A Simple Promise

A reward and a week, they were more than enough and not. The meeting with the High Priest concluded successfully, though it felt like it had drained away a decade of life in the process. That couldn’t be repeated. They were asking, demanding a lot out of her. And she had no choice in delivering on the need. There was no running from it. As much as it was tempting.

What Sophia did for the High Priest wasn’t going to work a second time. She only had one person to face and carefully read specifically for him. They prepared her for what sort of person he was. It wasn’t perfect, but it didn’t need to be. She had enough to hold her own.

Standing before the kingdom was something completely different. They might have been more open to just listening to whatever she said. She knew even from herself, that they wanted a Saint and there was an image everyone had in their mind of what that meant. That was her battle that she faced now. Ghareld didn’t come with such notions, he wanted to take her away. The people were wanting hope and peace. Aspects that she no longer knew. They were concepts of tales and gossip, but not reality.

How could she make that their reality?

Sophia sat against the wall huddled away from everything. Only a stone wall stood between her and the future. It covered her from what she had to face. ‘How many of them are gathered? It’s the whole kingdom! People that know me and complete strangers. Ust. Hui. Just one mistake and I don’t get a book. I need to watch my words. But there’s so many. This isn’t like the lecture hall. Wish I had my class. It was better, only eight people found me trying.’

Ust. Hui. Feur.

Her time was running out. Through the wall she could hear King Renald speaking, but his preamble to introductions started to become clear. ‘He’s going to call on me soon. Can I do this? I can’t do this. Can I do this? Miss Ophelia and Prince Henri worked so hard and I’m going to fail. I’m not going to get my book. I need to keep it together!’

“Miss Sophia.”

“Vir!” She blinked and saw that the Prince stood before her. “Prince Henri! I thought you were with the King.”

“I was. But I’ve been here for sometime expecting this. Are you going to be able to make it through the next ten minutes?”

“I don’t really have a choice.”

“No, but you still need to be able to act like a human.”

“It’s good I’m not taking lessons about that from you.”

“You found your backbone.”

Sophia was immediately standing and bowing trying to find any sort of means to correct her mistake. All of the thoughts faded into reckless shaking. “I’m so sorry! I shouldn’t have said that, Your Highness!”

“But it did get you to stand finally.”

She pulled up hearing what almost sounded like emotion out of the cold Prince. His speech had always been so measured and even, almost oddly devoid of any life. Like he was just blindly going through paces. And yet there was a hint of something like smugness that she heard. It couldn’t have been from the Prince. That made no sense. “You’re a cruel man.”

“Perhaps, but are still nervous?”

“Just shaking violently because I insulted the Prince and I might be killed in the next moment.”

“If I was going to have your head for insulting me, it would have happened long before. It would also reflect poorly on me to kill the Saint.”

“So you won’t do it because I’m the Saint.”

“If that’s what you want to get out of that. If it helps you be at ease.”

While she couldn’t completely remove the panic running through her body like rain off a roof, it did ease up. It earned her a reprieve from the Prince. Even though he did seem genuine about it, as before, there was something almost threatening about the last sentence. Sophia couldn’t really place it, but it left a needle in her side.

For now, he seemed to be right unfortunately. That mean trick of his blew away all of her nervousness. And behind her, the King sounded like he was ready to have her come out. “I don’t want to die.”

“Aim a little higher.”

She turned towards the curtain covered entrance. Beyond was the balcony that looked out into the massive courtyard of the castle. It wasn’t enough to hold the whole capital, but it did support a majority. Her hand squeezed on the fabric thinking about the goal. “I’ll try.”

“The new Saint of Eulire!” That was the cue from the King, clear and easy for her to remember. Sophia pushed through finally seeing the sun break upon her. Hiding with her eyes closed made it more blinding than she realized. All she could do was hear the crowd of voices cheering. It made everything feel closer and louder.

She caught the supporting hand from the King at her arm directing her forward. He came into focus sooner than the countless faces below. Each eagerly awaited her word. Sophia thankfully didn’t have to remember much for them, but she still had to speak in front of a crowd of strangers. “I’m Sophia Therodis, selected by Euthemia as the next Saint. I’m still new to this responsibility, but I hope to be of service to everyone.”

The prepared speech finally finished after five minutes. ‘Ust. Hui. It’s over finally! Nothing like class.’ Though unlike there, where she had her research to fall back on if she forgot something, she had to keep to each word.

Cheering roars came from the audience. ‘They’re all so happy. But they weren’t my words. The ice cold Prince probably wrote them. If Cathie was in the crowd she’d probably be yelling saying I sounded funny. It’s awkward. Ust. Hui. But only she would know. No one else. Ust. I need to silence my voice. It’s the right way.’

Returning inside, she found Prince Henri standing by the wall. Close enough that he had to have heard everything with ease. Though he was once more with the flat cold beautiful expression that she couldn’t crack with a hammer and chisel. “You did well.” After his past trick, the compliment took her off guard a little. It wasn’t the first time, but it always was disarming to hear.

“Th-thanks. Thank you.” Sophia hurried over to his side now that her part of the deal was complete. She immediately made a mental switch starting to glow without magic as she started to lean up on the Prince. “When do I get my book?”

Prince Henri peeled back a touch as she completely lost any sort of awareness of social etiquette. “I did promise a book. You have a one track mind.”

“I want to pick out my book! When do I get to see the library?” She was nearly becoming a child in her glee.

He coughed roughly being caught by surprise. “You still have to meet with the nobles at the banquet. Once your duties there are complete I’ll reward you.”

Sophia stretched in even closer. “I’m not going to need to be perfect for the banquet too. That wasn’t part of the promise.”

“No, you’ve already earned your reward. This is light socializing. Someone will be with you the whole time.”

“Great! I can’t wait!”

“Your manners are falling away.”

Even though the Prince tried to correct her behavior, nothing was reaching her anymore. ‘The royal library! I’ve only heard about it. All those rare and ancient books! Which one should I pick? I wonder if I could just live there and read them all? Or is that stretching the promise? But how can I pick just one? I need more. What else can I do?’