Chapter One

This is only a partial part of the first chapter. I'm still working on the second part of the chapter but I really would love some constructive criticism thus far.

Dry heat baked the night. The stars cast light on the sea as waves glided onto the long sandy shore. Fires littered the coast for the summer festival and high up on the shore the castle was brightly lit with strings of lights setting a jovial mood. Remen citizens danced around the fires casting shadows onto the sand- shadows that told the story of Lores and its people but not of Kianne and not her family.

Kianne paced the stretch of beach below the castle letting the waves crash up on her knees. At first the water was cool but salt soon dug into the scars in her skin. She reminded herself to yell at Liam for taking her into the thorny brush high in the hills on one of his made-up adventures. Not only had mother scolded her relentlessly for her disheveled appearance so soon before the summer festival she now had to contend with the burning scratches on her legs.

“Ki!” Aaron ran up to her looking grown up and regal in his festive robes. “Mother is angry you left the courtyard.” He shifted his eyes down the beach both ways. “You know how nervous she gets when we go out alone. And you’re on thin ice after leaving with Liam the other day.” Ki groaned. The festival atmosphere inside the castle boundaries was stiff and too grown-up for Ki. Lorean politics. Galactic policy. She understood none of it.

But the festivities outside the castle were fun and chaotic. The dances of the traditional Lorean people were captivating. As Aaron escorted her past the bonfires, Ki admired the beautiful, fluid, and swift movements of the dancers and how their limbs flickered in the light. Vases of gray wine were passed around but more so was the spiced tea, that was so popular among Loreans. She imagined joining in and letting her body move in graceful rhythms and giving herself over the power of the fire while drinking from a communal cup of ritual tea.

Animalistic. That was what her mother always said about the dancing and her opinion of the dancers fared no better. She mirrored these animals with dark olive skin, icy hair, and silver cat eyes. As did her mother and father. As did her brothers. Were we animals too?

“Stop staring,” Aaron whispered. “Please don’t draw attention to us.” Aaron quickened his pace dragging her along and her squat legs struggled to keep up.

Ki lowered her head but quickly stole glances when Aaron looked away. Of course, he would never understand how beautiful the ritual could be when he kept his nose firmly planted up father’s a*s.

Queen Ries spotted Ki and Aaron as they entered the courtyard. She beckoned them toward her and a group of low lords and ladies visiting from far off planets Ki could only ever dream of.

“My youngest child and my greatest blessing. I don’t think I could handle another boy,” the queen joked, bringing her arms around Ki. “She’s quite the adventurer too. Must be her brothers’ doing.” Ki squirmed in the embrace and her mother held her arms in closer trapping her movement.

“Such a beauty,” a lady in green said. Her mothers fingers dug into her warning her to behave. Holding up appearances in front of the well born of the cosmos was a hobby for her mother and Ki seemed to thwart her at every step whether she was acting as mother or as queen. The nails digging into her skin were a reprimand for her wet waist pants and already she dreaded the next day when her mother would once again scold her.

Of course, she never intended to annoy her mother as relentlessly as Queen Ries believed but like many nine years old, Ki had a hard time staying still. And of course Liam was always dragging her into his adventures and everything was so entertaining and new with Liam. Within the confines of their imagination, they would explore space, jungles, swamps, marshes, dungeons, castles, and so on.

Drag was a harsh word. It never took much prodding for Ki to run off outside the castle grounds and outside the rigid formality of castle life. But she always had to come back. Mother made sure of that. She couldn’t live in the jungles of Artama or the Great Rideran Marsh.

As more ladies joined the circle, her mother gently pushed her aside tired of her dual duty as mother and queen. She went off to find Liam because if anyone would make the festival bearable it was him. Instead she found her brother Daniel and Roan, the son of a council member, wandering near a group of noble’s eligible daughters.

Daniel had become intolerable since the arrival of the Rideran ambassador’s daughter. The Riderans were always rumored to be dull and wrinkled with webbed feet and froggy black slits in multicolored eyes. Unfortanely Ellanis was neither dull nor wrinkled though she did in fact have frog-like eyes that reflected colors even Ki didn’t know the name of. The webbed feet were to be determined. Still Ki hated how Ellanis had stolen her brother’s attention as of late.

