Chapter 1: Dawn

Gentle breezes of warm summer air, disturbed the curtains of the castles chambers. A castle built atop the hill of large and rich filled valley stood grand and overwatched her kingdom. The wind turned and flowed through the valley and up the hill, through open windows and blew a pleasant breeze on the Princess. Princess Shir was the Princess of the Vallendrconis kingdom, raised to for fill her Princess duties. For now, however, Shir was awaken up the sudden jolt of a bell in her ear. The ringing startling the Princess from her deep speep.

"Wha- huh?" Shir mumbled, blinking awake and trying to adjust to the sudden beam of sunlight that entered her eyes.

"Good morning, Princess Shir, you should really be awake long before I even get to your chambers" her maid, Eva, scolded. The maid sighing, feeling like she's talking to a brick wall when trying to get the Princess more organised. Shir rubbed her eyes with a yawn, getting up whilst grumbing to shut the curtains.

"There's no need to be up early" Princess Shir argued, flopping back to her bed and coiling into her blankets. Many of which were made from the hides of the deers and even wolves she had hunted herself.

It was something that Shir got the most comments on, so what if she liked to hunt?! It's a good use of her time that brings dinner to the table! Far better use than sitting around all day in her opinion. Though Shir was used to a lot of comments such as "isn't that a Prince's job?" Or even, "once she realises she has to kill an animal, she'll return home". It had always ticked her off but no amount of comments ever stopped the satisfaction of making her own covers with the furs or enjoy the gamey meat that she had hunted.

"Well, your father and the King had requested your presence in the throne room in an hour" Eva informed, earning yet another groan of reluctance from the Princess.

"What for now?" Shir complained, sitting up and moved her tangled hair back in a sloppy attempt to fix the bed head. Her father, King Arvin, was the one who originally gifted and trianed the Princess with the bow. Shir knew more than anyone that if King Arvin knew that one little bow would build an interest in combat trianing and hunting for the Princess, that he wouldn't have bothered with it. But now the Princess is easily overlooked when new comers look for the Princess. Other than looking into wearing fancy dresses or looking for the best jewellery and jewls that most Princesses were into, Shir was more interested in learning how to fight and would often trian with the guards or go on hunting trips.

"He had invited a guessed and had requested me to dress you appropriately" Eva gave a quick, apologetic look. Shir's maid knew that the Princess hated appearance over comfort when it comes to clothes. Especially dresses, unfortunately they both also knew that the King's word is the King's word, so the maid picked out a dress and set it aside for now. With a grumble, Princess Shir made her way to the dresser, holding a pout as her maid already began to fill the bath tub.

"Great, so he decided to have some dumb guest over and I have to hold my plans for the day?" Shir complained, getting her shirt off when she saw the bath almost ready. Shir earned a giggle from her maid.

"It's not that bad, Princess, honestly, no need to pout so much" Eva gave a soft smile and prepared the soaps as Shir got into her bath.

"And it's not just any guest" Eva continued, massaging the soap into the mess of Princess Shir's knotted locks. Now the maid had grabbed the Princesses interest.

"It's not? Who's coming?" Shir asked, her curiosity showing through her deep brown eyes. Where she then began to gag as the soap dripped into her mouth when she spoke, coughing the bitter bubbled out. Eva giggled once more, being the Princesses maid can be challenging at times, especially this Princess. But there are amusing aspects to it that reminds Eva as to why she likes to work as hard as she can.

"Remember that old war that happened a good handful of years ago?" Eva asked, using a bucket of water to wash the soap off.

"You mean the one where we had to end on a peace treaty?" Shir responded, recalling when she was a kid how she would often see wounded soldiers return for a healing when battles grew tough. Her heart still ached when she would see good soldiers return with new battle wounds, most ending in life long injuries but that was enough motivation for her to trian and learn how to fight for herself for a life time.

"Yes, well I overheard your father talking about an alliance" Eva explained, an excitment to her tone as she continued to bath the Princess. "I thought I was just jumping to conclusions until I heard the King talk about how, King Shev, was arriving tonight for a dinner but to also discuss the alliance over court" she finished. Of course Eva would be excited, anyone would, the Vallendrconis kingdom and the Montes kingdom had been on each others throats for a few generations now, an alliance would change all of that and bring a better future.

Shir gave a smile as she hopped out of her bath, her maid already handing her towel and drying her hair. "An alliance? My father is all for conveniences but would he really accept King Shev?" The Princess asked but in a husher and more thoughtful tone, hinting that she was mainly asking herself.

"Whatever happens tonight would determine the future for both kingdom's, don't you think?" Eva asked, fussing over the Princesses locks, trying to dry and untangle them at the same time. Shir had natural wavy hair which looked beautiful but a pain in her maids ass to maintain.

"Why are you getting so into politics all of a sudden?" Shir mused, helping her maid by brushing through the other side of her hair, now sitting at her dressers desk.

Eva smiled softly, moving on to getting the Princess dressed before even thinking about styling her hair. "Oh, it's just intriguing sometimes" the maid waved her hand in a more playful, dismissive way. Shir chuckling softly to herself.

