((Okay!!! So this story was previously "Avalon: The girl with a 1000 Faces" but I have decided that less is more and now it is simply called "Kira" because thats all I ever call this story anyway...))

It was the day before festival week in the capital. Everywhere there was a general sense of excitement buzzing in the air. People were preparing for the work that would be done that evening. No decorations were allowed to be put up before nightfall, but there were still meals to be prepared and work parties to be organized.

The Royal Kitchens were no exception, temporary workers would have to be hired to make up for the extra worked involved in the preparations.

“Hey!! PIPE DOWN!!”, The assistant head chef stood at the back door to the kitchens staring down at what seemed to be the entire population of city between the ages of 12 and 16. Her eyebrows knitted together as she stared at the jumbled crowd of youngsters. They had not even taken notice that she had come out of the kitchen. She sighed, it seemed that all the good workers were already working for their families or busy studying at the royal library. She always got stuck with the lazy, unmannered hooligans that just wanted money to spend on frivolous things!

She decided to wait for a few more seconds and see if anyone took notice of her presence before yelling again. Of course no one ever did, they were too busy chattering among themselves. Her mood grew darker as she thought about the fact that she might not need the extra help if it wasn't for the fact that her current staff refused to work more than was absolutely required. She longed for the days of the old king when corporal punishment had been used on lazy workers. Beatings, starvation, imprisonment it would do today's youth well.

“Excuse me,” a pretty voice drew the old woman away from her brooding, “Is this where one comes to find a job in the royal kitchens?” She looked up to see a slight girl standing in front of her. She had large brown eyes and a long curtain of black hair that shone brightly in the morning sun. She was very thin and pale but somehow still seemed healthy and strong. Her age was hard to guess, though, she was definitely older than 10 and and younger than 20. She was quite pretty, but her eyes seemed dull, like she was probably not the smartest. “I'm sorry if I'm in the wrong place,” she said apologetically, she spoke with the precision of someone that had been coached in the ways of noble speech. Though, her clothes were very plain. She wore a sensible green doublet, it fit her well but was not really the kind of thing a young girl would chose to wear. The old woman narrowed her eyes in appraisal.

“Name?”

“I'm called Drell Wesley.”

“Hmm.” The old woman made a noncommittal noise. So far, nothing unusual could be said about this girl, but something was bothering the assistant chef.

“I served a noble in the county,” the girl continued to speak when she was not fully replied to, “however, I had to leave recently because my mistress died and her heir brought his own attendants to the manor.”

“Which noble?” She looked the girl straight in the eyes, trying to see if she might be lying.

“The Countess Montgomery, Ma'am.”

“Really?” The old woman's eyebrows raised as she heard the name. A little bit of the suspicion left her eyes. The countess Montgomery had been an eccentric older woman that lived south of the capital. She had indeed died a few weeks ago. Though it was not common knowledge, she only knew herself because she made sure to know everything that was going on in the capital and its surrounding areas. “May her soul rest in peace.” She closed her eyes for a moment , showing respect for the dead. The girl nodded and closed her eyes as well. A look of sadness crossed her face. “HEY YOU!” She called roughly to one of the higher level serving maids, “SHOW THIS ONE AROUND!!”

“Yes ma'am!” The plain girl came running over drying dishwater from her hands. Once she was close enough she gave a friendly, if tired, smile to the new girl, “Please follow me, um--”

“--Drell, I'm pleased to make your acqu--” The girl began to curtsy.

“We don't have time for that around here!” The Assistant Chef said harshly as she shoved the girl along by her shoulder. “Get her washing dishes! and she isn't ugly so she can serve. Tell Bo that he's on chicken duty!” She said to the older girl curtly who in turn nodded meekly and led the new girl away.

She was about to turn back to the crowd of other applicants when she noticed a medium sized, gray and white flecked dog slinking into the kitchen. Its long, wolfish snout low to the ground. “GET THAT MUTT OUT OF HERE!!!” Her yells grew shriller and shriller. “Shoo! Get out!” She dog waged its tail almost apologetically, but didn't stop walking. Get out!! She raised a fist and managed to deliver a blow to its bony flank but the dog was now sprinting. “HEY GET THAT DOG YOU IDIOTS!!” She called to the workers, it was dashing past but they didn't even seem to notice. It slipped out of sight into a storage room and she dashed after it pushing people out of the way. She rounded the corner, but the dog was nowhere in sight.

