"Where did you get these?" Felicity said running up to the dresses that laid on the beds.
I walked over and examined the two dresses that I'm certain Tyrus has stolen. Both dresses were a full length gown and extremely beautiful. One of them was a silver gown that looked like it would hug the chest and torso and relax as it fell, there was white long gloves on top of them and silver slippers beside it. The other dress right next to it was the same style only it was blue with silver linings along with silver gloves. The slippers that were next to it were the same shade of blue and had little designs in it that were silver.
I looked up at Tyrus and he had a huge grin on his face, "What do you think?"
I picked up the blue dress and started examining it, "I think you stole these dresses and that we are most certainly going to get caught".
Felicity had the silver dress pressed against her as if she were hugging the love of her life, "Ëthia! How could you say that? These gowns are to die for!".
"That's the problem" I said setting my dress down.
Jarom and Dax were outside talking and I started heading outside to join them.
"Princess" Tyrus said.
"Yes?" I asked turning around to look at him.
"The ball starts not too long from now and if you want to get in easily we will have to sneak you in as people are arriving".
I took a deep breath and walked back over to the bed with the dresses, "So who get's which dress?"
"I want this one!" Felicity said and bolted off around the corner to change.
I looked at the blue dress and picked it up, "Looks like this one is mine". I walked back to the same room as Felicity and began changing.
"Wow" Felicity said looking at herself in the mirror, "This dress is just gorgeous! Ëthia, what do you-"
Felicity stopped in mid sentence and looked at me with a huge smile on her face.
"What?" I said looking at her curiously, "Are you okay?"
Felicity didn't waste a second of time when she darted forward and grabbed my hand pulling me towards the mirror.
I stood there looking at myself and realized why Felicity had lost words.
My navy blue eyes were softly glowing which only added to the beauty of the dress that I was in. My hair still needed to be picked out and other minor things, but other than that I was extremely confident in the way I looked.
Felicity smiled and grabbed onto my arm, "Let's go show these boys what kind of beauty you and I have".
We finished making our hair and last touch ups and walked back into the main room only to have all the men look at us with awe written all over their faces. Tyrus's men looked at each other and then back at us with huge smiles on their faces while Felicity and I stood there trying not act like it was a big deal.
"You're right, the moon outside tonight is bright" Jarom said walking inside with Dax.
"Woah" Dax said and stopped walking completely.
Jarom stopped in his tracks and observed me from afar, slowly he walked up to me and had a look on his face that was completely stunned. His face seemed to be glowing for admiration for me and his green eyes seemed to get a little more intense, "Ëthia, you're absolutely-"
"Late!" Tyrus said, "We are all standing around completely unaware of the fact that we are not going to arrive at the ball on time. Ëthia. Felicity. Put those gloves on and grab those cloaks that we also stole for you, hurry up! The carriage is waiting".
"You stole a carriage?" Felicity asked with a smile on her face.
"Borrowing" Tyrus corrected with a huge grin.
Felicity and I each grabbed the full length cloaks that were hanging on the wall and put them on, Felicity grabbed the celestial white one and I grabbed the silver one.
We rushed outside and there was a magnificent green carriage waiting for us with four brown horses that were hooked up to the front.
"This is amazing" Felicity commented and started running her hand across the carriage, "Reminds me of parties that we had at my palace".
Tyrus completely ignored what Felicity said and began talking to Jarom and Dax, "Here", he handed some folded clothes to them and smiled, "You'll have to put these on in the carriage or something".
Jarom and Dax looked at each other and then back at Dax, "Why didn't we just-"
"We don't have time for questions! Go!" Tyrus yelled pushing them into the carriage.
Felicity and I started to get in the carriage when Tyrus handed each of us an envelope and gave us instructions.
"Remember that you must have these with you when you get to the gates, if you don't then they won't let you in, got it?"
Felicity and I nodded our heads in agreement.
"Once you make it to the ball itself you'll need to hand the announcer these envelopes and from there you'll find the prince in a heartbeat.".
Felicity and I climbed in the carriage and sat down.
A thought struck me and I couldn't help but ask the question to Tyrus
"Why aren't you coming with us?"
Tyrus turned and smiled, "I'll be there but I'll be stealing some things."
I was about to respond when instead Tyrus shouted to the driver and our carriage took off leaving him and his men disappearing behind us.
