Kingdom of Alenfroe||Stelliferous & Kyrai

[Kyrai]

====Rᴇᴀʟᴍ ᴏғ Aʟᴇɴғʀᴏᴇ====
​

The realm of Alenfroe is one where the rich thrive and the poor die. Geographically the land changes quite drastically, with the Sea of Anlie to the west, named after the First Prince of Alenfroe, the people there survive on their daily catch. In the midlands the soil is rich with nutrients, and common folk are born and die in a house that they don’t ever own, renting from the lords of the land. To the north are fierce mountains, and the border with the Caragean Empire, and in the south is Anlie Palace, where the monarchs sit.

After the Riessfeld family came into power, magic was outlawed in the kingdom. Anybody over the age of 16 found participating in “acts of witchcraft” would have their tongue cut out and be branded with the mark of a witch. Any male under the age of 16 would be subject to forced enlistment in the army or work in the mines if the ranks were full, and any female sent to work in the royal plantations.

============================

Characters

Rowan "Twig" Awlen|21|Rebel

Corrina Reissfeld|21|Princess

============================

Please do not post here unless you are Stelliferous or Kyrai.​

 

[Waraeru]

Corrina's footsteps echoed through the empty corridor, the sound rebounding intensely off of the marble surfaces. Chandeliers lined the roof and the pale, thick blue curtains ruffled slightly as Corrina swept past them, an air of slight irritation hovering about her.


She made a left at a parting of passages, heading towards a overly large oak doorway. She proceeded to brusquely push it open, it creaking as she did so.


Behind the door was larger, circular room with two larger chairs directly adjacent to the door at the back of the room. Within the chair on the right sat a man, scribbling on a sheet of parchment in a relatively untidy scrawl.





"I believe you asked to see me, Alexander?" She asked curtly, sweeping her hair out of her face.


The King's eyes flickered upwards for a brief moment, before continuing to look back down and continue writing.


"I did indeed. And you have came." He said, his eyes still trained on the paper he was writing on.


"Obviously." Corrina replied somewhat irritably, crossing her arms. "May I ask why?"


Alexander stopped writing and sighed, laying the quill on the arm of his throne and folding the parchment.


"I need you to get married, Corrina."





"Wh-What!?" She stammered, a look of both horror and embarrassment on her face. "What on Earth do you mean? What kind of sick joke are you trying to make?"


"Well, maybe it would be better to start off engaged with someone..."


"N-No! Wait! You can't do that I-"


"If I'm honest, Corrina, it really doesn't matter what you want under these circumstances." Alexander said, cutting her off. His expression of slight amusement and his sister's reaction had slid off of his face. Corrina stepped towards him, her eyes narrowed in a glare of pure loathing.


"And what circumstances do those happen to be?"


"The circumstances that you'll be like me if and when I die!" He said simply, rising to his feet.


Corrina took a step or two back, her angered expression replaced with one of fear.


"You don't mean-"


"I do." He interrupted. "I mean like me. Without someone by your side, you can be manipulated. Just like me. This country will crumble even more."


"I need time to-" She began.


"I know you need time to deliberate. Now, go."





Corrina stood on the spot for a moment or two, slightly swaying. She hesitated, but exited the room, tears beginning to roll down her face.


Within about ten or so minutes, she had draped a winter cloak around herself and stood just outside the palace's gates, thinking of what to do. Her thoughts wandered towards the forest, but she refused, wanting her emotions to be occupied at this moment in time. She set off along the frost-glazed roads, heading towards the main street.

 

[Kyrai]

"Aquae motum, et aer." Rowan almost spat out the words in frustration. "Aquae mot-" She gave a start as the door of her house opened and she heard the voice of her younger brother and another person come into the kitchen. She put away the bowl of water she had been practicing her magic with quickly, and walked out of her shared bedroom to the family's main living space. She looked around the room. "Who were you talking to Aspen?" She inquired. "Chalice." Was the response she was given, and she looked curiously at her brother, who wasn't usually so withdrawn.


"And?" She said, grabbing a faded rag that had once been a shirt from the bucket near the door and wiping down the old table in the centre of the room. "She said Thomas wants you to come to work this evening." He said, taking off his coat before walking away from her. Rowan didn't take much heed of her brother's indifference, and instead considered what her brother had said. Why was Thomas asking her to come in? It was not a busy time of the week, and there should be no need for extra barmaids. Unless there was a protectorate meeting.. But why would Thomas be telling her to come in?


