#among several others! ​we were all in it for the same fourteen grand because none of us could afford to pass up any funding opportunity!

[hauntedfalcon]

@nonhoration right?! every time I think about how much a meatspace nonprofit could accomplish with the money AO3 is doing nothing with, steam comes out of my ears. flames! on the side of my face!

[literary-stabs]

The Roles We Bear - Part 1

AN: Well it seems like a handful of you out there liked this enough to give it a chance. So I’m going to keep going because I’m stupid eager to share this. This part is just a bit of catch up on where our dear princess is and a little teaser glimps at our to be protagonist. This should be building up more in the next part. Patience and feedback is appreciated!

Warnings: None?

Wordcount: 1.8k 

One Week Ago

"People of Elyxtra, I call to you seeking your courage, and your compassion." The King, or rather, the cousin of the once beloved King Tonomi Mensa, Lord Atlas, spoke on the balcony positioned at the front of the city square. Below him gathered a crowd that was satisfactory for his purposes. He'd sent out word the day before that he would be calling an assembly of the city for an announcement. Non obligatory but of great interest to everyone. He was a clever man, though many had their suspicions of what the gathering was for, the lack of detail pulled at any busy body's curious side.

"The time has come, the seasons are changing and the ice has melted through the pass. I know many of you know the tragedy of my dear cousin Tonomi and his beloved wife Karra. During this season many of you are focused on the crops of the year and getting land ready for the spring rains and growth. However, I make this plea that you also keep Princess Nikota in your hearts and minds. With the opening of the pass, I will be sending out willing men in service to attempt to rescue her from her prison." He drew a breath and lowered his voice while also keeping it loud enough to be heard. His voice mimicked something much more solemn.

"You all must be tired of my request of you to save her. And I beg your patience as we continue to try to reach her. With each continuing year I worry we may be too late. But to honor the late King and Queen's memory, I will never give up. And I hope none of you will either. Gods' speed, to our noble men." And with that his speech, his well practiced and very familiar speech, was finished.

It was a speech he gave every year. Every year with the melting of the ice and snow in the mountain passes, the city capitol could expect the speech to come. Many came anyway, to gauge the response. To see if there was any news. Knights and service men, soldiers from other cities, towns and kingdoms even, came across the land to aid the rescue in Princess Nikota Mensa. Some for the glory, some for the challenge, but every one of them was drawn by the idea and promise of the grand reward. Treasures and riches so plenty that it would keep a man fat until the end of his days.

"It makes you wonder, if the princess is dead by now, ya know." A female voice murmured to her companion who nodded in agreement.

"'N if she isn't, how she could still be alive. Or sane. Poor thing, being trapped away for all these years. She could ne'er possibly adapt to the way things are now." The other reasoned. Silence took the two as they watched men and women in the square, some leaving, some mingling, some gathering into tighter groups. There were several groups of knights and soldiers. Some baring the deep violet and silver of the kingdom, some striding in other, foreign colors of neighboring lands. Though one thing was the same among them, aside from their goal.

They were all in groups.

All except one who stood to the side, who watched alone as the socialites mingled and the men of service planned. They stood with their arms crossed, clad in a suit of black leathers and thick fabrics resembling a lion's hide. In small, strategic places chainmail shown through where it was thickest, particularly around the shoulders and chest. A small line of it peaked out at the bottom of the knight's tunic to suggest it left no area vulnerable. The knight wore no colors, no distinguishing markings. Their face was covered by a hood and mask, leaving only their golden eyes to be seen.

If one was to pay attention to the lone knight they'd notice these things about them. They'd also notice that they stood a bit smaller than the average serviceman. That their eyes were remotely feline in the way they watched people. However, the mystery knight didn’t stay long in the square before departing to ready for the upcoming adventure.

Currently.

"Nikota, are you up there?" A lilting feminine voice called up the spiraling staircase to the tower library where the princess certainly was. Soon after, the owner of the voice appeared in the small library's doorway and looked curiously to the princess sitting in the window. "What're you doing dear?"

"Daydreaming, I supposed." The princess sighed, looking in her caretaker's eyes through the window reflection. Andrelia wasn't a tall or filled out woman. She really didn't take up much of the doorway with her wiry frame. But the way in which she watched her ward, taking her in with those wise and well knowing jade eyes made her seem like so much more than she appeared. The older of the two chuckled and shook her head slightly, knowing that the girl would come out of her head when she wanted to. "Did you need something?" She asked, turning to face the older woman finally.

