Daybreak Yellow

Everbit really only had one unbreakable rule when it came to magic. Girls could wield four colors, boys could use the other four, and any overlap was supposedly impossible. Those who held all eight got a personalized stake with their name on it and were burned alive to a round of applause.

I never asked to be in the second group. The colors just kind of showed up.

Therefore, every morning, I woke up, put on my favorite dress, and told the entire country the same lie: that their beloved princess could only use the four feminine ones.

This specific morning, my lie happened to have an audience. Lavian's main square was packed for a Tuesday, and, as was only right, most of the crowd was there exclusively for me.

…Okay, fine. Most of the crowd were kids who ran here at the first mention of magic, but a princess takes what audience she can get.

They were dressed in all sorts of cute clothes—from the simple and ragged trousers of the poorer folks, to the nicely-trimmed dress shirts of those a bit closer to the royal palace.

“But that’s the amazing part about magic!” The kids all listened with wide, excited eyes. “No matter who you are: rich, poor, nobility, or even a commoner—everyone has their own color. I’m sure all of you know yours!”

“Yeah!” “Of course!" The answers all came at once, more than fifty small voices shouting over each other. There was the tailor's daughter with green, one of the knight's sons with red, and at least five different yellows. I’d given this speech a dozen times by now, and the numbers were never remotely the same.

“Yellow!” One kid’s voice overshadowed the rest, some farmer’s kid going by his dusty clothes. And judging by the way his hair stood up, he had good control of that yellow for his age. Not that I could ever admit to knowing how that feels.

“But Princess Ruby,” One of the older kids raised his hand, a merchant’s kid, judging by the velvet buttons. “I thought you could use more than one color!”

Here we go again… I paused for a second. From behind me, my personal maid Mary gave me a worried look as she tried her absolute utmost to hide behind a nearby streetlamp.

The lamp was barely the size of my leg. Mary was not.

I’ll be fine! Have some faith in me! I tried to mouth back. With Mary, getting her to calm down in a crowd this big was doomed from the start—she’d been shaking since the second kid showed up. “Well, let me answer your question with one of mine. Can you tell me what the eight colors of magic are?”

“M-Me? Yeah!” The merchant’s son stumbled over his words as all the attention fell on him. “There are the four boy colors—black, red, orange, and yellow. And the girl ones! White, green, blue, and… purple?”

“Gold star!” I gave the kid a thumbs up. He stood taller with a massive grin. “As your princess, I happen to be a Varie—someone who can use all four feminine colors. Which means…”

Let’s give them a bit of a show. With a snap of my fingers, a floating ball of water appeared at my fingertips. I let the water fly up, twist and turn like ribbons. They wove themselves into a dragon the length of a carriage. It coiled around the square, low enough to where the kids could touch its tail.

“And here comes the fun part!” White light burst from the dragon’s mouth, fireworks that covered the evening’s sky.

The square erupted into applause. From behind me, I could sense Mary sigh in relief as I changed the topic. Come on, told you to have some faith in me, girl.

“But even for the Princess of Everbit, magic doesn’t master itself. Even I practice every single day. Speaking of which,” I raised my hand again, “Who wants to see something new?”

Every single kid in the square raised their hands. Here goes nothing…

You’ve got a week of practice in, Ruby! This time for sure! A cloud of mist descended from the sky. I squeezed my eyes shut and pictured my goal, candy raining from the sky, bright wrappers mirroring the eight colors of magic. Come on, just one illusion…

But instead, with a poof, the mist disappeared into the void, along with my confidence.

That was four times in a row now. “And that reminds you that princesses aren’t perfect…”

I could hear the faint sound of someone laughing, someone suspiciously close to a nearby streetlamp. You come try this, Mary! Purple magic is hard!

From the day I was born, Purple had been the absolute bane of my existence. All the purple magic masters always talked about the importance of visualizing the illusion and other complicated stuff my mind was not grasping.

Ok, Ruby, plan B. I thought, having not prepared anything close to a plan B.

I glanced back toward Mary. There were the boring cobblestone streets, the nearby restaurants, the rows of potted plants... Perfect!

“Thank you, everyone, for listening to your princess ramble about magic! In return, there's a little something I want to give everyone.”

