Chapter One (UNFINISHED)

A Chapter by CherieKuma

Iris' first introduction into an unknown world and it's conflicts .

Chapter One

Iris opened her eyes to a world that she’d never seen, not even in a distant dream. Her body was limp and paralysis set itself into each of her limbs heavily and forcefully, so she did nothing but try to force open heavy eyelids and grasp consciousness. For a moment, she felt as if she were dead and sent to a limbo of uncertainty �" but then she smelled the familiar fragrance of cherry blossoms in full bloom. When she opened her weary eyes, in an instant the numbness started to lessen from her extremities inward. She recognized nothing but the feeling of confusion, and remembered nothing but how to observe.

There was a strange feeling of fear coursing throughout her body, which felt heavy as if she’d taken a sedative. As her vision became clear, she realized she was in a pastel green, vacant field; her body slightly propped against a tree like a ragdoll that some child had put away. Awkwardly, she twisted her tangled body in order to stand, but a sort of soreness started to settle in her weak muscles.

“Are you awake?” A voice called.

Unsure of whom it was; she remained instinctively calm and concealed. With a slight sense of paranoia, she lay back on the ground once again, positioned so she was hidden by the tall-grass.

She sat up then, not able to withstand curiosity. A strange girl, with delicate features and dark hair that fell around her thin shoulders, smiled brightly and came closer. The strange girl examined Iris as if she were a fine piece of art that needed inspection.

“You are a lot different than I thought you would be. Honestly, though, I am glad that it’s you. Do you mind if I take the mask off now?” The strange girl asked, her voice honey sweet. “Your face has a lot of character. I think this will work well. Do you remember your name?”

Iris coughed, “No. Why, do you know me? Do you remember me?”

“I am Farah. I will call you Iris.” The strange girl, Farah, answered.

In an instant, Iris turned away and Farah was gone. All traces of Farah’s existence had been completely erased, as if Iris had been imagining the whole scenario within her clearly demented mind.

As she calmed herself, Iris could hear the sound of chatter and the sound of a river. The river seemed safe, reliable and useful in some respects �" but Iris knew that it would be best to find other people and risk whatever it was she had to lose.

Iris walked the rocky path towards the growing words that were tossed around carelessly. Once the forest became clear, she could see a collection of women gathered around an elegant fountain could be seen. They were all beautiful, dressed immaculately, with identical looks of excitement painting their faces. Iris smiled and walked over awkwardly, trying to blend in. Unfortunately, she fit in like harsh black ink on a watercolor canvas.

“If you put in too many coins, you will more than likely curse yourself.” a woman said, as she leaned over and looked at her reflection in the running water.

“That’s not true, is it?” Another woman said, as the rest of them joined in on the conversation.

Iris sat carefully at one empty section near the wide fountain and looked at her reflection too, noticing a vaguely familiar face, a face of flaws and familiarity, just how it should have been �" a pair of eyes, a nose and mouth. Not understanding how these women could gaze at their own reflections for so long, she looked away and stared at the more interesting concrete grey sky.

“Oh? Who is this?” Someone said, giggling at Iris who sat alone.

“I don’t recognize her. She does not look like she is from here.” Another added, “She’s probably from Tailem, I can always tell. The women from Tailem have the coloring of mud.”

Iris glanced at them, “What?” she said, quickly understanding what the women meant. All of these women were blonde and had snow-white complexions to add to their fairy-tale illusion, while Iris contrasted in every way. Iris did not say anything and dipped her hand in the water, while several women laughed and whispered behind her.

Before they could ask another question, a deep voice replaced the silence. “Will all of the candidates please line in single file at the gates.”

Eagerly, the women began to line up and obediently stand straight with their chins pointed high towards the sky. Iris mimicked their pose, but clearly stood out from the rest of the group.

The young girl ahead of her leaned backwards and looked her in the eye, “You don’t stand a chance.”

