Hey! So, I decided to edit this chapter just a bit. I changed names and places and stuff. Just small things.

Just so you know, the human names I’m using now are latin. And the name Juliana is pronounced “You-lee-on-a”, because there are no I’s in latin. And Claefel is pronounced “Cl-eye-fell”.

Fighting Two Wars

Princess Katalina glided through the forest glade, her unusual violet eyes gazing at the green, red, yellow, and orange leaves that littered the ground and hung limply in the trees. The soft autumn breeze blew her thick brown curls behind her head like freshly washed clothing hung outside on a windy day, and her ivory skin shone in the sunlight filtering through the trees. Her green silk dress covered her bare feet and dragged along the leaf-strewn ground.

She was the perfect sylvavira that her father wanted her to be in that moment, with her elegant clothes, a golden coronet with inlaid emerald jewels adorning her head, and her young chambermaid trailing along in her wake. But although she looked like the queen she was to become, her heart longed to be in a loose tunic and leggings and her hair pulled back, with an ash bow or a broadsword held loosely in her aristocratic hands or her magic tingling on the tips of her long fingers.

She felt at home in the forest, alone, practicing the arts forbidden to sylvavira. She learned art, literature, healing magic, music, and dancing like a proper young lady, but when she was 12 summers old, she had watched her cousin practicing the sylvavir’s arts, and she had immediately longed to learn. She recruited Arturus, her cousin, as her teacher, and that summer, her sixteenth summer, Arturus could just barely best her in their practice duels.

“If you had been born a boy, Lina, you could be a general in your father’s army by now, especially since all boys start training at 7 summers, and you only started when you reached your twelfth summer,” Arturus had claimed breathlessly a few months ago as he pulled her from the ground after another duel.

Katalina had simply laughed. “Art, that thought has crossed my mind many times as I sit through lessons. As much as I love literature, dancing, and music, it just doesn’t compare to a hard duel.”

After that Arturus had told her that she was good enough to stop lessons, and that it would get harder for them to continue lessons anyway. Arturus had been traveling for the past months, and when she had reached her 14th summer, her mother had started her princess training. Being a proper hostess, Elf-Man relations, Elf-Dwarf relations, Elven Law, and War were just a few of the topics she had to learn that she would possibly have to deal with as queen. Katalina spent long, grueling hours indoors learning her normal lessons and her extra lessons. She had very little time to herself.

Katalina’s mind drifted slowly, her eyes clouded and distant. Her mother and father had no clue that she was learning, and had talent for, the sylvavir’s arts. They saw the perfect sylvavira in her, not the rebellious young maiden excelling in the arts of sylvavirThe only ones who knew about her secret talents were Arturus and her friend Kylyn. And she meant to keep it that way. If her parents knew, they would be horrified.

Katalina heard light footsteps and a messenger whispering to her handmaiden, Juliana. Katalina turned as Juliana picked up her skirts and ran to catch her.

“What is it, Juliana?” Katalina asked curiously. Her parents usually didn’t bother her during her walks through the woods.

Juliana curtsied, even though Katalina had insisted numerous times that she didn’t have to use any formalities around her. “My lady, your parents wish to speak to you in the library immediately. They say it is extremely important.”

“Thank you Juliana.” With that, Katalina picked up her skirts to her knees and ran nimbly to the edge of the forest, where she released her skirts and smoothed her hair. As she entered the city, she slowed to a fast walk. She walked through the crowds in the marketplace, walking easily down the path the elves left for her. She stepped lightly up the steps to the palace and navigated her way down the bustling halls to the library. The palace may have been large, but it certainly was not empty and cold like some Man palaces. There were constantly servants and many other elves walking around in the halls. Katalina liked the relaxed feeling about the palace.

She reached the library and opened the large double doors to enter into her sanctuary. She loved the library. It had books lining the walls, and bookshelves covered the room. This library in her kingdom of Archtav was the largest in the land. Katalina would come in whenever she wished, pick up a good book, and settle in one of the comfortable chairs filling the room. She loved the warmth and the smell of old and new books, the sound of elves turning pages quietly while reading.

The librarian greeted her as she entered and pointed her to the back of the library, where there was a small room that her parents were waiting for her in. Her mother stood up as she entered.

“Lina! Where were you? What took you so long?” she asked.

Katalina smiled. “I was out on my usual walk with Juliana. Now, what was it that you wanted to speak with me about?”

Her parents’ faces turned grim. Her father spoke first. “Lina, we have bad news. The Man country of Guildbar has attacked our armies along the Claefel river. They have declared war against us, claiming to be revenging their ancestors whom our kingdom enslaved five centuries ago. We are going to send you to the Arnasel kingdom while the war lasts.”

Katalina’s anger flared. “What?! Why can’t I stay and help you?!”

Her father recognized the signs of her temper. “Now, Lina, calm down. We want you safe during this. If you died, the kingdom would have no leader after me.”

“But I am about to become queen!! You’ve been training me to be queen, why not let me help and practice?”

“Katalina, this is no time to practice anything!!” her father roared. Katalina quieted at once, knowing she had crossed a line with one simple mistaken word.

“I didn’t mean it that way. I meant that I need experience. Why can’t I help?” she said shakily.

“Katalina, I have already given you our reasons. Now go to your chambers and start packing. We will call Juliana to help you.”

Katalina knew that voice. It meant the conversation was over and she had no hope of winning. She nodded her head curtly and left. As she left, she heard her mother’s soothing voice.

“Laurentius, she has a right to know the truth. Shouldn’t we tell her of the rumors?“

“No. We will tell her nothing. She doesn’t need to know. But I can’t protect her here and fight a war at the same time. She needs to go.”

Katalina turned away and walked out the library and up the grand staircase to her chambers.

‘What are they hiding from me?”