Althea stood outside her father's stall at the market, watching the people and horses jaunt merrily by. People laughed and talked loudly on the busy street, and she felt a sense of calm from all of the strangers non-appraising looks at her, none of them judging her, none of them giving her anything more than a cursory glance. In contrast to the happy townspeople, to her left she could see the disapproving gaze of Madam Mirkle in the next stall over, out of the corner of her eye. Madam Mirkle always looked at Althea this way, as if she was a problem that needed solving. She wished she could say that over time it bothered her less, but the reality was she found it just as distressing as when it first began to happen. She counted in her head for the umpteenth time just that morning. Six hundred and fifty five days. Six hundred and fifty five days until none of it would matter anymore. She just had to get through the next six hundred and fifty five days.

A sudden gasp from the crowd around her made her start and jump out of her thoughts. A procession was slowly making its way down the crowded street, people jumping out of the way respectfully. Two two royal guards led two horses down the narrow street. Dust kicked from under the horses hooves, creating a cloud like effect around the carriage they pulled. The guards stood straight backed and walked stiffly, looking uncomfortable. Everyone in the vicinity either stopped where they were and openly stared, or began moving out of the area as quickly as they could.

It was rare to see a member of the royal family outside of the walls of the palace, much less out of the City altogether. Althea knew it was not a member of the immediate royal family or there would have been announcements and preparations, so it must be some more distant relative of the Queen. The procession came to a halt a few stalls away from hers, at Madam Clarol's stall, where the shelves were adorned with precious stones Madam Clarol's husband found down in the mines.

A finely dressed woman descended from the carriage in the middle of the street, approached the stall, and began to browse the stones, asking Madam Clarol questions here and there. Althea watched, encaptivated by her beautiful and extravagant clothes and her slow, almost lazy, way of moving. No one but the Royals could ever afford to move with such patience and grace. The ordinary people of the city moved with a sort of desperate quickness, as if they hoped that taking two steps where they could have taken one would allow them extra hours in the day.

Suddenly, Althea felt a presence at her side.

"Well look at that. Poor little Althea staring into her future," a mean voice taunted her.

Althea turned to see the china doll like face of Abigail Biancolette gazing at her own.

"I have no idea what you're talking about Abigail" Althea was wary, moving deliberately toward her stall.

Abigail laughed as if Althea had made a joke. Then she looked at Althea's face more closely. "Wait a second. You really don't know do you? You really have no idea who that woman is?"

"No clue, why?" Althea sensed something unpleasant coming her way.

Abigail smiled in grim delight, "Oh no one...no one at all. Unless of course you care who the head of the prisons is. Well technically of course her husband is the head of the prisons, but they say that she is so cruel and controlling that it is she who truly calls the shots." Abigail smiled cruelly, "They say she put a five year old girl in lock up for getting chocolate on her shirt...but don't worry, I'm sure that's just a rumor."

Althea looked at Abigail blankly. "As captivating as that little anecdote was, I don't know why you expect me to care."

Abigail smiled sweetly, "Well because that's who you'll be facing when you don't present your power on Offering Day of course! Maybe you should be introduced sooner, since you'll be working together so closely!" Abigail gave Althea what was probably meant to be a light shove, but since Abigail had succeeded in shocking Althea with the information she had imparted, it caught Althea completely off guard and sent her careening onto the street and directly into the horse attached to the Royal's carriage.

Spooked, the horse took off down the street, oblivious to the frantic calls of the guards as it and it's partner horse pulled the carriage haphazardly into booths and stalls, narrowly missing several townspeople in its path, sending everything from apples to children's toys flying. The force of the horse's movement threw Althea to the ground, where she coughed in the dusty road, blinking the dirt out of her eyes.

It took several minutes for the pandemonium to subside, during which time Althea remained lying on the ground in horrified shock.

"My husband!" the Royal woman wailed, "My husband is in that carriage!"

Most of the guards had immediately taken off down the road after the carriage leaving the Royal only one lone man by her side. She looked to him now, despair etched on her face. "What if he's injured? What if he's dead? How could you possibly let this happen?"

The woman continued to wail for what seemed to Althea like hours but was probably more like five minutes, until a breathless guard ran down the street yelling, "Duchess! He is alright! The Duke is fine!" when the guard was closer to the woman, he added, "He has a few scrapes and bruises, but the cart overturned into some bales of hay one street over and stopped the horses from running any further."

Upon hearing this, the woman descended into wails of what Althea assumed was relief.

