We made our way in silence listening only to the chirping of the starlings and rainpecks until our path opened to a beautiful clearing, a neatly hidden piece of nature at the heart of our country, the natural shine of the stars allowed me to see more than a meter ahead of me but even then, it was still too dark to take in all the minute details.

Like a few times before, the conversation between us had grinded to a halt. I didn’t know what to say, and I wasn’t as fond of silence then as I am now, I believed that if I stopped hearing her voice I would get lost in the darkness of the forest, so I went for the first thing that came to my mind.

“nane how do you even see where you’re going? I’m having trouble just trying not to trip over,”

“Please be careful I wouldn’t want you getting injured before your big moment,”

“Well, it’s not like falling would kill me you know?”

“Maybe not so, but you can feel pain as much as I can, it may not kill you but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t treat your body as if it was no more than a mere rag young lady, you are the future queen, aren’t you?”

“Yes nane”

“Very well, and to give an answer to your other question, my sight is pretty good at night, that’s how I know we arrived at our destination”

I followed close behind her a short distance until we arrived at the entrance of a cave.

“Elizabeth taught you how to make a fire?”

I didn’t reply I just intoned the short and sweet spell in Danox, pictured in my mind what the effect had to be, just as I was told to and practice tirelessly for days, the result of my efforts was a small bright flame hovering at the palm of my hand following my every move, never meeting my clothes or my skin and the temperature it produced was just a pleasant warmth.

“Very impressive princess, it seems all that work is already paying up,”

“Well of course! I am genius, so it’s only obvious it would,”

I was now able to see the inside of the cave, everything looked normal, it wasn’t very wide or deep just enough to fit about 5 people side by side, the most important thing were the walls and floor that were covered in sigils and symbols I had never seen before.

“What is this place nane?”

“I’ve only come here once before with the king,”

“My dad came here?”

“Yes, he wanted me to know what I had to do when the time comes, you have to understand fathers are often very protective of their daughters,”

“Doesn’t feel like it, he hardly ever even talks to me,”

“Princess, you have to understand he’s a very busy man, and more often than not, he just doesn’t have the time,”

“Yeah, yeah, I get, kingly stuff, right? So, what is this place? I suppose it must be important for us to stop before going to the border,”

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“Well,” she stepped forward while reaching for one of her front pockets, searching for something “As I said, fathers tend to be overprotective… on this case his majesty asked an old friend for a favor,”

Does my father even have friends? I didn’t dare to utter that doubt aloud since she would only scold me

“Well of course his majesty has friends, tons and heaps of them young lady I can only hope you will have allies as well”

“And what does it do anyway?”

“It’s supposed to be a one-time protective charm against evil entities, or that’s what his majesty said”

“Well, and how does it work? Will it hurt?”

“For it to work you have to stand at the center of the circle” She pointed towards a small circle at the center of the cave where symbols weren’t painted, I walked towards it “It shouldn’t hurt, you will see a bright light and that will be it”

“Well then let’s get to it, I don’t want to lose any more time than necessary, everyone is surely waiting for us”

“Yes princess”

I should have thought about how weird it all was, for me to get taken from my room in the middle of the night without warning to begin my journey, for that to get interrupted for a strange ritual inside a cave.

But can I say? I was an excited child content with following whatever was asked of me just to, so I would get to leave on my big adventure sooner.

“But before that…” As I was looking at the circles and runes painted on the walls, I felt a strong embrace.

“What happened nane?”

“Nothing, I’m just thinking that you will be gone soon”

“Don’t worry about that, we will see each other again!"

She didn’t say anything and instead hugged me even more strongly “While I still have the chance, I want you to listen to me one last time princess… outside of Ezohr people will want you to feel the weight of sins you did not commit, many will fear you a lot more will hate you,”

“I know, don’t start fights, be polite, shut my mouth,”

She shushed me “no, well, maybe you should shut your mouth a little sometimes, and you probably shouldn’t start fights all the time, but don’t let anyone turn you into whatever monster they believe you are, be the best you that I know you are, princess, you are part of the best Ezohr has to offer, show them that… but always with your head held high, you ARE a princess after all”

“I will, I love you nane”

“And I love you too my child”

The last thing I remember from that was a strong white light.

“How noisy they are tonight”

The steps are coming closer, I guess at last it's time.