The Queen in the South

The Private Guard

She really was a talkative person. And she seemed to have a lot of information stacked in that head of hers.

"Is it possible for me to write a letter?" I asked.

She gave me a sympathetic look. "Do you want to get in contact with your family back in Tren?"

I nodded.

"Well, that should not be a problem. It's just that most of the royal letters have to get reviewed by Ms Evangeline, she is the one who supervises what information goes in and out of the castle."

I rose a brow at Mikayla. "My letters have to be monitored."

Her eyes widened. "Oh no, don't look at it in a bad way, Princess, it's just that royals have to be very careful about what they say. Even joking about starting war with another kingdom could cause conflict. Oris is, as a whole, incredibly peaceful but you'd be surprised at how fragile peace usually is."

I guess I understood that to some certain extent.

But how was I supposed to tell Mama and Papa how frightened I was here without everyone finding out?

How was I supposed to write to Flint?

"Hey! Are you trying to burn my hair off?" I heard a yell come from somewhere.

I turned and looked out from the open hallway we were walking in.

It turned off to a narrow stone hallway that curved into an area I couldn't see.

"Keep your head down and you won't have to worry about that!" Another voice responded.

A chuckle followed. "Hey Nick! Don't just talk the talk!"

I heard the sound of something or someone dropping.

Then thuds on the ground as if someone were running. I turned and raised my brows at Mikayla.

She grinned.

"Prince Aiden and his private guard must be having their training session. Come on, let's go watch." She spoke in excitement before turning off and rushing towards the narrow passage.

I was surprised to see that the narrow passage opened up into a wide canvas, like a fighting arena.

We were on an elevated platform that contained seats arranged in a circular pattern that looked down at the flat concrete ground that served as the platform for the benders.

I immediately recognised Prince Aiden in the centre of the arena.

Trina stood not so far off, casually leaning against a pillar.

Beside her was a girl with dark hair as well as Princess Azura. She had replaced the white gown I had seen her in earlier with a black combination of a top and trousers. Her red locks were tied up in a high ponytail. The dark haired girl and Trina were dressed in a similar way. A burly guy stood next to Trina as well.

They were all focused on one thing, Prince Aiden.

The Prince was in a battle stance that I had seen Flint in many times before.

Legs slightly bent and arms outstretched.

'Perfect attack/defence stance.' Flint would always tell me.

There were two men circling Prince Aiden, they all watched each other, as if waiting for the other to make a move.

"Are you ladies still dancing about? Do something already!" The dark haired girl yelled.

Without a warning, I saw a fire ball leave the hand of one of the two guys, the one with tanner skin.

It went straight towards Prince Aiden but he swiped his hand and seemingly absorbed the ball before throwing it back to his attacker.