The women were escorted then into a towering building with a wide red door that opened to reveal slick white floors that were glossy enough to resemble ice. Iris gazed at the geometric furniture and the peculiar artwork, while the other girls chattered in light voices as if they were afraid of being heard.

She soon found a friendly face among the crowd and walked over hesitantly, “Do you know what we’re doing here?”

The woman laughed, “Since you don’t know, you must have been sent here, huh?”

“Like a letter?” Iris asked.

The woman batted her long eyelashes at Iris and twirled her hair around a long thin finger, “You are here to meet and hopefully marry into royalty. Didn’t someone tell you? I have been preparing for this moment for my long life. I am aiming for the crown prince.” She gestured to her dress. “It took my mother seven days to stitch this dress. It took me a long moment of savings to pay her for it, but,” then she looked at Iris “you didn’t prepare?”

For the first time, Iris glanced at her own clothes: khaki shorts and a purple shirt with a crooked collar. The outfit was extremely familiar to Iris, though she could not recall how. Iris then realized the true beauty of that woman’s dress, it was red and the texture was almost wrinkled �" it was obvious that the dress was hand-sewn, though it was breathtaking all the same.

A man started to walk through the crowd as the women parted red-sea style; he looked at the women studiously and quickly. Iris straightened her posture once more and stood as the other girls did, with hands pressed firmly into fists. When the man reached Iris, he stopped and turned on his heel to examine her. He paused for a moment, a slight smirk on his face.

“Are you perhaps making some sort of joke with your appearance?”

“I’m not trying to.” She answered.

“Did I ask you to speak?” He said.

“You asked me a question, so I think you did.”

He scowled, “I do not know how you got here, but I do know is that you will not be here for long.”

She flinched as he touched her chin and moved her face to either side, “I wasn’t planning to stay.” Iris said.

He stepped back, “Are you sure? Are you absolute? Will one of these ladies please answer this question? Why would a woman come to our headquarters if she was not intending to stay?” He looked at the row of ladies who were peering at Iris curiously.

“I don’t know. It seems like you should have better security.” She mumbled as the man continued down the line without much concern.

The girl beside Iris pulled her arm forcefully, “You will get yourself in trouble if you act that way. Didn’t you know?”

Iris stared at her with a dull expression, “I don’t know anything.”

Just as their feet started to become numb from standing and uncomfortable shoes, the man told the row of women to take a seat in the dining room. They walked there slowly and took their seats according to the directions that were given. The dining room was large and the walls were bathed in yellow hues from the wide gold chandelier that hung over the long glass table. Iris drummed a hand on the table anxiously, not positive if she made the right choice of following along.

A pair of heels clicked along the solid marble floor, and an old woman emerged at the door. “We have seated you according to our evaluations. There are two ends to the table, as you can see. One chair belongs to the highest score, the other belongs to the lowest.”

Iris was at an end of the table, while a beautiful girl with strawberry blonde hair and blue eyes sat at the other end.

“The highest scorer, of course, belongs to our country’s pride, Emalia.” The ladies applauded as if they were in some sort of trance. Not one person smiled or clapped with enthusiasm, instead they slapped their hands together and glared at Emalia. She did not seem to notice as she stared through the window beside her, chin in hand, giving an air of detachment.

“Emalia has scored highest on her beauty and, as we all know, her intelligence is beyond comparison. She is perfect, even down to her family background. Her father is one of the members of the high court. She will be the perfect match for the crown prince.” The old woman added, smiling.

Iris slouched over in her chair and started to pick at the callous covering her palm systematically.

“And the lowest score of the evening belongs to this lady over here. The one who does not bother to listen or sit properly in her seat, of course. But why don’t you tell us about yourself?”

She gestured towards Iris’ chair, and Iris stood, nervously grinning at the women who were looking at her intently. “I think that my name is Iris. I don’t know anything else about myself, because I don’t know who that is yet.”

The old woman laughed, as did the girls who were still sitting with faked smiles painted across their faces.

