That day the park was alight with chatter and life. “Can you believe it? We get to meet the Prince, face-to-face!!” “I heard that he had fifty personal guards!!” “Do you think he’ll stay and lunch with us?!” I began to feel like I would puke the next time someone mentioned his name. I stared longingly at the position of the sun. It was only nine.
I was outside, on a bench, breathing the clean, fresh air. I opened my book, Talkative People. It was a great volume, and it sympathized with my position perfectly.
“Spirits! Spirits for sale!” The man stopped by my side. “Looks like you’re in need of some spirits, m’lady.” He held a tempting mug near my hand. “A bit of this will cheer you right up.”
“No thank-you, kind sir. I’ve had my share recently.”
“Spirits! Spirits for sale!”
Someone shot a spitball at my head, and I brushed it off. Not them . . .
“Hey, Aigneis!” called Ayden’s voice. I didn’t see them, but I could almost feel more people look over. Sitting back, I squeezed my eyes shut, then opened them again, and lifted my head.
“Yes?” I growled. Ayden sneered at me triumphantly. Kailen glared at him, with Liam, his hang-on, hovering at his side. Farrell snickered from beside Ayden.
“Oh, I was just making sure your eyes weren’t glued to that book. That cover is pretty stupid looking. Is it messing with your poor head? You look confused.” Ayden’s courted girl, Eda, guffawed. “So, what’s it about? A dork whose got no friends, so they act like they know more than everyone else? He, he.”
Kailen spoke up. “Why don’t you use your eyes and read it yourself, or wood dat hurtchyour widdle brain two much?”
“Sticking up for your mistress again, Kailen?” Ayden said with malice, turning to his next victim.
“She’s not my mistress! I’m just telling you to stop because I’m sick of you making fun of everybody!”
“Oh, poor Kailen, don’t try to tell to me that the all-over gaze you sent Aigneis yesterday was only trying to protect her from me.” The whole park erupted into laughter. Kailen glanced nervously at me, his face pink, and stormed away.
When at long last the time was nine twenty-five, everybody began to settle down, standing or sitting with a look of anticipation in their eyes. Even Ayden stopped his abuse to look at the stage in hunger.
Absalom took the stage, with a fanfare blowing on the cold, unstable air. He was dressed in a blue shirt and buff pants. Resting on his head was a small gold crown with simple sapphires. In fact, his attire was somewhat unadorned compared with what the royal usually wore. His hair was blonde and his eyes were green, a strange combination. Absalom’s face wore an expression that said if it were his choice, he wouldn’t be here.
“I am here,” he projected, “to remind all of you that are of age or that soon will be that those of you who would like to apply for work in my father’s palace must register at least a moon before summer. Any of you who are sixteen needs to decide what you are to be now! Don’t wait until you are seventeen to realize you can’t take care of yourself!
“Also, I have come to tell you career options, but there are so many things you could do -my father employs from actors to venders-I don’t have enough time to even list what all jobs are available, so I shall leave a testimony of them. They shall be posted on the tree over there.” He pointed at a long list on the center tree, next to which many people already stood, eyeing it.
As Absalom left the stage, many people cheered. I myself thought his speech had been short and plain. He frowned at the cheers. I wondered why.
*
While Joy and I were walking home together, Joy started talking about-wait, guess who-Absalom.
“I can not believe that miniscule speech was the entire reason he came to our town! He’s not nearly as handsome as he is in any of his portraits, and it seemed impossible for him to smile. His older brother, Crown Prince Evan, is very much more suited to be king!”
In secret, I disagreed about how handsome he was in his pictures. His simple attire and the not- so-restricted fact that he wasn’t happy suited him better than his personal portrait-painter’s perspective of a happy-cheery, overly-adorned prince. But this isn’t what I shared with Joy. Instead I told her, “It’s a good thing his brother is the Crown Prince, then, huh?” I laughed.
“And I had even been thinking about applying to be his wife!” she muttered.
“That’s something you can apply for?” I asked startled, then laughed at a thought. “I bet that request is very excessively used!”
“Well, it was on the list. So, what are you going to apply for?” she asked.
“What? I’m only fifteen! I’m too young to apply for anything!” I shook my head at her.
“It’s never too early to think about what you want to be, now is it?” she asked fiercely, not allowing herself to be thought of as brainless.
I pondered that a second, then said, “Well, I’m really good at archery.”
“A markswoman?” she shot, “I was serious!”
“So was I,” I said, “You know how I always tell Mum she should have named me Barri.” Joy eyed me. “What’s so bad about that?” I asked her.
“You don’t really expect them to pick a girl, do you?” she asked incredulously.
“Why would they not?”
“You do need your head examined!”
“Why?” I asked. Why shouldn’t they choose a lady? “Why can’t a girl be an archer?”
“Because it’s the men’s job to be strong, Aigneis,” she said, her eyes not meeting mine.
*
“Now then, how was Absalom’s visit, dears?” asked Mum at dinner.
“Just exquisite, mum. He spoke a lovely speech about the jobs we could apply for,” Joy chirruped. “I do believe I’d like to become a nurse.”
“Lovely, dear! And you, Aigneis?” gushed Mother, seemingly forgetting my statement to Joy earlier. Joy, on the other hand, hadn’t, and glared at me out of the corner of her eye, pausing just before she took her fork to her mouth.
“I really need to think about that a little more,” I murmured, looking down.
“That’s okay, dear, you still have a whole year to decide,” she said. “Now who wants seconds?” I volunteered timidly as Joy still stared at me through a slit of an eye.
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