On the day of Nora's coronation, the world was entrapped in a storm. Outside her window was a mania of the same incessant rain that had drowned the kingdom for days now, scraping against the glass panes like claws. It was still early morning, the sun barely risen but the castle was already alive with the flurry of a new Queen, the promise of a new era that the servants were hurriedly preparing for. Now doubt Nora's Mother was already awake, striding up and down the halls and commanding the servants to decorate the walls. Nora left her curtains open, overlooking her silent kingdom as she went to her doors, calling for the guards to send for her ladies.

The first to arrive was Lady Clarissa, throwing the doors open with a flourish as her red hair burned like a light in dim morning embers. Clarissa smiled at Nora and spoke in the same bright tone she always donned, her voice effortless and light as she closed the door. "Why do you frown, Nora? Today is a coronation for a Queen, a day of happiness and celebrations" Clarissa declared. "Today, you will be Queen of Inzurial, Queen of the most powerful kingdom in Alta. Here, how should I do your hair?" Clarissa stood behind Nora, tugging a brush through Nora's long, dark locks.

"What is fit for a Queen?" Nora murmured. "My whole life I have been one, and yet I hardly know"

"Braids it is" Clarissa decided, weaving Nora's hair into delicate designs. "Vanessa is bringing you a dress, something finished by the seamstress last night. A nice green gown, I'm told" Clarissa let her conversation drift to some gossip she'd heard being whispered amongst the castle. Something scandalous about a kitchen boy and a chamber maid. Nora's attention faded from Clarissa's steady chatter, her eyes watching her reflection in the mirror, studying her appearance. She had her Father's eyes, the same eyes that seemed to run in every member of the house of Cadere, pale, crystal grey eyes with lines of black dripping into the iris's like ink. Striking, she'd heard. Marks of royalty seared onto her face, marks she'd only ever seen on the portraits of her Father she'd been show.

Clarissa was braiding individual strands of Nora's hair, leaving some loose and pinning some back. It was a complicated hairstyle, braids weaving in between each other. Nora looked up as her door opened again, a fair haired girl stepping in with a dress thrown over her arm. "Vanessa" Nora greeted with a smile. Vanessa sauntered towards Nora and held out the dress. "Finished last night, the perfect dress for our Queen"

Nora took the dress in her arms as her two ladies hovered beside her, turning the soft silk over in her arms. The dress was dark green; Inzurial's signature the colour, the colour that dyed their knight's cloaks and their castle flags. Delicate gold embroidery covered the bodice, elegant flowers and swirls forming an intricate pattern on the fabric. "Oh, Vanessa, it's gorgeous" Clarissa gushed from beside Nora, her delicate fingers slipping across the garment.

"It is" Nora agreed, and Vanessa shot her a shining smile. Vanessa hurried Nora to get changed as Clarissa finished the braids, turning to Nora's jewellery box and rifling through the jewels. Shielded by the screen, Nora discarded her wine-red dress to the floor, exchanging it for the dress chosen for her coronation. It truly was stunning: the skirt was flowing and long, brushing gracefully against the floor as the gold caught the gentle light. Nora emerged from behind the screen and Clarissa tied up the back of the dress neatly, sitting her down at the dressing table.

"Oh, Nora, have you heard about the servants in the kitchen? It's all terribly embarrassing-" Vanessa said as she applied a power to my face. Clarissa quickly interrupted Vanessa, declaring that the story had been told. Vanessa shrugged and chose another reprehensible story she had heard from the castles gossip, but it quickly began to fade into the background as Nora's mind drifted to her coronation. Soon, she would be the true Queen of Inzurial, the most powerful person in all of Alta. Inzurial was the most powerful of all the eight kingdoms, and soon she would rule over it's legacy. Just as her father had so many years ago. Just as her Mother had ruled as regent for years. She had been trained for this moment her entire life, trained for her ascent to the throne and the battles she would surely face. While over girls had been picking flowers and running through the woods and climbing trees, her tutors had her analysing battle plans. It was all she had known. To be a Queen.

Vanessa finished powdering Nora's face, instructing Nora to close her eyes as she carefully selected colours from Nora's powders. Vanessa brushed a dark green powder over her eyelids, creating dramatic, black flicks over her pale skin. When Nora opened her eyes, she studied the shadows Vanessa had coloured her eyelids with, and the cat like flicks she'd lined her eyes with. She'd given her thick, dark eyelashes and applied a dusky rose to her lips. Before Nora could speak, Clarissa was placing a heavy, emerald necklace around her neck, the icy coldness of the jewels stinging against her paper skin. Nora selected some diamond earrings, shaped like teardrops raining from the storming sky.

