Wielder's Awakening (28 page)

She had never been particularly close to her father before her mother’s death and still was not.  At first she had thought the death would have brought them closer together, and while it had at first, soon things were back to normal with the High King spending all of his time ruling the kingdom.  She had always admired her mother for balancing her duty as the High Queen with her duty as a mother.  Kalista didn’t think badly of her father for being so dedicated to his people but had always wished they could be closer.  She set her brush down and patted her eyes softly with a silk handkerchief.  After clearing the tears from her eyes, she set about weaving her long golden hair into a single, thick braid.

Kalista especially wished she had her mother to talk to right now.  Her father was talking about her getting married soon, but she didn’t know if she was ready for it yet.  He was not pressuring her into marriage.  He was just dropping hints about it.  Her nanny had also been telling her it was about time that she should marry.  Kalista had nothing against marriage.  She was seventeen and would be eighteen in the spring, but she did not know if she wanted to marry yet.  Her mother had not married her father until she was nearly twenty, so she did not feel too rushed.  But with all of the talk of marriage, she was beginning to feel a little uneasy.  As soon as she was done braiding her hair, she got up from her padded stool, grabbed a purple velvet cloak to keep her warm, and left her room.

As she made her way through her sitting room, her two chamber servants rose quickly from their embroidering.  She handed them her cloak, and they deftly put it on her.  They then took her archery gloves and slid them onto her outstretched hands.  When they were sure that everything was on her perfectly, they asked if there was anything else they might do for her.  Kalista told them that she had everything she needed and thanked them for their help.  They both made deep curtsies and sat back down to work on their embroidery.  She did not know how they could spend all day just sitting there embroidering and talking to each other, but they always seemed happy.  Servants were strange sometimes.  She left her sitting room and headed for the back courtyard.

She walked quickly down the lower stairs of the southwest tower and onto the upper floor of the palace.  She had her bedroom on one of the lower floors of the tower and rarely went up to the middle and upper floors.  The southwest tower was set aside for the children of the High King, but as she was the only child at the present, most of the tower remained empty and unused.  Every once in a while she would climb to the top of the tower.  It was quiet up there, and she could sit and think while she either looked out over the great ocean or over the land of Kalia.  The top of the tower had a great view of all the area surrounding the city, and she could see for miles.  She sometimes wished that she had brothers and sisters to share the tower and view with, but she unfortunately was the only heir to the throne.

The High King had his living quarters in the northwest tower.  While Kalista used one of the lowest floors for her room so that she was near the bustle of the palace, her father had always had his rooms in the middle floors so that he could get away from the bustle of the palace and be alone when he was in his personal chambers.  The northeast tower was used mainly for storage.  There were things in there that had not been touched for hundreds of years.  Kalista had gone in that tower several times with the idea of climbing to the top floors to see what was in them, but it was so dusty in the tower that she always came back down before she had gotten past the first few floors.  The southeast tower was a whole different matter.  While the others were fairly quiet and empty, the southeast tower was always full of people and activity.  It was used for matters of state and governing.  The royal clerks, advisors, and so on lived there and had their offices on the lower floors.  The upper floors held the lodgings of all of the tower’s many servants.  Kalista sometimes wondered what it was like on the upper floors of the southeast tower since she had never been there.

She nodded to the liveried servants that bowed deeply as she passed them in the halls.  She had always made it a point to nod to them, acknowledging that she was pleased with them.  She had learned that from her mother.  While many of the nobles refused to even acknowledge the peasants around them, Kalista’s mother had taught her to show respect to those lesser than herself.  Although they were only commoners, they were still people with families and lives.  She smiled when she finally made her way down the last set of palace stairs and out onto the back courtyard.  Her archery instructor named Pegwin was already waiting happily with her bow in his hand.  He was a skinny old man with grey hair but was still one of the best shots in all Kalia.  He smiled as she approached and made a deep bow.

“Right on time as usual, my Princess,” Pegwin said as he straightened himself.

“You know that I would never be late for an archery lesson, Pegwin,” Kalista said with a smile.

“I do not know if they are really lessons anymore.  I think you are better than me now,” he said with a chortle.  “The only thing I can do for you now is keep you practicing so that you don’t get rusty.”  Kalista smiled as Pegwin handed her bow to her and fetched his own.  “Today I moved the target back another ten feet.  We will see if that affects your aim at all.”

Kalista smiled as she pulled an arrow out of the bucket between her and Pegwin and fitted it on her bow.  She then pulled the string back as she brought the arrow’s shaft even with her eye.  As she stared down the shaft of the arrow at the far away target, she let everything else around her fade away and disappear.  She let the target fill her vision.  When it was aligned perfectly with the bull’s-eye, she gently released the arrow from her bow.  She smiled when the sharp metal point of the arrow met the center of the target with a thunk.  She repeated her shot two more times with the same result before turning to Pegwin with a smile.  He was standing with his hand shading his eyes as he squinted at the target far away.  He whistled through his teeth and turned to Kalista with a big smile splitting his face.

“Well, I guess that proves that it does not matter how far away the target is.  I guess it wasn’t just a fluke that you always hit the center of the target.”

“You knew it was not a fluke,” Kalista said.  “You were just hoping I wouldn’t be so accurate on my first try if you moved it back, and then you would finally have a chance at beating me.”

“I cannot believe that you would accuse me of such a thing,” Pegwin declared looking deeply hurt.  “I am just trying to help you improve, and you accuse me, a simple man, of trying to cheat a beautiful young woman.  I just cannot believe it.”

