The sun shone down through the brown leaves on one of the clearings in the capital. The clearing was totally silent, although this silence was interrupted by the sound of an occasional falling leaf. Spring was in season and soon the trees would shed their coverings.

On the grass lay a woman with dark skin and even darker hair. She was face down and was dressed in flimsy clothing too flimsy to prevent her body from shivering from the chill from the breeze. Choice lay on the grass and didn’t wake up despite the bright sun and chilly wind. She lay there sleeping heavily heavily when the moon shone again and the sun rose on another day.

It was the rain that woke her up. Choice felt her body being caressed and embraced by liquid. In her sleep she dreamt that she was back in the lake dying and drowning. She dreamt that she had not been able to save herself and that she had become one more casualty of the palace.

It was the dream that woke her up screaming into the dusk. Choice looked up at the grey sky and noticed the droplets of rain falling on her skin. She stumbled to her feet despite the heavy headache and realised that she had probably been out there for longer than she had planned. She noted that the place she had buried her ambusher’s belongings was untouched.

She looked at her muddy body covered with fallen leaves and glanced back at the lake. She considered jumping in the lake to clean the grime but couldn’t bring herself to go into a place where she had dumped a corpse. She tried to move the water with her mind to clean herself but all she got for her efforts was a worse headache. She had a nosebleed and almost blacked out but was able to stay awake.

Choice turned to look at the water in the lake in trepidation and had her suspicions confirmed. She hadn’t been  able to move the water, not even a droplet. The headache she had convinced her that trying again would be a foolish idea. Choice decided to go back to the palace and have a bath. After that she could try to understand what had happened to her ability to move water.

After walking for half an hour, Choice got closer to the main palace. To her surprise, she didn’t see any extra security that she expected to find when the sole princess had been missing for half a day. The frenzy she expected to find was not there. Puzzled, she made her way to the bathroom. She was filthy and needed to clean up.

Staying in the warm water soothed her headache and half an hour later, it had completely disappeared. Emboldened by this, Choice tried again to move water with her mind. It was not to be.

Choice could not move the water with her mind.

Still this time she didn’t have a headache like she had previously. She kept on trying again and again but still had the same result. The water would not bloody move. Choice started panicking and kept on trying. This had been the only good news she had gotten in a long time. Magic wasn’t a common thing but it was something that when you had it never left.

It didn’t matter what direction Choice faced or how desperate she was, the water remained indifferent to her efforts. In a move of desperation, Choice dove underneath the water hoping maybe being under the water would help her. No such luck. At this point she had a throbbing forehead and she had a nosebleed.

Still going under the water helped her to calm down. Choice mocked herself and the fantasies she’d had of using her magic to take care of everything. Hadn’t she learnt by now that she never got what she wanted. Yet here she was, still hoping that the universe would throw her a bone and help her out for once.

Underneath the water, she began to organise her thoughts and suddenly realised that at some point she had stopped holding her breath yet had not had any problem breathing in water. She thought back to the day before and remembered that the first talent she had displayed was breathing under water. This consoled her. Maybe if she waited a bit longer, her powers would return. There really wasn’t anything she could do but wait. Waiting was always the path she took in life.

Under the water was peaceful and Choice became more serene and tranquil. She let go of all her worries of her powers and enjoy what she had currently. It was then that Choice noticed the water moving and following the movements of her body. She became more excited and immediately the water stopped following her. Choice recognised that enthusiasm was getting in the way and tried to resume her previous mood of calm indifference. When she did so, the resumed following her movements.

She raised her hand and observed the liquid following it. Choice wanted to experiment more with it and see how far her control over water ran but before she could do so, she felt hands grab around her upper arms and pull her up. He surprise at this action interfered with her mood and immediately she felt her control over the water slip away.

Choice came out of the water fuming and pushed away the hands of the maids pulling her up but before she could start scolding them, she heard an annoying wailing sound.

“Mistress, don’t die. If I’ve done anything wrong please punish me. Don’t die please.” That annoying caterwauling sound belonged to Rachel, her mother’s most trusted maid. She’d never liked Rachel, partly because she felt that she was closer to Sera than she was and also because Rachel was the maid her mother sent to her to explain that she was too tired to play with her, maybe another time. There was never another time.

She was a child and had blamed Rachel for her mother’s refusal to meet with her. Even though she had now grown up and knew that Rachel was truly innocent, she never cared enough about her to stop disliking her. Also, Rachel didn’t help by having one of the most annoying voices she had ever heard.

Choice lightly pushed Rachel off her and stood up dripping water down her nude body. She looked around the room and realised that Abigail, her step mother as well as a few other maids were there. She folded her arm and cocked her head at her step-mother unashamed of her bareness. They were the ones who had barged into her bathing, why should she care about their embarrassment.

Abigail scoffed and roll her eyes. “It looks like the effectiveness of Perpetual has dropped in the years since I left. Don’t you know that exposing your body is something that only common women and whores do?”

“Don’t worry about me Mother Abigail. I learnt quite a lot from Perpetual. I was just curious why I got dragged from my relaxing bath like an animal.”

