The Princess's Secret [completed]

Chapter 63: Silence.

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Tamar.

"My Queen?" 

Tamar looked up from the papers she was reading to find Sinati standing there. "What is it?"

"There is someone here to speak with you, a village leader from the Western edge."

The edge nearest Rayndra. She stored the information away and nodded to the old warrior. "Send him in." She said, watching as he bowed and left the room. She had placed him in a role similar to that of The Three, rather than just as an adviser. She had needed someone she could really trust to run her personal guard, and to ensure the army was ready at all times.

Moments later Sinati returned, followed by an elderly man. She studied him as he approached. He was cloaked in a long robe, which looked as though it had once been quite valuable, but was now brown and ruffled by age. The old man moved with ease, proving he was not yet requiring special care. 

Sinati stopped and allowed the man to approach the throne, standing comfortably behind him with a hand resting on his sheath. She waited as he bowed. "Your majesty, I thank you for allowing me to speak to you." The chief said as he did so.

Something about the way the old man looked at her reminded her of her father's old friends, the few whom she had met anyways. She smiled. "I am glad you have come, I've been meaning to check on the villages, but have yet to do so."

"We will certainly welcome you, if you should ever find the time to come." He promised, returning the smile. But the look never quite reached his troubled eyes, and Tamar's concern grew. 

"Tell me, what brings you here today?" She asked, giving him permission to bring his requests to her.

The old man glanced at the floor before answering, a sign that he was choosing his words with caution. "I come to you in great need, my Queen. In the past years, the villages near the western border have been pillaged often by barbarians living in No-Man's-Land, as well as by raiders from the sea." 

Tamar raised an eyebrow and glanced at Sinati, who looked equally surprised. Then she returned her gaze to the old man as he continued.

"Today we have very little to feed our people, and our seed supply is too little for the families to get through the next season. And so I have come to request aid." He finished, looking nervous as at last his request was made.

Tamar was silent a moment, thinking. "Raiders from the sea... What do you know of them?" She asked as she signaled Sinati to get one of the advisers who had lived in Adrelawin far longer than they.

"Not a lot, your Majesty. I know only that they are strange to these lands, and carry weapons unlike any the villages have seen before." He replied as Sinati returned with the adviser.

She nodded once to the chief and turned to her adviser. "What do you know of these raiders from the sea?"

The man swallowed nervously, and she saw that he had indeed known of them. "Not a lot, my Queen, only that the villages have brought complaints to King Thaddias in the past, and he dismissed them."

"And why was I not informed of this immediately?" She questioned, displeased.

"I'm sorry, your Majesty, I hadn't thought of it." He apologized, bowing low before her.

"Leave me, but be sure to think of anything more I should know about, however trivial you see the matter to be." She ordered. He bowed all the lower and backed away, hurrying out of the room in fear.

"Sinati," The old warrior straightened slightly, gaze fixed on her. "-please arrange to have knights sent out to each village to gather lists of what they need. And see to it that a wagon of supplies returns with the chief today."

Tamar turned her gaze to the chief. "Just tell him your needs, and it will be done." She assured. The old man bowed low, then followed the knight out of the room.

Once alone with her thoughts, she found herself rather bored of sitting there and studying as she awaited the requests of her people. So she set her work aside and rose from the throne, stepping down and walking toward the back door. 

Her mind was filled with wonderings of Rayndra. Had Caspian found his kingdom in peace? Was the rebuilding going as planned? Did the people still trust him? Had he been having trouble with raids as well, or was it only her land being attacked?

She sighed. This was why rulers of seperate kingdoms didn't create close friendships, because at the end of the day, each would have to put their own people above their friends. With each passing day, she wished more and more that things could be different.

But she was beginning to understand how big a deal it was that the members of the Peace Treaty had come together to defeat Thaddias and place her on the throne. The stress was more than she could imagine, and she was beginning to feel guilty about how much she had placed on Caspian's shoulders. He had carried the weight of two broken kingdoms, for her sake.

Tamar paused, finding that her feet had taken her to the entrance onto the roof. She hadn't been up there since Caspian had left, but now she longed for it's familiarity. She opened the window and climbed through, smiling slightly as the spring air filled her lungs. 

She had missed it, she now realized. Missed the view of Adrelawin from the hights of the castle roof. Missed the sounds of a bustling city drifting through the air. But more than that, she missed her friends. She missed watching The Three argue over nothing important, and seeing Caspian occasionally join in.

Tamar sighed and leaned against the low wall where she had often stood with him. She remembered the times when they had snuck out to get away from The Three, and teasing him when they barely escaped the rain once. 

She was beginning to realize how quickly she had learned to love them, and that scared her. Never before had she grown to care about someone so much in such short time, and she could only wonder if maybe she didn't truly know them.

Yet on the flip side, she knew that they knew her, especially Caspian, because she had been equally open with him as he had been with her. So how then could she not know him?

She sighed. It was pointless to think about. He was far away, at home in Rayndra. And she was here, in Adrelawin. She didn't know what to think of her relationship with Caspian, all she knew, was that she dearly missed him.

She looked up to the sky, admiring the fluffy white clouds. They were cheery, and seemed wrong for the feelings in her heart. 

With a final look at the city, she turned and returned to the castle. Silence fell on her ears once more, the grand halls a testament to the lonely emptiness within.
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Author note;
Firstly, thank you guys so much for sticking with the story for so long! We're so so close now!

Second, due to events in my life influencing literally the entire book, I have to ask about this chapter;

Is it too much thinking? Is it boring towards the end of the chapter, or does it properly evoke emotion and keep your attention captured?

Thoughts bucket; \_/