From the private journal of Her Royal Highness, Argath. Crown-Princess of Vinoli:
Maja's funeral was held today. As I traveled there, to say my last goodbye, I noticed that the sky was blue and the sun shone brightly. This vexed me; on a day like this, when such a precious life is taken away, the heavens themselves ought to cry with grief.
As for me, the last time I felt this miserable was when I received news of my brother's death. However, in one way, this one is worse. Unlike Argeron, Maja died of natural causes and, as a consequence, there's no-one I can hold responsible. No-one I can take out my loss on.
Upon arriving at the cemetery, I told Lorenzo to wait in the carriage. At the gates, I was met by Maja's son Felix, his wife Lucinda and their twin sons, who were hiding behind their mother's skirts. Felix took a step forward.
"Thank you for coming, Your Highness" he said and he and the rest of his family all bowed (or, in Lucinda's case, curtsied). "It means a lot."
"Of course" I replied. "My condolences."
I took Felix' and then Lucinda's hands in mine. Their eyes began to fill up with tears and so, did my own. I let the tears flow down my cheeks, figuring that they were the last ones I would ever shed. Eventually, we wiped all our tears away and proceeded towards the small temple, which could be seen not to far away.
This temple was one of those that are not dedicated to a single deity. Instead, various religions and cults take turn making use of it. Maja had been a devotee of the Goddess Vristlar and so, it was one of her priests that would oversee the funeral ceremony.
Inside the temple, several villagers had gathered to pay their last respects. As soon as we entered, they all rose in their pews. I noticed that my appearance caused something of a stir in their midst, with several of them staring at me. Not that I blame them. On the contrary, I find it to be a natural reaction when in the presence of a superior being.
We went up to the front-row seats. To the right of the altar, I could glimpse Maja's casket. A fine-looking thing, hewn from dark wood. I gave Felix an approving look; here was a son any mother could be proud of. As soon as we were seated, the priest cleared his throat and began his speech.
It was a pretty good speech, I suppose. The Priest talked at great length about what a fantastic person Maja had been and how much she would missed by those who had known her. From the pews behind me, I could hear sobbing.
While the priest kept talking, I found myself transported back in time, to when I first met Maja. Although neither Felix nor Lucinda had been born yet, I remember it as though it was yesterday. How did we meet? Well, it all began when King Sharan informed me that he intended to give a ball in the palace...
*****
"Since its springtime, I intend to make this a ball for the youth of Vinoli", said the King. "The ones who represent the future of our nation. Can I count on you to handle the details?"
"Of course, Father" I replied, ever the dutiful daughter. "Leave it all to me."
Anyway, to make a long story short, thanks to my tireless work, the ball was ready to be held at the date the King had set: One month later. The Guests arrived and, having presented their invitations at the front-gate, were allowed to enter the Royal palace itself. Once inside, they were escorted into the throne-room, where the King and I waited for them.
Once the last guest had arrived, the King gave a speech in which he bid them all welcome, on my behalf and his own and expressed a wish that they would enjoy themselves.
"Thank you, Your Majesty. Thank you, Your Highness." The Guests replied in chorus.
The King nodded, a wide smile on his face. He then nodded towards the director of the Royal Orchestra and soon, the throne-room was filled with music.
From my place next to the throne (which I shall one day occupy) I observed our guests. Some of them were mingling together in small groups, others had gone straight for the refreshment table. Lastly, the boldest among them had taken to the dance-floor. It was there that I saw Maja for the first time. She was a vision, never in my life had I seen a lovelier creature. I watched Maja as she twirled across the dance-floor, unable to take my eyes off her. I decided then and there, that she would be mine.
I turned to the King.
"Father, would you mind if I joined in the fun?"
"Of course not, my dear" King Sharan replied. "You go ahead."
I gave a sign to the orchestra, the music stopped, as did the dancing. All eyes were on me and I could tell that the guests were waiting with bated breath to see which one of them would have the privilege of being my partner.
They did not have to wait long, as I purposefully made my way up to Maja.
"Care to dance?" I asked, holding out my hand, while giving her my most charming smile.
Naturally, Maja was not going to turn down the daughter of her King. She accepted the hand I offered her and the orchestra began to play again.
As I could tell from when I watched her, Maja was an excellent dancer. We danced for awhile, then headed over to the refreshment table. There, I poured wine from a decanter into two goblets and handed one to Maja.
We toasted (I can't recall to what exactly. Youth, perhaps?) and drank. Once we had emptied our goblets, I asked Maja if she would like a tour of the palace-gardens? She accepted and we headed outside. Either Maja was not used to alcohol, or she had a weak constitution against it, for her face was flushed and she stumbled on the gravel path. Instinctively, she grabbed hold of my arm for support.