“Get dressed and follow me. Be with me in five minutes,” Abigail said and turned around, her intricately patterned green gown swished around her ankle as she glided out of the room. Say whatever you want about Abigail but there was a reason why she was considered a prized student of Perpetual. She was always held as an example at Choice’s school of the perfect aristocratic lady.

Choice quickly took a towel offered by Rachel and got dressed in the purple dress offered. She never looked good in purple but Abigail knew that. Choice slipped on her sandals and walked briskly to catch up with Abigail. She didn’t want her father to think there was open disharmony in the palace. He was always so proud of how peaceful his household was. It was not going to be peaceful for long. Selection period was starting.

Choice saw Abigail in one of the gardens glancing at a pocket watch. As she approached Abigail, Choice studied her form. At forty seven, Abigail looked as stunning as she was in her thirties. She had waist length brown hair and eyes. Her face was oval and she had a figure to die four. She had slim fingers and long eyelashes that just so. She was spectacular.

It was no wonder that she was considered to be the preferred wife. Choice truly believed that she was the only person in the palace having frequent relations with the King. Still, Abigail knew she was favoured and sometimes, she used that as an excuse to belittle her and her mother.

“Ah, exactly five minutes,” Abigail said and closed her pocket watch, “I knew sending you to Perpetual would have a good effect on you. Come here child let me see how you’ve grown.” Abigail took her hand and turned her around to have a good look at her.

“Stars in the sky, your skin seems to have darkened since the last time I saw you. Aren’t following the regimen I recommended when I saw you at Perpetual.” Yes, Abigail did come to see her at Perpetual. It was weird. Abigail was her step mother but she’d interacted with her more than she did with her biological parents. Abigail came thrice every year while she was at Perpetual to meet with her and also have a dig at her. How embarrassing.

“My skin is just fine, mother Abigail,” Choice said with the exasperation. They’d had a variant of this conversation countless time, “I don’t need to make it lighter. The sun and I have no quarrel with one another.”

“Yes, so you always say. But I’m letting you know now that it’ll be difficult to get a husband with skin like yours in this Kingdom. Maybe you’ll have to go back to your mother’s land to find one. Can you imagine that, a King’s daughter going to have to search for a man to marry her?” Abigail laughed as she said this and made a signal to one of the maids to bring her a cup of tea.

Choice bit her tongue to keep herself from saying her knee jerk response and waited for Abigail to take a sip of tea. “As you say, I’m the King’s daughter. There will be no shortage of men to marry.”

“Maybe, but they won’t be respectable. Besides, I heard the Colburn rejected you as his betrothed because of your...complexion.”

“What?” Choice asked surprised. That’s what he landed with. Seriously.

“Why do you sound so surprised, my dear?  Isn’t that why you were missing for almost two days. And we found you, you were in the bath, drowning.” Choice shook in surprise at the fact that she’d away longer than she thought and burst out laughing at the second sentence.

“Don’t be ridiculous Abigail. Me, kill myself. Why the hell would I do that. Even if I was going to do it, it definitely wouldn’t be for that bastard Matt.”

Abigail put down her cup sharply. “Language, Choice Legume. I know you love your mother dearly but you were sent to Perpetual and that’s was to become a proper member of society. This is unbecoming of a refined lady. One might think you need to be retrained.”

“No, I apologise mother Abigail.,” Choice said through her teeth. She’d kill Abigail in a heartbeat if it would prevent her from ever suggesting her returning to Perpetual. “Just sometimes my blood gets heated up. It won’t happen again.”

“Yes, I do understand that that’s the tendency of your blood. Oh well, I guess you are okay.”

“Thank you,” Choice forced a smile and got up. She assumed that Abigail was done with her. She always liked to have these talks that were basically mentally battles. To tell you the truth, Choice didn’t hate Abigail. Oh she wouldn’t feel anything if she died but she couldn’t deny that Abigail paid more attention to her than her own mother did. Strangely, she felt flattered by Abigail’s antagonistic interest in her. Abigail subconsciously recognising her as a threat proved that she had a chance at winning the throne.

“Oh, I almost forgot what I called you for. Cedric is going to visit his old school and went to go talk to your father when he heard you’d never seen magic before. He asked for you to accompany him, the foolish boy. So the King has given you permission to go the Internationale for three days.”

“Whoa. Cedric did that for me.”

“Of course. You’re his cute younger sister,” Abigail said walking up to Choice and adjusted her non-existent collar, “I’ve tried to teach him not to trust women too much. But he thinks we’re harmless, so I’ll warn you right now. If you disappoint my son or hurt, I’ll make sure, you’re sent back to the Perpetual Finishing School for Young Women. Trust me, I know how much you don’t want to go back there.”

Choice nodded her head. “Don’t worry Mother Abigail. There’s no way I’ll be able to hurt Cedric.” She curtseyed and turned away from Abigail. On the surface, Choice was very calm but in her head, she was jumping for joy. She was going to the Internationale.

She was going to find out what the fuck was going on with her powers.