Ayla knew she shouldn’t waste the gift she received. If she didn’t eat the broth, it would probably be thrown away, and it would be such a waste. Besides, she was sure King Rhobart would make her pay for the dragon-root even if she didn’t eat the broth. ‘I hope the King chokes on his food and dies!’ Ayla thought.
Left with no choice, Ayla ate while she told Milton about her books and her small garden. She told him how her mother and grandmother started teaching her about plants and herbs. Ayla’s mother, Queen Lavia, died when Ayla was nine years old, a month after the war began, while her grandmother died the following year, leaving her alone with her father and brother.
When Ayla finished eating, she felt stronger. She wiggled her fingers, and joy filled her heart when she saw that the trembling had stopped. With each passing minute, Ayla felt better.
Milton handed her a cup of tea. “Now drink this. It will help heal your body faster.”
Ayla took the cup, smelled the tea, drank, and closed her eyes. “Embelia and white eclipta. Embelia for healing and white eclipta to help me sleep better.”
Milton studied her for a moment. “You do have knowledge about healing plants, don’t you?”
Ayla shrugged and drank some more tea. “Some. My mother used to say that the royal garden bloomed with all kinds of flowers and plants on the day I was born. Even to this day, I don’t know if she was joking or telling the truth. Besides, I only know the healing plants used by the Water Mages.”
Milton laughed. “There is no such thing as healing plants used only by the Water Mages. Fire Mages, Water Mages, or Dark Mages, we all use the same plants for healing.”
“But Drax told me that Water Mages use different plants than the Fire Mages.”
“I have no idea who this Drax is, but he doesn’t sound like he knows much about magical healing and alchemy.”
“Well, you see, Drax is a Water Mage novice. He is, was, my only friend.”
Milton shook with laughter. “I think your friend Drax failed his Herbology Class.” When the Fire Mage finally stopped laughing, he asked, “Do you know why all mages use the same plants?” When Ayla shook her head, Milton continued, “Because plant healing isn’t a gift from Adanoss or Inoss and most certainly not a gift from Beliar. It was the last gift of Aylarra to Inoss.”
Ayla narrowed her eyes. “Aylarra is the name of our planet. And it was Inoss that created it.”
Milton pointed at her amulet. “I thought you knew since you are wearing an aquamarine. It is the stone of the goddess Aylarra.”
“I never heard of the goddess Aylarra,” Ayla said.
“That’s because we don’t talk about her too often. When the Void created the gods from his emptiness, he created four, not three. First was Inoss, the Fire, then Beliar, the Darkness, followed by Adanoss, the Equilibrium. Aylarra, the Peace, was the last of the gods and the only female. Inoss loved his brothers very much, but Aylarra was his favorite. Even the cold Void and Adanoss loved the gentle Aylarra with all their souls. Beliar didn’t care for his sister and was jealous of her. One day, filled with rage and hatred, Beliar killed the goddess. When Inoss found Aylarra dead, he wept, and the first planets and stars were born from his tears. And because he loved her so much, Inoss made our world from her body. In the beginning, the planet was bare, but when the Fire God stepped on it, it was filled with flowers. Do you know why?”
Ayla was so captivated by the story that she almost missed Milton’s question. “No,” she answered.
“Because Inoss used to call his sister Ayla, which means flower in the language of the gods.”
“So, my name means flower,” Ayla said.
Milton nodded. “From her last gift to Inoss, mages and herbalists make all sorts of potions and remedies. There are women who worship Aylarra, even if she is no more. After all, Inoss created the woman from the image of Aylarra. The women that worship the goddess usually have an amulet with an aquamarine.”
“In Myrthana, we mostly worship Adanoss. This amulet belonged to my mother. And before that, it had belonged to her mother, my grandmother, and so on for many generations. But I never heard them talk about Aylarra. Thank you for telling me about her, even if her ending is tragic.”
Milton gave her a sad smile, “You know, there is a bit of the goddess in each man and woman on this planet.”
“How so?”
“Because Inoss created the first humans from the soil.” Milton looked out the window. “It is growing late, and I should let you rest.”
“Thank you for talking with me and taking care of me,” Ayla said when Milton stood.
“Just doing my duty. And if you ever need to talk to someone, I would be happy to listen to you.”
Before he left, Milton added a few logs to the fireplace, helped Ayla settle for the night, and retreated to his tower.
That night, Ayla dreamed of flowers and snow. When she woke up, she tried to remember something about her dream, but no matter how hard she tried, Ayla could not remember. In the end, she let it fade away.
Ayla got up from the bed, and Kerra, in her battle form, tracked all her movements. Ayla went to look in the mirror that was in the room. She frowned when she saw how she looked. She had lost weight, and her undergarment hung loose on her body. Her black hair had lost all its shine, her blue eyes appeared haunted, and the dark circles under her eyes made her look more tired than she felt.
