Why Me? (Part 2)

I walked back to the bathroom and put the bag on the counter. When I came back out of the bathroom, Tethros led me out of the tower and down a flight of stairs.

At the bottom of the flight, we reached a junction between two halls and walked down the one to the left.

A little ways down the hall, we met up with two more women. One was wearing a long green gown and her bodystyle looked like that of a bodybuilder. The other woman was looking towards the ground and had on a knee-length black dress that I assumed was a maid's uniform because of the white pinafore with ruffled edges over top of the dress.

"Lady Mitzi Namani," Tethros said, bowing his head towards the woman in the green dress. He then bowed his head toward the other girl, with only slightly less respect than his head bow to the bodybuilder woman, and said, "Jessamy, you can go now. Thank you for your help getting Lady Namani here ready."

When the girl in the black dress, Jessamy, looked up at Tethros and I, I noticed her eyes, the amber colour of a wolf's.

"Your eyes are beautiful," I commented, unthinking.

"T-thank you, Miss," Jessamy said in an unstable and alarmed voice, quickly dropping into a low curtsy.

"Please, there is no need for that," I said.

She stood up straight and looked at Tethros with a questioning look in her eyes. Tethros nodded in her direction and the young girl quickly scurried away.

"Now then," Tethros said, "Let's take you girls to meet the queen."

All three of us walked in silence and somehow I went from standing right behind Tethros, in the second spot in our line of three, to standing in the back, behind Mitzi.

When we reached the queen's office Tethros knocked on the door and I could barely hear a voice call out "enter" from within. Thethros opened the double doors in front of us and led the way into an office with three people already sitting in there and no more extra chairs.

In the next moments, apparently Octavia made some sort of declaration but I didn't hear it because I was glaring at James who was looking at me with a dreamy expression on his face.

"My son, Octavia, please stand and allow my guests to sit," the queen said and I was surprised when they listened. James walked over to me and led me to the chair he was just in while Octavia helped Mitzi, glaring at James at the same time.

Each Cadmar stood behind the seat of the girl they had led over to the chairs.

"Now then," the queen said, addressing all four of the children sitting or standing in front of her, "Let's get down to business. Cadmars, the girl you are standing behind will be the girl you are in charge of training."

I saw Mitzi out of the corner of my eye and she looked more than pleased to get to work with the cadmar behind her but when I turned my head slightly, Octavia looked really miffed.

"Magesses, you will listen to your trainer and obey every word they say," the queen said, now addressing just the two of us who were sitting. "I don't want to hear of any fights between either of your groups or within your groups." The queen glared accusingly at Octavia and Mitzi when she said this.

"Do you four understand?" the queen asked.

"Yes, majesty," we answered at the same time.

"Good," the queen said. "Now, Octavia, James you are dismissed." The two cadmars saluted to the queen and walked out the door.

I was the first to speak as soon as the door shut behind the two that just left. "What are we supposed to do for this challenge?" I questioned the queen.

"Just a moment," the queen turned to Mitzi, "yanam." I realized from my studies of the ancient language that this meant "sleep" and seconds later, Mitzi was snoring away in the chair next to me.

"Now then, you and her will have different tasks for this challenge so she cannot hear what your assignment is."

"OK. I have a question before you start."

"What is it, child?"

"What makes me so special that I am a candidate for queen?"

"Well, first of all, you have been chaste your whole life." My eyes widened as I didn't know how she could know that. The queen continued saying, "Second, you possess powerful magic. Only the most powerful mages and magesses can enter the maze and leave it, unharmed and completely sane."

The queen was about to continue speaking when I interrupted her, asking, "How do you know I'm sane?" "You wouldn't be here otherwise," the queen said, matter of factly. "Now, don't interrupt me. Where were we? Right. The final reason for your selection is that we believe you possess all the qualities a true queen should have."

I wanted to ask what those qualities were but I could tell the queen wanted to finish explaining my task.

"Got it? Good. Moving on," The queen said this all in one breath, not giving me a chance to question her more, even though I had no plans to.

"So, in this challenge, each you and Mitzi will have a series of tasks to complete. The first one to complete all the tasks will be awarded the right to be my heir.

"These tasks will test you in each of the qualities you need to be a queen." I could sense that she was about to explain what those qualities were. "You will be tested on your strength, charisma, commitment, intelligence, leadership skills, and, most importantly, magic.

