1. Amberstone | ✓

5. Eight Years Later

8 years later.
Thethia: Heather Palace, Garden

• Elianna •

"Princess!" Lylia called.

"Lylia, I'm here!" Elianna stood up and waved excitedly at her.

The moment Lylia saw her, she placed her arms on her hips to express her disapproval. Stomping forward and trudging through the bushes, she reprimanded, "Your Highness, you should not be hiding when you're supposed to be attending your lessons!"

"It's so boring!" Elianna whined. "They are teaching me materials that were meant for three-year-olds! I already learned so much more from Ja—"

Lylia covered her mouth quickly, silencing her as she looked around anxiously. "Princess! How many times must I remind you that no one can know about that!" Lylia scolded, slowly removing the hand on her mouth. 

"I'm sorry," Elianna muttered. "I only mentioned it because I know no one would be here." 

Lylia had always been careful even when they were alone because she feared that they may be watched or listened to by guards from the Royal Palace. She always reminded her to not mention Jason's name out loud because it may reveal the Queen's, her mother's request for him to mentor her in secret and that would place all of them in danger. Without Jason and the Queen, there wouldn't be anyone to protect both of them. 

All the lessons received now were arranged by the King. They were just a group of disinterested, mediocre tutors who would incessantly reprimand her for poor attitude and punish her unreasonably just to kill time and fulfil their required shift to the solitude palace. Elianna hated those lessons but she had to attend them simply to put up a facade and in order to not raise suspicions. 

This was her hiding spot. Whenever Elianna decided to run away from lessons, she would be here and it took Lylia a great deal of effort to find her here. Elianna was confident that no one else would bother coming here because of the confusing and almost endless maze through deserted routes with overgrown dead plants. Only Lylia would bother to find her way to her and that was also because Lylia cared for her more than anyone else who would visit Heather Palace would. 

"Princess Elianna," Lylia sighed, pulling the child close into her embrace. 

Elianna was slightly taken aback whenever Lylia called her name. She was a careful person, and unless she was exceptionally sure that no one's around, she would never address her by her name. Visits to Heather Palace always addressed her as 'Princess', though they knew that she was not officially titled. They simply called her for the sake of formality and convenience since she doesn't have a name for them to address. 

Elianna knew why she didn't have a name, she heard it from Lylia. Therefore, deep down, she was grateful that Mother gave her a name that only the people who cared for her knew about. When they call her Elianna, she felt loved.