This is the second installment! Again, generally general comments are preferred. Also, if you find any typos, feel free to point them out. Also, for those who read the first installment when it just came out, I changed Granidid's name to Granid. It looks less stupid that way. Enjoy!
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Dear Diary,
Archondid came back today to get some money. He flew back at night, because he said he could see better that way. He said that Black Swans can’t see very well in the daylight because it is too bright and his eyes are better at night.
He made breakfast for me and it was delicious. He made rice cakes and really good tea. Eurodities isn’t a very good cook and she forgets about meals since she doesn’t need to eat, so it was nice to have something nice for breakfast. He says he’ll make a lot of food before he goes back so that I’ll have plenty of eat. He’s very nice. He’s in the kitchen talking with Eurodities right now, but they’re talking in their language, so I don’t understand what they’re saying.
He said that Granid was in jail for something stupid. He said that before he could go home, he had to go to court, so it would take a couple of weeks before he could come back. I asked what he did, but Archondid wouldn’t tell. He said it had something to do with a rich girl, but that was it. Eurodities seemed worried, but I’m not. He probably made her cry.
Archondid says he needs to send money over. The trial will be very expensive he says and while Granid’s in jail, he will need to have his food bought for him or else they won’t feed him. Granid hasn’t eaten in two days, so he’s pretty hungry. Archondid says that Daddy is running out of money, but Lin offered to pay for Granid’s meal, so Daddy will have enough money to stay in the inn. Archondid says that Lin is a wonderful woman and he hopes that my daddy will have enough sense to marry her sooner than later.
I miss Lin. I wish she were back here, but I am very glad that she is able to help Daddy out. I would very much like her as a mommy. Maybe she’ll come back with Daddy once this is over.
It’s time to eat! Goodbye, Diary!
~
Dear Diary,
Eurodities and I went swimming today! It was really fun. She didn’t go swimming, because she said Black Swans sometimes poisoned the water, even when they’re in human form, but she watched me while I swam and taught me how to dive. It was really fun.
I miss swimming. When I was younger, Daddy took me and Granid swimming together all the time, but now that I’m older, Daddy says it’s not proper for him to take me swimming anymore. The only woman who will do anything with me around here is Kara, but Daddy doesn’t want me swimming with her because she’s too old and he’s afraid of what could happen. So it was really nice to go swimming with Eurodities!
Archondid left last night and he’ll be there in the city for a couple of weeks. He says Daddy is very busy right now, so he may not come back for a while. I miss him terribly. Daddy tells the best stories. Eurodities doesn’t like telling stories at all, so when she tells stories, she makes them really short and doesn’t tell any detail at all. For instance, I asked her to tell me about the bastard princess, so she said this:
“Once upon a time, there was a princess and her daddy didn’t like her. One day, Diamea showed up and made her daddy feel stupid. So he disowned her and she went away, sad.”
That was it! Daddy’s told me this story a dozen of times, and each time he tells it, it is so wonderful. But Eurodities doesn’t tell it well at all.
~
Dear Diary,
Kara came over and Eurodities and I talked with her. It was really nice. We had tea together and Eurodities made something to help with her arthritis, so Kara was really happy. Then Kara started asking Eurodities about some stories she had heard about her. Apparently, Eurodities was one of the twelve original White Swans and she killed the first Conqueror!
Eurodities seemed very embarrassed about being questioned, but Kara didn’t care, so finally Eurodities had to tell her to stop. I like that about Kara. She never gives up. When I get old, I want to be just like her.
When Kara finally left, she warned me not to ask her those sorts of questions. I wish she didn’t because I have a lot of questions for her. I want to know how she became a Black Swan. I didn’t know you could turn into a Black Swan if you were a White Swan.
Daddy would know, I think. Maybe I’ll ask him when I see him again.
~
Dear Diary,
It was rainy today, so nothing happened. Granid is still in the city with Daddy and Eurodities is still with me. She was going to teach me to sew, but Kara already has, so she told me that my room was messy and I should go clean it up. But I don’t want to, so I am writing to you instead.
I am going to tell you about the story of the bastard princess that Daddy told me.
Once upon a time, there was a king and a queen. They lived in a beautiful castle full of towers that was made out of ivory and studded with jewels. The king was a wise king with a great big mahogany beard and people adored him while the queen was a beautiful queen with hair as black and gleaming as a Black Swan’s feather. Their people adored them, for they were very kind and just, but the queen was very unhappy, for she could not bear a child. Day after day, she yearned for a child. She did everything she could for a child. She prayed to Diamea, she lit herbs, and she laid with the king night after night, but with no result. Finally, deciding that Diamea intended to curse her, she closed up her door every night and refused to let the king in.
Frustrated, the king decided to find a child of his own. He found a servant with light hair, as white and gleaming as a White Swan’s feathers, and with eyes that glittered with sapphires. He watched her for three days and then finally he invited her to his bedchambers. Night after night, he laid with her while the queen stayed and prayed in her room.
