The royal garden of Aedor castle was famous throughout the system for its beauty and richness, to the point where it was open to the public during the warm season.
Now it was the cold season, so residents could enjoy this quasi-sacred place during these short moments of the year.
It was dusk, and the garden was peaceful as usual in the early evening, when a small grey animal ran like mad, obviously trying to escape from something...or someone.
He finally stopped his mad run by taking shelter in a beautifully trimmed bush.
He thought he'd escaped his pursuer when a shadow suddenly covered him and vengeful hands grabbed him before lifting him to her full height.
It was a sublime young girl of around twelve, whose long hair was as flamboyant as the twilight that illuminated the entire royal city with its glowing veils.
"I've got you now, you little thief. Did you really think you could get away with this?"
The little thief crouched on top of him, trembling with fear.
"For once Mom made me a snack herself, you had to eat the rest. I'm going to..."
"Come now, Your Highness, it was only crumbs, you can't blame him for that."
The girl was Princess Aidine Koroth, heiress to the throne of the kingdom of Aedor.
The one who intervened was an earth giant who resided in the garden and ensured that it remained as sublime and bewitching as it was meant to be.
"I don't care if they were just crumbs, because they were my crumbs, I'll do what I want with them like not wanting to share them!"
"Careful, highness, you're going to get into trouble if you go on like this, people and especially boys hate women with bad tempers! Remember what happened last time!"
"I don't care!" she repeated before turning back to the culprit who was almost crying, so at this pathetic sight, the princess's heart melted.
"Well all right, I'll let you go this time, because you're too adorable."
After one last look of warning, the young girl set the creature down, who ran off without asking for a rest.
"There, you're happy!" she asked the giant, before turning away and heading for the castle.
"If you like. Why are you out earlier than usual from your classes, your highness, still with your bad manners?"
"Ah ah! Very funny, Ogel. And no, it's not because of my bad manners, which, by the way, are very infrequent," she corrected, earning an immediate sneer from her interlocutor, "but because I've been working well"
"And on what, if I may be so indiscreet."
"On the enchanted waters of Geley "
The giant frowned.
"The sacred waters that reveal the truth?"
"Yes. Precisely."
"Then is it only a legend, or do these fantastic waters really exist?"
"My teacher says they do, but this time, I'd really like to see to believe."
She crossed her arms.
"Between you and me, I doubt this planet even exists."
The giant raised his eyes to the sky.
"What a temper!"
"Not at all!" she denied, sulkily.
"One day, you'll meet a being you can do nothing against."
Disdainful, the young princess merely shrugged her shoulders and spun away.
"Beautiful and reckless as you are, you won't be able to escape it," murmured the giant again, following the heiress with his eyes before returning to his "kingdom".
The young princess had every intention of joining her beloved mother in her chambers. She crossed the great hall, all marble and precious wood, climbed the monumental staircases and crossed a long corridor at the end of which were the queen's apartments.
One of the corridor's doors was open, two servants were bustling about, and on hearing what they were saying, Aidine stopped dead in her tracks to listen in.
"So what I heard was true!"
"Oh yes, since my sister's husband's cousin works as a gardener in the Obel ducal family. The youngest of the family is, as everyone knows, friends with the princess. So she spent some time there, in their manor. And on the next day she left, the manor burned to the ground."
"Were there any deaths?"
"Only one, that of the duke's nephew, the latter's father was himself a marquis."
"Only son?"
"No, he was first in order."
"I see."
"This created a terrible conflict between the two families!"
The two servants shuddered.
"Ah, just seeing that ostentatious hair especially burning under the light makes me tremble from head to toe!"
"And do you remember the incident with her pet?"
"Oh yes, I'll never forget it."
Neither would Aidine, and maybe those two women and everyone else who thought she was cursed because of her hair were right, but that didn't mean she'd put up with them saying it out loud.
She put her hand on the door, closed it with her magic, blazed and then created a dust storm in the room that made the two chatterboxes scream in fear and pain. Aidine then ran to take refuge in her mother's suite, which, to her great disappointment, was empty.
She winced, and decided to do a little snooping while waiting for her return.
What she loved most about her mother's estate were the chandeliers, occupying almost the entire ceiling, like a moving river of diamonds and emitting different light.
She contemplated them for a moment before going to play.
She knew her mother's secret place, an invisible cupboard at the head of her bed. So she climbed in and knocked eight times, a magic screen appeared demanding a password. She knew it, her name Aidine backwards. The closet door opened, and what she found inside surprised and fascinated her. A sparkling blue stone in the shape of a hexagon. Aidine hesitated, then reached out for the stone, which glowed at her approach.
"No, don't," shouted someone behind her in a worried voice. But too late, the blue stone shone brightly and released magical waves that violently pushed the princess away. Fortunately, the person who had been shouting at her not to touch the stone was there, and caught her in mid-air.
"Are you all right, darling?"
The person who was there and saved her was her mother, Queen Teis Koroth. Her daughter was shaken but soon recovered.
"She nodded and turned to her mother, who was still holding her close. And what she saw fascinated her even more.
"But Mom, you have wings...!"
Her mother's smile turned to concern, then after some hesitation, she stroked her daughter's soft hair.
"Yes, Mommy has wings. You like!"
"Oh yes!" affirmed Aidine forcefully. "Uh, can I touch them?"
"Sure."
Aidine caressed the white wings engraved with splendid spells in purple. The queen laughed.
