“Oh my, and this is all for you?” The entirety of the female staff surrounded me, looking at the gifts I had been given.

  The strange, but large and beautiful looking white fan was not only a beautiful piece from strange lands, but also quite practical. While the more mountainous terrain we now lived in was a far cry from the deserts my people hailed from, but while the weather was certainly cooler than the homeland of our blood, and of much wetter air, the weather could become quite hot on days where the wind felt no need to blow our way. Particularly in the lower altitudes of our capital.

  There were barrels of the kind of drinks that were not suitable for children, but my father seemed to find the drink quite good, so it might serve to ingratiate Ryuunosuke to him– though I doubted it.

  There was also another item. A strange weapon, but more clearly what he’d said it was. A small little dagger called a kaiken I was to use if needed. I had no intention of having need of such a thing, but it was supposedly meant to be concealed among the wives and daughters of their people’s warrior class. My father had confiscated the thing, saying it was of more harm than help to a girl who did not know how to use it, and I could only agree that he was right. Yet, after the sword fighting, something I was deeply ashamed to have been a part of, another part, a part that should not have been, desired to learn how to do so.

  Apart from that, the gifts largely consisted of things of more monetary value. It seemed some random, large sum that I doubted was negotiated ahead of time. I could say, at the least, that it didn’t seem to be diminished, which was more than I could expect from the options here.

  Options. As if any of the princes here could even be considered such a thing. They could not. I could never consider such people.

  My favorite of all the things I had been gifted was the silk, truly the most wonderful thing about the place. A fine, luxurious material, more so than any I had come across not only here, but in any other kingdom. My kingdom, while treated as lesser than and certainly lesser in status and size, was perhaps the most wealthy in terms of luxury. The resource we had been enslaved to take for others, was now ours, perhaps the most valuable thing on this side of the ocean. Gemstones of any kind. To us they meant very little, but nowhere else was that the case. They were beautiful, and useful for what they could be sold for, and what they meant, but not to a day to day.

  This material, on the other hand, was beautiful and served more of a purpose. Comfort, for one, while maintaining a level of breathability that was quite practical, even. It would also be quite the mark of status. Essentially, it was everything.

  “Yes, isn’t it wonderful?”

  “Yes it is,” the older women surrounding me nodded. “He must be quite the charming young man for all this.”

  “Charming!?” Ai was indignant.

  “Oh shush.” I said, but she would not have it.

  “He–”

  “Shush!” I quieted her. “Could you see what is for breakfast?”

  She scrunched her face, turning her nose to the air and leaving. I did hate to send her away, but I could not have her speaking of his less commendable qualities so soon, or there would be something near a riot about it. He was certainly rough around the edges, but those things were far more manageable than the nonsense all the princes around here did.

  Besides, his type of nonsense was direct at least. I did seriously doubt he would even attempt to do things behind the backs of a person. I didn’t think he’d even know how to. He seemed to have brazenness rather than the kind of cunning needed to do that.

  “Do you get along well with him, Princess?” They asked.

  “Well enough,” I said.

  That answer, I was sure, was not pleasing to them. Marriages were, and would certainly always be, a practical sort of thing. To maintain or even improve the lives and statuses of family or business, but among my people, “noble” and “commoner” alike, there was room for much more romantic notions. Even my parents had managed something out of a fairytale, but that was not the point.

  Still, I had to admit I shared their disappointments, but I could only admit such a thing to myself.

  “Simply being pleasant is more than enough,” I put on a smile. “More than most people get.”

  “You are not most people, Nefret,” they said.

  I had to engage all my effort to keep in the sigh. I did not want them to remind me of such things. I wanted to be pleased with the silk and other small things, to be pleased with what was a victory and not let my childish mind let fairy tales become their expectation.

  “Where are my brothers?” I asked to change the subject. They had not yet come to see me.

  “They left for the mountain lands shortly before your arrival,” I was told.

  “Ah.” I didn’t allow my face to show its disappointment. “I’d like to join my parents for breakfast now.”

  “Certainly,” and they readied me in Ai’s place, despite it not being remotely their responsibility. I left my room, making my way through the familiar halls, and to the dining room.

  “There she is,” Mother smiled, and I sat beside her, Father sat at the head of course.

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  “Did you sleep well?” He asked.

