VI

Her Highness, the Naive

In the bright, spacious waiting quarters of one of Castle Telliore's hallways, sitting on either end of a small, rectangular coffee table, were an Aquatic and an Eelike. 

The Aquatic, a handsome, if somewhat scrawny and rugged boy, despite his clear and deliberate grooming to appear inhumanly refined, was Alexander Midas. The son of a prestigious noble family, he was a long time friend and suitor of the crown princess. His curly, dirty blonde hair brought a sort of boyish charm to his otherwise regal and colorful outfit, in a way that made him look a bit out of place in his own body. Nonetheless, anyone could see the naive purity seeping out of the boy's skin every time he so much as smiled at a stranger- which he did often.

The Eelike, by the name of Lotus, was a tall, toned girl, her grey skin and yellow marks complemented by her attire with an elegance seldom afforded to someone of her race. Her ashy, slightly wavy hair cut off at her neck, her shirt's simple yet striking patterns ending abruptly to leave her midriff bare, there was something about her that many would call curt, though the reason why was unclear. 

Sophisticated but approachable, she was, by all legal means, nothing more than one of Genevieve's many personal servants. But any citizen of the kingdom could tell you that she was far more important than that, and served as something more akin to a retainer for her highness.

Lotus lazily danced her finger around the rim of a teacup she had recently emptied while passing time with Alexander, not quite out of her morning haze yet.

"I feel like we've been seeing so much of you lately." Lotus said. "Is your family finally loosening your leash a little?"

"Ah," Alexander stuttered, "I suppose. Really, it's because I'm frequenting the palace that I've been allowed outside of home so much more. Time spent with her highness justifies absence from tutoring, in their eyes."

"Interesting." Lotus grunted, deep in thought. "Nobles are so strange. Does it ever get tiring, shaping your life around wooing her?"

"Yes." Alexander said, bluntly. "Does it get tiring spending your life as her workhand?"

"Hm. Touché." Lotus shrugged.

"Honestly, I'd love to see more of the kingdom." Alexander continued. "Or even to visit the other districts. But so long as all the other noble families are here, we can't really afford to spend time on anything else. Diversity can wait 'till I'm king. Er, if I'm king."

"You shouldn't have to throw yourself away for this." Lotus pleaded. "You have an entire life outside of this place's stupid politics. The kingdom would benefit from a king that's gotten to be a person first. And… Genevieve likes you."

"So I've heard you, and only you, say." Alexander laughed. "Say any of that to my mother, and she'd cut your tongue off for it. It's fine Lotus, I've long since come to terms with my role here. But it's sweet of you to concern yourself over me. The kingdom is so lucky to have you."

"And the world would be lucky to have you, if you'd go to it." Lotus responded.

Their conversation was cut short by the creak of an opening door. Stepping out between both guards holding either door to her personal chambers, Genevieve Carretero yawned, stretched her arms out, and curtsied for her two friends, who bowed to her in return.

"Good morning, Genevieve." Lotus said, picking up a small bag of candies sitting on the table by her, and presenting it to Genevieve. "I passed by a vendor selling these in the food court on my way here. I had them heated up for you, but- ah, you slept in today."

Genevieve chuckled. "I'm sorry, Lotus. And thank you! You know you could have come in and woken me up, right?"

"And leave Alex alone just to interrupt your rest?"

"Hey, don't blame me!" Alexander said, pretending to be more offended than he was. "It's not my fault you forgot Her Highness is an insomniac."

"Good morning to you too, Midas. It's fine, really." Genevieve said, taking the bag from Lotus. "These are Bit Crystals, aren't they? They're perfectly fine cold."

Genevieve took out a candy, popped it in her mouth, and walked off, her friends following closely behind her.

"Did you sleep well, Your Highness?" Alexander asked, eagerly walking up beside her and offering his arm. "Your hair looks incredible this morning- especially if you just woke up. I regretfully have to spend an hour of my day just to get this much."

"I slept fine, Midas." Genevieve smiled, not taking his arm. "You've complimented my hair twice this week. Nothing about it’s changed, you know."

Alexander put his arm back to his side, and smiled awkwardly. "Ah. Well, it's the most decent way to compliment Your Highness on her appearance, isn't it?"

"I’m twenty two- there's no need to be decent about it, Midas. I already know I'm attractive" Genevieve lightly slapped him with the back of her hand, and turned to walk away. "A lady would do well to know you're interested in more than just her hair."

Alexander stumbled a little at the comment. Lotus laughed, and patted him on the back.