From the ground, thin vines burst from the cobblestones, with beautiful red flowers on their stems as they wove through the crowd. It took less than a minute till every kid had a flower of their own.

“Keep studying hard! Magic is for everyone, and as your Princess, I promise that we will all work together to make Everbit a place where everyone’s colors can shine.”

The children all cheered as I quietly made my way out of the courtyard. “And that’s one more successful performance in the books. Mary?”

“C-C-Coming, Princess!”

You’re going to make people think I’m scary or something. I smiled as Mary used a bit of green magic to propel herself toward me.

“Princess Ruby?”

I turned. One of the small kids from my lesson had walked over, a girl no older than seven, fidgeting with the hem of her skirt like she was working up the courage to ask something scary.

“How can I help you?” I bent down on my knees. “I’m an open book!”

“You said people who can use a lot of magic like you are called Varies.” Her voice dropped to a whisper, like she knew her next words were something that she shouldn't ask. “What about people who can use all the magic? Like both boy and girl magic?”

The evening suddenly felt a bit cold.

I could feel that behind me, Mary had gone completely still.

“Ah… You’re talking about a Prisma.” I bit my lip as I saw Mary’s eyes.

“That's a cool name!”

Prismas. People who could use all eight colors; people the Church burned at the stake while the crowds cheered, because, according to the Church, the gods decided to give people magic they shouldn’t use.

I took a deep breath. I’d had the answer to this question ready for a decade—one of the few things I bothered to rehearse in front of a mirror.

I put back on that safe, princess-ready smile I’d practiced. “Well, that’s a complicated topic you should ask your parents about.”

“Okay!” Thankfully, she seemed completely satisfied with that answer—spinning around on her heels. “But being able to use every color sounds super fun! I wish I could do that!”

More fun than you think, but the trade-offs... “You know what's better than using eight colors?” I patted her on the head. “Being really, really good at one. What color do you have?”

“Blue!”

“Well, let me tell you, there's girls out there that would kill to have your blue, so practice until your magic shines, alright?”

“Can I be as good as you?”

“Practice enough, and you can be even better!”

Luckily, that was enough for her. We watched as she ran off back into the crowd.

“I don’t blame the kid for being curious. I’m sure I asked just as many funny questions as a kid.”

“You were way worse, Princess,” Mary muttered, visibly relieved that most of the crowd had dispersed.

“I was an exemplary princess as a kid, thank you very much!” I put on the poutiest face I could and turned around, letting my red hair shimmer in the evening light. “But we have some extra daylight. What do you think about accompanying me around Lavian for a bit?”

“Well… his majesty does want us back before the sun sets.”

“And it’s not set yet!” I grabbed Mary by the arm. “Come on! I know you had your eye on that pink dress off Marnie Street!”

“Well yes, but…” Mary stared right at the road like there was some particularly interesting pattern in the rocks. I had made up my mind already. Mary knew there was no changing that.

“Come on, let’s—”

A scream cut across Lavian’s square.

It was clearly a kid from the pitch, and one I recognized too. The blue girl from earlier!

I spun around. The little girl sat in the dirt by the fountain, both hands sprawled out, sobbing. And a girl dressed in dark robes was already shoving her way through the crowd, with a small coin pouch hanging from her hands.

“She took Alice’s money!” One of the kids shouted.

“My birthday money…” Alice muttered, still in shock.

The thief hit the edge of the square. Her skin glowed a pale white right before she blurred, leaving a snow-colored trail behind.

White magic. Self-taught clearly. No pro would leave that sloppy trail behind.

“Change of plans, Mary.” I let a torrent of magic flow out, casting my body in a similar glow. That thief used my show. Took advantage of my dragon, and stood in my crowd all day to steal from a fan? There was no universe in which she wasn’t going down.

As I eyed the thief, nearly half a dozen soldiers decked out in silver armor ran right past us, blaring the most annoying whistles I’d had the displeasure of hearing.

I steadied my breath. Not in a million years did those bumbling knights have a chance of catching her. Knights were all brutes, with their red magic strength and orange fires.

But Mary and I on the other hand? I almost felt sorry for the thief.

Almost.

With a snap, I let the white magic free and dashed off after her.