“Are you okay Ma'am?” She looked up to see a young man standing behind the stacks of potatoes. He had blonde--? No- Why did his hair look white like that of an old man? His face, on the other hand was much more handsome than she was used to looking at. He looked to be no older than about 15. He had long almond shaped eyes that glowed with intelligence. They were a silvery blue that complemented the color of his hair nicely. He smiled sweetly to reveal a row of very white teeth that seemed just a little pointier than normal.

“I-I” The old woman stumbled on her words. Finding herself somehow worried about offending this beautiful person. Everything about him, from his clear pale skin to his general bearing, screamed nobility. “I'm fine, your presence simply startled me.” She had to bite her tongue to keep from saying “My Lord”.

“Well, Thats good! Um, sorry to surprise you! See you later!!” Within seconds the boy was out the door. At that moment she took note of the fact that his clothes were only the rough cotton clothes of a dish boy and that he wore no shoes. How very strange for a nobleman, She thought idly.

***

“I swear I'm not lying!!” The middle-aged farmer type adjusted his dirt smeared glasses as he relayed his story. “You've got to believe me officer!”

“So, let me get this straight.” Lily Faire, an officer of the police branch of the royal guard played with a strand of her long pink hair as she apathetically interviewed the old man, “You think that a sorceress is going to steal your cattle?” She looked towards the door, cursing her horrible luck. The office should really be closed. Most officers were either patrolling or practicing for the Royal Guard's presentation in festival week. Too bad she had forgotten her wallet at her desk and come back just in time for this nutter to come in and waste her time.

“NO! There's a sorceress AND her giant hell-hound and they DID steal my cattle! Though, I'm sure I'm only the first victim.” He looked very serious and nodded before spazzing out again, “First, its cattle. THEN CHILDREN!! She must be hunted down.”

“Well, “ Lily paused for a long while, bored to death and wishing this guy would stop spouting nonsense, it was not a shining moment in her somewhat young career as an officer, but still! This man was off his rocker! Sorceresses were a dime a dozen up here in the north, It was that ubiquitousness that made his story so annoying and ridiculous. “This very festival was founded by a sorceress for crying out loud!” was what she wanted to say. However, guard guidelines prevented her from being impolite to a law abiding citizen coming to her with a perceived problem. She opened her mouth to say something that she hadn't though up yet when the bell on the front door jingled as someone came in.

“Hey anyone here?!” She knew the voice as soon as she heard it and stood up. She no longer found this particular moment boring.

“A-Arek!” Some color seeped in to her complexion as she met the eyes of the young man that had walked in.

“Oh Lily,” His ice blue eyes glinted in the sunlight coming in from behind him, “It's good to see you--”

Oh my god oh my god! He was glad to see me! Maybe that means he likes me! Lily thought, unconsciously tuning out whatever else her coworker was saying. Instead, Lily occupied her mind with a very elaborate daydream about what this “chance encounter of fate” might lead to. None of which applied to the matter at hand. All the while, her hero with a badge talked at length about something she did not catch.

“So you can do that right? Is it too much trouble?” Arek had taken off his southern-style police hat and was dusting off his pale blue uniform. He then started arranging his hair in the reflection of a highly polished trophy on the shelf by the door. It was a dark but very reddish auburn, he kept it cut in a short and fairly standard hairstyle with the bangs just long enough to fall next to his eyes and emphasize his beautiful coloring. Lily couldn't help but swoon, he was the closest to thing to a real live prince charming.

He actually was a prince too! His mother was the Princess Julianna, a world renowned scholar and locally renowned beauty. She had, somewhat controversially, married the Commander of the Royal guard, Duke Areknar Jean Larnston Jr.. Arek, of course, was named after his father but went with the nickname so there was no confusion. All this made Arek third in line to the throne if the king didn't have any more children.

“Oh yes! No trouble!” Lily said without the slightest thought, then realized that she had no idea what she was talking about. “I mean-- Uh Like sorry but”, She turned red as she stumbled over her own words, “what should I do?”

“You know, Cows?” He continued to primp in the trophy.