  I nodded. I was quite certain I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. “Did you?”

  “Yes, best sleep I’ve had in months,” he glanced at Mother, who swatted at him with her napkin.

  “Behave yourself.”

  “Mmm?” He hummed. “I was talking about sleep. I think you need to behave.”

  “You are terrible.”

  “Oh? That’s not what you were saying before.”

  “Did you talk to Mother last night?” I asked.

  “Yes, plenty.” He said.

  Each thing he said made her face become redder. This happened quite often, for reasons I could not pretend to know, but it was clear they were both happy, and in that, I found it pleasant to see.

  “So can I have a sword teacher?”

  “A sword teacher?” She asked.

  “We did not talk about that.” He said.

  “What did you talk about?” I asked.

  “Hmmm?”

  “What did you talk about?” I repeated.

  “How beautiful your Mother is.” He said.

  She hid her face behind her napkin. “Where did this desire for having a sword even come from?”

  “Ryuu suggested I learn to use one for self-defense, and I find I agree.” I said.

  “What need have you for self defense?” She asked. “We have Hotep and Khu.”

  “Where is Khu?” I asked.

  “He is accompanying your brothers on their way to the mountain lands, but he shall be returning as soon as he gets word of your return.”

  “Very well,” I said. “Then it would prove to be wise, if such a circumstance were ever to arise again, that he is apart from me, I mean, that I would be equipped with the basic ability to defend myself in his absence.”

  “Oh, she has quite the reasoning, doesn’t she Akhom?”

  “Yes, quite like her Mother.”

  “Is that the only reason?”

  “Well, it’s fun.” I said.

  “Fun?” She asked. “What would give you the idea that it’s fun?”

  “Oh.” I had not– and should not, tell her that I had engaged in such a shameful activity. “I only meant that it looked as if it would be.”

  “Only looked?” Father asked.

  I stuck out my lip, but I had dug myself into a hole I would not be able to climb out of. They simply knew me too well.

  “You say it as if she did more,” Mother said.

  “Oh yes,” he said. “Her and that boy got into what you might call a duel.”

  “A duel?!” She was aghast.

  “It was a training session!” I countered, but my outburst was now an admission.

  “A training session?” She said. “During your engagement discussion?”

  “Well–”

  “Yes, after engaging in a fist fight.”

  “He hit you!”

  “I did bite him.” I mumbled.

  “Why would you do such a thing?” She asked, not even with anger in her blue eyes, but a strong disappointment. It was certainly not how she had raised me.

  “He was harassing her,” Father said, not at all sharing the sentiment. “Put his hands on her first.”

  “And you continued with these discussions?” She asked.

  “He’s quite different from most other princes' Mother,” I said, staring down at my skirts. “His treatment is what I imagine the princes in these lands believe I should receive, and he has little decorum, but he’s quite honest, and did apologize without being made to. I do feel that that’s better than what’s here.”

  “Here is not the only place you could search.”

  “Where else Mother?” I asked, not able to keep back the water from my eyes. “Those lands that sold us here or somewhere else in the continent? That will only drag them back here. We couldn’t fight them, and there’s not a single noble in the lands that would rather marry me than make me a slave. Sure, maybe someone from your kingdom would, but your parents are truly the only ones that truly like us.”

  “You don’t need to marry nobility, dear. Or even marry at all,” she said.

  “But I do,” I said. “Your homeland can’t be the only one with which we have an alliance, and the princesses are no better than the princes. My brothers can at least fight for our country, but this is all I can do to truly bring us higher. I owe it to the people who lift me to this place.”

  She put her hand on my head. “You fret too much dear. You’ll have plenty more years, and others will perhaps become less blind.”

  “But perhaps they won’t.” I cried. “At least he treats me the way he does everyone else.”

  She sighed, sharing a look with my father. “We’ll find you a teacher alright? We can speak more about this boy later.”

  “Alright.”

  She took my head and placed it in her side, and allowed me to shed my tears, but it was a most unladylike display. Even my request to become engaged to a boy who had hit me was, but there were simply no other choices. My grandmother and grandfather spent their lives in chains and broke our little nation out from them. My father had to build the foundation of a nation. My brothers and I had no need for such physical labors. Our only task was to build upon what they had done.

  And if we all did well, our children’s children could have a world where all the things my mother said to me could be true.