“Don’t even pretend that you were not thinking that,” Kalista stated.  “Admit that was what you were hoping.  Come on, admit it!”

“Okay, maybe I was,” Pegwin said as he cracked a smile.  “But you have to realize how I feel when you continually shoot better than me over and over again.”

“You know the only reason I shoot so well is because I was taught by the best.”

“I have to agree with you there,” Pegwin announced with a chortle.  He then proceeded to shoot three arrows.  All three of them ended up in the bull’s-eye of the second target that stood next to the one Kalista had shot at.

“See, you are still as good as ever.”

“Yes I am because I spent all morning practicing at this distance,” Pegwin said as he started laughing.

“I knew you were up to something you crazy old man.  I knew you had a plan to win,” Kalista said as she pointed at Pegwin with her bow and joined in laughing with her friendly instructor.

“Easy there, Princess.  Do not get carried away.  I may be crazy, but I am not old.”

That sent them into another wave of laughter.  After they composed themselves, they took turns shooting at the targets.  Kalista always loved her sessions with the wizened archer.  She could pretend that she was a warrior on an adventure with her bow as a deadly weapon.  When she was concentrating on the target she could forget that she was a princess and put all of her worries behind her.  She always lost track of time and of what was going on around her, and Pegwin enjoyed archery so much that he always seemed to lose track of time also.  When they had emptied the bucket of arrows the second time, Kalista realized she was late for her governing lessons.  She quickly thanked Pegwin for helping her practice and hurried off through the palace to her room.

As she ran through the sitting room her chamber servants rose to help her, but she waved them back down.  She would be able to get ready faster without them getting in the way.  Once she was in her room, she quickly pulled off her gloves and cloak and threw them on a chair.  She grabbed her book only to set it back down as she paused in front of her mirror.  She quickly tried to fix the loose wisps of hair that had come out of her braid.  She then picked up her lesson book and hurried to where her nanny conducted her lessons on the other side of the palace.

As she burst into the study room, her nanny set down the book she had been reading and directed a stern gaze at Kalista.  Nanny Frieda was a plump, old woman who had also been Kalista’s mother’s nanny.  Frieda always had her white streaked brown hair pulled up into a perfect, tight bun directly in the center of the back of her head.  She was dressed in gray as usual and was still wearing her reading spectacles as she rose to confront her tardy pupil.  Kalista groaned to herself in anticipation of what was coming.  The problem with Frieda was that the plump woman continued to treat her as if she was still a child who did not know anything.

“Kalista, this is the third time you have been late in the last five days,” Frieda began.  “And from your looks and the way you are breathing, I assume you would have been even later if you had not run like a mad woman through the halls of the palace just to get here.”

“I am sorry Frieda, but I lost track of the time while I was having my archery-”

“I do not care why you are late, child,” Frieda cut in.  “There is never a good reason for being late to an appointment.  What are we going to do if we have a queen who is always late for important meetings?”  Frieda paused to shake her head back and forth disapprovingly.  “One of these days you are going to have to learn some responsibility, young lady.”  Kalista just stared back at Frieda blankly.  Frieda sighed with frustration.  “I do not even know why I bother!  Let us start on today’s lesson.”

Kalista settled down at her desk to listen to the day’s lesson.  Frieda began by reviewing what they had gone over the day before.  Luckily Kalista had actually been listening to how the customs in Balthus differed from those in Kalia and was able to answer all of Frieda’s questions.  Frieda then began to explain some more of the customs of Balthus.  Some of them were fairly close to those in Kalia while others were quite strange.  Apparently in Balthus they buried people standing up so that they would be ready to walk into a new world.  When her mother had died, she had been laid down in the earth so that her body might have eternal rest as was proper.  Kalista found many of the customs interesting and was disappointed when Frieda stopped talking about them and brought her letters to practice copying.  She hated copying the same letters over and over again.  She found no point in doing it since she already knew how to write fine, but Frieda insisted that as a future queen she must have perfect penmanship.  She insisted the only way to have perfect penmanship was to practice it continually.

Kalista was grateful when the servants delivered her lunch to the study, allowing her to take a break from her penmanship lessons.  She took as long as she possibly could in eating the small lunch of crackers, cheese, and fruit.  When she finished her spiced drink and the last of her crackers, Frieda made her resume her penmanship lessons straightaway.  Kalista muttered to herself as she once again set about copying down the letters and words.  When she finally finished copying all of the pages, she took them up to Frieda.  Her nanny set down her book and began to scrutinize all of the papers thoroughly.  She flipped from page to page while clicking her tongue.  After a thorough review, Frieda set them down in a neat pile and turned back to Kalista with a smile.

“As much as I hate to admit it, you copied your letters almost perfectly.  You are beginning to achieve a very fine hand, young lady.  Maybe all of this practice is finally paying off.”

Frieda then rose and had Kalista sit back down at her desk.  She sighed as her nanny launched into a boring lecture about proper protocol.  She had heard all of this many times before and quit paying attention to her nanny.  She wished she didn’t have to sit there while her nanny went on and on about things she had been taught since she was little.  She was tired of all of the useless repetition of the lessons.  Maybe if she did get married, Frieda would have to admit she was grown up and she would finally be able to get out of these lessons.  Kalista leaned back in her chair and stared blankly at Frieda as her mind took her somewhere else far away from the study.