The Frost

Chapter Thirteen

"My Queen? Miss Ashley is here, as you requested." A maid announced to the Queen. She waved her hand, her eyes never leaving the view. She was standing on a balcony, her long dress hung up inside. Her hair was pooling around her shoulders, pulled up in a half ponytail to reveal her face. Her neck and ears were bare, the jewelry locked away. She was wearing a silk night gown, a robe tied overtop.

"I'm sorry, mi' lady, I did not mean to disturb you." Ashley said. She herself was dressed in a nightgown, her own robe keeping away the chill wind.

"Oh, you aren't at all Ashley. I am the one who invited you after all. Come, look out here. What do you see?" The Queen's voice trickled like a stream to Ashley's ears. Ashley cautiously approached the Queen, her eyes scanning the landscape. The sun was setting, casting a deep glow on the land, the mountains far in the distance black and creating a long shadow.

"I see mountains, and towns." Ashley admitted.

"That's because you're not looking hard enough. You see what's literal, what it could only be. The world is bigger than that, even this world. Far beyond the bustling towns, and the ranging mountains there's unknown things. Places not yet explored, or searched. It's a lot like a book, the cover gives you a glimpse of what's inside, but the actual story is why you want it."

Ashley looked back out the scene, but she honestly couldn't see any difference. She had never been one to dig deeper into the literal of things. And she couldn't fathom why the Queen has asked to see her. "I don't understand what the point is." But it her mind, it could only be good things. She had grown used to the palace life, and she couldn't imagine going back. Her parents, her old life, was gone, it was filthy and undeserving of the one she had now.

"There doesn't always have to be a point my dear. Although, I will admit now it not one of those times. You were thrust into this world with someone you could not imagine parting with. Tell me now, have you thought much about her?" Ashley looked down at the balcony's edge. Guilt swirled in her stomach at the mention of Claire, but she answered anyway.

"I do worry for her safety. She was horribly clumsy back on Earth, I can't imagine what she's doing now. It's just," Ashely hesitated for a moment, unsure if she wanted to continue. She decided she did, her fingers tracing patterns into the stone. "It's just she's different. She would never go off on some mission. She's not like that. Since I've known her she would always be on some sort of furniture with a book grasped in her hands. I know she's different than who she was before. Even though she used to be a thief. I'm not sure I like the new her." The Queen laughed, the sound like soft bells.

"Her life has been changed. She came here thinking she was merely human; only to find out she's the last creature in an endangered species. She changed to adapt to this world. Do you not think that you have changed also? It is not every day that we allow mere humans to stay in the palace. Well, above servants, but even they were once Ameliorates."

"Why should finding out she's like Elsa from Frozen change her personality?" Ashley scrunched up her face, purposefully ignoring the fact that she was a mere mortal, and her fate in this world rested in the hands of the woman in front of her and her husband.

"I do not understand your reference, but finding out about her power changed her entire point of view. She realized that everything she had once thought about herself was a lie. You aren't connecting the dots my dear Ashley, Claire Alina is like the world. She was given a cover, one that she often looked at and thought one thing and one thing only. Yet when she came here, it was like she opened the book. And now she is reading the story." Ashley looked at the Queen.