Solo The Akalak Lady and the Three Glass Apples

[Uopa]

The Twenty-Fifth Day of the Spring Season, Five Hundred and Thirteen Years After the Valterrian

[Uopa]

"Once upon a chime, there was a handsome Akalak lord named..." "Noooo. No more hand...hands...hansum..." "Handsome," Uopa corrected her nephew, Javird, as they lay in bed together, well on their way to falling asleep. "Yeah, that," he pouted as he crossed his pudgy arms. "Okay. Very well then. You tell the story." "Noooo. You! You do it bedder!" "I believe the word is better and, sure, as long as certain little boy's don't interrupt me." Javird snuggled under the sheets now, making sure that his mouth was completely covered. He clearly wanted a bedtime story and he wanted it now. "Okay. Let's begin again," Uopa informed him as she made herself a bit more comfortable by turning one of the pillows over so that the cool side was against her skin. She had a hunch that this was going to be a long one tonight. His eyes were still too alert, darting around the room from candle to candle to her. "Ready?" A vigorous head shake was enough of a confirmation. "Once upon a chime, there was a beautiful Akalak lady by the name of Saruja, and she lived in a majestic city by the sea, very much like our own." Uopa glanced over now to see if she had the boy's approval to continue. Yet another bob of his chestnut-colored mop told her she was good to go. "The city by the sea stood for over a thousand seasons, and the people who lived there cherished their home deeply..."

[Uopa]

Saruja was bored. She was bored with every aspect of her life, from the books she read to the clothes she wore, to the food she ate and the company she kept. It was all just absolutely, utterly, without fail boring to the Akalak princess. "Fetch me some fun!" she demanded of her serving boys. "Fetch it for me this very instant!" "But, Princess Saruja, fun is not something that can be simply fetched," the youngest of the servants foolishly replied as he boldly stepped forward to speak directly to the young woman, which was a blatant breach of protocol. "Is that so? Are you certain of this?" she questioned. "I think it's just a matter of not understanding my wishes," she replied as she rose from her throne and approached the defiant boy. "What is your name, child?" "Javird," the youth replied as he met her unwavering stare, which was yet another breach. "Well, Javi," she began in an alarmingly sweet voice, "allow me to explain. If I request something, be it fetchable or not, you will need to do your best to make my wishes a reality. So, when I ask for fun, I expect it to be brought to me, without hesitation, in whatever form you are able to muster." At this point, the princess' hand flew through the air and connected with the boy's cheek, causing him to not only stagger back, but fall, rather hard, upon the marble floor. "Get out!" she screamed. "Get out and do not return until you have in your grasp all that I desire! All of you! Out!" She watched now as every servant within the chamber - save one - scrambled for the double doors of her throne room. They practically clawed their way out, pushing and shoving each other in the most unorganized fashion. It was disheartening to see them behave this way. She had trained them better than this. "You do understand that your request is rather nebulous in nature," the remaining servant stated as he approached with his head slightly bowed and his bright eyes averted. "Well, aren't you the cheeky one," she mused as she gracefully stepped from her dais and slowly approached the eldest of her manservants. "Nebulous in nature?" she repeated as she moved closer still, close enough to grasp the servant's chin and tilt his head up until their eyes locked. "I thought I made myself very clear. I desire a bit of fun and if they cannot provide it, perhaps I will need to provide it for myself..."

[Uopa]

"No kiss...kiss...kissin'!" Javird chimed in as he popped his previously concealed mouth up over the edge of the sheets. "And why does the bad server boy have my name?" he questioned with a furrowed brow. "Well, first of all," Uopa began, "the word is kissing, and who said they were going to kiss? I certainly didn't. As for the naughty servant boy, I used the best role-model I could find, which would be you. After all, who spoke out of turn just now? Kanto? I think not. Aunt Nimi? Nope. She would never do that. So that leaves you: Javird the Outspoken, Javird the Naughty, Javird the..." "Hero!" he shouted. "Perhaps," the Inarta pretended to consider the option, knowing full well that the outcome of the story would most likely be exactly that. "However, if Javird, the little boy in the bed next to me, continues to interrupt, he will not only not be the hero, but he will most likely end up being the villain!" "Noooo!" he cried out as he once against pulled the covers over his mouth. "Okay," Uopa confirmed with a sidelong glance. "So, as I was saying..."

[Uopa]

"...perhaps I will need to provide it for myself," Saruja proclaimed as she pushed the manservant away, digging her nails into his neck as she did, before storming off toward her private chambers. "Do you need my assistance?" the manservant questioned as he quickly recovered with a hand pressed firmly upon his filleted flesh. "Does it look, or sound, like I need anyone's assistance?" she screeched as she kicked open the heavy door before her and marched through the opening. "Useless. Every single one of them. Utterly useless," she muttered as she made her way along the torch lit hall. Entering her private chambers, the princess immediately disrobed and then redressed in her finest riding gear. She needed to get away from this place and its people. She needed to find a sanctuary where a smile could easily be found, for there was nothing in this city by the sea that brought her joy. "Nothing!" she lamented as she returned to the hall and quickly made her way toward the courtyard below. These people were fools and she was tired of suffering them. There had to be more to this realm that she ruled over. Well, this realm that she and her father ruled over. However, he was a feeble old man who was just as foolish as the people below him. She was the true mind and spirit of the ruling body. Without her, it would all fall to ruin. "That's it!" she exclaimed as she leapt upon her mare. I'll go, and not return for several seasons. I'll let this horrible place, with its horrible people, wither away and die! Then, perhaps, if it strikes my fancy, I will come this way again, and see what has become of it all, and I will dance on the graves of my ancestors, laughing and singing, knowing that they fell because I wasn't here to hold their hands! Snapping her reins, she was off! In a matter of chimes, she was out of the courtyard, through the gates, and deep into the woods found beyond the city walls. She was on her own now - "Free at last!" - never to be bound to a city and its citizens again. However, as with most situations that appeared too good to be true, the princess would soon learn that such freedom came with a cost, and it would be a far more personal price than she could have ever imagined paying in her most fanciful dreams.