Finally, the servant was with child, but she wasn’t happy at all, for she was afraid that the queen would steal her child as her own and she would have nothing left. For, in those days, the firstborn of the king’s was destined to rule the throne and if the firstborn did not rule the throne, it was foreseen that the kingdom would dissolve in anarchy. The servant knew this and she knew that the queen would want to raise her child, but she wanted to hold the child as her own as only a mother can.
For weeks, she tried to keep her pregnancy a secret, but finally she decided to tell the king. When she went to his bedchambers that night, she held her head. “I do not feel well,” she said. “I should go, because I am very sick and if you should stay with me, you will surely die, just as I must.”
Of course, the king was very anxious about this, so he put his forearm to her face and said, “You do not have a fever! How can you be very sick?”
She said, “Oh King! I am sick with worry for I am afraid your love does not run deeply for me and you shall kill me out of spite.”
This made the king more anxious, so he leaned up closely to her and said, “Have you done anything bad?”
“No King,” she said. “I have not done anything bad.”
“Have you been with any men?” the king asked, his heart growing sick.
“No King,” she said, “I have not been with any men other than you. But I do not believe you love me. I have not asked anything of you, but you have asked everything for me, and now I fear that you will take my life.”
The king was very troubled by this, for he loved this servant very much, so he said, “Tell me what I should do for you, so that you may be untroubled and our love may be mutual and holy in Diamea’s eyes. I shall promise you that I will grant any reasonable favor for you.”
The servant scoffed at this. “What exchange is this? I give you my love and you give me your reason. No, you will kill me for you will demand my life as well.”
The king said to this, “I am not free, for I am the king and my people depend on me for my life. You claim that your life is at stake. Were I to put the same stake, my people could die. So you must forgive me for my condition, for I do not own my life, but, by Diamea, grant me the favor that I may complete your life to the best of my abilities.
The servant nodded, tears in her eyes, and she said, “By Diamea then, set me free and let me be a mother.”
The king was confused by this, but he kissed her hand and said, “I shall set you free let you be a mother, by Diamea.”
Content, the servant took his hand and put it on her swelling belly. Then he understood and horror lined his eyes.
“No, you cannot ask me this. You cannot ask me this! What about my wife, your queen! I am promised to her. I cannot let you do this.”
“You promised on to me on Diamea that you would.” When the king couldn’t speak, she shook her head. “I know that you cannot marry me, for you promised yourself by Diamea to remain faithful to my queen. But don’t let me live a lie. Let me raise my child as my own and forget me.”
Then the king shook his head. “You know I can’t do that. You know I cannot let you take the child from me. The child is a firstborn and must rule the land after I die. It was foretold by Diamea himself that the firstborn must do this, or else the land will waste away and die.” He looked to the servant desperately. “Ask me anything else. I can give you diamonds, jewels, anything. But I must have my daughter.”
The servant looked at him sadly, for he looked very old and tired. So she kissed his face and said, “Very well. When the child is weaned at five years, I will send her here and she shall take her place with you. You will guide her through and you will train her to be the greatest ruler. In the meantime, you must grant me a little hut for me to raise our child in and enough food for both of us, so that we shall survive.”
The king agreed reluctantly to these conditions. “She shall be a bastard child,” he said. “If she is not raised here, everyone will know of my disgrace and she shall be hated by all and most certainly hated by my beautiful wife.” But he could not back out of his promise. He bought her an impressive house and gave her a large income so that she and her child would be well taken care of.
When the queen found out, she was very mad, but because she hadn’t had a child, she relented, for she very much wanted a child and she decided that when the child would come to the castle, she would be young enough for her to adopt her without a problem. So, for four years, she waited for the child in hope, thanking Diamea that she should finally be allowed a child, even in this unusual form. But Diamea teased her, for on the child’s fifth birthday, the queen realized that she was pregnant. And then she didn’t want the other child anymore.
Eurodities just found me writing and she’s rather mad. She says that if I don’t clean my room now, she won’t get me any more ink. So, goodbye, Diary! I’ll tell you the story later.
~
Dear Diary,
So much has happened today! I got a letter from Granid. It says this:
Dear Solea,
How are things at home? Things are not so good here. The food tastes terribly, the water is stale, if you can believe that, and they won’t let me wash without looking at me. Completely ridiculous, if you asked me, because I’m not carrying any knives or about to kill them or anything ridiculous like that. They treat me like any sort of criminal, which is similarly ridiculous because I am not a criminal at all. Completely innocent, in fact, which makes this situation that much more awful. Father is utterly unhelpful. He keeps on ranting on and on about integrity and propriety and all that nonsense. As if he’s ever had a dash of integrity or propriety in his whole life. How dare he be such a hypocrite, especially to me, who he’s hurt so much throughout the years. He’s a poisoned hypocrite, and I told him this, but he has ignored me thus far. He’s apparently not one to pay attention.