I turned my attention back to what was going on in the carriage and realized that all three of them were looking at me. "What?"
Felicity scooted closer to me and grabbed my arm, "By the end of tonight we will have the third member of our group".
"Hey!" Both Jarom and Dax said loudly.
"You know what I mean" Felicity defended, "After tonight we only need one more person and then we will be well on our way".
I smiled at Felicity and realized just how right she was, it was crazy thinking that we had come this far simply because some man told us that we would be.
I reached my hand forward and grabbed Jarom's hand while Dax put his hand on Jarom's shoulder, here we are, a group of people brought together by fate, simple sweet fate.
"What do you think the letters say?" Dax asked reaching for them.
Quickly I let go of Jarom's hand and slapped Dax's.
"Ow! What was that for?" Dax exclaimed taking his hand back.
"Tyrus told Felicity and I that we are not to open these until we get to the palace".
Dax sighed and crossed his arms across his chest, "Fine".
A while had past and soon the palace was in view, it was even more magnificent than the night before and Felicity was completely in love with it.
"I can't believe this is happening! A ball! A real ball!" She exclaimed.
I looked at Felicity with a smile and looked out the window with her in awe of all the beauty the palace had to offer.
"Everyone ready?" Jarom asked as our carriage pulled up to the main stairs that led up into the palace courtyards.
I took a deep breath holding the envelope firmly in my hand hoping that everything would go smoothly tonight, the last thing I needed was for something extremely unfortunate to happen.
The carriage came to a gentle stop and someone from outside opened the door and reached for my hand, gently I grabbed onto the man's hand and stepped out of the carriage.
'You can do this Ëthia, you can do this' I had to internally remind myself.
Eventually the carriage pulled away and Jarom, Dax, Felicity and I stood there looking up the staircase at all the people who were ascending it.
"Your invitation please" The man asked.
I turned my attention to him noticing that he was in a loose green silk shirt, green pants, and little green shoes that accompanied everything he was wearing.
"Invitation" He repeated softly again.
"Oh" I said snapping out of my daze of thought, quickly Felicity and I handed him the envelopes and he opened them and quickly bowed down to Felicity and I.
"My apologies" He said being full of fear, "I had no clue that the princess of the Air Realm was attending tonight, the Earthern Territory welcomes you".
"All is good" Felicity said in her most professional voice.
The man handed me the letters and had his look locked onto mine.
"Yes?" I asked being curious to as what it was.
"Your invitation said that you are 'Princess' of The Water Colony, but that's not possible".
I looked at the man and debated whether it was worth my time explaining but instead chose to head up the stairs and join the rest of the crowd.
"Why would Tyrus put I was Princess on there?" I asked once we were a good distance away from the man.
"You are the princess" Jarom added as he walked next to me.
"I know that" I sharply spoke, "But all it will do is cause more questions to be asked, it'll make things more complicated".
"I don't know, Ëthia" Felicity started, "People think the water colony doesn't have a leader, that they are just there, at least that's what I was taught in my lessons. I think it would be a great idea to start letting more people know".
We made our way up the stairs, through the courtyards, and past the multiple gates before we came inside the palace and entered into a massive hallway.
Our little group stepped to the side and our last minute worries and ideas started coming out.
"So what exactly is it that we do?" Dax asked first.
Felicity shrugged her shoulders and assumed that was good enough.
"From what I understand we need to walk in, hand theses envelopes to the person who is right at the entrance, and make our way into the ballroom itself" I explained.
Jarom began nodding his head in agreement and Dax followed after.
Felicity took a deep breath and then nodded her head.
"You all look ridiculous nodding your heads like this" I informed them, "But nonetheless, let's do this".
By the time we were done talking most of the people had past by us and were already in the ballroom leaving us to ourselves. We began walking to the main doors that led to the ballroom and gently Jarom grabbed my hand and walked beside me, I looked behind me and noticed that Dax had taken Felicity's hand and they took were walking in as a pair.
Reaching the front door a man swiftly stepped in front of Jarom and I and asked for the envelopes, I handed him both envelopes and he read them over with lot's of focus.
Almost instantly his eyes went wide as he looked back and forth between Felicity and I and then motioned for another guard to come over.
