desperately wanted to ask. She didn't.

Ifika was stirring and her mother's attention was focused on her once again.