In any case, don’t be alarmed. I haven’t murdered any girl, unlike what seems to be the popular belief around here. And I definitely didn’t rape her. Some other man who looked like me must have done all that nastiness, though I’m not sure who it could be. After this trial is over, I’ll come back and be your favorite brother, as usual.
Fly free,
Granid
I don’t know what to think of it. It sounds really bad.
After I read the letter, Eurodities let me sit on her lap and she said that some boys saw what looked to be a Potential doing some really bad things to a girl. The boys were very afraid so they ran away and told somebody about it. When the sentries came, they found this rich, thirteen-year-old girl with her throat slit. The boys that saw what had happened said that Granid looked similar to the Potential who did this.
To make it worse, Granid had previously met up with the girl. In the dress that was ripped off, they say they found a note with Granid’s handwriting that said that he wanted to meet up with her in a restaurant near the alley she was killed.
I don’t think Granid did it. I don’t think he could do such an awful thing.
Eurodities said that she does not believe that Granid did this either. She says that this is just an awful coincidence. But she doesn’t know what happened instead. She said that not many people are so pale that they could be confused as Potential, and Granid is the only one in this territory that is a Potential. Plus, she said that even White Swans in human form don’t usually look like Potentials. So, he looks really guilty right now.
Eurodities told me not to worry about it, because there were many people looking into this and they would find the truth. But I think she’s worried.
I am worried too.
~
Dear Diary,
The whole town’s heard the news of Granid, and it is really scary. When they first heard the news, they thought he was just in jail for something light, so they were laughing about it and betting on how long it would take for him to get home. But now, they are preaching in the street about the coming of the dark potential. They were talking and saying that this was one of the signs of the dark potential coming back.
Worst of all, they think I am the first sign of the dark potential coming back and that I caused for him to go bad because I am cursed. I feel awful.
Eurodities told me that she didn’t want me to go anywhere without her anymore. She is making me sleep with her now too. She said that some people were talking about storming into the house and killing me, but she told me not to worry because she was there and she could fight them off. I am very afraid. She’s still in her human form though, which is a good thing because if she turned into a Black Swan, that is when she is afraid.
I am afraid that they’ll come in daylight, when Eurodities can barely see.
I wish Daddy were home.
~
Dear Diary,
Eurodities told me today why everybody thinks I’m cursed. I always thought it was because my mommy died when I was born, but Eurodities said that it wasn’t because she was dead but rather because of the strangeness of her death.
When my mommy was pregnant with me, the whole town got excited because they thought another Potential was going to be born. So all of the families put a coin in for my mommy to get a reading by a seer. But when she got to the seer, the seer said that I was going to come out dead and she would survive and not have any more babies. My mommy was very sad about this, but because she wasn’t going to have another Potential, nobody cared for her except to babysit Granid when my mommy was tired. When she was about to have me, none of the midwives wanted to come because they didn’t want to ruin their perfect record, so Daddy had to help her. Daddy wasn’t expecting me to be alive, so he was mostly taking care of my mommy, but when Mommy died, he checked on me and I started crying. So he took care of me and that’s why I am alive.
Eurodities says everybody thinks I am cursed because the prophecy didn’t go right at all and it was all messed up. Ever since then, none of the seers have been able to predict anything.
I don’t know why I’m getting blamed though. It’s not my fault that they can’t see the future.
~
Dear Diary,
I heard a loud crash on the roof today and I was afraid. Eurodities seemed afraid at first too, but then she listened and told me not to worry because it was nothing. I think it was something, but I trust Eurodities.
We haven’t heard from Daddy yet.
~
Dear Diary,
Tonight I am camping in the woods with Eurodities. Lots of happened, mostly bad. The town burnt down our house and the store, and we don’t have anything left anymore.
I found out what the crash on our roof was too. It was a Black Swan. When the town started setting fire to our house, the Black Swan attacked them. It was daylight, so the Black Swan couldn’t see very well, but he was poisoning people with his feathers and hitting them with his large wings. His feathers were jagged and hard, so that whenever he hit them, their skin was broken and bloody. They tried to blind him with the fire, but he stabbed out the eyes of the torchbearers and poisoned them all. He was very frightening.
Eurodities said he was there to protect us, if anything went wrong. She said she asked for him to be there so that she could pay attention to me and make sure I was all right. She said that in battle Swans can be very scary, but they only hurt people if they are sure that there is no alternative. She says that they are not dead – Black Swans cannot kill – so soon White Swans will come and heal them and they’ll be all right. But I don’t think we can ever go back home now.
We’re walking to the city. Eurodities says it’s about three days away by walking, if we walk all day, so that’s what we’re doing. She says that my daddy knows that we’re going to be joining him soon because the Black Swan that protected us told him already.
I’ll write again when we get to the city.
although, it didn't seem like it was written down by a little girl. I know her father told it to her, but really! It was like it was a professionally written princess story!! Vurry, vurry impressive. How old IS the MC anyway? Seven-ish? Because she can write (which obviously means she can read) but she talks in a very naive way.