"I remember, that was also the first thing your father asked me when we met."
"So Father also knows about your wings?"
"Yes." The queen smiled almost wistfully. "He knows everything!"
Aidine shrieked.
"Even about my curse?"
"What?"
Queen Teis lifted her daughter to her feet and together they settled on the bed. They were both wearing dresses of the same fabric, incarnate. Teis's had long sleeves and was adorned with tiny stones that caught the light, while Aidine's was simple, sleeveless and cinched at the waist with a huge belt that tied in front.
"Why do you think you have a curse?"
Aidine made an annoyed sound.
"Oh Mom, you know very well what people think of me. That I bring bad luck, and the proof is my hair."
"But it's beautiful!"
"Mom, stop it! Daddy has hair as black as night and you have hair as blonde as a river of stars! How is it possible that I'm so...different!"
"It doesn't mean a thing! And especially that you're cursed!"
Aidine screamed in frustration and fury.
"But you're not people, Mom! Look what happened to Alon. We always played together and promised to see each other again, then I came home, and the duke's house burned down with Alon alone inside."
Teis hugged her daughter, then decided to tell her the truth, at least part of it.
"It wasn't because of you, my darling, and it wasn't an accident either."
The queen plunged her grave gaze into the princess's.
"That fire was deliberate. But," she said, forbidding her daughter to speak, "I can't tell you about it now. I'll do it later, I promise."
Aidine was consumed with curiosity. Alon was her friend, but she also knew she wouldn't get anywhere insisting now, so she finally nodded.
Just then, her father, Erian Koroth, appeared at the door, and from the look on his face, his wife knew at once what that meant. She nodded slowly, her face distressed and her eyes misty with tears, then addressed her daughter.
"Your father and I have an important dinner tonight, but we have an hour to spare, so what would you like to do?"
"The two of you with me?" she assured herself, looking at her parents in turn. They nodded.
"Then I'd like to know first what this blue stone means", she declared, pointing to the stone that had so brutally pushed her away.
Her parents tensed, then Erian Koroth picked up the stone and handed it to his wife, who shone it in the evening light.
"That too, my dear, you'll soon know!"
Seeing Aidine's expression, her mother laughed.
"I can easily guess how great your curiosity is and how hard your patience is being tested."
The young girl laughed back.
"Yes, I admit it."
She ran her hands over her face.
"Is that really a promise? You'll tell me everything?"
"Yes."
During the hour her parents devoted to her, Aidine sat on her father's lap while her mother fluttered in front of her, then she flew with her mother into the bedroom and finally the three of them flew together, dancing laughing, chatting.
There was a time when Aidine, with a confused and curious expression on her face, wished to ask her mother something, who immediately guessed that it had still something to do with the azure blue stone that was sitting prominently on her safe place and that she had discreetly hidden in a box when her daughter was busy trying on her mother's clothes. And to close the subject, she used on her, despite her reluctance, a light spell that erased her interest in the blue stone.
They were playing a board game to win as much treasure as possible to free either a princess or a sick king, when the ruler of Aedor announced, with so little visible willpower, that it was time for him and his wife to leave.
Smiling, Ridas looked at him and her smile disappeared, for she knew what that heartbreaking expression meant. Now they exchanged an understanding and infinitely sad look. Knowing perfectly well that the day they had both pushed away with all their strength and all their love had finally come, Ridas finally contented herself with nodding her head and pursuing her lips to the lips.
Aidine, she who understood nothing of the drama going on around her, saw her father and smiled.
"Ah, father," she exclaimed, delighted, an innocent and ignorant girl, still knowing only the veiled happiness of every cherished child." I saw mother's wings, I am in the great secret now too. And she told me that I too can sleep there sometimes."
Erian raised his eyebrows as he returned her dazzling smile, which nevertheless added even more to the terrible pain that was eating away at him, and walked over to them.
"Oh, I see." he replied as he sat down next to his wife.
Ridas shook her head graciously.
"Yes, she saw them and loved them. Do you realize that our baby had not been frightened by my wings? ".
"No, of course, she wouldn't have been. She's our baby after all. She can see farther than most people."
"Or not far enough."
"You know as well as I do that she has an extraordinarily clear mind. That's why she'll never hate you for it."
Continuing to completely ignore her parents' painful exchanges and her father's words that they should leave her, a serene and happy Aidine focused on the game, pondering the next move she would have to execute to escape her mother's riders.
"Mom, it's your turn." She reminded her almost sternly.
"Yes, I'm sorry sweetie. Mommy was a little quiet. But you'll see, I'm going to beat you. For starters, my riders are going to surround you in the flying cave!"
As she grimaced at her mother as she did as she said she would, Aidine suddenly thought of something.
"Now that I think about it. Mom, am I going to get wings too?"
Ridas and her husband exchanged an eloquent look.
"No, honey, you're not going to get any," the queen finally replied with her veiled eyes. "Because, you know what?" she added teasingly, to lighten the harshness of her answer. "Your father's genes are too strong."
"But you like those genes, don't you!" The father argued in his wife's delicate ear while nibbling passionately and wrapping a possessive arm around the young woman.
The royal couple looked at each other for a moment and then kissed, under the bright eyes of their only daughter, who smiled with happiness and pride.
It was a moment of beauty that was to be their last. Teis Koroth disappeared that very night, wiping out all her daughter's memories of her, and a few months later, her father, King Erian Koroth of Aedor, died in what was to be a historic event, but just not in the right way.
$Chapter