I awoke with a jolt of fear, the distant sounds of kitchen pans clanging made me terrified that I had managed to sleep through training and Aela’s wrath awaited me. It wasn’t until I had already thrown myself to my feet and began to fumble around my room to get ready that I realized the trainer was gone and I was currently free. Sitting back on my bed, I took a deep breath and let it out slowly, my stomach feeling sick and my body coated with a thin layer of sweat, it felt like I had just experienced a close brush with death. Once I felt like I could stand again, I rose and peeled off my sweaty clothes and changed into something much more regal than I had been allowed to wear, I still needed to get some clothing more fitting for a monarch made at some point, though it should probably wait until I had rid myself of the twins for good.

Splashing my face with water from the basin on my vanity, I felt a bit more alert and like my old self, though still jumpy and feeling like I should be constantly looking over my shoulder. I was trying to ignore a small voice in my head suggesting that this might be all one big test to see if I would stick to routine while they were away. If so, I was failing and I could be certain that the punishment would be swift and terrible. It seemed doubtful for the cleric to have enough patience to wait this long to catch me in the act though, she was not good at waiting on anything and wanted immediate results and response at all times. In some regards the fact made it a bit easier to work around her, it made her more predictable.

I glanced to my desk and saw that the surface was empty, the document had not been found and brought to me while I rested. I supposes it was too much to ask for it to have been left behind in an obvious place, something with the ability to rip power away from a rightful heir probably wouldn’t be something you’d just leave laying around. If I were her I would have taken it with me and between the two of them they were certainly clever enough to realize that even if they had been in a hurry to leave. Though if it was such an important document there had to be more than one copy, it was reckless to make any sort of political or legal document and not have a copy placed somewhere for safe keeping, perhaps it would only be a matter of figuring out where a copy had been stored. It sounded simple, but I wasn’t exactly sure how to begin, any sort of training in how to run the kingdom had been ignored in favor for developing my power.

Relying on only my fuzzy memories of the times I had been around my father when any important documents were being dealt with, I vaguely remembered that the castle scribe had always been there. Granted, I could only recall ever seeing an official document drawn up during the case of a marriage or an important birth and had been more focused on the celebration feast rather than the legalities happening on the side, but a weak idea was better than no idea. If my memory was correct, the scribe worked near the library and with only a few rooms on that side of the castle on that floor I didn’t think it would be too difficult to check each one until I found him. I hoped that on the way I would also find the royal author, I had less immediate, but still burning questions for him as well.

Stepping outside my door, I lingered, breathing in the delicious smells of roasting fowl, the servant girl had gone through with my request, but despite how much I wanted to immediately go to the dining room and devour the meal, I needed to pursue my idea first. Laughter wafted up the stairs as I descended to the library, a sound that had been starkly missing from the castle since my father’s death. I guessed that I had not been the only one under my trainer’s strict rules.

My body was sore as I descended each step, bruises on both the surface and deep in my muscles ached with each step down. My aunt had been very keen on specifically beating my hips and thighs, I didn’t know if it was because they could take impact before breaking or if she wanted to make it harder for me to run away if I got the inclination, but I had a feeling it was the later. Half way down to the floor I needed to be, the pain grew enough to where I had to pause and take a break, my hips throbbing with pain. I leaned against the wall for support and waited for it to get better, but my joints stubbornly burned and throbbed. I wished I could get back to my bed to lay down, but there was no point in even trying to climb the stairs again, if I was having this much trouble going down them, going up was a lost cause.

Feeling trapped, an idea crossed my mind that I could only label as instinct, if my power had begun to try to protect me during the beatings, maybe I could try to draw on it now to help. I had never directly tried to do anything with the power, only will it to grow and retreat, and while the cleric had been a very lackluster trainer in telling me any details about what the power actually was, she had made it clear that it was dangerous for me to try to work with it on my own before I was ready. I didn’t know what ready looked like, but I was willing to try to avoid a servant finding me so helpless and to dull the pain a little bit. I was growing very, very tired of pain and being controlled with it, I abhored that I was being limited by the trainer's actions even though she was no longer in the castle.