She tossed the rag into the bucket again, moving the bucket away from the door with her foot absent-mindedly. Going back into the bedroom, she took her mother's old hairbrush from the top of the chest of drawers that the family shared, and began to brush her hair. After she had it all straight, she started skillfully winding her hair into a small braid winding around her crown. After this was done, she started introducing more pieces of hair and ended up with a french plait trailing down her back. She hurriedly took a ribbon and tied the plait before grabbing her shawl and heading out into the small village.


She purposefully avoided the village square, for she did not like to see the bodies of the dead that were left for show by the royals as an example. On arrival at the Hideaway, she pushed open the door and made her way through the tavern to behind the bar and into the pantry. "Apologies for being late, I'm in-" With a glance around the small room, at her companions, she could tell something was up. Her instinct was to ask who'd been killed, but it seemed insensitive and she couldn't bring herself to say it. A shiver of worry went through her as she discerned exactly what was wrong. "Eliza," She said, turning to one of the other barmaids, "Eliza what happened to Culann?" She said, sweat breaking out across her forehead.

 

[Waraeru]

Corrina wandered aimlessly along the streets for quite some time, buildings progressively deteriorating and becoming more and more shabby as she progressed further away from the palace. Her eyes swept along the streets, her expressions full with sadness. She hated that her and what was left of her family lived in luxury whilst the world away from that was so cold and unforgiving yet she herself could do little to stop it whilst her brother was still in power with the threat of the council taking his life hanging over the both of them.


People who passed, carrying heavy loads or wearing merely scraps of cloth gave her glares of utmost hatred and some even went as far to scream profanities at her or hurl small stones at her of which she was only occasionally able to dodge. Corrina has managed to catch a particularly large one thrown with high velocity and turned to look in the general direction of where it came from.


Her attacker had been a small boy, about half her height who was covered in dirt from head to toe and wore what appeared to be an old potato sack. Corrina dropped the stone onto the floor, proceeding to walk over to the young boy. He stepped backwards hurriedly, but was not quite able to escape. She lowered herself to his height and simply hugged him.


"You must think of me as a villain. And I'm so sorry that you do."


She pulled away and stood up, pulling her hood over her head and hurrying away towards an old tavern that had a preferable look towards it than the outside that had began to snow did.

 

[Kyrai]

SIZE=3]


The silence that in reality only lasted a few seconds seemed like hours to the brunette. "Earlier this morning Culann was taken away by the royals. Someone in town saw him boiling water when the fire had gone out. Outside and everything. How could he be so-" "Eliza that is enough!" The young barmaid stopped abruptly, once she was scolded by Thomas. "Go check who that is," he then instructed her, gesturing towards the front of the inn, and Eliza made her way out of the kitchen sullenly.


Once she was gone, Thomas lowered his tone and turned to Rowan. "She's just agitated. She'll.. She'll get over it." He took her by the hand and led her over to a chair by the fire, knowing that losing her mentor would be hard for her. "He'll be back, right?" Rowen asked, not fully comprehending what happened. She looked around and the four or five people in the room, who were staring at her and Thomas now. Thomas looked away from her, and sighed. She had gone into shock. There wasn't any point in trying to be rational.


Before anyone said anything else, Eliza reappeared, sticking her head through the door with a nervous smile on her face. "Master Thomas? We have a visitor." She said, her voice dripping with false enthusiasm. It's the princess. She mouthed towards the group. It took Rowan a few moments to gather what had happened, in her state, but once she realized what her friend was saying she stood up out of her chair, swaying unsteadily for an instant.


"Rowan come back-" Were the words the brunette heard before pushing past Eliza and entering the main room of the tavern. Why would a royal be here except to take them all away and kill them like they were going to do to Culann.. or already had?[/size]

 

[Waraeru]

Corrina opened the tavern's door and was met by it creaking in response. She entered the empty room and proceeded to hastily sit down at a table in the corner of the room, close to where she had entered. The Princess lowered her hood and shook out her hair, brushing away stray flakes of snow that had managed to get caught in it.


She took in a deep breath and took in her surroundings, smiling slightly at the simplistic beauty of the room that differed so much from the castle she had been confided to most of her life. The floor was cobbled and uneven, most stones deviating in appearance to others around them. There was a fireplace to the right of the room, that heartily crackled and spat sparks as it burned away the logs. Oak beams hung low along the length of the room and a candle burned bright on each of the rough, ancient-looking tables. Corrina glided her fingers across the flame of her candle, staring at it with deep interest. It curled around her finger and danced around her hand.


She was snapped out of her daze when she heard muffled voices from behind a closed door on the other side of the room. The flame had sprang back onto the candle and upon being able to vaguely pick out the word 'visitor', Corrina straightened her posture, removed her hand away from the flame and drew her hood back over her head, looking down at her lap.


