Epiphany

⇞ fire master ⇞

The hushed whispers in the kitchen made me even more curious than I already was about the incoming new slaves.

"Fernett, what happened?" I asked sitting down next to fire now that Princess was asleep. It had been a month since the war was done and everything went to normal.

The plump lady looked at me with a frown like she didn't want to share the story yet again, it saddened her for some reason. Her cheeks were flushed from all the work and time next to fire because of cooking.

Shyna joined in and sat down next to us with a knife and vegetables in hand, her eyes puffy and red. The old cook Norberta gave me bread to slice them for breakfast so that I don't seem out of place. They were the closest thing to what we called friends. And since I was the youngest they took special care of me.

"Do you know about Prince Nazereth?" Shyna asked a few years older to me and a big mouth when it came to secrets.

I shook my head in a no and they all just gave me a disapproving look.

"Remember last time when there was The Birthday Dinner for the Queen, he was there. Representing the Fire Kingdom with his sister." Shyna said.

"He was one with the fire amber eyes."Fernett gave me the main detail.

"Ah! Him, yes I remember. The only Prince that smiled at the slaves." I said even though I was hiding all the while and couldn't really get a proper look at anyone. I was not allowed obviously since I was keeping the Princess company.

"There are no slaves in his Kingdoms, everyone works and get paid for their effort," Norberta added wistfully.

"That is a dream," Shyna added with a sad tone.

I tried to put a face but all I remembered was his eyes which were memorable even from the hiding place.

"What about him?" I asked.

"I think they killed him," Shyna said and sniffled a little.

Crying for royalty was not what slaves could do, we had no remorse or sadness even if they died.

"So?" I asked in a little bored tone.

"Child, he was the only one who kept the greedy King of this Kingdom from becoming all-powerful. He was the hope for his people and other struggling Kingdoms." Fernett said giving me a small said smile.

"Is it true that he was Prince?" I asked because a kind royal was something that was a rarity.

"He was the kindest of them all," Shyna said with a dreamlike look in her eyes.

"You seem to admire him a lot," I said holding back a smile at her disposition for the Prince who was now dead.

"He saved me from being raped by the men who sell the slaves." She said carefully and a silence fell between us.

If there was such a Prince and he died, we were one step closer to the rule of tyranny and hell.

"I have seen him when my husband among the other slaves present was made to walk on flaming hot coals just for the present royals to enjoy. He diminished the fire without moving the muscle or even staff and saving all the people from walking on burning cool. And smiled when others complained about destroying their fun." Norberta added.

"He did what?" I asked.

"He diminished the fire and cooled down the coal." She said like it was a casual thing to do.

"He can control fire then?" I asked in fascination.

Not everyone in the royal family can handle elements of their Kingdoms, they are trained with it and they learn. It was the time the heavens were happy and granted each ruler a power to keep the peace. But for centuries as the books tell, there is no one who can control elements without the staff. It worked only with the bloodline of that particular Kingdom.