The lower floors of the palace were as loud and busy as ever, one of the few traits that made Alexander almost prefer being tied down to his chair at home. Lotus, being raised and trained to be a part of that chaos, found a sort of music in the madness. And regardless, the three of them never had to worry about being caught up or overwhelmed by it all, since so long as they were beside the princess, people knew to keep a good six feet of distance between them, lest the soldiers littered about the room get nervous.

The group had reached the main lobby; a massive plaza where the front doors of the entire building led and most of the temporary vendors did their business. Genevieve stopped walking as she noticed an Aquatic man holding an Eelike boy by the hand, the two of them looking up at a baker's menu, much to the Eelike's excitement. Genevieve smiled, and once Lotus and Alexander noticed what she had stopped for, so too did they.

"Huh, look at that." Lotus said. "Good for him."

"I should really do something to encourage them. I'm…" Genevieve said, trailing off. "I'll be right back."

Genevieve stepped away to approach the pair. Lotus and Alexander watched as she had a short conversation with them, the Aquatic man clearly very excited, and terrified, to be approached by the Princess so suddenly. Genevieve knelt down to chat with the young Eelike, reaching for her coin purse.

"Why is it that we never see fosters going anywhere with their kids?" Alexander asked, squinting.

"Well…" Lotus said, trying to recall the entire fostering process well enough to explain. "Because Eelike foster care isn't really designed to create parents. It's a labor program."

"Labor?" Alexander asked. "What do you mean? I mean, I know child labor is the norm with fosters, but the kingdom doesn't have anything to do with that, does it?"

Lotus shook her head. "It has everything to do with it. You know how the kingdom's adulthood threshold is twenty-four for our races- so there aren't any adult Eelikes who aren't feral?"

"Yeah, I know." He nodded. "But that was to protect Eelikes from having to answer to crimes as adults. What does that have to do with labor?"

"Well, what that threshold does is ensure that no Eelikes have legal parents, and can't employ themselves like adults can. We still have to protect Aquatic children from being taken advantage of, after all. So, now we have a race of unemployed children with no parents, and no money. You can't fix that by hoping enough Aquatics adopt them out of the kindness of their hearts. So, the kingdom set up a sort of loophole, where foster parents can 'employ' their own children for any number of jobs, so long as they pay them personally."

"So," she continued. "Aquatics will adopt an Eelike, then they will sign up for a job, but have their foster child do it instead. The employer will pay the parent, who pays the child, taking some cut for themselves. Now Eelikes are employed, and the kingdom isn't liable for any of it."

"So Aquatics do it for money." Alexander nodded. "That explains why they're not too concerned with acting like parents. That's terrible."

"Eh." Lotus shrugged. "It gives Eelikes autonomy, and they need the money. If they don't like it, they can always just defect. The only way to fix it is to get real parents back into these kids' lives. And the only way to do that is to cure the reversion."

"Right." Alexander said. "So… what about you? Do you have a foster parent?"

Lotus nodded. "Mhm. Just as a legal formality, though. Andrus Beorc, a member of the Carretero's mage circle. I haven't seen him in years."

"I saw him two days ago." Said Genevieve, who had snuck back and surprised Lotus and Alexander. "He asked me about you, actually."

"Huh. Is he well?"

"He's fine, just getting on in years. I think all that wasted effort trying to impress my mother aged him." Genevieve laughed. "Should we get going?"

The two nodded, and followed the princess out of the palace, into the lush city streets of Seaspring. The sun, far above, pushing through miles of water, weaved between dozens upon dozens of stretching noble estates, each competing to be taller, wider, and more luxurious than the last. Much like the noble families themselves, who played no governmental role different than any commoner, these buildings spared no expense in their efforts to appear as though they were a part of the palace from the moment it was built, instead of being one of the many homes inhabiting the outer city surrounding them.

The trio spent a few hours wandering around these streets, greeting her highness' subjects as they passed them, talking about nothing, and enjoying spending time in each other's company. It was an experience that had become gradually rarer as the children grew older. As Genevieve matured, and her responsibilities as crown Princess grew, she became ever busier, meaning so too did Lotus. But on days like these, when their three vastly different lives aligned to grant them reprieve at the same time, they could almost feel their kingdom's burdens slipping off of their backs.

Their reverie was interrupted by the sound of a door being violently kicked open. From a nearby building, a group of about six Eelikes, ranging in age from about twelve to nineteen, stormed out, in an armed battle with two guards who they had just pushed out onto the street.  The three friends shot to attention as one of the older Eelikes pinned an already bruised soldier down with her foot, raising her axe and preparing to swing down on her victim.

"Stop!" Alexander shouted, immediately running up to protect the downed soldier. Lotus tried to grab his arm and stop him, but reacted just barely too late.

Alexander lept in the Eelike's way, blocking her arm with his and pushing her away before she could send the axe down on the soldier's neck. 