My hand began to clench Jarom's much tighter as I grew nervous as to what might happen,"I knew something like this was going to make everything difficult." I thought to myself.
The guard he had called over glanced towards us and then took the letters walking away swiftly and with purpose.
The main guard turned his attention back to us and motioned for Felicity and Dax to step in front of Jarom and I and then whispered something to Dax.
Dax turned around and looked at Jarom and then stepped to the side. The guard motioned for Jarom to come near him and soon Jarom followed Dax and stepped to the side.
I looked at Dax and Jarom with a questioning face and then realized that the guard motioned to me to step forward. With uncertainty I stepped forward next to Felicity and the guard ushered us in.
Soon Felicity and I were looking over a railing and down at all the people who were dressed in the most magnificent colors dancing on the floor. Music came from the corner of the room where a group of people sat and played instruments of all kinds while other people chatted in the corner or by the tables of food everywhere. Flowers and plants were placed all over the room giving it a lively quality with ribbons of greens hanging from the ceiling.
Then I spotted them sitting directly across from where Felicity and I stood. The Royal Family. I examined each of them and adored the beauty that they all had. The king was an older man but still had a charming look about him, he had tan skin, dark hair, well built, and you could tell that he was tall just from how much higher his head was than the other two. The queen had tan skin, long dark hair, was about his age, and was beautiful beyond words. And then there was his son, the young man we ran into in his own room, he wore a tight fitting green shirt the showed off how muscular he was and loose silk green pants.
The guard then grabbed a staff that was leaning up against the wall and started tapping the floor loudly with it, soon a loud echo sound emerged and everyone in the ballroom went quiet.
Felicity grabbed onto my hand firmly and I could tell we both were completely nervous.
"Your Majesty" the guard sounded loudly, "My Queen, and my Prince. We present to you today the Princess who has traveled far from her home in the high mountains, Princess Felicity".
The guard turned to Felicity and motioned for her to descend the stairs.
Felicity slowly let go of my hand and began walking down the stairs with as much grace as she possibly could, her cloak was still on with the hood down and the bottom dragged behind her with each step she took. Soon she reached the bottom and a guard came up to her and took her coat off her and walked away.
The people slowly separated creating a path that led directly to The Royal family and Felicity made her way to them and bowed before them.
"You will kneel until otherwise addressed" A guard from down below spoke.
Felicity gracefully dropped to one knee and lowered her gaze looking at the ground.
The Royal Family then looked up at me and suddenly my heart started pounding heavily in my chest, 'Deep breaths Ëthia, deep breaths".
"Traveling from the forest's of the water people and too our great land is the girl who takes claim of being The Water Princess. The Water Princess Ëthia".
I felt numb and wasn't sure if what I was experiencing was even real. I took one step down the stairs and people started gasping as they pointed towards me and whispered to each other. It was the oddest feeling I've ever felt, I was numb yet I felt every little thing, it's almost as if the world itself had slowed down and what I was experiencing wasn't even human.
With every step closer to the bottom of these stairs I felt like I was getting farther from reality, farther from what I had known and more into the unknown, a part of me even wished I was still trapped in that forest wandering around aimlessly.
I touched the light blue marbled floor and began making my way down to The Royal family when a guard came up to me and asked me for my cloak, swiftly I took it off and handed it to him and he walked away. I turned my attention back to The Royal Family and walked straight to them ignoring all of the whispers and pointing fingers that were coming my way.
My eyes locked with the princes's and instantly I could tell that a thought had come into his brain, I only hoped he didn't realize that I was the same girl who had been in his room the other night.
I bowed down and then knelt to the ground next to Felicity gazing at the floor.
"The princess of the Air Realm?" The king question.
Felicity lifted her head up and nodded, "Yes, your majesty".
"And what brings you to our ball? I don't even recall sending an invitation to you".
Felicity was quiet and I couldn't tell what his facial expression was considering my head was still down.
"I just thought I'd visit this wonderful land of yours"
"You" The king said powerfully, "Raise your head now".
The kings tone had changed completely when talking to Felicity compared to me, it was darker and more aggressive.
"Princess of what?" He asked critically .
"Princess of The Water Colony" I replied.
More mutters and whispers came from the crowd and the King instantly silenced them and turned his attention back on me.
"From what I've heard young lady the colony you speak of no longer has royalty, and I have very reliable sources.