“And this is why she is here. This girl is a perfect example of what you women should never be: crude, arrogant, and impulsive, with a crude sense of humor. Let’s see how far she will reach.”

The old woman stared into Iris’ plain eyes, almost daring her to argue. Instead, Iris lethargically slumped lower into her seat and began to run her fingers over the tablecloth distractedly as if she’d not heard a word.

Soon after our encounter with the old lady, men began to enter the room and introduce themselves, most of them listing their occupations and accomplishments. All of the women were silent, especially Emalia who did not seem to be interested in any of them, and stared at the slightly swaying chandelier. Iris watched impatiently as the men came and went, some of them arrogant and hurried and others stammered and could not even look at the women. Growing tired, Iris could hardly pay attention to the men and struggled to keep her eyes completely open.

Then the crown prince entered the room.

He was not particularly handsome, in fact Iris would not have noticed him if not for the fervor that swiftly swept over the room. Every girl started to pose and made an effort to appear more feminine, weather it be adjusting a dress or pouting their lips �" everyone had their own tactic. Except Emalia, of course, who stared at him with possibly more distaste than Iris did.

“It is nice to see you ladies.” The Prince said. “In fact, you may all be the most beautiful women I’ve seen in my lifetime and it’s entirety.” Everyone squealed and began to jitter, unable to hold back their excitement.

Iris sighed at his cliché lines, while everyone else seemed to fawn over his every move and scream with excitement at his artificial words. She knew that his words were heavily scripted and completely empty; she could tell by that vacant expression that graced across his face at times.

“I’ve heard good things about all of you ladies, and I cannot wait to get to know you all. Since I am crown prince, you will not be seeing a lot of me. Of course, my brothers will always be available. What did you think of them?”

“All of those men are your brothers?” Iris shouted, quickly covering her mouth.

“Yes. I am the crown prince, and the others are my brothers �" also princes. May I ask where you are from? Who are you intent on marrying?” He smiled patiently, as if Iris were a child that required patronizing.

“I am from somewhere. That isn’t important.” Iris finally stood from that elegant chair and looked this man in the eye. “I do not want to get married. I do not want to be here. I came here for another reason.”

He tilted his head, “Oh? Can you tell me the reason, then?”

“I was lost. I came here in hopes for someone to tell me who I am, and,”

“Who you are?”

“I lost my memory. Get it?”

“Is this the truth?” He crossed his arms, “If so, why did you endure this meeting? Why haven’t you talked to our staff?”

“Because you’ve been treating us like animals. That’s why. And if I have to get another speech about marriage and accomplishments, I think I’ll die. So, if you’ll excuse me, I’m leaving.” Iris pushed the chair away sloppily and attempted to rush past him when he caught her wrist.

“No, actually, now I do want you to stay. We were planning to send you home, but what kind of man would I be to let the black sheep wander from the herd?” The girls giggled and he smiled, revealing his stunningly white teeth.

The crown prince led Iris by her wrist, the other girls sighed with envy and impatience. The two brusquely headed across the neat floor and up the high staircase, not saying anything and not thinking about much either.

When they stopped in the middle of a long, dark hallway, the prince let go of her hand.

“Go to the room at the end of the hallway, talk to the person there and they will be able to help you. For now, I have more important business to deal with.” He gave Iris a rehearsed, tight smile and headed back down the staircase.

Not feeling as if she had a choice, Iris followed his words and continued blindly down the hallway. She could hardly see anything ahead of her but a thin strip of light, but she somehow had no fear anymore as she wrapped her hand around the doorknob.

Light flooded into the hall, and a man with a stony expression immediately stood. He had an unreasonable look of anger crossing his face, as if Iris had insulted him. The man came towards her hurriedly, despite his slight limp.

“Who are you to come into my office?” He growled.

Iris timidly grinned, “The Crown Prince told me to come here.”

His face unwound somewhat and he seemed to relax, “I’m sorry. I’ve just been a bit tense, lately. My job is naturally a bit stressful.”

Iris, still slightly rebuffed, nodded silently.