Her eyes flickered upwards for a brief moment as she heard the door open, but came to rest on her lap again within a matter of seconds.


"Just a water, if you'd please." She muttered without looking up, placing two large, silver coins on the surface of the table.

 

[Kyrai]

Still somewhat in shock, Rowan felt terrible. What had started out as a bad day had turned downright awful. Under the assumption that they were all going to die anyway, she reached for the knife that she had strapped under her dress. When she spotted the solitary, hooded figure sitting in the empty room she paused and gaped at her. Surely this wasn't the princess? Eliza had to be mistaken if she thought that a royal belonging to a family that had instigated such cruelty would be so far away from the comforts of the palace.


She slowly withdrew her hand and put it on top of the bar counter. She felt foolish for thinking that the princess of Alenfroe would be sitting in the inn where she worked. Taking an old apron from under the counter, she tied it around her waist and retrieved a flagon of water for the woman. The request puzzled her, however. Why come to an inn just to get a glass of water?


Another thought crossed the young woman's head as she considered the woman's clothes, which were finer than you would expect in such an area of the village they were in. What if she was a spy, sent by the king to suss out who possessed the gift of magic and kill them? It didn't seem unlikely, after all, a few moments ago she had considered the woman to be a princess.


Rowan came around to the other side of the counter, and placed the water on the table beside the woman. She noticed the coins on the table for the first time. Two silver. That confirmed her suspicions that the woman definitely wasn't in this part of town that often. Who in their right mind would pay for ale with silver, yet alone water? "Here." She said gruffly, watching the strange character to see if she would ask for anything else.

 

[Waraeru]

"I do hope I have provided you with the correct amount of money," She said, rather softly. "I'm not necessarily familiar with your prices, I'm afraid to admit."


Corrina looked up slightly, staring at the glass of water that rested on the table. She outstretched her hand and proceeded to curl her fingers around it, bringing the rim to her lips. She then gulped down the glass's contents and slammed it onto the table, her breathing heavier than before. Corrina sighed and began to rifle through her pockets, pulling out another two silver coins and placing them on the table.





"I hate to sound selfish or needy, and I certainly hate to be such a pest to you, but may I have another? I'm rather... Parched."


For the first time, she had looked directly up at the woman by completely accident, somewhat forgetting she had an air of secrecy to maintain. Corrina hastily looked back down at the table, her eyes squeezed shut, hoping the barmaid had not recognized her.

 

[Kyrai]

Glancing up at the woman, and back to the now four silver coins on the table, Rowan felt a strange need to laugh at the situation, but did not. Here was a woman who seemed to be the heir to the throne, one of the biggest enemies to the protectorate, sitting in their inn grossly overpaying for water. "It's only two bronze for a flagon of water, ma'am."


From what she knew about the Princess, she didn't rarely make public appearances. Neither did the King, really, except for mandated circumstances. She wasn't really one hundred percent sure what the Princess looked like, but from the couple of times she had seen the young royal, this woman seemed like a damn fine match.


It occurred to her how easy it would be to kill the woman. She had no guards, and the only other people in the inn had an equal hatred for the royal family. She could do it and never get blamed. Culann might even know an enchantment to hide the body. Culann. The thought of her dead mentor pushed the idea out of her mind quickly. Culann didn't believe in using violence, at least not now when their numbers were low. After all, she didn't even know for sure if this woman was the Princess, or what she was doing here. What was she thinking?

 

[Waraeru]

"Oh, is that so?"She inquired, her voice laced with amusement and a slight trace of embarrassment. "Like I said before, I'm rather unfortunately unfamiliar with your prices. Everything seems to fluctuate depending on where you go nowadays. It can all get rather confusing, yet I suppose it wasn't very rational of me to pay two pieces of silver per flagon if it's only water..."


She had trailed off, lightly drumming her fingers on the surface of the table. Corrina's eyes were trained on the woman from the cover of her hood, focusing intently on her. This woman had shown no signs of recognizing for Corrina for who or what she was and if she had, she had apparently desired to keep it to herself and seemed content with not acting upon it.


Corrina exhaled heavily, despite not remembering holding her breath out of anxiety and silently scolded herself. She was being absolutely ridiculous; she had nothing to worry about. She had no reason to be afraid or anything of the sort, no one had a reason to do a cloaked stranger who merely wanted some water any harm. She'd be fine. Right?


"Despite it only being two pieces of bronze for a water," She spoke out at last. "I insist you take what I have laid down. I'd like you to have it all."