I looked at the king and realized this is exactly what I wanted to avoid at all costs, explaining myself over and over again, especially in a group of hundreds if not a thousand people.
"You see, your majesty" I began, "Long ago my parents were murdered and shortly after my birth people in my palace raised me in secrecy for a short time so they could insure my safety, and here I am today".
The look the king displayed wasn't pleasant but rather he seemed irritated and unimpressed with me.
I was waiting for him to say something negative to me when instead he laughed joyfully and told the people to carry on dancing and for the music to start up again.
The king stuck his hand out and helped me up followed by Felicity.
Once we both were standing the king motioned for his son to walk forward and stand in front of us, "This is my son, Ivan".
Both Felicity and I bowed slightly down and the prince laughed a little.
"It's odd that you two would bow and not curtsy, interesting girls". Ivan spoke gently.
Ivan's voice wasn't anything of what you would expect it to be, it was calm, deep, comforting, and was clearly winning Felicity over.
Felicity's eyes were big for Ivan and I had to nudge her with my elbow for her to snap out of her little gaze.
"Sorry" Felicity said and tucked her hair behind her ear.
Ivan took another step towards Felicity reaching his hand out to hers, "Would you?"
Felicity looked up at him and was blushing like I have never seen her blush before, "Certainly" She replied.
The prince walked Felicity out to the middle of the floor causing the rest of the guests to form an immense circle around them, the music changed themes and suddenly the prince pulled Felicity closer to him and began dancing.
I wasn't sure how Felicity knew the dance or how she was feeling about dancing with him but she most certainly did look beautiful dancing on the floor with him.
I turned around to look back at the king and queen only to realize that they were gone, confused but not questioning it I thought it would be a good time to find Jarom and Dax.
I squeezed past people and of course got glares the whole way through this maze of bodies, I found myself at the stairs thinking I could just climb them and make my way out but knew that would grab too much attention.
I turned around and came face to face with Jarom.
Nearly tackling Jarom I hugged closely and held him tight, "How did you get in?"
Jarom pulled back so that he could look at me and had a genuine smile on his face, "The guards said that considering we aren't royalty or nobility we could enter through the staircase, we were led around and to here".
I looked to the side of him and didn't see Dax in sight, "Where's Dax?"
"Food table" Jarom replied looking over in the corner.
"Oh... Mind as well eat while the gettin is good" I said nodding my head in approval of Dax.
Jarom looked to my side and then back at me, "Where's Felicity?".
Instead of verbally answering him I looked towards the center of the floor and saw Felicity and Ivan gliding along closely together.
Jarom looked back at me with astonishment and then back at Felicity and Ivan, "Who is she dancing with?".
I glared at Jarom and waited for him to look back at me, "Who else could she be dancing with that would make everyone else stop and watch?".
"Oh, that would make sense. How is she already dancing with the prince?"
"That's what happens when you're beautiful" I replied.
Jarom put his hand around my waist and pulled me close to him, "She may be gorgeous but she'll never be as stunning as you".
I tried to fight it but a smile broke across my face causing Jarom to smile even bigger, "Thanks Jarom"
We watched Felicity and the prince dance until the music stopped and Felicity gave a curtsy and the prince and her walked off.
"Where do you think they are going?" Dax said getting back from the food table.
I started walking forward and began following them, "I'm not sure but we are going to find out".
For about the third time tonight I found myself pushing past people and getting glared down all in hopes to catch up to Felicity and Ivan before they disappeared.
"Stop" Two guards spoke as we were about to exit through the door that Felicity and Ivan just went through.
I stepped up to one of the guards and glared him down, "My friend just went back there and I plan on-".
"The prince didn't give you permission to follow him, therefore you stay here" The guard spoke back with a deep demanding voice.
I took a step back and looked at him with irritation but knew he was right, in my palace when I left no one was to follow me unless I gave them permission.
I looked at the guard for a while longer and then turned on my heels and walked away, "I wonder what they could possibly be talking about, they just met".
Dax, Jarom, and I made our way to the food table and stood their watching the people as they danced around and conversed with each other.
I began tapping my fingers gently on the tablecloth that was there and humming to the music the people in the corner were playing, although I wasn't one to dance often I had a little urge to waltz around the floor with Jarom, only I knew he couldn't dance to save his life.
