“This sucks. I didn’t expect hunting to be so hard,” I remark.
“Well, you were spoiled by Daelia the whole trip to Krasta and back,” Aurelio reminds me. “And even when I hunted around for food, I got lucky every time I caught something. Daelia did most of the work.”
“Well, I can’t be a proper queen if I rely on my sister for everything, now, can I?” I snap. “I should be able to do this on my own. Hunting is nothing compared to the intricacies of international politics.”
“That may be so, but no one ever said hunting was easy.”
I shake off the ropes and stand up, glancing at the clearing around us. “It doesn’t matter. I’ll catch something with my bare hands, if I have to.”
“Alright. I’ll head back to the camp and get the fire going, then,” Aurelio offers.
The leaves and sticks crunch under his boots as he walks away. I march further into the trees, running hot from embarrassment. I can find my way through the forest in the dark on a new moon, and I can mastermind ten-year financial plans for the military, but I can’t manage to catch my own dinner while out adventuring in the woods. This is ridiculous. How hard can it be to catch a simple hare? Daelia can do it without so much as breaking a sweat, and I can do anything she does. She and I are the same.
No. We are not the same.
I frown. Who am I kidding? Daelia and I have been different from the day we were born; she was the Hero, and I the Queen. We walk totally different paths in life. Where she pursues justice and protects the people, I walk the thin, icy line between what is right and what is good for the nation. I am entrusted to make impossible decisions, whereas Daelia is free to nod her head, follow orders, and never consider the consequences of her decisions. She is free to demand justice without ever considering the repercussions of asking me to pursue it.
I am stronger than her, smarter than her, and more courageous than her. She is stuck in the mind of a child, believing all the world is black and white, good and evil, right and wrong. She cannot think outside the box she’s so carefully constructed for herself. Her fragile perception of reality, once shattered, would shatter her along with it.
I, however, understand that reality is only what we perceive from the information presented to us. I construct my own reality while altering the perception of others’ reality. What is right and what is good are not the same, and beyond that, they are malleable, intangible concepts. There will never be a choice I make that pleases everyone; such is the reality of being queen. The only thing I can do is stick to my intuition, improve my nation, and improve myself, to the very best of my ability.
So, here I am, after improving my intellect, my instincts, and my judgment all my life, finally tending to the one thing Daelia can do better than me: play the unstoppable, courageous hero. I’ve failed miserably so far, but I cannot afford to lose this gamble. If I cannot out-hunt, endure more, and out-perform my sister, my people may one day view me the way Daelia views me now.
I will be the hero my nation deserves. And that starts with catching dinner with my own two hands.
I catch movement out of the corner of my eye. My head snaps to my left, and there, standing prone, is a young buck. His doleful black eyes widen when he makes eye contact with me. His legs tremble, and his tail flies straight up, the white of his fur standing on end.
Dinner is served.
The moment I move my hands, the buck flees, bounding as fast as his legs can carry him, but it’s too late—my magic fills the air, dark clouds race to gather overhead, and thunder rumbles through the sky. My hair stands on end as the electricity gathers in the air, then, all of a sudden, lightning crackles through the air, arcs to the ground, and strikes with a heart-stopping BOOM that shakes the boughs of the trees above. The site of the explosion catches fire just as the deer drops to the ground. Putting my hands on my hips, I gaze at the scene, satisfied.
“Ha! Take that, Daelia!”
Just then, there are footfalls behind me. I turn around, and Aurelio is running my way, his face ghostly white.
“Alessia! Are you alright? I heard an explosion!” he yells.
“I’m fine!” I call back, waving my hand.
Aurelio pants slightly as he catches up to me. His eyes are wide as he stares at the crater in the ground a small distance away. He glances at me, then back at the crater, then back at me, and finally sighs.
“Alessia?”
“Yes?” I say, grinning.
“Did you do this?”
“I sure did.”
“Did you summon lightning magic?”
“Yup.”
“Don’t you think it was a little…overboard?” he says, gesturing at the flaming trees.
“Nope! I even pre-heated the meat for you,” I say, pointing to the slightly charred deer carcass. “I didn’t ruin the meat with an arrow or a sword at all! It’s perfectly untouched.”
“Alessia…never mind, you’re a lost cause,” Aurelio sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Just put out the fires, please.”
