Flight of the Five Swans
Fear Chapter 1

Eralie

Once upon a time in the kingdom ofKyoria, the dinner hour was one to be feared, almost dreaded. Fights were won and lost through the rapidexchange of edible projectiles, and many a garment had been tarnished in thecourse of battle.

But that was long ago.

And truth be told, Eralie sometimesmissed those days, though she was sure that her father did not. Indeed, King Gustave seemed to relish thenewfound peace that reigned at the family’s evening meals, though one couldcertainly not call their repasts quiet. While the king currently spoke in hushedtones to Prince Ty, Eralie’s husband of three years, the other conversationstaking place around the dining table ranged as much in volume as they did intopic.

Across thetable from Eralie, twenty-three year old Callia spoke in a slightly loudervoice than she was wont to, so as to be heard by Eurielle at the end of thetable. The youngest daughter at 19,Eurielle was the accepted music aficionado of the group. For the last several weeks, she and Calliahad been working together on a musical production for the village theater, withCallia contributing lyrics and Eurielle, the music. Since the start of this newest pet project,even the most mundane conversation with either sister invariably turned totheir current work-in-progress. As theywere now in the final stages of rewrites, their dinnertime chat wasinterspersed with hummed or sung snatches of songs, as well as slightly heateddebates regarding the exact number of syllables needed in a certain refrain.

Theinterchange—or interchanges—underwaybetween the sisters sitting at the middle of the table were of an entirelydifferent vein. Twin sisters Thaleia andRaia were talking over each other haphazardly, each using their dinner knivesto demonstrate to the other the proper grip to use when holding a paint brush(Raia) and wielding a rapier (Thaleia). Though their exchange was lightning-fast and borderline convoluted, Thaleiawas yet able to simultaneously recount the story of her most recent joustinglesson to the sister sitting across from her, 20-year-old Petra. Whether Petra was impressed at Thaleia’sability to maintain two coherent conversations at once was unclear. As always, the stoic expression on her faceradiated an apathy that her family had come to expect from her.

Of Eralie’ssisters, only Cliodne did not—and could not—contribute to the babble of voicesaround the dining table, as she was quite simply not present that evening. Though only one year Eralie’s junior,25-year-old Cliodne had already travelled to more neighboring countries thantheir father; her position as the official Kyorian ambassador required her tospend weeks if not months abroad when discussing the terms of various alliances. She had been negotiating a trade agreementwith the kingdom of Deturus, Kyoria’s neighbor to the south, for the past yearand a half. Though the majority ofnegotiations had initially been completed via correspondence, Cliodne had beenspending the last four months as the honored guest of the Deturian ruler, KingEinor, in order to finalize the terms of their agreement.

As if thethought of her absent sister were contagious, Eralie’s attention was caught bythe low utterance of “Cliodne” mentioned in the conversation between herhusband and her father.

Curious,she leaned slightly closer to the two men. She was nearly touching Ty’s elbow when he spoke again.

“I can’t answer for her, sire. You’ll have to ask her. Ask allof them.”

“Ask mewhat?”

Ty jumpedslightly at her interjection into their conversation, then chuckled at howclose she’d leaned without him noticing. Gustave nodded and cleared his throat, then tapped his fork against theside of his wine goblet. Though theresulting chime was not overly loud, it had the desired effect. The princesses’ chattering died down, andthey all turned to look at their father with a mixture of surprise andexpectation.

Gustavereached into his vest and withdrew a folded piece of paper from his inner pocket.

“I receivedanother letter from Deturus today.” Hebegan, and excited whispers broke out around the table. Letters from Cliodne were not only welcomedby the royal family in Kyoria, but were highly anticipated occasions.

“Actually,I received two missives. The first,as you’ve likely guessed, is from your sister. She writes that the trade agreement is likely to be finalized within thenext two months at most.”

At thenews, wide smiles graced every face, and mini celebrations were had around thetable. Callia and Raia high-fived eachother while Eurielle clapped her hands several times. Thaleia let out a whoop that was louder thannecessary. After nearly two years ofwork, it was satisfying to have the end in sight.

“And,” Gustave said, raising his voicewith an indulgent smile. The table quieted once more. “As for the secondletter. King Einor writes to formallyinvite all of us to the festivitiesthat will be held at the end of two months time in honor of the completedagreement.”

If Cliodne’snews had been greeted with excitement, then the princesses’ response to thisannouncement was nothing short of enthusiastic. Yet King Gustave had not finished.

“Now, I can’t go, what with new...issues arising with Ithcar.”

“Nor can I,for the same reason.” Ty interjected, glancing meaningfully at Eralie. She frowned slightly. As far as she knew, the king of Ithcar hadbeen threatening war with Kyoria since before she had been born, but thus farthey had all been empty threats. Hadsomething changed?

Gustavenodded at his son-in-law. “And for that, I’m grateful. But as for the rest, I shall leave thedecision of whether or not to attend to each of you individually.”

Not even amoment had passed before Eurielle exclaimed, “Well, I’m in!” Her response wasalmost immediately echoed by the rest of the younger sisters, who were no doubtpicturing grand adventures and fancy balls in a foreign land.

Eralie said nothing. She, too, craved adventure, and she was surethat Deturus held plenty for them all. But the look in her husband’s eyes gave her pause. He wouldn’t stop her from going, if that waswhat she truly wanted, but she somehow knew that something more was at play here. WasIthcar declaring war? Was that the realreason they were being encouraged to leave? She glanced up and found Ty looking at her. One glance into his eyes and her decision wasmade. Between possible war here with Tyand adventure in Deturus without him, there was no contest.

“We’d best start makingpreparations for your journey, then.” Though Eralie spoke to her sisters, hergaze remained on her husband. “I’m needed here.”