Erivale: The Lost Princess

Chapter 7: Part 1

As the sun rose and dawn spread light through my bedroom, I sleepily peeled myself off of the floor. I was covered in paint; splotches of blue dotted my fingers, there was a streak of red on the hem of my dress, a palette of pinks on my sleeves, and the evidence of grey smears on my legs. Fenrir was curled up next to me and let out a yawn as I awoke him.

My body felt stiff and achy and somewhat disoriented at what had transpired the night before. I remembered being quite restless and then deciding to paint, but everything after felt like a blur.

Standing I looked over the canvas atop the easel, which was no longer a pristine white and was instead showing a group of races sitting around a round table.

I gasped as the revelation struck me. This painting was the vision I had seen last night; I had thought it was a dream. It showed the Ursa, the Garuda and Lilitu, the Centaur and Faun, the Syreni and Nereide, and the Elves. It also showed the Elf in the background with the strange navy-blue magical energy.

I jumped in surprise when Leda was announced by the guards, and I quickly grabbed another canvas and set it over my painted one so that she would not immediately see. I wasn't entirely sure what I had seen, and consequently created, and I didn't want to reveal it to someone else. The warning Ulric and Gerard had told me during our travels was still fresh in mind.

Leda's eyes widened in shock when she saw me, and I worried that I hadn't completely covered the painting. "What happened to you?" She asked and hurried to my side to pull at the hem of the nightgown. Relief flooded through me when I realized she was asking about the paint that was covering my body.

"I was having a hard time sleeping, so I decided to paint for a while. It got a little messy." I gave her a bashful smile.

"We will have to get you cleaned up right away. There isn't much time until your etiquette lesson." Leda rushed me into the bathroom, where she helped pin my hair up while the bathwater filled up. I was pushed into the tub, and she set to work scrubbing my skin raw to get all of the remnants of paint off. Soon the water was filled with flecks of orange, purple, and blue specks that had once been covering my skin.

When she was finished, my skin was bright pink, and I was quickly being stuffed into another dress. This one was light blue and wrapped across my front and tied at the waist. My breakfast still sat untouched on the coffee table--well, mostly untouched. Fenrir was trying to steal a piece of meat that was likely a type of sausage.

To say my day started off busy would have been an understatement, and I was already starting to redefine busy after yesterday. I was trying to eat breakfast while Leda applied the healing cream, makeup, and did my hair.

At the same time, Gerard and Soren were going over yesterday's etiquette topics while also teaching more about the difference between a duke and a count. Apparently, a duke is someone bearing the highest aristocratic rank while an earl was more of a middleman of the refined world. Then there was also marquis, counts, viscounts, and barons. On top of that, I had to learn who was who of the Ithican royal court.

I also had to learn everyone that was part of the Unified Nations Council, which was probably the most important. Most of the council members were paired up by each nation.

Gelida was championed by Walcott and Sabah Burnouf. Fjell had Dacey and Vada Enrouf. Silve was represented by Vicente Godefroy, the Centaur who spoke for the Centaurs and Minotaurs, and they were also represented by Canaan Estur, the Faun, who spoke for the Satyrs and Fauns. Last but not least, from Breeze was Radburn and Nenet Varanger.

Long story short, I had a lot of names and countries and relationships to keep track of. At least all of the representatives on the council were either kings or queens, which made that somewhat simpler. Maybe.