Between The Sea and The Sky

◈Until the Stars are All Alight◈

Legend has it that if a king and queen pray to Isarus, the God of the Earth, he will grant them the gift of a firstborn son worthy of being an heir. When his queen entered into her thirtieth year having yet to bear a child, the king of Aithelon grew desperate. His kingdom looked to him for guidance and protection. How could he show his enemies his kingdom's strength if he had no sufficient bloodline?

While the queen didn't share the same beliefs in Aithelon's gods as her husband did, she wanted nothing more than to please the king. With that thought alone compelling her, the king and queen prayed - day after day, night after night - for thirteen months for Isarus to grant them a son.

The couple had nearly given up hope when their prayers were answered, and the queen fell pregnant. News spread throughout the kingdom like wildfire, and nobles rejoiced. Within the castle walls, however, this joy was short-lived.

As the due date grew closer, the medical practitioner detected something the king and queen were not expecting. Two heartbeats. What the king and queen had once thought of as a blessing now made them weary.

"Do not fret," the medical practitioner told them as he returned his equipment into his bag. "The child born first will be the rightful heir. We shall mark him accordingly."

"What if the firstborn isn't a son?" the queen asked as she looked to the king, panic filling both of their eyes.

The medical practitioner smirked. "Who would ever know apart from the three of us?"

While the practitioner's words had given them momentary comfort, dread once again filled the king and queen the night the queen was to give birth. Only one maid was permitted to be in the room to assist the practitioner, sworn to secrecy. With the circumstances that occurred that night, her life depended on that agreement.

The firstborn was not a son as the king and queen had hoped and prayed for, but a daughter. Her soft cries echoed against the walls as the medical practitioner handed her off to the maid in disgust, turning his attention back to the unborn twin. One last chance for a true heir that would make the kingdom proud.

The maid held the baby close, cleaning the princess off as she hummed a lullaby, trying to soothe her cries. The lack of interest from the queen toward her daughter troubled the maid. How could a mother be this cold to their own flesh and blood?

"You've done it, Your Majesty," the medical practitioner said as he pulled the second baby close to him, rising to his feet so that the queen could see her son.

Smiling, the queen reached out to take the baby boy into her arms. She still had yet to even glance at her daughter.

"Call in the king," the queen ordered, and the practitioner promptly escorted the king into the room.

"A son," the king whispered. "We have an heir."

The medical practitioner bowed. "Luckily, your son was the firstborn."

The king glanced for a moment at the maid holding his daughter, eyes filling with an unreadable emotion. The maid instinctively pulled the baby protectively to her chest, worried what the king might do.

"Does he speak the truth?" the king asked, questioning her loyalty.

"Yes, Your Majesty," the maid replied with a bow, understanding that her response could very well be the thing that kept this beautiful baby girl swaddled in her arms alive.

--- Twenty-Four Years Later ---

Ari Rothchester peeked outside her curtain, impatiently waiting for the sun to finally set. Her parents followed the same routine every evening, always retiring to bed at nightfall. While Ari obeyed their rules during the day, at night she became much more daring.