The Swan Prince

I

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Have you ever wondered what lies below a lake at night, or why it becomes the prettiest mirror for all the world to glance in?  I often wonder why a lake possesses such life to it. And today is no different as I sit here on my little boat watching as the clouds sway through the water. I wonder what worth my life would be if I weren't born into my life as a prince.  Would I have became a blacksmith? Maybe a mercenary? Would my mother be cherished and remembered? Where is life at now that I question my own desires when I have all anyone could ever dream of. 

 I sigh putting my hand in the cool water of the vast lake. The thoughts taking over my mind slowly leaving along with the feeling in my fingers. In the middle of winter it is quite a stupid idea to go all alone out on the lake.  I was not going to let this moment go to waste regardless of such, for the lake would surely be frozen over by next week.  Winter may have looked like a gorgeous white blanket to many, but for me it was one of the greatest interruptions in life.  A period of time for constant frigid temperatures, darkness, and ice. 

 I could not comprehend Colette's admiration for the cold, nor the late Empress.  I suppose that is where Colette found the love for winter.  Where I grew to be inseparable from the lake, My youngest sister clung onto every other piece of her mother.  Treasuring all the Empress was to everyone.  Colette was only three when Mum died and I seven, yet somehow Colette was almost like a second copy of her mother.  Wavy blonde hair, green eyes, dangerous, the most passionate person one could find.  The only real difference between the two is how loud Colette is.  My step mother was not someone to mess with, she wore on her sleeve that she was silent, but deadly.  Whereas Colette being quiet is something we've came to start praying for.  Thank goodness  that this was not similarly true for Arielle who took after my father.  Being a shy young girl with a love for hunting.  Something Mum hated with every fiber of her being.  Father took pride in taking her out with us on rare occasions to hunt birds in the summer.  

I pulled my hand out of the water, seeing as it was turning dangerously pink.  "Probably not one of your brightest ideas Ev." I spoke to myself as I dried off my hand with my jacket, placing it under my tunic to warm up.  

I turned around sparing a moment to search for the castle admidst the white fluff.  Glancing at the palace from this distance it seemed nothing more than part of the snowy mountain.  The limestone  being a shade too close to the flurries attached to the floor. One would almost have no clue that a castle lied here at this time of year if it weren't for our bright blue flag flying over the highest tower.

Our empire was one that we kept hidden in the mountains.  Not many other kingdoms were ever allowed in our borders for we live amongst the tallest mountains with no roads to find a way in.  Making our empire also one of the safest in the world.  War being a foreign concept to the minds of our people.  A place of peace, prosperity, and unfathomably long winters.   

I let out a yawn into the cool air watching as the sun was starting to fall. Begging for me to turn back and I grumpily gave in knowing that a scolding from my brother was to follow.  I grasped onto the oar safely lodged in the boat and placed it into the lake swirling it around in the water.  Listening to the beautiful sound of the current coming to a halt. The water always felt like a second home to me, like that it was here just to provide me with peace.  In the midst of my chaotic life as the second prince it was the one place I could go where the world around me felt light.

As I paddled slowly through the water I couldn't help but wish that I could change my destiny. That I could become a  lone fisherman traveling the worlds lakes, collecting little trinkets washed up on the rocks.  I envied the life of those who had not a worry in the world, those who lived peacefully with the waters.