"Who the hell-!?" The Eelike grunted, stepping back and squaring off against Alexander, who was unarmed. Lotus took her bow out, as Genevieve began preparatively flipping through her spellbook.

As the soldier scrambled to his feet, more of them quickly joining the scene, the Eelikes looked at Alexander curiously, before one noticed Genevieve watching not far away.

"It's the Princess!" She shouted. "He's with the princess, grab him!"

In an instant, another Eelike swept up behind Alexander, pinned his arm behind his back, and stuck a knife up to his throat. Alexander yelped, as the two began backing away from the guards, now keeping their distance with lances and tridents.

"W-what are you doing this for!? Just let-" Alexander started, before his captor quickly silenced him.

"Shut up!" He hissed. "You shut your pretty mouth or I'll carve it out!"

"Alright, enough!" Genevieve shouted, stepping into the center of the standoff, her presence earning the attention- and silence- of both guard and criminal on either side. Lotus, arrow at the ready, watched Genevieve's back without so much as blinking.

"You." Genevieve said, pointing at the oldest looking Eelike,whom Alexander had stopped. "I assume you know who I am. Tell me the meaning of this."

"W-we're-" The girl started, catching herself, and lowering her voice so as to not yell at the princess. "We're refusing relocation, your highness! Our fosters reassigned our jobs… b-but we don't want to go! And your soldiers are trying to force us out! W-we're not moving!"

"I see. And what reassignment are you so upset about?"

"We're getting put into resource transport!" Another Eelike cut in. "I'm a blacksmith's apprentice, w-we all had good jobs here, in the city! We're doing good things, your highness! Don't make us go!"

"You've certainly picked a frustrating method of voicing your concerns." Genevieve glared. "Why not tell your fosters, or even a labor organizer, about your complaints?"

"We tried!" The first Eelike pleaded. "We really tried, but they won't listen! They said the kingdom needs transport workers- something about a new trade route. They just want the better pay, they were trying to take us by force! That's why we're attacking!"

Genevieve nodded, and slowly started walking towards the Eelike holding Alexander. "I understand. They're right, though. The kingdom does need this trade route, someone does have to do the transporting. This could be unbelievably important for the kingdom. For all of us, you know that?"

"I don't care!" She shouted, no longer bothering to control her voice. "I've been in the caravans before! I can't go back to it! I can't take the thieves- the constant moving- t- the sleeping in tents, I finally got out! I f- y- you can't do this to us!"

"I promise you, we're doing everything we can to make transport work as safe and comfortable as we can." Genevieve said calmly, still approaching the group. "You're doing a great service to your people, and you'll be rewarded for that, with more than just coin! I'm sure the industry's already leagues better than you remember it being-"

"Shut up!" The Eelike screamed. "You shut up! You're a monster! Y-you're all f-fucking monsters!"

"Stay back!" Another Eelike yelled, swinging his weapon to scare Genevieve away. She tensed up, but held her ground.

"Calm down!" Genevieve said. "Let your hostage go, and we can talk about this-"

An Eelike standing behind Genevieve took a running step towards her, spear in hand. As soon as his foot hit the ground, Lotus instinctively let her arrow fly, sending it clean into the Eelike's shoulder. He stumbled back, and cried out in pain.

"-GAH!" He whimpered, audibly terrified and hurt. "S-she shot me!"

The rest of the Eelikes quickly started panicking as well. Genevieve shot a quick glare Lotus' way, before flicking her wrist and casting a spell on the Eelike restraining Alexander.

"Now, Midas!" She shouted, as the Eelike felt his body tense and lock up, gasping in confusion as he was rendered unable to move a muscle on his own.

Alexander nodded, sent his elbow into the Eelike's jaw, breaking free and pushing himself away, rushing to Lotus' side.

The Eelike group broke into an outright riot, leading with their weapons and swinging wildly at the nearest target, trying to keep anyone and everyone away from them as guards rushed in to subdue them.

"Off me! GET OFF ME!" One Eelike screamed as a soldier tried to disarm him. Genevieve, herself freezing up, went back and forth on if she should try to deescalate the situation or simply flee. As the Eelike wrestled his weapon free from the soldier's grasp, he turned and saw the inactive Princess, her spellbook still out, and made a mad dash to attack her.

Genevieve hardly noticed him amidst the chaos until he was already face to face with her. She took a step back, and defensively held her hand up, scaring the boy even further. He quickly raised his shaking sword over his head, but before he could swing, he felt a sharp pain in his side, as a soldier dug a lance into his chest.