"I was going to ask if you'd like some lunch. And to see how you were feeling. Next week is your twenty-fifth birthday."

"And in two days it will be the anniversary of the day I was sent out of my home in the middle of the night. The last night I saw either of my parents." The words were spat out bitterly, giving Andrelia a good gauge as to an answer towards the princess' mental state. Fourteen years. Fourteen years they'd sat hiding, waiting, in this tower. Only Andrelia was ever allowed to leave. Not that Nikota hadn't tried. But after the situation had truly been explained, she had realized what staying in the tower meant.

It meant that her parents were likely dead. That maybe someone was coming to save her. That maybe someone sent by her parents would come and finally give them the signal that it was safe to leave. But it had been fourteen years. Many people had come, many knights, treasure hunters seeking to "rescue" her from her prison. To slay the legendary dragon and save the princess. Whether for glory or for her hand in marriage, she didn't know or care. They all came, and none of them were the right ones. None of them were there for the right reasons, baring what sign Andrelia was searching for in each of them.

"And if your mother could see you right now she would be so appalled to see her daughter sulking in the library before her birthday." Andrelia taunted lightly. "Why don't you come down and eat then we can spar and you can take out all this mood with some swordfight." And with that she turned back in the doorway and started back down the stairs to the levels below, her long graying blonde locks swaying with excessive attitude.

"Maybe I'm moody because of my cycle." Nikota muttered crossly.

"No." The caretaker sang in reply. "Your cycle was a week ago. C'mon princess. Time to get off your window perch."

The princess couldn't help the small smile that tugged on her lips as she stood and brushed herself off. Andrelia had been around as long as she could remember, even before she had fled from her home. And as long as she could remember, the woman had never treated her like a privileged royal. She'd refused to raise the young girl to be haughty and high browed. Instead they'd trained over the years, studied and fought so that if the time ever came, Nikota could provide and defend herself like any seasoned soldier.

"You say that like you've never had your share of mood swings." She continued as she entered the kitchen, seeing Andrelia work on something that looked like it was going to be pasta salad. Sharp green eyes darted up from the task at hand, a smirk following not far behind.

"Not at all. Actually your mother had some of the most dramatic mood swings I've ever seen in her younger years. Even more so while she was pregnant with you." Andrelia recalled, deft hands chopping carrots up finely on a wood block. "Sometimes I would visit and find your father hiding in the farthest, darkest sections of the library to find peace and quiet if only for just an hour or so." A softer smile now replaced the other on her lips. "Though it was obvious how in love with her he was, he bent over backward for her whenever he could."

"I wish I could remember more of them." She lowered her sapphire gaze, a color that looked so much like her mother's, she'd been told. She remembered them, her mother's eyes, remembered the love they'd held every time they'd looked into her own.

Andrelia put a soft hand on her shoulder but said nothing, she let the younger female have the moment in silence. There were no words she could say to make this better, none she hadn't tried already in past conversations and late night confessions.

-

Nikota loved the peace that silence in the tower brought along with it. The ancient stone bricks absorbed sound both from the inside and outside. Some might think that could be isolating, but she'd grown to love it. Loved being able to sit in her window seat at midnight and watch the stars and the clouds outside. The moon had just started its new cycle, hovering over the valley little more than a sliver. Lower on the horizon a new spring storm made its way closer. Good, she loved the rain too.

A movement near one of the trees caught her attention, drawing her gaze to focus in on that area. There was a cluster of trees on one side of the valley that she supposed constituted as a forest but when she was so high up and could see all the edges of the trees it felt too small to be a forest. The trees were tall with thick trunks and branches that reminded her of a willow except the leaves grew like a maple. The motion she saw was just against the closest border of the trees.

It was a small shadow, or at least smaller than the trees. At first she thought it an animal until she saw that it was too tall, and bipedal. It moved with a purpose, that much was similar to an animal on the hunt. She wondered what it was, it looked humanoid, but so did the fae and pixies in the surrounding area. Nikota narrowed her eyes, trying to get a better look when the clouds suddenly lit with a flash of lightning, illuminating the area and the figure before shrouding it in darkness once again. A gentle hiss against the window pane alerted her to the rain, the downpour the storm clouds had been heavy with, along with the rumble of thunder. Even in the brief moment she knew what she'd seen.

A dark figure clothed in blackened cloth, hood over their eyes and mask over their face. It was a person. Someone was coming for her. And they were nearly at the tower.

Taglist: @kategcko @ask-the-egos @danger-in-design