I shook the thought off and focused back on the people.
"Ëthia".
I looked at Jarom and waited for him to reply, "Did you need something?".
Jarom didn't say anything but pointed towards the balcony that Felicity and I were standing on not too long ago and looked back at me with wide eyes, "What do we do?".
At first I couldn't tell what he was pointing at until a girl stepped forward dressed in a pure black dress, she had a few men with her who were also dressed in black and there faces had masks over them.
Quickly Jarom and I got Dax and we bolted out one of the exits in which we were allowed to take.
Once in the hallway Dax yanked his arm away from Jarom and stood there looking at me, "What's going on!".
I didn't have time to explain and knew that Dax would ask more questions over and over, "I promise I'll explain everything once we are out of here".
"But I thought we had to do this tonight!" Dax exclaimed.
I knew Dax didn't feel comfortable running around from something he didn't know but the story was too long, "There is this crazy assassin girl chasing us and she has a whole bunch of men with her, I don't know how on earth they found us but they did! So we've got to find Felicity and go!"
I didn't waste a moment of time before I bolted down the hallway and took the first left I could come to, no guards were down this hallway and I prayed that we didn't run into any at all.
Jarom and Dax slowed their pace and ran next to me making sure that I was in the middle in case an attack were to happen, at least that's what I was telling myself.
"Where would they go?" I asked outloud.
"Who knows" Jarom replied panting a little, "This palace is so huge".
We took turn after turn hoping that we might be able to find something familiar from last time but nothing worked. Eventually we stopped in the middle of the hallway we were in and leaned up against the white colored wall.
"This is ridiculous!" Dax said bending over his knees, "There was absolutely no reason to be running like that". He kept catching his breath and taking long pauses before going on, "Now please tell me what is going on. All I got is this girl is trying to assassinate you?".
I looked at Dax with a bit of irritation, "Yes, there is this girl who wants to kill me, why? Because there was this prophecy told about me and I'm positive that she is one of those people who is there to stop me from succeeding".
Dax took in a few more deep breaths and asked more questions, "And what is this prophecy that I have heard nothing about?"
"She's going to kill someone of great importance" Jarom quickly added in.
"Who?" Dax replied back.
I licked my lips and looked away from him, "I don't know". I weakly admitted.
Dax was quiet for a moment and let the silence hang their in the air, "So wait, you're telling me that you're on this huge journey to kill someone, risking your own life and other peoples, but you don't even know who you're supposed to kill!?!".
Jarom shot a look to Dax and stepped forward, "Don't ever talk to her like that again".
Dax immediately took back what he said and apologized, "It's just crazy that you're running off faith and not proof or facts".
I moved closer to Dax and stood in front of him, "If you saw half the things Jarom and I have seen you would have faith too. Now come on, let's go find Felicity".
We quickly began walking down the massive hallway that had ceilings that seemed to go up forever along with endless amounts of statues and pictures decorating the place. We past by a few servants who really didn't seem to mind that we were walking through the palace and kept on with their own business.
We came to a hallway and soon I remembered exactly where we were, "This way" I directed to them.
Soon we were opening the door to the prince's' room not wasting anytime.
"Felicity" I whispered loudly.
"Ëthia?" Felicity said from above.
I looked over in the corner and saw Felicity by the balcony looking down.
"How did you know I was here?" She asked descending the staircase.
"We didn't, when do we actually ever know where to go?".
She gave all three of us a hug and then walked us up the stairs.
"Remember being in here last time" Jarom joked and we all started to laugh.
Once at the top floor of the room we saw Ivan in standing in the middle of the room looking at us.
I looked at Felicity, "So what did you two talk about?"
"She caught me up on everything so far, at least from what she knows" Ivan answered.
"And?" I asked.
Ivan slowly pushed past me and walked down the stairs, "I simply can't".
I began walking down the stairs and caught up to him, "But why not?".
"Because I'm currently courting someone and am about to be united with them, I can't just leave all this, I'm about to become king".
"And I was about to become queen!" I shouted at him.
I don't know where it came from but suddenly I just exploded with passion, "Listen here, Prince Ivan, you can't just walk away from this and pretend that you never heard or saw us come here and ask you-"
"I won't pretend that I didn't hear or see you but that doesn't change the fact that I'm not going". He said and went and sat on his bed.
