Disappearance

“There’s been a disappearance in the forest, Your Highness.” Eliza informed me. On the same day I had snuck into the King’s Forest, a member of the hunting party disappeared. I have heard of no such incident occurring during my mother’s reign.

“How many people have disappeared?” I asked.

“Just one.”

“Who was the last one who saw him?”

“His partnered hunter for the day.”

“What testimony did he give?”

“The missing man’s partner said that the hunter disappeared while he was turned away from him, taking a shot with his bow.”

“Were there no clues left to where the man could have gone?” From my own recent experience within the forest, I already had my answer.

“No, Your Highness. They had left tracks on the way there, but no tracks were found once he vanished.”

“Has his family been informed?”

“Yes, on the night of.”

“Good. Continue to keep me informed on this issue.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

“You may return to your regular duties.”

Eliza curtsied, then turned on her heels.

“Wait.”

She turned back around. “Yes, Your Highness?”

“Amongst the hunting party, can you look for a redheaded young man for me?” I had delayed asking her long enough. That night, she had expected my return from the forest. Had she seen me enter or had someone informed her? If it was the latter, would her informant have been my assailant? I doubted my venture into the forest would be kept secret any other way.

Eliza tilted her head ever so slightly. “Are you looking for Tristan?”

“You know him?”

“He’s an archery prodigy, only two years our senior. At the spring festival, he won this year’s competition for young adults. After his performance, the Master of the Hunt hired him on the spot.”

“I didn’t know you were interested in archery.”

She shook her head. “I’m not. As I said, he’s only two years our senior. The maids around our age won’t stop talking about him.” There was a hint of annoyance in her voice.

“I see.”

“Does Your Highness have some interest in him?”

“I suppose you could say he’s caught my attention.”

“I’m sure Cassandra will be sad to hear that.”

This girl. Eliza maintained an indifferent expression, but she was definitely teasing me. “It seems me holding you up from your work has given you some funny ideas. I’ll have you return to your duties now.”

She curtsied again. “Yes, Your Highness.”

High Tower

Sleep deprivation has made a desperate woman of me. In my search for respite, I’ve found a waking rest to be the only kind safe from Mother. As a result of this, meditation has now become my solace and the old castle’s high tower has become a frequent retreat.

Today, carrying an exhaustion I had never known so well before, I arrived at the room atop of that secluded tower. I sat myself upon its center, closed my eyes, and calmed my mind. I sat there for only a brief time before a trance came over me. I could see myself sitting in a void. One by one stars lit up above my head and began to form a cosmos unseen by day. When their number had grown too numerous for me to keep count, the stars began to spin around me. What I had seen the first time I came to the tower wasn’t my mind playing tricks on me, it was a precursor to this. With every meditation, I grew closer to the truth and today, I overcame what remaining notions blinding me to it. This wasn’t my imagination. What I saw before me was reality.

I opened my eyes to look from my own perspective instead of another. It wasn’t just the stars spinning above my head anymore, the whole universe had come alive upon the tower’s dome. Energy was radiating from the heavens, inviting me into its embrace. But as I reached out to the stars, I heard Eliza call out to me.

“Your Highness!” She shouted. Without me realizing she had already grabbed my shoulders and was shaking me.

I grabbed her wrists and stopped her. “What is it?”

She released me and in turn I released her. “The time we set to go back has already passed,” She said. “But you didn’t respond when I called you.”

“That’s all?” I thought. I looked back to the stars, but life was already lost to them. They had returned to mere illustration. “I’m sorry, I must have gotten a bit lost.”

I looked back to Eliza. She showed me a face that danced between worried and annoyed. “We shouldn’t come here anymore.” She said.

I held back a yawn. “No, coming here relieves me.”

But Eliza was adamant. “Your Highness, I was standing right before you, but you couldn’t see me with open eyes. You reached right passed me like I wasn’t there. I find myself unaware of what type of relief this place grants you, but I sense it’s not the kind that will do any good for you.”

I hadn’t told her about my nightmares. It wasn’t as if she would be able to help me if I did. “It is not my intention to stop coming here, Eliza.”

“Then I won’t accompany you here in the future.”

“That is acceptable.”

“I’ll also be informing your Father if you insist on coming here alone.”

And that was not. I sighed and stood up. “Very well. Until I learn more about this place, I’ll stop my excursions to this tower.”

For now, at least.