"When is my coronation?" Nora asked, glancing at her ladies and standing up.
"Soon" Clarissa said, fiddling idly with Nora's hair. "This morning, once your Mother has frightened the servants into submission" Clarissa gave a small laugh, and Nora rolled her eyes.

Clarissa and Vanessa stepped back, observing Nora's appearance carefully, making little amendments and adjustments to her jewellery and her makeup. "How do I look?" Nora asked quietly, and Clarissa smiled.

"Like a Queen" She answered, and Nora glanced at her Ladies.

"Would you leave me?" Nora asked, and soon the room was left silent and empty and Nora stepped out to her balcony, overlooking the Kingdom and letting the billowing wind wash over her skin as she overlooked the gardens. The sun was rising on the horizon, glistening over the silhouette of Inzurial like a painting, and Nora could see the distant pinpricks of people beginning their day. Dreaming spires spiralled into the sky and twisting amongst the clouds.

Eventually, Nora heard a knock on her door as she called for her visitor to enter. Nora's guards entered, announcing that she was to be escorted to her coronation. Nora nodded, striding from her room as she walked a step ahead of her guards, emerging into the marbleised palace corridors. The maids and servants bowed as Nora passed, gracefully sweeping low to the ground in respect. The corridors cleared for Nora swiftly, and Nora wasn't sure if it was the guards or her who cleared the pathway. It was early, and so the servants were busying themselves with all their jobs for the day, and were the only ones roaming the halls in the dying sun. All the nobles were no doubt in the chapel or sulking in their own chambers, refusing to show their face as a sign of their disgust for the Queen.

The Guards stopped as they reached the grand doors of the chapel, which were closed on her, but Nora could still hear the quiet chatter through the antique doors. Nora paused, tracing her fingers against the delicate engravings on the door, forming ornate patterns curling up the door. Taking a deep breath, Nora stepped back, and took a heavy, satin cloak from one of her guards. It was an expensive green, and when she clipped it around her neck and shoulders it trailed down her back and onto the floor behind her, bleeding out far behind her in a long train. Nora nodded at her guards to open the door and was bombarded by a field of light that ran from the chapel. The light engulfed her and blinded her sight, but eventually her eyes adjusted to see a chapel full of nobles and her throne directly in front of her, a man dressed in silver standing in her eyeline.

Nora stepped forward; her eyes fixed on the path in front of her. Her only thoughts were of stepping forward, moving forward slowly with her shoulders set back. She had no one to look to for reassurance, her brother was far away in another kingdom, her Ladies weren't here, and she had no friendly acquaintances outside her controlling Mother. Here, she was utterly and completely alone, with only a crown waiting for her at the end of the aisle. Somehow, it felt as melancholy and caging as a funeral. All eyes of her nobles were on her as Nora strode down the aisle, and she forced herself not to cower under their gazes but to keep her eyes forward and her head held high like a Queen because that was what she was. A Queen by birth and by the will of the Gods. No matter what she was told or what her nobles hissed she was a Queen and a woman who would not bow beneath men, she would defend her country till her death and after that.

Finally, Nora reached the end of the aisle and dropped to her knees, her cloak pooling around her as she bowed her head as the Silvertongue approached her. His silver cloak glistened and his fingertips dyed the same colour. In her hands he placed The sceptre, an ceremonial weapon for the monarchy's power that flowed through her veins. Nora looked up at the Silvertongue, a man who was chosen to speak to the Gods above, to communicate their will, a man branded as sacred who spoke in the tongues of Gods. In her other hand, the Silvertongue placed a glass crystal in her palm, an offering to the Gods, because by rights she was chosen by them. Her right to rule. True power.

The Silvertongue took a golden crown between his hands, and Nora looked up through her lashes. It was a golden circlet with tower like structures embedded with jewels, greens and reds and blues that glistened in the cathedrals holy light. The Silvertongue approached Nora, and she cast her eyes to the floor, feeling the crown being placed on her head, settling over her hair. It was heavy and grand, and Nora kept her eyes cast to the floor as the Silvertongue placed it down and drew his finger across her forehead in a diamond. "Your majesty" The Silvertongue murmured, and Nora finally looked up. She stood, rising gracefully as her dress and cloak shifted around her imperiously, floating like some magical force.

Slowly, Nora approached the throne, turning and sitting on the grand throne, the ornate wood decorated with gold. As she sat, her audience rose and began to chant in haunting unison. "Long live the Queen" they recited, and Nora tipped her head up, keeping her back straight as her arms rested on the throne. "Long live the Queen. Long live the Queen"

Long live the Queen.