I wouldn't have it. I walked straight over there and slapped him across the face.
Ivan looked at me stunned and his face started turning red.
"Now you're going to listen to me!" I said looking him square in the eye, "I was supposed to be queen of my colony but here I am fighting for something so much bigger, and you have the wit to tell me that you can't because you're becoming king? Let me tell you something, you spoiled little brat, your crown is always going to be there! Always! You're the only child in this family, it's not going anywhere!".
Ivan looked at me and rubbed his cheek where I slapped him, "Did you just-"
"Yes" I Interrupted him, "Yes I did slap you".
Ivan looked at me and then at Felicity, "Is this how she got you to come with her?"
Felicity smiled, "No, not at all".
I moved myself a little on the bed and spoke with more seriousness, "Ivan, I know you're comfortable here and that this is where you'd rather stay, trust me, I would rather stay in my palace too. But people out there need us, I'm not sure for what reason, but people need us, you have to come with us, you just have to".
A knock at the door sounded and a voice followed, "Prince Ivan, are you there?"
All three of us looked at Ivan and wondered what we should do.
Ivan darted underneath the staircase and opened a door that none of us had noticed before, he motioned us to come to him and we each entered the little room and he shut the door behind us.
It was pitch black inside but we could hear everything perfectly that Ivan and his guest were saying.
"They've disappeared and we don't know where they are" The man's voice spoke.
"I don't know where they are" Ivan responded.
"Well where's the girl you were with earlier? Your father would like to speak to her".
Ivan was quiet a moment before he spoke again, "I finished talking to her a while ago, it's possible that her and her friends left".
"How did you know that she had more people with her?" The man questioned.
Ivan instantly got offended and started using his royal status, "I am the prince, who are you to question me? I have answered enough questions, now go".
We heard the door shut followed by Ivan opening the door to our little room.
We each stepped out and looked at Ivan being very impressed, "Well done" I said.
"Why are they looking for you? What exactly did you do?" He immediately questioned.
More questions, why must everyone ask so many questions? "Because of the prophecy, that's the whole reason all of us are here is because of the prophecy, and I really don't have time to explain the prophecy because it'll just lead to more questions".
"My parents are chasing you because of a prophecy?" Ivan asked.
I looked at him confused, "No, not your parents, some girl and her assassins are."
Felicity's mouth dropped instantly, "Ember's here?!"
"Who's Ember?" Dax asked
"Quiet!" I said loudly, "Stop with all the questions! Please just stop with all the questions! I will explain everything when we actually have time, but for now we need to get out of here".
Dax, Jarom, Felicity, and I all went to the main door and were about to go out when I realized that Ivan was still standing there, "Ivan, hurry".
"You three" He said as if something had just caught his attention. He walked over to his bed and leaned up against the post and looked at us, "That's who she was talking about".
I let go of the door knob and made my way to Ivan, "Who said?".
Ivan looked at me as if all of sudden everything seemed clear, "A woman came to me when I was walking through the gardens alone one day. She told me something along the lines of, 'you must trust the four who will be your door''. It was really odd, I didn't know what she was talking about until now, she was talking about you four, although I don't know what the door part meant.".
Jarom and I met eyes and shared the same mutual shock of what was going on, fate was absolutely working with us.
"Does this mean you'll go with us?" Felicity asked.
Ivan slowly nodded his head and without another word started putting a bag of things together while we stood there waiting.
"Did she say anything else by chance?" I directed towards Ivan.
Still a little stunned at what was going on he took a while to respond, "Before she disappeared, and she honestly just disappeared out of nowhere, she told me that your enemies are much closer to you than you think".
Ivan finished packing his bag and then told us to follow him, "I know a way out in which no one will see us"
It wasn't long before we found ourselves on the steps outside of the palace in which our carriage was waiting for us, we didn't waste a second of time and quickly climbed in and the carriage took off.
Dax, Jarom, and Ivan all sat on one side of the carriage while Felicity and I were on the other, I couldn't help but have a little smile escape from me and I reached my hand towards Ivan.
"Welcome to the group"
Ivan grabbed my hand and shook it, "Thanks".
The rest of the ride was dedicated to answering all of Ivan's questions along with some of Dax's, it was long but it was well worth it now that we all were on the same page.