The boy yelped as he fell to the floor, pinned down by the weight of the soldier and his lance. Genevieve, Lotus, and Alexander all watched in horror as another soldier ran up to defend the princess. The boy dropped his sword and held his arm over his head as the second soldier readied his trident above the Eelike's head.

"NO!" Genevieve shouted- much too late, as the soldier had already sent the trident through the boy's neck, piercing him into the clay ground below.

Everyone in eyeshot of the riot, whether they be participants or passerby watching the chaos, dropped to a complete hush as the sound of piercing metal rang throughout the square, accompanied by the small stream of blood lightly drifting up- dissipating into the water without a trace, no more than a foot above the wound.

Lotus dropped her bow. Alexander covered his mouth with his hands. Genevieve looked into the boy's eyes with terror as they stared off at nothing. He had died instantly.

The other Eelikes trembled, even them not daring to move or make a sound. He looked to be about fifteen, some were younger than him, some older. All of them, too afraid to comprehend what had just happened to them.

The soldiers- after stopping for that one terrifying moment, finished apprehending the other five Eelikes, who no longer resisted in the slightest. In a matter of minutes, the criminals were detained, put in a carriage, and sent off to a juvenile prison just outside the city limits of Murkhaven.

The boy's body was taken to be identified, so a funeral could be held for him. The soldiers, having taken the necessary steps to protect the Princess, returned to their post. Genevieve stayed in that square for another ten wordless minutes, before Lotus and Alexander finally dragged her back to the palace.

Genevieve didn't say a word until she was back in her quarters, sitting on her bed, and staring at the floor. Lotus and Alexander both stood by her side. Alexander wasn't allowed in the Princess' quarters, but Lotus told the guards to look the other way, which they did not object to.

"I… I don't… I just don't understand." Genevieve mumbled.

"They did what they felt they had to." Lotus responded, nearly biting her own tongue for saying it. "Extreme measures have to be taken to protect you. If I felt your life were in danger, I… I can't say I wouldn't have done the same."

"But her life wasn't in danger." Alexander argued. "That was a kid! A child with a- a metal stick! You'd have to be out of your mind to think he could have seriously hurt her!"

"I know that, but she's royalty!" Lotus shouted. "We can't- w-we can't take any risks with her life, they had already gotten violent! Who knows what he might have tried to do!"

"I've never had anyone kill for me before…" Genevieve whispered. "I… I always thought it would be an invader, or a noble after my crown. Not… not this!"

Genevieve whimpered, and sunk her forehead into her hands. Lotus sat beside Genevieve, hugged her, and caressed her hair, whispering comforting words to the girl.

"Why… why even go this far to fight it?" Alexander started pacing around the room. "Couldn't they defect? Don't we let Eelikes defect specifically so they don't have to stay in the foster system?"

"Because they're afraid to, Alexander!" Lotus hissed, coming off more aggressive than she meant to.

She sighed, and continued. "If an Eelike defects from the kingdom, that's it. They're not a citizen anymore. Not its responsibility- they don't exist. That makes it harder for the kingdom to provide them things like shelter, food, healthcare, anything."

"Why!?" He asked, pressing his temple with his fingers in frustration. "Why can't we just give them those things when they need them!?"

"Because we can’t!" Lotus hissed. "We’re-… We're overflowing with independent merchants and workers all trying to 'make it' by any means necessary, and the kingdom has enough trouble just keeping track of them. Every coin of gold spent- and who spent it- has to be recorded and accounted for, or we're going to lose our economy within weeks. I mean, even your tailor takes your name in every time you pay to get your shirt sewn, Alex!"

"Defecting Eelikes are on their own by all interpretations of that phrase." She concluded. "If those kids didn't want to live their lives sleeping in tents, they aren't going to leave the kingdom to join a tent community with their friends."

Alexander huffed, leaned his head against the wall, and closed his eyes. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Genevieve. I shouldn't have tried to…"

Alexander turned to look at Genevieve, who was still sobbing into her own lap, barely looking up to listen to him. Alexander paused, walked over to Genevieve, and kneeled to get at eye level with her.

"Hey." He started, gently taking her hand. "This is not your fault."

Genevieve did not reply, and tried to steady her breathing.

"You've done more- shown more compassion for these people than I've seen the rest of this kingdom show combined. And you aren't even Queen yet! If anyone's going to get us out of this impossible situation, it's you, Your Highness."

Genevieve looked at Alexander, and tried, fruitlessly, to force a smile.

"We believe in you, Genevieve. Your people love you. That isn't going to change."

Alexander stood up, and looked at Lotus.

"...I should get home."

"Goodnight, Alexander. It was good to see you again." Lotus muttered.

Alexander nodded, and walked out of the room, leaving Lotus to cuddle and soothe her Princess in relative privacy.