The streets became a blur, vague blobs of grey and brown as I raced across, faster than any horse on the planet.

“Hey! Come back here!” I shouted, catching up inch by inch to the thief.

The girl looked back, a scowl on her face. Her feet twisted midair as she took a sharp left towards the tailors district. Nothing I couldn’t handle.

“Princess!” From my right, Mary rode a thick, twisting vine. “She’s heading for the west gate!”

“Not for long!” I strained the magic in my muscles. Though, to the gods, I don’t get how you can keep up with me, Mary!

Mary wouldn’t talk about it, but even with all the powerful nobles I saw at the castle, I had yet to see someone with half of her control with green magic. Especially not someone our age. Like, she uses plants! Normal plants don’t move a hundred miles an hour!

Our little thief lost ground little by little as the buildings began to shrink around us. Not much longer until the gate, Ruby! Move faster!

“We can corner her at Eastminster and Mains!” Mary shouted. “Take it slow and let her think she’s home free!”

“Let her think she’s home free? Where’s the fun in that?” I shouted. “I’ll catch her before you can blink.”

“A-Are you sure, Princess?”

“Is grass green? She’s mine!” With those words, I blasted off.

My confidence grew as we inched closer. I could see the seams of her clothes from here. She was faster than the average white magic user for sure—but, when dealing with me, faster than average wouldn’t cut it.

The thief turned toward Eastminster, barely five feet ahead of me.

Come on, come on… There's maybe a minute until she reaches the gate. I can’t risk her getting out.

Catching another white magic user in a crowded city was one thing. A wide open field? That sounded like actual work.

“Got you!” I leapt forward, wrapping my fingers around her thin jacket.

She, however, simply shook the jacket off and kept running.

“To the gods…” Thirty seconds, probably less. That was all I had till she escaped outside the gate.

There was only one option I could think of.

Magic was meant to be used after all… If I couldn’t catch up to her with white, I’d just have to use a bit of black magic. All I had to do was sink into her shadow, ride it, and come out swinging.

There was only one tiny issue: black was a masculine color. A girl using masculine magic got burned at the stake. No exceptions.

I wasn’t about to light my own bonfire for a few coins. Even I could admit that was a pretty stupid way to go out.

I glanced left, then right. The outskirts of Lavian were barren on a good day, and the knights were still three turns behind, wheezing. I could get away with a bit of fun. Mary couldn’t kill me over what she didn’t know.

My feet melted into the cobblestones’ shadow, a familiar chill rushing through my chest, as the black magic began to surge out. “Take—”

“N-No you don’t!” But instead, giant flowers bloomed from the ground, completely blocking the gate with splashes of pink and yellow. Mary floated at the center. Her feet balanced on thin vines while she finished locking away the thief’s only exit.

That’s where you went. I met Mary’s eyes as her hands shook. She’d just… gone and quietly done her plan anyway.

But I had to give her credit. The thief smacked straight into the wall, bouncing off, as this time I was able to grab something much more stable—her hair.

“There we go!” I tossed her to the ground and wrapped her in green vines of my own. “No one steals in front of the Princess of Everbit and gets away with it!”

“Barely!” The flower wall parted as Mary walked through. “She almost got through the gate!”

“But she didn’t! Besides, look at her now.” I glanced down as the thief glared daggers at me, not able to say a word with my green magic gag wrapped around her mouth. “She isn’t heading anywhere but a prison now.”

“Yeah, because I blocked her off like we discussed earlier.” Even with Mary’s pissed-off expression, her voice was still barely above a whisper. It was adorable.

“Worst case, I would have caught her.” I shrugged as the knights finally caught up to us. “I believe I have something of yours?”

“Thank you, Princess!” The knights hoisted her up into the air. “As usual, your contributions to Lavian are appreciated.”

“All in a day’s work.” I shook their hands as they spun around and walked away. Lavian’s prisons were pretty nice compared to our neighbors, but they still were about the last place I’d want to be within the city.

Mary didn’t say another word until the knights were out of earshot. “I saw what you tried, Princess…”

I’m screwed. “What could you mean?” I quickly glanced back toward the castle. “Wow, would you ever look at the time. I guess it’s time to head back, Mary!”

“My Princess, I—”

But I had already started walking the other way before she could finish.