"You will start with the test of charisma. This will involve you convincing an important ruler from another kingdom to make an alliance with me. When this ruler arrives, you will be the one to lead him around and help him in any way he needs. If you get him to make an alliance with me, you will pass the challenge, if you fail, you will have to keep trying with other diplomats and rulers until you succeed."

"Yes, my queen," I responded.

"You are dismissed, go back to your room in the tower and rest, your training will start tomorrow."

"Yes, my queen," I stood up and walked out of the room to find James waiting for me.

"I was told I needed to escort you back to the tower," James said, seeing my surprise.

"Thank you," I said with as much confidence as I could muster.

James began walking in the direction I believed the tower was in and I quickly followed.

"So, son of the queen and a newly graduated Cadmar, huh?" I asked, attempting to make conversation.

"Yeah," James responded coldly.

"Must have been a pretty tough childhood?"

"It wasn't terrible, besides the fact that something decided that I should be a part of the strongest line of defense our queendom has."

I was dumbfounded and went silent. We walked without talking the rest of the way to the tower and up the stairs.

When we got to the top of the stairs, James opened the door and waved me in. He was about to close the door in his own face when I said, "Wait, please, come in and relax."

He complied and stepped throught the door, into the tower house. James closed the door behind him and stood rigid right in front of the only exit to the tower.

I went into the small kitchen area and found the pantry and icebox already fully stocked. I started taking food out and setting it on the counters, saying to James, "Please, have a seat while I make us something to eat."

James nodded and sat on the couch. I saw he was stiff at first but he slowly began to relax as I was cooking.

"Why are you being so kind to me?" James asked, startling me with the genuine confusion in his voice.

"Because…" I started, "I lost a lot of people I loved because people are unkind so I decided that I would be kind to, hopefully, not cause the pain to others that has been caused to me."

James blinked at my response.

"Besides," I continued, "Everyone deserves kindness, even if they are cruel or selfish."

James contemplated this before responding, "But what if they are the person who harmed your loved ones.

I laughed, "Then they will get what's coming to them but until that point, I will be kind and respectful to them. Why do you ask?"

"I was just curious," James lied.

"Alright, tell me the truth," I said, cutting some carrots.

"Did you ever have a sister?" James deflected.

"Yes, I did."

"Did?" James asked.

"Yeah, she disappeared when I was little and presumed dead."

"What did she look like?"

"I don't remember what she looked like exactly, but I was told I looked exactly like her. Minus that her eyes were green like my father's."

This took James by surprise. "I-I think I knew your sister."

I stopped in the middle of putting my carrots in a pot of water and a few of them fell out of my hands and into the pot.

I quickly realized that I was just standing there so I dropped the carrots into the pot, which I was making a soup in, and turned to James.

"What makes you say that?" I asked him.

"Because, my girlfriend when I was first brought into the cadmar academy looked just like you but with green eyes."

I tried to keep my tone as smooth as I could when I asked, "And how long ago was that?"

"4 years ago."

"And how old were you two at that point?"

"We were both 16."

"And what happened to her?"

James gulped and I could see the nervousness in his eyes. "I killed her."

"Why?" my voice was still steady but I could feel myself losing my cool.

"It was my first task in the academy," he said. "I had to kill the person I loved the most and I certainly couldn't kill my mother, as you know."

I was silent as I contemplated this. "How old were you both when you met?"

"9."

"Where is she buried?"

"I can show you some other day," James said. "Why are you being so chill about finding out that I killed your sister?"

"Well, first of all," I started, turning back to my soup to stir it, "I don't remeber my sister, I was 5 when she was 9, which is when you two met and she ran away.

"Secondly, I already told you that I would be kind to anyone, no matter how bad they hurt me."

James was silent and his head was pointed down, I went to sit on a chair in the living area.

"One more question," I said and he looked at me with guilt in his eyes, "Did she suffer?"

James just shook his head "No."

"Good," I said.

We sat in silence until the soup was done then we ate in silence.

When it was time to sleep, I went into the room and got a blanket and a pillow from the bed for James and gave them to him with a bright smile.

"Thank you," he mumbled, setting the stuff on the couch then taking me by surprise by hugging me.

"I'm sorry," he whispered in my ear, "I really did love her."

"It's fine," I said, "I forgive you."

After that I went back to the room and sat on the bed with my back against the wall, my knees pulled up to my chest, and my head on my knees. I was shell shocked, thinking about the fact that both my parents and my sister were dead and I was the last person in the Lincoln family.

I laid down on the bed, curled up into a little ball, and cried myself to sleep, grieving the losses that I hadn't felt so strongly before then.