Ki skirted around the boys barely hitting their waists. Ever since Daniel turned 16, he had shot up in height. He even surpassed their older brother Marx, almost two years older than Daniel.

Roan smiled down at her but Daniel looked annoyed which gave Ki a pang of disappointment.

“Why don’t you go find Liam?” he said. “Roan and I are in the middle of something.”

“You always say that now,” she huffed. “You’re always busy.” Daniel shot her a sympathetic look and knelt before her, face to face.

“Listen. Please leave us tonight and I promise tomorrow we will sneak into town and get candy and tea.”

“And then we can also go see the puppeteers.”

“You drive a hard bargain. We can go see the puppeteers. Now go find Liam. I’m pretty sure I saw him near the orchard.”

Liam was not by the orchard. Instead the Lorean council met whispering in hushed voices. Where was her father? It seemed odd that the council should be together in the absence of King Rom much less during the summer festival. The castle festivities were dull enough, let alone conduct Lorean business during the middle.

Ki could have ignored them but Liam’s father Ren stood among the men as one of her fathers biggest advisors. Perhaps he could tell her where Liam might be.

As she walked near the council, a quick hush took over them. Ren noticed her.

“Kianne. Dear child, why are you so far from the festivities. This really is no place for a child.” He smiled at her, but she couldn’t help but notice how sad he looked. How pitiful.

“I was just looking for Liam.”

“Liam? As you can see he’s not here. Please move along. Our grownup talk would bore you.” 

***************

Ki found Liam near the ponds, far enough away from the main festival that she felt she could finally relax. “Where the hell have you been?” he asked. “I thought I’d go crazy out here by myself. I swear Marx saw me and thought I was up to no good.”

“You are up to no good.”

Liam gasped. “Not you too.”

“Don’t joke. Not tonight. I have to be on my best behavior or mother will have my hide tomorrow.”

“No fair. Now you’re no fun.” He stuck his tongue out.

“Why is the council meeting tonight?”

“I don’t follow my father’s work, Ki. I’m sure it must be urgent if they have business during a festival.”

“I didn’t see my father there. And everyone was really angry, you know?” She knelt by the edge of the pond and ran her hands through the water breaking the reflection.

“It doesn’t matter though does it?” Ki looked up at Liam. His eyes were naturally big, wide diamond slits in silver eyes. It made him look innocent. Ki’s own eyes were thin and angular giving her a harshness that was accentuated by the sharpness of her cheeks. “I mean why do you care about council meetings?”

“I suppose it doesn’t matter. It’s just interesting,” Ki said softly.

“Anyway did you hear about the fight in town today? A Lorean soldier killed someone- a prophet from the villages.”

“A religious man? Why does a soldier care about a religious man?” she asked.

“Who knows. I heard it was a horror show. The prophet was sliced head to toe. The blood was everywhere, right, and guts were just spilling out.” Ki became uncomfortable. Maybe it was because Liam was a year older than her but she didn’t have the constitution for blood and all that as Liam did. “I heard cats ate his innards. They really loved it, you know?” Ki gave him a look, warning him to stop.

“If he’s religious, at least Thellyor will have mercy on him,” he continued.

“It’s all make believe,” she said.

“My father doesn’t think so. Actually I think he gets quite angry when King Rom dismisses Thellyor, you know?” Liam tossed a pebble into the pond. “Actually now he’s just angry all the time. He comes home from council meetings pissed off and then he drinks late into the night.”

“I don’t even see my father,” Ki said. “Just my stupid brothers and stupid mother.” Liam tossed another pebble staying silent. “Well Caal’s not bad of course and Daniel is nice when he’s not around that Rideran girl. But Marx ignores me. And Aaron does whatever Marx does. And they just do whatever father says.”

“We should just run off and leave in a ship. Go to Sevarilla.” Liam pondered. They would often speak of Sevarilla, a planet of no extraordinary size but it still possessed an enormous population from immigrants all around the world. “We would still be invisible, but we could be whatever we wanted to be.”

“What would you want to be?”

“Not a damn council member’s son.” 


Author's Note

This is a rough draft! I fully intend to go back and fix things up.