“Cows?” Lily was lost.

“Yeah, cows. Running around town square. They escaped from somewhere or something.” Arek's eyes shot momentarily away form his own refection to flick across hers and around the room. For a moment, it seemed like he might go back to styling his hair, but then he noticed the old farmer still sitting at the complaint desk. “Oh hello good sir.” he smiled like a true monarch, flashing his very white teeth for an instant. “What may I help you with today?”

“Well my cows--” The old codger began.

“Must be the ones that escaped!!” Lily was sure to cut him off before he could launch into his sorcery theory. “Yeah, I'm sure thats it!! Lets go get them right away!” She rushed back to where he sat at the complaint desk and grabbed his arm.

“Well I--” He was a little too slow to respond.

“It'll be great! I'll do all the work!! Lets goooo!' Lily's voice got a little weird and singsong on the last few words. Before more could be said she grabbed the back of the old man's chair and dragged him out of the office.

***

Back in the royal kitchens, things were as busy as ever, people ran to and fro stirring large pots and washing even larger piles of dishes. With the new hires, it would have been hard to pick an unauthorized face out of the crowd. If one looked busy, no one asked questions.

A particular individual was trying his best to put this into practice. Unfortunately, he was finding it easier said than done. It seemed that looking like you might be doing something soon turned into doing something and then people were asking for help... It would have been suspicious to refuse to work and suspicion was the enemy! Mistress Kira would be furious if he got her caught before the “fun” could begin. However, it was quite hard to do anything while he was constantly being sent on errands.

Oh no! That old woman was coming! The white haired teenage boy in cotton breeches ducked through a small crowd and emerged as a small white-haired serving child (The gender was hard to judge) in a tattered apron, successfully avoiding contact with the same human twice. Of course, that would mean nothing if he lost his mistress. Unfortunately, that seemed to be the undeniable case. Why must she pick such impossible to locate forms? For that matter, it was not even necessary to fabricate disguises. The logical way to complete this mission would be to weave a simple invisibility/intangibility spell and walk right in. Flesh-creatures were so capricious.

At a glance, exactly 14 medium-height dark haired girls that could have been his quarry were rushing about the kitchen. Though one caught his eye, her movements just a bit more graceful the others, she was washing dishes on the back wall. As he got closer, he quickly and surreptitiously turned from a small serving girl to a tall man. He kept the people around him blind to this with a hard to notice aura that made him easy to miss. He had a proud and refined looking face which was in stark contrast to the servants clothes that he wore. His hair was long, but tied away in a dirty-looking scarf thing. As he approached the girl doing dishes, she slowed her work and glanced behind her before turning back and continuing her work, never truly acknowledging the approaching figure.

“Mistress Kira!” He spoke quietly but his voice did not take on the hissy tone of a whisper.

The girl did not look up when she spoke, “It's 'Drell' today.”

“Mistress Drell! It was very difficult to find you in such a place!” The young man(?) didn't miss a beat as she corrected his speech exactly as the girl had ordered.

“What part of 'disguise' or 'under cover' do you not get, Gin?” She sounded neither angry nor panicked though a bit of exasperation seeped into her voice. She knew as anyone with experience of such things might, it wasn't what one said that drew attention but how it was said. “The point is not that I just feel like having a new name, the point is that I am being something I am not. Like an unassuming servant from the country washing dishes. Though, now thanks to your conduct, I am an unassuming servant girl from the country who has a tall, ridiculously handsome manservant with funny coloring. Now, how well do you think that matches?” She turned away from the dishes and gave him a look, The dull look had left her eyes and now “Drell Wesley” raised an eyebrow at her strange subject.

“If you don't wish to be seen I can--”

“No.”

“With all do respect, you didn't let me finish.” Gin spoke without being ruffled, any normal person would have probably been angry at this girls impertinence.

“You were going to try and make me go invisible again. I already told you. This is the way my ancestors have done it for generations. I'm will not cheat!” She put special negative emphasis on the last word.

“Well actually, if you are comparing yourself to your ancestors, you are already cheating. You already have at least three illusion spells on, invisibility woul-”

“Okay so the spells are only like, one generation old. But still I'm not going invisible. Its lame.” Kira glanced up and looked around. she sensed Gin was drawing attention, “And start drying or something, it's suspicious to just stand around.” She handed him a towel, “How'd you get in here anyway?”