When Ayla finished studying herself in the mirror, she decided to inspect her new room. Given that this was her new room. It was simple but beautiful. Feminine. Apart from the bed, two white nightstands, a table with two chairs, and a mirror, there was also a wardrobe, a desk with an armchair, and an empty bookshelf. Soft rugs made from animal furs covered the stone floor. On the table, Ayla spotted a small pile of books, a bouquet of flowers, and a basket with fruits. She had never seen flowers like these; they were small, white, and delicate, and the petals were in the form of a bell. She picked the bouquet up and smelled them— the scent wasn’t familiar to her, but she loved it. She put the flowers back on the table and decided to look at the books. There were five in total, three about medicinal plants and flowers from all over the continent, and the other two contained stories and myths about the gods. “Oh, Milton! Thank you!” Ayla said, hugging one of the books to her ch
Ayla was fascinated by the bathroom. She had never seen one like that before. The stone floor was warm beneath her feet; in a corner, there was a bench, and under it, there were magical stones. She wondered what those stones did. And there was that bathtub. By Adanoss! The bathtub! It was much larger than the one she had in Myrthana, and it had magical stones on the edge that sent vibrations into her body, helping her muscles to relax. The maids led her back into the room. They helped her put on clean undergarments and long soft socks that reached her calves. Then the blue dress and a white belt around her waist. Lastly, a long cape was attached to her shoulder. She touched the dress’s fabric– it was so soft and warm. “Made from the wool of a woolly rhino. Or several of them,” a maid said. Once dressed, Ayla was forced to sit on a chair while the maids worked on her hair. She had never had a maid before to help her style her hair. It was her mother that taught Ayla how t
When Ayla thought about when she would have to serve King Rhobart's dinner, she imagined he would be eating alone. But as she entered the dining room, she saw how wrong she had been. At a long, big table, King Rhobart sat together with his paladins. Food and wine were in the middle of the table, but no one was eating. Perhaps because no servants were around to fill the plates and the goblets. Ayla sighed faintly. She hoped there would be at least one servant to help and show her how to serve the food. Back in Myrthana, she was rarely invited to eat with her family. She wished she had paid more attention to her father's servants and slaves. She prayed she would not anger the King with her lack of skills. King Rhobart and the Paladins were talking in low voices, and Ayla clenched her hands to hide her nervousness while studying them. It surprised her that King Rhobart wasn't seated at the head of the table. He was sitting in the middle of the table and talking to the Paladin
King Rhobart took a calming breath while he kept looking at Ayla. And his eyes turned an even darker shade of black, if that was possible. “You look….” he started saying but stopped mid-sentence. “Would you join these buffoons and me for dinner?” She blinked. He wanted her to dine with him and his men? She did not know how to reply, so she gave him a curt nod. After the King helped her with the chair, he sat next to her and grabbed her plate, and started putting food on it. The King was serving her? That couldn’t be right. She was supposed to serve them. Him. To her utter shock, the Paladins started filling their plates with food. Milton, who decided to sit at the head of the table, coughed, and Ayla thought she heard him say dress between coughs. King Rhobart paused for a moment. “The dress fits you nicely,” he mumbled before adding more meat to her plate. Ayla blushed, realizing for the first time that the dress came from the King. “Thank you for it! It
She did as the King asked. While she ate, Ayla kept wondering what this dinner was about. She came prepared to serve but instead, she was sitting at the same table as the King, next to him, eating from the food he put on the plate for her. And the Paladins. On the way from Myrthana to Nordmar, they avoided her like the plague. She thought they hated her, but here they were, smiling and joking with her. The only one that seemed not to like her was Godefray. His green eyes seemed filled with poison each time he looked at her. Even the King seemed different. He wasn’t exactly happy with her being in his home, but he was less angry. Maybe she could survive Nordmar. If only she knew what the King’s plans for her were. “Wine?” the King asked her. She was never allowed to drink before. “Yes?” “You don’t seem too sure you want wine,” King Rhobart said while reaching for her goblet with his right hand. Ayla’s eyes tracked his hand, and to her shock, she saw a banda
That night Ayla dreamed of her grandmother. They were sitting on a bench in her little garden she had in Myrthana and talking. A blanket of snow covered the garden, and white bell flowers rose nervously above it. Ayla was older in her dream. Her eyes were those of a person who had seen too much. Around her left wrist, she had tattoos of golden runes that Ayla did not recognize. They went all around her wrist like a bracelet. Her grandmother was telling her something, but Ayla was too distracted by the runes and did not hear what Grandmother Anza was saying. There was something about the runes that made her uneasy. They seemed important, and yet she did not know what they meant. Her grandmother kept talking, and Ayla knew she had to listen, but she could not take her eyes off her left wrist. The dream changed, and Ayla was a nine-year-old again. She was still in the garden but now with her mother. Queen Lavia brushed Ayla's hair while teaching her about herbs and plants. An o
When they entered the library, Ayla stopped breathing. It wasn’t her first time in a library. She spent time in the royal library of Myrthana. But the Royal Library of Nordmar was at least twice as big as the one in Myrthana. Shelf after shelf of books and more books, from the floor to the ceiling. Sofas and armchairs, tables and chairs were close to the bookshelves. Furs covered the floor, and magic crystals were placed around the library. Men and women, rich and poor, occupied some sofas and armchairs, reading. A few children sat at some tables, writing or drawing. In the middle of the library stood a round table made from marble with a map on top of it. Ayla’s mouth must have dropped to the floor because the King chuckled. “What do you think?” he asked. Not taking her eyes off the books, Ayla replied, “It is... breathtaking.” “I agree,” the King said, his voice low. “What do you want to see first?” Ayla looked around, and her eyes fell once mo
After the King left, Ayla paced around her room for a while, thinking about what she had said to him. She knew it wasn't his fault that the ice wolves attacked Milton and her or that she had been sick, but she was so furious with everything that had happened to her since she was a child. She hated Galian for using her as leverage to save his life, but she hated King Rhobart more for accepting it. All she ever wanted was freedom to do as she wished. Instead, she became a slave to a cruel king. She started biting her nails but stopped the moment she realized what she was doing. Ayla took a deep breath and sat in a chair. She knew she should apologize to the King the next time she saw him. Around noon, a maid came to bring her lunch. “You are not allowed to leave your room unless the King summons you,” the maid informed Ayla after putting the tray on the table. Ayla could not believe what she had heard. He was locking her up in the room? She tried to breathe, but no a