"Oh! F-forgive me, Your Highness" she apologized profusely. "I didn't mean to..."
"It's fine" I assured her. "You can lean on me, until you feel better. Say, why don't you tell me about yourself?"
And so, as we walked together, Maja, obviously flattered that someone like me would take an interest in her, talked. At first, I only listened with half an ear, my thoughts were on other things. Namely, the things I would do to her, once I had her in my bedchamber and out of that blue dress she wore. Gradually, however, I realized that I was getting more and more interested in what she was telling me. I confess that this baffled me at first, because I could find nothing in Maja's chatter that I could make use of. I then realized that I enjoyed hearing her voice, simple as that.
It was then that a thought came to me.
"Maja" I said, applying some light pressure to her arm to make her stop talking.
"Your Highness?" She asked, looking at me.
"I would like for the two of us to be friends. Would you?"
"I would be deeply honored to have Your Highness's friendship" Maja agreed.
"Good. Now, the first thing I want you to do as my friend is to stop calling me 'Your Highness'. At least when its just the two of us: Call me Argath."
If anyone who knew me had been present, I doubt they would have believed the testimony of their own ears. After all, I have never allowed anyone of my future subjects to call me by my first name. Not even my friends with benefits get that privilege. At most, I can lower myself to allow them to call me 'Princess' rather than 'Your Highness', but that's as far as it goes.
Why then, should I grant such a huge privilege to this girl I had just met? Simple, at the time, I could think of no sound more beautiful than that of my own name uttered by Maja's voice.
She wasted no time in exersising the honor bestowed upon her and the result did not disappoint.
Like music to my ears, I thought. Though I wager it will sound even better when screamed out in a fit of ecstacy.
I was brought back to reality by Maja informing me that her feet was getting tired. We had, in fact, walked a considerable distance. Fortunately, the palace-garden does not suffer from a shortage of benches and so, we picked one out and took possession of it. Our bench was located near a bush, the sound of a fountain could be heard coming from somewhere on the other side of it.
"This is nice" I said, moving closer to Maja. "I don't get many opportunities to just sit down and relax like this."
"Being the Crown-Princess is a lot of responsibility I take it?" Maja asked.
"It is. Why, this place could not function without me."
"Oh? And by 'this place', do you mean the palace or all of Vinoli?"
"Both, of course" I replied.
Apparently, Maja had mistook my most sincere answer for a joke, for she suddenly burst into a fit of laughter. Fueled, no doubt, by the alcohol in her system.
Normally, I would have taken offense at this kind of behavior and would have devised some way to punish the person responsible. For some reason, though, I found myself unable to get mad at Maja. Instead, her pealing laughter had a contagious effect on me, so that, having listened to it for a few seconds, I soon found myself joining her in her merriment.
We sat like this for a while, holding on to each other, our bodies shaking with mirth. Until, finally, the laughter subsided. We looked at each other, through glittering eyes and then, Maja leaned forward and kissed me.
It was not a long kiss. In fact, her lips only touched mine for the briefest of moments and yet, it made my inner fire flare up stronger than it ever had before.
Just then, the voice of Felix called softly to me, through the mists of time, taking me out of the sweet past and back to the dismal present.
*****
"I apologize for disturbing your thoughts, Princess" Felix whispered to me. "I merely thought you would like to know that the ceremony is finished."
I looked around. Indeed, the priest had stopped talking and most of the funeral guests had left their seats and had now formed a line.
"They are about to bid my mother farewell, before she's taken to the family crypt. Would Your Highness like to accompany us there?"
"Unfortunately", I said, having let out a deep sigh, "as much as I would like too, I'm afraid that Royal duty calls and so, I have to decline." I glanced at the line, which was gradually growing shorter. "You will grant me a moment alone with her, will you?"
"Of course, Princess."
Felix rose and went over to the line. Soon, the temple was emptied of people and I stepped up to the coffin. I looked at Maja, struck by how lifelike she seemed; as though she was merely asleep and could wake up at any moment.
"Farewell, my love" I whispered into Maja's ear, before touching her lips with my own.
And so, having said my last farewell, I left the temple to rejoin the others.
*****
While waiting for his mentor to return, Lorenzo had fallen asleep. The Sound of the carriage-door opening caused the young fox to stir and slowly open his one eye
"Welcome back, Princess" he yawned. "How was the funeral?"
Argath said nothing, but merely sat down on the opposite site of her protege and stared down at the carriage-floor.
"Princess, are you alright?" Lorenzo asked, after a moment's hesitation.
Still not receiving an answer, the fox reached up and knocked on the ceiling. The Carriage started to move, beginning its journey back to the capital.
