When Stars Align

Aries

"A letter from Capricorn? What buisness do they have here?"

"Mother please don't be that way." As the Queen opened the letter, she saw that it was a request for the Princess of Capricorn to pay a visit. She barely could recall the face of the princess when she had last saw her at the Elemental Games. All she did remember was that she had an enjoyable time with her. Usually it was only the other fire kingdoms that had requested to come over, so for an earth kingdom to request walking on Arien territory... it was rare.

"What does it say?" The former Queen of Aries asked.

Closing the letter and placing it on her lap, she snapped her fingers to signal a glass of water. "Looks like we'll be having a royal guest soon. The Princess of Capricorn wishes to speak to me in private."

"How long will she stay? And when did you become aquianted with the Princess of Capricorn?"

With a shrug, the Queen looked into the pits of fire in front of the thorn from which she sat in. "I don't know. But I want a room prepared for her as soon as possible - with furnishing and food from her country to make her more comfortable."

Her mother respected how kind and generous her daughter was, but couldn't allow her to be so careless. "Stella, you hardly know this girl and what she wants. No other kingdom comes to us unless they want something. Usually it's men for war or explosives. We also don't know what circumstances she's under. Let me see the letter."

Reluctantly, Stella passed over the letter to her mother who examined it throughly.

"So?" She asked before taking a drink of water.

Her mother closed the letter and handed it back to her. "Seems innoccent. But she'll need to be searched before entering the kingdom."

"I know mother. Since father died four years ago I've been Queen. I know how this works."

There was a horrid atmosphere of silence between them. Whenever things got like this, Stella's mother would continue to complain and Stella would continue to listen. Though her mother was no longer in power, she was still holding onto whatever control she had over her daughter. Most days Stella would listen, and other days Stella excused herself to get away from the bickering.

"Did you ever write back to the Prince of Leo?"

"No, I haven't gotten to it yet."

"Stella!"

"Mother, relax ! He doesn't need an immediate answer from me. I could do without him being here at all."

"And what of your combat training?"

"All in a days work."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means nothing."

Getting up from her throne, Stella walked towards her chambers and requested the messenger to meet her there at once. Aries was a country ruled by the ruthless and controlled by the powerful. Stella was neither of those, leaving her in a very vulnerable position. Though knoweldgable in politics, language, and manners, when it came to combat she was useless. Once her father died of illness she was forced to take ownership of her father's title. Rumors about the innoccent and weak Queen spread and the country was hit with several requests which took advantage of the Queen's generous nature. Because she had never learned to stand up for herself, Aries began to fall because of their young Queen.

That was until the day Leo joined Aries as an ally.

Suddenly the trumpets resounded to signal the arrival of a royal party. It was not long since Stella recieved the letter. There was no way it was Princess Alexandria already.

She walked to the entrance escorted by two gaurds on either side of her. The doors manifested a blonde with a full set of hair and strong jawline, with a pair of deep brown eyes that warmed to see her.

"Stella, how have you been? You look unwell."

"Leonardo, what are you doing here?" she asked sheepishly. "I was just about to respond to your letter until I heard the trumpets."

"I couldn't wait to see you", the prince grined as he kissed the back of her hand. "The heart wants what the heart wants afterall."

"Right... Why don't you meet me in the sandpit. I have buisness I need to attend to."

As she turned away from him, Leonardo grabbed her hand and pulled her back to him. "Your buisness is my buisness. Let me go with you."

"I'm an Arien, Leo. I was trained to take care of myself", she scoffed.

"Yes, but you're not very good at it."

With a grin he quickly stole a kiss from her lips. Stella jumped, embarrassed and angered, but marched away with whatever pride she had remaining. "Gaurds, make sure you lead the Prince to the sandpit and keep him there!"

"Aw, c'mon Stella!"

As Stella closed the door behind the froier, she touched her lips with the tips of her fingers. If it was anything good about that man it was the feel of his lips. Forcing the pleasure of his affections out of her head, she headed back to her room to send the letter to Princess Alexandria and have a change of clothes. The attire for the women of royal class was always revealing armor meant to distract enemy opponents. But in front of the Prince of Leonardo, Stella couldn't help but feel the need to cover up.

Changing into the most conservative attire she had, she requested the letter to Alexandria to be sent and made her way to the sandpit. Soldiers and servants were already training out there for more than an hour in the hot sun. Stella didn't know how they could push themselves so hard in the heat. Even Leo seemed to be dying under the blazing rays of the sun.

"Why did you cover up so much? It's about 100 degrees out here", he teased.

"Oh, you would like to see me take off my clothes, wouldn't you", she snickered. "Lets go inside where it's cooler."

Following her inside, Leo knew Stella wasn't fierce. But when it came to matter of the heart, she was at her strongest. Stella just didn't know it as of yet.

"Stella, there's a reason as to why I came here. An important reason."

Turning around, she looked at the blonde through her blue eyes. "Is everything okay?"

"It's about our kingdoms. We recieved news that the Princess of Scorpio is being wed to the Prince of Cancer. On top of which, Princess Helda of Pisces is being married to Prince Anthony of Scorpio."

"So all three kingdoms are under a secure alliance now..."

The prince nodded his head. "The Water Kingdoms are going to be one empire. At the looks of things, I have a feeling that Scorpio is going to be the lead power. Rumor says that they plan on having the rest of the kingdoms go under one rule... Their  rule. "

Stella shook her head. "But they're just rumors for now. We don't know if there's any proof."

"The proof is in their actions!" He looked at Stella with grave eyes. "Stella, we need to act now to protect our kingdoms. Out of the three fire kingdoms, we are the strongest. My country owns all the gold in the world, yours has the strongest men. We can get anything with power and wealth."

The Queen looked away from him, knowing what he was going to propose. "So you want us to marry as soon as possible?"

When she looked back at Leo, he was already on one knee, with a diamond ring in his hand.

"Let us be the ones to protect what we've been given by the Gods."