It had been two weeks since the incident with the fire boy, and Penelope's mother had yet to invite her back to another offering. In fact, her mother had yet to invite Penelope anywhere at all. Penelope ate dinner alone in her room. When the Palace had balls, met with foreign diplomats, or hosted teas for the citizens in the gardens she was told to remain in one location the entire time, not by the Queen herself, but by Lyla, her apologetic expression now very evident on her face.

Right after the latest disastrous Offering the Queen had cornered Penelope in the great hall where the royals had been brought until the Palace had been declared safe from the fire.

"Is it true what I'm told daughter?" Penelope's mother hadn't called her by her real name in a very long time.

"Is what true?" Penelope still remembered how her hands shook with nervousness at the anger in the Queen's eyes.

"You used one of your Powers to save a girl." the Queen spit out the words, making it clear what she thought of the situation she spoke of. 

Penelope couldn't meet her eyes. 

"Speak girl!" The Queen commanded, and Penelope resented the way her mother spoke to her like she was any common royal, as if she was anyone other than her own daughter.

"Yes!" Penelope had burst out, "I saved the child. I had to! She would have burned to death if I hadn't! No one even saw her."

"That was not your place! What have I told you about putting yourself in danger! You should have alerted a guard and gotten yourself to safety!" The Queen was distraught. 

If Penelope had thought for a second that her mother actually cared about her safety as Penelope, rather than as the future Queen of Carvaea, she could have understood her mother's distress.  But as it was, Penelope felt it was just another elaborate slap on the wrist. She knew it wasn't worth  bothering to explain that she had tried to alert a guard, as the Queen had suggested. Instead, she simply bowed her head and spoke in a neutral monotone, "Yes mother."

"Yes my Queen." her mother corrected her, and instead of repeating it Penelope let her bow dip deeper until her mother had turned away and focused her attention elsewhere.

Now, Penelope was being punished, for something she could not control. But that was the very point, of course. Her lack of control. Her mother would never say it to her face but she had heard whispers around the castle, ever since she had first started receiving Offerings. That she was weak. That her Power wasn't strong enough. That she would allow the chaos that sometimes occurred in the Receiving Room under her influence to extend outside the walls of the castle, into the surrounding lands, and the peace the country had enjoyed for so many years would finally be lost.

Penelope had heard the rumors, and she was scared that every one of them was true.

Penelope knew her mother wished every day that she had had another child. Maybe she even wished she'd had no child at all. But here Penelope was, and now she had to decide how to proceed. The last several kings and queens before her had abdicated their throne to their oldest offspring when the child turned 18. It had become tradition to do so. But before that, Kings and Queens often reigned until death. Penelope wondered if she would now choose that path, to put off the inevitable for as long as possible. Penelope honestly hoped that she would. She had little desire to hold the title of Queen and spend her days meeting with diplomats, making decisions about the citizens, and instructing the security forces. As Penelope was not yet 18, she was not privy to any information at all about how her mother ran their country. If her mother chose to do things as her Father had, when Penelope became Queen her mother would "mentor" Penelope for several years, during which time Penelope would essentially be a symbolic figurehead while she learned the ways of leadership.

But Penelope doubted that would happen now.

From the balcony of her bedroom she had a perfect view of the sprawling castle grounds, all covered in a wandering garden. She could watch servants bustling back and forth along the paths, gardeners, many of them under 18's who used their various growth related Powers to earn extra money for their family, tending to the roses, daffodils, lilies, hydrangeas, and other assorted plants. She couldn't see beyond the far off walls of the gardens from her balcony, but she knew that beyond them lay the bustling roads of the city of Corinth, Carvaea's capital. And beyond those streets to the East lay the beautiful ocean.

Penelope had only been to the beach once. She was rarely allowed to leave the castle grounds, much less leave the city. But she remembered once, when she was very young, before her father died, he had convinced Penelope's mother to let him take her to the beach. He had gotten Penelope swimming clothes and they'd trekked out through a little seaside town to the water. Penelope remembered splashing through the surf, and him holding her up above the deeper waves as he ducked under them. It was one of Penelope's best memories. She often thought if she had the freedom to do whatever she wanted, she would go live in a small cottage by the sea, work in a little seaside shop, inn, or tavern, and spend the rest of her time by the ocean, just basking in its magnitude.

A squawk from a peacock that had landed on the balcony next to her brought her back to the present, and suddenly she became aware of voices nearby. Penelope couldn't see the sources of the voices, they must have been hidden in some of the denser plants, but now that she was listening she could hear the conversation clearly.

"That just cannot be true." A girl's voice sounded incredulous.

"I don't know, you've heard of the measures the Queen has taken with dissenters in the highlands. I wouldn't put something like this past her." A male voice now, sounding almost passionate, his voice tinged with something akin to dislike.

"But...her own daughter? How would she possibly convince her to take part in that?"

"Convince her? Don't make me laugh. She'd force her of course. Keep her under lock and key every day. The girl is practically a prisoner even now, it would barely be a stretch. Honestly if you think about it, if it is true, it's genius."

"It's not genius it's terrifying. To think that far in advance. To tweak every circumstance so perfectly. And even so think of how many loose ends there still are. How would she keep her servants from talking. And the people keeping her real daughter confined?"

"She's the Queen, Addie. She has unlimited power. And not just the ability kind."

The voices were more distant now, and Penelope couldn't hear Addie's reply. The conversation put an icy knife of fear through her core. Her own mother, lock her up? What could they possibly be talking about. Her mother might be strict, but she would never lock Penelope up anywhere. She loved Penelope. And what did that man mean when he said Penelope was a prisoner already. She was far from a prisoner. Sure, the past few days she had been kept out of sight, but she was willingly complying with those requests, her mother wasn't forcing her to remain in her room. Penelope shook her hair behind her back and felt the concern flow out of her easily. These people had no idea what they were talking about. How could they come up with such lies.

Penelope turned on her heel defiantly. She could not have the citizens talking like this. If they thought she was a captive in her own castle, with no power, how would they ever respect her as a ruler? She had to prove them wrong. She would show them exactly how free she was. She would take a little trip. It was about time she finally had some contact with the people who she would one day lead. And what better way to meet them than to travel to where they resided?

And hey, if it just so happened that such a trip took her by the beach en route, well wouldn't that just be a perfect coincidence.