"Alright, what's the part I don't know?" Shir asked in more of a joke but when her maid hesitated before moving to help put on her outfit, Shir understood that there's more to this alliance.

"That's for the King to tell you about" was all Eva said, fussing the Princess into the dress and working on tying the corset neatly.

"Great, this'll be great" Shir huffed sarcastically, whining slightly as her corset was pulled tightly. "Hey, hey, no need to squish me to death" the Princess complained, trying to loosen it only for her maid to gently slap her hand away from the knot.

"Sorry, Princess, but the king had asked for you to dress formally" Eva apologised again. The dress her maid had pulled out was a nice rich purple colour, it wasn't big or fancy but it was a more of a smaller dress with a wavey skirt over a large and flashy one. Small gems that dotted the seams made the dress sparkle more and the corset sets the whole look, with a richer design. Shir didn't exactly hate it, looking in the mirror she felt cute but goodness did it have to be so uncomfortable!? "I know that look, Princess, once you have a talk to your father it'll all make better sense, I promise" Eva gave another soft smile as she brushed out any knots on the Princesses hair then places a silver circlet with sapphires to finish her look.

"Thanks" Shir smiled back then sighed softly, this could either be her needing to be apart of the council or something more. Shir was silently praying that it was just her needing to be apart of the council, she wasn't quite ready to let go of her single life. After Eva helped her with some slippers that matches the dress, Shir made her way down to the thrown room. Her mind racing of all the more extreme possibilities that her importance of this meeting could be. The first thing that would go to any Princesses mind would be the marriage, after all an alliance is usually marked with a marriage between two kingdom's.

Her oldest brother and the heir to the throne, Prince Bosso, already had a wife, so he wouldn't be considered for this duty. And neither would her little brother, Prince Angus, he's barly even twelve and far too young for this kind of ordeal. So that would leave Princess Shir, who had her nineteenth birthday not even a month ago and who is unengaged. She would be a perfect match to the Montes Prince, Prince Rknom, if Shir was remembering right. He to is unengaged and is the heir to the Montes throne, of course her father would see value if this is the ordeal that is going to be discussed tonight.

With a deep breath, Shir opened the large doors to the thone room, the guards bowing as she walked in. The whole room was filled with servants and cooks, her mother and father by the throne, who was holding some checklist and giving out orders to the buissy workers. Shir walked up to her father with her usual, humours smile, "wow, we planning a party?" She greeted.

"Ah, Shir, good I've been meaning to talk to you" King Arvin smiled, handing the checklist to Queen Yobel to continue the preparations. Shir's mother nodding then turned to a servant and ordered for him to set the table for the council dinner. "This way" her father gestured, walking to the back door which leads to a balcony that would over look the courtyard.

Shir nodded, "speaking in private? Something serious?" She asked with a slight laugh, a nervous laugh. King Arvin only nodded and waited for his daughter to walk through before closing it.

"I'm guessing you already know of our expecting guests? The King and Queen of Montes?" King Arvin began, looking down at the courtyard where the little things were being tidied.

"I have" Shir leaned back on the wall, crossing her arms, feeling her heart begin to beat a little faster, dreading what to hear next.

"Well, I hope that you can come to understand, Shir, that your duties as a Princess are more important than you think" King Arvin turned back to look at his daughter, keeping his tone gentle.

"Tonight we are hosting a dinner that not only holds the Vallendrconis council but also the Montes council. Tonight we hope to build an alliance, to strengthen both kingdom's and to stop the on and off wars we have been facing" Shir understood, as much as she dreads what her father is about to ask, the kingdom comes first before any individual.

"That would be a miracle" Shir responded, sighing slightly, "to stop any unnecessary bloodshed would be great for both kingdom's". King Arvin nodded, smiling softly as he continued more confidently.

"Then you understand how important this delegate situation is? Me and King Shev have had unofficial discussions for this alliance but we both agree that a marriage between the kingdom's would be enough to secure any doubts" he spoke with a joke, the King's tone showing that he is hoping for his daughter to understand and agree blindly for this dinner. Shir had her eyes narrowed slightly, if she wasn't talking to the King and her father she would be ripping him a new one for suggesting this but in the end she just sighed. Shrugging and looking up with a forced neutral expression, "you wish for me to marry?" Her voice was soft but it was strained, her father knew she wouldn't be all happy about this.

King Arvin's confident smile toned down, "please understand that there's more at stake than just an individual's opinion. Nothing is guaranteed yet but it's most likely that you and Prince Rknom are to be engaged" the King explained resting on the railings of the balcony. Looking over the courtyard which had been cleaned out throughout the morning. "Warning you was just all I can do, is all" he added, letting out a sigh of his own and patted her shoulder. "The dinner will be at sunset, please don't be late" he asked in a more serious and stern tone, Shir knew that she can't wiggle out of this one. As much as she would rather stay a Princess and live her life trianing with the Commander and the guards, she did have her responsibilities and she can't always run from them.