“I came in right after you,” His face became slightly more intense as he recounted his story, Unfortunately, I lost track of your form when that old woman molested me and chased me into a storage room.”

“Uh, molested?” Kira looked at him dubiously.

“Yes, she called me unkind names, hit me and prevented me from going where I meant to. She molested me.”, It seemed that Gin had been reading the dictionary again.

“Oh,” the girl tried to withhold her laughter, “I'm very-” she let out a giggle, “- sorry.”

“Why are you laughing?”

“Because you're funny!” She said before bursting into muffled laughter. Gin patiently dried dishes as he waited patiently for her to simmer down. She wiped a few tears from her eyes and looked at him with an apologetic grin. “Sorry Gin, your word usage is just sort-of unusual. Most modern people would probably say 'assaulted' or 'picked on'. 'Molested' is just strange sounding. Though,” She turned more sympathetic, “Sorry that the old hag chased you. I told you you should make your town-form cuter. She might not have hit a little puppy. Oh! Speaking of town, did you deliver the message?”

“Yes. I brought it right to the hands of the one you specified.”

“Good, they didn't see you right?”

“To the best of my knowledge, I was not seen.”

“Awesome.” Kira smiled as she dried the last plate, “I guess that means we should get going.”

***

Arek watched his pink-haired colleague drag the old farmer out. After seeing that they were truly gone, getting is hair perfect and briefly relishing in the fact that no woman was immune to his charm, not even the tough-as-nails only girl in the whole police force, he made his way over to his personal office. Being the commander's kid and royalty really had is perks.

He pushed a pile of books off of his chair leaving them where they fell, his office was a messy jumble of undone paperwork, wanted posters, and old takeout trash. He wouldn't allow anyone to clean it, it was to make his office look more lived in, and thus, more worked in. Though, if asked he would say it was because he had his own system and cleaning would destroy years of work. All this helped to mask that in reality he did next to nothing when “working” in the office that he shouldn't even have.

Arek lazily sat in his well cushioned office chair and rested his legs on the desk. Today was pretty hectic, people running around everywhere, hammering nails and scrubbing the streets. Even the cows seemed to be particularly active that day. Case and point the cows he had just sent Officer Faire to take care of. Father had asked him to do that, but since he was meeting with the dance and feast committee till two there was no danger of him finding out about his little lapse in dedication. Though it was not like someone like him was cut out for chasing cows. It just wasn't his style. I'll tell him what, he rationalized with himself, imagining what he might tell his father, I'll be a decent officer when the criminals I have to catch walk on two legs!

Speaking of more interesting things, Arek remembered something he had in his pocket. He pulled a sealed envelope made of southern machine-made paper. It had an odd design, that of silver embossed clouds and stars. Across the front it read “Duke Areknar Jean Larnston” in elegantly messy handwriting. Arek brought the pretty enveloped up close to his face and sniffed, as expected the delicate paper carried a light sweet scent that was most certainly feminine. He smiled, pleased with himself, that was number five this week. Not even close to his record of 20 from last Valentine's day, but still pretty good.

This mysterious and yet to be read note being a love letter was even a good explanation for the circumstances of it being found. Arek had simply happened upon it when he had stopped in at the pub that morning. He had sat down at his usual seat, tuned to talk to someone, looked back and found it next to his ale.

She must be the shy sensitive type, He thought as he admired the artistic design in anticipation. He hoped the letter wouldn't be creepy or embarrassingly mushy, that was so off-putting. Though its not like he would every give them time of day. Most girls that took it upon themselves to write love-letters, were usually totally uninspiring in person.

After a few more minutes of staring, Arek opened the letter and began to read. The same elegantly messy handwriting as the front filled the page inside the envelope but what it said was far from what Arek had been expecting. The note said this:

Hello Mr. Commander of the Capital Police!

I just thought I should let you know that my associates and I have our eye on the elven masterpiece for which this weeks upcoming festivities are founded. That's right! I plan to steal Mirlanai's crown right out from under your nose! If you think that there is a single thing you can do about it, I highly encourage you to do your very best! Thanks and good wishes!

Yours Truly,

1000 faces (The Princess of Thieves)