My core swelled to meet me as I reached for it, perhaps it had become used to routine and had been waiting to be used, the tension along its ethereal surface broke and power spilled everywhere, expanding around me and filling the stairwell. I desperately clung to control, pulling it back in before it extended too far. It was always like a wild animal when it was first released, wanting to rush away from me and explore the space around, but if I let it it quickly got out of control and overwhelmed me with information. I was suddenly hyper aware of everyone relatively near me, the pressure of their existance pressing into the edges of my power. It was a strange feeling that I really didn't like, there was something eerie to me about being able to feel a person without actually seeings or physically touching them. Pulling my magic into some sort of stable form, I worked on willing the bubble of power around me smaller. Sweat broke out across my body again and my breathing became hard as I struggled, but after a few minutes I was able to bring the edges within my arm’s reach.

Relieved and able to hold it now without too much trouble I went from leaning against the wall to sitting on the steps, panting and groaning with the increased pain the effort had brought on. The physical pain wasn’t necessarily the worst part, there was something deeper within that ached whenever I first let the power out. It was getting better the more I practiced, but without Aela’s beating to distract me, it was hard to ignore the strange, indescribable sensation. Eventually the magical pain subsided, leaving me shivering, the power overexciting my physical body, I only had a short time to use the power before it became too dangerous to keep unleashed on my own. I felt unsure what to do, but I did what I thought was logical and coalesced a portion of my power towards my hips, sending it with the thought that it was protective energy. It flowed through my body to my hips and sunk deep into my muscles, warming them up to a pleasant temperature. Whether it was the warmth itself or some other type of magical enhancement, I suddenly felt strong enough to rise to my feet and I was able to with ease, in fact had I felt confident enough I thought I might have been able to sprint down the stairs with no trouble. Hurrying to make sure I could get down the stairs the rest of the way before I needed to dismiss my magic, I was amazed by how easily I moved, the creaking pain I had felt with every step had vanished.

With reluctance, at the bottom of the steps I exerted my will and forced my magical sphere back into the core of my body and locked it away with a low groan of effort. I braced myself for the blinding pain to return, but even though my power had receded, I still felt whole and well. Miraculously, it felt like there was nothing wrong with my legs and that there never had been. I stretched and squatted low, thinking that with every new movement the pain would come rushing back, but it never did, instead my legs had never felt stronger. Dazed at the possibilities I considered drawing forth my power again to send it to other parts of my body, but discretion took over and I decided that it was too dangerous to try again so soon. How wonderful it would be if it were true that I could heal and mend myself at all, that would make me practically immune to whatever the twins threw at me short of death.

I couldn’t resist testing my new found strength and sprinted away from the stairs and down the hall that passed the library, giddy with how effortless it was. I had just been limping and wheezing trying to move my legs at all and now I felt like I could run for miles with no ill effects. Even if it turned out to be a temporary fix, I was elated. The discovery had set my mood into a better place as well, I felt even more hopeful.

“My lord,” said the flustered scribe. I had sprinted into every room around the library until I found him, I had interrupted his work, ink dripping from the end of his quill. “How may I help you?”

“The cleric, she had a document.” My words were coming out just about as jumbled as my thoughts were in that moment. “Do you know where a copy might be?”

“I assume you mean the document of authority?” He set his quill down and looked me over with concern. “Has she gone then?”

“Yes,” I answered, “this morning.”

He nodded and crossed his arms in front of him. “I know of the document, though she thought the knowledge of it’s location or any copies would be dangerous for me to know, though it is my entire job to know.”

“Dangerous for a scribe to know?”

“Apparently because I was loyal to your father then I could not be trusted.” The middle aged man paused rubbed the balding spot on the top of his head. “The lack of logic in that thinking leads me to think there’s something in the document she doesn’t want someone with knowledge of such things to see.”