When things had finally settled down a few moments later, and the Royal seemed to have composed herself, she finally turned around, so that she was facing Althea. It was at this point that Althea realized that the Royal looked absolutely furious. And her absolutely furious gaze was directed exactly at Althea.

"And just who do you think you are!" the woman demanded of Althea.

Althea quickly scrambled up off the ground, terrified. "A-a-althea." She said shakily.

"And what do you have to say for yourself child?" the woman's glare was petrifying.

"I'm so, so sorry."

"Sorry is all well and good, but I think the situation requires a bit more of a demonstration of your regret at this point, do you not? You have ruined countless products which the good people of this city have worked for hours to grow, collect, make, and sell. Your neighbors now have you to thank for thousands of coins in damages! And not to mention the damage to my carriage, my horses. My husband suffered injuries, and he could have been killed thanks to your antics!"

"I, uh, I don't have anything, I-"

At that moment, Althea's mother rushed out of the stall. She had been helping a customer in the back, but she must have heard the commotion.

"Ma'am, please, I beg you, she is only a child, she did not know!" Althea's mother was frantic, and that, more than anything else, scared Althea.

The woman turned to her mother, "Well, well ,well, the woman who raised this atrocity I assume. It would have helped if you had taught her some basic manners no? I can't decide who is more worthy of punishment at this point: you or her."

Althea had always thought that time cooled anger, but this woman seemed to be getting more and more worked up as the seconds ticked by. Her face had turned a blotchy, red color and Althea suddenly realized that she was not only angry but also embarrassed at her emotional display of the last half hour. And she wanted revenge.

"We have but a few hundred coins to our name but of course, whatever is necessary-"

"I don't want your coins." the woman growled. "What use have I for coins? I have many of those as it is. I want to see someone suffer as you have made me. In fact, I want to see you both suffer. And what better way to do that than to take something which is dear to you, the same way you almost took away someone very dear to me."

If it was possible, her mother turned even more white.

"Come here girl." the woman spoke resignedly, glaring at Althea.

Althea took several tentative, dreadful steps forward until she was a few feet in front of the woman.

"Hold out your hands." the woman hissed.

Althea had no idea what was happening but when she turned back to look at her mother, searching for some small form of reassurance, but all she saw were the tears streaming down her mother's face. Althea had never seen her mother cry before. Not ever. Not the year all of their grapes were destroyed by animals, and they hadn't been able to make a single bottle of wine, there main source of income. Not on the awful day they had discovered the Not even when they'd received word her older brother had died while serving in the Royal Guard. Althea still remembered the day the man had come to their little house, a medal in his hands. The way he had explained that Christian, he kept calling him Christian instead of Chris, which made it clear to Althea the man had never even met her brother, had been sent to Moldania in an effort to help their neighboring country with it's never-ending attempts to exert control, and peace over it's citizens. The man had pulled off an unconvincing expression of sadness when he had broke the news that some of the very citizens Chris had been trying to helps suddenly turned on the squad and every last one of them was killed.

Althea remembered all of that like it was yesterday but mostly, mostly Althea remembered her mother and father's expressions because they had looked far more afraid than sad. Althea supposed it made sense in a way, Moldania being in such close proximity to Carvaea. She assumed they were worried the chaos and rebellion would make it's way past Carvaea's well guarded walls. But if that was what they had been afraid of, it was for nothing. It had been six years since Chris had been killed, and it was as peaceful in Carvaea now as it had ever been.

The woman's touch to her palms jerked Althea back to the present. Her eyes still closed, the woman had an expression of extreme concentration on her face. They stood that way for several long, painstaking moments, until all of a sudden, out of nowhere, the woman was thrust backward onto the ground as if Althea had shoved her.

Shocked, Althea looked down on her while the woman looked back up at Althea in what appeared to be equal surprise. Then, she regained her composure, stood up, and began yelling at Althea anew, "What is wrong with you! It wasn't enough to destroy the entire street and almost kill my husband, you had to push me down too? I don't know where they taught you how to behave, but you are too far gone for any lesson to help you now," she paused for a breath and Althea used the opportunity to interject, "I didn't push you!" The woman looked exasperated, "At least admit what you've done. It isn't like every single person on this street didn't see it! And what's more, I see we've gotten ourselves in hot water before haven't we child? How typical. Well, now that I see that my original plan will have no effect on you, and you clearly lack comprehension for the consequences of your action, it is fortunate I have other forms of punishment at my disposal," she turned to a guard behind her and indicated Althea and her mother, "Gavin, take them both to the palace," she faced Althea again, smiling with wicked pleasure, "I'm sure some time behind bars will knock some sense into them."